Chapter X: An Inch Closer
Akiye was on her way back to her house after making a quick stop at a ramen shop. At the time, her plans weren't plaguing her because she was partly happy about having something to do while on punishment and the little sweet diversions she usually indulged in were indisposed. Though, she never gave the possible repercussions any thought, after making it her goal to see Hibino writhe in jealousy and there was certainly nothing wrong with finding that interesting.
She looked up to survey the streets, bustling with shinigami leaving their workplaces in order to tend to the final arrangements to the Valentine's Day's festivities for tomorrow evening. Incidentally, her eyes met with a familiar mess of cropped white hair to see her brother Naoto walking down the same street toward her, without noticing her, but by the time she attempted to hide, it was too late. He perked up like an excited puppy and pushed through a group of friends in order to make his way to her where he stopped. She looked him over, noticing he was dressed in his shihakusho, different than the Onmitsukidō uniform he was known for wearing.
"What're you up to?" he asked curiously, forcing her to a halt.
"Walking," she answered dully.
"Just walking?"
"As you can see."
He chuckled, amused. "I just remembered your birthday's coming up," he said, nudging her playfully.
"Really?"
He nodded cheerfully. "Really."
"That's nice." She had no interest in her day of birth, never had, and most definitely never would, but her siblings were another thing. They loved celebrating her for various mushy reasons, most pertaining to the day the four decided to form a family together.
"So, what kinda present do you want?"
"A pet fish," she answered.
"What?"
"Or maybe something bigger that can eat human flesh." She snapped her fingers with a smirk.
"Akiye, seriously," he pressed.
"Then, I don't want anything."
"Are you sure?"
"I don't need anything."
"Are you really, really sure?"
"Yes," she asserted. "Shouldn't you be getting back to work yet?"
Naoto straightened out and brushed past her. "Right, Captain Soifon will yell at me for taking so long." He waved at her before shunpoing the rest of the way.
Akiye stood in place until she saw him vanish and sighed.
"Birthday," she muttered disdainfully.
It took quite some time before Akiye decided on leaving her home as Iko and the decision had to do with the fact that none of her siblings had returned home. If they found her wandering around Seireitei with Shuuhei, Naoto and Tokiwa were bound to interfere—Kaito, if and only if, is in a bad mood—and she would like to spare them the trouble of intervening. Since she kept most of her kimono in the top room of the Screaming Lotus, she settled in wearing one of the new yukata she got herself months ago and pulled her messy hair back into a bun with a hairpin. She didn't bother with applying makeup because the process was excruciatingly painful and there were no chances of it ending up as nice as Kishi's. She could apply lipstick though, regrettably, the only thing around was lip gloss.
She headed out to the sweetshop.
It wasn't far off from her household, so the trip ended shortly. The Kurogane house was situated a few blocks from a mini shopping district in the west. It proved useful when she and Kaito were younger, new arrivals to their corresponding divisions, and they grew hungry nightly. They only had to walk that short distance without having to through tantrums.
She smiled lightly when she arrived, earlier than Shuuhei. She took the time to saunter into the confectionary store to meet with the disinterested owner of Raven, who looked too confused to realize the customer in front of him was hitting on him. The man, Daichi, glanced up, pushing short black tresses from his face to see her standing at the doorway.
Akiye waved passively and it was enough for him to hurry up the woman's purchase. Once she left with a dark mumble, he slipped from behind the counter, rubbing his chin stubble with one hand while holding the other behind him, as he approached her side.
"What brings you here, Iko-san?" he asked kindly, in a low voice.
She leaned against the frame of the entrance, staring out at the people walking by the shops eagerly. Some were buying thing necessary for their stands and from afar notice Tokiwa among them with another woman. So long as the redhead didn't see her face, there was no need to worry.
"I'm expecting someone," she answered lowly.
"Hosokawa-san or Kawahara-san?"
Either one would have been the usual answer for Daichi's curious inquiries, but that evening was quite different. "Neither," she replied. "This one's new."
Daichi nodded, reaching into his shirt to pull out a carton of cigarettes. He lighted one at her side and took a drag, looking up and waiting alongside her while her new guest arrived. He expected another famous noble of sorts, considering the escort's tastes, but there was no telling with Iko.
Akiye stepped out away from the smell of cigarette into the crisp-turned-wintry air. Since the season change a few months back, the nights had gone from freezing to cool to increasingly chilly at that point. She had no complaints because she preferred the cold to the hot summers.
