"Helpless girl my ass!" Kaitou growled, pointing an accusing finger at the girl in front of him. The urge to throw something at Amaranth was rising steadily, but all Kaitou had on hand were his books, and he wouldn't dare risk losing them by launching them at her.

"..." A few moments passed without the blonde jabbing at her before he sighed and closed his eyes, folding his arms and turning his head to the side as a very clear (if not exaggerated) indicator that he was only saying this next line out of obligation. "You're not hurt, right? It would be a hassle to drag your ass over to the hospital, so don't bother answering unless you broke something."

As an afterthought, he placed a hand on his stomach and winced, turning back to shoot a glare as if it were Amaranth's fault. Which it was, for the most part. "On second thought, maybe I need a trip to the emergency room..."

Being a hardass was tough. Kaitou blew a sigh as Ringo turned away and began to walk out of the command room, drumming his fingers on his desk. The brunette would have been a good fit for the first generation of SEES, but here, his ideals clashed against Kaitou's desire to keep the group protected from internal harm. 'But if I were to relax my guard and allow an enemy into our ranks, I'd never be able to forgive myself. My apologies, Shiro.'

Before he could reflect on his decision any further, Ringo brought up the topic of the ice cream again, and while the blonde would have been glad to retort, the mention of food reminded him that their supplies were running low. It was that day of the week to head over to the mall and buy groceries.

"Oi, Shiro. Come with me for a bit. I just remembered that I need to restock the fridge and pantry, so I'm going to have you help carry the groceries. Meet me outside the dorms in three minutes. Oh, and make sure not to bring anyone else along..."

And that was that. Without even waiting for a proper response, Kaitou reached over for his grappling hook a proceeded to hop out the window of the command room, rappelling down the side of the building. Tango, who had been stretched out on the couch for the entire conversation, whined a bit at the departure of his owner, then hopped off the furniture and scampered over to the command room's door, nudging at it with a paw as he stared up at Ringo.

That was Tangonese for "Get out."

There is a street gang that used to hang around Naganaki Shrine every night. They were raucous troublemakers, picking fights and harassing any who crossed their path. Led by a yankee who fancied himself a Reaper, this gang came to be known as the Pale Riders. Two years ago, they dissolved without a moment's notice...

But to this day, their former boss still finds the time to loiter around the shrine, even with all of his responsibilities as the leader of an entirely different organization. Though it was the middle of the day, Kaitou was wide awake and sitting against the wall behind the shrine, reading a light novel. The blonde's delicate sleep schedule had been thrown off balance for three days now, and he had resigned himself to actually sleeping at night and being awake during the daytime again. Since he did not attend school like the rest of his teammates, he instead did his research and intel gathering during the day.

When that got boring, he took some books with him and left for Naganaki, deciding that the rest of the afternoon would be better spent catching up on Haruhi. Students often came to the shrine after school, but few ever came around to the back, where there were only trees and stumps. And occasionally, his old gang members. Today, it was just him and his books, and without anybody around to annoy or distract him, Kaitou let himself be absorbed in his reading...

---

A few hours passed in the blink of an eye for the teen, and before he knew it, his phone was vibrating in his coat pocket. He'd set a silent alarm for half-past five so that he could make it to Paulownia before dark. Letting out a quiet sigh, Kaitou folded the corner of the page he was reading and gathered his books, dumping them in the messenger bag he had brought with him before slinging it over his shoulder and walking around to the front of the shrine.

He barely heard the snapping tree branches before jerking his head up.

"Gah!" the blonde cried, quickly reaching his arms and bending his knees to catch the falling person in his arms. It worked well enough, except for the fact that this person was just a bit heavier than he had anticipated, and so he fell flat on his back while holding onto them. The fall winded him, a result of the bulk of this person's weight being shifted to his stomach. When he regained his bearings (uncomfortable as he was with somebody sitting on him), he glared up at the person he had saved, about to fire a seething remark about their weight (or something).

That was when he caught a glimpse of the chuckling Amaranth that he had once again bailed out of a treacherous situation. She stood up, remarking on the rather odd coincidence that they would meet again, and here of all places. How lovely. Amaranth was probably near the end of Kaitou's 'to see' list right now, if not sitting at the very bottom itself.

"Y...You! What the hell are you doing falling from a goddamned tree in Naganaki?!" Kaitou yelled, wincing as he brought himself to his feet. "And for that matter, how did you even fall from a tree in the first place? Are you perhaps packing more weight than your frame implies?"

"..."

So basically, Ringo was saying that he had gone and taken a girl into the dormitories, fed her some of the ice cream he had bought for himself, and then invited her to live with the rest of SEES, of all things.

Sigh.

Standing up, Kaitou crossed his arms and shook his head. "Look, Shiro. Our group's goal is to end the Dark Hour so that the world doesn't fall to any danger posed by Shadows. We're not a shelter for those without Potential." The teen walked over to his desk and pulled out a dozen throwing knives, setting them next to his laptop.

"A small network is easy to manage, and there is less risk of things spiraling out of control." To demonstrate, he took three knives and began to juggle them. "However, the more we add to our network, the less control we have overall." As he spoke, he added more knives to the act until he was juggling eight at a frenzied pace. "Add any more..."

After taking the ninth knife, Kaitou stepped back and let the blades fall at his feet. "See what I'm saying, Shiro? If you wish to protect this girl, then that's your agenda and I will not interfere. However, I won't allow her to stay here unless I personally deem her trustworthy enough to join SEES."