"I'm Yosuke Hanamura, and this is my little brother, Teddie."

Yasogami certainly appealed to Teddie. The bright yellows everywhere were calming to him. It brought Yosuke back to Teddie's first day at school all those years ago. Thankfully for both of them this time, the teacher wouldn't need to pry Teddie off of Yosuke's leg.

"Incidentally, I'm a Cancer, born on June 22nd."

"Wait, did we have to know our star signs?!"

First impressions were important to him, so he wanted to get his introduction right. It seemed like Yosuke had it all figured out.

"I'm 175 centimeters tall and still growing, and anyone who wants to know my weight should come and ask me secretly after class."

"We have to know our height too?!"

"We don't really know our way around, so we'd be happy if you all could show us around."

Well, this was it. He was going to make sure Yasogami would remember the name Teddie Hanamura.

He said in a really fast and admittedly loud tone, "Hi I'm Teddie my birthday's July 10th I think I'm somewhere around 165 centimeters I don't really know exactly and last I checked I'm 55 kilograms I don't know if that's good or bad nice to meet you all!" Nailed it. He had to take a breather after that.

"G-great job, Ted." Yosuke commented awkwardly. Teddie felt proud about that.

Teddie's desk was right behind Yosuke's. He noticed his brother's arms were slightly crossed from his point of view, which he always did when he hung out with the other guys back in the city.

"Now that I think about it, I miss them too. Didn't really talk to them that much, but I miss them. Especially Katsuragi, that guy was great from what he told me about him!"

Yosuke began to lighten up about it as the school day went on. Those feelings were reflected in Teddie as well, eager to see what kind of people lived in his birthplace. During some of the last minutes of the school day, however, he overheard a few students on the other side of the classroom.

"They look nothing alike."

"Maybe his hair is bleached?"

"Nah, he's definitely a natural blond. Something's up."

He didn't care about those comments, though. He was used to them by now…okay, maybe he cared about them a little. He looked over at a girl in a nearby seat wearing a green sweater. With her brown hair and eyes, she looked more like she could be Yosuke's sibling than he did. Was this the year he finally dyes his hair brown? He had two and a half years to decide, and anything could happen in that amount of time…

October 31st, the school festival. Teddie had it marked on his calendar and was eager to participate unlike his brother. When it started, they realized It was a lot like work, which meant fun for Teddie, and boredom for Yosuke. He did his usual spiel he always did at work of "trying to act like you're on an infomercial", much to everyone's annoyance. The Hanamuras were clearly the most experienced at handling orders compared to most of the students, except one girl, Yukiko Amagi, another student in their class. She definitely had more experience in the workplace than both of them combined. The group almost forgot they even had a break period. During that, Teddie was the only one who actually liked cleaning tables. He overheard Yosuke talking to two athletes they got to know making some kind of joke about pandas, which he didn't get. Yukiko came over along with the same brown-haired girl from before.

"Alright, good work!" she complimented.

"It's almost time for the shift change." Yukiko announced.

The two were then asked by the athletes what they were doing for their break. The brunette pondered for a bit before Yukiko interrupted as if it was obvious to her. "Chie, didn't you say you wanted to get steak skewers from the class next door? You should hurry and go get them before they sell out."

The boys didn't even know these two that well, and yet Chie's expression told them that she felt called out.

"Y-Yukiko, come on…Did I really say something like that?"

"Steak's great!" Teddie tried to lighten the mood for her. "I might actually check that one out! Though I kinda want to see what else is here first." The light smile on her face was enough proof that he did something good today.

"Well, I have somewhere I need to go, so I'm heading out."

"Heading to the bathroom?" Teddie assumed. "Ok, I'll be at the snack bar!"

Splitting off from his brother, Teddie immediately got lost in the hallways, never having strayed from his normal path to and from classes that often. Even then, his mind always tended to wander whenever he was in such a scenario.

"Seriously, this was way easier back home. Way less packed, though, so I guess that's good."

