Ayano returned to the living room with Midori helping hold her steady.

Nana was sitting on the couch, and Boppa was kneeling in front of her, his head in her lap while Nana petted his graying hair. Boppa was trembling, and Nana was whispering comforting words to him.

This wasn't unusual for them. Ryoba had often told Ayano that sometimes senpais needed to be "rescued" from "dangerous women." Ayano knew that her dad didn't believe he'd really been "rescued," but her Boppa was another story, and was as convinced Nana had saved his life as she was. Ayano didn't know if that was because Nana had genuinely fallen for a senpai in actual danger, or if Nana was just really good at gaslighting. Ayano had never bothered to get the opinion of anyone outside the Aishi family.

"Ok, enough." Ayano slid into the loveseat and rested her head against the soft, pillowy back. "Mom's voicemails didn't explain anything; they just said to call her and that it was a life-or-death situation. What's going on?"

Nana pulled Boppa to sit next to her and wrapped an arm around his shoulder; Boppa nuzzled Nana's cheek.

"Life-or-death...?" Kokona sat next to Kuu Dere on the two-person couch, looking pale. "Is your mom serious?"

Nana gave Boppa two kisses; nothing could distract an Aishi from her senpai. Then she looked around the room full of teen girls.

"This is a family matter," she said, her tone brittle. "You three need to go home."

"What!? Why?" Midori was the only person left standing; she shuffled anxiously next to Ayano's chair. "You're going to leave us out of this!?"

"No, I'm not," Ayano said, glaring at Nana. "I can't go back to your house with you; I need to stay here. You should know that."

"Your mother..." Nana paused, then hugged Boppa tighter. "This is a volatile situation. It would be better to talk in private."

"Whatever you need to say can be said in company," Ayano said. If it came to a one-on-one fight, Nana had the upper hand, now that Ayano had hurt her head. Ayano wasn't about to get spirited away against her will.

"Don't be ridiculous, Ayano," Nana said.

"Maybe we should go..." Kokona slid to the edge of her seat.

"Please stay." Ayano heard her voice tremble. Kokona sat back again. To her Nana, Ayano said, "Figure it out."

"Fine." Nana crossed one elegant leg over the other and sighed. A moment later, she said, "Your mother... has an old classmate that is very angry at her. And this classmate was released from prison today."

Kokona and Midori gasped.

"And you think this old classmate will come here." Ayano folded her hands in her lap and tried to remember if her mom had said anything about a jilted rival. Nothing was springing to mind.

"He's been a guest in this house before," Nana said. "He certainly remembers the address."

So it was a man, and not a rival? Hmm.

"Your life is in danger," Nana said calmly.

Ayano ground her teeth in frustration. Info-chan hadn't been kidding. This was more serious than she'd expected...

"How did he get released!?" Midori piped up. "Should we call the police? Do we need to warn anyone? Can we-"

"Hush," Nana said.

But Midori was oblivious to Nana's powers. "-do anything? Am I in danger? Is Kuu Dere in danger?" She pumped her fists up and down, the questions still coming.

"Let her," Ayano mouthed to Nana. Nana rubbed her temples in frustration.

Kokona was trembling. Kuu Dere's expression was still stony.

After nearly a minute of Midori's nonstop chatter, getting faster with every query, she paused for breath and turned to Ayano. One final question came out of her in a soft little gasp. "Ayano...?"

Ayano curled her lips into a smile. She wanted to calm Midori down. Maybe a smile wasn't quite right for the situation. But it was Ayano's best guess.

Midori covered her mouth with both hands, and tears poured down her eyes. "Are you... going to be ok... Yan-chan?"

Ayano could just keep smiling. Eventually Midori would have to believe her, that Ayano wasn't afraid.

Nana could keep her safe until Ryoba came home to take care of... whoever Ryoba's old friend was. Ayano couldn't be scared by someone she didn't know anything about.

But if Ayano couldn't stay in this house, she couldn't attend Akademi. And without her senpai everything would be cold... lifeless... joyless...

Ayano could see herself sitting in Nana's guest room. Sitting motionless on a bed. Not moving, not speaking. Nothing to do, nowhere to go, nothing to look forward to, no one to talk to...

Talk to? No, Ayano had never spoken to her senpai anyway. Why was she imagining how sad she'd be with no one to talk to? Ayano shook her head slightly. And with that she felt her smile falter.

"I... I can't leave Akademi." Ayano stared intently at her Nana. "I... I've only just started... started coming out of my shell again." There was no "again"- Ayano had been shelled up her whole life, up until she met Taro. Nana knew that. But her friends didn't need to know.

"This sounds really, really dangerous," Kokona said. "Yan-chan, please protect yourself first."

"I don't want you to leave!" Midori bawled. "But I don't want you to die either! What are we going to do?"

"Stay with me," Kuu Dere said. Her expression was as neutral as ever.

"What?" Kokona turned to Kuu Dere, eyes wide. "But... but Aishi-san's enemy will be after you then!"

"He can't possibly know Ryoba's daughter's best friends already." Kuu Dere locked eyes with Nana, her cold red irises against Nana's steel gray. "He hates Ryoba and he knows this house. But what else would he know?"

Boppa squeezed Nana's arm tightly and muttered something. Nana gave him a kiss on the top of his head before answering Kuu Dere. "This individual... is not that bright. I'll give you that. But are you ready to accept such a risk?"

"It doesn't matter to me." Kuu Dere's monotone stayed steady.

Kokona sputtered a protest while Midori screeched out questions, but Kuu Dere never took her gaze away from Nana's. The staring contest continued, as if the two of them could peer into each other's souls.

