Sho had tried, he really had, but there was only so much that he could do.

He loved big sis, he would never stop loving his big sis, and he wanted to be there for her while she was going through stuff. He had planned to have spent the whole day with her getting her things that she needed and listening to her even if she told him to do something that he didn't want to do like his homeschool work or taking a bath or eating a salad without ranch dressing. He would have done whatever she had asked of him, anything at all, if…well if he could have.

If he could have just been in the house.

But he couldn't just be in the house. Dad was in the house. Dad was in the house in the middle of the day and he said that he was the one who was supposed to take care of big sis…and Sho just let him. He had wanted to kick dad's ass for kicking him out of the house and stuff…well not really but…well being there was kicking him out of the house…and that hadn't been the only reason why he wanted to kick dad's ass and just….he was not going to stress big sis out! She had enough to deal with right now! She had all kinds of girl stuff to deal with and he had tried to be there for her but then dad had to just come in and-and-and-

And this sucked!

He couldn't even be in his own house to help out his own sister! He should have been in the house with her spending time with her and…and playing with her and…and stuff but now…now he was with…he wasn't even with anyone! He was next door and he was all alone because Hatori had to go and be Fukuda because Fukuda was being dad and then Shibata had to go there with Hatori because he was a scaredy cat about everything and…and Shimazaki was home but he had Minegishi IN HIS ROOM and they were sleeping and Sho wanted to run in and wake them up and…and he wasn't going to do that because Minegishi was already upset about their door and-

And this sucked.

He was sitting down in the hallway outside of Shimazaki's room just waiting for him to wake up. He had his phone in his hand but he didn't want to look at it. He didn't care about whatever he had been reading about, how to take care of hamsters, he just…how could he care about anything other than his sister right now? She was all hurt and…well not hurt but everyone had said that it would hurt and…and he should have been there for her but then dad had to come in and ruin everything like he always did. He was just….such a jerk….well not to big sis…never to big sis…

He liked big sis.

He liked big sis and….and why not? She was big sis. Sure she could be bossy sometimes, and she wasn't always on him to take baths, but she was still big sis and…and everyone loved her. They all loved her and liked her and….and he was just Sho. He…he was liked. There was a person on the other side of that door who liked him…and also big sis liked him….and everyone but Minegishi liked him…and he just…he had a lot of people who liked him….so why did it matter if dad liked him or not? Dad was an asshole. Dad was a jerk. What dad thought and felt…none of it mattered. The only thing that mattered was…was big sis…and feeling better…and if she wanted to spend the day with dad then that was ok. She was happy with dad and…and she could have been happy with Sho and…

And this was not about him.

It didn't matter how he felt or what he wanted just so long as the girl in his life was happy. Fukuda had said that and he had been talking about Emmy, about how even if he didn't like her or maybe even girls at all he still had to make her happy because she liked him, but the same logic applied to him and big sis. She was his sister and she took care of him and…and he had spent a lot of years being an asshole to her…so he was going to make her happy now. If she wanted to be with dad then she wanted to be with dad and….and he was not going to start a fight. He was not going to make her upset in any way. He just….was not going to make this any worse for her.

She was always trying to make him happy so it would have been a jerk move of him to make her upset.

So he wasn't going to do that. He was going to sit out here in the hallway until Shimazaki woke up…and put on clothes…and he was not going to think thoughts like that. About Shimazaki and…and how he was with Minegishi sometimes….and how he had been wearing their pants….and why he'd been wearing their pants…and stuff. Sho didn't want to think about stuff like that because….because it was gross! And not even in the good way! Stuff like that was just…no way. Adults were so gross…and their version of gross was not the cool version of gross. Like that picture Emmy sent him of those worms that they pulled out of some guy's brain….those were cool gross….or the picture that she sent him of the twin that they cut out of that guy….or that guy with the extra legs growing out of his back….that was cool gross….

Not like whatever Shimazaki and Minegishi were doing in that room.

