We Are Similar

Niara: Not Exactly a Reunion, but welp. pt1

"I can't believe I survived with Niara yelling my ears off."

"Well, Kirito, I can't believe everyone could sleep through Kousuke's snore."

"I didn't snore!"

"To be fair, you're yelling blocked us from hearing it."

"What Eva said. We're lucky the guest room is on the complete opposite side from my grandparents' room."

That was how the morning started for the five teenagers. Olivia's mom greeted them with a smile while handing them breakfast.

"Well then, how long will you kids be staying?" She asked.

"I think until tomorrow at most." Eva kindly replied. She already got Olivia into this and she wasn't even sure if she was okay around Mizel, it'll be bad if the rest of her family got involved.

"Then have as much fun as you can while you're still here." The woman's smile never left and she went back into the kitchen.

"So Eva, what's our next move?" Kousuke asked, stuffing a pancake in his mouth.

"Yeah. I mean, we can keep running, but that's gonna get old real' soon." Niara added.

"If we do run, we're gonna run into them eventually." Kirito muttered. "Somehow, someday, they will corner us, so I say we should confront them."

"What's your plan after that though? Waltz in and waltz out? I doubt that'll work." Olivia stated bluntly. "Even if we get in without any issues, what do you plan to do? Apologize?"

Eva's eyes widen. "That's... Actually an idea. Not a good one, but it is one."

"You can not be serious." The brunette frowned.

"I know we won't be forgiven, but at least if we apologize, some weight of this will go away." Eva said sighing.

"Mizel did a lot of bad things, Eva. No one's gonna see past that." Kousuke stated, narrowing his eyes.

"But Olivia did, didn't she?"

Everyone turned silent at that. The brunette turned to her with a worried look. "Okay, so I did. But you can't guarantee that from the others."

"I mean, we never know, right? And besides-" The blonde was cut off by the doorbell ringing.

"I got it." Olivia said, walking up to the door. The rest stayed silent as they heard some bickering by the front door. After about five minutes of intense silence, Olivia came back with a frown. "Guys, before you say anything defensive, I think we should help."

"What are you talking about?" Niara blinked. Peering over her friend's shoulder, she saw Professor Oozora and Izayoi. "Well, crap."

~~~~~

"So even after all we did, you would still come to us for help?" Kousuke asked with an eyebrow raised.

Kirito smirked. "I'm pretty sure it's just because they have no one else to go to."

"They have Kusunagi and team LCW though." Niara interrupted.

"We still need more help." Izayoi said with small huff. "Whoever this person is, they managed to capture all the Seekers in literally no time at all. We need to go in and investigate the entire area."

"How long had they been in there?" Olivia asked.

"All night I suppose." The professor replied as she pulled over and parked next to another car. "Yagami. Uzaki."

"Professor. So you brought them?" Takuya got a nod. "Alright. We've sent team LCW to go on a perimeter check, Kusanagi should join them."

"Why can't I go inside?" Izayoi asked slightly annoyed.

"We already have too many people inside, we need more people outside to keep watch and if anyone tries to come in, we know that he or she is the one behind this." Yagami explained. He watched as the kids poured out of he car and was taken back to find Kamiya Kousuke, though he didn't question it. "Kamiya, you're also on perimeter check."

"Do I get to use the security's control panel?" The blonde asked, a smirk forming on his face. He was tempted to do the things he did back at Goliath almost two years ago.

"Do as you wish, but you know what will happen if you try to cross us somehow." With that, Kousuke ran into the building, Izayoi reluctantly behind him. Takuya turned to face Eva. "It must've been a long and hard ride for you. Are you alright?"

Eva was surprised at the kindness. She thought for sure she was going to get scolded the second she was here. She had been silent the entire ride, communicating through her AI with only Mizel, who is now taking the form of a watch on her wrist.

She turned to her friends, who were looking at her worriedly. Then to Yagami and Prof. Oozora, who were just as worried, but also had a hint of disappointment in their eyes. Finally, she faced Takuya again, who she wasn't able to read. She swallowed. "I don't... I don't know how to answer that right now."

"That's understandable..." He seemed like he had more to say, but then shook his head and turned to the others. "Alright then, be careful in there and stay together. Kirito, I trust you to be the one who keeps in touch with us if anything were to happen."

"Got it."

~~~~~

They went through the passage they were told about. Eva led the way because, even though she's never been in here before, she still knew the building best. Olivia was right behind her with her usual straight face. Behind her, Kirito and Niara are walking side by side and with their CCMs in hand, strangely not arguing with each other. In fact, throughout this whole journey, Olivia noticed how they've been agreeing about 40% of the time, which is pretty shocking since it's usually just 10%.

They walked until the end of the hallway, where the room was supposed to be. It was dark and you could barely see what's in front of you. Point was made when Olivia bumped square into Eva's back.

"Sorry."

"It's fine." The blonde replied. "But how are we supposed to find them?"

"Why don't we try to find a light switch or something?" Niara asked from behind them.

"Or we could use the flashlight option on our CCMs." Kirito pointed out blankly. They went silent for a minute. Why the heck did none of them think of that from the start? They all did so after they've recovered from their own stupidity.