I couldn't get this idea out of my head so now I'm subjecting all of you to it. You're welcome.

Kyoko was under the impression that nothing was worse than being swamped with too much work and too little sleep. Apparently, she was wrong. There was one thing worse, and that was the situation she was in.

"Whose turn is it for music?" Hina called from the front seat. Kyoko tried to become reabsorbed in her book, but she couldn't concentrate on it once Hina started up Chihiro's playlist, blasting some older pop songs. She sighed mutely, closing her book and staring out the window.

Why did she agree to take a road trip with her classmates?

It was Hina's idea to begin with; she wanted them all to take a trip to the beach, and the only logical way to get everyone there was by bus. If it were up to her, she wouldn't be going. She had too much work to do at home, and besides, this environment was too noisy for her. It didn't help that she didn't exactly enjoy the beach the few times she'd gone, either. She burned too easily to ever have fun.

She took her attention off of the window for a total of five seconds, checking in on the boy sitting- or, more accurately, dozing- next to her. He was only half-conscious, the only thing keeping him awake at all the coffee he had earlier. She shifted her attention back to the window, watching Toko text Komaru in the reflection from the seat in front of her.

"Makoto, are you planning on falling asleep?" she asked without turning back to him.

"I wasn't-" he yawned- "I wasn't planning on it, no." But she already knew that. Why else would somebody who usually orders decaf have actual coffee if they weren't planning to stay awake for a while? "I thought coffee was supposed to be stronger than this."

Kyoko tapped the window once before straightening. "You must be a little extra tired, then."

Makoto shrugged, but she could see the slight bags under his eyes. "Komaru was on the phone really late last night with someone," he said, making sure Toko could hear the last part.

"She was keeping me up, too," Toko shot back without even looking back at them. Ever since Toko and Komaru started dating, little banter like that between Makoto and Toko was fairly common, and fairly amusing to a good portion of their classmates.

"If you need something to do to stay awake, I brought some small activities to keep me occupied." They were just a couple small puzzle books, but if they helped, they helped. They were good for challenging the mind, either way. If she wasn't going to be doing any actual work, this was the next best thing.

She dug one out for him, handing it and a pen over. She always used pen because it stopped her from hedging over her answers. "Thanks, Kyoko," Makoto said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek and flipping through the book. He landed on a logic puzzle, the kind with the charts. Those were her favorite kinds. He hummed under his breath to the song playing as he started working on it, tapping the pen gently against the paper.

Kyoko settled against the window again, observing the outside rushing past. Somehow, as she was zoning out and only focusing on the scenery, Makoto's humming overpowered the music itself. A light smile tugged at her lips. This road trip was going to be awful- this was too clear as Taka was already shouting at Mukuro for bringing a knife- but she wasn't going at it alone. She had Makoto to help her retain her sanity.

Thanks for sticking with me this week! I hope you enjoyed!

And yes, Mukuro brought a knife on a school vacation. Who knows why.

Thanks to muk854 for reviewing!