"Oh, you didn't come inside today."

Chitaru shrugged as she made a mental note of the page she was on and closed her book.

"I didn't feel like it. Anyway, how was work today, Hitsugi?" Chitaru made an effort to use her name, even though the request had taken her by surprise the day before.

Now it was Hitsugi's turn to shrug, which was a spectacular feat given that she was untying her hair at the same time while they walked.

"It wasn't anything special. Although Mitsuyama-kun spent a good half hour asking me about you. I didn't reveal much, because he's just a nosy bastard, but he means well, you know. I just said that we'd met by accident, and that you were such a geek that you'd accumulated a whole year of paid leave, and now you were taking it."

"That's fine. I don't really mind." Chitaru knew what Hitsugi was getting at in pointing out that she hadn't said much, but she decided not to acknowledge it much. But she was grateful for the thought.

"I haven't actually planned any meals or anything like that. I hope you like the idea of raiding my cupboards and fridge and seeing what happens?"

"That actually sounds like fun? Do you do that often?"

"Well…not often, exactly, but sometimes after a long day, when Sachika and Mami had after school clubs and I'd had to stay longer at work, we'd do that. And my friend Inukai is notorious for not being able to plan meals."

"Cool! I want to do it. "

"Then, we will. I was thinking your standards might be high from spending all your time in QUEEN."

"Haha, that's funny, Chitaru-san. I'm only a waitress."

"Oh, is that so?" Chitaru teased. "I'd forgotten."

"Silly!" Hitsugi giggled, a pleasing sound.

"Oh, we're here."

"Oh my…wow!" Hitsugi looked wide-eyed at the front of Chitaru's house. "It's so big! You must be so rich!"

"Actually, it's inherited." Chitaru explained as she took out her keys and opened the door. They slipped off their shoes, and went into the living room. Hitsugi was utterly entranced, and Chitaru allowed her a moment to gather herself. She remembered being pretty star struck herself, the first time she'd come to this house as a nine year old. When Azuma and Inukai had first come around they too had been stunned. So it wasn't new to her.

Eventually, Hitsugi started to pay attention to the photographs on the wall.

"Oh, is this you as a little girl?"

"Yes. I was in fifth grade."

"Wow. You were so adorable. Not that you aren't now." Hitsugi said, making Chitaru laugh. She oohed and aahed over the other photographs. Then, she reached a picture of Sachika and Mami.

"Your girls." It wasn't a question, but all the same Chitaru nodded her confirmation.

"They're pretty. And wow, they must have been tall for their age."

"Than-wait, what?" Chitaru was confused. She hadn't expected such a…mundane observation.

"They seem tall. They're what, five in that photo? I was so small as a five year old…"

"They're-I mean, they were- one of the shorter members of the class, actually."

"Oh, is that so? It must just be because I'm a midget, ha-ha." Hitsugi turned to smile at Chitaru. "Which is strange, because they look like you."

What?

"Hitsugi…they're adopted. I adopted them as babies."

Hitsugi just stared her blankly.

"Really?" She eventually said, incredulous, indicating that she genuinely thought that Mami and Sachika had looked like Chitaru.

"Yep."

"Wow….That doesn't even make sense…" almost on cue, Hitsugi's stomach rumbled. She looked down, surprised, and then looked back up at Chitaru.

"Well…what do you say to raiding the cupboards now?"

"I'd like that very much, Chitaru-san."

They left the living room and went into the kitchen to start raiding the cupboards, but Chitaru couldn't stop turning over Hitsugi's words in her mind. She had never been told that Sachika and Mami had looked like her before. She didn't know how she felt about it.

…

"I can help wash up." Hitsugi said after they had finished eating something that was tasty, if unidentifiable.

"No, you don't have to. You're a guest." Chitaru said.

"I want to, Chitaru-san." Hitsugi insisted, getting up to help. Chitaru started to protest, but then gave up, shrugging her shoulders.

They didn't say anything else as Chitaru washed up and Hitsugi dried the dishes they had used, but it was a comfortable sort of silence.

Is this what having a proper family is like? Hitsugi wondered, thinking of her own, broken thing that was supposedly a family. Something she no longer had anything to do with, and rightfully so.

"What do you say to watching a movie?" Chitaru asked, jolting Hitsugi out of her reverie.

