Cecil walked inside his apartment, not even bothering to check the phone. His expression was blank, his eyes distant.
He had thought about what Frolic had said the whole drive home. And even after that, still trying to figure it out as he walked to his door and unlocked it.
"And I thought I had problemth," he muttered as he tossed his keys on the kitchen counter, opening the refrigerator door and grabbing a bottle of water.
He took a long drink, his eyes glancing over at the small flower that seemed to watch him.
"You thirthty?" he asked, an unforced smile coming to his face as he poured some of his water into the pot, the soil soaking up every last drop.
He set the bottle of water down and rested his elbows on the counter, staring at the flower and sighing.
His sigh was a combination of things: sadness, confusion, guilt, joy.
"Thuthanne," he said, addressing the plant.
Cecil didn't think anyone knew he had a plant, Frolic never noticing it missing. So he wasn't worried about anyone asking about it, especially anyone asking if he had given it a name. But even if anyone did, he had another name for the plant, Jemima Geranium.
Although Cecil wasn't sure if it really was a geranium. The name just had a nice ring to it.
"Thuthanne," he said again, this time in a more whiny voice. "I don't know what to make of anything anymore. Tonight Frolic theemed almotht normal. And he wath drinking. And the thingth he thaid... I don't know, I felt bad for him."
Cecil let out a long sigh and then picked the plant up, taking it with him to the couch, where he set it on the coffee table.
Not once did he feel it ridiculous he was talking to a plant. And if Frolic was right that they did talk, then maybe the more he talked to his 'Thuthanne', one day it'd talk back.
"I never knew he'd been through all of that. That he had to keep hith family together, take hith motherth plathe. That he had to endure all of the thingth he hath. It wath... thad."
He sighed, rubbing his face with both hands before he stared off at the floor.
"It wath ath almotht ath if he wanted to jutht give up on everything. Hith family, hith buthineth, hith friendth..."
"I jutht.... how thould I act tomorrow when I thee him? He thaid he wouldn't remember any of it, but what if he wath jutht thaying that? Maybe it'th better for him to put on another perthona tho he doethn't do anything he'll regret..."
He sighed again and looked up at his plant.
"Thometimeth I think you're the only one who underthtandth me, Thuthanne. I can tell you anything, thtuff I can't theem to bring mythelf to thay to the otherth. Even Uncle Fujiko. Even Jigen..."
His eyes gazed off.
"Do you think he even liketh me? I know he made thuch a big deal about me being hith thon, if I even am hith thon, that ith. I mean, tho we look alike. That isn't concrete evidenthe that we're related. Bethideth, he thaid a cake told him. What kind of a nut believeth a cake? And what kind of a nut believeth him?" he asked in a low voice, wondering if it was a big mistake to let himself get the least bit excited about the prospect of having a father, his real father, around.
And Cecil was pretty sure Jigen was his father. In fact, he was certain of it. But the fact that the storybook ending never happened in that saccharine filled way he was so used to seeing in movies made himself doubt everything.
"He uthed to invite me out to platheth. We uthed to have drinkth together and talk about life. Hith life, mothtly. Maybe he'th jutht like me. Maybe he jutht needth thomeone to talk to. Do I bore you, Thuthanne, like he bored me? Becauthe I don't mean to. And if you could talk, then I'd lithten to you, ath well. I'd let you ramble on about thtupid thingth. I'd let you-"
"Tell me about Jigen, Cecil."
"Huh?" Cecil's head shot up as he stared somewhat frightened at his plant. He then closed his eyes and laughed. "I'm jutht tired. It'th been a long day."
His laughing stopped and he stared at the plant. What if it really did talk to him? Would it like if he ignored it, or rather her, as the voice he heard sounded female.
"O-okay. Um, where thould I thtart?" he said to himself. "Well, I gueth I firtht thaw him on my firtht day at the flower thop. He came in to get an order of rotheth for hith wife. Or ex-wife, I gueth. Ugh, you'd think I'd know all of thith by heart the way he alwayth thpoke about it. I gueth after awhile I jutht ignored it. If I am hith thon, thouldn't I be more than thomeone to thrutht thtupid thingth onto? He'th never invited me to anything other than a bar for drinkth. And hith thon and daughter would be my half brother and half thithter, but he'th never made an effort to introduthe me. If we are related, he thure ithn't making me feel welcome in my own
family..."
