"Ne, Micchan, how come we never go over to your house?" Chika asked Miu one day when the usual five were hanging out at Chika's house. "We've been to Ana-chan's house a couple times, Matsuri-chan's house once, and mine a lot, but never yours."
"Oh yeah," said Miu. "Well, I'm not allowed to have anyone over unless my parents are home, and most of the time, they're not."
"When do you think we could come over?" said Ana.
"Maybe this weekend," said Miu. "If you're not scared."
"Scared of what?" said Matsuri.
"My parents. Don't you know they're psychotic criminals?" Miu said, giving Matsuri a serious look.
"I-I've never heard that!" stuttered Matsuri.
"She's kidding, Matsuri-chan," Ana said. Matsuri relaxed.
"What are your parents really like?" Chika said, narrowing her eyes at Miu's cruel joke.
"My mom's kinda bipolar, and my dad's a real airhead," Miu responded.
"Strange family," said Ana.
"You said they're not at home often, right?" said Nobue. "Maybe that's why you're so misbehaved. You weren't raised properly."
"Exactly! It's not my fault!" said Miu.
"Hey, let's not jump to conclusions," Chika said.
That weekend, the girls stood in front of Miu's door.
"I bet they'll be happy to finally get to meet you guys," Miu said, unlocking the door. She pushed it open and called out, "Okaa-san! Otou-san! I'm here with my friends!"
There was no immediate response, but soon footsteps could be heard and a woman came into view. She had short brown hair and brown eyes, and was wearing a pink shirt and blue jeans. "Oh, hello!" she said. "Pleased to meet you all!"
"Pleased to meet you, Matsuoka-san," Ana said, bowing. Chika, Matsuri, and Nobue quickly bowed too.
"Oh, you can call me Misaki," Miu's mother responded. "Oh, and my husband is taking a nap right now, but he should be up for dinner. We can all eat together! I'm making curry. Oh, I'm just so glad to finally meet you all! But wait... who's who?"
"I'm Nobue," said Nobue. "This is Chika-san," she said as she pointed to her, "this is Ana-san," pointing to Ana, "and this is Matsuri-san," pointing to Matsuri.
"Oh, hello Nobue-san!" Misaki said. "Aren't you the one who's addicted to alcohol, smokes cigarettes, and is obsessed with little girls?"
"W-What!?" said Nobue.
"Yeah, that's her," said Miu.
"You really shouldn't drink and smoke so much," Misaki said.
"Yes, of course," Nobue said, ashamed. She made a mental note to kick Miu later for this.
"If I remember correctly, you're Ana-chan," Misaki said, looking at Ana.
"Yes, that's me," said Ana.
"You're from England, right?"
Ana smiled proudly. "Yes, that's right!"
"What cute blonde hair!" Misaki said. "It's no wonder Nobue-san is obsessed with you!"
Nobue twitched, giving Miu a look, but Miu pretended not to notice.
"And you're Matsuri-san, right?" Misaki said, looking at Matsuri.
Matsuri nodded shyly. "Un."
"You're so skinny!" Misaki said. "You must eat hardly anything!"
"That's because I'm always getting stomach aches," said Matsuri.
"Aw, you poor thing!" said Misaki. She looked at Chika. "And you're Chika-san! I've heard lots about you! You're just as cute as Miu-chan always says you are!"
Chika blushed. "She says that?"
"Oh yes, she never stops talking about you! She must consider you a very good friend!"
"W-What else does she say about me?" said Chika, slightly embarrassed.
"Well, yesterday she was talking about how cute you looked in your new dress! She said it really suited you!"
"Oh, is that so?" said Chika. She looked over at Miu. "Why don't you ever say any of this directly to me? I might be nicer to you."
Miu's face was uncharacteristically red. "Um, Okaa-san, the curry?"
"Oh, right!" said Misaki. She raced into the kitchen. The other girls, still standing in the doorway, heard her scream. "Ah! Fire!" Just then, the smoke detector went off, and Misaki was cursing loudly and making banging noises. Nobue covered Matsuri-chan's innocent ears.
A while later, Misaki came back from the kitchen. "Th-The curry's done," she said.
Soon, the girls were seated around the table eating slightly burnt curry.
"Sorry it didn't turn out well," Misaki said.
"That's okay," said Nobue.
"NO IT ISN'T! DON'T LIE TO ME!" Misaki screeched suddenly and unexpectedly. She put her head down on the table, crying like a three-year-old.
Nobue couldn't help but feel a little guilty. The girls sat there awkwardly for a while, then all of a sudden, Misaki shot up, her tears vanishing. "Oh, right! I was going to wake up Minori-kun from his nap!" She cheerfully skipped out of the room.
When Misaki was gone, everyone looked at Miu. Miu just smiled. "So, what do you think so far?"
"I think your mom is as irresponsible as you are," Ana said.
