[Summary: Margaret makes a request, the DEATH Squad bond over studying for their exams, and Nanako spends the long holiday with a certain family member.]

[4/29: Friday]

By Friday, Nanako was sick of studying. Since it was raining, she made the squad go in the TV for training, although Teddie hadn't sensed anything interesting. The Shadows were apparently more active when it rained, possibly in anticipation of the fog lifting in the TV World, but there wasn't a large one like the Contrarian King around to deal with.

Nanako visited the Velvet Room as soon as she landed on the backlot, and though she planned to be conservative with her money, Igor informed her that his assistant had a task for her.

"Yeah?" Nanako looked at Margaret. "Whatcha want, Margie?"

"First, do not call me that." Margaret looked like a viper ready to strike, or a thunderhead about to spout electricity. Nanako cowered despite herself. There was something about that woman…! "Your soul is of interest to me. I would like to see you continue to develop your other selves, and so I will occasionally make requests of you. Show me what you are capable of."

My soul interests you? Did she want to eat it or something? Though, more importantly, "Wait, souls are real?"

"'Course they are," said Marie from the corner, looking at Nanako like she was stupid or something.

Nanako ignored her. "Is Igor interested in my soul, too?" She turned starry eyes on the long-nosed man, but all Igor did was continue to smile at her.

"First, I would like to see… hmm…" Margaret stopped to think. "A Vetala with… Silence Boost. As my first task, it should not be a difficult undertaking."

"Uhh, right," said Nanako, who had no idea what a Vetala was, nor had she ever seen a Persona with Silence Boost. "Can I get a hint?"

Margaret sighed as if it killed her to help. "One of the requisite Personas is of the Fool arcana. It is currently in the Compendium, but at an insufficient level."

Nanako was reminded of something that bothered her. "Hey, I was wondering why my DEATH Squad social link is the Fool arcana. Is it some sort of cosmic joke at our expense or something? Because I could be offended."

"The Fool is the one whose story is being told," Igor said. "It represents the start of a journey."

"And also shows that there is room for growth," Margaret added. "In fact, your own Arcana is that of the Fool."

The woman was looking down on her, Nanako could tell. Hmph, Fool or not, she'd show that cougar! "Well, then, show me what Fools I have in the Compendium and we'll go from there."

The Shadows were noticeably larger due to the rain, but they weren't anything the squad couldn't handle. Nanako focused on training the Persona Obariyon, which was an orange, goblin-like demon with a purple bowl-cut that reminded her of her cousin. It enjoyed jumping on enemies' backs and clawing at them. It was rather amusing to watch it wrestle on top of the paper mache fish-dolphins in Yukiko's Castle.

Yosuke asked her why she kept using that Persona over and over, and she just told everyone that she had her reasons.

After it clawed up the moss-baby Shadow summoned by a king-shaped Shadow that gave them flashbacks to the Contrarian King, the Obariyon finally learned Silence Boost, and Nanako called it a day.

"Ah," Margaret said appreciatively after Nanako returned to the Velvet Room and fused the requested Persona. It turned out to be a muscular humanoid with blue skin and a tusked elephant's head, including a long trunk. "A Vetala with Silence Boost. That wasn't so difficult, was it? Does it remind you of someone...?"

To her credit, Margaret didn't look at Igor, although Marie certainly did. The long-nosed man himself didn't comment.

Nanako didn't understand the significance of the Silence Boost. It wasn't a useful skill, in her opinion. She preferred killing Shadows to debilitating them. Margaret was now giving Marie a sharp look, however... Maybe the Silence Boost was related to her?

"Good job, anyway..."

The tinkle of glass sounded in Nanako's mind, which she hadn't expected because she'd always thought that the Velvet Room was attached in some way to her mind, considering she'd been called here in her sleep before. She listened for an echo but there wasn't one.

She used the time stop to try and pour herself some brandy, but before she could even touch the decanter something punched her in the face, and the force of the blow bowled her backward and out of the Velvet Room.

