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ˢᵘⁿᵈᵃʸˢ ᵃʳᵉ ᶠᵒʳ ᵘˢ ;; ˢᵉᵗˢᵘᵏᵉⁱ ⁽ˢᵈʳᵃ²⁾

Summary: Nikei Yomiuri's favourite day of the week is Sunday. There isn't a special reason for this other than because that's the day Setsuka Chiebukuro visits him just to talk about how her week went. Word Count: 2,347 A/N: All my other fics are Xanrei fics (DRDT) but I was really sick a while ago, and Setsukei was the only thing keeping me going. Because of that, here's a Setsukei one shot I wrote back in May. I'll get to writing more Xanrei soon!

just the usual with us.

When Setsuka Chiebukuro first came into Nikei Yomiuri's house uninvited on a random Sunday just to talk about how her week went and nothing more, Nikei hated it. He was in the middle of writing his newest article, and he didn't have time to hear about what Setsuka did. He kicked her out as soon as he could and went back to writing in peace.

She came back next Sunday to do the same. Then the next. The next one too. It was every. Single. Sunday.

The worst part was that she always came while he was writing his latest article. He kept changing the time of when he was writing it to avoid her interrupting, but she always came right when he was in the middle of it. He had no clue how she managed to do that, but it was annoying.

Eventually, he got used to it. Nikei found a way to work on his article while listening to Setsuka's week as she did basically whatever she felt like in his bedroom. It became a routine: Setsuka showed up at Nikei's house sometime on Sunday, they went to Nikei's bedroom, Setsuka talked about her week as Nikei talked to her while working on his article, Setsuka left, and it repeated next week. She always made time for it even on her busiest Sundays, and after the first few months, he started making sure the only journalism thing he was doing on Sundays was writing an article.

After more than a dozen of them, Sundays became predictable, nice, and his favourite day of the week.

When Nikei and Setsuka started dating, the first thing he asked her was to not stop visiting him on Sundays. She thought him asking was the cutest thing ever—it was not cute at all—and promised she had no plans to ever stop.

Today was a Sunday, and it was as nice as ever.

"Me and Em went home after that," Setsuka was telling him, eating some Alsatang he bought a while ago after finding out she liked them. "Em doesn't think we're allowed there anymore."

"It wasn't that bad," Nikei replied at his desk. He tried not to forget about writing his article while talking to her since his self-made deadline was approaching—his actual wasn't until a few months, but he liked being early by a few weeks—but it got harder as the Sundays went by and he started to like listening to her. There was this way that she could make even the most mundane topic the most interesting thing he heard all week. She would do great as a journalist.

She nodded. "That's what I'm saying, but Em thinks we're safer not going ever again. The food there was nice, so I'll miss that. I can have other people buy me food from there, though. People that aren't probably banned." She flashed him a smile. "You will, right?"

"Don't use me for food," was his response.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"That was definitely not a yes."

"It basically is with you."

Nikei didn't bother arguing. He would buy her food from that restaurant she liked if she wanted it. He was sure the disturbance she and their classmate, Emma Magorobi, caused wasn't bad enough to cause them to forever be banned from entering, but he would do it for her.

"That's all I did this week," Setsuka finished. "Nothing that interesting happened."

"You're classifying your experience with Emma as 'not interesting?'"

"You're the Ultimate Journalist. You tell me if you think that's interesting. If it's a scoop." Setsuka said the last sentence with a teasing smile.

"It's not front-page news or anything like that," Nikei answered. "It's more gossip than scoop-worthy. There are people who would be interested in hearing what Ultimate students did, but not enough to pick it up and read the whole thing."

"That's a lot of words for 'not interesting.'"

"It is interesting"—everything she did was interesting to him—"just not news-worthy."

"I'll take your word for it, Nik." She looked out his window. He preferred to work in the dark, which he got used to when writing articles all night, but he kept his windows open on Sundays. Setsuka didn't like sitting in the dark as much as he did. It didn't make sense when just her smile could brighten a room, but he was good with whatever made her happy. "We should go on a date next week. There's a small festival happening in the park on Sunday. We can go—if you don't make it into a journalism thing."

"Don't you come over on Sundays though?" Nikei tried not to make his voice sound needy and desperate.

"It's fine. I can come on Saturday—"

"Don't come on Saturday."

She blinked but didn't question it. "We can just hang out on Sunday then. Nothing special is happening, but it does sound fun!"

Nikei has no doubt that Setsuka would have fun. She could have fun almost anywhere. He would be fine with going to the festival if it wasn't on Sunday.

