~Closeness~

A few days back, she had looked over the lively living area of their small apartment and had, although absent-mindedly, internally complained about it being too damn noisy. It had been an especially nerve-wracking day, with the heat outside being too much for anyone to bear and everyone being stuck inside. Together.

The electric fans' quiet buzz had been audible in the morning, when everyone had still been somewhere else or asleep, but the more people assembled on the couches, the less tolerable became the others' yelling and laughing.

At some point, she had given up on trying to cook something- the steam of the boiling water had been too hot, especially given the hellish temperature outside. So she had slumped in a kitchen chair, exhausted from everything going on around her, and sighed. Sooner or later, she would have to break them all apart and ask them what they wanted to order for dinner. Wryly, she ended up wondering if they could feed eight mouths (of which one ate for ten) with the little income they had. If that wasn't the case, she concluded, they could always rely on Kisaragi being an idol and thus of better financial standing.

Despite herself, as always, an overly concerned worrywart, she smiled. These mundane sorrows were something she relished in. They were commonplace things that most people took for granted, maybe they even found them annoying (which they, admittedly, were), but she had been through so much shit in her life that this was perhaps a bit taxing on her nerves, yet not unpleasant. It was peace.

Though it was a fairly loud kind of peace, since a cry startled her out of her thoughts. A bit disgruntled, she got up, then, briefly checking the clock in the kitchen, before deciding that she could calm the mess of yelling and crying and snoring by getting everyone's attention with the prospect of food by now.

She didn't even bother to kick off Kano's hand from the sofa's armrest as she stepped on it, effortlessly balancing on it. The blond by her feet grinned up at her and she rolled her eyes at him before she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Oi! We're ordering something tonight! What do you want?"

A brief silence followed, everyone looking at the Dan's leader. She brushed her fringe from her face and tucked a few stray strands behind her ear as she descended from the armrest again. Then, after a few seconds, Seto's always pleasant voice was the first to resound. "What do you want for dinner, Mary-Chan?"

"I-I... um, I don't know. Can we hear a few suggestions first?", the small gorgon asked timidly. And then, the expected discussion broke out.

"Can we get Chinese, Danchou?"

"We're not getting Chinese again."

"Shut up, Onii-Chan, only because you had to throw up after last time!"

"How about burgers, then?"

"That actually sounds good!"

"But I wanted pizza!"

"Can we get something... like barbecue?"

"We've only had that."

"Or we could go out and get ice cream? It's so hot, anyways."

"Going out there would be too much for Mary-Chan, right?"

"N-no, i-if everyone... wants to go out, I'll go out, too!"

"I thought we needed proper food for dinner. Not ice cream."

"Hm, we could also get burritos or something like that, right?"

"Or we could quickly buy something pre-made at a convenience store?"

"I want Okonomiyaki!"

"It's too hot for that!"

"I want barbecue."

"What do you think, Kido? What do you want?"

Of course it was Kano who brought the attention back to her. Almost inaudibly, she let out a sigh through her nose before shrugging. "I think pizza would be the best compromise. In the end, everyone can pick what they want, right?", she asked, and after a few mumbled 'okay's, the Mekakushi Dan decided to get pizza that evening.

Looking back on that day now, Kido wanted to kick herself from letting it slip without giving it too much thought. There had been no need to protect anyone, no need to enjoy the company of her friends more than usual. After all, she had lived under the impression that they had been safe. But that had seemingly been nothing but her being dense.

Not bothering to wipe her tears anymore, she desperately reached out for the sneaker-clad ankle to her right. Kano's limp weight leaning against her rendered her almost unable to move, though, even as she tried to reach out to Seto, whose face was almost entirely gone.

She couldn't move, her trembling body preventing her from shoving the blond boy off of her. She couldn't scream, her throat constricting, only letting out choked sobs. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't... she just couldn't... she... she...

There was not an ounce of strength left in her. She realised that as Kisaragi fell onto her brother's cooling body, choking on her own breath.

All the times when she had been pretending to be strong, to be nonchalant about everything... in the end, they had been in vain. Had she been straight forward instead, maybe she wouldn't be stained in her brothers' blood right now, maybe she wouldn't realise how weak she was, maybe she wouldn't just cry like the pathetic, immature girl she still was at heart.

If there was no-one she held dear to protect anymore, what good would fighting back be, then? Without someone close to her, she felt so lonely- so, so, lonely. These feelings almost made her choke, but even that seemed too farfetched at the moment.

In the end, she didn't even blink before the bullet pierced her skull.

A/N: So yeah, while waiting for the anime, I'll do a quick daily series again. It'll be about every Dan-member, so the characters in the filter will change. The order they're posted in is random. By which I mean: I've got that fancy Wheel of Fortune App and stuff. I'll shut up now.

Anyways. Yeah, Kido got to go first. And also, Outer Science, because it's the most fun thing to write. Like, torment. We don't need those silly cutting-fics. We're doing fine. We got the womb. We got the maternity spiral. We got everything. ... Please take the time to guess who said what in the food-discussion. Also, yes, Ene doesn't eat. :IAlso, yes. Picture from wherever. It's not mine. What do you want.