The next day at school, Erik asked if he and Ema could eat lunch alone together. Ema's heart raced with nerves at the suggestion and she was grateful Fuuto was off doing something for work. He wouldn't react well to this. She told him yes, hoping, again, that this wasn't a date.
Ema could hardly focus on class and was both relieved and terrified when it was time for lunch. Yusuke watched her walk off with eyes that reminded her of a puppy dog watching its owner walk away, which made her feel bad, though he'd certainly done the same thing to her with the freshman girl.
Erik grinned brightly at her as she sat down, but his eyes looked nervous, which made her even more nervous.
"So," he began, "I guess first I want to make it clear that I'm not asking you out." Ema felt relief at that—but then wondered why he was so nervous if he wasn't asking her out. "But I do want to ask if you would consider dating me in the future. I'm not trying to rush you, I told you I was fine waiting until college or however long it took for you to feel like dating again, and I meant it." He hesitated, peering at her with anxious eyes. "I just don't want to hold out hope if it's not there. Coming here for us to become friends again was one hundred percent worth it. But do you think you could tell me if you might ever want to date me again?"
It felt like the whole cafeteria went silent, but Ema was sure that was her imagination. Or maybe just the rushing in her ears.
"I like you," she said quietly, looking down at her lunch. "I like you a lot. If it was just me and you . . . then the answer would be yes, but there are a lot of other people in my life to consider. I'm afraid that if I chose you, it would mean losing at least some of the Asahinas, and they mean the world to me. I'm sorry, Erik, but I couldn't bear that." She wanted to be with the Asahinas forever. She wanted to truly be a part of their family and couldn't deny that she would be hard pressed to find a better guy then the many brothers who'd confessed having feelings for her.
"Some of them are in love with you, aren't they?" Erik asked. "Like Yusuke."
"What?!" she said, her eyes jumping to his. "No. I mean, yes, some of the Asahinas are in love with me, but Yusuke's not one of them."
Erik glanced toward their normal table, Ema followed his gaze and, to her surprise, saw Yusuke looking at them, but he quickly turned away when he saw them looking.
"I'm pretty sure he is," Erik said dryly, then he sighed. "I understand. Even when we were dating, the Asahina brothers were really important to you." He shrugged helplessly. "I really messed up when I broke up with you and some things you can't change. I'm still glad I came here though."
"I am too," she assured him, putting her hand over his. "I'm so glad we're friends again, Erik. It does mean a lot that you came here. If things were different . . ." She trailed off. Maybe it made things worse for her to say that since things weren't different.
"It's okay," he said, flipping his hand over to give her hand a squeeze. "I'm still glad I tried or I would have regretted it for the rest of my life, wondering 'what if?' But, now I know, and I've made a lot of friends here." He flashed her a smile. "And I can be a friendly ear to talk to if you need to rant about dating or need dating advice—not that I'm an expert on that, as you're well aware."
She smiled, grateful their conversation turned out this way. "I'm sure I'll appreciate a friend to talk about dating with. Arisa is in Japan, so she's perfect for girl talk, but talking to a guy to get their perspective would be nice."
He flashed another smile, pointing both this thumbs at himself, "Just consider me your guy perspective specialist."
~.~
After her conversation with Erik, Ema was confronted with the awkwardness of what to do now. She was ready to date—but Subaru, Fuuto, Tsubaki, and Azusa had confessed feelings to her and Iori had tried to kiss her. Yes, she wanted to date now—but how on earth was she supposed to go about it?
This conundrum led to her asking Arisa to visit for a sleepover. Despite being grateful at getting to live in the same country as her best girl friend for the first time, she also dreaded this conversation just a little bit. Not because she didn't think Arisa would be supportive, but because she thought Arisa would be a little too supportive.
"What's up, girly?" Arisa asked, plopping herself on Ema's bed and making herself comfortable. She gave Ema a significant look. "We're not meeting for you to reveal that you're dating Erik, are we?"
Ema's face heated up. "Not . . . quite," she said awkwardly. "I wanted your advice about something else."
She didn't continue and Arisa raised her eyebrows expectantly. "And that something else is . . . ?"