"We will visit your house," Nana said. "If we decide it's worth the risk, I want to be able to give my daughter a full report of where her precious baby will be staying."

"Oh yes!" Midori leapt into the air. "Yay KuuKuu! You did it you did it you did it!" She bounced around the room, fists raised in triumph.

Kokona crossed the room to whisper to Ayano. "You... you think this is a good idea?"

Ayano dug her fingers into the couch cushion. "I'm not sure about anything right now... But... I have to hope."

Kuu Dere lived in an apartment by the docks, in a district of nearly identical buildings. The streets were poorly lit; the kind of place Ayano could imagine her mom having... meetings.

"I want to go home," Boppa muttered under his breath as Nana drove down the street. He'd been saying this the whole trip, not necessarily to anyone. He had even been saying this while Nana dropped Kokona and Midori back at their respective houses, and both of them lived in nice neighborhoods. But now it sounded more pitiful and desperate.

Nana took one hand off the steering wheel to squeeze Boppa's shoulder comfortingly.

"There's the parking garage," Kuu Dere said. "Turn left here."

"Oh lovely." Nana smiled at Ayano in the rearview mirror. "The Aishi family parks free in this location."

Nana was lucky Midori wasn't in the car anymore. Ayano knew better than to ask why, and Kuu Dere didn't care.

Ayano glanced at Kuu Dere. Her hands were folded in her lap and she hadn't said anything all drive, except to give directions.

Nana had a quick chat with the man at the parking garage ticket gate and pulled in, parking close to the entrance. She put her arm around Boppa's shoulder. "Will you be ok waiting, honey?"

He shook his head.

"Ok. You can hold onto me as long as you need to."

Ayano hopped out of the car and ran to stand next to Nana as she disembarked. "Mom has connections here?" she muttered.

"We've done business in this area," Nana said at a normal volume. "I suppose... I could make some calls. See to it that you have friendly eyes on you while you stay here."

Ayano nodded. Her head was no longer hurting- she'd taken painkillers before the drive- but she did feel lightheaded. This was happening. She could stay close to her Senpai after all.

The party of four took a short walk in the warm night air to Kuu Dere's apartment building. Kuu Dere buzzed in and led them to the stairs. "Elevator's broken."

Kuu Dere's apartment was on the fourth floor; on the way up it became obvious that the walls weren't very thick. Ayano counted two couples having 'fun,' one domestic dispute, and at least three small children still awake and screaming.

Kuu Dere opened the door to her own apartment. Ashes and bits of burnt paper were ground into the carpet. The room had one coffee table surrounded by mismatched pillows; on the far side of the room a woman with long light blue hair sat on a footstool by the dingy window. She wore a bathrobe with a faded floral pattern and slippers shaped like a popular cat character. In one hand she held a lighter; the other hand was idly spinning a photograph with a single smouldering corner. She didn't take her eyes off the flame, even as four people entered her apartment. Maybe she could recognize one of them as her daughter in the corner of her eye.

Kuu Dere stood two feet from the woman. "Hi Mom. The party ended. Ayano has to stay here now."

Boppa was clinging to Nana with both arms. "We can't leave her here," he muttered.

"I can take care of myself," Ayano retorted. This place didn't scare her.

The photograph stopped burning, and Kuu Dere's mom spared a glance at her daughter. "No beds."

"The floor looks fine," Ayano said. She took a step away from her grandparents toward Mrs. Dere. "Do you remember me?"

Kuu Dere's mom slowly moved her eyes towards Ayano. "...Taller."

Ayano hadn't seen Kuu Dere's mom since... well, since she'd been widowed. Kuu Dere had been ten when that happened. Ayano hadn't paid much attention to the moms of her friends at that age, but back then Mrs. Dere had definitely been... normaller.

Also, back then Kuu Dere had lived in a regular house.

Ayano turned to her grandparents and shrugged her shoulders. "This seems fine."

"I don't-" Boppa said.

"We'll leave you then," Nana said. "I think we've had enough adventure for the day." She hugged Boppa comfortingly. "I hate to leave you on such short notice, but this is very late for us old people." She smiled at Mrs. Dere. "But I'll call Ayano tomorrow morning. We shouldn't impose for too long."

Mrs. Dere didn't answer. She was trying to light the photo on fire again.

Kuu Dere grabbed Ayano's arm. Ayano felt a jolt of surprised; Kuu Dere's grip was awfully tight. "I have something to show you." Kuu Dere pulled Ayano across the room.

"I'll call your mom on our way home!" Nana let Boppa yank her outside the apartment.

Kuu Dere led Ayano to a bedroom. It was mostly dominated by a double bed with a faded red cover; Ayano didn't know how the Deres had gotten it through the door. Kuu Dere let go of Ayano's arm, dumped her sleepover things at the foot of the bed, and opened the bedroom closet.

"That was close," Kuu Dere muttered, kneeling on the floor to search underneath the hanging dresses.

"Thank you for helping me." As bleak as her surroundings were, Ayano felt the calmest she had in several hours.

"We still have work to do." Kuu Dere pulled a plastic bag out of a far corner of the closet.

Ayano blinked. "We...?"

"Hoshiko." Kuu Dere stood up. "We still need to take care of her."

"Oh, right." Kuu Dere's blogger classmate who was bothering the drama club. In all the excitement Ayano had nearly forgotten. Ayano sat down on the double bed. "So you have any ideas about-"

Kuu Dere set the plastic bag on the bed with a thump. Inside it was a pile of flaky ashes... and a badly charred book cover.

"Place this by her body after you kill her," Kuu Dere said.