Chapter 2: Old Friends
As Kyouhei walked into the orphanage, he was greeted by a chorus of childrens' voices, but the first child to catch his eye was Subaru, who looked positively ecstatic to see him.

"Hey, Mister! Whatcha doin' here?" he said, grinning from ear to ear.

Warmed by Subaru's welcome, Kyouhei ruffled the kid's hair, replying, "Nothing much, just thought I'd stop by and see some more magic tricks."

"Really? Just wait here, I'll go get my props!" Subaru squeaked in excitement, and ran off up the stairs towards his room.

As he waited, Kyouhei noticed the woman who took care of Subaru, walking towards him with that same warm smile on her face.

"Hello! I didn't realize we'd be seeing you again so soon! Thank you so much for your help yesterday, I feel like I can't thank you enough! Subaru's always running off like that, and it's usually days before we find him wandering the streets." she said.

"Yeah, don't even worry bout it," Kyouhei shrugged, while thinking, "Wow, he's run off before...and for days at a time...he must really hate it here..."

"Hey," Kyouhei asked the woman, whose nametag said 'Kaho Mizuki', "Do you think it would be alright if I took Subaru out for the day?"

"Hmm," the woman replied, frowning, "We don't usualy allow the children to leave the orphanage without staff, but since you helped so much yesterday, I'm sure it would be alright" she finished, smiling her warm smile.

At that moment, Subaru ran down the stairs with a little box labelled "Magic". Kyouhei grinned and said "Hey, Subaru, how would you like to show me those magic tricks in the park?"

"Really? Alright!" Subaru shouted in excitement, "Let's go!"

As the tall blond and the tiny brunette walked hand-in-hand to the park, they passed the shopping district, and Kyouhei wondered, "I wonder if Sunako bought fried shrimp today...damn she better buy some, I haven't had any since yesterday..."

At this, Subaru stopped walking, turned his head towards Kyouhei, and only had time to say, "Did you say Sunako?", before they saw the very girl they were talking about walking by.

"OI! YOU!" shouted Kyouhei, trying to get Sunako's attention. When Sunako turned around, however, her eyes fell upon the young boy standing next to Kyouhei, and she stood, shocked.

"Sunako nee-chan!" Subaru shouted before running up to Sunako and giving her a huge hug.

"Su-kun! What are you doing here?" Sunako asked, puzzled, but she also seemed to be pleased.

"Hey, do you two know each other?" Kyouhei asked, catching up to the pair.

Subaru nodded, grinning, while Sunako said , "I'll explain when we get home. Would you like to come to our home, Su-kun?" SUnako asked the young boy.

"We were going to the park actually..." Kyouhei interjected, still curious about how the two seemed to know each other so well.

"Ok, well, I'll join you then," Sunako said, smiling at Subaru, and taking the boy's hand, walking towards the park. Kyouhei meanwhile was left to pick his jaw up off the ground, thinking "What? She never goes anywhere voluntarily...this kid might just be the key to our free rent!" With that, he skipped off to join the other two, while still keeping a safe distance behind Sunako - he didn't want to trigger any of her old behaviour, afterall.

Meanwhile, Takenaga, Yuki, and Ranmaru were treated to a very pleasant surprise, as they saw the front door open, and Kyouhei, Sunako, and a little boy walk in, with laughter and smiles, looking very much like a family.

"Alright, Su-kun, you stay here and get to know everyone, and I'll go start dinner," Sunako said, before walking off to the kitchen with the groceries she had purchased earlier that day.

"And who do we have here?" Takenaga said, walking up to the young boy with a kind smile on his face.

"My name is Subaru Mitsuki. Nice to meet you, everyone." Subaru replied, bowing.

"He's from the orphanage, me and Sunako have been playing with him today," Kyouhei added.

"Oh my, you and Sunako sure do work fast, don't you, " said Ranmaru, with a knowing glint in his eye.

Kyouhei glared at his housemate, and knocked him upside the head as he walked by with Subaru.

Both Yuki and Subaru looked confused, while Kyouhei asked Subaru, "Hey, wanna play some video games?"

"Yeah!"

And off they went, leaving Ranmaru, Yuki and Takenaga wondering if this child could be the key they needed to get Sunako and Kyouhei to realize their feelings for each other.

After dinner, Kyouhei took Subaru back to the orphanage, promising to come again and play another day. While he was out, Takenaga called Ranmaru and Yuki to his room for a very important discussion.

"So, what do you guys think about this unexpected turn of events?" he began, looking at the other two.

"This could be very good for us, they both seem to bend over backwards to please the kid." Ranmaru said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, they both really seem to like him..." added Yuki.

"Enough to adopt him, you think?" asked Takenaga, getting to the heart of what he really wanted to talk about.

Yuki began, "But they can't adopt him can they? Don't you have to be..."

"Married!" finished Ranmaru, "Oh, this is too perfect! They'll end up wanting a family together with Sübaru! And then I can use the kid to pick up more chicks!"

Both Takenaga and Yuki sighed and shook their heads, knowing they could never change their friend's playboy ways.

Takenaga continued on, "But Ranmaru does have a point. While they grow closer to the child, they'll also grow closer to each other, and hopefully end up realizing their feelings."

"Alright! Operation 'Get-Kyouhei-and-Sunako-closer-by-using-a-child-to-manipulate-them' is underway!" Yuki exclaimed, with a fist in the air.

"We may not call it exactly that," chuckled Takenaga, "But you've got the right idea"