He didn't want to think about that…about any of that. About Shimazaki being with Minegishi…or about Emmy…or about how he felt like his heart was being pecked out by birds when he thought about Shimazaki being with Minegishi…or like how if he broke up with Emmy then her heart was going to feel like it was being pecked out by birds…so he just….he went back to his phone. He went back to reading about hamsters. He went back to reading about how they'll eat each other sometimes if they don't have enough enrichment….poor hamsters….

Poor little hamsters.

He would have read about them all day if he could have, he had nothing better to do now that dad had kicked him out of the house and Shimazaki was sleeping the whole day away with Minegishi, but he couldn't have. No. His phone decided to tell him that he had an email…which wasn't new he got those sometimes. Usually they were about Claw, big sis still did the birthday list and shout outs and stuff, but this….was not from big sis. This was from…the other girl in his life…who was not his sister…and he was not going to ignore this because…well because he was a good person and….and he wasn't dad! He wasn't a jerk! He was….

He was going to read this…right now.

"Dear Show you daft booger…when are you coming back to London? I miss you loads. How is Japan? How is your family? I got you present I didn't know they had jelly bah-bees…bay-bees…in Japan. I liked them allot…a-lot….they were brill-ee-ant. Your…you-are…brill-ee-ant. My mum says I can have a mo-bi-ull soon on ack-own-nt of me getting into second-eer-ee school. I got in…that's good Emmy I'm happy for you…" muttered Sho as he read. He knew how to read just fine…if he was reading in Japanese. This wasn't Japanese, it was English, and it made sense that this would be in English since his girlfriend was from England. This was one of her two or three times a week emails…and she never ran out of things to say…which was good because that gave Sho plenty to respond to. He was glad that she got into secondary school, which was what English people called middle school, because she had been working really hard to keep her grades up and Sho…well he had only been to preschool and kindergarten…but he knew that school could be hard. He was really happy for her, and he was happy that she was getting a phone too because she had been wanting one for a while.

So that she could call him.

She called him because she missed him. She missed him because she loved him. She loved him because he was her boyfriend. He was her boyfriend because he needed a girlfriend and…and she was nice. She was nice and fun and…and he did want to see her again…and stuff. He wanted to see her and to spend time with her looking at baby birds and chasing adult birds and eating weird candy and jumping off the swings and…and stuff like that. He liked….he liked spending time with her…and he liked her…but he didn't like her like she liked him…

Not that he would ever tell her that, of course.

Liking someone who didn't like you back sucked. It sucked almost as much as liking someone who liked someone else…and that person liked them back. Emmy…she didn't know that he liked Shimazaki, she could never know that he liked Shimazaki, and there was no reason to tell her anyway. Him liking Shimazaki didn't mean that he couldn't be nice to her and stuff. He could like Shimazaki and still be a good boyfriend. He could be happy for her when good stuff happened, he could make her feel better when bad things happened, and he could built her a big house and marry her and give her all the things that she wanted when she grew up. He would even carry her around and feed her when the stuff that happened to big sis happened to her. He was a good person, well he was trying to be, and he could be the person who made her happy…and stuff…

Even if he wasn't very happy with the whole thing.

But that didn't matter. It didn't matter if he was happy or not just like it didn't matter if…if Shimazaki was in his room with Minegishi and…and well now he felt him teleport. Sho almost dropped his phone as he felt Shimazaki teleport past him and into the bathroom. He hadn't even said 'hi'…and he could have said 'hi'…it wouldn't have taken a long time…and it wasn't like he had to pee really bad or anything like that because Sho could hear the shower running….and he could feel his aura…and he could have just said 'hi 'and….and he hadn't and….and he had just…gone right past Sho…

Like he wasn't even there.

