"So this is your secret hiding place? Very fanciful. I'll try not to hit my head on one of these bleacher steps." Caleb muttered. It was raining again. They were tucked under the school bleachers. Conversating. Since his fight with Kazuya, his whole cheek had swelled. "My friends–believe it or not, I have those–have tried to get me to come to those stupid sporty games. Big deal. A few barely talented high schoolers flinging a ball around. Pass me a beer, Kazuya."

Eve checked her phone, so she wouldn't roll her eyes directly in his face. She gasped at the time. "We're going to be late for class!"

"Oh yeah? Not going. I haven't had breakfast, anyway."

"So you're going to skip class?!"

"Jeez, chill. I've been doing it for years. I'm hungry. If you want, you can home. If not, see you later."

"They lock the gates soon."

"Ugh, I'm crushed. Are you coming or no?"

"Well…"

"So you're craving donuts."

"I'm never not craving donuts. It's an unhealthy addiction."

Caleb brought himself three donuts and a coffee. Eve only had herself an iced coffee. His hair was soaked from the rain, and she could only imagine how she looked. She was thinking of consequences, actually. Detention, suspension.

"Relax, you won't get in trouble. If anyone finds out, which is unlikely, you'll probably just get a scolding. Quote, unquote." he said through a mouthful of donut. They were situated in the shop, watching the rain.

"I hate this weather," she declared.

"Really? I like this. Thinking weather."

Eve looked outside again. The empty skyline. The distant sound of thunder. "I guess," she remarked, drifting her gaze again. "Oh, you have a lot of tattoos."

"Hmm, yeah. Kazuya did this one." Caleb informed, raising his forearm to show the newest. A sabre covered in blood. All of his tattoos were violent in appearance. Skulls and shredded wings and knives. It was before he had entire arm-sleeves. "His brother, Keigo, did most of my left arm. The wings, spikes. Kazuya doesn't really sketch out tattoos in advance. He probably should. Love him like a brother, but he's pretty novice at his job. He takes directly from memory or picture. Whatever, not my profession. His brother fills whole sketchpads with art. Real art."

"I don't think I've seen him around."

"He used to go to the nightmare fortress, known as East Tokyo High, but he had the opportunity to graduate ahead of us. Secret genius. He and Kazuya work at this dank place in the Heights. They hooked me up with my apartment, actually."

"You live alone?" she asked, incredulous. "You're only sixteen!"

Caleb shrugged. "It's fine. A lot of freedom." he added, raising a suggestive brow.

Eve smiled. "I think it's time to get back to school."

Not long after Eve stormed out, Sindri walked in, holding a reclaimed textbook. Sundance jumped to greet him, but he appeared to be on the phone. He placed the textbook on the counter and led his gaze across the living room, confused. "…actually, she's not here yet. I can tell her to call you when she gets back. Alright. Later, Dad."

"Hey, what are you doing here alone?" Sindri asked, pocketing his phone. "Eve just left you here by yourself?"

"She was in a bad mood." Sundance replied.

Sindri turned away with a short, quaint laugh. "What else is new?" he muttered. "She'll be fine. Do you want something to press on your eye? It really looks swollen. I can get something from the freezer."

"Um…"

Sindri walked away, anyway. He returned with a packet of frozen carrots and flung it at Sundance. Thanks to quick reflexes, he caught it. "No icepack. Sorry." he answered, apologetic. "I have a load of homework to do. Will you be okay here by yourself?"

"Yeah, no problem…"

"Alright, cool. Shout if you need anything."

"Sindri!"

"Go away!"

Eve leaned an arm against the locked door and tried not to sigh. "Mom wants you downstairs. She says it's an emergency, which are not my words. Can you try to not be such a reclusive loser and open the door?"

"Comforting words, sister," he retorted drily.

"Okay, I tried," she muttered, relinquishing her hand. From upstairs, she leaned over the banister. "Mom, Sindri is being a hermit again! Nothing I say will fix that!"

"Be right there!"

Eve wasn't in the mood to continue with Sindri's dramatics, so she headed to her room and closed the door. She could hear her mother arguing with Sindri outside his door. "Sindri, open this door before I remove the knob!" and a conspicuous lack of reply.

Before she had the chance to text Caleb with the latest, her door burst open. Eve jumped. Their mother was standing in the doorframe, holding a wrench. She must've taken off the doorknob, after all.

"Bad news. Your brother's gone rogue again." she announced.

