Happy (late) Halloween! My boarding house had Horror Movie + Karaoke + Candy Night, and then I watched D+P Spooky Week videos (sweet Christ, that Silent Hill one is going to give me nightmares).

What did you guys do? Also, I own nothing other than Ame

Birthday Cake

Ukyo asked us to be in charge of baking the birthday cake, so the next day after she was done with school, Ema and I went shopping for all the items and ingredients we would need to make the best cake possible.

That, incidentally, turned out to be a lot. "Will you be okay, Chii-chan?" Juli asked Ema. She was struggling with the heavy bags.

"I'm alright," she replied, but her breathing grew increasingly more laboured until she had to stop to put the bags down and catch her breath. I crouched down beside her and rubbed at the red lines on her palm. "Thanks. If Subaru-san was here, he would have no problem carrying all of these," she murmured.

I nodded in agreement. "True. With all the sports, and the roadwork he does for his club, he's probably really strong."

"They noticed?"

Ema and I turned around in surprise, but there was no one there. Juli blinked at us. "Chi-chan, Mai-chan, is something wrong?"

"Huh? I just thought I heard something now..." Ema replied, both of us still scanning the streets behind us. I shrugged it off quickly. It was probably a snippet we had accidentally overheard from someone else's conversation. I got back to my feet, and held out my hand to help my sister to her feet.

Ten minutes, and three more pit stops later, we finally reached the building. Two minutes later, we set the bags down in the hallway of the 5th floor and heaved huge, simultaneous sigh of relief. "Finally," I peeled off my flats and placed them neatly by the door. I bent to carry the items to the kitchen, and spotted a legs just resting on the staircase, like someone was lying on the ground.

That person turned out to be Louis. His eyes were closed and, if I hadn't seen the steady rise and fall of his chest, I would have thought he was dead. "Louis-san!" We gathered around him and Ema studied him worriedly. "Are you alright?"

"I think he's asleep," I frowned. "This is a really terrible place to sleep by the way," I touched his hair gently, and then quickly snatched my hand away when he began to stir.

He sat up and blinked at us, leaning a bit closer than necessary. "Chi-chan...Mai-chan..." I still don't know how he knows those names! Ema-chan and I don't call each other by those nicknames, only Juli does!

At any rate, "Are you okay?" I lifted my hand and placed the back of my palm and fingers against his forehead to check for a fever. He didn't feel especially warm. "Is anything wrong?"

He hummed quietly, and blinked slowly. "I'm fine...Mai-chan...I was planning...to sleep on the sofa...but I didn't make it..."

I glanced at the sofa that was only about five feet away, and then back at him. How tired were you!? I wondered, removing my hand from his head. "Have you finished your work?" Ame asked.

"No," he replied, his eyes drifting to watch me retract my hand with an almost wistful expression. "If you...both don't mind...may I arrange...your hair?" We both made confused expressions at the sudden change of subject. "Today is...Subaru-kun's birthday...Since there's a party...I want to make you both...even cuter..."

Aw! "Really? Thank you!" I accepted before Ema could try to decline politely, because sometimes it's best to just accept when people offer to do things for you. I suddenly remembered the groceries we'd abandoned in the doorway. "Oh, but Ema-chan can go first while I put away all the things we bought. Is that okay?"

Louis smiled at me, and then at Ema. "Of course...Mai-chan...Ema-chan, may I...?"

The two of them relocated to the main area, while I tried to carry as many bags as I could all at once to the kitchen in one go. I had to stop though, because one of the bags had eggs in it, and I did not want to be responsible for any messes and losses that would occur due to breakage.

The flour went into the cupboard, as did the other dry ingredients and food cans, then the perishables went into the fridge unit. Once I was more or less done, I bounced out of the kitchen to watch Louis work.

He was incredibly skilled, and – after removing the ribbon that kept her hair up – deftly twisted and braided Ema's hair into a sweet yet wonderfully simple style. Her hair was loose, but he had taken a few strands on one side of her head, and French braided them midway down the side, pinning it in place with her pink butterfly clip.

He took strands from the other side, and the bit of the other that weren't braided, and tied them together at the back of her head to keep the rest of her hair out of her face. "It's finished," Louis fluffed up the ends with his fingers and fetched a mirror so that Ema could have a look at herself. "Is this good?"

