The Longest Day

The mission to kill the Kabbalah was a success. Although from the atmosphere in the chopper you couldn't tell.

The ever flamboyant Nana was bitter to the core and leered at Sano from the corner of her eye.

"(Kill thief.)" she thought constantly.

Ciel was always hostile to the inmate so nothing really changed. Gil was absentmindedly frustrated, but at what no one could say.

Romeo was currently edging away from the inmate since he was in full view of his shield. Again.

Julius was currently deep in thought, observing the outside.

As for Sano himself, he could only think of the end of this long day. After dispatching the Psion he apologized for his impulsive actions.

Best Rush ever if you ask me.

After that Julius actually started apologizing as he was in a hurry to get out of the combat zone. The Lv3 Burst via the Kabbalah, the boost of Gils Blood Power, were constant stimulants he had never experienced before. The rest of the members were too astonished to really react at the time.

Now they were on their back to The Den. The order to return straight to base still stood.

When he thought about the Red Rain and Black Plaque Sano could only let exhaustion hit him. This was a lot to digest in one day.

The helicopter couldn't land soon enough.

We can do a re-cap later, for now...I AM STUFFED! Let's chill in our "I can't believe it's not a cell"

Sano didn't waste time assessing Romeo's reactions to his shield as he exited the aircraft. At this point, he just wanted somewhere quiet to think.

He went for the elevator button and tapped his foot. Unlike before the elevator came speedily making Sano hesitate to get in. As he walked inside, Sano noticed that Blood was still around the helicopter discussing topics amongst themselves.

The inmate wasn't looking forward to sharing the elevator, but he sucked it up.

HEY!

The members of Blood ceased at the inmates' call.

"Elevators going down." Sano said.

"It's alright, we'll catch the next one down. Go on ahead." Julius said.

Sano shrugged and pressed the button to take him to the main Den. On the way down Nana stuck her tongue out to his amusement.

That totally wasn't suspicious, but if you don't care, I"ll drop it.

The elevator really seemed to want to make up for its past transgressions, it didn't feel like a whole minute passed before it reach The Den.

Once inside Sano walked to the Balcony looking down to see the couches filled, but no sign of Kanon or Erina. He could however hear Hibari managing 3 phone calls while watching a weather chart.

"(No point in bugging her.)" Sano thought. With no one but strangers filling the halls, and the only acquaintance on duty, he could do nothing more but move on.

The other elevator that took God-Eaters to their rooms was conveniently already opened. Out came a fellow in a purple vest, and Sano took his place inside.

Once on his floor, Sano went to his room and silently thanked Sakaki for giving the room the same number as his Prison tag so it is easier to find.

A mere 1.5 seconds and the inmate was greeted with a surprise.

WELCOME BACK

Erina and Kanon each presented something to Sano's face. A pink can and a plate full of red snacks. Sano sniffed the snacks. They were very fresh, in fact, his whole room smelled, for lack of a better word, appetizing.

Seeing the eager smiles on their faces the inmate took the can and plate.

"You should have told me that Kota got that drink for you! I bet its' been forever since you've had a soda or juice!" Kanon said.

"But, don't worry, I and Kanon bought out the whole soda machine of all the strawberry flavor!" Erina said proudly, opening Sano's fridge displaying rows of the same brand in his hand.

"OH and baked you a whole ton of my own creations for our first day! Please enjoy!" Kanon held her hand out to the table holding a collection of treats in shades of red ranging from biscuits to cookies.

The heck brought this on!?

Sano could only laugh. His urge to drop face-first into bed went away.

"I hope you two plan on helping me eat all these." Sano said as scarfed down the plate of snacks given to him and downed the can of juice. Strawberry really wasn't a bad taste.

"Of course! But we're gonna make sure you try one of everything before we finish! Right Kanon!?" Erina said.

"Yeah! Definitely, I got cupcakes, I got more of those little crackers you just ate, OH, you'll love these little cookies!" Kanon yammered, showing off her works in tandem.

