Changed by his conversation with Ibuki on the hot springs, Izuru decided to try the whole semi-independent thing himself. Yu didn't oppose it in any way or shape, because Izuru having his own place meant he'd soon find a girl that he'd then marry, much like how it happened for Ryuuga, and as for Shouto, if it made Izuru and Yu happy, then he'd be happy.

So around the mid of the week after the hot springs day, Izuru got his very own apartment, thanks to some strings Shouto pulled with a friend of his, which then didn't matter alot because Ryuzaki bought the property to keep the tradition of giving Sawadas places to live during high school, which no one asked for but good real estate is good real estate.

Well, sort of.

Much like Ryuuga, Izuru ended up at one of those weird apartment complexes that are super small, some even smaller than actual houses, that you enter from the outside instead of the inside like in normal apartment buildings, and that had two floors, with three apartments in each floor.

It was also right next to a riverbank, which meant the view was pretty amazing, and it was close to a train station to boot, to it was the best place a student could ask for.

No one else lived there, so Izuru could choose any of the apartments, and ended up choosing the top right one, so that he could see the river from above whenever he woke up.

He basked in the sweet scent of freedom as he stood in the center of his small living room, which was attached to his small kitchen, and the two were attached to a small hallway that had the doors to his small bedroom and small bathroom. And yes, the entrance hall was also small.

But it was a good start for someone this young.

He only bought the essentials, those being a couch, a large television screen, a small table for the kitchen and some fuutons and blankets, for whenever the boys decided to stop by. From home, he brought his game consoles and some kitchen stuff that Yu had ready for whenever Izuru decided to live alone. Things like an oven and a fridge got provided by the landlord, a.k.a Ryuzaki. Except for the dishwasher. He had to wash everything with his own two hands.

Oh, and the furniture he bought with his own money? That was paid by the money he got from selling his old cards when he decided to use the deck Taira gave him. So no cards were left, and no money was good to be wasted on cards, so he was just super super run of the mill player who player online.

He only had two cards, and those only worked as luck charms.

"At last, a place of my own... This rocks!" Izuru exclaimed, punching the air out of excitment. "Sucks that Ryuzaki's my landlord, but it still rocks!"

Izuru sat down on his comfy couch, turned the television on, and got bored very quickly.

"Maybe this was a mistake... Maybe I could have bought some DP stuff, never know when they might print Daikaiser."

Have you seen the lore they gave to Zero? Yeah, keep dreaming.

"Hm... Hmmm... Hmmmmm. AH THIS SUCKS!!" He yelled. "Man, I'm hungry too... Wait, I have to make food for myself from here on out... THAT MEANS I HAVE TO GO BUY FOOD!"

He really skipped on that little detail. Reject nutrution, return to monkey.

But either way, Izuru grabbed his wallet and bolted out of the house and into the nearest supermarket, which was a good twenty minute walk away from it, for crying out loud. Maybe this location wasn't that good.

As he strolled the aisles of the supermarket, and did his best to avoid the soup aisle because buying canned soup would just defeat the purpose of cooking for himself, he bumped into someone. 

"Hey, watch it, fool- Oh, it's you."

"Hey Ibuki..." Izuru sweatdropped. "What brings you to the supermarket at these hours?"

"Getting some snacks for the train ride to my next manga cafe. That and I keep a bag with some extra clothes on a locker in this place." Ibuki sighed.

"Bag with extra clothes?"

"Duh! That way I can avoid going home and just change clothes while I wash the others in laundry places- Wait, that's besides the point! What are you doing here?!"

"Oh, right, I moved into my own place near this supermarket. It's the first day there so I had to come buy some food and other stuff. Thinking of making porridge. You remember that girl from the hot springs, Kasumi? She hasn't shown up to school lately so I've been thinking of making some for her in case she's sick... Not that I know where she lives, now that I think about it..." He deadpanned.

"You're really stupid, aren't you?"

"Yes."

Yes.

"And you think you can survive on that until your next supermarket trip? Geez, you're a mess. Go put those frozen craps back where they were and get some more noodles in here. And no cup ramen!"

"Ah?!"

"Get moving!"

With Ibuki's amazing knowledge on supermarkets, Izuru got all the stuff he needed for until the end of the next week, and as he made his way home, Ibuki followed along, dragging along a bag with some things she owned.

"This is the place. Pretty sweet, eh?" He asked.

"Huh... I don't know to put this nicely but... This place is a dump. You got scammed."

"It's a dump and colossal downgrade from my parents' house, but so what? It still gets the job done and I'm not a needy person. I just have to avoid getting into situations that force me into playing some Vanguard games and I'll be able to afford a new deck by the end of January." Izuru shrugged.

"Is your salary that bad?"

"I'm a part-time employee at a cafe in Ikebukuro that doesn't show up as much as I should, what do you think?"