Ema looked surprised to see herself, and then she smiled and nodded happily. " Yes, very!"

"Aw, Ema you look great!" I voiced my own approval with a grin.

"That's good," Louis looked pleased with our praise. He set down the mirror and picked up a curling iron. "I'll put on the finishing touches." However, when he pressed the button to switch on the iron, nothing happened. "Sorry...Chii-chan, I'll go get another one."

I rolled my eyes when Ema tried to dissuade him and he looked like a hurt puppy. "Well, he is a pro, so he probably wants to do a perfect job," Juli said.

"Restraining myself sometimes may not be a good thing after all..." she said thoughtfully.

I opened my mouth to reply when the sound of someone running reached us, and someone appeared at the top of the balcony. It was Fuuto, not really the person I wanted to see, but I did say I would apologise even if I didn't mean it, and that meant I had to at least try to remain calm.

He glared at us from his place, eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Hey, where's Louis-nii?"

"He went to get something," I replied casually, resting an elbow on the back of Ema's chair. "He'll be back soon."

The boy groaned. "What's up with this? When I asked at the store, they said he was at home!"

"Are you in a hurry?"

Fuuto directed his glare at my sister, and I felt my hackles rising. "Why would I tell outsiders like you?" My sister flinched at the harsh words, and I straightened up and took an involuntary step forward. Fuuto's eyes suddenly widened, and he leaned forward as if trying to get a better look at Ema. "You changed your hairstyle, right? Sorry, I didn't notice until now, that sis was such a beautiful person..."

Where is this going? I don't like where this is going! And Ema needed to stop blushing, why was she blushing?!

Fuuto's eyes softened. "Sis..." I really don't like where this is going! "Can you forget, for the moment, that you and I are siblings?"

THERE IT IS! "No!" I yelled in a scandalized tone.

At my outburst, he smirked widely. "Just kidding~" I am going to fight you. "You actually thought I was being serious?" He laughed scornfully. "I can't believe it! You aren't suddenly a princess just because you changed your hairstyle!"

I stared up at him wonderingly, while he laughed and congratulated himself, speaking more to myself than anyone else. "I'm going to fight him."

Ema gazed up at me pleadingly. "Ame-chan, please don't."

"Then don't look so sad!" I hissed quietly back, pinching her cheeks. "If he keeps upsetting you, I will do it!"

Fuuto's phone rang in the middle of his gloating, and the conversation seemed to be about him disliking all of the hairstylists that the studio had provided for him. "Ah, I'm so unlucky that Louis-nii isn't here," he said once he slid his phone back into his pocket. He walked away, waving over his shoulder. "See you later, my p-re-tt-y big sister!"

Louis arrived about ten minutes after Fuuto had left, and quickly finished up Ema's hair. He started on me right after, loosening the messy braid I had my hair in, redid it again but much neater this time. He then twisted the braid around itself to form a large braided bun with a blue butterfly pin to hold it in place. For the finishing touch, he brushed out a few tendrils to frame my face, and curled them gently.

I squealed quietly when he showed it to me. "Thank you so much! This looks amazing!"

"You're welcome...Mai-chan...you can both come to me...whenever you want to...okay?"

Ema and I smiled, and I nodded excitedly. "Definitely!"

oOo

After that, there came the cake, which took longer than expected because we had to check out the recipes, and then we deliberated over what kind of cake we should even bake (Ame said strawberry, and I wanted chocolate, but that was just me being selfish). I then proceeded to eat about half a pack of strawberries before Ema stopped me, but luckily I had foreseen my own gluttony and bought an extra pack.

My mouth was now stained pink from all the fruit, but I chose to see it as all-natural lip tint.

It was rather late before the cake was finished, about 8:45 p.m., but it looked fantastic if I did say so myself. I did the icing and fondant, and then Ema did the fruit arrangement and decorations. I couldn't help feeling proud when the brothers began to arrive and compliment the cake. Wataru hopped over to the counter to get a close look at it. "Wow! The cake is huge!"

"It looks delicious!" Tsubaki grinned.

Kaname smiled at us. "This is great, little sisters."

"A magnificent creation," Ukyo decided.

"It almost seems a waste to eat it," Iori said with a smile.