"Iko."
She glanced to her side to see Shuuhei walking up to the shop, surprised to see her already present. She moved towards him. "I left home earlier than expected; else I would have let you arrive earlier than myself."
"It's my fault, you probably should have drawn me that map."
Akiye laughed lightly. "I should have been more…assertive about it." She looked to the owner and waved. "Thank you for keeping me company, Daichi-san." She placed a hand on Shuuhei's arm for a second, calling his attention. "Shall we?"
He nodded with an evident gulp, letting her lead the way while he followed.
"My family is still running amok," she said, positioning him on the outer side of the street to act as a shield. "I hope you don't mind me hiding behind you. I would rather spare myself the lecture."
"Would they lecture you?"
"Naoto, the eldest, he likes emphasizing his authority over the family to boost his own confidence," she remarked, "you know, inferiority complex." She shook the though, remembering the day he was set on giving her a lecture for having slept with a random stranger, it was best to leave him talking on his own. "Never mind that, let's get going."
He merely nodded. "Where are we heading?"
"It's a nice place, a block or so away," she answered, with little recollection of the place. She frequented it with Kawahara because it was a comfortable and luxurious ryokan with a great restaurant and an exemplary selection of food for any time of the day. Even with the place being a hotel aside from a fancy restaurant did not mean she planned to take him after lunch, she made sure to ignore such curiosities. "I do hope you won't mind it."
How many times has it been since she started caring about him so much to procure such things out from her mouth? How long? She wondered and mentally cursed herself. Never in her life had she asked anyone – without relation to her – if they minded something she did. You're only going crazy, side effects to isolation and soon you'll start seeing ponies in Soul Society, with pink fur.
"Anywhere's fine," he said.
She eyed him in scrutiny, feeling her lips upturn into a deep frown. Anywhere's fine, he says. Stupid Hisagi Shuuhei, I should have never slept with you—damnit. She unconsciously rolled her eyes and continued leading the way.
They stepped in front of the entrance to the large ryokan and he quickly cast a quick look her way, smelling foul play. She rubbed the back of her neck and turned to face him after a long silence to offer some sort of explanation. "They have a commendable selection of cuisine."
"I've never been here before."
"It's great, service and food-wise, you'll want to come here often, promise."
"It does look promising."
She took a breath, heading towards the door. "Let's just go inside."
"Right," he said, following her.
Akiye walked up to a woman standing behind a counter in the small reception and asked for a private room to have dinner. The ryokan worker recognized her from her numerous visits and excused herself with another woman nearby before walking from behind the counter.
"Please follow me," she said leading.
The two followed her into a different part of the ryokan and into a separate room furnished exquisitely with a center table and few indoor plants serving to set a calm mood in the décor. They took seats facing each other across the mahogany table.
"Would you like the usual servings?" the woman asked, looking at her.
"Do you…?" Akiye gestured slightly.
"I'll eat anything."
"Then, just bring the usual, just forget the desert." She cleared her throat, embarrassed.
"All right, I'll come right back."
Half-glad the woman hadn't said her name, Akiye allowed herself to slouch the slightest bit while running her fingers along the hardwood. Once the doors closed and they were left in brief, tense, silence she took yet another breath and looked up to him.
"Do you come here often?"
She nodded, but retracted. "Well sorta, my patron—" She cut herself off, coughing hoping to have covered up her words because she said too much, but noticed some surprise register in his expression. "Yeah, sometimes…"
"Patron?"
Damnit, he asked.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"You just said patron," he repeated.
"No I didn't," she lied.
He looked at her suspiciously, but decided not to pursue it. Instead, he reverted to bringing up a previously discarded inquiry on his part. "You never told me what you do for fun," he said, before correcting himself. "Well, aside from being an escort."
Relieved by the subject change, Akiye would willingly answer any question that came out of his mouth so long as she didn't butcher her second life any more than she already had. "Nothing in particular…I like taking naps." She paused. "I do other things, but they're not very interesting hobbies."
"You can tell me." He smiled reassuringly.
"I read," she conceded, not knowing what to really say. "Boarding games too, the type that make you think – oh, and my job in the Science Division, though it's not much of a hobby because it's more like a duty, but it's enjoyable nonetheless."
"What do you do?"
