Hey, everyone! I'm sorry for the slow update, but it's here! I'm so happy that you're enjoying this! x3

Somehow, this chapter kinda feels like filler? I'm not sure, but I'll do my best to fasten the pace a bit for the next ones!

There were... Still parts... missing. Its whole being wasn't there.

Incomplete, it thought.

Frustration and anger filled its very being, a red hue swirling angrily in some sort of darkness. Then, it roared, a single sound of a crash satisfying its anger.

Then, it felt sleepy.

"Where am I?"

A thought. From a small voice. Whispers.

"It was a pretty onee-san!"

Adoration.

Then suddenly, a feeling of safety... A larger hand gripping its own...

=000=

When Emi came down to dinner, she stared at the empty seat for a long while, not minding her mother who was moving about.

"Mom, where's Aichi?"

Sendou Shizuka looked up from where she was preparing the table, eyebrows raised and her hair ruffled. Emi noticed the trembling in her mother's hands. "He'll be staying over at Misaki-san's place," she replied. Then, when she finished placing the eating utensils, she patted her hands on her apron and smiled at Emi, as if she's trying to hold in a laugh. "It seems that he fell asleep while they were cleaning."

Emi sighed. "That Aichi..." She shook her head and went to sit down at the table. But as she sat on her chair, her glass suddenly slipped and fell to the floor.

CRASH!

She immediately stood up, alarmed by the noise.

"Are you okay, Emi?" her mother asked, sounding just as spooked.

She couldn't see her mother's face, but she nodded. "Yeah, mom. I'm okay..."

"Quickly! Step away from the broken glass," her mother said.

And Emi could only nod. As her mother went out of the dining room to get a broom and dustpan, she slowly stepped to the entryway. She put a hand to her chest and ignored the chills down her spine. Her heart hadn't stopped pounding.

'Weird...' she thought when her mother arrived to clean up. 'I didn't even bump the table.'

=000=

The next morning, Aichi woke up without opening his eyes. 'Something's missing,' he thought. He pulled the blanket over his head and scrunched his nose, waiting for the really squeaky voice of his baby sister to wake him up.

It didn't come.

'Oh, well,' thought Aichi. 'Maybe it's a Saturday, and Emi will just call me for breakfast.'

A whole hour passed, but Emi still didn't appear. Aichi was worried now. When Emi doesn't wake him up, his mother usually does, whispering that Emi got sick.

Then, a dreadful thought occurred to Aichi. 'Did they both get sick?!' He sat up on his bed, wondering how he's going to treat both of his loved ones without getting sick himself. 'I don't even know how to work a stove!' he inwardly cried, remembering well his home economics class and a flaming pan. There was also a bunch of burnt toast involved.

That was when Aichi blinked and finally took a look around 'his room'. The walls were a pale green, and his curtains were silky and white. There was a cabinet he's never seen before, but the carvings were really pretty, reminding him of ferns and snowflakes. He looked to his blankets and was shocked to find that his soft race car blanket wasn't in his hands, and instead was a soft blue blanket. They both felt and smelled the same!

"Where am I?" he muttered to himself, pulling the soft blanket closer. He didn't want to think he was kidnapped, because what kind of kidnapper gives a good place to sleep to a stranger--

He widened his eyes and gulped.

'Am I in the Beast's palace? Is that what's going on?!'

He didn't want to jump off the bed to run to the window. He felt too frozen to move. Any moment, a singing candlestick or grumpy clock could enter through the door! He eyed the closet, wondering if it's pretending to be ordinary.

That was when he heard the doorknob turn, and his head snapped to its direction across the bed, clutching the blanket tighter. Ever so slowly, the door opened, and Aichi prepared for a hairy beast with sharp teeth to peek inside and growl at him.

"Are you awake?" a soothing voice, much softer than his mother's, asked him.

And to his surprise, it wasn't a furry beast. It was a pretty onee-chan!

What caught his eyes in the small light were the pretty lady's lavender hair tied into a ponytail. Then, her intelligent eyes that reminded him of Emi-chan.

Suddenly, he felt sad and hunched his back, clutching onto his blanket. He watched as the pretty lady walked into the room with soft footsteps, and made himself shrink. He still didn't know where he was, or who the pretty lady is. And one thing's for sure, Emi will scold him if he talked to a stranger.

Her eyes seemed to take a look all over his figure before snapping back to his face with a small frown. "Good morning," she said.

Aichi nodded, scrunching his shoulders up and feeling heat on his cheeks. "G-good morning..." he stuttered, and now feeling the heat all over his face.

"Do you know where you are?" the pretty lady asked, to which Aichi shook his head.