Eventually, he ended up at the bathroom door. Figuring he might as well wait for Yosuke to come out, he sat down next to the door. He knew that at this point he might not even know his way back to his own classroom.

As he waited, he heard someone talking about him. Nothing unusual for him at this point, but this conversation was interesting.

"Isn't that one of the Junes boys?"

"'Junes'? You mean that giant supermarket?"

"They know us!" Teddie internally exclaimed. His hands were shaking with excitement. The motto of the place may have been "Every day is customer appreciation day", but no one was more appreciative of the customers than him. But from the sound of the next thing that came out of their mouths, that appreciation wasn't returned.

"It's because of Junes that the local businesses are suffering…"

Despite their tone, he saw that as a compliment. "I guess that means we're pretty good, huh?" He was good at his job, and proud of it.

After a few more minutes of waiting, no matter how many students came in and out, there wasn't a single sign of Yosuke. Just when Teddie was about to get up to stretch his legs, he heard two high voices call his name.

"There you are!" Yukiko approached. "Your break's been up for four minutes, by the way."

Teddie looked up at a nearby clock and felt a little bit embarrassed. He completely lost track of time listening in on other people's conversations.

"Anyway, have you seen your brother anywhere?" Chie asked. "I swear we've been looking all over the place for him! You probably know him pretty well, where would he be at a time like this?"

Teddie pointed his thumb towards the bathroom door and sighed. "He's been in there for who knows how long at this point! It's fine, though. His bladder always gets like this after enough time at work."

Chie and Yukiko looked at each other before Chie spoke up. "No offense, but people always say they need to go to the bathroom in order to avoid having to work."

"That would explain a lot." Teddie realized. "Anyway, sometimes after work, he goes to the balcony of our house to mope. Maybe it helps him relieve stress or he likes the wind in his face, anyway, not important. The point is maybe he's moping somewhere similar? Does this school have a balcony?"

Chie looked at Yukiko with an unamused look before they both said in unison, "The roof."

"Yeah, that's close enough."

When they got there, the group noticed a girl with dirty blonde hair who was on her way out of the door to the roof. She looked happy for some reason. Sure enough, on the rooftop bench, Yosuke was lying down with the biggest grin on his face, which was as red as his work apron. That blush was immediately lost as soon as he turned his head over to see the trio running towards him, but the worst part was, Teddie was turning his head towards the door, and back to him. Teddie's smile grew bigger once he realized what was going on. Yosuke didn't even pay attention to the girls scolding him once he started focusing on Teddie's reaction.

" Oh no, not again… "

After the festival, both brothers were overly tired. It didn't help that they had to go pick up some extra vegetables after they ran out. They simultaneously dropped on their beds at the same time.

"Ugh, I'm definitely going to be sore tomorrow…"

Teddie, on the other hand, never stayed tired for very long, and as soon as he remembered what happened when they met up at the end of their break, he sprung up to ask him about it.

"So, about what I saw you doing today…" His voice was a clear sign that he was interested in why the blonde girl was there. Yosuke had to come up with some excuse to get him off of his back about her.

"Yeah! Those bugs were pretty nasty, right?"

"Ok, yeah, you scream over bugs crawling over you, nothing new, I've known that since you were eight." But before Yosuke could even breathe any sighs of relief… "Anyway, who's the lucky one?"

And there it was, he quickly dug his face into his pillow finding any sort of way he could get Teddie to change the subject.

"She was just there to tell me I got her order wrong."

"On the roof?" No luck. He tried faking sleeping, because of how tired he was, maybe he'd drift off for real. So after a few seconds without any words spoken, Teddie dropped the bombshell.

"You get that same look every time you get a crush on someone."

"What look?" Yosuke's groggy tone was fading a bit in order to put up some defense.

"Your face scrunches up, your eyes go wide, and you always turn your head away from me so that I don't see you blushing."

"Okay okay I get it! We were just having a conversation before you came in. She told me I was interesting, left, and then you came in. Happy?"

"Yes."

