"S...is...n...hom..ri..no.."

"..."

Eh? Come again?

It was Sunday, the last day for him to tutor Kagome Higurashi.

Kenma managed to get to the Higurashi residence on time despite Kuroo's interrogation on where he was heading to.

His excuse?

He had to go to the video game store again. This time, to get a card that employees were giving away that had free DLC items.

"Alright, alright!" In the end, Kuroo waved him off, in the middle of his long rambling on the importance of the card.

"..."

Heh, but jokes on Kuroo. He had already received the card in the mail since he had a gold membership.

No, what perplexed him was what Higurashi's little brother had just told him.

"Sis is not home right now."

From his confused stare the boy continued on. "She's got some stuff she has to do."

"Stuff?"

"Yeah….She went…to…." The boy paused as if in thought. "To get a blood test!"

"You know, it never hurts to check especially with sis's track history." He had said it with relative ease like it was nothing.

Was she really okay?

Was an old illness acting up again?

"She said she'll be back soon but she also said you could leave if you want."

Knowing Kagome, she must have told her brother to say that, in order to not be a bother.

"No, it's okay. I'll wait."

He wouldn't be able to go home anytime soon anyway, because of the excuse he gave Kuroo.

So, the youngest Higurashi led him to the living room to a low table to sit.

"Oh yeah! Mom said when you came over to give you this!" The younger boy rushed to the kitchen before coming back quickly to his peripheral view, his head poking around the corner of the wall.

"Oh, I'm Souta by the way!" He hollered, before retreating back.

By the sounds Souta was making, Kenma would guess the boy had just turned on the microwave. His assumption was proven correct as soon as he heard a ding.

Then Souta came back and laid out a plate of food for him to eat.

"Mom said you didn't eat lunch before you came here yesterday."

"..."

Souta's eyes darted to the right. He could tell what Kenma was thinking. "Well, by now you should know how my mom is."

His words reminded him of yesterday. Mrs. Higurashi's constant insistence for him to eat after they had heard his stomach rumble. Her relenting stare and polite smile that was a bit overbearing, loomed over his shoulder.

He shuddered at the thought of it repeating again.

Souta gave a little nod as soon as he saw Kenma eating. "Good, then I'll bring you some ice tea!"

Before he could tell the young boy that he could get it himself, he had already left to get it. "...Sorry, for the bother..."

The Higurashi family were all alike in their hospitality. Well, maybe not their grandfather. But the old man, although eccentric, did seem to have a soft spot for his family.

Souta came back with a pitcher and glass.

The tea had a lighter brownish color compared to the one he tried during his first visit to the Higurashi residence.

He took a sip.

Instantly, the familiar taste of sweetness and tart flooded his taste buds.

This taste?!

The cinnamon and apple blended together making the drink taste somewhat like apple pie, his favorite food. Yet, there was another reason why he took an immediate liking to the drink, but he felt silly for even thinking about it.

"..."

But, it couldn't be right? It had to be a coincidence that the tea was apple flavored.

A knowing smile crept on Souta's lips. "Sis said you like apple juice so she made you apple cinnamon tea."

She remembered!

He had only drank apple juice in front of her once, yet she had kept a mental note of the possibility of him liking apple flavored drinks from it.

"..." He felt a prickling sensation from his chest.

...Was it weird for him to feel a bit overjoyed from her considerate action?

No…he shouldn't make a big deal out of it.

It made sense that she remembered since it hadn't happened that long ago.

Souta continued on, taking Kenna's silence as his way of savoring the drink. "It's good isn't it! Sis's tea always tastes good!"

His words were the same as Mrs. Higurashi's, when he had first tried Kagome's tea.

They both looked happy when talking about her.

Suddenly, his thoughts went back to what she had said yesterday.

'Well, you see… Nobody really tells me that lately. Instead, if I do anything that would be worthy of merit, it would usually be overlooked. Like, it's expected of me to perform that way.'

Just, who was she referring to? It didn't seem to be anyone from her family.

Then, Souta's voice interrupted him from his thoughts.

"Well, tell me if you need anything. I'll just be here playing video games." He pointed to the TV. Hooked up to it was a PlayStation.

The game that Souta was playing was one that Kenma was very familiar with. Its gameplay was a classic fantasy RPG that was on the rage these days. What made it popular from other games was that it was an Open World Map that let one play with others, without the need to be close to each other.

Souta unpaused the game and talked to an NPC about a quest.

Ah, he would have difficulty with that mission.

His assumptions were proven correct once the boy arrived at his destination, confused when nothing was triggered.

Perhaps he should tell him.

"You…"

Souta jumped back a little, since he had forgotten the older male was there by how quiet he was. "Yes?"