"I help as an assistant with the reconstruction of zanpakutō," she answered. "Not very girlish, is it?" Why did I even say that?
Her stomach twisted in the agony of her malfunctioning brain, which was unconsciously treating him with such a clean attitude when it should have been some other way. With more derisive, snarky comments that could make him cringe as though being hit by little needles, but nothing happened. She recognized her ways at that point, knew the path they would take her down before ultimately dropping her down an abysmal, but wanted to keep everything in the name of personality studies rather than believing it to be a friendship.
"So long as you enjoy it, it should be fine."
She nodded.
"Is it hard?"
She shook her head. "It's fairly simple, I'd explain it but I'll sound like a load of senseless verbiage to you."
He laughed, receiving a strange look from her.
"I'm sorry," he said quickly. "I can't tell whether you're acting anymore or not."
She blinked, catching on. She forgot all about keeping up her role as Iko because she speaking nonsense about her hobbies, hers, not Iko's. She's been failing at upholding her role from the start in the presence of that man.
She frowned instead of answering, but he continued laughing. He needed to wait to experience something similar to what she was going through in order to understand.
"You think it's funny, do you?"
He didn't stop laughing.
Her frown deepened. "You're going to choke on your spit soon and I'm going to say it now," she began, "I don't know CPR."
He only laughed harder.
What the hell is wrong with him…?
"Did you drink before coming…?"
"No," he managed. "I'm sorry. I just never expected you to be like this."
"Like what exactly?" she asked, bristled.
"So very unlike the woman they paint you to be."
Her stomach fluttered. "Shut up, Hisagi Shuuhei."
"You're really cute, Kurogane-san."
The blood rushed to her face, and her heart skipped more than the normalcy rate, even for a young woman. She held her tongue, not knowing what to do with her tomato-red complexion or the astounded look on her face.
His smile only widened at the sight of her, and she felt more regret towards inviting him to dinner that evening as she sank further into her seat. Her and her composure washed down the drain as if it had never existed, leaving behind a creepy girl without enough sarcasm to act as her shield. She was at the end of snarky comments after he hit that fatality.
She took a breath, about to reproach – yell at him for using the c-word on her – when the door opened with three women excusing themselves to enter. Had she not took a whiff of the spices, she would have exacted her verbal vengeance, but the distraction worked. He was lucky, and she, delusional at best.
There were plates of different sizes and a few foods she usually avoided on a normal account, except Kawahara liked them and therefore ordered them. She forgot to ask them to hold back on the sushi side-dishes and looked up at Shuuhei. He might like it…
When the women finished, the last leaving a bottle of sake and promised to come as often as possible to refill it before leaving. Shuuhei looked over the servings once more time, surprised. "This looks expensive."
Akiye took advantage of the distraction and poured him sake. "I know."
"Are you really planning to pay for everything?"
"I am treating you, Hisagi Shuuhei. The ryokan is known for having high quality food at a reasonable price, there's no need for you to worry."
"Are you sure?"
"Just eat."
He nodded and eagerly complied. She followed his lead and dug in.
"This is so good."
She smiled.
"You really know your places, Kurogane-san."
"Please call me Iko." She shut her eyes, defeated.
He had been drinking sake when he noticed her had referred to her differently and nearly spit it out. "I'm sorry."
"So long as you don't call me out in public," she replied. "You can call me whatever you want indoors, I don't care."
"Akiye," he decided.
"W-what?"
"You said anything."
"I thought you would have decided on Kurogane-kun, not my given name." She seemed flustered again.
"Do you prefer Kurogane-kun?"
"Well, no."
"Then, Akiye," he stated.
"I thought you might think of something smarter, like Iko-chan."
He chuckled. "You're staggering, Akiye."
She dropped her head without attempting to reason. "Okay, Akiye is fine, but won't that seem too friendly…to others?"
"You did say indoors," he reminded her.
"But what if a place doesn't have a roof?" she asked curiously.
"Does it have four walls?"
"No, three."
"Akiye," he answered.
"There're only three walls," she said again.
"If there were two, I might reconsider, but you said three, it can structure half a room," he reasoned.
"Okay, two."
"Akiye."
"You hardly gave time to consider it," she accused with a frown.
He smiled amusedly. "I had time to do it before answering."
"And an open space, in front of dozens of people, you'll have to call me Kurogane-san, no?"
"No, I'll still call you Akiye," he remarked teasingly.
