What's that another chapter so soon after the previous one? Surely it's but a trick of the eye. Joking aside here it is, the seventh chapter of this story. I'm glad that there are still people who are reading and enjoying this story. I have a bit of news regarding upcoming installments for this story. Sadly it'll probably be a while before the next chapter comes out as IIonezerozero is very busy with real life stuff and won't be able to help me edit chapter eight. Good news is the first draft for it is complete and I am hard at work on chapter nine. Anyways with that out of the way let's get on with the chapter.

Again thanks IIonezerozero for betaing this story, your help is always appreciated. Also I want to thank you for helping with the scary stories that were told in this chapter. Doing this story without your help would be so difficult so thanks man. I hope things are going well for you friend.


Life at the Shinozaki's

Chapter Seven:

It was Friday after school that two sets of feet came to a standstill in front of a relatively unremarkable building. Looking up from his phone's screen, Yoshiki narrowed his eyes as he double checked the address before nodding. "Yep, this is the place." He confirmed to his companion, before pocketing his phone.

Wiping away some of the sweat off his brow, he sighed. Usually he wasn't one to complain about the weather, but today was just too damn hot for mid-May. 'Hopefully the building has a working air conditioner.' the blonde thought to himself.

Ayumi spared a glance upward at the complex once Yoshiki had confirmed it to be their destination. She felt that the place was fairly nice looking. It appeared to be in better condition than her classmate's previous home, so that was good. Smiling she nodded to herself, finding the building to be a possible good home for her friend.

The twin tailed class rep knew that she had little right to meddle in Yoshiki's life, even if she had already done so a couple times. But Ayumi wouldn't feel right about letting Yoshiki settle for less than adequate living conditions when he had more than enough time to find something better.

Yoshiki scratched his head as he continued to study the outside of the building. While it wasn't very remarkable in the slightest it was managed better than his old place had been before catching fire. 'No way the rent can be that affordable.' He thought skeptically. 'There's gotta be some sort of catch or something.' The blonde told himself as he remembered his sister telling him the asking price.

Early this morning he had received a text from his sister, giving him information about an apartment listing that seemed promising. The place was roughly a ten minute walk from Kisaragi and general testimonies regarding the living conditions were generally positive. Not to mention that rent there was easily affordable for a person living on a part-timer's pay. Even still Yoshiki couldn't help but feel the need to approach this with some trepidation as he felt that this sounded too good to be true.

Deciding to push away his skepticism he figured that since they were already here they might as well go in already. "Let's check it out." Yoshiki told Ayumi before moving to enter the building while said girl remained stationary for a moment.

The twin tailed class rep of 2-9 hesitated for a moment before complying. While she didn't mind offering Yoshiki help in finding a new place Ayumi was kind of regretting her decision of not just going straight home after school.

Upon exiting the school building they had been assaulted by the sweltering heat. Ayumi had been half tempted to tell Yoshiki that she would just head on straight home, but had abstained from doing so as that would be rude considering she had already told him she would be coming. Breathing a sigh of relief Ayumi thanked whatever deities above that the building had a very good air conditioner as she was met with a blast of cool air.

Glancing at the blonde in front of her Ayumi frowned as she recalled the awkward end to their conversation the other day. They had touched on what the dark haired girl felt was a personal subject that she shouldn't even come close to. As a result their subsequent interactions had become somewhat clunky on her end. Thankfully the tension had eased up as Yoshiki seemed to have put the conversation out of his mind.

Pushing those thoughts out of her head Ayumi continued following Yoshiki up to the front desk. 'I hope this works out for Kishinuma-kun.' She thought to herself as the blonde leaned a little over the desk.

Ayumi frowned as she felt a biting coolness creep down her spine. 'It's really cold in here...' The dark haired girl inwardly uttered as she felt the cold air blowing down on her. While it was a relief from the heat outside it was quickly becoming uncomfortable as she could feel goose bumps forming on her legs.

The dark haired girl watched him turn his head left and right as if looking for someone. Unsure of what the proper steps in looking at an apartment vacancy Ayumi voiced her confusion. "What are you doing?" The youngest member of the Shinozaki family could admit to being somewhat ignorant in what entailed at looking at a home.

Looking over at the girl Yoshiki promptly answered. "There should be someone here to show us which room is vacant." He explained simply before looking over the desk again. 'But there's no one here, and there isn't even a bell to call someone.' The ex-delinquent thought to himself slightly annoyed. 'Maybe I should have tried getting an appointment ahead of time?' The blonde considered. Shoving his hands into his pockets as they were quickly becoming cold he sighed before backing off.

The walk from Kisaragi to this apartment had been blistering hot, he had been sweating through his school clothes and Ayumi's cheeks had been flushed from the bright sun. Now with the AC on full blast it was cold enough that Yoshiki could see his crush shivering lightly. Ignoring the desire to lend her his jacket he turned back to look around the room. 'She'd just reject the offer anyways.' The blonde told himself as he took in the lobby.

The tiled floor was in need of a little cleaning and the paint on the walls in the lobby was a bit faded, but the place looked relatively nice. There were a couple chairs, plus a sofa, and a coffee table with some magazines stacked on it in the middle. Near the entrance he could see another door that, if the sign were to be believed, led to a laundry room. Turning around Yoshiki spotted a set of stairs next to an old-looking elevator. The ex-delinquent briefly considered going upstairs to ask one of the residents if they knew where he could find the landlord before a small ding sounded off.

The two teens turned their attention to the elevator just in time to catch the door open. A man with greying hair and thick rimmed glasses came walking out. He was wearing khaki pants and a mint green polo shirt with the top two buttons unbuttoned. Letting out a tired sigh the man entered the lobby and made for the front desk before taking note of the unfamiliar youths.

The building manager, Kamijou Takashi, raised an eyebrow upon seeing them. Clearing his throat he did his best to keep his annoyance in check as he greeted them. "Hello, can I help you two?" He asked.

Hesitating slightly Yoshiki nodded before stepping towards the older man. "Uh yeah...we're looking for the building manager." He informed the older man.

Takashi raised an eyebrow at that before nodding. "That would be me." He told the blonde teen, wondering what the kid wanted. Taking a good look at the youth he frowned at his bleach blonde hair, immediately labeling the kid as a delinquent in his mind.

Ayumi smiled happily at the man telling them that he was the building manager. She felt like they were on the right track to possibly getting Yoshiki a new home. Biting the inside of her cheek the dark haired girl resisted the urge to shiver as another gust of cool air breezed through them. 'How cold do they need to keep this place?' She wondered. A part of her was curious as to how Yoshiki would be able to handle this if the AC was on full blast all the time.

Yoshiki, allowing himself to believe that this could work out, smiled at the building manager's response. "Good." He said before getting straight to business. "My friend and I heard about the vacancy and we wanted to check it out." He told the older man who only frowned in response.

Takashi frowned at the blonde's words before taking note of the girl standing beside him. She was short with dark hair, and her cheeks were still slightly flushed. Looking between them he sighed in annoyance before voicing his thoughts. "Kid, this isn't a love hotel, this is an apartment complex. Take your girlfriend and get the hell out of here." He firmly ordered without raising his voice. Pointing to the door he waited for them to take their leave.

