Oh, how his parents infuriated him! And as if it wasn't enough to destroy his life, they were destroying Natsumi's life as well! When he was younger, he used to wish that he would be orphaned. Dreadful, he knew, but definitely a better alternative. Shin needed something to distract him from his foul mood. He deliberated for a while. He knew that if he went to Kumiko or Ojiisan, they would surely make him talk, which he wasn't prepared to. Finally, he decided to visit Tetsu and Minoru at their takoyaki stall. They were quite dense most of the time, so Shin might be spared an interrogation.

"Tetsu, Minoru!"

"Hi, Aniki!" Tetsu greeted.

"Young Master." Minoru said respectfully.

Shin looked at him incredulously. "I let it drop that night because we were preoccupied with the Cosa, but it has been a week since then! Don't tell me Tetsu can't even spare 5 minutes to tell you guys what I said?" He shot Tetsu an inquiring look.

Minoru hurried to help Tetsu. "He did tell us, Young- Aniki." Minoru looked at him uncertainly. "But, we didn't dare to take the liberty…"

Shin massaged his temples. "Tetsu, please make sure the rest of the Family get the message. I don't want to deal with this again." Shin knew he was being unusually hard on them, but his mood was getting worse by the minute.

"Hee." Tetsu answered apologetically.

"Here, Aniki. Please have some." Minoru held out some takoyaki as a peace offering.

Shin forced himself to calm down. "Thanks. How's business?"

"It's alright. We're getting a lot of patronage from Ojou's students, so that's good." Tetsu answered.

"Why?"

"We get to know about Ojou's progress with them, and their thoughts about her." Minoru said happily. "It seems to be going well nowadays. Her teaching methods are getting through to them, I think."

As they were talking, Tetsu spotted Takama-sensei approaching from a distance. "Ah, Aniki, you must be thirsty. Let me go get you a drink, alright?" He said hurriedly, taking off before he could get an answer.

"What's with him?" Shin wondered aloud.

Minoru laughed. "That's Takama-sensei. She has a crush on Aniki." He whispered.

Shin cocked his head. "Is that so? She's quite pretty, why is he rejecting her?"

"I don't know. Maybe he still can't get over Ojou, or maybe he's just trying to protect Ojou's secret. Or maybe he's just shy. Who knows?" Minoru said, scratching his bald head.

Shin smiled at Takama-sensei as she came up to the stall. She eyed him speculatively. "Hi, are you new here?"

"Oh no, I just dropped by to help my friends today." He said cheerfully.

"That's so sweet of you. What's your name?" She asked.

Shin paused for a second. "You can call me Shin, Takama-sensei."

"Eh, Shin-san, how did you know my name?" She asked.

"I heard from Tetsu, of course." Shin answered, grinning widely.

"Really?" Takama-sensei expressed her surprise. "What did he say about me?" She asked excitedly.

"Alas, Takama-sensei, it is not up to me to reveal Tetsu's secrets." Shin said, pretending to put on an apologetic expression. "Perhaps you should ask him yourself." He whispered conspiratorially.

"Eh?" Takama-sensei blushed. She was so flustered that she accidentally dropped her purse. "Ah, sumimasen. There you go." She said, handing over some money.

"No, no, this one is on us, Takama-sensei; on behalf of Tetsu. You can thank him later, of course." Shin said, giving her a wink.

Takama-sensei blushed even more. "Ah… umm… thanks, I guess. I mean… I'll… be sure to thank Tetsu-san…"

Shin laughed out loud after she left. That was fun indeed, and it took his mind completely off his troubles. Minoru, too, was howling in laughter beside him.

"I can't wait to see Tetsu-aniki's face the next time she comes around!" Minoru said, wiping tears from his eyes.

Shin could already imagine the horror and awkwardness on Tetsu's face. He chuckled loudly. "Oh Minoru, we should help him out more often! We're supposed to be his wingmen, you know?"

They both crouched behind the takoyaki stall, trying to keep themselves out of sight as they laughed heartily at poor Tetsu's expense.

"Ano…" A voice came from the front. 'A customer,' Shin realised.

He nudged Minoru. But Minoru, being the big buffoon he was, was so exhausted from laughing that he couldn't move from his spot on the floor; so Shin had to take his place.

"Hai, matte kudasai…" He said while straightening himself up, trying to stop himself from grinning like an idiot.

There was an audible gasp from the customer. "Mr. Papa!"