Sundays were their day. It was just a random day of the week, but Setsuka chose it as her day to come over, and he loved it. Her coming to his house on a Saturday wouldn't feel the same, and her talking about her week at the park during a festival wouldn't feel the same either. Sunday was a calm day for him since he never had anything other than writing to do, and having it at his house made it feel familiar and, in a way, domestic. Nikei Yomiuri was in no way a man that wanted a domestic lifestyle—journalism would never allow that—but he liked how it—this—felt with Setsuka.

However, he was a prideful man, he would admit, so he was never going to say that. "I'll think about it."

She smiled—she had that smile when she managed to get him to agree on doing something with her. Yes, he could tell the differences between every smile she had. No, he wasn't crazy. Any sane person would do the same with Setsuka Chiebukuro.

"Great!" she said. "Let me know by Friday before school ends. If you say no, then I'll have to ask someone else."

So, she was going to go whether he came with her or not. If that was the case, then she would probably talk mostly about the festival when she stopped by his house on her way home. He didn't want to hear her talk about an experience he could've been there for with her, so his answer would be going with her. But he wasn't going to say that now, or else he would sound desperate.

Nikei could tell that she was done talking about her week. That meant she would leave soon, so he didn't want that. To keep her here for longer, he said, "Setsuka, can I ask you something?"

"Sure," she responded.

He had no question to ask her. Actually, there was one, and he might as well ask it now. "Why did you start coming here every Sunday just to talk about how your week went?"

"I was wondering when you were going to ask that," Setsuka said. "I've been coming here every Sunday for almost a year, and you haven't said anything until now. I thought journalists were meant to ask questions to understand and know everything they don't."

"W-Well, I didn't know you were waiting for me to ask…" His hand reached up to touch his signature hat and lower it over his face.

"Relax, Nik! You don't have to be so tense." Her laughter that followed was enough to make him calm down under any circumstance. "Big Sis was only teasing."

"You really need to stop calling yourself that…"

She hummed. "Well, Nik, I started coming here because I realized a few weeks ago that you kept overworking yourself."

"No, I don't."

"That's what you kept telling everyone whenever they say it. You still do. Don't think I haven't noticed."

He didn't say anything.

"I care about all of our classmates," Setsuka continued. "That includes you, so Big Sis has to think of a way to get you away from your work even if it was just for half an hour. Then, that incident with Riri happened. I realized after I had the perfect answer to make take you away from your work: Talk to you about my week. I happened to think of that on a Sunday, and since Sunday is the end of the week, it works perfectly."

Nikei nodded along. The incident with Yuri Kagarin was that he made an entire festival just for the girls of their class. He bought everything, but it backfired almost immediately and ended with some of the workers trying to kidnap Yuri. It was interesting to hear, but he was more annoyed at Setsuka showing up out of nowhere to pay too much attention to that.

"It wasn't a fancy plan," she added, "but it's doing its job right. You haven't looked at your article one during the whole conversation!"

He hadn't.

"That's just today," Nikei said. "I'll be working on it tomorrow."

"I know you will, but I've been here for…half an hour?"

"Quarter of an hour."

"Basically an hour. I've been here for that long, and it's enough for now. You need to take breaks, Nik, and you make it clear that you're only taking them by force."

Even though he knew the topic was meant to be getting more serious, Nikei smiled. The thought of Setsuka "forcing" him to take a break just by distracting him with a conversation was sweet. It did work, and it was nice of her to be on the lookout for him.

"I think I can get you to take breaks in other ways now." She gestured to the two of them. "I mean, we are dating."

"Don't tell me you started dating me just to get an easier way for me to take breaks," he deadpanned.

"I would never do that! But since we are, I can do other stuff to get you away from journalism. I have to keep this one my main one, though. You love it too much for me to stop."

"I don't." He very much did.

Setsuka met his eyes. Wordlessly, she stood up from his bed and stood in front of him. Nikei felt a bit trapped with the arms of his desk chair trapping him, but he was okay with it. Mostly. Only if she stopped staring at him with such an expressionless face.

"Everything good, Setsuka?" he tried.

She said nothing. Instead, she cupped his face and tilted his head up. Then, she leaned down, brushed his bangs away, and kissed his forehead. She moved on to kiss his nose, his cheek, his jaw, and other places on his face.

Nikei could feel his face heat up with every kiss she gave him. He tried to push her off, but that only encouraged Setsuka to kiss him more in a faster pace. He should have known she was planning something!

"What are you doing?" His voice came out exasperated and whiny. He could ignore that for now if he could get his face away from her.