She pulled her legs from beneath her and kicked him. "You're a cheater."
"Ow." He rubbed his knee, but she had barely nicked him. He was only playing with her, amused at the different reactions she was capable of now that she acted with less sarcasm than usual.
Akiye took a drink from her sake, glaring at him.
Somehow, the two ended up finishing all the servings and gone through three bottles of sake and a cup of tea before their waitress returned with the bill. She left it on the table and Akiye only glanced at it before Shuuhei snatched in from her eyesight. He looked to her and then the piece of paper.
"We should split it," he suggested.
"It's my treat, so leave it to me."
"You lied about it not being expensive, didn't you?"
She smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "Guess I did."
"We're splitting this," he decided.
"Nope," she answered passively.
"I won't feel right having you pay so much."
"Then I hope you feel guilty."
"Akiye—"
She practically jumped over the table in order to try to steal the piece of paper back, but he held it up higher. She didn't quit, only climbing over the surface and inching closer to him. "Give that back to me."
"Not unless you split it."
"Oh, stop being a baby and give it here." She stretched her arm well over her head, but even as she was, crouched on her hands and knees on the table, she only managed to touch his forearm.
"Say you'll split it with me."
She looked to him straight in the eyes, both face to face, too close for their comfort but the distraction served well enough to keep either one from noticing the reality of that matter. "No. I told you I would treat you, and you're only getting in the way."
He shook his head.
"Okay, okay," she said, settling down. "If you want to repay me, why don't you treat me back here and you can pay the bill. It'll be almost like splitting, just double. How's that?"
He reluctantly agreed, but thinking about it her reasoning made sense. "All right." He dropped his hand to hers, placing the slip of paper between her fingertips.
Akiye climbed off the table and headed for the door, gesturing towards him as he rose from his seat. "Let's go."
The two headed back to the reception where Akiye paid the bill and eventually out the ryokan, to part ways back home.
"I'll walk you home," he said once outside.
"You don't need to walk me back."
"I think it's only proper for me to do so," he pressed.
She stared at him and he looked back to her seriously. She sighed, too tired to quarrel with him. "No arguing with you, is there?"
"No."
"Then, I won't even try," she said. "Please, walk me home, Hisagi Shuuhei."
He walked to her side and pulled her along with him in the direction of her residence.
"What time is it?" she muttered.
"Are you tired?" he asked.
Her muscles were tense and with all the events happening over the last two days, it was only a matter of time before she ended up too tired to function. "To an extent," she admitted. "I exhausted myself to death this morning."
He opened his mouth to speak, but someone beat him to the catch. "Hisagi-san."
"Lieutenant Hisagi," called Hibino cheerfully, a few drinks in for the night with the apparent slur to prove it. "We've been looking all over you!"
"Well, Naru-san, at least," an effeminate voice replied jokingly.
"Tokiwa-san!" the drunk protested.
With a simple glance over her shoulder, without having to turn her face all the way she saw her sister's long crimson hair braided and sitting over her shoulder along with a few others. At her sister's left was Lieutenant Kira and next to him, avidly guiding the group was Renji. Hibino would probably be on her sister's other side to reason why she couldn't see her from the peak, and as she searched with her eyes noticed another pair staring at her face. It wasn't Shuuhei because he was busily greeting the group after he excused himself from her. Her gaze flicked upward to meet with Renji's, whose brow was furrowed before it changed to astonishment.
She murmured a curse, rushing off before anyone had a chance to explain her sudden disappearance. Damnation incarnate…
Tokiwa's eyes were fixed on the woman's back at the thought that she seemed familiar, but refused to elude from conversation to confirm her suspicions. In any case, she could have been delusional from the one sip she took from Hibino's sake, but she wasn't too sure. Instead, she refocused her attention back to the drunken woman before the raven-haired, yukata-wearing other lady rushed off without turning around to face them and deserting Lieutenant Hisagi behind. He watched noticed as well, but took the realization calmly.
"Who was that woman you were with, Hisagi-san?" asked Kira.
Shuuhei seemed to have thought about it for a while, reorganizing his thoughts, but Tokiwa was sure that woman was Kawahara's mistress, Iko. "She's a friend of mine," he answered after a moment of silence.
"She's Kawahara's mistress," Tokiwa blurted. Everyone else with the exception of Hibino seemed interested in who she was, even so that Renji had yet to tear his eyes from her retrieving figure, though it wasn't even present anymore. Tokiwa seemed to like her less and less the more she found out about her.