And with that, Yosuke was out cold. Teddie fell asleep soon after.

He knew his brother would always admit his problems to him sooner or later.

Over a week passed since the festival, and throughout that time, Yosuke couldn't stop thinking about the girl he met, Saki Konishi. Every time they'd walk by each other in the hallway, Teddie would need to push him out of the way because of how smitten he was. But nothing could compare to the time she got a part-time job at Junes. Weirdly enough, Yosuke actually did better whenever he worked with her, never slacking off a single time. Teddie knew that he was just trying to impress her, but whatever got the job done, he guessed.

One day, he found Saki alone in one of the aisles. Yosuke was doing a shift somewhere else, which left the other two in an inexperienced partnership. But Teddie didn't want this opportunity to go to waste. If his brother had a crush on someone, he was going to do his best to make sure that they'll love him back, because knowing him, they probably wouldn't otherwise.

"Oh, you're Hanamura-kun's brother, aren't you?"

"Yup! And proud of it!" Teddie proclaimed while pushing things to the back of the shelf. "You're lucky he's always willing to help you out. Having a guy like him around the house is always good. Not to toot his own horn, but he's a great guy to live with. Whoever ends up with him is going to be set for life!"

"I can see that," Saki replied. "He told me quite a bit about you. Not much, but I can tell you're no slouch either."

"Well, I guess hard work runs in the family!" Teddie said, scratching the back of his head.

"I don't mean to pry, but I heard everyone talk about how different you two look."

"Funnily enough, we actually met in this very store a long time ago."

"That's sweet. Don't let it get to you. I always wanted a little sister, so just kinda finding each other that way when you were both around the same age, it's adorable." But then she popped the same question he was asked by his brother at the beginning of the month. "Wait, you met here, right? Are you going to find out where you came from?"

"Hah! Over your dead body! I've been nothing but happy ever since we came here! It's way better than where we used to live. So I'm not really planning on finding out about why I was here or anything like that." Teddie scoffed. Confident as he may have been, he did feel a little startled hearing Yosuke's voice come towards him.

"It's 'over MY dead body'," he yelled. Something told him he wasn't happy seeing Teddie him with his crush. "Anyway, Konishi-san, your turn at the food court."

Once she was out of earshot, Yosuke had a few choice words for the coworker who was also his brother.

"Hey, whatever happened to 'I know you have a crush on her'?"

By now, Teddie had gotten so good at every part of the job that he could hold a conversation without even needing to glance at the person he was talking to. "I never said I knew you had a crush on her, I just said you were making that face you make when you have a crush. Besides, what are you miffed about? I was just telling her how good of a husband you'd be to someone."

"Then why did she call you adorable?" Yosuke asked, still having some disbelief.

"She was talking about how good of a team we make! I'm just looking out for my future sister-in-law, that's all!" Teddie gave him that bright smile he knew all too well whenever he needed him to understand something he liked doing.

"Come on, man. You know I can't say no to that face."

"That's why I keep making it!"

Calming down, the brunet brother had a request disguised as a question. "Do you wanna be my wingman or something?"

That only made him smile more "Of course! Can't leave you pining alone!"

That finally got Yosuke to smile back at him.

"Trust me, by the time Valentine's Day comes around, you'll get more from her than just chocolate." But once Teddie saw his face, he had to clarify. "I meant a kiss. Get your mind out of the gutter."

As the weather got colder, and the holiday season came around, there came a day where Yosuke was down with a cold, leaving Teddie as the one to take charge. Last minute Christmas shopping was a tough time at Junes, and while Teddie normally wasn't much of a cash register guy, mainly due to the slow nature of it, at this time of year, when every customer was rushing around impulse buying things their friends and family will probably never use, it was the perfect way to satisfy Teddie's fidgeting whenever he was usually in this position.

While his breaks were few that day, during one of them, he was sitting in the corner of the store molding a bar of soap. As he was doing so, he spotted Chie walking around the store somewhat aimlessly. He held up his hand and waved to her when she looked in his direction. She ran over to him in a panicked state.

