God Eater: Infinity Paradise

26. Black Trojan

It was another day that started out pretty weird.

Yuka, drained of every bit of energy, zombie-walked out of the section elevator. She was literally dragging her two feet across the floor, before she slumped next to her partner. Soma, as usual, was seated on one end of the couch, his hood pulled low. The only unusual part about him was that he held this book in his hands, reading it in silence. Even after Yuka had dropped her head to lean on his shoulder, the taller male remained shut.

There weren't any assignments set for them just yet, so everyone simply sat there, having a good time. It was a rare day to be off from work. The Second and Third Unit were also lounging down by the mission counter, with Tatsumi, like every other day, striking his daily conversations with Hibari. It hadn't been that long when Sakuya turned to her team and asked, "Do you think Alisa's awake by now? I haven't visited her since..." Her voice trailed off. "I really wish to talk to her too." Lenka obviously stiffened, albeit slightly.

Kota looked back at his teammates, confused by the sudden silence, before he shifted his attention to Sakuya. "Pretty sure she is." It earned a small smile from their Vice Captain, before she disappeared behind the elevator doors.

"Soma..." Yuka then groaned softly against said man's sleeve. "Ice cream~"

Lenka and Kota sighed in unison, knowing how this day would go from here. She would get Soma irritated of her all throughout the entire day. She was even rubbing her cheek against his sleeve for attention, and the boys sat there, awaiting for the white-haired God Eater's fuse to blow up. To their surprise, he shifted slightly on his seat and placed his book to rest over his crossed legs, not removing his gaze from the seemingly interesting page. Soma slid one hand into a pocket in his pants and pulled out an unwrapped popsicle. Meanwhile, Yuka leaned against him comfortably, obviously half-asleep.

He then ripped the wrapper open, his eyes still fixated on his reading material, propped the popsicle ice cream out and stuck it in the mouth of his partner. Afterwards, he picked up his book and turned to the next page.

"Did that really just happen?" A bewildered Kota asked, staring wide-eyed at the blonde who appeared contented with her ice cream, and Soma who acted like nothing happened. The world is full of mysteries indeed, and one of them is their friendship.

The silence was slowly beginning to murder them, most especially the boy who can't sit still for two minutes, Kota. He scooted over to Lenka and began their conversation with a "The new Bugarally episode came out last night!" with a big, excited grin. "And it was even more thrilling than the last episode!" Waving his arms in the air as he narrated every event that kept him up through the morning. Lenka's attention never strayed from the talking comrade, though he barely had an idea of what exactly was it about. "What do you mean you haven't seen it?" Kota finally asked with a frown, realizing his babbling had amount to nothing. "You've been here for months." His face looked like his heart had just been stabbed with disappointment, as he stared at the other.

It wasn't that surprising though. Lenka appears to be the kind of person whose life revolves solely on being a God Eater. He then opened his mouth to respond, but his gaze moved over from the young scout to what lie beyond. "Oh, Sakuya. You're back already?"

Said female nodded with a sigh. "Yes. Alisa is still at rest, and I don't want to bother her or anything. I'll... try again later. What is Yuka doing?"

And they all whipped their heads over to the other end of the couch. Kota almost screamed.

The blonde, contently soloing a popsicle a while ago, was now seated on the lap of her partner, head resting on his shoulder and arms thrown around his neck in a hug. To level up the oddity of their behavior, Soma only continued to read, doing his best in pretending she wasn't much of a bother. Apart from that, both of them were silent. Of course, Kota opened his mouth first, "Hey, Soma, don't you think it'd be a better idea to--"