He looked at his plant, waiting for it to say something. It made no effort to respond, though, furthering his beliefs that he was just tired and hallucinating a voice.
"Well, we thould get to bed, Thuthanne," he smiled as he picked up the plant and carried it with him to his room, where he set it on his dresser, giving it one last smile before he undressed and crawled into bed.
"Goodnight Thuthanne," he said as he turned off the light.
He imagined Susanne telling him to have sweet dreams. At least he was pretty sure he imagined it.

Susanne had spent the rest of the night out wandering the city. He wanted to blame Frolic for everything, but now he only blamed himself.
He wasn't sure why he always felt the need to blame Frolic. 'I've only been adding to his problems,' he thought as he stared up at the street lights as he passed them.
He knew he could be more responsible. He knew he could put less strain on his brother. But, for him, it was easier to live the life he had become used to living.
He had been wanting a job for some time now, but he also wanted to graduate. For some reason he felt that by doing so it would make his dad proud of him, that it'd wake his dad up from his stupor.
He knew that he was his dads last hope, even if he didn't really know how to deal with it.
Those feelings grew when he finally decided to get home, walking into his house and up the stairs, passing by his dad's door only to hear the familiar sounds he had heard all too often.
He stopped and quietly opened the door, the light from the hall illuminating the top half of his dad's bed.
He watched as Goemon squirmed in bed, his hands grasping the sheets as the sweat formed in small beads on his forehead.
But that was all he could do, stand and watch as his father suffered from the recurring nightmare that plagued him.

His dream always started out the same. The phone would ring and he would answer it, figuring it to be Lupin or Jigen inviting him out for drinks and music. It shocked him to hear his wife's frantic voice.
In his dream her words were garbled, but he knew what they were.
"Someone is following me," she had said. "I don't see them, but I know they're there. Please come quickly!"
It was the last time he heard her voice, her final words forever haunting him.
He told his oldest son to take care of things and then ran out of the house, his sword gripped tightly in his left hand as he ran as fast as he could to the small market his wife would frequent.
He turned the corner and saw his wife in the distance. He screamed as he watched the blade enter her midsection.
Anger rushing through him he ran forward.
In reality he had attacked the one who had stabbed his wife.
The attacker, a woman in black ninja clothing, easily dodged the strike. Smirking, she gave him one last look before running off.
That scene never happened in his dream, skipped for whatever reason his mind had to forget it.
He knelt down and reached out to his wife's body, his hands trembling as tears ran down his face.
There were no last words she would speak, just silence as he held her limp body, holding it tight to his.
"Midori," he mumbled, then shaking his head. "No. Ai..."
He could say no more as the tears continued to fall, low sobs coming from his mouth.

Goemon sat up and let out a sharp gasp. He then bowed his head, holding his face in his hands as he sobbed into them.
Susanne felt more uncomfortable the longer he watched. He wanted to say something, to go to his dad's side and comfort him. But he didn't know how.
Unable to be anything more than a spectator, Susanne quietly closed the door and walked to his room. Closing his door, he leaned against it and cried.
He woke up the next morning on the floor, his back resting against the door.
His eyes felt swollen from all of the crying he did, the remains of his last tears crusted in the corners of his eyes.
Wiping his eyes clean, he stood and opened his door. The sun had yet to rise, the only advantage to that being able to beat Baffi to the bathroom.
He stared at himself in the mirror, bloodshot and swollen eyes staring back at him.
At that point he didn't care what he looked like as he undressed and stepped into the shower, turning it on and letting the warm water wash some of his troubles away.
Fifteen minutes later he was leaving the bathroom, heading to his room with a towel wrapped around his waist, entering his room and locking his door as he changed into clean clothes.
For the next hour he sat at the kitchen table, staring off as the darkness slowly lifted from the house.
He heard Baffi wake up and take a shower. Frolic then took his afterwards, waiting patiently for Baffi to be finished.
While Frolic had his own place, he would sometimes end up staying the night in Goemon's house. Susanne didn't know why he was there or when he got there. And he didn't really care. It was bad enough that he was there.