The grey haired man could only hope that they wouldn't try to argue with him, he was in no mood to deal with brats. With the unexpected rise in temperature happening so early people had been complaining to him all day. First they tell him that if he doesn't turn on the building's AC to full blast they'd refuse to pay rent, then once he actually does do it they whine about it being too cold. Added to that he has that stupid vacancy that he's spent the last three months trying to fill, and had to lower the asking price due to no one wanting to pay his original price.

At hearing Ayumi being referred to as his girlfriend Yoshiki's face flushed lightly before he regained his nerve. This guy was looking down on him and Ayumi and that pissed him off. "Hey, old man! I know that this isn't a damn love hotel, I wanted to see about living here!" He told the building manager before taking an aggressive step forward.

At the older man's abrasive response Ayumi's eyes widened in shock as her cheeks heated up further in a combination of embarrassment and annoyance. Before she could correct the man and tell him that he was wrong Yoshiki had flown off the handle and began shouting at him. "Kishinuma-kun!" She called out as she saw him take a step forward. Reaching forward she weakly pulled him back before even realizing that she had grabbed his arm. His anger was not at all unjustified, but if he had any chance of living here he was throwing it away with his reaction.

Under normal circumstances a girl with the physical prowess of Ayumi would never be able to restrain Yoshiki. But because her opinion mattered to him, like his sister's, the blonde allowed her to hold him back. His anger halted momentarily as the blonde remembered that Ayumi was still with him. Looking back he saw that her features were a mixture of concern and frustration, cooling his anger and causing him to back off. He hated the idea that he had been the cause of that expression.

"You kids better get the hell out of here before I call the cops!" The older man's angry voice brought Yoshiki's eyes to the front.

Seeing the older man in a threating stance the blonde scowled but refrained from making any further outburst due to Ayumi still maintaining her grip on his arm. Yoshiki uttered a mental swear at the man before turning and leaving the building with the twin tailed girl in tow.

Once they were a little ways away from the building Yoshiki stopped walking and let out a huff. Right now he was mentally beating himself up for losing his cool like that. 'In front of Shinozaki no less.' Upon turning to take a look at the girl behind him Yoshiki could see the disappointment in her eyes, and that only served to fuel his self-loathing. Letting out another sigh he hung his head. "Sorry..." He told the dark haired girl. He was sorry for many things. He was sorry for losing his cool, for possibly prolonging his stay at her house, and for letting her witness that spectacle.

Ayumi came to a halt as her blonde classmate stopped walking. Now that they were away from that rude man the dark haired girl could feel her frustration wanting to come lashing out at Yoshiki. Yes that guy had been unreasonable but her ex-delinquent friend only made the situation worse. At his apologetic tone she had to literally bite her tongue to keep from verbally ripping him a new one. If he had just kept his cool they could probably be looking at the apartment right now. This could have been it, the complex had at the very least seemed nice and the asking price had been anything but unreasonable.

But at her friend's tone Ayumi found her anger simmering enough that she was able to remind herself that lashing out at him would be no better than what he had just done. Taking a moment to let in a deep breath she released a tired sigh. "It's fine..." Ayumi trailed off before shaking her head. "Just next time...next time if something like that happens just try to stay calm Kishinuma-kun." She finished lamely before shaking her head and forcing the corner of her lips into a smile. "Besides, you still have five weeks. I know you'll find something." She told him with as much encouragement she could manage.

Yoshiki turned away from the dark haired girl and they started the walk back to her house. While he wished he could share that sort of cheer the recent event and reminder that he had five weeks put a slight damper on him. 'That's right...a week ago today I came to live with Shinozaki.' He knew that finding a new apartment wouldn't be easy, much less finding one for his budget, but a week had already past. And he knew how easily one week could turn into two, then three, and then six. Shoving his hands into his pockets Yoshiki heaved an inaudible sigh. 'It's okay...I got five weeks...' He tried to assure himself, he'd just have to step things up.


Early that Saturday morning Yoshiki found himself sighing as he reread the text message Miki had sent him last night while he had been at work. After the dismal event at the apartment complex the blonde knew that he had burned a what could have been very good bridge and his sister was also annoyed by it as well.

{Onii-chan, you really need to keep your temper in check. Even if that guy was a jerk you still messed up, it's a good thing that Shinozaki-san was with you or else you could be facing assault charges right now. This Sunday we'll continue the search. Don't be disheartened Onii-chan, just keep trying.}

The text was mostly scolding him for his actions the previous day, but that was just Miki being worried. And she did have a point, Yoshiki conceded to himself as he put his phone away. Standing up he grabbed his book bag. 'Nothing I can do about that now.' He thought with some reluctance before shaking his head. 'I'll worry about that later.' Today he and Ayumi would be attending a study session with their friends, and for once he was happy to be shifting his focus towards school instead of his failure from the day before. Standing up he exited his/Hinoe's room and made for the kitchen.

Ayumi was already at the table with her dad who was silently reading the paper as per usual. Asuka was quietly bustling around the kitchen, preparing breakfast for her family plus Yoshiki. Entering the room Yoshiki raised his hand in greeting. "Good morning." He said before being answered by Ayato's grunt of acknowledgement and Ayumi's own amiable greeting.

"Good morning." Hearing Asuka's voice definitely surprised him. Turning his head to face her Yoshiki was met with her back as she continued cooking. For a moment he wondered if she had forgiven him, but quickly threw the idea away as he felt the same coolness radiate from her that he had felt since she started ignoring him. Sighing quietly he took his usual spot next to Ayumi at the table.

Ayumi parted her lips as she watched her mother swiftly turn around. The fact that the older woman had bothered to return her blonde friend's greeting was a shock to her. 'Has Okaa-san forgiven him?' She thought to herself somewhat hopefully before feeling mild disappointment as her mother turned away and resumed being silent.

While it didn't look like he had been forgiven at the very least it was an improvement as far as Ayumi was concerned. Asuka saying anything to someone she was supposed to be ignoring was a good sign that she had gotten most of it out of her system. Deciding to put these thoughts out of her head she quickly drew Yoshiki's attention. "So after we eat we'll go to Nakashima-san's house to study. You have to work at noon today, right?" The dark haired girl questioned after her brief explanation.

Turning his eyes away from Asuka, Yoshiki allowed himself a moment to register his dark haired friend's words before nodding. "Yeah, I gotta be at the shop by twelve." He confirmed.

At Yoshiki's answer Ayumi nodded. "Okay then, we should hurry up and eat, and then leave. If you want to do well on exams you'll need all the help you can get."

Releasing a sigh the blonde nodded. "Thanks for the reminder." He muttered under his breath before resuming eating.

Once the two teens finished eating they tossed their dishes into the sink with the promise of washing them later. Grabbing their school bags the two quickly left the Shinozaki residence. The two teens were thankful that the heat wasn't as bad as it had been the previous day and made for Naomi's house.


Shinohara Seiko had only seen the outside of Naomi's house before today, so actually going in was quite a treat. The only downside was that Naomi's mom was away at work. Which was a shame, the curly haired girl thought, she had wanted the opportunity to meet the older woman. 'I wonder if she'd let me call her Okaa-san?' The easily excitable girl thought to herself with a wide grin.

