Day 5

Today, we watched Sunny work in his shop from the sidelines. Sunny is still afraid of me and Aubrey… but that's okay! Sunny seems to be more comfortable with the both of us around. It's a good thing that the owner doesn't mind us fooling around here… I should bring Grandma to this shop one day, she'd love it!

…

Day 11

It's Sunny's day off today, so we're playing at the creative hall. Mikhael and Angel were doing their… things with Sunny. We're really keeping a close watch on the three of them. We don't want a Mikhael-like Sunny! Also, it's hot today. So Sunny went and bought some drinks in the convenience store since he knew his way around here. Also, one of the most amazing things happened; Sunny offered a drink to Aubrey! He wasn't looking at her, and keeping a good amount of distance, but Sunny's improving!

…

Day 18

It's another day off, but this time we decided to bring Kel with us, too! Sunny seemed to be afraid of Kel, too… but it was not as bad as the time we first saw him in the shop! … There was bad news, however. Sunny had apparently found cigarettes again and was REALLY REALLY tempted in taking them. Luckily, Kim confiscated them. Thanks, Kim!

P.S. Kim and Mikhael secretly tried to smoke some cigarettes; they do not like it.

…

Day 25

Today, me, Aubrey, Kel, Kim, Vance, Charlene, Mikhael, and Angel went to Sunny again. It's his day off. They've decided to play a game of catch ball-

"What are you writing there, Basil?"

"What are you writing there, Basil?" Aubrey leaned in onto Basil, who was sitting down on the ground writing on a book.

"Wah! Aubrey!?" Basil jolted in surprise as he moved away from her by reflex, his book and pencil falling off his lap.

A brown skinned boy who loves Orange Joe walked up to the book and picked it up. He closed the book and took a look at the book's cover that was stickered with a label written with black marker, "... 'Sunny's Recovery Diary'?"

Aubrey just looked at Kel silently as he stared at the book's cover. The both of them changed the target of their gazes the moment after that, looking at a flustered Basil.

"I-it's just to keep track of his recovery! I'm serious!"

"Why would you even keep track of something like this?" Kel looked at the book again with a raised eyebrow.

"... There are days when I really think that Sunny's state isn't improving. I was really frustrated during those days. So… I decided to write about Sunny's condition everyday, hoping to see if he really is improving. Luckily, he did! Little by little, slightly improving."

"Basil…" Aubrey's eyebrows were scrunched up.

"Hm… what if we show these to Mari?" Kel was flipping through the pages. When he looked up from the book, he saw the other two looking at him horrified.

"W-what…?"

"Kel… I don't know, but…" said Aubrey.

"Is it just us, or have you been using your head more…?" continued Basil.

"Hey! That's rude!" Kel felt insulted.

This was true, however. The Kel they knew wouldn't have clever ideas or even get the group together after Hero and Mari met Sunny again. Perhaps they had underestimated Kel?

"Either way… I think we should give this book to Mari, and even talk about his condition. I mean… Mari is Sunny's big sister, and we all know Mari loves Sunny," said Basil.

"Right? By the way, here you go!" Kel handed over the book back to Basil.

"Thanks."

"Anyway, I want to play catch with them! Bye!"

"Bye!" Basil opened the book again, about to write again. But just as Basil was about to write, he realized something, "Wait- KEL, NO!" Basil instantly jumped and grabbed Kel by the waist.

"W-why!?"

"Did you forget!? There's Sunny over there!" Aubrey cried.

"Oh yeah! How did I forget!?" In the span of a few seconds, one of Kel's brain cells had died and respawned back to life.

"Fire… ball!"

Kim shrieked like a girl as a ball came at her at frightening speeds, just missing her slightly.

"Oi, that's too fast!" Kim angrily exclaimed with her usual tomboyish voice at Mikhael.

"Aw? Is Kim-chan scawed of the bawl?" Mikhael said mockingly.

"Oh? Okay then. You're going to get it… you PUNK!" Kim had popped a few veins on her forehead as bloodlust started showing in her eyes, a scary smile formed on her face.

Just moments after Kel tried to join them, Sunny and the Hooligans had decided to play dodgeball. Kim, Sunny, and Vance were on one team, while the other team had Mikhael, Angel, and Charlene.

"Big Bro, pass," said Kim with bloodlust as she opened a hand to Vance, who had retrieved the ball that was previously thrown by Mikhael.

