One week had passed ever since the wekeend spent with Yumi and Chika, and only two days remained until the advent of the midterm exams that terrorized the high school masses. After the multiple requests for help coming from Ban, Izuru finally accepted his defeat and agreed to spend the last weekened before midterms helping him study enough to salvage a grade good enough to be able to participate on the post-midterms school trip that Heiwa did every semester.

It was saturday morning, only a little past seven, and Izuru was already up. He stared at himself at the mirror, dressed in the same trench coat wore in the day spent with Chika.

"That day... Eh, I have to admit that I am indeed a genius. I utterly destroyed that waiter's comment on my lack of speed after sprinting away from senpai's mansion." Izuru chuckled with a proud smirk.

But then, in similar fashion to that day, he grabbed his head and groaned.

"What the hell was that about?! Who runs away after something like that happens?! And then avoids the other participant of that event for an entire week?! If I have to eat my lunch on the cafeteria like a normie again, my mind will break! How did it come to this, to avoid the student council room?! I played the right games and always made the right dialogue choices so why?! Not like this!"

"Izu-chan, did your belt phone case scare away the potential wife-to-be?" Yu asked from outside the room.

"Shut up! And don't just listen to me from the door like some overly obssessive mother!"

"It was hard to stay asleep when you're shouting this loudly at this ungodly hour."

"Oh. Right. My bad."

"Oh yeah, and aren't you going to Ban-kun's house today? Aren't you going to miss the train at this speed?"

"...well when you put it that way!"

Izuru fetched his headphones from his desk and put them on his head right away, then opened his bedroom's door and ran past his mother.

"I'm going out!"

"Good luck, Izu-chan! Send Ban-kun my regards!"

"Alright, got it!" Izuru yelled back from the entrance hall, where he sat putting on his shoes in a rush. "Stupid train schedules and all of that, I'll probably lose the train again in that maze of a station!" He grumbled.

With his shoes on and a backpack with all he needed for the weekend on his back, Izuru jumped back on his feet and opened the door to leave, but all the cheeriness of the moment was lost upon the sight of the man with dark red hair and a broad built that stood on the other side.

Izuru scoffed and walked past him, giving him just a few words and not a single glance.

"Move it, extra."

"Where are you going at this hour?"

"Any place with at least a fifteen meter distance from you. I'll be back after you return to overworking yourself to an hospital bed in that useless job tomorrow."

"My job isn't-"

Izuru slammed the household's gate on his way out, loud enough to quiet the man and make some birds that rested on the tree in the house's backyard wake up and fly away.

"I don't remember saying anything to warrant a response or giving any hint that I wanted any sort of dialogue exchange with you, Paul Blart. Mom had a tough week at work, not that you'd know about it, so don't be a pain in her ass and keep your crap to yourself while you're here. Tell Kaminari he should get a better partner. Or better, a better job."

"It's mean to just visit me when you want something, you know?" Sumireko asked, placing a cup of coffee on top of her desk. "But don't you have a train to catch?"

"No, the train isn't due for at least another hour. I just gave my mom a reason to be out of the house earlier than that bump's arrival, but mission failed. We'll get them next time." Izuru replied, picking up his cup and taking a sip. "This tastes awful. What's up with your coffee machine?"

"Give it a rest, she's old but reliable." Sumireko chuckled, sitting behind her desk. "Besides, money doesn't come that easy. The state gives the chunky budgest to the big hospitals first and we at the small clinics get whatever scraps remain."

"So you basically don't have enough sick people coming in?"

"This is a clinic, that's a good thing."

"Ironic words from someone who makes a living out of other people getting screwed by something."

"Those are very vague words to describe half the good paying jobs in the job market. But screw all that, tell me tell me! How did that date with that cute senpai go?! I heard she has purple hair like me, remember to thank me when you marry her!"

"Where the hell did that come from?!" Izuru coughed, placing his cup down. "How the hell did you find out about that?!"

"Your mother told me."

"Wha- Since when and why are you in kahoots with my mom?!"

"She's my one friend in this neighbourhood, y'know?" Sumireko took a sip of her coffee. "Wow, I really need to get a new one."

"That doesn't explain anything!"

"I thought it'd explain enough for someone like you to get, but fine." Sumireko got up from her chair and crossed her arms. "Do you get it now?"

"I'm more confused than before, if anything." Izuru deadpanned.

"I'm a total babe despite my age! I don't even look like I blasted a baby out of my hoohaa!"

"Oh. Ew."

"Almost every home in this neighbour has a happily married couple, but let's face it, I'm way hotter than any wife any guy in this area has! That's why all of those jealous bitches despise me! They wish they could have kept a fine hip like this one after giving birth to a child!"

'Well this argument isn't getting any humbler, is it?' Izuru sweatdropped.

"And not to mention but I'm a doctor! And I run a small local clinic, that's the stuff teenagers are into these days thanks to video games!"

"No, that'd be just me and not even I'm that into it."

"My point is that in this storm of hateful women, one special woman stood above the rest! A kind and lovely mother of two who spends most of her days by herself because of her husband's busy work! Me and Yu-chan are the bestests of friends, I'll have you know! And don't get me started on how time forgot to affect her too, when me and her get together, people around us think we're just college students! But I'll have to give Yu-chan the win here, I wish my rack was at least half the size of hers. And don't get me started on that round butt!"

"...the divorce was a long time ago, wasn't it..."

"Face it, Izuru! I'm a total milf, I deserve the hate the married skanks in the zone!"

"....siiiiiiiiiip...." 

"How- How are you verbalizing your sip while sipping that loud?!"

"So what you're saying is..." Izuru placed down the cup and crossed his arms. "You've been alone for way too much time, you old hag."

And moments later he was regretting those words after the pain of having a clipart slammed against his head.

"I was joking..." He muttered.

"Answer my question! I need a teenager boy's opinion on the matter!"

"That sounds all kinds of wrong! You want me to say what exactly?!"

"Am I mega hot for my age or not?"

"...sure, why not." He answered. 'Truth be told, if you were ten years younger and I was ten years older, and if your supposed daughter wasn't my age, then hell- No, bad Izuru!'

"Exactly! Basically, I know your mother since I'm way hotter than most other mothers in this area." Sumireko said, sitting down with a proud smirk.

"Ah. So this is what Tate meant with the ads about single-"

"Finish that sentence and my clipboard won't be the biggest thing to cause you pain today."

"Understood. I think I'm gonna get going now."

"No wait, what about the date with the cute senpai?"

"It wasn't a date and it's a matter better left unspoken. Just another mystery of the occult like what happened to my RNG and how Tate didn't flunk his math exams."

"Oho? So something that you don't want to talk about happened? Something very heart racing perhaps? Nyoho, I wonder what you could have done, you sly dog." Sumireko chuckled with a large smug.

"Whatever happened began shrinking the bridge between me and Ryuuga. Oh yeah baby, we're in the regreting life choices route now." Izuru joked. "See you later, Sumireko."

"Bye bye! And hey, have you met my daughter yet?!"

"Hard to meet her when you keep not telling me her name so no!" Izuru yelled from the waiting room.

"Hai, hai!" Sumireko sighed and took a sip of her coffee. "Oh yeah, we're getting a new coffee machine this weekend."