God Eater: Fates Entwined

15 - A Road of Nightmares

"Yuka-san!"

"Sestra!"

What met the pair of excited New-Types was a fierce glare from sharp, blue eyes. Both Alisa and Lenka immediately stopped in their tracks, trying their best to suppress the growing upward curl of their lips.

Soma was not amused. He had heard them coming from a mile away but honestly didn't expect them to come busting in with their outdoor voices. The man glared up at them from the couch where he sat on, the table in front of him littered with books and other various reading materials. "What do you want?" He scowled.

But the inevitable occurred—the woman stirred, rustling the sheets as she twisted, turned, and finally rose. Soma's glares only grew fiercer, but he closed the book he held in his head and placed it down along with the rest. Yuka was staring into nothingness, appearing surprised that she had woken up on her bed despite not sleeping there. "Oh no—" Well, she returned back to her senses pretty quick. "Have I slept for too long?"

"Three hours," Soma answered. "If you ask me, that's not even nearly enough. And you two—" The dark-skinned man turned towards the younger God Eaters still at the door. "—aren't you supposed to be reporting to Major Amamiya?"

The two in question snickered. They are used to Soma scowling and yelling, but seeing him in his dubbed 'Alpha Mode' still brings them delight every time. If Kota was here, he probably even would have made fun of that. "We just received the mission briefing," Lenka answered.

"There's just something we want to talk about when we get back, and we'd want to know if you'll be free by then," Alisa deliberately continued.

Yuka rubbed the sleep off her eyes and sluggishly crawled out of bed. "Uhh, yeah... Sure... Can't actually tell, but we'll make room—err, whatever. You get the point," the blonde answered as she yawned. "Let's meet up in the lab when you get back." She poured herself a cup of coffee, not even questioning how there was coffee in the first place. The pair nodded in agreement and trotted off, the sound of their voices eventually fading as they went further down the hall.

Soma started tidying the books on the table, stacking them neatly on top of each other. Yuka, on the other hand, continued to make her coffee, pouring hot water into her cup. The metal spoon made small clinking sounds against the ceramic mug as she stirred the beverage, the silence seemingly no longer a bother to the both of them.

He had finished his work when she asked, "Do you have any idea what those two could be up to? They've surely gotten a lot closer."

"Beats me," he answered, picking up the pile of books into his arms. It was a surprise that in just that short span of time, she was already halfway with her coffee. His stare shrunk into a glare almost immediately. "Do you plan to abandon a week's worth of sleep with that?"

She grinned. "I love you. I love you very much." His glares only grew sharper. "But please let me enjoy this one thing. I have lots of things to do and I can't afford to sleep. I promise to catch up on sleep afterwards; you can even keep watch of me to be sure."

"Are you implying that I don't trust you?"

She paused, surprised by the words that escaped his mouth. Blue eyes stared back at him for a short while of silence, before Yuka conceded, averting her gaze and managing a small smile. "After everything I've done, I don't think you trust anything that comes out of my mouth."

In that dreadful quietness filling the room, Soma dropped the books back to the top of the table and slowly, he made his way towards the otherwise waiting blonde.