A little while later both bounded down the stairs as they laughed and chatted.
Susanne glanced up at them as they walked into the kitchen.
"Smile more, Hero," Frolic said in a cheerful voice as he set a bowl and a box of cereal down in front of him, Baffi setting a bowl and the milk down as she sat.
"Sorry," Susanne muttered as he looked down. Seeing Frolic only upset him more. "I'll try..."
"Did you want a ride to school?" Frolic asked. "I'm taking Baffi on my way to work."
Susanne stared down at the table as he shook his head. "I'm fine, thanks," he whispered as he stood and walked towards the front door, grabbing his backpack on the way and leaving.
Frolic and Baffi looked at each other, both giving unknowing glances before finishing their breakfast.
Susanne knew this was all his fault. It wasn't his dad's or his mom's or even Frolic's. He was to blame for how things had turned out. At least that was what he had himself believe.
He was the one who grew up being unable to see the reasons for Frolic's change. He was the one who took advantage of it.
'Frolic tried his best to keep us as a family. And not once have I helped that. I was always the one tearing it apart, doing anything for attention and ruining the good times Frolic tried to keep up.'
Occasionally he would wipe the tears from his face, not caring if anyone else saw him cry.
'I deserved what he did to me. I deserved getting kissed and felt up by Cecil. I deserved Eva being taken from me. I deserved everything.'
He walked into the school as his tears stopped. His head down, his hair hid any signs he was crying, nobody in the halls saying anything as he walked by.
He stopped at his locker to drop off his books, pulling out the ones he needed and walking to his class.
Eva was at her desk, scribbling things in her notebook when Susanne walked in. She glanced up at him and went back to her scribbles.
After how he acted towards Frolic, she didn't really care about Susanne anymore.
'Maybe just a little bit...' she thought as she looked up and stared at him. 'He looks more pathetic than usual today. Has he been crying?' she wondered with a smirk.
She knew then that she'd have to pay him a little visit during lunch.

"I'm getting something out," Josh said as he met Susanne at his locker as lunch started. "Want to come with?"
"Sure, I guess," Susanne mumbled, shrugging his shoulders and closing his locker door.
"You feeling okay?" Josh wondered.
"I'm just tired," Susanne answered.
"Did the baby miss his nap?" Eva asked as she walked up behind the two. "Or did daddy not give him his bottle?" she laughed.
Susanne stopped, glaring out in front of him. If it were anyone else he would have already punched them.
"So? What was it that made the baby cry?"
"Eva," Josh sighed. "Come on, just leave him alone."
Susanne turned and glared at Eva, opening his mouth to say something. He stopped himself, though. "I envy you," was all he said.
Eva's smirk faded as Susanne walked off. "What... what the hell is that supposed to mean?!" she growled.
Josh looked at her and shrugged. He then left her standing there as he caught up with Susanne.
She watched as the two left. Sometimes she didn't know why she bothered. She was mean to Susanne, sure, but he was just downright cruel to her.
He always seemed to know the right things to say that would affect her more than he probably knew. And it took him no effort to come up with such things.
"Bastard," she muttered, her mood once again in ruin.
"Eva," Baffi called as she ran up from behind. "I was looking for you."
Eva said nothing as the two walked towards the cafeteria.
"So?" Baffi asked. "What did you and Glock do yesterday?" She nudged her teasingly, Eva not amused by the action.
"Nothing," Eva said.
"Yeah, right, sure you did," Baffi laughed. She then gasped. "Was it embarrassing? I want to hear all about it."
"Nothing happened, Baffi. We talked and that's it."
"Talked?" Baffi seemed disappointed. "Well, that's boring..."
Eva shook her head in annoyance. "Just drop it, okay?"
Baffi did, and a little too easily at that.
Eva let out a long sigh as now she had to hear all about Baffi's day.

"I envy you?" Josh laughed, looking over to the passenger seat where Susanne sat, his head turned as he stared out the window. "What was that about?"
"I don't know," Susanne answered.
"Sure you don't," Josh grinned as he pulled into the parking lot of the mall.
Susanne sighed. "It's just that... sometimes I wish I could have her problems."