"I'm not"—a kiss on his temple—"going to stop"—a kiss on the bridge of his nose—"until you admit"—a kiss under his right eye—"you like my visits." She kissed the corner of his mouth with a smile.

"Okay, okay, I like these visits. Now get off me!" Nikei tried to push her off again once he said the words she wanted to hear. His protests were cut short when she placed one final kiss his lips.

Despite how he felt he should be prideful and not let something as simple as this be what calmed him, Nikei let himself melt into the kiss, one of his hands resting on her shoulder. Knowing that Setsuka wanted to kiss him always made him go to cloud nine. He would want nothing more than to stay like this for as long as possible. Just the two of them, spending their time together for no other reason other than how they wanted to.

Unfortunately, it always ended far too soon for his liking. Today was no exception. Setsuka pulled back, gently breaking the kiss. Their eyes met, and for a second, neither of them said anything.

Then, Setsuka pulled on a cheeky smile and said, "I already knew you loved my visits. You had to, if you asked so sweetly for me to keep doing it when we first started dating."

Nikei was torn from the moment, so as usual, his face started to heat up. "It was not sweet—and why did you even ask that if you already knew the answer?"

"Your reactions are too cute! I don't think I'll ever get bored of them!" She laughed as she said it, and he hated that the best sound he ever heard had to come from embarrassing himself.

No, that was a lie. He didn't hate it. He loved that she found him cute—although he would rather her use a different word—even though he wasn't trying. Nikei never thought of himself as much for romance, but he was sure that if they weren't in high school, he would be looking for wedding venues.

But that was stupid. Nikei was better than those stupid hopeless romantics he always made fun of. They were in high school, and most romantic relationships in high school never make it past graduation—even though he really didn't want to think about a time where he wouldn't have Setsuka. He was basically already married fo journalism anyway. He couldn't spend any more time than he needed to away from it.

But Setsuka did want him to take a break from it. Nikei could listen to her for just a little longer.

Finishing Rainbow High rn because I want to get that off my to-watch list and Sunny just found some crystal-egg thing and decided that was her and Violet's child now. She literally says, "Oh, Eggy Boo! We love you. And are going to take such good care of you." She's probably talking about all her friends, but since Violet's in this scene AND with her after that, I'm saying they are LESBIANS AND IN LOVE, YOUR HONOUR

today's vetted campaigns. please please continue to share and donate. i know lots of my posts are like this now, but we can't lose energy. these families need us.

june 18th:

Tahani Shorbajee and her family of ten (including her three children, all needing urgent treatment for hepatitis) ($11,329/$50,000) - @tahanishorbaje2, verified by @/el-shab-hussein

Fadi Ayyad and his family of eight ($9,446/$35,000) - @mayadayyad, @aymanayyad81, verified by @/nabulsi

Shahad Abu Musa and her family of seven ($11,574/$40,000) - @shahdhatem, verified by @/sar-soor

Muhammad Al-Habil and his family of six (including his chronically ill parents and wife, and three acutely malnourished children) (€3,928/€50,000) - @mohammed-family76, verified by @/el-shab-hussein

Shahed Nahal and family ($4,342/$50,000) - @shahednhall, verified by @/nabulsi

Reem Shehab, her husband Fahed, their five children, and the children's grandmother (€13,730/€50,000) - @malakshehab, @danashehab, verified by @/ibtisams

Amani Hasan and her three children ($9,103 CAD/$17,732 CAD) - @amani93gaza, verified by @/nabulsi

Ahmed Abu Shammalah's family of eight (€7,541/€100,000) - @ahmed8311, verified by @/nabulsi

Skater Hani Alhajjar's family of ten (they lost their father to kidney failure due to lack of treatment, Hani is the family's only support) (€27,993/€50,000) - @skatehani, verified by @/fallahifag

not yet vetted but likely legitimate:

Dalia Mohisen and her family (€6,391/€35,000) - @daliamohisen

Ramez Hilles and his family of ten (€105/€37,000) - @ramezderar

i know link-heavy posts like this can seem like a lot, but if you can pick even just one of these fundraisers to donate to or promote today, it makes a difference

Um um um tierlists for ships in the Another duology because I'm bored (spoilers!)

ᵐᵒⁿᵉʸ ; ˣᵃⁿʳᵉⁱ ⁽ᵈʳᵈᵗ⁾

Before I die, I’d like to do something nice. Take my hand, and I’ll take you for a ride. You hit me yesterday Because I made you cry, So before we die, I’d like to do something nice. Warnings: Chapter 1: Legends Never Die spoilers Word Count: 1,911 A/N: Happy Xander Day, everyone! Don’t forget your daily clicks!

i know you didn’t plan it, but thanks for being here.