"Hanamura-chan! I don't have much time to chat, so if you need something from me, it'll have to wait."

"You can just call me Teddie. I'm not really one for all that fancy talk anyway." Teddie waved her off.

"That makes things simpler for me when referring to both of you. Now that I think about it, where is Yosuke? Did he leave to come up with a better excuse?" Chie joked.

"Actually, he's sick today. We have a shortage of tissues for a reason."

Chie wasn't convinced. "You sure he's not faking it to get out of work again?"

"Trust me. I know when he's faking. He's terrible at it. Now, what did you come here for in the first place? You looked all panicky."

Chie facepalmed. "Ugh, right! You see, I may or may not have kinda sorta accidentally forgot to get my mom a Christmas present. I swear, I remember this a lot more often, but I try to be more unique every year, which means I gotta think harder for these things and it all just comes off as a bigger hassle than I think it needs to be."

Looking at his soap, Teddie got an idea. "What does your mom like?"

"Well, let's see, she's pretty big on sitcoms, she watches a lot of tennis on TV, got her a tennis racket with her name on it once. She puts ketchup on everything. I think my grandma told me she had a pet lizard when she was a kid-"

"Hold that thought!" Teddie abruptly ended her listing. He speedily started to mold the soap he was holding, taking out his carving knife when needed. Once he was done, he showed Chie the bar of soap, now perfectly molded into the shape of a lizard. The legs and feet were a bit misshapen, but it was still an incredible mark of craftsmanship.

"Here! You can give her this. Just make sure to let it dry first so it can harden."

"Oh, thanks! I owe you one!"

Teddie cheekily responded to that opportunity with "How does, oh, I don't know, 500 yen sound?"

Chie sighed as she took out her wallet. "You drive a hard bargain, kid. But I can't complain when you saved my butt. Every year since I was a kid, we go to Ohio Barbeque Turkey for dinner; then again, who doesn't? And my dad, man, you can tell where my appetite comes from. But my mom, whenever she goes there, she doesn't even order any…" She paused before apologizing to Teddie. "Sorry, I'm rambling, aren't I?"

Teddie shrugged. "Can't blame you. I know I tend to do that a lot. Even to myself sometimes."

"Well, at least I have someone to talk to about this kind of stuff. Anyway, I gotta go. It was nice talking to you!"

Of course, wherever Chie went, Yukiko was sure to follow, and today was no different. She came into the store mere seconds after Chie left. Teddie had a few minutes until his break was over, so he figured he could spend those minutes with whatever she needed, but not before explaining his lack of a need for honorifics first.

"So anyway, you need anything?"

"We're having a Christmas party at the inn. We have most of the stuff we need, I'm just getting a few additions." Her face said it all. Baggy eyes, a light yawn here or there, they must've been planning this for the whole month. "Do you know where the toiletries are? We got a lot more guests than we normally get at this time of year." She yawned again.

Teddie got up to show her around. "You're definitely in the wrong end of the store. Also, are you ok?"

"Yeah…I'm fine…"

As they were walking to the aisle, Teddie knew he needed to break the ice about what was going on at that inn. Even then, however, he couldn't bring himself to make eye contact with her, uncomfortable with her red eyes.

"So this Christmas party, you hold this thing every year?"

Despite Yukiko being overtired, a light giggle managed to come out. "You really are new here. A lot of people come here for the holidays. You'd be surprised how many people have family in Inaba."

"Is it only for people staying, or can people who live here come as well?"

"There's a small fee, but yeah. If you want, you can come.

"If Yosuke's feeling better by then, I'll definitely be there!"

And by then, they had finally reached the toiletries section. Though after Teddie gave Yukiko what she needed, her lack of energy caused her to accidentally drop them on the floor.

"Do you want a bag for that?"

"Yes…that would be nice."

