A/N: Next chapter is short and will explain the whole Minami x Hatori dynamic.
"How's the taste, is it too spicy?" Minami asked Hatori.
"... No, it's good." Hatori said.
"You didn't tell me you liked spicy food." Miami said.
"You don't have to pay attention to these things…" Hatori said.
"Woo~ hoo~ hoo~" Shigure said and stood behind Hatori with a wide smile on his face. "You must be very envious of me, very tempted to claim her as your own, right? My lovely wife."
"... There you go spouting nonsense again." Hatori said with a sigh not even bothered. Shgiure looked over at their blank faces.
"Sometimes I wonder if you two are too much alike, it's not fun to tease you anymore!" Shigure pouted for a second and then had a big smile on his face. "But of course I'm no match for our handsome Hatori, you even gave her an engagement ring."
"IT'S NOT AN ENGAGMENT RING!" Kyo yelled out of nowhere.
"It's not right?" Minami asked Hatori.
"Of course not." Hatori said.
"Oh? It's not?" Shigure asked and they looked down at the ring. Hatori's ears turned red for a split second.
"It's a thank you ring." He said once they looked at him. Shigure had a mischievous smile on his face.
"A thank you present? What for?" Shigure said and Hatori looked away.
"What about your present Yuki?" Minami asked and looked down at the bracelet.
"It's…" Yuki said and he turned bright red. "It's… it's… "
"She's your first love." Shigure said with a sigh and Minami turned bright red.
"That's not what it's for!" Yuki and they looked at him expectantly.
"But he didn't deny the confession." Shigure said and Yuki looked like he was the same shade as Ayame's famous… dress.
"Ha, too bad you didn't get the same feeling back! Stupid rat!" Kyo said with a smirk on his face and Yuki looked at him angrily.
"Yeah, and I bet you didn't either." He snapped at him ad Kyo glared at him and was about to open his mouth.
"Don't vent your jealous anger on the wrong person." Hatori said to Kyo with an amused look on his face.
"WHAT? IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" Kyo yelled speechless. "ANYWAY, WHY IS HATORI STILL HERE!"
"Ask Shigure.." Hatori said calmly and Kyo opened the refrigerator.
"Ah? Why isn't there any milk?" Kyo asked.
"Spoken like a true cat." Minami said and his cheeks went red. "But I'll go buy some."
"No no, the kitchen's been raided, that's important." Kyo said.
"IT'S MY FAULT. I'M SORRY!" Ritsu said suddenly, as he carried a bowl of cereal above his head and milk spilled as he ran over to Kyo. "I'M USED TO HAVING CEREAL WITH MILK FOR BREAKFAST, SO MINAMI-SAN GAVE ME MILK MEANT FOR KYO-SAN. IT'S MY FAULT, I'VE SINNED GREATLY, PLEASE PUNISH ME."
"So.. RItsu.. Also stayed…. For the night.." Kyo said nervously and Shigure cleaned up the floor.
"SOMEONE LIKE ME IS UNQUALIFIED TO HAVE BREAKFAST IN SHIGURE-NII-SAN'S HOME WITH DIGNITY, I'M AWARE OF MY SIN!" He yelled.
"Rit-chan avoid spilling milk and running at the same time next time." Shigure said but Ritsu couldn't hear him.
"WHAT SHOULD I DO, HOW SHOULD I COMPENSATE KYO-SAN…" Then Ritsu paused and gave Kyo an angelic smile and showed him his bowl of soggy cereal. "Please drink my plate of milk to soothe your anger…"
"I'd die before I drink it." Kyo said as he looked away and Ritsu began to cry.
"Thern what should I do… what should I do…" Ritsu said.
"SHOULDN'T YOU JUST GO BUY SOME!" Kyo yelled at him and they continued their back until Shigure poked Ritsu's back and made him fall in shock.
"Justice will prevail!" Shigure said happily as he gave them a thumps up.
"Who's the righteous one?" Kyo asked.
"Shigure can present the evil side." Yuki muttered annoyed.
"Alright enough delay, let's head to school." Minami said and dragged the two boys away and they went off to school. Once morning classes were over Momiji grabbed her and Yuki and dragged them to the roof top. Momiji laid out his rabbit shaped blanket and they began to eat.
"Rit-chan is cute, isn't he! He's very energetic and lively!" Momiji said happily.
"I'd rather he be less energetic... " Yuki muttered and looked over at Momiji. "Eh… speaking of which, where's Haru?"
"Resting!" Momiji said and smiled at them. "... it's nothing. He'll definitely attend school tomorrow." Yuki didn't seem to know how to respond. "That's right. Minami, what happened to your hand?"
"It happened when Ritsu lost control.." Yuki explained before she could.
"It's just a scratch." Minami said. "He apologized enough for it anyway."
"Really? Is that so?" Momoiji said and took her hand. "Speaking of which, the bandage is wrapped in an interesting way! It's as if it is wrapped with a lot of concentration and might!" Minami was sure that Momiji knew it was Yuki who wrapped them because he had a teasing tone in his voice. Momiji's eyes looked down at the wound and his eyes softened. "Rit-chan becomes hysterical when he's stressed, but, he's very kind."
"That's true." Minami agreed and paused her mind lost in thought as the school day passed in a blur. She couldn't help but think about her own situation, as she walked back alone. She was still in this world, with no true family, no blood connections or relatives. Some days she felt it more than others, especially now that she was the only one left from her former Japanese family. Why was she here? It wasn't as though she could ever do as good as a job as Tohru, that's was a fact, in her mind.