At the sound of the doorbell ringing Seiko looked up, wondering who that could be. "Hey Seiko, can you get that for me?" Naomi, who was busy making study break snacks in the kitchen, called out.

Nodding enthusiastically Seiko stood up. "No problem at all Naomi-sama, I'm only disappointed that I forgot to bring my frilly maid outfit." Her wacky statement was met with a small sigh. Seiko snickered lightly before quickly going over to the front door. Upon opening the door she felt that her day could not get any better. "Good morning Class-rep, Kishinuma-kun." She said the last name with a wink.

Ayumi smiled back at her friend, pointedly ignoring the teasing look in Seiko's eyes. "Good morning Shinohara-san." She greeted before entering the house followed by Yoshiki.

Seiko snickered under her breath as Yoshiki rolled his eyes at her antics. Closing the door behind the two she turned to them with a curious expression. "The past week the two of you have been coming and leaving school as a pair, and even today you show up at Naomi's house at the same time." She commented with false innocence. "You two aren't very subtle, you know?" The curly haired girl teased with a wide grin.

Frowning at the insane girl Ayumi rolled her eyes before feeding her the lie she had come up with on the way to Naomi's house. "In case you haven't realized this Shinohara-san, exams are a month away. I've been tutoring Kishinuma-kun." Which technically wasn't a lie as she had been helping him with his homework the past week. Seiko just didn't need to know the rest of the story. "That's why we've been coming and going at the same time."

'Tutoring, huh? Hmmm. Oh really~?' Seiko, unconvinced, thought before shooting a mischievous wink at Yoshiki that did not go unnoticed by Ayumi. "Well whatever you say Class-rep. A slacker like Kishinuma-kun needs all the help he can get so keep doing your best." She encouraged, playing into the lie.

Frowning Yoshiki decided to speak up. "Who are you calling a slacker Shinohara, last I checked you didn't score that much higher than me on the last test." The blonde pointed out, remembering how he had only been a few points below her.

At the unexpected jibe Seiko paused before letting a perverted grin show. "Well that's not my fault, I was distracted." She told him simply.

The two teens paused, not sure if they wanted to ask. At seeing the antsy look on Seiko's face, the one just begging for them to ask, the blonde decided to bite the bullet. "Wh-what had you distracted?" He hesitantly inquired.

Her smirk couldn't have widened anymore if she forced it to. "Well I was too busy trying to peek up Naomi's sk-gah!" She cried out midsentence as her face met the floor due to Naomi's foot meeting her backside. Looking up Seiko caught sight of the mildly annoyed look on her best friend's face. Deciding to push the short haired tomboy's buttons a little more she smirked. "Naomi-chan, I thought I said that I wanted to keep that stuff in the bedroom." Seiko said with a cute exaggerated pout.

"Seiko didn't I tell you what would happen if you kept saying weird things like this?" Naomi questioned with a mildly annoyed expression as the curly haired girl snickered.

Grinning like a child who found a thrill in being caught in the act Seiko challenged her best friend's authority. "Catch me if you can Naomi-chan~!" The excitable girl exclaimed before running away into the kitchen.

The short haired girl frowned as she prepared to chase after her best friend for disciplinary action. That day the heavens were shining brightly on Shinohara Seiko as she was literally saved by the doorbell.

Naomi paused before looking in the direction of the door and then back to the kitchen where Seiko had retreated to. Despite not wanting to let Seiko get away the short haired girl knew that she couldn't leave her friends standing outside. "I'll be right back." She told Yoshiki and Ayumi before going to answer the front door.

Opening the door Naomi was greeted by the drama club duo Sakutaro and Mayu. "Good morning you two, come on in." She told them while putting on a friendly smile.

"Good morning Nakashima-san," Mayu greeted pleasantly as she and entered the house of her friend, followed by the blue haired boy.

After slipping off their shoes the two newly arrived teenagers followed Naomi into the living room. "So who are we missing?" Sakutaro asked as he looked around the room. At the moment he could see Yoshiki and the class rep. 'Where are Mochida and Shinohara? They better not be running late.'

Naomi sighed as she looked glanced around the room. "Everyone's here save for Satoshi, Seiko's raiding my fridge as we all speak."

"Am not!" The faint voice of Seiko responded. Moments later the curly haired girl entered the living room. Ignoring the rest of the eyes on her she turned her attention to Naomi and smiled sheepishly. "Am I forgiven...Naomi-sa-" At the short haired girl's light glare she gulped before speaking normally. "-Naomi?"

The tomboyish girl maintained her annoyed look before smiling lightly and shaking her head. "Of course you are." She said with a small chuckle. Turning to look at the rest of the group she addressed them. "Since we're here maybe we should get started?"

Ayumi raised an eyebrow at this. 'We're not all here yet.' She voiced these thoughts regarding the one person who was missing. "We're not all here yet Nakashima-san. What about Mochida-kun?" She questioned.

Naomi sighed. "Satoshi's running late, I called his house before you and Kishinuma-kun got here. His mom said that he overslept."

Yoshiki rolled his eyes before chuckling. "Of course, he wouldn't set his alarm on a Saturday." He commented.

Naomi laughed lightly in response. "That's what his mom told me. So it'll be a little while before he gets here. Until then we should probably just get a head start, and when he does get here someone can bring him up to speed on what we're doing."

Seiko nodded energetically. "I agree. So let's talk groups, I'm thinking I should be with Naomi-chan since she's the one who agreed to help me out in the first place." The curly haired girl explained before turning to Mayu and continuing. "Suzumoto-san can work with Morishige-kun since he's the one who agreed to help her on English, and that leaves Kishinuma-kun with the Class-rep since she's been tutoring him this past week she shouldn't have much trouble in helping him. And once we're all done we can exchange our work and use them to create a study guide."

The group was surprised that such an idea had come from Seiko, this was conveyed in their expressions. Seiko paused at seeing the looks on their faces. Putting on a victories smirk she flashed a V sign with her fingers. "What? I'm not a complete airhead." She told them while puffing her chest out confidently.

Naomi smiled while shaking her head. "Yeah, only a partial one." She jokingly said as Seiko sighed in false exasperation.

With that Mayu and Sakutaro formed a group, they'd mainly be working on English, while Seiko and Naomi made another group that would deal with chemistry, and the final group composing of Yoshiki and Ayumi who would be focusing on math, one of Yoshiki's weaker subjects.

Thankfully due to her having helped the blonde with his homework over the past week he did appear to be having less trouble grasping the material. And she had discovered his good and bad subjects. Math and science seemed to be the ones Yoshiki struggled the most with, while he did about average in English. Though to her surprise history seemed to be a subject the blonde scored fairly well on. Whenever they did their history homework he never asked for help, and when reviewing their answers most of the time he got it right.

While they all worked in their individual groups, Ayumi helping Yoshiki with calculus, Sakutaro with Mayu on English, and Naomi with Seiko on chemistry, the dark haired girl couldn't help but be slightly deflated that Satoshi had yet to show up. While she didn't mind assisting her blonde friend with his schoolwork, as he could benefit greatly from her help, she had been hoping to use this as a way to get a little closer to the brown haired boy. Inwardly sighing Ayumi pushed those thoughts away and continued to help Yoshiki.

