A/N: Chapter updates won't normally be this frequent, but I wrote the first seven chapters before I started posting this story, so I'm ahead right now
Chapter 3: Settling In
Ema stared at Ukyo in wide-eyed amazement. "You're going to school to become a lawyer and you do all the cooking?" She had been at Sunrise Mansion for almost a week now. Her original gung-ho plan had been to offer to help cook, but after her first night here, she felt shy about volunteering. Ukyo was an amazing cook and Ema now knew that the Asahina brothers were used to high quality since only Ukyo did the cooking. What if they didn't like Ema's cooking in comparison?
Ukyo smiled and puffed out his chest a little. It was nice to actually have someone appreciate all his hard work rather than just take it for granted. It wasn't exactly easy to cook for twelve brothers. Especially when half of them were still growing. "I do more than that," Ukyo told Ema. "It takes a lot of work to keep a household this big running. I make sure all my brothers get their homework done and clean their rooms, I make sure I know where everyone is at night so I know that they all get home safely, and I do most of the laundry."
Ema's mouth dropped open. "When do you sleep?"
Ukyo chuckled. "You get used to all that work eventually. I took over the cooking for the family when I was fifteen or fourteen. It helped me to learn how to prioritize and multitask, which I believe is why I've done so well in school."
Ema shook her head. "You're amazing, Ukyo-san. The Asahina family is very lucky to have you."
Ukyo's heart warmed at her words. He didn't know Ema very well yet, but everything he'd seen showed that she was a responsible and caring young girl. Though she was a little shy, Ukyo sensed that she was excited to join their family. He just hoped she wasn't overwhelmed by the sheer number of brothers and Tsubaki's overly affectionate manner.
"Um," Ema began tentatively, twisting her fingers together, "I could help you with the cooking if you wanted. I cooked for myself all the time at my dad's apartment and I started when I was nine. I might not be as skilled as you, but I'm pretty good. And I can help with the laundry and help make sure Wataru and Yusuke get their homework done. I—I'd like to be the kind of sister you can rely on."
"I think those all sound like great ideas," Ukyo said, placing a hand on Ema's shoulder. "I would love to have your help."
Ema beamed.
~.~
Three weeks later, Ema watched Louis come into the living room out of the corner of her eye as she prepared the vegetables for dinner. Ukyo had called to tell her he needed to stay late at his university's library tonight to study, so dinner was all up to Ema.
Louis was moving towards the couch before suddenly stopping, dropping his backpack on the floor, and laying down, using his backpack as a pillow. Ema sighed and shook her head before grabbing a bottle of juice and walking over to him.
"Louis-san, why are you laying on the floor?" Ema asked.
He opened his eyes and smiled up at her. "I was tired," he told her. "I planned to come home and take a nap after school on the couch, but then…it was too far away. I didn't have the energy to make it."
Wordlessly, Ema hold out the juice for Louis. He sat up to take it from her and drank a big gulp.
"When did you last eat, Louis-san?"
"Hmm." Louis tilted his head back as he appeared to consider the question. "I'm not sure. I think it may have been dinner last night…or maybe lunch yesterday?" He shrugged. "I'm not sure."
"What about sleep?" Ema asked. "When was the last time you slept?"
"I slept in math today," he answered.
Ema giggled, but covered her mouth with her hand, not sure it was appropriate to laugh at that. "I meant in your bed, Louis-san. It's important to get a full night's rest. When did you last do that?"
Another head tilt as Louis considered the question. Another shrug. This was why Ema had to watch Louis. He was very kind, but always seemed to be off in his own world, which led to him forgetting basic needs like sleeping and eating. Ema tried to make sure that Louis was at least always there for dinner, but last night Ema had dinner at her friend Mahoko's house.
"Dinner will be ready in two hours," Ema said, holding a hand down to Louis. "Why don't you sleep on the couch until then?"