"I'M SORRY, IT'S MY FAULT, PLEASE FORGIVE ME, I"LL BUY SOME TAKOYAKI FOR RIGHT NOW! I'M SORRY I'M SORRY, I WAS WRONG TO TRY TAKING THE BAG AWAY, LET ME APOLOGIZE TO THE ENTIRE WORLD." Ritsu was kneeled down on the ground, with a white cat who was trying to get the takoyaki from the bag.
"Ritsu…" Minami said and noticed it was her cat. "Shiro…"
"Oh! Minami-san! Is this your cat?" Ritsu asked his face red and Minami nodded and picked up the cat.
"I have another one too, Kuro." Minami explained. "They usually walk around, so they don't come around much." She explained a as she pet the cat. "Why are you buying takoyaki?"
"Shigure-nii-san said without eating takoyaki, he wouldn't be able to write his novels…" Ritsu said and Minami looked at him with a blank look.
"I see…" She didn't want to tell Ritsu it was a lie. There was a moment of silence.
"... Ah ah… ah, actually, I've something to ask." Ritsu said said and looked away nervously. "Actually…. P-previously, when you met my mother… Did she mention anything… bad about me… embarrassing…" He said and he had a sad smile on his face. "Pardon me, I've probably put you in a bad spot by saying such things! I'm sorry… What's understandable is that a child like me is absolutely frustrating! I'm.. really incompetent… Not only am I possessed by a monster… I'm also unlike the other members of the Zodiac… I have no talent at all…"
"In both sports and studies, I must always work harder to catch up to my peers. Weak.. yet rash. My weakness is common topic of discussion among relatives. My parents could only apologize each time… After finding wearing women's clothing puts me at ease, I began to dress like a woman. I received my clothes from Kagura-san…. From then on, my parents' apologies increased further….. I've thought of becoming stronger… thought of giving up women's clothing, but… I've never had the self-confidence to. That's why…" He looked down at the ground with a blank look in his eyes, a look that was often in Yuki's.
"... because of this I've become even weaker. My heart is aching. My parents don't want to apologize to others! They want a son they can be proud of. A better son." He apologized to his parents. "Maybe if I'm gone.. They'll better off. My existence on this earth, has no value at all. Even if I force myself to believe it has. My belief will fade gradually. But… But sometimes when I think about myself continuing on this earth, I feel so ashamed."
Ritsu looked over at her and wiped away some of her falling tears, but they just didn't seem to stop. Maybe the real reason why she felt so connected to Ritsu, why she wanted to help him.. It was because he was just like her. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Ritsu apologized. "Please don't cry. I'm sorry." Ritsu paused and wrapped his arms around her, Minami couldn't help but feel very small at that moment, her head only reaching his stomach.
Neither of them seemed to move, but Minami was sure that Ritsu must've been crying to, because his shoulders were shaking. "Please don't cry." Ritsu said to her. "You gave me such encouraging words before, yet I had the nerve to not appreciate them. You're a much better person than I am, you're healing and kind. You even bothered giving advice to someone like me. So please don't cry." He continued to whisper positive words to her and Minami listened on.
Minami thought back to her life and realized that Ritsu was only a year older than her former self. He was only twenty-one, many people thought that once you turned a certain age, your problems would disappear. But it was never true, some things get harder, some get easier. Minami took a deep breath. "You're the same Ritsu." Minami said and he paused. "I could say the exact same words to you and they'd be exactly the same."
"I don't understand." Ritsu said.
"I think… maybe we're the type of people, who can give advice to people in pain, but find it to hard to accept these words ourselves." Minami laughed sadly. "I think you're just able to express your emotions better, while I just express my words better. It's not easy to apologize to people about your mistakes, but you do it so effortlessly. I think… no.. I believe that you're much more truthful than I am."
Ritsu paused and she felt his head rest on hers, his long hair flowing down Minami's back. Ritsu laughed silently, with the same tone as her own and she felt his hand on her head. "I wonder if I came to this world, just to help you." Ritsu said and Minami blinked at his words and looked up and saw a beautiful smile on his face.
Yes, Minami couldn't help but like Ritsu, not in the same way as she liked Hatori. But… it almost seemed like fate.
A/N: So nothing romantic between those two, just couldn't help but think how similar they are. One of Minami's weakness, which is similar to Tohru's, is her inability to help herself. If you look through the manga, even though Ritsu had very few scenes (something that the creator regret as well, which is why the anime adapted more Ritsu focused scenes), was Tohru reflecting on herself through Ritsu. Ritsu is like an open book, and is able to express his own weakness very well but finds it hard to fix them. Minami on the other hand hides her weakness and feelings, and pushes the words that she needs to hear out onto others.
This might be my current favorite scene that I have written. I think they have an brother-sister relationship, though whose older depends on how they interact with each other. Ritsu and Minami, that was a nice and sad to write. Mitsuru x Ritsu is still great though because they're similar to reach other and are able to help each other break their weakness.
I didn't let Minami say anything back to Ritsu, because I don't think it's something that can be answered. Why am I here? It's found, for Ritsu and Tohru it's living for others. But Minami isn't sure, she's just following along.
The ring! Hatori, in case you haven't realized, doesn't expect Minami to return the feelings. Though it mostly is a thank you present, that will have further meaning along the story.