The first to break the, mostly, silent atmosphere was Seiko who huffed out a sigh. "Ahhh..." The curly haired girl groaned before rubbing her temples. "Why do we have to memorize this stupid periodic table? We're never going to use this after school!" She complained.

Naomi frowned before trying to get Seiko back on track. "I know Seiko, but just keep at it. This should be a lot easier since you've got me to help you out."

Seiko's slumped posture suddenly perked up, turning to look at Naomi she smiled widely before wrapping the other girl in a tight hug. "Oh thank you Naomi-chan, I knew you'd have my back!" She cried out happily as she rubbed up against Naomi.

Rolling her eyes the tomboyish girl weakly pushed against the other girl. "Come on Seiko, why ca-..." Naomi stopped mid sentence as she felt something wrong. "Wha-?! Seiko!" She screamed in surprise. "Just where are you putting your hands?!" Naomi's cheeks tinged red as she all but shoved the girl off of her.

Seiko smirked from her position on the floor and chuckled. "Fufufu, don't tell me you didn't enjoy it Naomi-chan?" She questioned playfully.

Crossing her arms over her chest Naomi scowled at her friend. "Of course I didn't." She told her friend in a warning tone.

Pulling herself back on the couch Seiko sighed. "I know what the problem is, you like it better when Moch-." The rest of her words were lost in a mumble as Naomi's hand swiftly covered Seiko's mouth.

Initially the group of teenagers tried to ignore the commotion happening as they knew it to be a common occurrence. However, at Naomi's loud yelling they all jerked their heads up to see Seiko being pushed to the floor. Ayumi found herself frowning at what Seiko was about to say while Yoshiki gave a slight smirk at curly haired girl's usual antics. Mayu allowed a troubled smile to show as she knew that being among friends there was never a dull moment.

"Just ignore them." Sakutaro said quietly to Mayu as he tried to regain her attention so he could help her get through English.

Before Seiko could cause another outburst the doorbell rang. At the noise Naomi looked to the door and sighed before glancing over at her friends. Meeting eyes with Ayumi she addressed the twin tailed girl. "Class-rep, could you get that for me." Naomi politely inquired before turning to fix her best friend a pointed look. "I need to explain to Seiko the importance of boundaries, again." Seiko offered a nervous chuckle at her best friend's look.

Ayumi nodded hesitantly before standing up to open the door. Having a decent idea of who it could be she smiled at seeing the brown haired boy's sheepish expression on the other side. "Good morning Mochida-kun." She pleasantly greeted him before stepping aside to allow Satoshi to enter the house.

Walking through the front door Satoshi returned Ayumi's greeting as he took off his shoes. "Good morning Shinozaki, I take it that you guys started without me." He said as they entered the living room before coming to a halt. "Ah...What's Naomi doing to Shinohara?" He asked hesitantly.

Yoshiki, who was watching the scene unfold with the rest of the group, turned to face Satoshi. Offering a small wave he paused at the brunette's question before looking back at the two girls.

"Okay, okay, okay! I won't do it again, just let me go Naomi-sama!" Seiko pleaded with her best friend.

Naomi shook her head as her wonderfully fake smile appeared once more. "That's what you said last time Seiko-chan~." The short haired girl told her as she continued to administer her punishment.

"Have mercy!" Seiko cried out.

Yoshiki breathed out a sigh before answering Satoshi's question. "You're better off not knowing." The blonde told his best friend before taking another glance at the two girls. 'Some things just aren't worth asking about...'


After a little while Naomi relented and allowed Seiko her freedom. Before Seiko could catch her breath the lights went out and the group cried out in surprise. "What the heck?" Satoshi questioned as he looked around the darken room, the curtains had also been drawn so the only bit of light was from the nearby kitchen.

Having flipped the light switch Ayumi quickly moved in the darkness to join her friends. A small grin on her face she reached into her pocket to pull out one of her signature candles. The dark haired girl's smile faltered however when she found that she had no matches. "Shoot." She mumbled under her breath

Yoshiki glanced to his side at the sound. It was somewhat difficult to make her out as his eyes were still adjusting. "What's wrong, Shinozaki?" He quietly asked. It took a moment to see the cylinder shaped object in her hand and then it clicked. 'Is she planning on telling a ghost story now?' The blonde thought to himself, slightly surprised that she'd do that during a study session. 'Of course though she carries candles on her all the time, so maybe it's not that surprising.'

At hearing Yoshiki's voice Ayumi turned to face him. "I forgot my matches." She told him automatically at his question. Inwardly she was chiding herself for forgetting something so important to her story telling that she didn't even realize that she had just revealed to Yoshiki that she was the cause of the blackout.

Yoshiki raised an eyebrow at her unintentional admission of being the perpetrator to the blackout. 'So she was planning on telling some scary stories today? Maybe that's why she'd acting weird lately.' It had been a good three or so weeks since she'd last scared someone. 'I guess she just needs to get it out of her system or she'll get frustrated.' He thought before smirking as his baseless theory became a conclusion.

His eyes had adjusted somewhat at this point, so he could see her outline. The candle, even in the darkness was very recognizable. Glancing up to her face he could just barely see her lips dipping into a pout of disappointment. That was something Yoshiki never enjoyed seeing, whenever she told her stories she was always smiling brightly. 'I like it better when you're smiling...' He didn't have the courage to say that out loud. But if it was within his power he would still do his best to make that happen.

At the unexpected tap on her shoulder Ayumi whirled her head to look at the blonde. Raising an eyebrow at him she waited for him to explain what he wanted. A second passed and she silently watched him pull something out of his pocket. A flick and suddenly a tiny flame had come to life. Ayumi silently observed the blonde boy as he moved the flame to her candle's wick.

Once the candle came to life Yoshiki snuffed the flame and scooted slightly away from the dark haired girl. At seeing the class rep's signature candle the rest of the room quickly realized what was going on. "Hey Class-rep, is this really a good time?" Sakutaro asked, mildly annoyed that their study session, that he had only showed up to for Mayu, had been interrupted.

Ayumi, still momentarily surprised by Yoshiki's abrupt action, blinked before looking over at the blue haired boy. Registering the glasses boy's question she quickly entered horror story mode. "It's always a good time for a ghost story Morishige-kun." She told him before setting her lit candle in the middle of their group.

Satoshi inwardly groaned at this before taking the last available seat, the one next to Yoshiki. "Shinozaki, just try not to make this one too scary." He pleaded. 'The last thing I want to do is have Yoshiki slug me again.' He thought to himself before unconsciously rubbing his shoulder.

The blonde took note of his friend rubbing his shoulder before chuckling. "Satoshi, you're only saying that because you're too easily scared."

Ayumi's smile widened ever so slightly when she heard her crush's plea. "We'll see Mochida-kun." She said in a cheery voice that only served to unnerve him.

Once everyone was properly settled, Mayu quietly gripping Sakutaro's hand. Seiko and Naomi quietly sitting next to each other in anticipation for the horror rep's next tale, Satoshi biting his lip while trying to remind himself to keep his cool. Yoshiki remained quietly seated next to the blue haired girl who was also silent as she looked back and forth between the group.

After a few minutes Ayumi began her tale. "This story is from a few years back, in a newly built apartment complex in the recently urbanized district. A new university student, let's call him Arisato-san, rented the second room from the east on the eleventh floor."