"Damn, can't argue with that."

"Wanna come in?"

"Into that dump? Pfff, hell no! I'm not entering place, not even in a body-"

And then, Ibuki returned red as her stomach let out a very loud grumble.

"...bag..."

"I have enough to make dinner for two, just get in." He sighed.

Izuru made some quick curry, a recipe he learned from working with Risei, and Ibuki went town on that poor curry like if she hadn't eaten for days. She went back for seconds, thirds and then ate what was left directly from the pot.

"Man, that hit the spot! I haven't had homemade food in forever!" Ibuki laughed, falling to her back. "I really thought you were a super crap chef, but you know your way around the kitchen. Well, enough to survive with some taste."

"Yeah, thanks, that was the point." Izuru deadpanned as he placed the plates and spoons on the sink and then returned to the table.

"Hey, you got any deserts?"

"You didn't let me buy any..." He deadpanned.

"Oh yeah... Well then..." Ibuki got up and prepared to leave. "See ya."

"Wait!" Izuru called out. 

"Eh?"

"I mean... Just sit down, I have something I want to talk to with about."

"Well, since you took care of me so well, sure, I'll hear what you have to say. So don't make me bored, dumbass!" Ibuki exclaimed, sitting back down.

"I got the idea to come live by myself because of our talk at the hot springs." He admitted. "The idea of being independent... I wanted a shot at that too. You said you'd like a home you can return to, right? So why not come here whenever you need it?"

"Ah? Are you trying to rope me into being your roommate because of you being broke or something?"

"No, you idiot." Izuru deadpanned. "I'm gonna be straight with you. I can't provide you with the same comfort an inn or a manga cafe can, I mean, I haven't even slept on this house yet, but what I can give you is a home and a homemade meal whenever you want to. If that's something you want, then you can stop by whenever you feel like it. I'll have my doors open for you whenever your parents don't."

"Oh, I get it... You want me to come here so that you can do some freaky stuff with me in exchange of letting me live here, huh?"

"No again, you idiot. When I look at you, I can't help but to be reminded of something... You remind me of an abandoned cat."

"A-A CAT?! DON'T MAKE FUN OF ME, DIPSHIT!" Ibuki yelled with a blush.

"S-sorry!"

"Eh, treating me like a cat, huh... Eh eh..." Ibuki chuckled, looking down at the table.

"I'm not telling you to stay, I'm telling you can stop by whenever you want. It's called being nice, y'know." Izuru sighed, crossing his arms.

"Nino..." She muttered.

"Huh?"

"My name is Ibuki Nino." Ibuki said, raising her head to look at Izuru. "I'm gonna be completly honest with you... You're gonna have a horrible time with me here. But I'm counting you... Izuru." She said, offering him her hand.

"Same here... Nino." He replied, shaking her head.

"...on second thought, stick with Ibuki. I think my first name's kinda weird, honestly..." Ibuki sweatdropped.

"What about Bukki?"

"HELL NO! VETO'D, IMMEDIATELY!" She exclaimed, blushing.

"Pffffffff, that reaction was hilarious!" Izuru tried to hold back a laugh.

With an annoyed look on her face, Ibuki pounced on top of Izuru and pinned him to the ground, with a large smug appearing on her face.

"T-THIS IS NOT THE TYPE OF ROOMMATE I MEANT!!"

"You know, now that we're roomies, I can finally do something I've been wanting to do since saturday." 

Ibuki began laughing like a gremlin and started messing around with Izuru's hair, despite all of his tries to be free from her grasp. When she was down, she had tied some of Izuru's hair into a topknot and plucked some of her spare earrings into his ears.

"You idiot!! What did you do to me?!"

"Go see it for yourself. I'm something of an artist."

"Why you...!" Izuru crawled towards the television screen, and his reflection made his eyes widened. "Goddamn, I am pretty awesome!"

"I told you, I know what I'm doing. I'll accept staying under the condition that you keep that look."

"That so? In that case, I'll keep it under one rule: stop skipping school."

"Eek... Fine! I'll stop bailing on school for the sake of other things!"

"You promise that?"

"Yeah! And let me say something else..."

Ibuki cleared he throat.

(Media - Be Prepared)

"I'm not a very cute cat, but I hope you'll take care of me. I'm counting you, Izuru." Ibuki smiled.

That night became the first of the unusual partnership that united those two, and many more nights were to come.

On one hand, a slacker that'll spent more time watching TV than help around the house.

On the other, a slacker who's more likely to waste money on cards than food.

And worst of all, both of them are into dumb gacha games.

Well, at least Ibuki's stacked, that's a start.

Some could say this was a super awful idea, with each of them being a bad luck charm for the other, but there's a saying that goes "Two wrongs make a right.". Hopefully, that'll be the case here.

Things couldn't possibly go downhill from here, right?