She tumbled onto the TV backlot, cursing with enough ferocity to blacken ears.

"Whoa, Nanako, are you okay?" Chie gasped.

Yosuke unsheathed his knives and looked around. "What did that?"

Nanako laughed without humor as she stood up. "My own hubris. Don't worry."

Apparently the Velvet Room residents didn't experience the time stop. She'd been kicked out so fast that she hadn't even heard what arcana Margaret belonged to.

The Bitch Arcana, probably.

"Yeah, bitch," she repeated under her breath. She rubbed her jaw and hoped the bruise wouldn't grow noticeably large.

[4/30: Saturday]

According to Yosuke, the Midnight Channel had turned on last night, but it hadn't shown anything. Just a blank screen.

"We're not getting anywhere, are we?" he commented, walking with her on the way to school. "I mean, defeating the Shadows is cool and all, but we're still no closer to finding the culprit."

"I know!" Nanako grumbled. "We need more clues. Who hated Mayumi Yamano? Maybe someone at the local news station, upset that she was forced to resign? Dunno, the scandal totally upped the station's ratings. And why the hell did they target Yukiko? I know Yamano was staying at the Amagi Inn, but that doesn't feel like a connection at all."

"Yeah, I don't get it either. I hate to say it, but maybe we have to wait for the culprit to strike again…"

"Unless they're done. Then it'll just be an unsolved mystery and Teddie's stupid world will just have to suffer."

He looked at her with concern. "You sound like you're about to give up!"

"None of this makes any damned sense! There's a world behind the television!" She took a few deep breaths. "Sorry, Yosuke-kun, I just had to let that out. I'm a detective's daughter. I'll figure out this damned mystery if it's the last thing I do!"

For some reason, Nanako felt a chill upon saying that, and the Velvet Room key felt warm in her pocket.

"I-I'm with you, too!" Yosuke said. "I can't let the culprit get away with this."

"Yeah! We'll do it, or I'm not the Boss!" Nanako put on her glittery TV World glasses for added effect and strode into school.

Despite her posturing, Nanako was still feeling melancholy by the time school let out. It had been two weeks now since Yukiko's kidnapping. It hadn't rained much recently, that much was true, so perhaps the killer was just biding his or her time…

She wasn't feeling up to working at the daycare. She wanted to be bright and cheerful for Souji instead of mirroring his own state of mind.

Instead, then, she wandered around the central shopping district since she never did get around to seeing everything it had to offer. There was a bookstore, and Nanako entered to ask when the next Loveline manga was due out. She paused before the Velvet Room door, but her jaw was sore from yesterday, so she just gave it the middle finger while she walked by it. She also avoided Daidara's and passed a tofu shop.

Ah, so that's where Aiya was! If their ramen was so good, their beef bowl had to be, too. In fact, Nanako found Chie inside, chowing down, so she joined her. "You should come on a rainy day, Nanako!" the girl said through a mouthful of beef. "For the Rainy Day Mega Beef Bowl Challenge. I've won it twice!"

"Aiyah!" exclaimed the restaurant's owner. "She is my best customer!"

"Hehehe." Chie scratched her head in awkward pride.

Nanako ordered a bowl, and while waiting for it to come out, Chie told her about the different garnishes one could ask for in the Aiya beef bowl. Garlic, hot sauce, ginger, sesame, Vietnamese-style, Korean-style…

"Original style is the best, though!" Chie said, pointing with her chopsticks at the bowl the owner had just placed in front of Nanako. It was steaming and smelled so much better than the ramen she'd made on Wednesday. "Now I want another!"

"You still have to finish yours," Nanako pointed out.

"I could eat three bowls!" Chie claimed. "Well, maybe not, haha, but I'd sure give it a try!"

Chie's enthusiasm for meat was catching. Nanako enjoyed the myriad subtle flavors in the beef bowl as the girl pointed them out. At the same time, there was just too much meat! Nanako wasn't sure she could finish it.