A family of three lived next to the student. He wasn't all that sociable by nature so he didn't often speak with them or have anything to do with the family, but he could often hear them through the walls. The sound of arguing and glass shattering happened at least once a week. In the afternoons when he would arrive home he often saw their daughter, an elementary student, who had questionable bruises on her arms and shoulders. She also seems incapable of lifting her arms above her head, thus she usually had to wait for someone to hit the call button on the elevator.

"Onii-san, would you hit the call button for me?"

Arisato-san never bothered to learn her actual name, so he took to mentally referring to her as "little red riding hood," due to the red hood she always seemed to be wearing. The red hood that her parents forced her to wear to hide the bruises.

One night, halfway through spring break, the arguing got particularly loud. The student simply continued watching TV in an attempt to ignore it. At eleven PM the shouts died down and the student shut off the television with a soft sigh. A couple moments later he hears a faint knocking on his front door.

*Knock, knock, knock* Ayumi softly tapping the wood table sends a shiver down Satoshi's spine and Yoshiki elbowed the brunette lightly to remind him not to get so close.

It sounded more like someone was patting the door rather than knocking on it. The student ignored this and turned the TV back on. But he could still hear the patting go on for a while before it finally stops.

The next day he's woken up by the sound of the intercom. A police officer asked him if he saw or heard anything unusual last night. The student answered that he was sleeping last night, so he didn't notice anything.

"I was sleeping last night, so I didn't notice a thing, officer." Ayumi said, doing her best to mimic the student's boyish voice. "Did something happen last night?"

According to the police officer the man next door killed his wife. After getting over his initial shock at the answer Arisato-san inquired about the daughter's condition.

The police officer asks the university student to step outside his apartment. He does so and the officer has him look at the door. The bottom half of it is covered in tiny red hand prints. The officer believed that the little girl had been stabbed.

It was at this point that Ayumi held up her hands as if to show a visual.

A shiver ran down the groups, save for Yoshiki and Sakutaro, spines and Ayumi continued unimpeded.

The officer expressed confusion at there being no body for the little girl, nor was there any evidence to suggest that she had ran into another hallway. He also wondered why the little girl didn't push the call button or go to the university student for help.

Arisato-san's face paled as he recalled the little girl being incapable of lifting her arms above her head. She wouldn't have been able to push the call button, and she wouldn't have been able to push the doorbell, much less muster the strength to knock on his door loud enough.

Thankfully for Arisato-san the officer doesn't notice the university student's less than pleasant expression.

As the officer took his leave Arisato-san can't help but mentally envision the events of the previous night. The girl with the red hood, an hour before midnight, having run away from her insane father, collapsed in front of the elevator crying and pounding against the door as her life came to a close. In the end the little girl's body was never found even after the case had come to a close.

But from that night onwards every night, at eleven PM Arisato-san could not help but notice an odd sound.

"Pat, pat, pat, pat."

It's faint, so faint that as long as he ignores it the sound shouldn't be a bother.

Initially Arisato-san didn't even think about what it was. He decided that it was probably the wind rattling his windows.

But the sound came every night.

"Pat pat, pat pat."

Despite the sound being so tiny it eventually grounded down his nerves to mental nubs. It was only a matter of time before he had to realize that the sound wasn't from his windows but the front door.

"Who's there?" He used the intercom to call out from inside. The only response he received was the soft pat pat, pat pat noise on his door.

"Pat pat, pat pat."

He looks through the peep hole and nothing is amiss. Only the hallway and it's cream colored walls. But the floor has specks of red in it.

"BANG BANG, BANG BANG."

It's as though his eardrums are about to burst.

He still saw no one in the hallway, but the sound continues. Arisato-san hesitantly brought his eye closer to the peephole.

It's not that there's no one in the hallway, they simply can't be seen from his previous angle. There is something right below his line of vision.

At the very bottom of his vision all he sees is a line of red. His eyes are incapable of seeing the figure standing at his door, but he swore up and down that on his doorstep is the red hooded girl, waiting for him to open the door.

"Pat pat, pat pat"

He ran back down the hallway.

The clock informing him of the new day.

But the nightly visits continued.

The sound kept calling him.

Arisato-san can't bring himself to open the door.

Ayumi can't help but grin at the terrified expressions on her friends' faces. Satoshi is doing all he can to keep from whimpering, and the other three girls of their group also look fairly shaken by her scary story. Though as per usual Yoshiki and Sakutaro are proving to be difficult to scare, though the blonde did appear to be listening intently. Mentally shrugging that off, she continued her tale.

After going a whole season of enduring that same Pat pat, pat pat nightly visit noise Arisato-san decided that enough was enough, he would confront that thing once and for all.

He walked down the corridor. A small dot leaked in through the peephole from the brightly lit hall way. Putting a hand on the door knob he turns and pushes it open.

"..." Ayumi's smirk widened after her intended pause which seemed to increase her friend's anticipation even more. "There was no one there. He could no longer hear that sound."

Nor is there any red hooded figure in the hallway. Arisato-san laughed in relief, it had all been in his head, due to a guilty conscience. He hadn't realized it but he felt responsible for her death and had mentally tortured himself over it.

"But now it's over." Ayumi's voice echoed in the candle lit room. Her friends relaxed visibly as her tale seemed to be winding down. "The moment he opened the door he put an end to it. Yawning tiredly Arisato-san turns around to go back into his home only to stop as a tiny hand pats the side of his leg."

A red hand print is left behind, and a small voice asks him. "Onii-san will you hit-?"

"Wah!" Satosh, jumping up, cried out before Ayumi could conclude her story. Instinctively he reached out for the person nearest to him, who happened to be Yoshiki.

Yoshiki, who had intently been listening to his crush's story, barely contained a yelp from Satoshi's abrupt action "Dammit Satoshi, get off me!" The blonde shouted before socking him in the shoulder.

"Gah!" The brunette grunted out as he was pushed back.

Ayumi, somewhat happy that Satoshi didn't cling to Naomi this time, laughed at Satoshi's terrified expression. "Haha, was that scary Mochida-kun?" She asked teasingly.

From the other side of the room Seiko tried clinging onto Naomi in a way to mimic Satoshi's actions. "Naomi-chan, save me!" She cried before smirking. "Did I get it down right? Was my girly squeal like Mochida-kun's?" She asked before breaking into laughter.

Naomi frowned at Seiko's laughing form before a small smile slipped its way in and she joined her friend in her laugh fest. "Haha! Not bad Seiko, but I think Satoshi's screams are a little higher pitched than that." The short haired girl told her best friend before laughing again.

Satoshi sighed at being teased before trying to brush it off. "You guys are terrible." He said before chuckling lightly and sighing.

Mayu sighed with relief as the story was now over. Looking over to the blue haired girl who was sitting in the center of their group she called out to her. "That was a good one, Shinozaki-san. You had me shivering the whole time." She complimented before breathing out a sigh of relief.

Ayumi smiled at Mayu's words. "Thanks Suzomoto-san, I found this story online a couple weeks ago, and had been waiting for a good opportunity to tell it." She told her.

Seiko, having finished her laughing turned to face Ayumi. "So, the patting was it the ghost of the little girl?" The curly haired girl inquired, mildly curious.