Vance gulped and slowly brought the ball to his little sister's hand, intimidated by her. Kim had a look that screams 'I want to kill someone'.

Kim gripped onto the ball so hard that it made a rubbery sound as the ball rubbed against her hand. She slammed her right foot behind her, getting into a shooting stance.

"Here I come, Mickey-boy," Kim's insidious smile and glare had intimidated the other team (Kim used Glare, the opposing team's speed had decreased. It was super effective! Just kidding).

"B-bring it on!" Mikhael smiled as a sweat ran through his face, visibly intimidated, "AND IT'S MIKH-"

ZOOM!

Something just passed by Mikhael's head at Mach 1 speed.

"The next one will hit," Kim exuded an ominous aura.

Mikhael froze all over.

This… is dangerous, Mikhael thought to himself as he smiled nervously.

And thus, a hellish game of dodgeball had started.

The three children under the tree were watching the supposedly dodgeball game with suspense and cold sweat for their friends who were playing; especially Sunny.

The ball was being picked up and thrown at high speeds by a tomboy gangster enthusiast and a blonde-wigged chuunibyou, whereas the other players were just there to be caught in the crossfire, trying to survive the onslaught.

"S-should we… tell them to play a little bit more slowly…?" Basil's smile was twitching.

"... I don't think they won't listen, Basil," Aubrey looked at them, at Sunny specifically, with concern.

"... With them being like that? Yeah," Kel agreed with Aubrey.

"Eek!" Vance screamed like a girl as a ball bounced right beside him.

"M-Master! We must defeat this demon- oof!" While Angel was talking to Mikhael, the ball flew right on stomach, making him curl on the ground in pain.

"A-Angel!? ANGEL, NO! You… you'll pay for this, you vile demon!" Mikhael pointed exaggeratedly at Kim.

"Oh? Try me, then," Kim smirked mockingly at Mikhael.

In the meantime, Charlene was crouching on the edge of their makeshift field, Vance was standing sideways and thinning his stomach to lessen his target size, and Sunny was drenched in sweat, just trying to survive.

"K-Kim? Mikhael?" Basil called out to them with a nervous smile.

""Yes, Basil?"" Kim looked at Basil with an evil smile painted on her face, while Mikhael's eyes were bloodshot from all the adrenaline that was running through his blood.

"N-never mind…"

Aubrey and Kel patted Basil's shoulders.

"It was a good try…" said Aubrey.

The other two had accepted the inevitable fate that was about to befall on the game's players.

The game went on for a while as the ball zoomed to each end of the field numerous times. Vance was now out of commission, being shot at his left shoulder. Charlene was still crouching at the same place she was, whereas Sunny was barely keeping up with the ball as Kim and Mikhael duke it out. Sunny felt like he could pass out anytime soon.

On the sidelines, Aubrey, Kel, and Basil watched the game nervously and silently. However, as the game went on, Aubrey broke the silence and talked to Kel.

"Hey… Kel, I've been wondering," Aubrey looked at Kel," How's Hero taking the whole Sunny thing?"

"Oh. Uh… he… unusually spends a lot of time in the kitchen these days."

"Huh? Why?" Basil asked, joining into the conversation.

"I really don't know. Everytime I asked Big Bro, he would just say he's fine, giving his signature smile. Though…"

"Though?" Aubrey tilted her head.

"... I don't know. Something felt off about Big Bro."

""Oh…""

Hero's probably not fine, was what the two thought.

Basil and Aubrey were right on the money, however. Hero was trying to distract himself from his guilt. He wasn't sleeping well, either. He wanted to go to Mari for support, but Mari said she needed some time to be alone. All in all, both of them were definitely not fine.

"... Maybe, we should check on Hero and Mari later," Aubrey suggested.

"I agree…" Basil looked away, still guilty of what he had said to the both of them a couple of days ago.

BANG!

As the three grew silent, a loud plastic bang was heard from the field, along with a rising chatter of concern.

"S-Sunny!?" It was Kim's voice.

"M-my disciple!? Shoot, that was my Fireball+ move!" Mikhael ran closer towards Sunny, who was currently on the ground writhing in pain.

Apparently, one of Mikhael's speedy shots had hit Sunny right on the forehead. The force was enough to make Sunny fall to the ground. Currently, Sunny was rubbing his forehead with both of his hands as he writhed in pain on the ground. The rest of the Hooligans surrounded Sunny with Kim and Mikhael to check on him.