"You're in the wrong area."

"What? But the coordinates are-"

"Right? No, the area is slightly off. It's more to the north at these coordinates." Kenma pulled up his phone with an article that detailed how to clear the mission. "See?"

Souta plugged in the correct coordinates for his avatar to automatically get there.

Once he reached it, a notification screen popped up to say to harvest the materials. "Oh, you're right! Thanks, Kozume-san!" Souta smiled.

The boy's smile and words reminded him a bit of Kagome. Souta looked like a younger boy version of her.

"But, why don't the devs fix it?"

"The developers are focusing more on updates for the next zone areas which are essential to the story rather than a small mistake for a trivial EXP leveling mission."

"I see… but, Kozume-san, if you knew about this error does that mean you play this game too?"

"I do."

"Then you should add me!"

And that's how the two ended up, Souta playing with Kenma sitting next to him, giving tips whenever the younger boy needed help.

The two were so engrossed in the game that they didn't hear the front door opening.

"!" But, they did hear the harsh slam of the door to its hinges, causing the walls to shake.

"That jerk! Who does he think he is!"

It sounded like Higurashi-san. Yet, it was unfamiliar to him. He hadn't really heard her when she was angry.

As she stepped into the living room, he could see the familiar deep crease between her brows was there, proving she was upset.

"Sis…" Souta cleared his throat to get his sister's attention.

Her eyes quickly darted to her brother, causing him to flinch at the glare she sent him.

Trying to avoid her gaze, Souta's eyes shifted to the right to subtly hint, which led her line of vision to Kenma.

"…." Her eyes widened in realization.

"…." It was silent.

Should he be the one to start the conversation? He felt a bit guilty at being there while she vented. He hadn't meant to intrude.

Quickly, the wrinkle was gone and instead she looked at him questionly. "Kozume-san?"

"Ye-Yes?" His voice was soft, unsure.

"You're still here?" She stood in front of him, allowing him to get a good look at her.

Her cheeks compared to yesterday were a bit more rosy and the shadow under her eyes lighter, giving her skin a healthier glow. She must have taken his advice to take breaks instead of pulling all nighters.

He had been worried when Souta had mentioned she went to the hospital but she looked healthier compared to yesterday.

"Your brother said you would be back so I decided to wait."

He could understand what she was thinking by just looking at her, 'Why?'

Why, indeed.

He could have left and gone to kill some time somewhere else like the arcade before returning home.

But a sense of feeling compelled him to stay and wait to make sure she was okay.

The feeling weighed him down like a video game avatar getting a movement debuff that restricted it's movement and would cause damage every turn.

A heavy feeling could be felt on his chest.

He was worried for her.

But he wouldn't admit to it. "There's still a bit we need to go over and I thought we could go over the practice problems one more time."

"…"

"…"

She blinked.

"Thanks…" The way she phrased the word, as in disbelief.

He didn't think much of his actions but she probably thought highly of him. "You've worked hard so far, so we might as well keep going."

"…" Kenma's rough answer while he tried to humble himself and instead,elevated her by praising her...

'You've worked hard, not we.' The way he phrased the words delicately to attribute her improved scores, solely to all her efforts.

…couldn't help but make her smile.

"Sis?" Souta stared at his sister from her lack of words to answer back.

"Eh?" Blood flowed through her cheeks reddened them, once she realized she had been lost in her thoughts.

"Kozume-san." She cleared her throat to hide her embarrassment. "If it's okay with you, we could go to my room now, to continue with studying."

"No."

His answer took not only her but also Souta by surprise.

It was reasonable for them to be since it was the very reason why he came over.

But, with the way she was acting that nothing was wrong, made him want to think differently.

Perhaps she was doing it unconsciously, but her eyebrows would knit ever so often when the attention wasn't on her. As if, she was still recalling the very thing that made her upset.

"Higurashi-san."

It didn't suit her.

"Yes?" She gave a small polite smile.

Nor did that smile.

"…" She was doing it again.

Kagome Higurashi had a habit of giving a fake smile whenever she wanted to hide something.

It reminded him of the empty smile she gave her friends whenever they asked her if anything was wrong.

Or the times, Hojo-san would give her some weird traditional medicine she'd accepted with an awkward smile.

A forced overly sweet smile that was hiding something. Just like apple pie, the sweet taste of apples helped mask the overly tart taste of cinnamon.

"Do you have any hobbies?"

"Hobbies?" She looked confused by the random question.

"…" Just like he thought, she was unable to come up with an answer.

Judging by her room, it was that of a minimalist. It only had the basic necessities: like a bed, desk, and drawer.