"It's good, right?" Chie was grinning at her.

"Damn right!" Nanako declared.

Time stopped. What, really? Nanako thought. She rolled her eyes and quickly dumped most of the rest of her beef into Chie's bowl. Go, go, Chariot rank up!

"Look, I finished it!" Nanako said when time resumed.

Chie was so happy for her that she didn't realize her own beef had magically multiplied. "I gotta finish mine now!" Nanako watched her shovel in the rest and shook her head wryly.

That evening, Nanako watched the news with Aunt Seta. Nothing of interest was showing—just a segment on the hottest vacation destinations for Golden Week—but it reminded her to ask her aunt what the plans were for the upcoming holiday.

Her aunt's red lips turned downward. "Ah, I have a business trip then. I'll have to go to Okinawa for the week."

Thanks for telling me ahead of time, dear aunt! "What about Souji-kun?" Nanako protested. "I think we should have a family vacation sometime. I haven't had much opportunity to get to know you, Aunt Seta!"

"He's a big boy," Aunt Seta said. "And we have all year, Nanako-chan. There will be plenty of time." She smiled at Nanako, and Nanako knew there wouldn't be any time at all. Watching the news together once or twice a week hardly counted as bonding time.

No wonder the woman wasn't a social link.

[5/02: Monday]

Yukiko, diligent student that she was, suggested after school that they form a study group—not because she needed it, but because she was going to be studying with Chie anyway. "What do you think, Yosuke?" Nanako asked. "I bet you haven't studied."

"If only the test was Shadow Slaying 101," Yosuke muttered. "Teddie could write the test for us."

"Nah, if he did, he would put evil questions," said Nanako, "like, I dunno, something where the answer is a bear joke. 'What bug-shaped Shadow have we been defeating at the castle?' 'The Bear-ning Beetle.'"

"I don't think Teddie has ever used that one," Chie observed. "Surprising, huh?"

"Maybe I should copyright it!" Nanako shot her a grin.

"The library is going to be full because of the rain," Yukiko noted. "We probably wouldn't be able to find four seats together."

"Why not Junes?" Chie suggested. "They have plenty of tables, and then we can snack out on steak!"

"I'm not paying," Yosuke said. His arms were determinedly crossed. "I'm not. Don't try and make me."

Chie made a comment about broken DVDs, which Nanako followed up with a comment on broken balls, and then Yosuke said that maybe he simply wouldn't study with them after all.

Fortunately the rain let up by the time they reached Junes, though they had to wipe the table dry before they could put their schoolwork on it. They spent the afternoon studying, but the only one who stayed focused the whole time was Yukiko. Whenever Nanako got bored she began to kick Yosuke under the table until he'd scooted himself rather far away from the group to avoid her. It was pretty funny when Chie asked what the heck he was doing, although Nanako was forced to apologize when he pointed her out as the culprit.

"Man, I hate school," Nanako muttered. "When are we ever gonna need to know how someone translated 'I love you' into Japanese? Maybe if it was more practical information..."

"What, like how to boss people around?" Yosuke's tone was sour; he was probably still nursing his sore shins.

Nanako laughed. "I could teach that class, honey!"

"Maybe a money sense class would be nice, huh?" Yosuke retorted teasingly.

Nanako scowled at him for being right, though she'd been pretty good with her money recently. She'd received her weekly allowance last night, anyway! Of course, she'd probably spend it all the next time she visited Daidara's or the Velvet Room...

"'The moon is beautiful, isn't it?'" said Yukiko.

Nanako looked at her. "The moon's not even out!"

"Umm, Nanako, that's what we're studying," said Chie. "She's trying to get us back on topic. That's one of the translations for 'I love you.'"

Yosuke snickered. Man, his snicker was annoying. Nanako kicked him in the shin again for good measure and he stopped with a yelp. He glared at her, and she just smiled serenely at him.

"So, umm, what was the translation that Shimei Futabatei used instead?" Yukiko asked.