One by one the inmate sampled the pink god-eaters confections and while his policy was "Anything was better than prison food" these collections of baked goods seemed to awaken something in him. It was like Mutsumes food, but something else.

Erina asked constantly about his mission with Blood, ready to cite his responses like an epitome.

Kanon rounded up the empty plates and replaced them as they ate, happily listening in.

"You vaporized it!?" Erina asked.

"Didn't mean to, I just felt all that power in my hands and I let loose." Sano explained.

I would've liked to eat that core. I only got to lick it.

"I can't believe you vaporized a Psion! Not even Blood could do that! I've seen them fight too. I thought they were the coolest thing when they showed up with their new god-arcs and their Blood Arts!" Erina started exhibiting fangirl gestures to Sano's discontent.

"Now that I think on it, I didn't even get a glimpse of the core before I slashed it." Sano said as Erina gushed even more. As Sano looked away with a smirk he caught the frown on Kanon's face.

At hearing Blood Kanon looked away solemnly and felt her chest tighten. Kanon peaked at Sano when she thought he wasn't looking, but he stared right back at her making her look away with a yelp.

Hearing the yelp Erina looked around Sano to see the squeamish Kanon fidget.

"Kanon?" she said with concern.

This made her flinch, and fidget all the more.

"You look like you got something to say." Sano said downing a whole cupcake shamelessly.

Kanon winced, as she gripped the edge of her dress. She tried to speak but failed to produce words. In an attempt to try again, she looked directly into Sano's eyes and tried to force herself. Kanon bit her lip at failing again.

Seeing the struggle to find her voice, Sano was about to change the subject on her behalf. But Kanon finally found the resolve to talk back.

"I'm sorry!" she almost screamed, confusing Erina and Sano.

When she was met with silence, she only grew more desperate and inched closer to the inmate.

"I'm so sorry for before! When Ciel pulled that gun and she was aiming at you!-We just got back from running and my mind was a total blank!-I couldn't move and I don't mean from the exhaustion, I just-...Sat there! That Damn Gun! Why does she even have it!?-Wait, that's beside the point! I'm really sorry for letting you down!" Kanon unleashed these bursts of words out in one desperate cry after the other.

Sano sat bewildered, as he tried to comprehend this drastic confession.

Erina planted herself next to Kanon and went off as well.

"I'm sorry too! It was Romeo's fault, but I was totally useless, I could've tried talking her down, I could have done ANYTHING other than STAND THERE!-WE FIGHT ARAGAMI!-and I was just useless while Ciel...UGH!!! I bet Captain Kota could've done better! Don't give up on us!" Erina stammered.

In the heat of the moment, Sano held up his hands trying to calm them down.

"Listen. She has the right to feel the way she does. I have guns pointed at me all the time, you can't hold yourself to that same standard. You shouldn't be used to it like I am anyway. On that note, I don't want you near me when she pulls that out. " Sano commanded.

"You remember when you said I don't act like a medic? Well, you don't act like a criminal!" Kanon argued.

'Yeah! What criminal goes inside an aragami to save a life! Next time we won't let you down!" Erina exclaimed.

"If anything like that happens again, we'll be ready to protect you! I won't let you down again!" Kanon declared as she and Erina got up in Sano's personal space.

Sano looked up at the ceiling letting out the heaviest sigh he could produce.

"(Doesn't change I'm still a convict!) You two haven't listened to a word I said. Forget what happened today with Little Miss French Maid. If you really want to make it up to me, prepare for tomorrow. I still expect 5 laps." Sano said collecting the last plates of Kanon's delicacies.

"Yes, sir!" Kanon and Erina shouted.

With so much information to digest Sano didn't dare argue against the girls more than he had to. Kanon even cooked for him. A lot. This long ass day had been the long"est" day since he'd been here.

Deep down though the inmate was touched to have companions on his side.

Even if it was inevitably temporary. It still felt good.