Shimazaki had gone right past Sho like he was invisible or something…and he wished that Minegishi had done the same. Not long after Shimazaki had teleported into the bathroom Sho heard Shimazaki's bedroom door open. He looked down at his phone. He went back to replying to Emmy. He muttered as he typed, English was kind of hard and he hardly ever practiced it out loud, and also he would have thought that Minegishi would have gotten a clue and went off to do Minegishi things like going to hang out with big sis…and maybe someone should have gone over there actually because dad's aura was being weird…or maybe…he didn't know! Tokyo was a big city! There were a million places that Minegishi could have gone to that would not have involved bothering him!

But they didn't go to any of those places.

Sho could feel them getting closer….and then he could see them standing over him. He pretended to be so busy with what he was doing that he didn't even notice them. Maybe then they would get so bored that they would just get going back to…wherever it was that they had been planning on going. Sho didn't know or care what they had been planning on doing or where they had been planning on going. He just wanted them to get away from him.

But he didn't say anything, though, because this was big sis's friend and if he was mean to them then big sis would have been upset and she didn't need that right now.

"Japan." Said Minegishi as they leaned over and watched Sho type. Sho pulled his phone in close. What was wrong with them? What, were they raised in the woods by wolves…or plants….or something?! You weren't supposed to just look at what other people were typing….and also he knew that he was in Japan! He was Japanese so of course he would know whether or not he was in Japan!

"I know that I'm in Japan, Minegishi, I'm not stupid." Said Sho through clenched teeth. He didn't want to talk to them, they were his mortal enemy! They were trying to be Shimazaki's theyfriend and…and Sho knew that Shimazaki would never like him back and even if there was some miracle and he did he still would not have been able to be Sho's boyfriend because dad was a jerk…..but still! He was Shimazaki's best friend, which was good enough, and he was trying to fall out of love with him anyway….but Minegishi was still trying to take Shimazaki from him! That wasn't ok!

"No, J-A-P-A-N. You wrote Nihon. We say Nihon but the rest of the world says Japan." Said Minegishi. Sho clicked his phone off. He knew that! He totally did! He would have just been able to write better in English if Minegishi wasn't there distracting him!

"I know that….I meant to do that….and anyway you're distracting me. Shouldn't you be hanging out with big sis or something? Why don't you just go next door and bother her and dad?" asked Sho. He tried not to sound mean because if he sounded mean then big sis would have been upset with him about being mean to her friend…and also Shimazaki didn't like it when he was mean to Minegishi…but just because they let him touch their boobs and other stuff! That was all. If Sho had been a girl then he would have let Shimazaki do all of that stuff to him and then he wouldn't have even noticed that Minegishi even existed! Not that Sho wanted…well he did but…well all of that was gross…and it didn't matter because he was trying to fall out of love with Shimazaki anyway!

"Well someone got up on the wrong wide of the bed this morning." Said Minegishi rolling their eyes. Sho wanted to tell them to shut up about beds and waking up and sides of beds…because they just had to! Yeah, ok, Shimazaki let them sleep in his bed…big deal! Sho had slept in his bed with him too, before, and…well he didn't remember it that well because he had been all sad and stuff….but it wasn't like Shimazaki letting you sleep in the bed with him was anything special!

"Leave me alone." Said Sho. He knew that if he kept on talking to them then he would say something that he would regret. He could feel big sis's aura and dad's aura…and he had no idea what was happening over there but he knew that she was stressed…and if he was mean to her friend then she would be even more stressed…even though she should have just let him stay…well she had never kicked him out…dad had. So…so he shouldn't have been upset with her…and he wasn't! He was upset with Minegishi for bothering him and….and he would have told them to fuck off if he could…but they would tell big sis…and also Shimazaki was right there and he could hear really well…if he could hear you opening a cup of pudding from two rooms away then he could hear it if Sho started cursing out Minegishi…even though they deserved it…

He was going to be nice. He had to be.