No one answered, and thunder rolled in the distance.

"It was, 'I could die,'" Yukiko said helpfully, her tone a tad desperate.

"I agree," Nanako said, closing her notebook with finality.

[5/03: Tuesday]

Golden Week began today. It really wasn't a whole week off, only... half a week, but Nanako supposed 'Golden Half-week' didn't have the same appeal. Still, she'd spent both Sunday and Monday studying like a good girl—retch!—and it was time to relax!

It was Constitution Day, and Yosuke called to hang out. Nanako declined because she wanted to spend the holiday with Souji. It might be fun to force Yosuke to play with Souji, but not now.

She brought her stuffed animals to the living room and played with him. It took Souji a while to get into it—he seemed to be worried about making the animals do or say something wrong, but Nanako continued to involve him until he overcame his shyness, and then he was genuinely having fun. His face was brighter than she'd seen it in her entire time here, and his soft and breathy laugh—her goal—was so adorable.

Souji started to initiate play on his own, too. He had Kitty ask where Foxie was and suggested the queen let her out of jail just for today because she was missing all the fun.

"Oh, I don't know," Nanako said in her Chan-chan voice. "Stealing gummies is a serious crime! Buuut I do miss her, so okay. (Souji-kun, why don't you go get her for me?)"

Nanako had the animals host a little reunion with Foxie, and then made her go along with the others on an adventure.

That evening, since Aunt Seta was out of town, Nanako ordered pizza from a nearby pizzeria. She hadn't had pizza in forever, and with how excited Souji seemed to be, he probably hadn't either. It was a four-way pizza with avocado shrimp, barbecue chicken, pepperoni, and Italian-style cheese. He ate the whole cheese portion all on his own, and Nanako claimed the shrimp. They had enough leftovers for the next night.

Before putting the boy to bed, Nanako decided to read to Souji—using her Loveline manga! Souji followed along attentively, and when she closed the second volume and told him it was time to sleep, he sat up in his bed, clutched at his sheets, and begged her to read him the next one. She smiled at him and promised to continue tomorrow.

[5/04: Wednesday]

Since it was Nature Day and all, Nanako decided she should go out and enjoy nature at its finest, so she took Souji out to the Samegawa River. Since he seemed to have an interest in bugs, she'd bought him a bug-catching kit.

She twirled around with the bug-catching net and listened to the satisfying whoosh it made as it cut through the air. It was a perfect day for it, really. The sky was cerulean, and the bugs were lively and active from the recent rain.

But something was out of place.

She looked at her little cousin. He was wearing a white snap-button shirt with a collar, and over that was a gray vest. At least he was wearing shorts—they looked to be from his school uniform—but he had pristine white socks and shoes that looked new.

It was quite a problem. This was what he'd worn when she told him to put on play clothes. After a search through his room (with the horrified boy watching her hunt), it had turned out that he pretty much didn't have anything she would consider play clothes.

"Souji-kun, the vest needs to go."

He thumbed the vest's hem and looked up at her in obvious confusion.

Moments later she was pulling it off of him, the justification being that it was too hot to wear outside. "It'll get crumpled too. Don't worry, I'll fold it up and we'll leave it right here, okay?" she added when he stared at it in her hands as if it needed far more reverence than she was giving it. She put it on the picnic table.

That would do for now...

Nanako began to look for bugs nearby. "Here, here! It's a ladybug, Sou-chan!"

Such a simple bug didn't even need a net to catch. Nanako had Souji bring her the glass box and simply picked up the leaf the bug was resting on and put it inside. Souji held up the box to his face and watched the ladybug crawl around in its new home.

"How many spots does it have?" Nanako asked.

"Seven," he reported. His eyes were small; he seemed to be enthralled by the creature.