"Kawahara?" questioned Hibino, standing straightly and arching a curious brow.
"Kawahara-san is a retired captain," Kira explained, knowing his details particularly well, but he didn't have to tell Shuuhei. He knew well enough who the man was to start, just never heard of Iko being his mistress.
"It's surprising to hear you two are actually friends," Tokiwa said.
Shuuhei nodded quickly, almost hesitantly. "Yes, since I first came to Seireitei."
"Well, I've never heard of her," Kira admitted.
"She doesn't like raking up attention, is all," Shuuhei explained.
Tokiwa glanced back to Renji. "Is something wrong, Abarai-kun?" she asked curiously. "You haven't said a word."
Renji snapped out of it, whipping around to notice everyone giving him an odd stare. "Sorry, I was distracted." He turned to Shuuhei with a grin. "Are you dating her or somethin'?"
The dark-haired lieutenant's face flushed pink as he shook his head. "W-what? No, we're just friends."
Kira frowned a bit. "She doesn't seem very friendly."
"That's because she's really shy."
"You should introduce us later," Tokiwa suggested darkly. "I'd like to see what's so good about her."
"What for?" Hibino asked, slurring. "She's jus' some ex-captain's mistress, not very important, 'less yer Lieutenant Hisagi."
Tokiwa frowned deeply. "I'd like to see why he's so interested in her."
"You should introduce everyone," Kira said.
"She's extremely shy, meeting new people would be a feat for her to overcome," he said, excusing her to the best of his ability without seeming a bit suspicious, but everyone just stared at him in disbelief. "I'm not sure if she'll be very attentive."
"Bring her anyways," stated Tokiwa. Her tone sounded full of menacing undertones because she wanted to meet the woman badly, but she smiled to ease the threat.
"I'll try my best." Shuuhei sighed, defeated.
Tokiwa gasped. "Ah, I forgot I have to drop by the Screaming Lotus," she said to everyone. "I'll split up with everyone here." She patted Hibino's back and the woman merely waved.
"We can go with you, if you want," Renji suggested.
"No, its okay," she replied flattered, having crossed on the 'we' and replacing it with an 'I'.
Hibino grabbed a hold of Tokiwa's sleeve. "I wanna go too; I've never been there before."
"I don't mind it, I have the night off," Kira said, looking around.
Shuuhei nodded. "Same here."
"I don't want to impose—"
The brown-haired woman draped her arm over Tokiwa's shoulder, turning her down the other direction to where she suspected the bar to be. "You're not, so let's go together."
"We can pick up where we left off in the last bar," Renji said with a smirk.
"Oh, I can try to get everyone a discount."
"Great! Let's get going."
"Naru-san, it's this way." Tokiwa took the lead towards the Screaming Lotus.
Most shinigami had been celebrating the night earlier because since evening plenty of them had been given the day off, while a few other chose to manage their duties than slack off like everyone else. So when arriving to the Screaming Lotus, Tokiwa and the rest of the group half-expected it to be pack, but the minute they crossed the threshold they came face to face with an empty tavern. With the exception of Lala behind the counter and one of the guests she had promised to meet there that evening.
Tokiwa's younger brother was sprawled across the countertop, limps hanging loosely on both sides that a simple tug could drop him to the liquor puddles and broken glass beneath him. At the other corner she noticed Kishi busily sweeping the bar, from time to time running a towel over the surface of the tables to get the cracker crumbs off.
"You're late, Toki-chan," greeted Lala casually. The busty woman was washing the glass cups behind the counter and putting them upside down near Kaito's head.
"Don't call me that."
Lala smirked. "Do you prefer Tokiwa-sama?"
The redhead glared at her and the latter returned the animosity that the others were concerned about having seen sparks go off at the deep rootedness of that anger. When a distraction walked out the back room, holding a bucket and wearing an apron, his usually messy fringe pulled back and clipped down.
"I just finished cleaning the restrooms," Naoto said excitedly.
"You put my brother to work?" she questioned, taken aback by the fact that he actually had the job.
Lala merely smirked.
Kishi glanced up to the group and rushed to one of the larger tables to clean it up. "You can all sit here, since you're all friends of Toki-chan drinks are on the house."