Ayumi looked at Seiko and shrugged. "Who knows..." She told her, in a slightly spooky voice. Chuckling she reached to grab her candle. She only had one story on her today and they really should get back to studying. But she was stopped by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Pausing she looked over to the blonde next to her, curious as to what he wanted.

Yoshiki offered a slight smirk before saying. "Shinozaki if you don't have any more stories, would you mind if I told one instead?" He inquired much to Ayumi's and the rest of the group's surprise.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the group the reason why Yoshiki wanted to tell a story was due to his sister. A couple weeks ago Miki had teased the blonde by jokingly recommending him to try getting to understand his crush by looking into her hobby.

He wasn't a fan of occult culture or scary stories, but he had looked a few up online. A couple of those scary stories had stuck with him, and he felt that Ayumi might enjoy them. 'Maybe Shinozaki would like it if someone told her a story instead.' Was his thought process.

Ayumi nodded mutely before claiming her voice. "O-okay." She said unsurely. The dark haired girl had never had anyone tell her a ghost story and personally she preferred it that way. But she wouldn't deny the blonde telling his own story since she felt it would be unfair of her to tell him no.

The blonde nodded pleased before turning to the rest of the group that looked stunned. Glancing at Satoshi he smirked lightly. "Satoshi, you might want to move somewhere else, the story teller won't appreciate it if you cling to him." He said before playfully punching his opened palm as if to empathize his point. The brunette chuckled nervously before jumping into another seat, this one closer to Naomi and Seiko. Clearing his throat Yoshiki began his own story.


There was a girl of about eleven. Her parents had left her to mind the house by herself for the first time. As they left they made sure to remind her to lock all the doors and windows, recently there had been news of a suspicious person in the area. That evening when she was getting ready to go to bed for the night she made sure to go about the house, locking all of the doors and windows, but she couldn't reach the small ventilation windows. The ones at the top of the large sliding glass doors in the living room that opened into the back garden. She tried standing on chairs and desk but still she was unable to reach them. Sighing she gave up and instead settled with closing the curtains tightly. Naively thinking that would keep all the monsters of the night away.

When she went to bed she wasn't completely alone, she had a dog who acted as her personal protector. When she turned the lights out, even when her parents were home, if she got scared she'd put her hand down and her dog would sniff her open palm before licking it, as if telling her that everything was alright.

That night when she turned in she was happy to have her trusty guard dog with her. It was just one night they'd be okay. She turned off the lights, got into bed, and reached down and waited. The dog pressed her nose into her palm, sniffing her hand before letting out her warm tongue and licking the girl's palm. The eleven year old girl sighed happily before turning over and shutting her eyes, within moments she had fallen asleep.

A few hours later she heard an unfamiliar dripping noise.

"Drip, drip, drip." Yoshiki slowly said, remembering how Ayumi had at times done this. He was pleased to see that the group looked just as scared as when Ayumi told these stories. Not noticing the displeased expression on the twin tailed girl's face next to him the blonde continued on with his story.

The noise was annoying but she didn't want to get up to turn off what was obviously the bathroom or kitchen faucet. So she put her hand down and waited, a few minutes later her palm was licked and she knew that it was safe. So she turned over and went back to sleep.

A few hours later the dripping noise awoke her again.

"Drip, drip, drip."

The girl, not wanting to get up, put her hand down and waited. Her hand was licked once more and she was reassured that nothing was wrong.

A third time the dripping woke her up. Sighing she turned over and held her hand out, it was licked again and she went back to sleep.

The next morning when her eyes fluttered open she was pleased to see that she was still safe and sound in her bed. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes she turned over her side and lowered her hand and waited for her faithful dog's lick as a greeting. When she didn't feel the warm moisture of her pet the girl softly called it's name. "Bell?"

No response.

Kicking the covers off she sat up and looked down at the floor. Normally the scene that would greet her would be her dog laying on the floor, staring up at her with her tongue sticking out and her tail wagging back and forth. But she wasn't there. And also her bedroom door was slightly ajar.

Biting her lip the girl looked over to the digital clock on her nightstand, it was a little past ten o'clock. She had probably slept in due to having troubles falling asleep last night.

"Thank goodness I don't have school today."

The girl stood, her feet hitting the carpet floor. 'Bell's probably in the kitchen, waiting for breakfast.' The girl assured herself as she left her room to go and fill her dog's bowl.

Oddly, her dog wasn't waiting eagerly in the kitchen for her master to feed her. The girl frowned. Deciding to attract her dog's attention the best way she knew she quickly went to the cabinet where they kept the dog's food and brought out a bag of dog food, filling the bowl she nodded, knowing that the smell should make her dog come running.

Yet she never came, after five minutes of no reaction the girl started to get worried. "Bell?" She called out again.

Leaving the kitchen she went to search the rest of the house, her search would not take long. Coming up on the bathroom in the hallway the girl comes to a halt as she hears that accursed dripping noise again.

"Drip, drip, drip." Yoshiki murmured as he prepared to hit the highlight of the scary story.

Going to turn off that stupid faucet the girl came to a halt as she saw a dark stain on the floor. "Wh-why i-is th-there b-bl-blood here?" The girl asked in a nervous squeak as she saw the dried blood in front of the closed bathroom. With a shaking hand she grasped the door handle and twisted it open. A horrified scream tore from her throat at the gruesome sight that beheld her.

The skin of her beloved dog is spread over the curtain rod, suspended over it like a new shower curtain. In the medicine cabinet she can see Bell's organs jam packed in it. Residual drops of blood drip from her dead dog's limp tail into the shower, the white tile becoming stained crimson.

Written on the mirror in the dog's blood,

Human's can lick too.

The girl stiffened as she felt a warmness on the back of her neck.

"You're next." An unfamiliar voice spoke.

Yoshiki closed the story in a soft whisper. The room was deathly silent, Satoshi was currently clinging to Naomi like a vice, visibly trembling. Surprisingly, Naomi wasn't trying to shake him off but seemed to be doing her best to not reciprocate the clinging. Seiko, sat off to the side, an uncomfortable look marring her usually bubbly features, rubbing her shoulder the curly haired girl awkwardly looked off to the side. Mayu leaned slightly over to Morishige, her lips quivering and eyes watering. The blue haired glasses wearing boy had a look of surprise on his face, although it was probably less due to the story and more from the fact that Yoshiki had been successful in telling one.

Turning to his intended listener Yoshiki wasn't sure what sort of reaction he had hoped to receive from her, but it probably wasn't the one that she actually gave him.

"That's not a ghost story! That's just disgusting!" The twin tailed girl fixed him with a displeased frown. Yoshiki felt as though the air had left his lungs and froze and no way any ghost story could.

Though she did have a point. Yoshiki's story had been more of a horror story than a ghost story, so she wasn't wrong.

But still her reaction... 'Just because Shinozaki enjoys telling scary stories doesn't mean she likes being told them.' was something Yoshiki realized with deafening clarity. Ayumi enjoyed scaring others, not being scared. After all, the one who does the scaring has nothing to fear, usually.

Scooting to the left she moved further away from Yoshiki and blew out her candle with a huff. She knew that right now she wasn't doing a very good job of following her sister's advice in being easier on her friend, but this was kind of new territory for her. Her ex-delinquent friend had never tried telling a scary story and she hoped he never did again.