Teruko Tawaki was going to die soon because of Xander Matthews. Because of that, Xander’s death would follow soon after hers. That was how it worked in a killing game, going based off of what MonoTV said. Xander didn’t have much time left before he killed Teruko, which meant he didn’t have much time left before he died.

They were such pessimistic thoughts. There was always the chance that he would be spared death because he managed to get away with the crime. He wasn’t sure if he could, though. He prepared for it by having all the necessary components to frame Charles Cuevas for Teruko’s murder, but he didn’t know if everyone would fall for it.

Although, he wasn’t sure if he wanted them to fall for it. Doing so would mean everyone else would be executed as he stood and watched. The heroic thing would be to say he would be willing to be executed on behalf of everyone excluding Teruko, but death was such a scary factor of life.

Xander stood in the infirmary, standing next to the cabinets as he stared at them. How unusual he must look to anyone who happened to come inside the infirmary. He was only there to think. That was not how he wanted to spend his final moments, but he wasn’t sure if he could spend it the way he wanted.

Fortunately, because no one had any medical emergencies for the last bit, the infirmary was pleasantly empty. Xander hoped it would stay that way until he had to leave, but he was interrupted by someone opening the door and asking, “What are you doing here?”

He turned around to see Arei Nageishi at the entrance. Her usually-gloved hand was bare, the glove being held by her other hand, with her index finger held out. He noticed why she came here.

“Did you cut yourself? I’ll help you!” he decided for her, already rummaging through the infirmary for bandages. Despite doom looming over him, he felt happy someone needed help, even if it was a bit small. Xander always knew that in his final moments of life, he would like to do something nice. It didn’t have to be anything big. As long as it was nice, he was fine with anything. Plus, it could also distract her from him being here for, to her, no reason. He didn’t want to have to explain to her what he was going to do.

Arei sat on the nearest hospital bed right as he found the bandages. Xander approached her and helped wrap them around her finger. He was a little fascinated by how soft and slender her fingers were—was that something all bowlers had?—but he decided not to comment on it. He didn’t want to start anything he couldn’t finish now.

Once her finger was wrapped up, he put the bandages back. While doing so, Arei pointed out, “You didn’t say why you were here, you know.”

He could now see she couldn’t be easily distracted. There was no reason to remember that now, though.

Xander didn’t look up as he lied. “I was changing my eye patch.”

“Why do you wear that anyway? It looks stupid.” She put her glove back on her usual hand.

“I have to. I don’t have an eye.”

“Really? I thought it was just something you wore because you thought it makes you look cool.”

“I think it does.” He smiled slightly at the face she made. “Do you want to see it?”

Her face twisted, and he was going to take it as a no. She surprised him by relaxing her face, shrugging her shoulders, and saying, “Why not?”

Xander smiled as he lifted his white eye patch. With his only eye, he watched her for any signs of discomfort. He showed it to Teruko and Eden Tobisa the other day, and Charles accidentally saw it just before them. They were all disgusted or uncomfortable. Arei narrowed her two eyes at his missing one as if she was studying it. She then scoffed and said, “I thought it was going to be worse.”

He readjusted his eye patch as he asked, “What do you mean?”

“It’s not that bad,” she explained. “Ugh, you made it a bigger deal than it was, and now I’m disappointed!”

“But I barely said anything?”

“You said enough.”

Xander knew they hadn’t been stuck together for long, but he still didn’t understand Arei Nageishi’s thought process. He never would.

He still had time before he had to kill Teruko, so he decided to continue this conversation. “You’re not phased by it. The other three people who saw were disgusted.”

She scowled. “Those three had soft lives then. Sheltered as they grew up. Wait until they find out how the real world works.”

He felt annoyance rise as she insulted people when she didn’t know whom he was talking about. Something like this happened when he and Teruko were introducing themselves to everyone, and he would’ve gotten himself into a fight with Arei, if Teruko hadn’t pulled him away. He had to remind himself that he or Arei were going to die soon, so he couldn’t afford any fights. “I’m guessing you didn’t grow up like that.”

“Obviously not. I was surrounded by people who showed me exactly how the real world works. So, I’m a strong, independent woman who knows all about how to make it by in this world!” She posed and winked.

It wasn’t that funny, but Xander still laughed. Did the possibility of dying do that to people, make them wish their final moments were happy memories? Or did they wish the other person or people they were with had happy memories of them before death? After all, it seemed that the last moments one had with a deceased were the memories they could vividly remember the most.