He felt like he was finally getting to know his brother's friends better, and when the Christmas party eventually came around, it only got better. There were a surprising number of students from Yasogami that came as well, mainly everyone in their class. According to Yosuke, Yukiko told him that her parents invite all of the students in the class she's in every year, most likely to help her get along with anyone there. The two came out of the inn unexpectedly satisfied with what the party was. Seeing an improvement over similar instances in the past, Yosuke congratulated Teddie. "Look, I know whenever you hang out with my friends, you can get a little touchy-feely with them. But you kept your distance, and we had a good time."

Teddie had just finished eating a cookie that was in a little bag of desserts. He wasn't paying attention, so he asked him to repeat it.

"Look, the point is, you're improving in being a little calmer around friends, and I'm proud of you, little bro."

He braced himself for a hug from Teddie. Even if he could be a bit intense when he's happy, when it was just the two of them together, sometimes, he needed that after a long day.

"Yes, I love you too."

Valentine's Day came faster than they had expected. The snow had come in, and there would most likely be a snow day tomorrow. It wasn't packed up high enough to where the brother's plan would be foiled, which was lucky enough for them.

"A white Valentine's Day!" Teddie proclaimed on their way to school. "That means good luck!"

"Literally no one says that," said Yosuke. His hat above his eyes and scarf covering most of his face, his vision wasn't exactly the best, leading him to fall head first into a pile of snow when he missed a step on the curve.

"Look, I know you think she's hot, but that doesn't mean you gotta cool yourself down that much." Puns. Teddie had a knack for those.

Throughout the entire school day, all they got was friendship chocolate, the worst kind anyone could receive. It wasn't the fact that it tasted worse, it was just the principle of it, or at least that's how it felt according to Yosuke. To Teddie, however, chocolate was chocolate. He ate it all right up. But once the school day was over, that's when the real challenge began. Saki was right there, in the middle of the store, next to the leftover Valentine's cards that weren't bought. The brothers were at a nearby aisle, ready for Yosuke to make his move.

"Alright, you got the chocolate?" Teddie checked.

"Yeah."

"And what's your excuse?"

Yosuke paused before reminding himself of what Teddie told him during lunch.

"I don't want all of it to go to waste so I'm giving it to her!"

"Great!"

Yosuke had one more question before executing the hardest plan he thought he'd make in his life. "Ok, but should I get some last minute breath mints or something like that?"

Teddie shuddered at the very mention of those. "Absolutely not! They taste gross, and you don't want to be gagging in front of her. Plus they'll make the chocolate taste bad if you kiss her."

"But do I-"

"No buts, just go!" With confidence through the roof, Teddie shoved Yosuke into the aisle Saki was in, and tried to find a safe distance to watch from. The grocery aisle was a good place to do so with all of the added cover from all of the extra tables.

"The person coming to live with us in Spring, what kind of person is he?" A little girl's voice said from the other end of the aisle. It was already hard for Teddie to hear what was going on with how far away he was from Yosuke and Saki, combined with the noise of the refrigerators. At this point, trying to find out what they were saying was useless, but he had to pass the time doing something. He looked over to where he heard the voice and saw the girl, her hair in pigtails, walking with who Teddie assumed to be her father.

"Why? Are you worried about it?" The older man asked her. But before she could answer, the man approached Teddie and asked "I'm sorry, are you available?"

"Yes!" Teddie said with no hesitation. It immediately distracted him from listening to Yosuke's flirting.

"We're looking for the seafood stand. Do you know where that is?"

He didn't even need to think before he answered "You're going the wrong way then, it's right behind you."

"I told you." The girl quipped. She was definitely different from what Teddie mostly saw from kids her age, yet he still felt the same sense of wonder from her that he knew all too well.

"Anyway, thanks." Her father was relieved despite the jab. "This place is…a lot bigger than I expected. I swear, you could lose three children my daughter's age here if you were careless enough."

If only he knew how much in poor taste that joke was. As the family of two turned around, Teddie noticed what was next to the seafood. Trying to look nonchalant, while the man was ordering, Teddie went up to the girl's ear and whispered "By the way, there are free samples of cheese on your left."

