Chapter 28: Return

Ukyo was preparing dinner when he received a text from Ema telling him that she was coming home. A wave of relief washed over him when he saw the text. Ema had occasionally contacted the family, mostly through email, while in France to let them how she was doing. She told them about her job at Star City, about meeting Iori and that he seemed to be doing well, and about some of the amazing things she'd seen in France. Part of Ukyo had feared that Ema would decide to stay. And after everything that had happened, he wasn't sure he could blame her if she did.

He texted back asking when, but all he got in return was that she had to tie up a few loose ends at work, but that it would be soon. If it was soon she should already have her flight booked. Why wouldn't she tell him?

"Something wrong at work?" Yusuke asked, seeing Ukyo frowning at his phone.

"No," Ukyo said, sliding the phone back into his pocket. "I just received a text from Ema. She's coming home."

Yusuke froze, afraid he hadn't heard right. "She's coming back? When?"

"Soon," Ukyo answered, paying attention to his dinner preparations rather than Yusuke.

"Thank goodness," Yusuke said, too quietly for Ukyo to hear. He held a hand to his thumping heart, trying to slow it down. University was about to start and Yusuke had been getting nervous about Ema not being home yet. He'd started thinking that maybe Ema had found a guy in France, or that she'd decided France was better than Japan and never wanted to come back. Now he could look forward to college again. Well, look forward to going to college with Ema, anyway. That was the important part.

At dinner, Ukyo made the announcement that Ema would be back soon.

"Yay!" Wataru exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air. "Onee-chan is coming back! Onee-chan is coming back! When? Can we go to the airport to meet her, Mao-nii? I want to see Onee-chan when she very first gets back, before she does anything else."

"We don't know when she'll get back," Ukyo said, irritated, though he'd already known that all his brothers would ask when she'd return. Of course they would, all of them had been waiting with baited breath for Ema's return.

"Awww, why not?" Wataru asked, pouting.

"Won't Ema need one of us to pick her up from the airport?" Tsubaki asked, wanting to be the first one to greet Ema when she came back. It had been hard when Ema first left. He was so used to being greeted by her every day when he arrived home. The house felt weirdly empty without Ema there, smiling and saying 'welcome home' as she worked on dinner.

"Maybe Ema's already made other arrangements," Masaomi suggested, wondering if Ema hadn't told Ukyo when she'd return because she didn't want everyone fighting over who would get to pick her up. He hoped that everything would be calmer now. Hopefully, his younger brothers had learned a lesson after everything that happened before.

"Let's just be glad that she'll be home soon," Kaname urged, trying to stop the twins before they got too riled up.

~.~

Fuuto closed his eyes in relief when he received the text from Masaomi that night that Ema was coming home soon. He was sitting a dressing room, about to go on stage. It had been months and they'd heard so little from Ema that Fuuto had begun to fear Ema wasn't planning on coming back. He'd already been making tentative plans to go to France and get her.

When the knock came on Fuuto's door letting him know that it was time, he put his trademark idol smile on his face. With this good news in his heart, his fans would get one heck of a show tonight.

~.~

Subaru sat in bed, staring at Ukyo's text for long minutes. He was happy that Ema was coming back and hoped that she'd had a good time in France. He and Ema had talked a little and she'd seemed to really enjoy the intership she had there.

Subaru would need to make plans to visit Sunrise Mansion once Ema got back. He hoped she'd be happy to see him.

~.~

"Guess what Tsubaki and Azusa," Natsume said to his cats after he received a text from his brother Azusa, "Ema is coming back soon. Do you think she'll come by and visit you two?"

Tsubaki meowed and twined himself around Natsume's legs. Natsume smiled down at his cat, happier than he'd been all summer. His heart sped up at the thought of seeing Ema again. The past three months had seemed to drag by. He was used to texting with her almost every week about some video game or another and had hated only receiving monthly emails from her. He selfishly hoped that Ema had thought of him while she'd been gone.

~.~

The next night, the Asahina brothers sat around the table for dinner while outside Ema exited a taxi. She paid the driver before wheeling her suitcase to the courtyard and pausing to look at Sunrise Mansion.

Ema felt an odd sense of déjà vu as she stood there, remembering when she stood in that same spot years ago before entering the mansion for the first time. She'd been so nervous and excited about meeting her new family and moving in with her brothers. Ema felt a pang of nostalgia for those days as she thought of how things had changed, but just because things were different now didn't mean that the lives of Ema and her family would be any less great than they had been before.

Finally, Ema went inside. She was grateful that she'd decided to take a taxi home without letting her family know when she'd be back. She hadn't wanted them to make a big deal of her return.

Quietly, Ema entered the fifth floor and saw her brothers eating dinner. It still made her a little sad that Louis, Subaru, and Iori were no longer there, but she was happy to see the rest of them and couldn't help smiling as Tsubaki and Yusuke argued about how terrible Yusuke's grades would be in college. France had been so quiet with just Ema, Louis, and Davet. Ema had missed the big family dinners and her brothers teasing and arguing with each other.

Ukyo noticed Ema first and immediately froze. The rest of the brothers noticed and turned to see what had caught his attention. "Um, hello," Ema said. "I'm back."

Wataru jumped up from his seat, the chair toppling over in his haste, and ran to Ema. "You're home!" He exclaimed as he wrapped her in a tight hug. "You're finally home! I don't ever want you to ever leave again."

Ema smiled and patted Wataru's head. "I can't promise that I'll never leave again, but I can promise that I'll always come home."

"Then take me with you next time," Wataru suggested, making Ema laugh.

Ukyo couldn't take his eyes off Ema as she spoke with Wataru. She wore her hair down and she looked so mature and beautiful. His heart ached at the sight of her and he wondered what all had happened to her in France. She had a quiet confidence about her that she hadn't had before.

Tsubaki's heart fluttered as he looked at Ema and he could hardly believe that she was actually here. He deeply regretted that he'd been part of the cause of Ema's pain before and hoped that he'd matured while Ema was away. He wanted to be able to truly be there for Ema, in whatever capacity that ended up being. Tsubaki glanced over at his twin and saw an expression similar to his own. Azusa undoubtedly felt the same way as Tsubaki.

Yusuke blushed as Ema sat down by him and he welcomed her home. He peered at her out of the corner of his eye, wondering if it was just his imagination that she'd become even more beautiful or if he just felt that way because it'd been so long since he'd seen her in person. He had a sinking feeling he'd have to watch other guys around her carefully while at university.

Masaomi smiled as conversation around the dinner table resumed as everyone asked Ema about Louis, Iori, and her time in France. Sunrise Mansion finally felt complete again with Ema back. The house had felt empty of life without her in it.

Ema felt at peace as the warmth of being home washed over her. She felt good about her decision to return to Japan and was excited to attend Meiji University and intern at Star City's new branch in Japan. She'd also spent a fair amount of time thinking about Hikaru's words, but she wasn't in a rush to act on them. She would only if the time and situation felt right. For now, Ema was just excited to start her life as an adult.

A/N: Okay! I'll now be splitting off into multiple endings for the rest of the fanfiction. I'm only doing an ending for a couple of the brothers rather than all thirteen, but that's better than just having one ending, right?