Though they were becoming a frequent, Eve hated hospitals. Nothing good came from them.

She wasn't trying to follow Kazuya's command. She felt no sort of guilt. Eve had loosened her hair and approached the receptionist counter, trying to act normal and probably failing. Despite Eve's inadequate appearance, the desk woman was kind. Sympathetic.

"Um…hi. Is Caleb Borriello checked in here?"

The woman eyed the monitor briefly. "He is! Would you like a visitor's pass?"

Eve looked away. She shouldn't have.

"If you want, you can always come back tomorrow. I believe, Mr. Borriello is booked for another few days." the woman said.

"I'll do that," she answered dimly. "I'm so sorry for making you go to the trouble."

"Don't worry about it! Maybe I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Hopefully…"

Sindri was returned home later that night via police cruiser. He escaped through his bedroom window, attempted to hotwire another car and failed. Police caught him, cuffed him, and he tried to run from the arresting officer, but stumbled over his feet and cracked his jaw on the pavement. (Sindri told her the latter part, months later. He said he was seeing blurry for days.)

Sindri, who'd been frequently arrested for failing to hotwiring cars and motorbikes and stealing junk, had only been able to get out of jail early because their father, Ike Miroashi, was a bail bondsman. Sindri's charges were serious and, at the time, Sindri was young. Ike was viewed highly, he spoke to city officials and miraculously had the charges lessened. Instead of jail time, Sindri was sent to a court-mandated diversion center. Initial sentence: twenty-eight months. It was downgraded to only six.

Their father, who was already a nonexistent presence around the house, hadn't gone to visit. Their mother had. Sindri left the diversion center, two months early on "good behavior." He returned home, thinner and healthier and friendlier. Tattoos covered. Ike got him an easy admission entrance to Tokyo U and he never looked back.

The only reason Eve knew all this–not because they told her, obviously–was because walls had ears.

Caleb called that same night. "Are you busy?"

"I'm never busy."

"Good to know," he said, releasing a short bark of laughter. "Can you come over?"

"No," Eve answered, approaching her window and opening the curtain to analyze the street. "My parents are gone. I want you to come over."

"I'll be right there."

"Eve, you're back!"

The door slammed. Locked. Sindri was on the couch, watching TV with Sundance, scrolling channels. Sundance had tried to grab the remote from him, but he refused to relinquish it. Eve removed her shoes and jacket, but didn't otherwise acknowledge them. "I had a long day," she said.

Uncharacteristically of Sindri, a dark laugh escaped him. "So did I. Do you see me crying?"

"I'm so not in the mood to deal with you either."

Sindri rolled his eyes without response and Eve stomped past them, slamming another door. "Don't slam doors in my apartment, thanks!" he shouted after her.

Sundance stared at Sindri for a moment, but Sindri continued flipping channels and he was distantly reminded of Eve. How stubborn they both were.

Not a second later, Sindri handed over the remote. "I think I'm gonna head to sleep early, too," he professed. "Don't stay up too late with the cartoons, okay? They'll melt your brain."

Sundance begun giggling. "You're funny."

Sindri ruffled his hair, returned to his room, and closed the door. He looked under Sindri and Eve's doors, both of which were already darkened.

"Did you hear Kazuya Oshiro is still suspended? Supposedly, he hired a gang to Caleb!"

"I heard the reason Kazuya was so pissed is because he and Eve were secretly together!"

"What? No! He and his girlfriend, Nori, are serious. No one will come between them."

The rumor mill is still radiating. Eve slid into homeroom, a minute before the bell. Rollcall was next. Eve dug in her briefcase for her phone, but she must've forgotten it at home. Instead of rollcall, the teacher had stepped outside to chat. Eve waited for the bell idly.

"Ms. Miroashi?"

Eve pointed at herself, silent. Disbelieving. Disinterested, other students glanced her way. The teacher nodded and motioned her over. "You need to go to the principal's office."

"What? Why? What'd I do?"

His face was grave. "There's been an accident."

Housefire.

Mother.

Dead.

After Eve left the principal's office, she sympathized with him for having to deliver such traumatic news. He asked if she wanted to take the rest of the day for herself and she numbly agreed. She wasn't sure where to go when she left school, so she walked around the park aimlessly. The next day, she went back to school. Had to avoid Ike, somehow. Surprisingly, no one heard of the incident. People only heard she'd been in the principal's office.