'It was gross.' Now her mind couldn't help but wonder what had become of that poor girl. 'If it was Kishinuma-kun's intent to gross me out then he succeeded.' The dark haired girl told herself before looking back at the half-finished school work on the table.

Slowly recovering from her unexpected outburst, Yoshiki could only scratch his head in confusion. 'I figured since Shinozaki's always telling scary stories that she would like being told one.' He thought remembering her smile as she told her ghost stories. How did he mess this up so badly? 'I just don't understand you...' The blonde thought as he spared a glance at Ayumi who had returned her attention to their school work. To his chagrin, her lips were set in a scowl, this was not the response he desired.

'And here I thought the Class-rep liked horror stories.' The blue haired boy thought with an inward scoff at the hypocrisy Ayumi was displaying. 'If you can't handle being scared by a story then what right do you have to tell them?' Were his harsh thoughts. Shrugging them away he turned to the small girl to his side. With a silent gesture he decided that Mayu had been scared enough for one day. "I think that's enough story telling today, what do you say we all get back to studying?" He said as Ayumi blew her candle out.

Now that the story was over Naomi realized that she still had a shivering boy attached to her. Red faced she quickly shoved him off. "Satoshi, get off me!" She ordered an in embarrassed hiss as the boy fell off to the side.

Being snapped out of his scared stupor Satoshi awkwardly rubbed his shoulder, Naomi had pushed him a little harder than intended. "Sorry Naomi, but Yoshiki's story was just really scary." He told her before laughing nervously. 'I really hope Yoshiki doesn't decide he likes scaring people like Shinozaki does, I don't think I could handle any more stories like that.' The brunette thought with a worried sigh.

Naomi looked away before nodding in agreement. "Yeah...Kishinuma-kun's story was pretty scary..."

"You heard her, Kishinuma-kun's story was scary, hide me Naomi-chan!" Seiko said with a snicker as she made a dive for Naomi who quickly shoved the curly haired girl away. "Awwww..." She sounded out in disappointment. "Mochida-kun got to cop a feel, why don't I get to?" She asked, her lips in an exaggerated pout.

The two brunette's felt their faces becoming inflamed before sputtering nonsense.

"N-n-no I di-didn't!"

"He did not!"

Satoshi and Naomi cried out in unison causing Seiko to burst out in a fit of laughter.

Ayumi could already feel her ruined mood increasing as the trio continued on. Frowning she cleared her throat before speaking. "Morishige-kun's right, we should get back to studying." She said after gaining the group's attention.

Almost immediately the teasing and sputtering came to a stop as the teens were reminded of the original reason why they had gathered to Naomi's house that Saturday morning.

"Aww...do we have to?" Seiko asked childishly before being shut up by the warning glares she received from Naomi and Ayumi. Gulping she nodded. "On second thought studying sounds like a good idea." She quickly said before picking the book in front of her up and making it look like she was reading it, despite her holding it upside down.

From besides Seiko, Naomi sighed before rolling her eyes and softly bopping the curly haired girl on the head.


With that the study session went on. Satoshi was incorporated into Naomi's and Seiko's group, much to Ayumi's silent disappointment. Mayu continued to receive the very much needed help she for English class from Sakutaro. And Yoshiki and Ayumi worked silently, the latter of which finding himself reluctant to ask his twin tailed friend for assistance whenever he came across a problem that left him confused.

'X squared to the nega- I don't get math...' The blonde shook his head as he read the beginning half of the problem and decided to skip it.

Looking over to his side Yoshiki caught sight of Ayumi working through the math problems with relative ease. Despite her having a much easier time with these problems he noticed that her mood still seemed less than pleased. '...How could I mess up so easily?' The blonde wondered to himself, wishing that he never told that stupid story to begin with.

*Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt*

Six heads snapped up at the obnoxious sound of a phone vibrating loudly. Yoshiki instantly recognized the sound originating from his pocket. Swiftly pulling out his phone he silently deactivated the alarm and saw that it was time to head off to work. "Sorry everyone." He said to the group before quickly collecting his things. "I gotta work today, so I'll be leaving now." He told the group.

The group of teens offered their own varying goodbyes to the blonde. Satoshi, Naomi, Seiko, and Mayu sending him off with pleasant smiles and waves. While Sakutaro offered a dismissive one of his own. Much to Yoshiki's hidden disappointment Ayumi's farewell was even more dismissive, she simply glanced up from her school work and then looked back down.

Now that there was an even number of people, and Ayumi being without a partner, Seiko was paired with the twin tailed girl. "Maybe the Class-rep can keep you in line." The tomboyish girl said to her best friend.

Seiko grinned before making the V for victory sign. "Fufu, nobody can keep me in line!" The curly haired girl exclaimed with a wide grin before faltering at Naomi's look of warning. "Except Naomi-sama of course..."

The remaining teens shared an amused chuckle as Seiko sank into her seat. With that the study session went on to just before dinner time. After they finished, exchanging their answers and notes they all left and made for their own homes.

Slinging his backpack over his shoulder Yoshiki let out a tired yawn before clocking out. Leaving the back room he made for the front exit, while offering a simple wave to his co-workers. Today's shift had been unbelievably boring. Despite it being a Saturday there had been almost no activity save for the occasional customer coming in to buy an on sale CD or equipment to maintain whatever instrument they owned.

'I swear I've never seen that store so empty on a Saturday.'

Shrugging his shoulders the blonde decided not to dwell on it and went on his way to Ayumi's house. It was kind of funny how after a week of staying at her place that his feet now just moved off in the direction of her place after work now.

"I'll have to break that habit when I finally find a place." The blonde jokingly said to himself as he continued down the sparsely crowded street.

Thanks to the streets being fairly deserted Yoshiki had little trouble in catching sight of the familiar twin tails of his crush. "Hey, Shinozaki!" He called out upon realizing it was her. After the words left his mouth Yoshiki remembered the twin tailed girl's earlier displeasure with him and flinched as he knew that the chance of her being over it in just a few short hours was unlikely.

Deciding that the damage was already done he hurried his pace until he was beside her. 'Besides we're currently living under the same roof, we have to deal with each other eventually.'

At hearing someone call her name out Ayumi spun around to catch sight of Yoshiki walking towards her. Recalling his earlier story she inwardly blanched as she tried to shove away those unpleasant thoughts. Over the last few hours she had come to the conclusion that while her opinion was justified, her reaction and subsequent disdain towards him had been somewhat uncalled for.

Waiting for him to catch up Ayumi frowned before quietly speaking. "Kishinuma-kun," She started out, her voice holding a modicum of an admonishing tone, she scolded him. "You really do need to be discreet. If people from school see you coming to my house this late in the day, especially on a weekend, they'll start to talk." She informed him while doing her best to keep her annoyance at his thoughtlessness at bay.

The blonde's eyes widened slightly at the unexpected lecture before he deflated slightly. "Sorry...I didn't even think about that." He told her sheepishly as he knew that people finding out about their current situation was an unfavorable one.

Ayumi clenched her jaw before nodding stiffly. The words: You never do think, just barely being withheld. "Good, let's go." She instead said.

