Akari stepped out from the taxi and looked at the house in front of her. She then muttered a thank you to the driver who took out her luggage from the boot of the taxi for her. She sighed and pulled it towards the door while wondering what her future would be like. After taking in a deep breath, Akari reached for the doorbell.

"Welcome, Akari-chan!" Emiko said with a warm smile as she opened the door almost immediately after the doorbell rang.

"Emiko-san, good evening." Akari bowed at the lady with short, brown hair who was smiling cheerfully at her.

"Please! Don't just stand there! Do come in!" With that, the lady stepped aside to allow space for Akari to enter.

"Thank you for allowing me to stay here." The girl said, in a voice almost impossible to catch, as she entered the house.

Akari looked around the house and felt a sharp pain in her heart. The house felt really warm and cozy which reminded her of what she once had. She blinked back the tears which were threatening to fall before turning around to ask Emiko where she would be staying at.

"Come. I'll bring you to your room. My husband is on a business trip this week so he won't be around but you can just tell me if you need anything." Emiko smiled warmly at her before leading her up to the second floor. "Here we are. This will be your room from today onwards. The room next to yours belongs to my sons. My husband and my room will be over there."

Akari put down the heavy luggage which she had carried up the stairs, cursing herself for bringing slightly more than necessary. She stood in front of the door of her room and reached for the doorknob. "Well, here we are. My new room." She thought to herself as she opened the door.

"Mother, we'll be coming home later tomorrow." A guy stepped out from the room next to Akari's. "Oh. You're here already?" He commented in surprise when he noticed Akari's presence. The guy then turned his head into room and called out to his brother. "Yuuuuki! Please come out. She's here."

"Boys. This is Akari-chan. She'll be staying with us from today onwards. Akari-chan, these are my sons, Yuta and Yuki." Emiko introduced Akari to her two sons who stood outside the door of their room.

"Hello. I'm the elder brother, Yuta." The guy who came out earlier introduced himself. "And this is my younger brother, Yuki."

Akari bowed slightly and looked at the twins with the same cold poker expression which had been plastered on her face from the time she got down from the taxi earlier. Yuki looked at the girl who was one head shorter than him and started judging.

"She doesn't look a year older and what's with that cold look? I know she is suffering inside but can't she at least say a hello?" Yuki thought to himself while wondering when the awkward moment would end as the three of them stood outside the doors, looking at one another.

"W-well, I'm sure Akari-chan is tired today. We'll just let her rest. Akari-chan, do you want to join us for breakfast tomorrow?" Emiko said in a cheerful voice as she tried to break the awkward silence.

"No, thank you. Good night." Akari mumbled before closing the door of her room.

"Well, at least she's not mute." Yuki mumbled and turned around to return back to his room, hoping to finish the manga which he was reading earlier before his brother called him out to welcome the new addition to their home.

However, he was stopped by his mother who then signaled for him and his brother to go downstairs. "Look, I want you two to be as nice to Akari as you can. It's not easy losing all your family members suddenly. I know she's behaving rather cold but do forgive her for that, especially you, Yuki." Emiko whispered to her sons. The twins nodded and headed back to their room. Yuki stopped and looked at the door next to his room for a moment before closing his door behind him.

Akari sat down on the floor of her new empty room and started unpacking her stuffs. Being the efficient girl she always was, she easily took out all the necessities and put them in their rightful place. Although, Emiko was nice enough to take her in after the unfortunate incident, in her heart, Akari could not find a place to accept this as her new home. Therefore, she did not make any attempt to personalize her room. "Just the necessary things will be enough." She reminded herself as she checked her luggage again to see if she left out anything. Then her hand hit something hard and she took out a wooden frame. Akari turned the frame around and a sob escaped from her. It was her family photo.

"I heard that it was an accident. The van driver was drunk." "How unfortunate, leaving behind two young girls." "Poor girls. How will they survive from now on?" Those were the murmurings heard during Akari's parents' funeral. At that time, Akari wanted to tell all of them to leave, she desperately wanted the murmurings to stop but she couldn't be rude to the guests. After all, they were there to pay respect to her parents. She sat there, numbed and turned to look at her only relative left, her little sister, Akiko. However, she knew that deep inside, she and her little sister would not have the chance to survive in this world together because being a college student, Akari had no ways to support Akiko's education. Therefore when Akari's neighbours offered to adopt Akiko and raise her as their own daughter, Akari agreed without any hesitation.

"It's all for her own good." Akari comforted herself as she recalled the look and the cries of her dearest sister when she ran after the taxi while Akari set off for Emiko's house. "It's all for her own good… am I right? Father, mother, I'm right, aren't I?" Akari whispered in her room to no one in particular.

"Please tell me that I'm doing the right thing. Please tell me that I'm a good girl. Please tell me… please tell me that this is all a dream." A tear dripped onto the photo and then another and in a few seconds, tears were streaming down the poor girl's face. Akari hugged the frame and broke into sobs. "D-daddy... M-mummy… Please come back. I miss you so so much."

Back in the twins' room, Yuki was sitting on his bed and he leaned against the wall while reading his manga. All of a sudden he heard a sound coming from behind the wall and he looked up, wondering if his brother heard it too. However, Yuta was busy doing his homework and did not seem to notice anything. Yuki then placed one ear on the wall to listen more clearly. "D-daddy... M-mummy… Please come back. I miss you so so much." was heard and it sounded so helpless that it kind of ached Yuki's heart. The younger twin then sat back down and leaned his back against the wall once more. "So she does have feelings after all." Yuki closed his eyes and thought as he listened to the very soft and distant sobbing coming from the next room. "Goodnight, Akari-chan." He muttered.


AN: First ever anime related fanfic Hope that it's good! I nearly cried when I imagined the scene in my head but I do wonder if it has almost the same effect here. Chapters will be updated weekly! Unless I am too caught up in my tests or something. Stay tune! -Aoi