"Anything in mind?"

Chitaru shrugged with one shoulder.

"I was thinking we could just see whatever's on TV. Unless you want to browse through my DVD collection?"

"You have a DVD collection?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, most of them are children's movies."

"OOOOH! Do you have The Lego Movie?" She just had to know, no matter how silly she sounded for it.

"Yes…" Chitaru seemed bemused. "Are you sure that's what you want to watch?"

"Oh, yes please."

Chitaru chuckled at that.

"Well then. Sachika and Mami would have liked you. "

"That's good to know." Hitsugi said, meaning it.

"Okay…let's go watch it then."

"Yay!" Hitsugi said, making Chitaru laugh again.

I want to keep hearing the sound of that laughter. Forever and ever.

…

Chitaru woke up and with a jolt of surprise, realised she was on the sofa.

I really need to stop sleeping in odd places.

She noticed that her TV was still on, and pieced together the events of the evening before. Watching The Lego Movie with Hitsugi, who had laughed the entire way through, although she managed to stop to joke with Chitaru about various points of the film, and Chitaru thought through all these jokes as she picked up the remote to turn the TV off.

Hold on a moment, Hitsugi?

Chitaru turned slightly, and sure enough, Hitsugi was still sitting next to her, also asleep, and almost leaning on her. She smiled at the sight. She got up carefully so as to not disturb her, and looked for the blanket she had kept in the living room for whenever Mami and Sachika had stayed up late on occasions such as New Year's Eve. Once she found it, she draped it over Hitsugi's sleeping form, and then went to cook breakfast.

Sure enough, half an hour later, Hitsugi wandered into the kitchen, lured by the smell of food.

"Did I fall asleep?" Hitsugi said, rubbing her eyes and looking confused.

"Yes, but don't worry, I did too."

"Oh." For some reason, Hitsugi went a bit red at that. But then, her normal colour returned, and she sat at the kitchen table.

"I'm sorry, for taking up your time." She said, sounding a little bleary.

"No need to apologise. It's not as if I have a packed itinerary. Anyway, what about you? Don't you have work?"

"Er…" Hitsugi yawned, and looked around. "What's the time?"

Chitaru pointed at the clock briefly, before concentrating on her food.

"Oh. Okay. It's fine, I only have to be there for eleven. Plenty of time to go home and change. Maybe have a shower."

"In which case, you can stay and have breakfast." Chitaru put down a plate of fried eggs and bacon in front of Hitsugi. Then, she filled a plate of her own, and sat opposite to Hitsugi. Hitsugi took a while, but soon tucked in happily.

"Not a morning person, huh?" Chitaru said, somewhat wistfully. Hitsugi nodded half-heartedly, concentrating on her food. Chitaru supressed a chuckle. She was laughing a lot around Hitsugi, which was a good thing, but for someone who had never expected to laugh again, it was a bit scary. A welcome scary. Probably.

She mused on this while they ate, as Hitsugi didn't seem up to conversation. All that she could really figure out that she was feeling both happy and sad, all at the same time, but that she didn't feel entitled to have the happy, because it felt so…odd. But when she was feeling good, that's all she noticed. In the moment, it didn't matter.

Maybe I should stop thinking, and see where everything takes me. Thinking too much doesn't seem to be doing me any good.

And, somewhat ironically, after thinking about it, she decided that was the best thing to do.

…

Chitaru had offered to walk Hitsugi home, even though it was morning and therefore pointless. But Hitsugi had insisted that she would be fine, so she contented herself with seeing her out of her door.

"Well then. See you later, Chitaru-san."

"See you later, Hitsugi. I hope you had fun."

"Oh, I did." Hitsugi didn't turn to go, instead choosing to look intently at Chitaru. It lasted to the point that Chitaru was both curious and went pink.

Then, Hitsugi did something surprising. She leaned forward and kissed her. And not just briefly. Then, Chitaru surprised herself by responding in kind. When Hitsugi pulled away, all she could do was blink. Hitsugi smiled, and just like that, she left, the door swinging closed behind her.

Chitaru stared at the door for a long, long moment, lifting a hand to her lips. And it was in that gesture that she surprised herself twice more. The first surprise was how warm she now felt, right to her very core.

The second surprise was that no matter how hard she looked inside herself, she could find no traces of regret.