Louis smiled and took Ema's hand, letting her lead him over to the couch. He was happy to gain a little sister, and he looked forward to getting to know her better. So far she was very careful of all the brothers, observing to see how she could help out. He knew that Ema worried about him and always watched to see how he was doing when he came home from school. He thought it was adorable that his new little sister worried about him and wanted to take care of him despite the fact that he was five years older.
"It must be hard for you to go from being an only child to joining a family of thirteen brothers who've lived together all their lives," Louis said as he sat down.
Ema's eyes widened and she shook her head. "I think I'm the luckiest girl in the world. I'm grateful to have so many brothers. Now I'm never alone."
Louis heart squeezed at Ema's last comment as he imagined how lonely she must have been living in an apartment with a dad who was often traveling. Grabbing Ema's arm, he pulled her into a hug. "Even if it's not hard for you, I'm sure difficult things will come up. If you ever have any concerns about your place in our family, you can always come talk to me, Em-chan."
Ema blushed at being called a nickname by one of her brothers for the first time.
~.~
In the following weeks, Ema stayed true to her promise to Ukyo of helping out. She and Yusuke often did their homework together along with Wataru whenever he had any homework from kindergarten. Although Yusuke still refused to go to school or come home with Ema and he never acknowledged her when they were at school. Ema even tried to make sure that Fuuto did his homework too, but he was always mean to her when she talked to him.
Ema didn't feel she had any right to tell the brothers older than her to do their homework, but the next oldest brother didn't need any prompting. Iori was very responsible and smart. He never had any trouble with his homework and was actually helping Ema with math right now.
"So I have to carry the decimal point two places in this problem?" Ema asked.
"That's right," Iori said with a nod. "You're doing very well, Ema-san."
"Only because you're a good teacher," Ema argued, grateful that Iori was willing to take the time to help her today. She didn't normally need help. It wasn't like elementary homework was that hard, but she'd been really tired in class today and struggled to pay attention as the teacher explained how to do the math homework.
Ema sighed. "I wish that I was as good as you at school. You're so smart about everything." She rarely got bad grades, but she wasn't at the top of her class like Iori.
Iori shook his head. "It's more a matter of focus and effort than of how smart you are. And besides that, school is all that I'm good at. You're really good at things like cooking and taking care of other people. I'm amazed at all the things you do to help out everyone around the house."
Ema blushed, pleased at the compliment, but not entirely sure how true it was. She tried to be helpful, but she was only a little girl.
"And I have my worries too," Iori said, fiddling with his pencil. "Doing good as school doesn't make that go away, and sometimes getting perfect grades can just be a problem."
"What do you mean?" Ema asked carefully, hoping she wasn't prying. She wasn't trying to be nosy; she just wanted to help if she could.
"There's a girl at school that I like," Iori confessed. "But I know that some of our brothers, especially Ukyo, wouldn't want me getting distracted by having a girlfriend. They'd say that it will make my grades suffer, or that it might harm my chances of getting into a good high school."
Ema considered that for a moment. "I think that any girl that you like must be pretty special." She'd heard the girls in the neighborhood talking about Iori. They called him a prince since he was so nice and smart. She couldn't imagine what kind of girl it would take to get the attention of a guy like Iori. "Maybe you could find a way to prove to Ukyo that you could handle school and having a girlfriend. And maybe you could bring her home to introduce her to everyone. If she goes to the same junior high as you, she must be smart too. Maybe she'll impress Ukyo and then he'll be okay with you two dating."
Iori looked relieved. "That's a great idea, Ema-san. Thanks for the advice." He gave her a playful smile. "If you ever need advice on a guy you like, feel free to come to me."
~.~
Four months after moving into Sunrise Mansion, Ema now had a comfortable routine and felt she was becoming friends with most of her brothers. The two big exceptions were Fuuto and Subaru. Subaru was never mean to Ema like Fuuto was, but he never talked to her either. Whenever Ema tried to start a conversation with him, he would just make unintelligible noises, though he had thanked her for dinner or for laundry a couple times.