'Will she tell me?' wondered Aichi, hoping that she would.

"Your are in my home," she said. "It's located above a card shop."

'Card shop?'

Aichi had no time to ponder because the pretty lady handed him some clothes. "Go wash up. The bathroom is just down the hall," she said. Then, her voice turned soft, softer and gentler than a while ago. "I'll help you change out of your bandages after. Breakfast is also being prepared. It might be done once you're finished."

He accepted the clothes and nodded at the pretty lady. "Thank you..." he said, proud he didn't stutter.

She nodded back to him and patted his head. "I'll fix up the bed. Get going now."

"O-okay..." he said, and got off, taking a look at what he was wearing and not at all surprised that he slept in his uniform, but kinda grossed out at his probably day-old bandages. He turned to the pretty lady and bowed. "Th-thank you again!"

She waved her hand, and he walked out the door.

=000=

Kai Toshiki was in the bathroom, glaring at his reflection.

He was not trying to avoid Aichi. He was just trying to make sure he doesn't cross paths with him. During his strolls in the park, children avoids him because of the intimidating look on his face. If Aichi truly did revert back into a child, physically and mentally, then of course he'd also be intimidated.

But then Miwa pointed out, while they put away the futons, about what happened last night.

"He went into your arms, Kai," he said. "He felt safe when he saw you. He won't be afraid."

Kai ignored him, though. He focused instead on what Ren said last night as he held the small boy in his arms, "And the reason why it went after Aichi was probably because a portion of Link Joker was inside of him."

He grit his teeth. Aichi had been holding a burden as big as Link Joker and didn't think to tell any of them. They could have helped him solve it! What was the point of saving Kai from that same monster if the same burden was going to be casted onto Aichi?

He shook his head. Aichi saved him from that, and he'll do the same. He's not the same as before. He knows he has friends he can trust.

Nodding to himself and no longer glaring at his reflection, he finally decided to leave the bathroom.

But as his hand was about to reach the doorknob, Miwa's annoying voice reached his ears.

"Yeah, my buddy Kai's actually in there," he said, sounding exasperated. To Kai, though, his so-called friend actually sounded like he was planning something. It also sounded like he was talking to someone... "He looked really constipated earlier, probably because he had a midnight snack while everyone else was sleeping."

Kai opened the door as quickly as possible. "Quit it, Miwa."

His sight first caught Aichi flinching.

Miwa chuckled, raising his hands up. He glared to his friend. It's good that he just chuckled. If he bothered to laugh, he would have challenged him then and there to give him psychological damage.

"U-um..." Kai glanced back down to Aichi, who was holding his borrowed clothes closely to his chest.

"If you're still going to use it, I don't m-mind in waiting longer," child Aichi said.

Kai closed his eyes. And took in a deep breath.

In a heartbeat, he caught Miwa, who was trying to escape, by the collar.

Then, he opened his eyes to Aichi and said, "You can use it. I'm already done."

Aichi nodded his head, shyly still clutching his borrowed clothes and bunching his shoulders up, blushing a bit. "Th-thank you, Kai-san..."

Then, as if wobbling like a penguin, he entered the bathroom and closed the door.

"Well, I'll just take my leave--"

Kai tightened his grip on Miwa's collar. Then, his intimidating glare that would surely traumatize children was directed to Miwa's eyes and into his soul. "I'll show you constipated," he growled.

Miwa could only pray to the gods for his safety.

=000=

Aichi sighed as he finished. The bruises seemed to have darkened instead of fade. It was especially hard to soap some of his wounds.

He forgot to ask for a towel, so he dried his hair with his polo-shirt, knowing that it will be washed anyways.

Then, stepping out into the hallway, he was surprised to see Kai-san still standing there, with Miwa-san, who was straining a smile, clutched under his arms.

"Let's head on to breakfast?" Kai-san asked.

Aichi wanted to nod, but remembered his dirty laundry. "I h-have to see... the pretty lady first..."

The two men blinked. "Pretty..."

"Lady?" It was Miwa-san who finished the question.

Aichi nodded. "Sh-she said that she'll help me rewrap my wounds after I showered..." He was back to hunching his shoulders, and looking to the floor. He could basically hear Emi scolding him to stop it.

So, he braved to look up, and felt relief when Kai-san nodded. "Her name is Misaki Tokura," he said. Then, despite clutching the blond man with one arm, he reached his other one out to Aichi. "Let's go look for her."

Aichi took the hand with no hesitation. 'Safety,' Aichi thought, and gripped it tightly. He smiled when his hand was gripped back.

Please expect slow updates for this one! I'm not good with thinking creatively!! Neither with time management! But I'm very grateful for your patience! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING UwU