#in which I paid really close attention to the Featherman announcements and realised the last episode airs on the 31st of Jan

[snakes-and-fluff]

The atmosphere in the dorm was tense. Everyone was ready; that wasn't the issue. It was the wait before then, the hands of the clock seeming to move slower with every passing minute, that put everyone so on edge.

Nobody knew who first turned the TV on, but the background noise helped to soothe their nerves some, so nobody turned it off. Maybe it was because it was the final day, or maybe it was just the channel that happened to be on, but Apathy syndrome wasn't mentioned even a single time.

All that is to say that when the upbeat music of the Phoenix Ranger Featherman R theme started playing, it wasn't surprising that SEES found themselves in a huddle around the screen.

Whether they were intimately familiar with the show or had never heard of it before, it made no difference: before the credits rolled, every one of them was hanging out in the lounge, eyes glued to the screen.

Of all of them, Kotone was the first to shed tears as the ending music played. She attempted to hide it, wiping her face on her sleeve, but Junpei noticed regardless and threw himself across the room to give her a hug, pulling Yukari with him. Akihiko almost collided with them in his haste to comfort her, embracing her from the other side. Koromaru barked in excitement, jumping onto the couch (nobody admonished him for it), closely followed by Fuuka and Aigis. Mitsuru was slower, unsure how exactly she was meant to react, but when she saw that even Ken had joined in the huddle, left her chair to join the rest.

They were all crying at this point, some more than others, but nobody needed to elaborate. They'd all seen parts of their dynamic in the Feathermen; had just watched them take down their final foe and stand victorious. It was a mirror to their own situation, but they didn't know how their trial would end.

There were tears of joy, of fear, of sadness. They were the emotions that every member of SEES had experienced that past year, shared by them all. Kotone hugged them tight, stretching her arms as wide as possible to encompass everyone.

"I love you." Her voice was small, but everyone heard it regardless and hugged tighter.

"Well," she managed to say some minutes later, after most of the tears were dry, "we have a big fight ahead of us. It'd probably be best to have a nap and rest up."

Junpei's voice came from somewhere over her shoulder as an affirmative grunt, but when she turned to look at him his eyes were already closed. The emotional outburst had taken a toll on them all, and none of them had slept much the previous night in preparation.

"Don't worry," Mitsuru said, assuaging a fear that nobody had yet spoken, "I've set an alarm for 3PM. There will be enough time to prepare after that."

So Kotone slept, crowded onto a single couch with SEES - with the Nyx Annihilation Squad. With her friends.