The next day dawned bright and cheerful, the sun rising over the lake and the swans beginning to rouse from their slumber.

Kisuke leaned his chin on his hand and stared out across the lake, mind still turning over the things that Ren had told him the night before. He hadn’t gotten much sleep — a few restless, dream-filled hours that left him more tired than before — but that wasn’t unusual.

(He didn’t expect to sleep well for days, given his newest puzzle.)

(Well… not unless Erich sang him to sleep again.)

(He wasn’t sure how he felt about that idea.)

He could feel the ebb and flow of sleepy reiatsu presences behind him as the other four woke up and began to move around, their power reaching out to brush against each other in greeting. A stray thread even stretched out to brush against his awareness, the soft wind-water-feathers sensation that he’d begun to associate with Erich.

Erich’s presence retreated as quickly as it had reached out, leaving Kisuke uncertain as to why the man had done it. It only made sense in the context of Erich caring about him, which—

Made sense, if the man was aiming to court him, Kisuke abruptly realized, mind jerking to a halt. He patted at his sleeves, wishing desperately for something to fiddle with, before settling on the sleeve hems themselves.

(He still didn’t understand why.)

(Curiosity and creativity couldn’t really be what had caught Erich’s eye… could it?)

(And what about the way he’d teased the man to nearly the point of anger?)

(None of this made sense!)

“Morning,” Erich mumbled as he approached, Alexis at his side and both of them carrying trays of food. “Early bird, I see…”

Kisuke snorted and sat up, eyeing the two of them in curiosity as they knelt and placed the trays on the porch in front of them. “Insomniac, truthfully,” he admitted, then blinked and automatically accepted the bowl of rice that Alexis handed him. “You’re… eating out here?”

“If I have to be up, I want to see the sun,” Alexis grumbled as she passed him more dishes, some from her tray and others from Erich’s, and then a set of chopsticks for him to eat with.

Erich shrugged and simply started eating, eyes half-closed and body leaning into Alexis’ instead of sitting straight. His hair was wild from sleep, a fluffy mess that Kisuke itched to run his fingers through, and his shirt was half off one of his shoulders, exposing pale, unfeathered skin.

(His memory of events felt more and more surreal with every day that passed.)

(What was the truth?)

Amused by their blatant disinterest in being awake, Kisuke settled in to eat in silence, giving the two a chance to wake up a bit more before he started prodding for answers. It also gave him an opportunity to watch them without being immediately called out on it, if he was being honest.

Try as he might, he couldn’t see any indication of Erich or Alexis being interested in him like Kanae said they were. Sure, Erich had spent most of an afternoon playing several rather enjoyable games of chess with him, but unless feeding and entertaining a guest were considered courting behavior, Kisuke just… didn’t see it.

Still, it was a fascinating thought.

(Why?)

Alexis hummed as she set aside her empty bowl and cleaned her hands, then cast a thoughtful look at him. “Ren mentioned the two of you talked last night. We’ll endeavor to not catch you in our spellsongs without warning from now on, right love?”

Erich grunted as Alexis elbowed his side, giving her a withering look before huffing and straightening up. “Yes,” he agreed without any hint of resentment or annoyance. “Sorry for tricking you like that.”

“Maa, I probably did need the rest,” Kisuke admitted with a sheepish smile. “Insomniac, remember? And I tend to do worse when I can’t… when there’s nothing for me to exhaust myself with.”

The last traces of sleepiness faded from Erich’s eyes as he ran his gaze over Kisuke thoughtfully. “What do you normally do?”

Kisuke shrugged and rubbed at the back of his head, smiling wryly as he said, “Whatever catches my interest, really? Uhm… research and experimentation for the most part, sometimes a bit of sword practice—”

“No spars?” Alexis asked, cocking her head to the side in confusion. “I’d think that would be a good solution to wear yourself out.”

He grimaced and looked away, out at the lake and the swans drifting about. “Not… recently,” he murmured, part of him knowing that he was confirming Alexis’ suspicions about him and the greater part not caring that he was.

(Not with Yoruichi more feline than human these days, drifting between the worlds in an effort to uncover evidence of Aizen’s treachery.)

(Not with Tessai so busy with the Vizard.)

(Not with the Vizard such dramatic evidence of his failure as a scientist, as a friend—)

A strong-warm-reassuring hand settled atop his own, and he jerked his head around to stare at Alexis in surprise.

“Well, if you don’t have anyone around who will spar with you, you could always return here,” she told him with a warm smile, though there was an oddly mischievous edge to it. “I’m always up for a good warm-up, and if you’re good, you might even tempt Erich into joining us.”

Kisuke blinked, uncertain how to take her words; she sounded sincere enough, but something about her tone put him on edge. Not exactly in a bad way, but…

There was something she wasn’t telling him, something related to returning here, that she seemed to be looking forward to.

“Maa, Erich-tenshi-san is both beautiful and deadly?” Kisuke asked teasingly, trying to buy himself a moment to puzzle through Alexis’ words further. He knew there was something there, something to uncover, but he just couldn’t find it.

“I’m not an angel,” Erich growled, eyes narrowed and nose wrinkled in annoyance. “I really wish you would drop that,” he muttered, then took a deep breath and shook his head, expression smoothing out and reiatsu calming faster than Kisuke expected. “As for fighting, I was a soldier once. It’s… I don’t particularly enjoy it, but I keep myself in practice even now.”

“Oh. I… didn’t expect that.”

Erich gave him a small, pinched smile. “It was a while back. We retired here to… get away from it all.”

Kisuke nodded, though he wasn’t sure what ‘a while back’ meant to Erich; if the man had been a Shinigami, it could have meant anything from a decade ago to centuries ago, but Erich was most likely a Quincy, and Quincy were just humans with inheritable powers.

(He couldn’t remember if there had been any great conflicts in the past decade.)

(Humans, he had discovered, fought with each other a lot.)

(It was almost terrifying how good they were at it, if he had to be honest.)

Alexis patted his hand once and then pulled back, leaning into Erich’s side as she did. “Well, give it some thought,” she told him kindly. “So long as you remember us and can find your way, you’re welcome to return whenever you wish.”

Kisuke felt something in him still at Alexis’ phrasing. There was something ominous about her words, like she was threatening him even though he couldn’t specifically see the threat itself.

(Could their songs make him forget them?)

(But why threaten to make him forget and in the same breath offer to let him return?)

(It really didn’t make any sense at all…)

“I’ll certainly keep that in mind,” Kisuke told her, not missing the way her smile turned into a smirk and the way her reiatsu shaded towards smug-mischievous-expectant. It only made his curiosity worse if he was being honest.

(What were they hiding?)

(How soon could he uncover it?)

(Were they really as interested in him digging as they seemed?)

(That was… unexpected.)

(He… rather liked it…)