"I—I'm . . . I'm ready to date!" she finally blurted out, squeezing her eyes shut. She opened her eyes to see Arisa staring at her with a stunned look and she rushed to continue before Arisa could say anything. "But I don't know what to do. So many brothers from the Asahinas have told me—or expressed in other ways—that they're interested in me and I'm not sure I'm ready to commit to having a boyfriend." She hesitated before adding, "Does that make me a terrible person? That I haven't just picked one guy to date?"
A cheshire grin spread across Arisa's face. "No, not at all. With the bad experiences you've had, I'd be surprised if you immediately went from not wanting to date to wanting a steady boyfriend." Her look turned more serious. "You should date around, Ema. Explore what you really want in a guy. That's what dating is for, finding out what and who you want. Although . . ." She raised one eyebrow. "You phrased that rather interestingly. You said 'so many of the Asahina brothers' were interested in you. Do you only plan to date Asahinas? That might make things complicated."
Ema sighed, her face heating up even more. "The Asahinas mean a lot to me. I know things in life will change, but I always want to be close to them—which will be easier if I'm officially part of the family. If things can turn out so that I end up with one of them, then that's what I want. And I've had conversations with Fuuto and Tsubaki that make me think at least them and Azusa would be okay if I date among the Asahinas. I think . . ." Even just the thought made her feel conceited, but that didn't mean it wasn't true. Still, she lowered her voice as she finished, "I think at least some of the brothers want me to be part of this family too, even if it's not with them." She knew it could cause problems, dating among the brothers, but she also thought it was something they could work through. Especially if the brothers preferred her ending up with one of them to someone they viewed as an outsider.
Arisa nodded slowly, rubbing her chin with an assessing look on her face.
"So . . . what should I do?" Ema asked.
"Leave it to me."
"What?"
"I said leave it to me."
Ema heard her the first time. What she couldn't imagine was that leaving something like this to Arisa was a good idea. "What do you plan to do?"
"Don't you trust me?" Arisa asked with a pout. "You came to me for help, after all."
Ema stared at her until Arisa sighed and rolled her eyes. "I'm going to do what you're too timid to do—tell the Asahina brothers that you're ready to date, but since you've taken such a long break and aren't ready for a steady boyfriend, that you want to date around to discover who you really want. I'll make it clear that any brother who's interested in you can have a shot if he wants."
Ema groaned, covering her face with her hands. She could easily imagine Arisa proudly standing in front of the brothers, telling them to have at Ema and hoping chaos broke loose. "You make it sound like I'm some prize they can try to win. It's not a competition."
Arisa laughed her throaty chuckle that Ema had seen turn the heads of many guys. "Isn't that part of what dating is? Competing for the best prize? Well, the best prize for you. If so many of the Asahinas think they would be best for you, let them try to prove it. If they don't have the guts for it, then they deserve to lose out."
"When will you tell them?" Ema asked, still debating if she should let Arisa do this. But, Arisa was right about one thing—Ema would never have the guts to announce to the brothers that she was open to dating them, but not dating them exclusively. It still sounded awful in her head.
"There's no time like the present!" Arisa declared, before darting off Ema's bed and out her door.
"Wait!" Ema cried, futilely reaching one hand after her. Her only options now were to wait in her room, or to look like a fool as she tried to keep Arisa quiet while she shouted to the Asahinas that Ema was ready to date, because Ema had no doubt that her chasing after Arisa wouldn't change Arisa's intention of what she would say and do.
With a sigh, Ema sat on her bed. If only she had a live camera to watch what would happen in the living room in a few moments. Then again, viewing it for herself would probably be so embarrassing that it was as much a curse as a blessing. Or maybe just a curse.
~.~
Arisa arrived in the living room and was pleased to see a good mix of brothers. There she found Masaomi, Ukyo, the twins, Wataru, Yusuke, and Fuuto. She hadn't met the idol yet, but he was easy to pick out. Subaru wasn't here, but he didn't live here. In a family like this, it would be difficult to catch them all at once and she didn't have time to wait. If she did, Ema would probably try to weasel her way out of this with some silly claim like she didn't even know if any brothers were still interested in her and she was just being arrogant. If any other brothers were interested in knowing that Ema was now open to dating, they'd just have to find out through word of mouth. If these brothers were fair competitors, they'd let the others know.
