Ema winced as she stared at her massive number of unread emails, most of them from Arisa, but some from Hikaru. She hadn't checked her email since telling them both about being partnered with Erik. The subject lines of Arisa's emails became threatening after a while. It was the latest subject line that had Ema's heart jumping into her throat.

"I'm coming to Japan."

Crap. Ema read that email first.

Since you refuse to respond to my emails, the only thing I can guess is that Erik has kidnapped you and is holding you captive until you agree to date him again. Since clearly you're in need of rescue, I'll make the great sacrifice of leaving Europe and return to Japan. It's been a while since I've been home anyway and Dad has been bothering me about going to college. Might as well pick a college in Japan for my freshman year.

If I arrive to hear you've fallen head over heels for Erik again and have been too scared to tell me, that's fine—but don't except me to be nice to him.

Ema immediately emailed Arisa back that there was no need for her to come to Japan and that everything was under control. Ema claimed she'd mostly ignored Arisa's email because she was busy, but admitted that some fear also played a role. She sent the email off immediately before creating a longer email detailing everything that had happened with Erik since he arrived.

Arisa responded to Ema's first email before she could finish the second one.

Too late

~.~

When Ema made a third mistake making dinner that night—this one being using pepper instead of salt—Ukyo suggested she take the night off.

"Sorry I'm no good tonight," she apologized, miserably bowing to Ukyo.

"I'm not upset," he promised. "I'm just concerned since this is out of character. Did something happen?"

"Uh . . . there was something I was upset about and I emailed Hikaru and my friend Arisa about it, then I didn't check my email for several weeks, so they're both pretty upset with me for not giving them updates on the situation." Hikaru had put out the same theory as Arisa, that Erik had kidnapped her since she hadn't responded. She wondered if the two of them had been talking to each other behind her back. Not that she could blame them. They'd probably both hoped that she'd at least answered one of them.

"Is everything with the situation that upset you okay?" he asked, his eyes concerned.

"Oh, that's fine now," she waved off, which was mostly true. Erik was a good guy, and it felt better not to be mad at him. But she was also afraid of falling for him. Yes, he made a good boyfriend and yes, if she'd truly forgiven him she should be okay with dating him again, but the thought still scared her.

"Now I just have to work on convincing Arisa and Hikaru to forgive me for ignoring them for a couple weeks." And how to convince Arisa that she absolutely did not need to attend college in Japan. If that was what she wanted, then fine, but Ema didn't want her here just because she felt like she needed to look after Ema.

"I'm sure you'll be able to," Ukyo said with a smile. "I can't imagine anyone holding a grudge against you for long."

"Thanks," she told him with a smile. She wouldn't be surprised if Miako, Hinata, and Akane all held grudges against her, but those were different situations. Though it was weird to think that the only people she could think of who might hold grudges against her would all hold that grudge because they were jealous of Ema's relationship with one of the Asahina brothers.

Her phone range before her mind could consider what the significance of that might be, if any. It was an unknown number, so she cautiously held the phone to her ear as she walked away from the kitchen. "Hello?"

"Oh, good! So though you don't answer email, you do answer your phone. I'm so glad."

Ema winced at Arisa's sarcastic tone.

"Sorry," she said, glancing back to make sure Ukyo couldn't hear. "I was pretty freaked out by Erik showing up again. I knew you'd be upset if I kept that from you, so I had to tell you—but then I was afraid that you'd go off on Erik in your emails, and that would make me more upset at him, so I stayed clear of checking my email for a while."

There was silence on the other end until Arisa finally sighed. "Okay. I see your point. I was angry and went off on him rather than trying to be supportive of you being confronted by that idiot again. You're forgiven."

"Thank you. Also, how did you get my number?"

"From your dad, of course. You weren't answering my emails so I emailed him asking for your number. I told him I was coming to visit as a surprise and asked him not to tell you."

Ema rolled her eyes. Maybe she needed to have a conversation with her dad about giving out her number and address.

"So you're already back in Japan?"

"Yep! And I'm looking forward to meeting the rest of the Asahina brothers! Hikaru makes them all sound so interesting."

Ema winced at the thought of Arisa meeting the brothers. Not because she didn't want her to, they were all dear friends of hers, after all. She just couldn't begin to guess how it would go. Arisa was . . . a lot for some people. And definitely not to everyone's tastes. Then again, some of the Asahina brothers were arguably like that, so maybe they would get along fine.

"So, when can I meet them?"

"Um, is Sunday okay? I'll ask if you can come over. You might get a lot of attention, just to warn you. You'll be the first friend I've brought over, and they know we've been friends for years."

Arisa was silent again for a moment before asking, "Why haven't you brought friends over? You're not having any issues at school, are you?"

"Oh, no nothing like that. It's just that Yusuke Asahina is in the same grade as me and doesn't want anyone knowing we live in the same house. He's worried what rumors people might start if they knew we lived together."

"I see," Arisa said, her voice amused. "How adorable. Yusuke, was it? I like him already."

"Please don't tease him," Ema begged.

"I would never!" Arisa said. Ema had the sinking feeling that that was exactly what Arisa would do.

~.~

Ema was on pins and needles as they sat down to dinner Sunday night. She hoped Arisa would be on her best behavior, but doubted it. She didn't even know what best behavior would look like for her.