Aw, shucks, stop it! "Thank you very much," we replied together; Ema's coming out with a shy smile, while I beamed happily.

Wataru bounced up and down in excitement. "Amazing!" His unrestrained and enthusiastic appreciation for our baking skills made me incredibly happy. "It really, really is amazing!"

Masaomi crouched and bent so he was eye level with the youngest boy. "Wataru," he smiled gently. "This cake is something your older sisters made for Subaru. Wataru shouldn't be happier than Subaru, okay?"

The boy deflated somewhat, and went over to apologize to Subaru. The older brother smiled and patted him on the head. Ema smiled as she watched the display. "Siblings are nice..."

"Yeah," I hummed. Subaru caught us watching him, and quickly looked away as a blush covered his cheeks. I giggled and nudged Ema, but she was blushing now too, and once again she wasn't looking at Subaru. What the heck happened to you two?

Yuusuke gazed at the cake in awe. "This...you made all of this by yourselves, right?"

"That's right," Ema replied.

"For Suba-nii," he gazed at the cake. "You..."

I glanced between them, biting back an oncoming smile. He may have addressed the question to both of us, but it was pretty obvious whose answer he cared more about.

It was awkward and adorable all at one. "I...can't eat this."

Ame blinked in surprise, and then leaned forward. "Why? Do you dislike cake?"

"No, that's not it!" He replied quickly. "You made it, and I would feel bad for not eating it, and I want to eat it, but somehow...I can't eat this."

Adorable. And. Awkward. Bless him, a giggle escaped before I could choke them back quickly enough, and I immediately clapped a hand over my mouth and tried not to meet the amused eyes of anyone present.

Tsubaki sauntered over to lean against Yuusuke's shoulder. "Ah, I see! Well if Yuusuke can't eat it, then I'll have your part of it as well!" He casually pushed Yuusuke out of the way and leaned closer to Ema and me. "After all, it's a cake with all your affection in it! I feel like I can eat the whole thing!"

"H-Hey, Tsuba-nii!"

He smirked at us. "Ah, I would be extremely happy if you fed me! Do it, do it!" Ema stammered over her reply, and his eyelids lowered just a bit. "Or do you prefer the one being fed? I'm fine with that as well!" He picked two strawberries out of the bowl and held them up to our mouths. I went vaguely cross-eyed while trying to focus on both it, and his face. "Here, say ah~"

"Alright, let's leave it there, Tsubaki." Luckily Azusa came to the rescue before Ema exploded with nervousness, but not before Juli leaped out and attached himself to Tsubaki's shirt by his teeth. In lieu of the one I hadn't gotten to eat, I grabbed another strawberry from the bowl and popped it into my mouth.

"Okay!" Tsubaki replied cheerily, then he turned to look at Subaru. "But it seems like the person it's made for isn't too happy."

Subaru jerked at the statement, and blushed even more when all eyes went to him. "No, that's not..."

"Subaru-kun?" Ema's sounded concerned, as was I.

Kaname moved to stand between Ema and I. "Don't worry, it's not an illness. Wait, maybe it is," he smiled at Ema and me, startling us both with his sudden closeness. "One even a doctor cannot cure. Well, I have the same sickness as well," he reached out and wrapped his arms around our shoulders, drawing us both really close. "If I could, I would prefer to suffer this illness."

Smooth lines, I stared at the hand on my shoulder, and then suddenly it was gone. "You're bothering them, big brother Kaname," Iori said, holding Kaname's hand by his wrist.

They both stared at each other for a few seconds, and then Kaname conceded with a small smile. The arms around Ema and I dropped from our shoulders. "Sorry about that, little sisters," he stepped back.

What was that? "Can I ask you both something?" Iori gazed at us. "Why did you change your hairstyles today?"

"Ah, Louis-san did this for us," Ema explained, reaching up to touch her hair as though she'd forgotten the style. "He said it was for the party."

Iori's eyes widened in understanding. "So it's like that..." he then smiled. "They really suit you."

"Thank you very much!"

oOo

We all gathered in the dining room around the table. Ema and I brought in the cake – now with 20 lit candles – plates, and cutlery, before taking our seats on either side of Kaname. The lights were off, so the candles illuminated the table and the cake. "Let's have Subaru blow out the candles then," Ukyo said.

Subaru stared round at all of us. "Are we seriously doing this?"

