Chapter Text
It was the end of the first semester of his third year. He didn't expect to see himself playing soccer into his last year of High school with exams just being around the corner, but he was at the point where he just continued going through his everyday mundane routine. It had been 6 years since his first crush and SEES leader passed, and from time to time it was difficult. Sure, he was always upbeat but seeing happy couples walking about, he couldn't help himself and what he wished he could have had. She wouldn't have been in the same grade as him, but Ken's imagination just let him dream of the what-ifs.
Club had just wrapped up and he wore his perfect mask of optimism around his teammates when he felt down like this, never letting it fall. He made his way over to the water fountains with some of the guys, dunking his head under the streaming water for much longer than others. Even though he had them fooled, some of the ones that had been with him since middle school soccer club could tell something was off when he was down, but just let it slide, as he didn't open up about personal matters.
"Hey, man, we're gonna head in and wrap up. Don't stay out here too long."
He chuckled while still keeping his head down and eyes closed, he let the water run over the back of his head towards his face. "Sure, I'll see you guys later if I don't see you back in the room."
He stayed there a few seconds longer after he heard his classmates' footsteps no longer near before he reached out and turned the faucet off, raising his head to stand up and let some of the droplets fall over his face before putting his towel over his head to start drying off.
It hadn't felt this hard in a while, but the new school year reminded him of being lonely in the old SEES dorm, yes, thankfully Koromaru stayed with him to keep him sane and his upperclassmen would stop by often to check on him. Mitsuru was there daily to still check in and she honestly felt more at home there and would stay a few days out of the week with Aigis along with her. It did feel like old times when they were there, but that piece was always missing in his heart. It reminded him that he was a year older now than when Kotone passed, it didn't seem fair. He got to make it this far, and she... He closed his eyes tight and took a deep breath before venturing back to the club locker room.
After showering, changing, and shuffling all his belongings together into and out of his locker, he reached to check his phone. He saw only one message from Mitsuru-senpai. It wasn't odd to have a message from her from time to time, less often now with her stopping by. In the past, it was for Shadow Ops missions, which he had less and less requests for since she wanted him to focus on his last year in High School.
He wondered what it was about, as he clicked to open it up-- In the Shadow Ops chat? He grimaced wondering what this could be about, both fear and excitement crept up his spine.
Shadow Ops
Mitsuru:
Everyone- Meet at the old dorm ASAP. I will wait for us to gather before further instruction.
Normally their group chats were filled with the other bombarding with messages, but when it was in this chat, everyone kept it straight to the point. One by one, each one of the old SEES members reacted to the message with a thumbs-up emoji response.
Ken slammed his locker closed and ran out to his bike to hurry home. A million thoughts flew through his mind as he hopped on it and sped off.
..........
He could see the dorm nearing in the short distance. Koromaru was already waiting outside for him and ran towards him barking. Koromaru didn't get as worked up like this often due to his age, it must be something big. As soon as he got home he quickly locked his bike on the bike rack outside and greeted his old friend with lots of pats. Koro just started tugging on his sleeve to hurry him along, "I get it, I get it, but I doubt anyone else is here yet- besides us. She probably won't tell us yet."
They walked in and Aigis, Shinji, and Akihiko were already sitting in the living room and all turned to look at him. Ken raised an eyebrow confused about how they would make it here before him. "I'm guessing, you all have the Mitsuru insider knowledge."
Shinji smirked at him, "Don't get too excited kid, we don't know what this is about either. She told us earlier since it would take us longer to get here otherwise."
"I am aware of the situation in full but was instructed to not disclose any information on the matter. Mitsuru wanted to inform everyone herself once we were all gathered." Aigis said as Akihiko leaned forward a little towards her direction, looking across from the other couch from her. Sighing out loud, "I take it we can't even get a hint or we will get in trouble." She just turned and smiled at him, "I was not instructed to give any hints."
Akihiko let out a small chuckle, "Of course..."
"I'm going to go up and change and put my stuff up- I'll be right back." He ran up the stairs and into his room. Almost stumbling out of his pants he hurried to rush, falling over and causing a thud. His mind rushed wondering if they were going to be given a special Shadow Ops mission and he was happy with that possibility to get his mind off things.
The guys downstairs let out a small laugh hearing the thud from upstairs and when Ken returned they gave him a little hard time about it. Ken just huffed and sat down next to Aigis as they waited for the others.
After what seemed to be forever, but actually only 20 minutes, the others appeared through the doors and sat down after greeting the others.
Shortly after, Mitsuru walked through the front doors and gazed upon all her wonderful friends and teammates. She motioned to Aigis, who got up and stepped outside causing confusion between the group.
"I'm sure you're wondering why I have requested for you all to gather here. I have some news that will be a great surprise to you all, so you are welcome to continue sitting down for it." Mitsuru didn't move from the front entrance. "It took many years for the Kirijo group to research a possible solution and after what felt like millions of trial and error we were able to create a temporary solution-" her voice waivered and she stopped abruptly to compose herself. "While it is temporary, we are still doing testing to make this permanent-"
Akihiko cut in, "Mitsuru, what's this about? What did you create a temporary solution for...?"
She took a deep breath, looked down, and tried to keep herself together, after a moment of silence she looked at the group again, "I suppose I will just show you instead of keeping you on the edge of your seats in the dark any longer..." She paused and her voice rose with a more stern tone, "But, please try not to overstimulate her."
Everyone looked at each other and back at their Operatives leader, confused. Ken was wondering if she was introducing another Shadow Operative to the group, possibly someone from the Investigation Group? They did show promise when they teamed up years ago, but overstimulating someone...? Were they not looking forward to joining the group? Were they nervous about not being accepted? A bunch of questions kept popping up in his head that wouldn't have prepared him for what was to come.
"Aigis, you can come bring her in now." Mitsuru had turned around to the door and opened it slightly to motion that it was fine to re-enter. The door opened up and Aigis stepped forward holding onto the hand of someone they didn't think they would ever see again.
There she was, not a day over 17 when he last saw her. His eyes instantly watered up along with the rest of his teammates as all types of emotions ran through them. Everyone stood up and was motionless while they processed, this couldn't be real right? There was no way... but there she was right in front of them, their leader, Shiomi Kotone.