"And I think you're secretly obsessed with me," said Chika.
"I think your mom is pretty nice," Matsuri said. "Sort of strange though..."
"And I think I'm going to beat you up later for telling that stuff about me to your mom," Nobue said.
Miu laughed nervously. "Well, it's the truth..."
Then Misaki came out, holding a man's wrist. He had messy dark brown hair and his eyes were closed. He was rubbing them.
"This is Minori-san," Misaki said.
"Hello," the girls at the table all said quietly.
"Hi," said Minori, yawning and finally opening his eyes. "You're Miu's friends?"
"Yes," said Nobue. "I'm Nobue, and this is-"
"Aren't you the one who's always beating Miu up?" Minori said.
Nobue shook with rage, but tried not to show it. "N-No. I don't know what you're talking about."
"No, that's you," Miu said. "You gave me this scrape on my knee." She stood up on her chair and put her left foot on the table, pointing at a tiny mark on her knee. "See?"
Misaki gasped. "My poor baby! What do you do to her?"
Miu started crying. "And she never even apologized!"
"You little-" Nobue quickly realized what she was saying. "I mean, you're fine. It's just a tiny scrape. No big deal."
"Say sorry right now!" said Misaki, clearly very angry.
"I-I'm sorry!" said Nobue.
"I DIDN'T HEAR YOU!" Misaki shouted.
"I said I'm sorry!" Nobue cried out.
Misaki suddenly calmed down. "Oh, good!"
Nobue looked like she might faint. She was sweating a bunch and shaking a bit.
Misaki and Minori sat down at the table in front of their bowls.
"Honey, do you want to talk about anything going on in your life?" Misaki asked Minori. Minori was sleeping with his head in his bowl. "Oh right. Nothing interesting ever happens to you."
"Um, may I be excused to go to the toilet?" Chika said hesitantly.
"Sure!" said Misaki.
Chika got up and walked around the house for the toilet, and once she'd found and used it, she found herself wondering what was in Miu's room. So she found a door with a sign reading 'Miu-chan's Room' (美羽ちゃんの部屋) and let herself in.
The room was a bit messy, with clothing and papers laying around, but Chika just stepped over it and walked over to Miu's desk. There were more papers lying on it, and there were shelves to the sides of the chair. Chika opened a drawer and pulled out a small pink book. On the front it said, 'Miu-chan's Diary' (美羽ちゃんの日記). The front of it was covered in stickers and had hearts and characters written all over it. Chika hesitated to open it, realizing how disrespectful that was, but decided it was okay since Miu had no respect for her privacy. Chika sat down on the bed and opened the diary. But then, suddenly, the door flew open and Miu was standing there.
"Aha! I thought you were taking a long time for just using the toilet!" Miu said.
"I wanted to see your room," said Chika.
"Why are you reading my diary!?"
"Well, I just thought, 'Why not?'" Chika said.
"Did you think I was hiding something?"
"...maybe?"
"Well I'm not!" Miu grabbed the diary and put it back in her drawer, and then began pushing Chika towards the door. Then Miu's dad appeared in the doorway.
"Oh, hi Otou-san," Miu said.
"Hi," said Minori. "What are you two doing?"
"I was shoving Chi-chan out of my room," Miu said matter-of-factly. "Because she's evil."
"I see," said Minori, seemingly unfazed by this. "Your mom wanted me to tell you to come back downstairs."
"Oh, okay!" said Miu. She and Chika went downstairs, where Misaki was talking to Ana.
"Can you speak English for me?" Misaki said. "I'd really like to hear it!"
Ana's face reddened. "Eh?" She pretended to cough, then acted like she'd lost her voice.
"Oh, would you like a glass a water?" Misaki said.
"Oh, she's fine," Miu said. "This happens a lot."
"Oh?" said Misaki.
"Yeah," said Miu. "And by the way, she'd prefer it if you'd call her Coppola."
Ana panicked.
"Coppola?" said Misaki.
"It's her nickname," Miu said.
"N-No it isn't!" Ana said.
"Oh, your voice is back," said Misaki. "Would you speak English for me now?"
Ana pretended to faint. Miu got down on the ground and lifted up Ana's skirt. Ana screamed and jumped up.
"Oh, you're okay!" said Misaki. "Now would you-"
"I'm going to the toilet now!" Ana yelled, running out of the room.
"Oh, okay," said Misaki, a bit startled. "Are all English girls this way?"
Chika facepalmed.
A while later, Nobue, Chika, Ana, and Matsuri were leaving. Miu stood in the doorway with her parents, and all three waved.
"It was nice meeting you!" Misaki said.
"Goodbye!" said Miu.
As the four girls walked off, Matsuri said, "Miu has such interesting parents. We should visit again sometime."
"NO!" said everyone else.
Matsuri just blinked. "Eh... why not?"
"Just... no..." said Nobue.