A week had gone by since squad 4 had returned to their old rundown apartment. The guys felt oddly at home with the cluttered interior, the peeling walls, and the lived in atmosphere of the place. Even the creaking doors and flickering lights added to the familiarity. To them, this was comfort. To Minato, however, it had been nothing short of a shock.
"How can people live in a place like this?" He often muttered to himself in the first few days, unable to comprehend how his squadmates could lounge so casually amidst the mess. But eventually, the strange warmth of the apartment and the easy camaraderie that filled it wore down his resistance, and he found himself settling in.
Life had slowed to a crawl since their return. They hadn't been deployed by Aeri once, and that silence felt heavier with each passing day.