The walk home was accompanied by with awkward silence. While Ayumi could inwardly admit that her earlier reaction to Yoshiki's scary story was a bit hypocritical and uncalled for she couldn't find it in herself to apologize at the moment. And Yoshiki didn't feel like being the one to break the silence since Ayumi's mood still seemed to be less than pleasant.

The silence wasn't broken until they closed the door to the Shinozaki residence behind them. "We're back." The two teens called out in unison before slipping off their shoes. As per the standard no reply was returned.

This didn't bother the two teens as they made for their respective rooms. Yoshiki sighed once he was alone in his temporary room. Unzipping his bag he pulled out his calculus book and placed it on the table, he still had some work left. Opening it he returned to the problems he had been working on earlier today only to find himself scratching his head.

Looking at some of the complicated equations he started to feel any confidence in being able to complete his school work faltering. "Well tomorrow's Sunday." He muttered as he closed the math book and went to see about finishing some of his other school work, History was an easy enough subject. Just read through the chapter and answer the questions, the book did have the answers after all.


Moments after finishing his homework for history Yoshiki heard the sound of Asuka's voice declaring that dinner was ready. Leaving his school work out in the open the blonde stood up from his chair and stretched his stiff limbs before making for the kitchen to join the Shinozaki's for a quiet dinner.

"So how was your guy's day?" Asuka asked after having placed the last plate and sitting down.

The two teens looked at her in surprise that she was actually talking during dinner, it had been nearly a week since the cigarette incident and ever since then meal times had been a silent affair. 'Guess Okaa-san got over it...' Her daughter inwardly decided before giving a simple answer. "It was okay. We just went over to Nakashima-san's house for a study session."

Asuka nodded in response. "Oh that sounds fun. I always enjoyed having study sessions with friends when I was in school. Doing homework with friends always make it so much easier." The brunette woman said with a pleasant smile.

Yoshiki, after getting over his initial shock of Asuka speaking in his presence, nodded, he could agree with that statement. It was weird, just that morning Ayumi's mother had barely acknowledged him and now she was going on and chatting like the last week of her ignoring him hadn't occurred. In a way it stupefied him but at the same time he was thankful that apparently he had been forgiven.

When dinner ended Yoshiki and Ayato were left to handle the dishes, while Ayumi retreated to her room and Asuka seated herself on the couch. From the kitchen Yoshiki could hear the faint sounds of what was most likely a game show.

"...It's been about a week now." The glasses wearing man commented, effectively breaking the silence between them.

Snapping out of his thoughts Yoshiki looked down at the plate in his hand. It was now perfectly clean and needed to be placed on the drying rack. Nodding his head in response to Ayato's words he placed it on the rack and accepted the next plate from the older man before rinsing it off. "Yeah, I know." He answered simply.

In all honesty Yoshiki was slightly frustrated that he had been allotted so little time to go apartment hunting this week, and when he had been able to go and do it his search had been met with failure. As appreciative of he was for the Shinozaki family he didn't want to burden them for too long. 'Sure Shinozaki's father gave me six weeks, but I'd rather not have to use all those weeks. If it were up to me I'd already have a new place lined up.' The blonde internally sighed before placing the plate on the drying rack with the others before accepting a cup and rinsing it off.

"I know that you're doing your best, Kishinuma." Ayato told him as he scrubbed off the bits of a food from a bowl. "Despite my wife's earlier disposition to you, you've been a respectful houseguest. When asked to help out you've done so, and you've taken care to clean up after yourself so..." The older man paused as though he were hesitant to have this conversation. "...I appreciate that...Don't feel like you need to rush to get out of here. You still have five weeks." The older man reminded him simply.

Yoshiki nodded stiffly before thanking the older man. "Of course Shinozaki-san, I'll keep doing my best to find a new place." The ex-delinquent promised.

Closing the door behind her Ayumi uttered a tired sigh after this long day. Before dinner she had reviewed the combined notes that she and her friends made and had begun composing a study guide that she and her friends could use for the upcoming exams. 'Shinohara-san was the one who suggested the study guide, yet I'm the one who gets stuck making it.' The twin tailed girl thought to herself before looking at the unfinished guide.

Deciding that she had spent enough of the day devoted to school work Ayumi instead went over to her computer. Powering it on, she went through her usual motions of checking her email. Smiling happily at the fresh reply from her older sister Ayumi quickly opened the message and allowed her eyes to take in her sister's words.

Dear Ayumi-chan,

I hope your study session went well today. You'll have to let me know how that Mochida boy reacted to the story you told me about. Like you said, his reactions always are the most amusing. I hope Kishinuma-kun's search for a new apartment is going well, I can't even imagine how sad it is not having your own home anymore. Even though I'm away from home if I ever really needed to I know that I can come back and be welcomed.

Ayumi sighed as she read her sister's email regarding Yoshiki. She briefly recalled his frustration from yesterday at his failed attempt at getting an apartment. 'He really should better control his temper...' The dark haired girl thought before remembering the building manager's crude disposition towards them. 'Of course though that man's reaction made Kishinuma-kun seem like a gentleman.' The twin tailed girl mentally said with a small chuckle at knowing how unrefined her blonde friend was.

Pushing those thoughts away Ayumi continued reading her sister's email.

Anyways the trip is still going well, I should be leaving for Paris tomorrow. Sadly I won't have access to the internet so I won't be able to respond to you for a couple days. I miss you Ayumi-chan.

Love, Hinoe.

Ayumi couldn't hold back her sigh of disappointment at her sister's closing words. '...That's not good.' She uttered in thought at not being able to hear from her sister for a few days. Sure being away from her for this long was already not fun, but she enjoyed being able to send an email to her sister one night, receive a response the next morning, send her response, receive another email sometime later in the day, and send another message before bedtime.

Ayumi shook off her sadness. "It's just a couple of days." She assured herself before going to compose her reply.

Dear Onee-chan,

Today's study session was a lot of fun, even though Mochida-kun was late everyone was there. His reaction to my ghost story really was good, he jumped up and clung to Kishinuma-kun before I could even finish the story. He's such a scaredy cat, haha.

Ayumi's fingers paused as she considered what happened after her scary story. '...' After a moment her fingers resumed typing.

After telling my story the strangest thing happened, Kishinuma-kun told a scary story of his own. No one's ever tried to tell a scary story around me before so this was...new. I didn't like it, it wasn't a ghost story, it was more like a horror story and it was gross and scary. I know you said I should be more tolerant of him but this was something I've never dealt with before, so I yelled at him. Now that I've had some time to think about it I feel like I could have handled that better.

Her earlier mood having dissipated Ayumi re-read her message at a slow pace. 'Maybe I should apologize to Kishinuma-kun, it's not like he was doing anything different than what I usually do. Mochida-kun gets scared from my stories all the time, but he's never once yelled at me to never tell one again.' The blue haired girl sighed as she decided that she didn't like the idea of being a hypocrite. With that decided she capped off her message to her sister and sent it.

I'm sad to hear that I won't be able to hear from you soon, but I know that the moment you get this you'll be quick to respond.

Love, Ayumi.

Message sent.


And there's another completed chapter. I hope everyone enjoyed this lengthy chapter. Also more thanks goes out to IIonezerozero for having proof read this and have allowed me to use one of his scary stories for this chapter. Thanks man, I hope all is going well for you.