Hey all, this is my effort to get a little something out. I'm a little burned out on this story recently, and with the advent of college, my attentions have turned towards other things. This scene was one that I struggled to place into another chapter, and I decided to post it as it's own thing. On the plus side, once I figure out how to edit a chapter, I'll go through and start publishing the small edits I've been making to book 1. Without further ado, your chapter.

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Caring For A Rat: Book 2 Interlude: Homework

[3 years ago]

Asuna scribbled down a few numbers on the bottom of the page, then lifted up her notebook to better review her work. Satisfied with what she had found, she set it back down and closed the spiral-bound notebook.

"Done!" she said to herself, more to confirm that it really was done than anything else. It seemed like hours since she had sat down in the family library with her notebooks, and she was starting to get hungry, but mom had asked her to finish her homework before dinner, and she would finish her homework before dinner, like a good girl should.

For a brief second she sat up straight, proudly looking at the stack of closed notebooks on her left. Then she slumped over as she turned her head, taking in the slightly smaller pile of notebooks on her right.

"Now for the next class," She sighed to herself, picking up the next notebook, cracking a smile at the little doodle of a cherry leaf she had made next to the title card that proudly proclaimed the notebook as a modern Japanese notebook.

She flipped it open to a fresh page, and started to copy down the kanji she had learned over the past month. She had to do one column for each symbol, and with how many characters she was learning, her exercises took up three whole pages a day. Thankfully, she was on her last week of a rather difficult character, which had given her quite some trouble in the past, but she felt like she was close to mastering it.

Asuna grabbed her pen, and uncapped it, ready to start writing.

As she put the pen to paper, the door to the library opened, the creaking of the hinges almost making her jolt and ruin her first character even before it had begun.

"Hey Asuna," A tall, auburn-haired man dressed in an immaculate black-and-white suit, said from the doorway, leaning against it like he couldn't really be bothered with anything. Asuna knew better though, that was his 'I'm trying to pretend I'm not as interested as I actually am' pose.

"Kouichi!" She said, all but leaping out of her seat and running to him. "You're back!" She tackled her older brother with a hug, forcing him to take a couple steps back as he staggered under the impact.

"Someone's happy to see me," Kouichirou chuckled, wrapping his arms around his sister.

"You've been gone for two weeks," Asuna said, tilting her head back to look him in the eyes. "I missed you so much!" She squeezed her arms tighter, driving a burst of air from her brother's lungs.

"Well, I'll just need to come home sooner from my next trip, then," The tall, red-haired man said, smiling down at her. "So, what have you been up to? Still having trouble with your homework?"

"Uuuugh!" Asuna released her brother to stomp back to the table in the middle of the family library.

"That bad, huh?" Kouichirou called back after her.

"No, it's just…" Asuna trailed off, one hand on her chair. "I do all my homework from school, and all the extra credit that mom gets for me, and all she ever does is give me more work." She kept speaking, not noticing her voice rising in anger. "I get that the exams are important, I'm staking my education on them, and if I get first place, I'm going to get a better shot at a good high school, and that'll help me get into Tokyo U, but I-" She gulped, her voice quieting as she voiced a fear that she didn't know she had.

"I'm scared that I'm gonna be so tired from studying that I'll miss the exam."

"Well, that's not good," Kouichirou said, rubbing the back of his head. "I could talk to mom, maybe see if I could get her to assign you less work?"

"No!" Asuna shouted, her eyes widening in panic. "I-I like studying! It's so interesting to learn more about the world and to further my knowledge, I-I just…" She trailed off, her voice going quiet. "I don't want to disappoint her."

"C'mere Asuna," Kouichirou said, opening his arms. Asuna let herself be drawn into his embrace, curling into his warmth. "You know that I'll be here for you, right?"

Asuna nodded into his arms. It was one of the first things that he'd promised, and he'd never broken it.

"Now, let's see what help I can give you with this." Kouichirou said, unwrapping one arm from around her and guiding her back over to the table.

The two settled in to their seats, ready to tackle Asuna's ever-increasing workload.