The housefire had destroyed the kitchen. Their mother had smoked most of her life. So much so, their kitchen smelled of it. She dropped a cigarette on a dishtowel and was unsuccessful in extinguishing it properly. When Eve got home later that nightmarish day, Ike was locked in his home office and Sindri had already returned to college. The house was dark. There was light under Ike's home office. He could've been working on his laptop. Eve had nothing to say to him, anyway. She headed to bed and tried to sleep.

Outside of class days later, Caleb finally decided to approach her. "Hey, I've seen so little of you recently. What's up?"

"My mother just died. Sorry, I haven't had the best timing."

As if the statement itself was a disease, Caleb withdrew his hand. "Whoa, I'm sorry to hear that." he admitted with a visible cringe. Eve couldn't be more repulsed by him in that moment. "So. Do you wanna–"

"No." she sneered, walking off.

As freshman year ended, she and Caleb barely spoke. She frequently saw him with other girls and jealousy radiated off her in waves. The summer after freshman year was a total blur. Sophomore year was quicker. Eve saw less of everyone, but Caleb's number remained programmed in her phone.

Halfway through the year, Eve was in the locker room alone. Gym had just ended, which had been her final class of the day. She was changing back into her uniform. Two girls walked in with their gym bags. They appeared older. Seniors, possibly. When they locked eyes with her, they shared smirks and sat on either side of the room.

"Well, look who it is, Eve Miroashi. All alone. That's nothing new, right? Seems Caleb got tired of your sad, skinny self and has gone onto better things."

"Like, he hasn't done that before. Don't you remember how often he cheated on Aoki? Poor thing."

The girls were talking like she wasn't even there. Eve grabbed her clothes and her briefcase.

"Wait, where're you going? We're not done with you!"

"Yeah, stay awhile! While you're here, why don't you refill my beverage?"

Eve turned to one of the girls, disgusted. She raised her giant water bottle mockingly. Instead of adding the obvious comment, Eve took her belongings and headed to the door, stubbornly silent.

"Did you not hear me? Refill my water bottle!" the girl shouted, flinging her water bottle from across the room. Eve turned at the sound of her demand and the water bottle had burst open, completely drenching her. Eve had never been in a physical fight in her life, but she dropped everything and launched at the girl.

"I understand you've recently lost a parent, Ms. Miroashi, but I won't tolerate this." he said. "Not at my school."

Eve had her ass kicked, which was embarrassing as hell. As soon as she jumped the girl, her friend jumped on her and dragged Eve off, shoved her face into a locker front, and elbowed her in the nose. Split her lip and gave her a nosebleed. A teacher stumbled across the situation and sent them all to the principal's office. The school had phoned Ike, but he hadn't answered.

Suspended for a week.

For a fight she did not even start.

Bullshit.

Eve walked outside the school gate and called Caleb first thing. She didn't even give him the chance to say hello. She told him everything. He repeated her statement.

"School isn't even worth it, man. If I wasn't graduating this year, I'd just ditch this bogus campus. I hate half these kids, anyway. Poseurs. You should take a gap year. Eve, get real. Do you even like any of those people?

Later that day, she found her father in his home office. They had a colossal, one-sided argument. He found out about her and Caleb. The fight. Everything. To this day, this part was still hard to think about. He called her such names. Accused her of every wrongdoing. She ran outside, breathless and teary, jacket only. Took a walk around the block and when she came back around to the door, it was locked. Lights out. She shook the knob wildly, screamed outside the door for a response. But no one came.

It was so late. She ran to a neighbor's house, asked for their phone, and called Caleb without second thought. He sounded groggy when he answered, but she filled him in. He drove over in less than fifteen minutes.

"You can stay with me for a little while," he said, sounding unsure. Anxious. "I can't believe your father would ever."

Eve nodded. She followed Caleb's instruction. Take a gap year. It'd be better. Caleb returned her textbooks and she stayed in bed for weeks. Ike never called. Kazuya and his brother, Keigo came to visit. They still weren't friends. They just spoke occasionally. Kazuya asked for advice. Caleb would spend multiple hours not home. Kazuya said he wanted to propose to Minori. He was so dead-set on doing so, Eve didn't have the heart to crush such a pure ideal. Despite Kazuya and Minori being how they were, Eve was jealous of them.

So ends a flashback-heavy Chapter 29! Eve's mother passed, was officially kicked out of the house by her father, and Sindri was discovered to be a bit of a rebel. Had Sindri faced any repercussions? We'll definitely be seeing more of Ike in the future! R&R!