Nanako saw something jump in the grass and began to stalk it. Yep, it jumped again—a grasshopper. She slowly closed the distance, but it jumped away again. She brought down the net, but again it evaded her. Finally, after the third try, she caught it. It tried jumping but the net kept it contained. She lifted the net and grabbed it before it could jump again, then brought it back to Souji and put it in the box. It immediately tried to jump out and crashed against the glass. It fell upside down, but Souji gently turned the box until it was back on its feet.

Nanako asked him to follow her to the river, where she took off her shoes and put her feet in the water. The banks were rocky, but the stones were mostly smooth, so it wasn't too uncomfortable to walk along the river barefoot.

Souji was on the grass and made no attempt to come closer to the water.

She gave him a no-nonsense look. "Off with the shoes, Souji-kun! It'll be fun, I promise!"

He looked down at his feet, and before he could react, she tackled him to the grass with a laugh. "You're such a silly boy, come on!"

He tried to wriggle away, but Nanako got ahold of one of his feet and pulled the shoe off. After that, he gave up, and she pulled the other shoe and then both socks off, too. She thought of tickling his feet, but decided against it because she'd always hated that when she was younger.

"Come on, let's go to the river!" she said. "I promise I won't push you in, and if I do, then you can splash me all you want. Umm, you know how to swim, right? Just checking."

"Y-yeah, b-but..." he said, voice quavering.

"Whoa, hey, what's wrong? You've got cute feet—you shouldn't hide them!" she said, thinking it was the stealing of his shoes and socks that had upset him.

But it wasn't that. "N-not s'posed to d-dirty my sh-shirt..." he whimpered, picking at his shirt where it had become stained from their tumble in the grass.

"Oh, what? Here." She tugged at his shirt, unsnapping the buttons and ultimately taking the whole thing off. "You didn't need a shirt, anyway."

"It's s-still d-dirty," he said, sniffling and rubbing around his eyes.

"Souji! Look!" She pulled up a clump of dirt and grass from the ground and rubbed it all over her blouse. "Ah! Now I'm dirty, too! We'll just go home and do some laundry, okay?"

"'s not S-Sunday," he mumbled.

"Your mom's not even going to know. She's still out of town." Who knew when Aunt Seta would be back, anyway? She hadn't left Nanako any sort of estimate about it. "Really, it'll be okay," she said soothingly. "Trust me. I'm the boss."

He sniffled again, and she had him blow his nose on his shirt, and then made a pile on the grass with it along with his shoes and socks. She helped him up and walked him toward the water's edge. Looking at him and his reflection in the water, she noticed how pale the boy was. Did he ever get out of the house? She'd have to take him to the beach this summer. Well, after coating him with a thick layer of sunscreen.

"Maybe sometime we can go swimming, huh?" she suggested.

He was looking at his feet through the water's surface. He wiggled the toes of one foot. "Y-yeah... I'd like that..." he admitted slowly without looking up. She ran her fingers through his hair in happiness.

"Look, Souji-kun! A butterfly!" She spotted it across the river, flying around in the haphazard way that butterflies tended to. It was a bright yellow color—the common brimstone butterfly—and soon it was fluttering around them.

It flew around Souji's head, the boy trying to follow its movement, until it landed on his nose. "Ah, ah... it t-tickles!" he said, his eyes crossing to look at it.

It flattened its wings for a moment, and then it was off again. They watched it seek flowers among the sea of grass above the riverbank until it flew out of sight.

They moved down the river to the makeshift pier—it was just a few large flat stones set into the river—and sat with their feet hanging over the edge. The water was so clear that they could watch fish swimming in it. She vowed to bring some worms or fish food next time (she couldn't very well feed them the bugs she'd caught for Souji!). For now, though...

She pulled Souji into her lap and cuddled him close to her chest. Seeing his face turn so rosy, ah! That was all she needed for now.

[5/05: Thursday]

Children's day!

"We have the house to ourselves," Nanako told Souji. "Let's go wild!"