The three of them quickly noticed what happened, and ran closer to the crowd that surrounded Sunny.

"Sunny…? Are you okay?" asked Aubrey. Sunny had partially recovered from his fears enough to listen to Aubrey and Basil. Sunny still flinched and trembled a lot if Kel called him, however.

Sunny, who had his eye closed and is still rubbing the red spot, flinched slightly at hearing Aubrey, but nodded in response to her question, otherwise. Sunny was slightly teary from the pain. The red spot was starting to bulge.

"... What's going on?" An older girl's voice was heard from a distance behind the group. The girl jogged towards the group and saw Sunny on the ground. It was Abbi.

"S-Sunny!? Wait here! I'll go get some ice cubes!" The twin-bunned girl quickly ran into the creative hall, "All of you, bring Sunny inside!"

"O-okay!" Basil responded.

Kim slung one of Sunny's arms around her to support him, "Sunny, can you walk?"

Sunny nodded in response to Kim's question. Kim saw Sunny's answer and walked at a rather quick pace which made Sunny struggle to keep up. Basil noticed what was going on, however.

"Kim, take it slow!" warned Basil.

"I-I am! Definitely not going fast!" Kim quickly slowed down, acting as if she never did walk fast.

Following Sunny and Kim, the rest of the children followed them into the creative hall.

In the midst of that hot summer day, the inside of the creative hall was refreshingly cool. The cool and dark big room that was the hall was lit only by the sunlight that managed to peek into the long side windows.

The creative hall had six pillars that were uniformly aligned into two rows that extended up to the second floor, functioning as a support for the square corridors of the second floor.

On the pillar on the farthest right from the door were Kel, Aubrey, and Basil, while Charlene and Vance were sitting on a pillar just next to it on the same row. Kim, Angel, and Mikhael were sleeping flat on the floor in the middle, enjoying the cold floor after a dodgeball game in the summer heat. Sunny, on the other hand, was being pressed with a plastic bag filled with ice cubes by Abbi next to the nearest pillar from the door on the left row.

"Just a little longer, Sunny…" Abbi said worriedly.

"I'm fine!" Sunny whispered, annoyed.

Abbi was quite the doting big sister towards Sunny. There was one time when Sunny accidentally tripped himself, scratching his knees and when Abbi saw what happened, she was horrified and wrapped his knees with bandage wraps so much that Sunny had difficulty walking around.

In this case, Abbi held the ice cube bag too long on Sunny's head. She meant well, but the ice cube bag had given Sunny a brain freeze. Sunny held his head in pain just after Abbi put away the ice cube bag. Abbi soon realized her mistake.

"S-sorry, Sunny…"

Sunny looked at Abbi angrily, his cheeks puffed. However, rather than feeling guilty or uncomfortable, Abbi thought Sunny looked adorable.

"Hehe…" Abbi slowly had a stupid smile on her face. Sunny realized he was not being taken seriously, which annoyed him even more. Sunny softly punched Abbi on her arm, if you could call it a punch.

In the distance, a girl with a blue bow was staring at Sunny and Abbi's interaction.

"... She really does remind me of Mari. … Minus the part where she looks at him all stupid," mentioned Kel.

"Yeah…" Aubrey nodded.

"Speaking of Mari…" Basil looked at Aubrey, "Have you ever asked Mari to come here? To see Sunny?"

"I did… but… Mari refuses everytime."

"What? Why?" Kel's eyes widened.

"I don't know…" Aubrey looked away.

The three of them fell silent.

In the meantime, Kim, who was laying on the cold floor, had realized something. She got herself up off the floor and walked towards Abbi and Sunny.

"Hold on, Abbi, why are you here? Don't you usually have work today?" Kim asked.

"Oh! About that…" Abbi was pinching both of Sunny's cheeks as Sunny struggled to get out of it; Sunny was just too adorable for her to not to, "The last kid I was supposed to teach called in sick, so I don't have anything else to do today."

Abbi worked as a piano teacher in Somewhere, teaching the rich people's children how to play piano. Despite their enormous wallets, Abbi wasn't paid much. This was reasonable to an extent, however, as Abbi never completed her piano certification exam. Other than that, her clients were just using that as an excuse to not loosen their wallets.

"Oh… Okay then! Also…" Kim took a glance at the already angry Sunny, " Do you mind if I borrow Sunny for a bit?"

