While Osomatsu walks, he keeps a passive eye out for his little brother who didn't come home last night. While he's not terribly worried, there's always a bit of concern at the edge of his mind when one of them stays out all night.

That passive eye catches blue down a side road, and he deviates from his route to the pachinko parlour. He jogs to catch up to Karamatsu, which doesn't take long since he's walking so slow.

"Karamatsu! Where- woah! Wha-what happened to you?!"

Karamatsu freezes up at the sound of his voice, turning slowly to fully face him, arms still clutching his abused midsection.

"O-oh, Osomatsu… I, ah, got into a bit of an altercation. Unfortunately I was unable to properly defend myself. My apologies for not returning home last night… Sadly, I was in too much pain to… ugh. Getting up hurt too much. I slept in that alley."

Osomatsu is surprised that Karamatsu dropped his favoured way of speaking. It must've been quite a fight, which makes Osomatsu even more concerned.

"Who did this to you?" He asks, reaching forward to better assess Karamatsu's injuries, retracting his hand when Karamatsu flinches.

"Ah. It doesn't matter," he insists, turning away slightly.

Osomatsu frowns, but decides not to push further.

"Head home and get cleaned up, okay?"

Karamatsu nods at his instructions, and begins trudging off in the direction of their home.

Sighing, Osomatsu continues to the pachinko parlour. About five minutes after his arrival, it occurs to him that Karamatsu will need help getting patched up. He pulls out a few coins and locates a payphone, inserting the money and inputting Totty's cell phone number.

He answers after barely a full ring, obviously having his phone in his hand already.

"Hello?" He answers.

"Hey, Totty, once Karamatsu's done with his shower, could you help him out with getting patched up? He's probably gonna need some help."

"He's not even here right now. Why, what happened?"

Osomatsu glances at a nearby clock. He'd met up with Karamatsu about fifteen minutes ago. Home was only five minutes from where they met up. He should've been home ten minutes ago!

His confusion is instantly overshadowed by concern.

"Totty, I'm on my way home right now. You call Karamatsu. Get a hold of him, and find out what's going on."

"Nii-san, what-" He doesn't listen further or answer, hanging up and heading home. He wants to rush, but keeps a neutral pace. Telling himself that everything's fine.

When he gets home ten minutes later, he chucks his shoes off, not caring to line them up when he notices Karamatsu's shoes aren't there.

He bursts into the TV room where his brothers (except one) are. His gaze falls to Todomatsu, who has his phone up to his ear, a frustrated expression on his face.

"Todomatsu," Osomatsu says, anxiety building. "Did you get a hold of him?"

Todomatsu holds up a finger, ear pressed to his phone for another few seconds. He pulls it away, huffing his disappointment.

"He isn't answering my calls or texts! He usually gets back to me within seconds," he pouts. "What's going on?"

Osomatsu's anxiety spikes, and he has to focus for a second to not let the panic show on his face.

"Guys," he addresses the brothers present, "we're going to go out and find Karamatsu."

"Why?" Ichimatsu hisses.

Osomatsu, used to Ichimatsu's disdain for said brother, answers "I ran into him like half an hour ago. He was all beat up but wouldn't tell me what happened. I told him to come home and get cleaned up. But he's not here. He was in such bad shape, he slept in an alley! We have to go and find him."

Ichimatsu glares. "Again, why?"

Osomatsu stomps down his growing frustration. "Because, what if he ran into whoever beat him up? What if they're hurting him again, or worse?!"

"Well, obviously that's not happening, considering I'm right fucking here," Ichimatsu snaps.

It takes at least a full ten seconds for Osomatsu to understand.

"You beat him up? Why? What the hell?!"

Ichimatsu shrugs. "He made me wear this ring. It changed my personality. He made me hangout with him all day. Be nice to him and shit. Then it fell off. I figured out what happened. So I kicked his ass. He deserved it."

Before anyone can reply, the house phone rings. With a final glare at Ichimatsu, Osomatsu runs to answer it.