We should go for ramen, or your favourite ohagi

I'll be there for you this time, I can open up this time

"Are you sure this is the right street?"

"Yeah, I'm sure... I think."

"...you think?"

"The trees seem familiar, but... I thought that door was blue, not red."

"... you've been directing us using door colours?"

"Army said it was near that place he gets obscure spices from, and that's the place with the blue door." Skull wraps the debate up with a tinge of pride in his voice as Vintage buries his face in his hand. It seems Skull's knowledge of the area was... limited, and Vintage's apprehension had stopped him from being more confrontational about it. Well, some things truly never change.

"He should have drawn you a map," Vintage grumbles, and pulls his phone out of his pocket to open up a picture of the place, and see if anything in the background might give them a hint of what direction to go in. He zooms in on the device and brings it up to his face for a second, only to pull it down and notice Skull's already out of eyeshot. How does he do that?

"Skull!" he shouts, tucking his hands back into his pockets. Vintage should be familiar with the scene at hand - it was not uncommon for their leader to get their old team lost on a semi-regular basis - and yet all he's familiar with is the vague feeling of annoyance at the purple inkling. He takes a few steps forward, and shouts out for Skull again.

Suddenly, Skull peeks his head back around a corner just in view in a way Vintage would honestly find funny if it wasn't for his current mood at the squid in question, and his complicated feelings about him, and the fact that he's spent all morning thinking about what he's going to say and psyching himself up for this confrontation. He just shakes his head as Skull beckons him over. "I don't think we've checked this street yet."

"Fine," replies Vintage as he follows Skull round the corner. "But if this is the wrong one, I'm asking for directions."

Skull doesn't have anything else to add - his mind is supposed to be focused on navigation, but his thoughts are preoccupied completely by the squid next to him. He's not proud of his past, quite the opposite, and Team Purple and the S4 had marked a new era in his life all together: he'd planned to put Vintage behind him, and focus on working his way up the newly formed ranked system, trusty scope in hand. He'd made new friends, found new teammates, and had new battles with new opponents. But nostalgia could be one shell of a drug, and a cruel one too - you partake in a rerun splatfest and guess who you run into? At least he'd tried to be civil. Tried.

Vintage was a blast from the past he was not expecting; an unexpected new chapter of character development; an unfriendly reminder that his lack of action will always have consequences. He glances to the side at Vintage and years worth of repressed guilt hit his chest hard. How long had it been? Three, four, five years? How long had he tormented the squid next to him? How had he pushed his whole team aside? It was a miracle Aviators had stuck with him, and one he reminds himself of every day. How lucky he is to have a companion like him who still cares. Skull may have finally broken the news to the S4, but only Aviators knew the details. Only Aviators could truly accept that part of him.

Skull's not even sure he can accept it in himself.

His troubles at the time were not an excuse for his actions, but at least it gives him a small understanding of why his past self acted the way he did - at least it offers a crumb of an explanation. That old team's strength had driven him colder the better they got. Every victory cemented in his head that battle mattered above all else, and his attitude should be forced to change. He was a keen young sniper and a damn good one at that, and he needed his team to support his path to success, until the new ranked system was put into place. One day he would be validated through experiences and his title, and every day there would be a new opponent for him to fight, one even stronger and more interesting than any of the ones before them. That indulgence in challenge and intrigue would sustain him. That was all he thought he needed to be happy.