Ema wasn't being arrogant and Arisa was more than happy to help her friend end up with the guy that was best for her. So long as the guy really was who was best for her.
Arisa cleared her throat, her hands on her hips.
"Yes, Arisa?" Masaomi asked. "Did you need something? Or Ema?" He looked past Arisa, as though searching for Ema. So adorable. She really did like the eldest. Hopefully, he would participate in this competition as well. She could trust Ema with a guy like Masaomi.
Smiling brightly, she said, "I have an announcement for the Asahina family directly from my precious friend."
Some of them stiffened, like they were afraid of what she was going to say. Did any of them think she planned to steal Ema away to live with her? She was grateful she stood back far enough that she had a good panorama view of all their faces. This was going to be fun.
"What kind of announcement?" Yusuke asked, scowling. "Why isn't Ema telling us herself?"
"Ah, this is kind of a delicate situation. She thought it best handled by someone with more experience."
"Experience in what?" Yusuke asked, his scowl now one of confusion.
Arisa's smile showed off all her teeth. "Dating." That got everyone's attention. Ukyo, Fuuto, and the twins perked up like wolves on the scent of prey. She knew the lawyer liked Ema. He'd been way too bothered by the talk of Ema dating. He looked like he'd be fun to tease. She should teach Ema some tricks—except Ema would probably run away in embarrassment. She'd probably have to wait until Ema got a steady boyfriend to teach her anything.
Her eyes caught on the other two in the room. The youngest looked baffled, like he was trying to work something out in his mind. The oldest looked concerned, purely for Ema's sake, no doubt.
"After much soul-searching, Ema feels ready to date again, but she's not ready for a steady boyfriend. Some of you know she's had some not great experiences, so she needs time to find out what she really wants out of a boyfriend. Anyone interested can have a chance at dating her." She shrugged nonchalantly. "That's all."
Tsubaki jumped up from the couch. "Woah, hey, what do you mean anyone interested? Does that mean she's dating that Erik guy from school?"
Arisa hesitated. Should she tell them that Ema only planned to date Asahina brothers? What if something happened to make Ema change her mind? Besides, there was no harm in making the brothers sweat a little. Let them work hard for Ema. She deserved it.
She shrugged again. "Who knows? Is it any of your business? You should just be concerned with yourself."
He clenched his fists, his eyes narrowing, but Fuuto took his attention when he scoffed. "Please. Like any of you have a chance."
"Excuse me?" Tsubaki said, glaring at his little brother as he crossed his arms over his chest. "You think Ema would want you? Why would she want a spoiled brat?"
"You mean a successful national idol?" Fuuto asked, his hips swinging as he stepped toward his brother. "Who wouldn't want me? And I guess you're not very close with Ema if you don't know how close she and I are. We go to the same school, and spend lots of time together during lunch and in the library . . . it's kind of our place, you know? Anyway, if you're interested I'd move fast because I don't think it'll take her long to see that I'm what she really wants."
"Like hell you are," Tsubaki said, crossing his arms.
Arisa smiled brightly before breaking in. "Well, I've done my duty, so I'll leave you all to fight amongst yourselves. Have at it!" She cheerfully waved before spinning on her heel to return to Ema's room.
~.~
Yusuke's gaze jumped between his older brothers. Some of them seemed surprised, but not nearly on the level he was. "What was that all about? What did she mean Ema's ready to date again and that she's had bad experiences? What happened? And why is her being ready to date being announced to the family?"
Panic gripped him at the thought of a bunch of guys descending on Ema. He'd thought that Fuuto was his only competition—maybe Iori too since he'd insisted on Ema participating in that stupid movie. How was he supposed to compete with all his amazing brothers? Except, all of them couldn't be interested in Ema, right?
"You're such an oblivious idiot," Tsubaki said, rolling his eyes. "Ema's had multiple confessions from the family, but she made it clear that she wasn't ready to date." He shared a look with Azusa. "Well, we're going to bed. See you all."
"Bed?" Ukyo repeated, incredulous. "At this hour? Or are you going to see Ema?"
Tsubaki gave a mischievous smile. "Don't you know that love is a battlefield, Ukyo? Why would we reveal our tactics to an enemy?" Then he around and left with Azusa following him out.