They were only a couple minutes into dinner when Arisa turned to Yusuke. "So Yusuke," Arisa said, her eyes bright. Ema suppressed a groan, wondering if anyone would notice her slink out of her seat and onto the floor. Maybe she could hide under the table for the rest of the night. "What's it like living in the same house as a beautiful girl your own age? It's probably every teenage boy's fantasy, right?"

"W-what?" he stuttered as red crawled up his cheeks.

"Come on now," Arisa teased, resting her chin on her hands. "Are you telling me you weren't at least a little excited when Ema moved in?" She gave the word excited a seductive twist that had Ema blushing.

"W-well," his eyes jumped to Ema and she wished she could apologize. She should have warned the Asahinas that Arisa's teasing could tend toward the same as Hikaru's—inappropriate. "Ema's my friend. O-of course I was excited she came to live with us. But only because she's my friend! Not because she's pretty or anything." Now his look turned panic. "But she is pretty, of course! I wasn't trying to say she isn't."

Arisa kept her attention rapt on Yusuke's response. She didn't know if any of the brothers could tell, but Ema knew Arisa was delighted with Yusuke's reaction.

"Ema's too mature for some high school student," Tsubaki said, his voice holding an edge of irritation. "She'd attract way more attention than just from a couple kids."

"Oh?" Arisa asked, her eyebrows rising. "So you think Ema's more likely to attract attention from an older man?"

"That's gross," Yusuke said, scowling at Tsubaki.

"I'm not talking about a huge age gap," Tsubaki said, rolling his eyes. "Less than ten years. I'm saying she needs someone more mature than an idiot like you."

"This isn't a proper discussion for the dinner table," Ukyo said, his voice stiff.

Arisa turned her attention on Ukyo, making Ema wince. Trying to stop Arisa's fun would just make him the next target.

"You sound defensive. I'm curious—are you bothered about discussing men interested in Ema from an older brother perspective, or from a love interest standpoint?"

Ema flashed to the memory of kissing Ukyo, his lips on hers as his hand tangled in her hair. She felt herself flush and took a drink of cold water to try to control it.

Ukyo sputtered, but whatever he might have said next was drowned out by Wataru. "Aw, can I object to hearing about Ema with older men from a love interest standpoint?" Ema's eyes shot to the middle schooler, though this attention was on Arisa. "I think a younger guy could be with her if he was good enough."

Arisa studied him before nodding. "I like an underdog. I'm all for you objecting from a love interest stand point."

Masaomi cleared his throat, his eyes going to Ema before settling on Arisa. "I'd say it doesn't matter what kind of guy Ema might attract. What matters most is what she wants. Which includes being comfortable in her own home."

He gave Arisa a stern look, but she smiled unrepentantly. "I like you. It's not every day you meet a sincere guy. They're becoming a rare breed—if they ever were common. I appreciate you looking out for my girl."

Several of the brothers bristled at Arisa calling Ema her girl. As for Ema, her desire changed from wanting to sink into the floor to wanting to bolt from the room.

~.~

"You're more embarrassing than any father," Ema declared in her bedroom after dinner, hiding her face with her pillow.

"I had to gauge how those guys really feel about you," Arisa said with a shrug. "I mean, a young woman moving into a house full of guys is just begging for romance. There was no way none of them haven't had romantic thoughts about you."

"You could have just asked me," Ema complained.

"Honey," Arisa said gently, sitting next to Ema on her bed and squeezing her hand. "Carlos and Erik really did a number on you and you can be pretty terrible at telling when a guy is interested in you. It's like your heart isn't willing to accept that maybe there's something about you—maybe a lot of somethings about you—that would attract a guy's interest."

Ema was about to deny Arisa's words when Arisa held up a hand to stop her. "Ah-ah. That isn't what I wanted to talk about." She gave Ema a piercing, significant look. "Some of those boys seemed mighty possessive of you when I brought guys being interested in you. Which of them have you kissed?"

Ema's mouth gaped. "How did you know?!"

Arisa wagged her finger at Ema. "Tsk, tsk. I've been around the block a few times. I can tell when a guy feels he has a reason to believe he has a claim on a girl. So, fess up. Who have you kissed? My guess is Tsubaki."

Ema wished that blushing was something you could learn to control.

"Um, you're kind of right?"

"What do you mean kind of?" Arisa asked with a frown.

Ema's voice went several octaves higher as she admitted, "Um, I've kissed six of them." Arisa's eyes widened and Ema rushed to add, "There's always been a reason! It was never just to kiss them, I swear." She didn't count the accidental kiss with Yusuke since that one hadn't been on the lips. The Masaomi and Subaru kisses might not really count either, but Ema still wanted to talk about them.

Arisa wriggled around until she lay on the bed on her stomach so she could lean her elbows on the bed and prop her chin on her hands. "Go on, do tell. And don't forget the details."

Ema's flush deepened, but she couldn't deny it was nice to finally have a girlfriend around she felt she could talk to about all this. She took a moment to be grateful Juli was off with Louis thanks to Louis wisely suggesting that perhaps Ema would like some girl time before she dived into everything—kissing for acting, kissing to scare off girls, and the multiple love confessions she'd received.

A/N: I'm sad to report that Hikaru won't end up making an appearance in this fic. I'd originally intended for him to, but I feel that would make things too complicated at this point. We're already at 150,000 words and still not even to the individual endings, lol. This is why I took a two-year hiatus—because I realized I'd already written 90,000 words and was nowhere near the end.