It is a quiet afternoon on the weekend. In a quiet smaller manor located at the edge of a forest.
In dining area of the manor the top 5 JDHC hunters were sitting at a table and were enjoying lunch together.
The sounds of silverware against the plates and bowls was broken by chatter. Tanmachi spoke up after gulping down a portion of her food, she is dressed in more casual clothes, wearing some shorts and an orange hoodie.
"Seriously Miyuki, thanks for inviting us over for lunch. Your cooking is an absolute blessing, as is tradition at this point!"
She said and went back to eating food again.
Gahu nodded and looked at Miyuki, dressed in a white button up t-shirt and jeans.
"Tanmachi's right, I wonder what the secret to your cooking is…oh how I wish my ex knew how to cook half as good as this"
Gahu proclaimed and chuckled at the end of his sentence.
Gokkumon gave a slight laugh at Gahu's joke and looked up at the group.
"Ain't that the truth, you need to teach Kata how to cook this well Miyuki. Actually on the other hand, its better we don't mention to her that I've ever said that. Or else demons will be my second biggest danger."
Gokkumon added his own joke to the pile. He is dressed in a loose shirt and old worn out trousers.
Bocchi in the meantime just sat in the chair, politely eating the food in silence.
Miyuki smiled a bit and waved her hand off at the group.
"Don't mention it guys, we're comrades after all, if we didn't have some normal days over lunch we'd go insane in no time, and we would not be such a great team!"
Miyuki is dressed in a traditional Japanese Kimono, its dark blue and has a great amount of flowers sewn into them.
"Not to mention, it's always a pleasure to have you guys over and not be set on work all the time, although we have to discuss some stuff after the food."
Gokkumon nodded, the bright smile turning into more of a sad one.
"Indeed that we do.."
Tanmachi looked up from her food and looked at Gokumon.
"Still don't know her whereabouts?"
Gokkumon shook his head and let out a sigh.
"No, perhaps is better that way, not that I'm complaining. The committee not knowing where she is, is not forcing us to send men to die after her, and she gets some peace from us at once. "
Bocchi finished his meal, wiped his mouth into his black jacket and looked at the group.
"The less we have to deal with her, the better, for us, DHC and her too"
Miyuki frowned a little, looked at Bocchi and gave a slight nod.
"I have to agree, though I still do worry about her. She's such a young kid out there on her own, makes me wonder if she's really safe."
Gahu intervened as he too, just finished his meal and looked to Bocchi too.
"Unfortunately there's no guarantee that it will stay that way. It's not about if we manage to find her, but more like when. The scouts are searching from when we last saw her and are spreading out more and more with each passing day, she couldn't have gotten that far. I reckon she's holed up in some old building somewhere."
Gokkumon pushed the food bowl a little away from him, losing his appetite a bit through this talk.
"Yes, no matter how hard we're gonna try to stay away, we'll be forced into contact with her again. We have to only hope that the five of us find her before the scouts do, so we can warn her or get some proof to show the committee that she does not deserve to be hunted like an animal who escaped from a zoo"
Tanmachi looked at Gokumon with a slight frown, tilting her head to the side with sorrowful eyes..
"So we should also start looking?"
Gahu nodded in place for Gokkumon.
"Indeed, we'll clear up some place in our schedule, extend our scouting from where our scouts have not looked yet, and in time we'll hopefully find her before they do."
Gahu said and crossed his arms whilst nodding to himself.
Bocchi slouched back in the chair.
"And here I was hoping the world would forget about her already"
Miyuki chuckled a bit and stretched as she scooted the chair away from the table.
"Complaining about your work won't get you far Bocchi. Seriously sometimes I wonder how you made it to top five with your attitude."
Bocchi smirked and looked at Miyuki.
"Simply a prodigy, I'm just that good at hunting demons."
Tanmachi laughed a little, rested her head on her hands and gave Bocchi a smug smile.
"Prodigy my ass. I got you beat in a duel multiple times and I'm 4 years younger, shorter and physically weaker."
The group laughed together except for Bocchi.
He just pouted a little and glared at Tanmachi.
"You're just a bigger prodigy than me, I guess."
He then shrugged and shook his head.
The group then continue their banter, moving on from the serious tone of work talk, to a small talk matter like the weather and such.
After some time passed the group found itself at the exit to the manor, with Bocchi leaving first.
"Alright, have a good rest of your day folks. See you later, I'm in a rush to get to Sendai. I promised to go out drinking with my pals tonight so I gotta get going"
Bocchi said and settled down on his motorbike and started it, the revving of the engine filling the queit air of the surrounding area.
Gahu called out to him with a wave.
"Take us with you next time! We'd also like to have some drinks sometimes!"
Bocchi drove off with a light nod to Gahu and a wave to the group. Gahu looked at the group and sighed.
"Well gotta get going too, got some working out to do and besides my car still has not been fixed so I gotta take a walk home."
Gokkumon looked at him, with a smile and stopped forward.
"I was wondering where your car was, I can give you a lift if you need it. I gotta go shopping and your house is along the way"
Gahu exhaled and shook his head.
"You're a saviour boss, that would be great. Thank you so much."
Gahu gave Gokkumon a slight bow.
Gokkumon chuckled and walked outside with Gahu. Giving Miyuki and Tanmachi a wave as they both sat into his car and drove off.
Tanmachi lingered a little longer with Miyuki.
"And the girls are left alone! These guys sure are gentlemen, could offer me a ride for once."
Miyuki chuckled whilst standing behind Tanmachi.
"I prefer the guys this way, rather than acting like some high school boys while around us. Besides they know you'd turn them down and choose to jog home anyways."
Tanmachi crossed her arms and sighed.
"Wouldn't hurt one of them to offer at least…the gesture would be appreciated you know?"
Miyuki laughed and patted Tanmachi on the back.
"Well you know how they are…anyways, have you thought about what we called about yesterday?"
Tanmachi turned around and pondered for a second.
"The Idea of you and me helping out Commander more in his efforts of humanizing demons? Yea, I feel like it would be a good idea, to show people that he's not just some crazy old man who swoons over demons and that more people actually agree with him"
Miyuki smiled and nodded at Tanmachi.
"Good, I'll send you some ideas I have through mail, so you can have a look at them when you get home. Its not too much for now but at least its something, when we decide on it all we can tell Gokkumon about the idea. But I won't keep you any longer, you said that you gotta babysit your brother later today."
Tanmachi gave a salute as she walked outside too.
"Yea, mom and dad are going to Tokyo to promote some of their new products again, so they asked me if they can drop Mamori off at my place. Anyways see you later Miyuki! I'll let you know what I think of your ideas once I get home, that's if Mamori won't be too needy and ask of too much attention. Bye bye!"
Tanmachi waved to Miyuki and jogged off down the road that led into the city.
Miyuki stood in the door waving back to her as she watched her last friend leave. She turned back into the house and closed the door. Walking through a hallway lined with family and friends photos, photos of her and Tanmachi in DHC training camp. Her parents when she was little. A picture of the Top 5 welcoming Bocchi among them. And a picture of Miyuki's marriage, which Miyuki stops in front of for a second and smiles softly, patting the image of the man who was marrying her, a man with glasses and brown hair in a three piece suit.
"Oh Kazuto if only you were here to see how far I've gotten and what we're dealing with now. Sometimes I wonder what you'd have to say about the world."
She smiled softly and turned away, the smile on her face quivering a little as she took a deep breath to calm herself down, she then looked back and gave the photo a slight bow, before walking further into the manor.
"I need to one of them to help me with the dishes next time."
She mumbles to herself to lighten her thoughts as she ends up in the dining room again.