"Great!" The three lieutenants and Hibino made their way to the cleared table while Kishi rushed off to the back to rummage through their stashed alcohol supply.
Naoto blinked innocently and smiled. "Hello, Toki-tan!"
"You don't even do that at home," Tokiwa stated pointedly, gesturing obscenely towards her older brother.
"You obviously don't know how to treat a man," Lala remarked smartly. "It's give and take, Toki-chan; you can't always get what you want if you don't treat him nicely."
"You stay out of this, urchin!" she reproached, turning back to Naoto. "Is she sleeping with you?"
He blinked again, perplexed before Lala burst out laughing. "Ooo, kitty's got claws." She purred and gestured her way like a cat, adding fuel to the fire.
"You're dead." Tokiwa stopped her way, reaching for the zanpakutō at her side.
"Tokiwa!"
"Kurogane-san!"
A mixture of shouts reached her ears but that vixen was on her last nerve, regrettably Naoto intervened or else she would have her head on the ground. Looking at her with an unsettling stare before the tavern erupted in a heap of reiatsu, just pouring over them, knocking Lala and Hibino on the ground with the pressure. The lieutenants stood up, alert, while Naoto scurried off without anyone noticing him.
"What is this?"
Tokiwa looked left and right until her eyes noticed her younger brother sitting on the countertop with a grim expression on his face. She had forgotten all about him, or else she would have kindly asked her temperament to keep the noise level to a minimum to avoid a situation as this. Kaito was not a person anyone wanted to wake up, unless they were ready to face his moody temperament, lashing and untamed as always, heavy yet familiarly secure – that's what his reiatsu felt like as it weighed over her.
"Che!"
She gulped down the lump in her throat.
"And, Akiye isn't here…" whined Naoto.
"Everyone stay back and don't make a sound," she ordered, whispering.
"What?" The lieutenants were as confused as the next person.
"Akiye is calling for you!" Naoto shouted, thinking it might work to level his frustrations, which were already on high before he decided on that nap.
Kaito turned to glare at him with eyes similar to a demon's, forcing the older man to wince. "Aki—who?"
"What the hell?"
Tokiwa shushed them and looked to Kaito, hoping to reason while he hoped down the chair when a glass bottle went flying to his head.
"Kyaaa—"
She caught Naoto red-handed, screaming like a girl with his hand position the right way that meant he had thrown it. She expected Kaito to avoid it and immediately pick out his sword to murder Naoto, but the glass smashed right into the side of his head, knocking him to the ground with just the right amount of force.
"Naoto!" she cried, rushing to the youngest who was knocked unconscious.
"Kyaaa?" Naoto shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "I've slain the demon, praise me woman."
"You blundering fool, he'll kill us all!" She inched forward once the pressure was lifted and noticed a puddle of blood flowing freely from beneath his head.
"Is he okay?" Kira asked, noticing the blood.
Tokiwa, Naoto, Lala, and Kishi from the doorway sighed contently.
"Yes, he's fine, just bleeding." She laughed nervously.
Kishi headed to the table and placed the tray of drinks with a smile, acting as though nothing had happened. "Sorry about the wait. If you need anything else, just call me. The name's Kishi."
"Shouldn't someone do something about him?" asked Kira again.
"He'll be in tiptop shape when he wakes up."
"But that glass seemed to have hit him pretty hard."
"Naoto wouldn't try to kill his own brother." Kishi shook his head and walked away back to the other side of the room, nodding towards his co-worker before entering the hallway leading to the kitchen.
The table glanced over to Naoto, who waved at them like a fool.
Tokiwa took a seat in one of the stools in front of the counters and sighed.
Lala looked to the table. "Are you lot hungry? Everything's on the house."
Hibino perked up. "I'm hungry. Aren't you?" She glanced over at the lieutenants who all nodded with the exception of Shuuhei.
"I just ate."
Lala got out from behind the counter and walked up to the door besides the lavish bar. "Kishi, cook up some food for the group!"
"Okay!"
Naoto joined Tokiwa and leaned into the counter. "I wonder what Akiye's doing now."
Tokiwa shrugged. "Probably sleeping."
Lala stopped next to Naoto and glanced at the two siblings. "We can talk about that after I accommodate the guests."
The siblings nodded, though Tokiwa jumped out of her seat and walked to the table with her company. As she sat down, she noticed Naoto fiddling with the apron. "Nao, come join us, I'd like you to meet some people."