As Ema sat outside and watched Yusuke and Subaru play basketball, Ema wondered if she could get Subaru to talk to her if she tried talking about basketball to him. Watching them, Ema was impressed. She didn't know much about basketball, but it sure looked to her like Subaru knew what he was doing and she was pretty sure that he wasn't going all out against Yusuke. He took the time to show his younger brother how to do different moves.
"You look really good playing basketball," Ema complimented when Subaru and Yusuke took a break for a drink. "I can tell that you love it. You must practice a lot to be so good."
Subaru merely shrugged and looked at the ground.
"You should see Suba-nii play at one of his games," Yusuke said excitedly. "He's the best on the team." He cast an idolizing glance at his brother before turning back to Ema. "Actually, he has a game this weekend. You should come!"
Beside Yusuke, Subaru tensed, but didn't say anything.
That weekend, Ema sat next to Yusuke in the gym of Subaru's school. Not being into sports, she was worried that she'd be bored. She only came because she wanted a better relationship with Subaru, but to her surprise, basketball was a lot more interesting when you knew and cared about one of the players. Ema kept her eyes on Subaru most of the game. She cheered whenever he made a basket and squealed in excitement when he stole the ball from the other team or passed it to a teammate to make a basket. She gasped when a player from the opposing team hit Subaru in the face with an elbow. It totally looked like it was on purpose, but the referee ignored it and Ema clenched her hands in anger.
Yusuke crossed his arms and pouted at Ema's enthusiasm. On one hand, he was glad that Ema was enjoying the game and that she thought Suba-nii's playing was cool. On the other hand, he didn't want Ema to start liking Subaru or anything like that.
Unlike Subaru and Fuuto, Yusuke didn't have a problem with the idea of getting a sister. He'd kind of liked the idea of maybe looking out for his sister at school and being her hero. But that was before he found out his new sister was Ema Hinata, the girl he was crushing on at school. He hadn't known her name since she wasn't in his class, but he'd been hoping to find out all year. On the first day of school he saw her and thought she was the cutest girl he'd ever seen, and then he saw how nice she was to everyone and he'd liked her even more.
He couldn't help his reaction when he saw her at home, but later he'd hoped that she wasn't mad at him about it. He didn't want her to think that he hated her or anything like that. It probably didn't help that he wouldn't go to school with her, but some of his friends already knew that he had a crush on her. What would they say or do if they found out that Ema was his step-sister now? He couldn't let them find out. It would be even worse next year when they entered junior high. He knew what kinds of things people would say about a guy and a girl who lived in the same house but weren't related to each other. He wouldn't let anyone talk about Ema that way, and the best way for no one to find out about anything was for Yusuke to stay away from Ema at school.
He was grateful when Ema asked him if he wanted to do homework together at home so they could help each other out. Now he could spend time with Ema and show her that he really was a nice guy. And hopefully stop her from noticing how great some of his other brothers were.
As the final buzzer sounded, Ema leapt to her feet along with much of the crowd to applaud the winning of Subaru's team. Yusuke and Ema went down to talk to Subaru and Ema gushed, "That was amazing, Subaru-san! I didn't know that basketball could be so cool. Yusuke was right, you're one of the best on the team!
"Oh!" Ema interrupted herself, remembering the elbow Subaru took to the face. She gently reached out and brushed her fingers across Subaru's cheek. "Are you okay, Subaru-san? I can't believe that guy hit you and nobody did anything about it!"
Subaru flushed bright red and moved back a little. The only girl who'd ever touched his face before was his mom. Actually, his mom might be the only girl who'd ever touched him period. Subaru didn't let most girls get close enough to be able to touch him. Surprisingly, it made Subaru a little happy that Ema was upset about him getting hit. It made him even happier to see how excited she was about watching him play. He'd never seen Ema so excited before and he was glad that he'd been able to show her how cool basketball was.
"It's fine," Subaru brushed off, though his cheek did hurt a little.
"That was really fun to watch. I'd like to come to another game sometime."
Subaru blushed again and stuttered, "Tha—that'd be fine with me." Maybe having a girl in the house wasn't completely awful. At least, not if that girl was Ema.