She proceeded to take him to her room and dress him up in some of her own clothes. He came out of it decked out in a pair of her slacks—he refused to wear a skirt, despite her pleading—which were way too large for him and kept falling down until she tied her yellow school scarf around it as a makeshift belt, and her Yasogami High winter jacket. She tied the long arms of a pink sweater around his neck and told him it was a cape. Inspired by that one boy at the daycare, she put one of her bras on his head as a finishing touch.

It was too bad she'd left her old Detective Loveline costume back in Tokyo. He'd be adorable in it.

"Your name is... Lieutenant Briefs!" she announced, since the pants had fallen down again. He blushed and tried to hold them up.

She turned to her closet and contemplated what she should wear. She considered raiding her aunt's closet, but her clothes were probably too expensive to mess with. She settled with wearing a jacket on backwards and wearing a shorter skirt over the skirt she already had on so that it looked like it was layered, if one ignored the fact that they were completely clashing colors: bright pink with white polka dots over a vibrant fire engine red. "And I am Sailor Boss!" she declared, twirling so that her dual skirts flared out. "Defender of Love and Happiness!"

She then struck a pose, and then helped him come up with his own pose to complement hers. She found the Loveline umbrella in his room and brought it out to him. His eyes glittered at the sight of it. She gave it to him and said it was his Wand of Justice.

"Now... Lieutenant Briefs! What is the cookie situation?" she asked in a businesslike fashion.

"We don't have any cookies..." he answered with a cute little frown.

"I know, and that's a crime. It must be corrected. And sooo... We're gonna bake some! How about that?" She strode into the kitchen and pulled out a package of cookie dough from the refrigerator that she'd bought over the weekend for this express purpose.

"Y-yeah!" he declared. "Please, please!"

She told him to get his step stool. While he did that, she pulled down a cutting board and rolling pin hidden in the cabinets and set them on the counter. Then she ran back up to her room and grabbed one of her Junes bags and brought it down.

Souji was waiting for her at the counter, standing on his stool and moving the rolling pin back and forth. He stopped suddenly when he was caught and pretended that he hadn't been touching it. Nanako laughed at him and patted his head, then put the bag on the table. He looked at it curiously, but she didn't open it.

She put some flour on the cutting board, as per the instructions on the cookie dough package, and then showed him how to use the rolling pin to flatten a portion of the dough. She let him try, but he didn't quite have the strength to flatten the dough, so she stood behind him and 'helped' him roll it. They had some trouble with the dough sticking to the rolling pin until she covered it with flour. She showed her floury hands to Souji and told him she was turning into a ghost, and he giggled.

When the dough was flat enough, she asked him what kind of shapes he wanted to make. While he mulled an answer over, she pulled out the cookie cutters from the Junes bag and waved the package in front of him. "How about... dinosaurs?"

Junes really does have everything, she mused while she helped him punch out the different dinosaurs in the dough. As soon as she'd seen the dinosaur cookie cutters there on Sunday, she just had to buy them even though she'd never baked cookies before in her life. There was even a pterodactyl in the set. It was like it was made just for Souji.

They only had one baking pan, and it couldn't fit all of the cookies, so they had to bake in shifts. Souji was so excited when the first set was done that she literally had to pull him away from the oven so that he wouldn't get burned when she took them out. "Keep your pants on! Really, they're falling down again."

Chastised, he stepped back, and while he was distracted by pulling his pants back up, she opened the oven and took the cookies out. The blast of heat that came out was enough to keep Souji away from it. "That's right! It's hot!" she told him. "We'll have to wait for them to cool before we can have them."

Though in all honesty, Nanako was impatient to try them, too. They were only sugar cookies. Since it was her first time baking and all, something simple seemed best. They smelled amazing, at any rate...!

And they were pretty amazing when they were finally able to have some. She gave him a pterodactyl and the long-necked one, and she ate a tyrannosaurus and a triceratops. Next time maybe she'd get sprinkles or frosting, she thought. Yes... there'd be a next time.

Souji wasn't a very talkative kid, but she coaxed him into discussing dinosaurs, and boy did he have a lot to say about them! He informed her that the long-necked one was an apatosaurus and then went on and on about which ones ate each other. If only her exams were on dinosaur eating habits—then she'd be totally prepared.