"In a minute. I have something for you." Said Minegishi. Sho looked up. He did like presents…but he knew that this would be a book. He had no idea why they kept on giving him books. They were good books, too, not like boring school books or anything like that. They gave really good presents and…and maybe they had been helpful before but…but that made no sense! They were mortal enemies and mortal enemies did not help each other out!

But that was where Minegishi was going.

Sho…he didn't know. He just didn't know. They were in their room now, and Sho maybe felt a little bad about kicking down their door, and he could hear them muttering bad words to themselves…and he did like it when he got presents…but he just…didn't get it. They didn't like him. They called him names like little monster and demon child…and also they had gotten him with their plants the other day…and also they were trying to take Shimazaki from him…but also they were weirdly nice, too, and it just…

It made zero sense at all.

"Memorize it." Said Minegishi after they handed him the book…they said that every single time they gave him a book…which was often. They were always giving him books and stuff even though he had no idea why. It was like they cared about him or something….but that made no sense. They cared about big sis, they were her friend, and also they were his mortal enemy…and stuff…

"Oh. Another book. Thanks." Said Sho as Minegishi dropped a book in his lap. He tried to sound like he didn't care either way. He didn't. Sure Minegishi had helped him out before but…well this book might have been helpful too. Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Growing Up: Boy's Edition. That was…well it sounded helpful because there was stuff that he didn't know about…but still. This was still a gift from his enemy!

"Well don't get too excited or anything." Said Minegishi. Sho stuck out his tongue. He was just as excited as he wanted to be. If they had wanted him to have been more excited then they should have wrapped it up or put it in a gift bag…or something.

"What do you want me to? Jump up and do a black flip. You got me another book. I already said thanks. Now go away. Me and Shimazaki have…plans today." Said Sho. He had no idea if Shimazaki would even want to hang out with him that day…he could have been planning on spending the whole day with Minegishi after all….but…well he didn't want to stand around talking to his mortal enemy, ok!? Was that so hard to understand!?

"Right. Well you and Ryou have fun sawing off stops signs and climbing into airport x-ray machines or whatever else you're planning on doing today….and if you have any questions about anything you read in that book ask anyone except for Ryou. He has…interesting ideas about human reproduction." Said Minegishi. Sho would ask Shimazaki whatever he wanted to ask him and he would saw off all the stop signs he wanted to and play in all the x-ray machines he felt like! Well he had never played in an x-ray machine or sawed off a stop sign….but if that was what Shimazaki wanted to do then he would do it! Yeah! They had fun together, more fun than Shimazaki had ever had with Minegishi. What did they know about fun? They always looked like they were bored and…and so what if they had boobs!? How much fun could those possibly be! Throwing rocks at people and petting dogs and climbing trees and building forts was much more fun than boobs and…and whatever else it was that adults did in bed!

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Now leave me alone. I have a lot of important stuff to do." Said Sho with a wave of his hand. Minegishi didn't stay, they went off to do Minegishi things, and Sho didn't care what those things were just so long as they didn't do them with or near Shimazaki. Shimazaki was Sho's friend, not theirs, and he knew that they could only be just friends…but that was better than nothing. He was a good person and a good friend and he was really fun and…

And he was Sho's best friend.

Not Sho's boyfriend…or would he have been Shimazaki boyfriend? Or would they be each other's boyfriends? He didn't know. He didn't know and he wasn't going to ask because there was no reason for him to know. Shimazaki didn't like him back and even if he did they couldn't be together. Sho had a girlfriend like he was supposed to have a girlfriend…and he had to get back to emailing her back. If she had emailed him this early in the day then it meant that she was staying up super later and if she stayed up too late she would be too tired to do normal kid stuff like go to school and stuff. He had to think about her. It didn't matter if he wasn't in love with her, if kissing her was boring, and if the thought of doing any of that adult bed stuff with her was gross, he could make her happy and that was what mattered.

The only thing that mattered was making the girl in your life happy…and Sho was trying as hard as he could to make the girl in his life happy…both of the girls….he just wasn't very good at it.