"Yes," Ukyo replied, his tone firm but no less relaxed. Subaru sighed, and stared down at the candles flickering on the cake.

Ema pulled out her camera happily. "I'll take a picture!"

"Remember to make a wish before you blow!" I called out.

Subaru huffed, then took a deep breath and blew out every candle in one go. I cheered and clapped along with everyone else, while Masaomi turned the lights back on. I cut and distributed the cake slices, making sure to give Subaru the biggest piece of all because that was his right as the birthday boy.

Wataru's enthusiasm came back with his first taste of the cake. "So yummy~! My big sister's cake is the best in the whole world!"

"The best!" Tsubaki hummed in enjoyment, and then grinned at Yuusuke who was sitting beside him. "Hey Yuusuke, if you aren't eating it, I really will eat yours!"

The redhead had yet to take a single bite of his own slice, but Tsubaki's threat was apparently enough to set him in motion. "I'll eat it!" He cut a piece with his fork and took a bite. Chewed, swallowed... "Tastes good!"

There was laughter at his outburst, and I couldn't help the warm, bubbly feeling that rose up inside me. When was the last time we had ever been surrounded by so many people that I could call family? When was the last time Ema and I had been surrounded by so much laughter?

Ema snapped pictures of everything and everyone with her camera, while I settled on video-recording the events with my phone, and taking pictures of the cake and the brothers enjoying the cake. Honestly, I hate starring in pictures – as well as anything that involved starring or performing, I'd honestly rather break my own leg than perform as I was – but I didn't quite mind it so much now.

I don't know, something about this atmosphere made me feel light and happy.

Ema lifted her camera to take a picture of Wataru catching me by surprise and feeding me a piece of cake, except I had been giggling at something else, so when I turned around my face was off balance and I got a little bit of icing on my nose.

This, of course, only made me laugh harder. "I'm sorry, big sister!" Wataru apologised over and over.

I wiped away the icing and grinned. "It's okay! Do you want to take a picture with me?"

He beamed in excitement and hopped onto my lap, wriggling until he could press his cheek against my own. Ukyo was beside us, so it seemed only natural to rope him into joining the picture. By that, I mean I simply wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled him closer so he'd show up in the image. "Say cheese!"

"Cheese!" Click. Ema came over to show us the picture, which came out looking pretty good. Ukyo looked totally unprepared though. "Kyo-nii's face is all red!" Wataru piped up, which only made the blonde flush even more.

"Aw, I want to be in a picture with Ame-chan~!" Tsubaki draped himself on my back and grinned, while Azusa sat very close to me. "Let's take a picture together!"

I twisted my neck to stare at each of them, and then grinned and poked Azusa in the nose, making him go cross-eyed in total surprise while Tsubaki spluttered with laughter over the unexpected move. That was when Ema snapped the photo, and I laughed at his completely bemused expression.

After a while, I pulled out my smartphone and motioned to Ema to come stand beside me. "You need to be in at least one picture," I told her as I turned on my camera. "If I'm going to do this, then so are you!"

In the end, we took a lot of pictures, the vast majority of which were on Ema's camera, but I had a few decent ones myself.

An hour later, after the party had dispersed, and Ema and I had finished cleaning and washing up the trays and cutlery, I was lying in Ema's bed and going through the pictures I had on my phone while she went through hers.

I chose one and uploaded it to my social media account. "Tonight was so much fun, huh?"

"Mhm," Ema smiled at the pictures. "Having family is so great..."

Juli looked mildly annoyed for a tiny squirrel. "This house is sometimes too noisy," he complained.

I rolled over onto my side and propped myself up by my elbow. "But that's what makes it fun! Doing something like this with family, celebrating birthdays with an actual party..."

For most of our birthdays, papa was oversees working on one thing or another. I knew he loved us and everything, and he did sent presents and postcards, but it would have been nice to have a birthday party at least once while I was still a kid.

Ema set down the camera and felt around her bed. "Huh? Where's my phone...?"

"Maybe you left it in the living room?" Juli suggested.

"Let's go look," I sat up and stretched. "If anyone is still up (and someone always was) then maybe they've seen it."

