One

The daycare room is a nice place to stay at during winter. With the heater and the children, it is always warm.

As usual, Usaida is sleeping like there is no tomorrow, invisible bubbles floating from his nose. Midori is napping soundly on his stomach, apparently very used to this afternoon nap spot.

On the other side of the room, Taka is showing Kotaro his new moves of swordsmanship. His small plastic sword keeps swinging and waving while Kotaro's head moves in the same directions where it points. The twins and Kirin are near them playing grown up. Takuma is eating some non-exist steak while Kazuma is busy wiping his tears with his sleeves.

Today is a peaceful day.

Just as this thought is formed in Ryuu's head, things start to go wrong.

'Super great big coolahooola CHOOOP!' Taka yells, his mighty sword at the same moment flies out of his chubby hand.

'OOO…' Kotaro utters, eyes following the toy sword.

It lands exactly on the top of Kirin's head. It hits her and drops on the floor.

There is a solemn silent moment in the air. No one dares to move an inch.

Three seconds later

'Awwwwwww!It hurtsssss!' Kirin cries, putting her hands on the "injured" head.

All of the children look Taka's way, just when he wants to apologise, she shouts,'Taka is an idiot!'

Before Ryuu manages to say anything, Taka's face turns pink, then becomes as red as a tomato. He feels so angry that steams come out from his head. Without thinking, he screams back,'Kirin is a stupid girl. You're uglier than a witch!'

The mean comment is surely effective enough to make the little girl cry.

'Look, Kirin, you're not…' when Ryuu wants to comfort her…

Hearing the loud noise, Midori is awoken. Annoyed by being woken up, she starts crying as well on the top of her voice.

Kazuma, who is crying in the first place, continues to cry. Other kids then decide to join in as well.

All the children end up crying.

Why does it have to happen while Kamitani isn't here?

Ryuu sighs inwardly, sweat-dropped. He feels the corner of his apron is pulled. It is Kotaro. Then, he realizes that not all the children are crying. His little brother isn't. He just frowns with a worried expression, looks up at his older brother and asks for help.

Right, I'm the elder brother. I have to pull myself together!

'Kotaro, can you help me calm the twins down?'

Kotaro's eyes shine. He nods with determination and walks towards the crying twins, obviously eager to help out.

Luckily Usaida is attending to Midori, who is slowly settling down. Without wasting a second, Ryuu first separates the two wailing while arguing kids. He checks if Kirin's head is okay. To his relief, there is only a small cut near her forehead. He disinfects it, puts a sticking plaster on it and tells her that she's a cute girl if she stops crying and that her mum would be sad if she sees her swollen eyes later. Kirin sniffs and says she won't cry anymore.

'Okay, then,' Ryuu smiles, gently wipes away her tears and cleans up ' Why don't you close your eyes and rest for a bit?'

She complies quietly and closes her eyes.

Alright, got one settled

Ryuu looks around Kotaro's direction. He is reading (trying to read) a picture story book to the twins. They are listening intently while Kotaro is moving his little hands to make it more lively. Even Kazuma starts to smile a bit through his teary face.

Suddenly, Ryuu is really proud of his little brother.

I'll make sure to praise him later

Before he can do that, he needs to first deal with Taka, who is standing in the far corner of the room, sulking and sniffing.

Sometimes Ryuu thinks that he isn't sure how to handle this kid. If Kamitani is here, he will probably just hit the kid with his fist and asks him to apologize and quit crying.

At the time like this Ryuu wishes that he can be as cool as Hayato. He is authoritative, strict and straight-forward. The kids do not dare mess around while he is here. Ryuu is really glad that he became a member of the babysitting club. The kids need a leader who is firm enough to settle them. Ryuu's personality is just too soft to be one.

But with Taka, who still misbehaves while his brother is around, is a different case. The two of them may end up fighting with each other again.

' Taka? '

' I'm not apologizing!' Taka yells, tears and snot begins to drip like a tap.

Sighing inwardly, Ryuu picks him up and puts the little kid onto his lap. Still thinking about what he is going to say, Ryuu uses some tissue paper to clean Taka's face.

'Ev'one just think that 'm the only one who's wrong!' Taka complains but stays still, letting Ryuu do his work.

'Hm...' Ryuu replies, putting the soiled paper into the bin 'Kirin shouldn't have called you an idiot either.'

'You think so?' surprised, Taka looks up and his whole face brightened

'But don't you think you have done something wrong as well?'

'I... wasn't wrong...' Taka bites his lips, muttering

'What do you think your brother would say?'

'Aniki will just hit me and call me a moron!' Taka protests ' he will make me apologize!'

'Why would he ask you to apologize?'

' 'cos my sword hit Kirin.'

' And you would apologize if she didn't call you an idiot, right?' Ryuu asks patiently. He starts to get children's ways of thinking after all the time spent with them. They are just really simple and straightforward.

Taka thinks for a moment, then slowly nods.