“Never laugh again,” Arei ordered, a frown on her face. “You sound weird.”

Xander stopped laughing. The moment was officially ruined.

He didn’t want his final conversation with someone other than Teruko to end in awkward silence, though. He had to continue as if nothing was wrong. “How did you hurt yourself?”

Arei’s glove had several of her fingers bare, her index finger one of them. She held it up to her face. “I cut myself on one of the knives in the kitchen.”

“Were you trying to make something?”

“Just fooling around.”

“Knives are dangerous. You shouldn’t play with them.”

“Relax, I’m not going to die from them. I’m not stupid enough to stab myself with it.”

“I wasn’t trying to say you were.”

“It sounded like it.”

“Then I’m sorry.”

Arei stared at him, confusion clouding her pretty blue eyes, before scowling. “What’s up with you? There’s something weird about you, but I don’t know what, and that’s bothering me.”

Xander chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

“You know what I’m talking about. So, what, did you fight someone? Someone insulted you? Are you homesick? Tired of everything? Like, what’s the problem?”

“You’re the last person I expect to ask me those questions.”

“How stupid do you think I am if you think I’m falling for that?” Arei leaned forward ever-so slightly, her fingers, even her injured index finger, gripping themselves onto the white bedsheet. Her eyes bright with anger, her gaze pinning him down, daring him to argue against her.

Xander would love to do that, to give in to what she wanted and relax into the thin strings of what was their relationship, but not now nor ever again. He couldn’t tell her he was going to murder Teruko, but he could tell her some of what he was fretting over. “I was just...thinking about how I—how anyone here—could die in less than 24 hours from now.”

For a second, Arei’s expression falter, leaving a softer face. However, it was replaced with the look she had just before so fast that he wondered if he had simply imagined it. “Yeah, well, suck it up. You’re in a killing game, so obviously people are going to die, idiot! People die in the real world anyway. What’s so different about dying here and dying out there?”

“A lot, actually.”

She was ready to argue but said, “Fair point...” Her expression went back to the face she had before, proving he hadn’t imagined it and she could look so thoughtful.

“It’s hard to ignore it,” he continued. “I know I should try not to think about it—”

“You should think about it.”

“But it won’t be that good—”

“Aren’t you supposed to be the Ultimate Rebel? You want wrong stuff to be right or whatever. This is wrong. Ignoring it won’t do anything to change it.”

“I guess...”

“You’re so quiet, and it’s so weird.” Arei shuddered. “Where’s all the yelling? Do I have to make fun of your Ultimate title to get you to act normal?”

“Why do you care if I act normal or not?”

“Because it’s weird like I just said?”

“I just didn’t think you would care.”

“Why would I not care about people being stupid? I love people being stupid! But only if it’s the funny-stupid and not the annoying- or weird-stupid.”

“I’m the annoying-stupid and weird-stupid, right?”

“Obviously!”

Xander sighed, but he felt a small smile on his face.

Arei stood up and stretched her fingers. “Well, I’m going to head off if you’re going to be weird—”

“Wait, no, don’t go.” Xander didn’t know why she was looking at him weirdly until he realized he had invaded her personal space and took her wrist. It was the same hand that she injured. He let go and took several steps back. “Sorry, I, umm...didn’t mean to do that... Sorry...”

She gave him a look as she held her wrist closer to her chest. She stayed silent for a moment before talking again. “Like I was saying, I was going to leave now if you’re being weird. But if you’re going to freak out again, I don’t actually think you’re weird.”

“You don’t?”

“I do. But not enough to leave a room, I guess. There’s weirder people we’re stuck with in here.”

“I think that’s the nicest things you’ve ever told me.”

“I can be nice if I want to be.”

He smiled. “I never said you can’t.”

She stared at his face, then scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’m still leaving now. I wanna bug people. Maybe J. She’s fun.”

“Don’t annoy her too much.”

“What are you, my dad?”

“Just looking out for other people.”

“You do you. Bye, Xander!”

“Bye, Arei.” Xander tried to focus on everything about Arei as she left. The last thing he saw of her was her hand touching her gloved wrist. That was, from what he could tell, the last he would see of Arei—the last he would see of anyone before getting Teruko to murder her.

Alone in the infirmary again, Xander smiled. Arei didn’t realize it, even if she was a little suspicious of him, but she did help him feel more relaxed. He most likely would panic again once he was face-to-face with Teruko in the computer lab, but that would be later. For now, this was okay. A silent thank-you to Arei.