Hikaru, Hiromi and Junpei walked to the footpath after exiting Junpei's house. Junpei looked at Hikaru as he stood there and waited for Hikaru to continue his pitch but Hikaru was looking at his phone.
"So, what-"
"The taxi will be here soon."
"Taxi?" Junpei cocked his head.
He was worried that this might be part of some plan to lure him out and trap him.
"This isn't the best place to have our talk" Answered Hikaru.
"We could just talk about other things even if there are paras-"
"Someone's coming" Hikaru warned him.
Junpei turned around and saw an average 20-year-old skinny guy in a backpack walking home from university. He was clutching onto his backpack straps. With his facial expressions, he didn't look confident. One could tell he was going through uni life stress as his eyes looked miserable.
They talk about the mid-life crisis but in this modern world, has that crisis shifted to our 20s?
After the uni student went out of earshot, Hikaru spoke.
"Even if there are fellow parasites and our conversational topic isn't suspicious, it's still bad if we are even seen talking to each other. When they begin investigating, you wouldn't want to regret even the littlest hint you gave them. Besides, isn't it better we take a ride there?"
Walking is free of cost while taking a train or bus is much cheaper than a taxi. Even though Junpei wasn't paying out of his pocket nor should he care about Hikaru, a taxi wasn't the first thing to come to mind because it costed money. It made him feel weird that Hikaru would go this far and pay for a taxi.
"I don't see a problem with just walking. It's not like you live far from the school."
Junpei's real intention was that he didn't feel safe in a taxi. He hasn't trusted Hikaru yet who broke a couple of his ribs and beat him up at the Battle Royale.
"If we take a taxi, we won't be seen walking together. Also, it's much quicker so you assuredly would be ready for the harvest tonight."
While other wards have started harvesting as early as they can in the evening, Midori ward was on a 48-hour harvest ban which would end the same time the Genji incident happened. Around 10 pm. Junpei would need to be picked up far away from Hikaru's house to avoid the dots being connected.
Junpei sighed relief but then it became a grumble.
'This guy is too uptight.' He thought.
"Wait." Hikaru realised something from what Junpei said earlier. "How did you know I don't live far from school?" Hikaru asked with his eyes narrowed.
"Ehh, the guys you hang out with knew about it and so the girls did. It's a rumour. Guess it's true ha." Junpei casually threw it out there.
Hikaru stared at Junpei blankly. Internally, he had a derp face.
The taxi coming down the street saw three students standing next to the road. It rolled to a stop next to them.
"Ehh, Hikaru-san?" The driver said as he read out the screen name shown on the JapanTaxi app.
"Yes. Thank you." Hikaru replied as he opened the car door.
The taxi drove off into the setting sun.
***
Hanae locked the door after they closed it. She was alone again.
She sighed.
It's been a while since she had so much fun. Almost like everything was back to normal. Hiromi was particularly fun to play with. Their house had come to life again.
"Hm?"
Hanae put her index finger to the underside of her bottom lip and pondered. She realised that it has never been this lively before. This was an all-time new record. Even before the parasite invasion, things have never been this fun under Ai's (her mother's) wrath.
Most of the time, Hanae and her brother wouldn't make much noise or activity so that Ai wouldn't make a deal out of it. Often Ai would look for an excuse to take out her bitterness on them.
The invasion had made some things easier and other things harder. Of course, she wasn't happy that her mother was killed despite how badly Ai had treated them. However, she no longer lived in fear of her but now in fear of the parasites. Specifically, she was most afraid of her brother losing his humanity.
Not because he might kill her but... she worried about him losing his sense of self. She worried about the pain that comes with it. The guilt and confusion. So, she stayed in the house so that he would always have a home to come to. She was Junpei's anchor of humanity.
On the bright side, a whole new possibility has opened up. They were free from their mother's prison. If they rid this world of the parasites or lived in harmony with them, they could have a new life. Hikaru and Hiromi can be part of that. After this war, their bond will probably cement from camaraderie and hardship.
A cheery smile bloomed on Hanae's face and light blushes appeared on both cheeks. The family was the most important thing to her.
"I wonder what Hikaru's favourite food is."
The way to someone's heart is through their stomach after all.
"I hope he likes Koala's March. I'm talking to myself again. Sigh."
She had been doing that often since having been locked up at home and having no one to talk to.
***
"Hachoo!"
"Bless you," Junpei said nonchalantly.
"Thank you," Hikaru replied in a stoney manner.
"My lord, are you religious?" Hiromi asked.
The taxi driver looked at the strange exchange in the rearview mirror. Hikaru noticed this and said, "Hiromi, mind your surroundings..." He said slightly agitated.
Junpei raised his eyebrow at the two.
"Sorry, I won't do that again." She sincerely apologised.
The taxi driver saw Hikaru look back on the mirror and so he focused his eyes on the road while rubbing the base of his neck. After sneaking a peek at the high school girl with an enormous chest earlier, he wasn't surprised that the pretty boy and the girl had bedded each other.
Although the girl acted innocent and cute, she was for sure a reincarnated succubus behind doors. He wished he was married to a woman that was kinky in bed, maybe even daring to say that in public.
'Must be good to be young' The middle-aged man thought.