The Unfortunate Splitting of Regiment Six

" Personally, I don't understand why it's such a big deal."

There was a clattering sound of a pot hitting the bottom of a sink. Eumsong wiped her forehead while still wearing her chibi pig oven mitts that Yura gave her for her birthday.

" There, done and done!" She said happily, sliding the last fried egg onto the top of her own ramen. All of her friends were seated around her two kotatsu tables, which were pushed together.

" It looks amazing, Eumsong." Kiyoshi smiled, playing with his chopsticks.

" Yeah, it looks w-wonderful!" Yura sat between Kiyoshi and Miyako on the right side. Miyako opened her eyes slowly, before yawning.

" Where are Chihiro and Yahiro? They were supposed to be here like...half-an-hour ago." She pointed out, leaning her head on her arm. " Do you think they got lost?"

" Of course not." Eumsong whipped out her phone. " They're just...running late, I'm sure! Yahiro texted me and told me she ran into Chihiro and that she was bringing her back here."

Yura looked visibly upset. " But what if...what if they g-got hurt? Or...what if they don't want to be friends with us anymore!"

" That won't happen, Yura. They're our friends, and Yahiro is with Chihiro. Nobody will get hurt. I'm pretty sure Yahiro would throw down with any person trying to hurt Chihiro." Eumsong smiled.

Kiyoshi looked like he wanted to say something. He pulled out his bag and set a small book on the table.

" Oh, we're reviewing that thing tonight?" Miyako took a long sip of her soda.

" N-Not if you don't want to!" Kiyoshi said defensively. " I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up!"

" It's just been so long, everything has gotten cold," Yura said softly. She reached over and grasped the book in her hands. Gently, she traced her fingers over the writing. " and the police said to stay out of it."

" We know him better than they do! If they would just let us help, we could have already stopped him." Miyako folded her arms.

" I know, I know," Eumsong said. " But dumb adults think they know everything."

There was a knock on the door, before the turning of a key. Yahiro opened the door, followed by an extremely damp Chihiro. Her pink petal hair was flattened by the rain; she looked like a wet puppy.

" Sorry about that, guys," Yahiro said. " The taxi we called took forever and got lost near the shopping plaza."

" Oh! It's okay!" Yura said happily. " I'm just glad you guys are safe! Come sit down!" She chirped while handing the brown leather-bound book back to Kiyoshi, who attempted to place it into his bag.

" D-Didn't Yahiro say not to bring that arou—!" Chihiro covered her mouth. Yahiro groaned, before pinching the bridge of her nose.

" I told you guys. Everything in that book is a lost cause. We're not the Scooby Doo gang, we're high school students on a hiatus." She said. " We tried investigating his issue, and we got shut down."

" I'm sorry kids, but we can't allow high schoolers, much less U.A. students, on these grounds, "

Yahiro turned and grabbed the book from Kiyoshi, before shoving it into her bag. Kiyoshi squeaked in protest.

" Relax, I'm not going to destroy it. I just, don't want to see it right now." Yahiro sat down at the kotatsu, followed by Chihiro.

" Don't you want to try to find him?!" Chihiro asked. " You...you're giving up on them!"

Yahiro took a deep breath. " That's not it at all. I want our class to be the same again, Chihiro. But I know how these things work. Arik—he is involved with something extremely bad, and I really don't want the rest of my friends disappearing into nothingness! And remember what that police officer said?!"

All six of them nodded.

" Look, I appreciate what you youngsters are trying to do, but you need to understand why I won't let you around here."

Yahiro thought back on the event. The current kotatsu squad was attempting to get past a security guard to access case files.

"You kids could figure out too much and walk into something you're not ready for. I don't want to see you lot end up dead, or scarred for life."

The tension at the table could be cut with Eumsong's gudetama serving knife.

" So did you guys see the trailer for Smash Ultimate?" Miyako asked, changing the subject.

" Mmhm. I'm happy they're finally adding in Daisy! Now I can play with all the princesses!" Yura giggled.

" Daisy has always been my favorite, for obvious reasons." Chihiro smiled happily.

" You're forgetting the real travesty. Waluigi as an assist trophy?!" Eum took a sip of her soda through a bendy straw.

" I wonder how they're going to fit Ridley into the game..." Kiyoshi thought for a moment.

" I'm pretty sure they're going to scale him down. Otherwise, there would be no point in even putting him in." Yahiro chimed in.

They began talking about the new Nintendo events and such. While the air was cleared, the looming mood still remained deep within Yahiro's bag. The book sat there, not doing anything.

If only it was truly easy enough to shove your problems into a backpack.