"You serious?" Josh laughed. "You do know about her problems, right?"
"Better than mine," Susanne mumbled.
"Dude, she watched her brother die. Saying stuff like that is not cool, Hero."
Susanne looked down and shrugged. "There's just stuff on my mind that makes me think otherwise."
Josh parked the car, pausing and sighing before he turned off the ignition. "Let's go get something to eat and you can tell me all about it."
"You sure you want to listen to it?" Susanne asked.
"Got nothing better to talk about," Josh shrugged. "And if it'll help you to stop moping..."
The two walked into the food court, Josh going to three different places for his odd mash up of favorites.
Susanne tagged along, refusing anything to eat or drink.
Getting his items, they found a place to sit, Josh setting the tray down and digging in.
"Okay, let's hear it," he said with a mouth full of food.
"Yesterday I walked to my brothers shop because I needed to talk to him about something. And when I walked in I overheard him talking to... to that guy that works there," Susanne said, his face expressionless as he gazed off.
Josh glanced up from his food before continuing to shove it into his mouth.
"It was just weird. It wasn't like Frolic at all. He was saying how-"
"Hero? Is this whole time going to be spent talking about your idiot of a brother?" Josh stared at him with a disinterested look.
"Well, yeah, I mean, you said you'd listen and I-"
"Well, you could have told me what was bugging you involved Frolic."
Susanne looked down and sighed. "So you're not going to help me," he muttered.
"Help you or help your brother? Because it seems like your brother has the problem. Actually, I know he has a problem. And I'm not going to try and help you fix it."
"It isn't about him, though," Susanne said in annoyance.
"Okay, then what's the problem?"
"Frolic was saying how hard it was for him to-"
"See? This is what I mean."
"But, you haven't even heard the whole thing!"
"And I don't want to, Hero! I could care less about your damn brother!"
"Thanks for being such a great friend, Josh," Susanne said in anger.
"Because I don't want to help your brother?"
"No, because you don't want to help me figure things out after you said you would!"
"Tch, yeah, whatever, Hero," Josh said, blowing him off.
Susanne glared at Josh as his anger rose. "I was there for you when your mom committed suicide, Josh. I listened to you and let you-"
"Shut up," Josh growled, angry that that part of his life was being dredged up again.
"I'm not going to shut up, Josh."
"I told you not to bring that up again! It was hard enough when it happened! Do you think I want to be reminded of it again and again?"
"Do you think it's easy for me? I live with my moms death almost every day! And then I hear what my brother said? Oh, but that's right, you don't want to listen to what he said. You don't want to know why I've been crying almost non stop since last night. Why I now think the things I do even though I don't really want to."
Josh glared at Susanne, who looked the most pathetic Josh had ever seen him. He knew he should feel sorry for him and try to help him, but the fact that Susanne brought up the darkest period of his whole life angered him.
"Please," Susanne begged. "I know our situations are different, but-"
"Yeah, they are different, Hero," Josh said, his tone low yet angry. "My dad at least had the sense to remarry and get on with his life."
Susanne, shocked by what he heard, tensed, his eyes starting to tear up. Unable to think of anything to say, he got to his feet and stomped off, his stomp soon becoming a run.
Josh's glare slowly faded as he realized what he had said. He bowed his head and sighed. He regretted his words, but knew it was too late to do anything about it, Susanne now out of his sight.

Cecil parked and walked towards the back door of the flower shop. He tried not to think about the day before, trying to act as normal as he could.
"Cecil," Frolic said with a big smile. He then checked his watch. "Five minutes early as usual."
Cecil forced a smile.
"I have to leave early to pick up a costume and then pick up my brother and sister before my rehearsal for tonight's big show, so if you don't mind taking over for me..."
"No, not at all," Cecil said.
"We have three arrangements in the cooler. Their names are on them, so try not to get them mixed up again, okay?" He looked at Cecil and grinned.
"I'll try not to," Cecil said with a laugh.
"Great," Frolic said as he gathered his things and rushed towards the back. "You can close when the last order is picked up if you want."
Cecil nodded and waved as Frolic left. His smile then faded.
The person he saw wasn't Frolic, just the cheery facade of a broken man. That alone was enough to make Cecil depressed for the rest of the night.