We stepped out of the room and made our way to the living room. However we heard voices coming from there, and paused just for a moment. "Then, what do you think of them?" That was Tsubaki. "So you can't say anything? See, you are interested after all! Which one do you like? I'm rather partial to-!"

"I'm saying that's not it!" Subaru, and he sounded angry. Oh dear, this is a bad time.

"Then how is it different?" Tsubaki asked, taunting him.

Subaru stammered for a second, and then growled. "To make it clear, it's annoying!"

...what?

"It's always just been us guys, but then suddenly girls come into the picture." I didn't have to look at Ema to know how stricken she was by his words. "Since they came, I have to be careful when I'm using the bathroom, and I can't even take off my top while I'm training!"

Deep breaths Ame, deep breaths, I turned to my sister and took her hand. "Ema, it's..." I didn't know what to say to comfort her. I knew she wouldn't cry, because like me she had learned to internalize the pain and tears, and bottle them up somewhere where they wouldn't show.

It's the one thing I wish she hadn't learned from me.

Footsteps grew louder as they came closer, and then Subaru appeared at the top of the stairs. He looked stunned to see us, knew that we had heard everything he'd said. Ema started when she saw him, and ran back to her room. I stared after her silently, and then I turned to glare at him coldly.

"So..." I drew out the vowel. "We're annoyances now, huh?"

He flinched. "I didn't mean-"

"You didn't mean it?" I snapped, raising my voice a bit. "How dare you make my little sister cry? How dare you say all those things, and then turn around and tell me you didn't mean it?!" I turned and ran until I reached Ema's room. She let me in, and I immediately wrapped my arms around her.

She buried her face in my shoulder. "I heard you shouting..."

I snorted sharply, still angry enough to punch a wall. "Yeah well, you know me and my anger management issues..."

She laughed shakily into my shoulder. "I don't think you have issues..."

"And I don't think you're annoying," I pulled back and patted her on the head. "I think you're my cute baby sister and I will fight anyone who tries to hurt you in any way. Speaking of which..." The bell for her room rang, and we both turned to stare at the door, and then at each other.

Ema got up and opened the door slowly while I stood back. "Sorry about earlier," Subaru apologised, his gaze flickering from me to Ema. He was blushing, and he looked honestly sorry. I let my glare ease up a bit. "Please forget about it! It was...just something I said without thinking."

"I-It's okay," Ema said in reply. "I was just a bit surprised." She still sounded like she wanted to cry, so it was clearly not okay. Ema raised her head, and I knew she was forcing a smile. "I'm really fine."

Seeing how much he had hurt her, Subaru's expression changed to complete regret. "Sorry, I really am sorry!" He bowed, but suddenly stumbled on something and pitched forward into the room and onto my sister.

I freaked, as one does in such a situation. "Get off my sister!"

Subaru raised his head up groggily, and let it fall again, and I noticed that the pink flush on his face wasn't just from embarrassment: he was drunk. Flat out, stumbling drunk, and now he was on my sister, and now I had to defend her honour.

So I grabbed him by the back of his collar, and hefted his upper body off hers. I wasn't strong enough to lift him completely – especially when he was pretty much dead weight by this time – but I shifted him so that his torso wasn't pressed against her own.

Ema's face was bright red when I saw it, and her lips were parted and oh my god please no. "Hey! What are you doing?" Tsubaki and Azusa appeared in the doorway and I dropped him so that they could drag him from the room. "He's unconscious already?"

"He drank too much," Azusa noted.

Tsubaki shook his head. "Ah, what a guy..." Then they both turned to face us. "Listen, forget about what Subaru said before."

"Everyone here thinks you both are important siblings," Azusa told us.

"It's because I kept teasing him that he said those words," Tsubaki explained. "He doesn't really think like that."

I could accept that in conjunction with his earlier apology, but I was still going to do something about the whole falling on Ema and potentially kissing her deal. "It was an accident!" Ema tried to explain.

"An accident huh?" Tsubaki repeated, and then he smirked evilly. "Well even if it was an accident, I'll be troubled if you think that we'll let him off with nothing."

A man after my own heart. I grinned up at him, and he winked back. Ema and I watched them drag Subaru's unconscious body away. I waved her goodnight, and disappeared into my room to sleep. My work break was up, and tomorrow I had both afternoon classes, and the evening shift almost immediately after.

In a few minutes, I was fast asleep.