' I think Kamitani …I mean your aniki, will be very proud of you if you apologize before...' Ryuu wants to say before he needs to hit you, but changes his mind ' before he comes back to take you home.'

Ryuu knows how much Taka looks up to Hayato. Actually every child in the daycare admires him a lot. Ryuu himself sees him as a hero too in secret. Hayato always shows up in the right moment and rescues everyone. Taka must have wanted his approval very badly.

'Will he?' Taka tilts his head

'Yes, I think he will.' the older boy smiles, putting the kid down on the floor.

Then, the little boy walks towards Kirin, who is now playing with her doll. 'Em... I...' he stutters, playing with his fingers ' 'm sorry my sword hit you.'

Kirin looks at him and answers ' 's okay. I shouldn't say ye're an idiot.'

Ryuu lets out a long breath. Things seem to go back to normal.

It is already five o'clock when everyone settles down and takes their afternoon nap. Ryuu finally gets some time to tidy up and reads the notes for the coming tests.

Usaida's working hour ends then. He asks if Ryuu needs any help. He shakes his head and tells him that he's okay alone with the children.

Ryuu checks once more that everyone is covered by the blanket. Then he sits near the large glass window. The sunshine around this time is very soothing. He yawns and continues to read his notes.

It's really quiet when the kids are sleeping. He can only hear their soft breathing sound.

All I need to do is to wait for their parents to come and pick them up...

He feels relaxed, not even notice that he has closed his eyes.

When he wakes up, most of the kids aren't around anymore. Before he stands up, he realizes a blanket was covering him and Kotaru is leaning against him.

'Kotaru was trying to find you a blanket when I arrived,'

Ryuu looks to the side. Hayato is sitting near the book shelf; a picture book in his hand. Taka is still sleeping on the floor.

'Oh... really?' Ryuu asks, a bit embarrassed 'Sorry I fell asleep.'

' No, I should be here to help you.'

Ryuu laughs, they have this conversation all the time ' You have practice today right? I'm happy that you come here some time to help already.'

'This guy did something that bothers you again?' Hayato motions to his little brother and asks. He sounds quite sure about it. When it comes to his brother, Hayato's sense is sharp. He has realized something has happened by seeing the brat's swollen eyes.

'Hm...' Ryuu scratches his cheek ' Just the usual thing. Nothing too serious...'

'That idiot!' Hayato glares at Taka, who shivers in his sleep

'Wait... he did well in the end,' he quickly adds ' He has apologized afterwards. Isn't it great? Even without you smacking him.'

'Kashima, you waste too much energy to talk to him,' Hayato says coolly 'Just hit him and he will behave.'

This is practically what he told Ryuu when they first met. Ryuu doesn't know much about teaching children but he supposes he can't go around beating children up all the time to educate them, right?

Ryuu opens his mouth to reply but then Kotaru chooses that moment to wake up ' 'niichaa...'

His attention has immediately gone back to his little brother, 'Hey, you're up. Thanks for the blanket anyways.' he smiles, picking the little kid up

'Kami-ni... blanket,' Kotaro points at Hayato and chirps happily.

'Eh?' Ryuu looks at Kotaro, then Hayato

So, it's Kamitani who brought me the blanket then?

'Haha, thanks Kamitani,' Ryuu says ' for the blanket.'

Looking a bit awkward, Hayato mutters, 'it's nothing.'

When he arrived at the daycare, everyone except Kotaro was asleep. The quiet toddler was walking around. It took a moment for Hayato to understand that he was looking for a blanket for Ryuu.

Taking one from the shelf, he gently put it onto the sleeping teen. Every time he has baseball practice, he feels a bit guilty for leaving Ryuu here alone to deal with these little monsters. He had considered quitting the baseball team but then he knew Ryuu wouldn't be happy about it. Ryuu didn't want him to give up his hobby to help him.

He must be exhausted

Hayato thought and looked at him for a while. Kotaro was gazing at him curiously.

'Kami-ni?' he said quietly

Hayato ruffled his hair, put him near Ryuu and said, 'Don't worry about your brother. I will take care of him.'

As if understanding what he meant, Kataro smiled sweetly and nodded 'Uh!'

Hayato glances at the brothers. They are ready to leave.

After a while, He picks up Taka as well. There is still no sign of him waking up. Hayato frowns and comments, 'This moron is sleeping like a pig.'

'Piggy Taka!' Kotaro exclaims, Ryuu can't help but laughs. On the way home, Ryuu asks,' Why didn't you go home first? I mean before I woke up.'

'…' Hayato goes quiet for a while, isn't sure about the reason himself ' maybe cats will go into the room...'

'Cats?' Ryuu asks and laughs again. Kotaro is giggling as well once he sees his brother's happy face.

Hayato glances at his classmate. The corner of his mouth curls up a little.

Kashima smiles like the kids in the daycare.

He thinks.

To be continued