She did have a pinup board but instead of it being filled with pictures it had papers with dates for upcoming tests. Her bookcase was filled with nothing but textbooks, workbooks, and textbook supplements.

There was nothing in her room that looked remotely for leisure.

Whenever she came home, did she only think about studying?

If a person were to glance at her room they would think there was nothing wrong with it. However, it lacked an important aspect— something that she may have liked.

This led him to think, 'What did she do for fun?'

If someone were to enter his own room they could easily tell what he liked by the different video games and consoles scattered all over.

As soon as he came home he would go straight to gaming. It always helped him.

If something upsetted him he could easily escape into another world by inserting a game card and do things he normally couldn't. Go on an adventure in an RPG, become a war leader tactician in a fantasy turn based game or even kill time by befriending various humanoid animals on an island.

So, what did she do to relieve her stress?

What was her outlet?

"…"

So he took a shot to bring up a suggestion.

"Higurashi-san, why don't we play a quick game."

"A game but-"

She was unable to finish due to Souta overlapping her words. "Sis! I can't even remember the last time we played a video game together!"

It was already too late. At the mention of the idea, Souta hurried to his room to get a different console and game.

Knowing how kind hearted Kagome was, Kenma knew she would be unable to refuse her brother, based on the ecstatic grin on his face, while he quickly set up a different console.

It was a GameCube, a fairly old console yet it did have a wide variety of multiplayer games.

After plugging in all the right cords, Souta handed each of them a controller with Souta's and Kagome's being a different color from the others. The siblings' controllers looked to be their own personal ones with a label on the back with their names. Judging by the wear on the label partly coming off, the two must have used to play with each other a lot.

Currently, Kagome Higurashi's eyebrows furrowed, this time not in frustration, but in worry on how to let her brother down gently. "Souta, I don't-"

Sensing the next words his sister was about to say, the big grin on Souta's face faltered.

"I…" By the way she prolonged her answer, she was becoming hesitant.

She just needed one last push to persuade her.

"Sorry Souta, but your sister is a bit busy now."

The way Souta's eyes dimmed at the reasoning, shattered her defenses. "Well…I guess we could play one round."

His response did not change.

"Or…..several rounds?" She peered at her younger brother to gauge his reaction.

There was a radical change in Souta's response. Back, was the silly big grin. He was pleased with her answer.

"Alright, 30 minutes, but that's all! We really need to get to studying!"

"Kay!"

The game that Souta chose was Mario Party.

The game itself was easy for anyone to win as long as they were used to the mini games, one could easily get the most coins to use on items and shines.

Well, that is what he did think initially.

He had forgotten another important aspect to the game.

"Yes, 6 again!" Kagome cheered.

The RNG gods looked upon her favorably.

Miraculously, she had the best luck out of the three of them. The numbers she rolled were always high. Despite not having the most coins, she was in the lead since she was almost always the first to the shine.

"W-wait Souta! Don't steal my shine!"

Suggesting to play a game seemed to be the right call with how much the Higurashi siblings seemed to have enjoyed it. At first, they bickered here and there, from the times they tried to sabotage each other. But in the end they were both having a good laugh at the other's misfortune.

Yes, there was nothing like video games to make one forget about trivial thoughts.

A hand waved in front of his face.

"Hey,Kozume-san! It's your turn!" She smiled lopsidedly, with her eyes slit.

Souta mirrored her facial features.

The two were up to something.

His thoughts were proven correct when he looked at where the shine was. The two spaces next to it had the two sibling's characters' faces on them.

They had hex them. Judging by the two's smiles it was likely a coin hex.

Kenma had just enough coins to buy a shine. But, if he rolled a 3 or 4 he'd land on their trap, causing him to not have enough to buy it the next turn.

This would allow the two to be able to take the shine from him, since they weren't that far away.

He needed a 5 or 6 to safely reach the shine.

….

He used a double dice.

"!"

….he rolled a 2 then a…

…1.

His total roll count was 3.

Out of all the numbers, the RNG gods must have hated him.

"Alright, sis!" The two celebrated with a high five each for their combined attack.

His unlucky situation did upset him but it quickly changed once he changed his sight from the screen to her.

Her cheekbones raised from the corner of her lips sliding up and teeth peek out from being unable to retrain a chuckle.

It was a natural smile. He could tell from the way he felt warm by just looking at her.

He was glad that he had suggested a game. Even though the two were having a hearty laugh at his expense.

But, he would have suggested anything as long as it would stop that crease on her forehead.

RNG- Random number generator. An algorithm that causes variances in games so they aren't predictable. Having a good RNG can mean one is lucky.

For this chapter I wanted to talk about some problems Kagome may go through by traveling to the feudal era such as not interacting with her family as much.

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