As the day drew on, they played several games together and watched a little bit of TV—though not too much TV; she'd noticed before that the boy seemed to get too absorbed into it. By nightfall, she declared that since it was the last day of Golden Week, she would spend the whole night with him. "That's right—sleepover in your room!"

"H-huh?"

She nodded decisively, and then proceeded to take her blankets from her futon and drop them on the floor in his room. She added several more sets of blankets from a closet and then made a sort of nest on his floor. "Come here, Lieutenant Briefs, come sit by me! Ah, just take the pants off," she added when they'd fallen down again. What a fitting name that had been... He didn't really need to bother putting on pajamas. Fortunately he'd removed the bra from his head several hours before because one of the straps had kept getting in his way. It was now in the living room somewhere... she'd have to find it before Aunt Seta came home and wondered what she'd been up to in her absence, haha...

The boy sat next to her on the makeshift mattress, and she pulled him firmly into her lap and then read the next volume of the Loveline manga to him.

She was glad that she had almost the entire series; she could keep this up for many more nights. Maybe after she finished them all she'd move on to Featherman, but she didn't own any of those volumes, and collecting manga was expensive. Maybe Yosuke owned some that she could... borrow. Otherwise, maybe she'd look up a reading list for elementary age children and pick something that sounded fun and start reading him that. She'd make it fun for him, too, making up different voices for the characters and everything. This was why she couldn't join drama club—she'd want to play every role herself.

"'I'm sure you'll become my very best friend!' Aww, look, she's picked up the puppy in the last panel. This was a good ending! Better than last night's, huh? What an awful cliffhanger that one was, hehe. Oh, and guess what I have for you, Souji-kun?"

Souji, still looking at the last page of the manga, was slow to turn his head and blink up at her.

"Ta-da!" Nanako picked up the plushie she'd hidden from his sight under her pillow and set it in front of him. "Well, it's Foxie, who's not a puppy, but I think that if she had a best friend, maybe she wouldn't resort to a life of crime. How about it, Souji-kun?"

He couldn't hide his surprised little smile as he reached out to touch the fox.

"Now," Nanako said, "I don't know if she loves hugs as much as Chan-chan, but it's worth a try, hmm?"

The smile became a full-on grin. He clutched the animal to his chest, and then Nanako hugged him, too, since he was still in her lap and all.

"All right, I suppose we should get to sleep," she said with a sigh. "Hey, why don't you sleep on the floor with me, hmm? It'll be like a camp-out. Just me and you and Foxie!"

Without waiting for his response, she pulled the blankets and pillow from his futon and placed them next to her little nest. He seemed embarrassed, but he didn't protest when she gently pushed him into lying down in the spot she'd made for him. After she put a blanket over him, she went to turn off the light. His eyes reflected the glow of the nightlight in the corner of the room as he watched her prepare her own spot in the dark.

When she was situated, she told him goodnight, and then tried to lean over and kiss him on the forehead. She missed and got his hair instead, making them both giggle. "Sleep well, okay?" she told him. "Dream of flying with the pterodactyls."

"Uh, umm," he mumbled. "Y-yeah... Goodnight... b...big... sis..."

While she was still registering his words, she felt him cuddle up to her back. She carefully turned around and enfolded him in her arms, trying to dismiss the tears forming in her eyes.

[AN: In the game, the Golden Week holiday is when the main character takes his little cousin out to meet all his friends. But our little Souji isn't quite ready to meet a bunch of people like that, so this happened instead!

This chapter felt like it took forever to write. Coming up with cute things to do with kids was so difficult. Don't worry—even though I said that, I still have plenty of ideas and plans for Souji, hehe.

And we really couldn't resist that little bit of butterfly symbolism there.

Next Chapter: The Prince and the Punk, Part 1

The plot makes a comeback as the Midnight Channel airs again.]