"Sure! Sunny, your friend wants to play with you!" Abbi let go of Sunny as he immediately followed Kim as she started to walk to Mikhael. Abbi noticed that Sunny was rubbing his cheeks.

"... Oh, I went too far again… hehe…" Abbi laughed nervously, realizing her mistake.

The next couple hours after that went peacefully. Currently, Sunny and Mikhael were trying to do the 100 push ups of 'Mikhael's Road to Super Moves' with the both of them not even barely reaching 100 before collapsing. Kim was laughing from the sidelines at their failure.

"BAHAHAHA! Both of ya're so bad at this!" Kim was laughing and rolling on the floor, tears in her eyes.

"S-Shuddup! I'm just getting warmed up! Urgh…" Mikhael struggled to get back to the push up's starting position after falling flat on the floor. Sunny, who was beside Mikhael, was doing the same thing. To everyone's surprise, Sunny actually pushed up more than Mikhael did before losing strength. If anyone had to be thanked, it was Hiko and his training games.

"Go, Master! You can do it!" Angel was cheering Mikhael just next to a ROFL'ing Kim. On the other side, Charlene and Vance silently watched them (Charlene was silently cheering the both of them).

Further away, Abbi was watching Sunny and his friends fooling around.

"... Having a little brother is really nice," Abbi hugged her legs tighter as she smiled warmly.

"Huh?" A girl's voice was heard from Abbi's side.

"Woah!?" Abbi was taken aback by Aubrey who had moved next to her some time ago. Abbi was too focused on looking at the children fooling around that she didn't realize Aubrey, Kel, and Basil had moved right next to her.

"Uh…" Abbi looked away as she scratched her cheek, "F-forget what I said, 'kay?"

"What was that about, the 'little brother' thing? Kel tilted his head as he instantly did the opposite of what Abbi wanted.

Abbi sighed, "Everyone always does the opposite."

Abbi tried to avoid the question through silence as she looked back at the other children, but the stares were making her uncomfortable until it was unbearable.

Abbi sighed again, "I… was an only child, you know? So I've always wanted to have a little brother."

The other three stayed silent, not knowing what to say, when Aubrey realized something.

"Abbi, did you… run away?"

"Mmm… yeah. I ran away with Hiko."

"Wait, Hiko ran away, too? You know, the first time I met the both of you I thought that both of you are a couple that decided to move out or something," said Basil.

As Abbi heard the word 'couple', Abbi's face suddenly turned very red.

"C-couple!?" Abbi was flustered. Very flustered.

"I mean… the both of you live under the same roof, right? So… I thought both of you were a couple."

"I… we're…" Steam was visibly coming out from Abbi's ears as the thoughts in her mind circled around in a frenzy as Abbi tried to piece out an answer.

"Though… Why did you and Hiko run away?" asked Aubrey curiously.

All of a sudden, the beet red Abbi had frozen all over with a blank face, her blush rapidly disappearing. The three of them realized Abbi's sudden change in attitude.

"Aubrey, you idiot! You shouldn't have asked!" Kel lightly bumped his head with hers, only to be hurt more by the exchange, "Ow…"

"Ow! What was that for!? Either way, you also wanted to ask the same thing, right!?"

Kel was astonished by what Aubrey said as it was spot on, "I-I did not!"

"Kel, you're so bad at lying!"

"I-I'm not!"

"H-hey, both of you, calm down!" Basil tried to intervene, just before the argument started to escalate. Fortunately, the two of them listened to Basil and stopped arguing. The both of them fell silent soon right after that.

"... Sorry, Abbi…" Aubrey muttered, breaking a moment of silence.

Abbi soon snapped back to reality and looked at a guilt-ridden Aubrey. Abbi shook her head as she patted Aubrey's head, "No, no. It's fine," Abbi gave Aubrey a smile, "I'm just… reminded of unpleasant memories. But… I could tell you if you want."

"But… will you be okay? It seemed like a very unpleasant memory," Basil asked with concern.

"It's fine! Besides, we should get to know each other more, right? Ah! Maybe, you can share your life story with me after I tell mine!" Abbi cheerfully said.

"... O-okay…" Basil was still doubtful.

Abbi rotated towards the three, making her sit towards Aubrey, Kel, and Basil. Abbi took a deep breath and a moment of silence as she stared blankly towards the ground. Soon after, Abbi looked at the three of them.

"... Here, I'm known as Abbi Honora. But… Honora's not my real surname. My real surname is Angelos. Abbi Angelos is my real name."