And just like that, the kid was off, startling the man.

"Nanako-…oh."

The smile on her face was priceless as she ate it. A stroke of relief came over her father's face as he wiped his brow.

"You sure are good with kids, you know that?"

"Well I've always been told I'm still a kid on the inside." Teddie said with a bit of humble embarrassment.

"How old are you again?"

"I…" He had to pause for a second before answering. "Sixteen."

"Oh, do you go to Yasogami?"

"Actually, yeah, I do!" Teddie's face lit up as he remembered how well things have been for him there.

"My nephew's going there in a few months. Gotta say, if he ever meets you, I'm sure he'll be fine." That was the first time he saw the man give a hint of a smile today. Nanako had just finished her cheese sample when she walked back to him.

"Anyway, I guess we better get going. Thanks uh…Teddie." The man said, reading his name tag.

"Thank you, Teddie!" Nanako said with a bit more enthusiasm.

"You're welcome Nanako-chan and uh…"

"Dojima. Ryotaro Dojima."

"Well then you too, Dojima-san."

Conveniently for him, the moment Dojima and Nanako left. Yosuke came walking behind Teddie.

Teddie looked to the side to see his brother. "Oh, you're back. So how did it go?"

"That girl's got a lot of personal issues…"

The month of April had just begun. Usually that would mean bright colors and lots of activities going on, but right now, Teddie was stuck at the gas station waiting for his parent's car to be filled up. While he was in the store waiting for Yosuke to come out of the bathroom, he noticed the odd appearance of the bored-looking cashier. Silver hair, red eyes, and very pale skin. Her eyes became locked on to him the instant he entered her gaze.

"Are you going to keep staring at me or…"

"Oh, I'm sorry." The woman tried to put on a cheery demeanor, but as a fellow retail worker, Teddie could tell that she wasn't even trying. But speaking of his job, that's when an idea came to him. If Yosuke was scoring lately with Saki, he might as well give it a try.

"So what's a lady like you doing working in a place like this?" Ok, maybe that was a bit hypocritical of him, but it was the first thing that came to mind.

But her response was interesting. "Well, it's one of the only gas stations in town. You get to see a lot of different faces here, and sometimes, if you meet the right people, you might end up being the one to make someone's life in this small town a bit more…interesting." But the way she said that last word, combined with her wink right after, started to make him a little uncomfortable, but still intrigued by the thought.

"So anyway, are you gonna buy something or what?"

Intimidated by her stare, Teddie decided to grab a quick snack from the register, but when he handed her the money, an intense chill went down his spine when their hands touched. He didn't know if that was just him being in shock or something else.

"Oh, sorry. My hands get…cold when I'm in here." The woman apologized.

"Oh man, I know how that feels! One time, when I was at-"

"Ted, stop flirting with the cash register girl. We're leaving." Yosuke called, having finally gotten out at the most convenient time.

"Sorry, that's my brother. Gotta go!" What Teddie didn't see as he left the gas was the woman's ominous grin as her eyes gave off a crimson spark.

Later that night, Teddie's dream found himself in a place with a red tiled floor. It was a wide open space, so he ran around the place at blinding speeds. Distracted by the thrill of his momentum, he ended up bumping into a square door with black and red patterns on it. Before he could even recover from the recoil, the door opened up, and he was sucked inside.

Where he landed, the floor was vaguely cloud-like. Probably the texture of his bed becoming a part of the dream. But right as Teddie got up, he caught a brief glimpse of a shadowy figure before it darted away. The figure's voice was soft, but legible.

"So you can see through clouded thoughts. That should prove quite useful in the coming moments."

If only he could just catch a clear view of who that was. The wind from it's swift movements sent a chill down his spine. He couldn't quite hear what it was saying, but it's whispers were unnerving.

"It doesn't affect you at all, doesn't it? Yet you have remained oblivious to your origins."

Finding a conveniently placed glove with long, sharp claws on it, Teddie picked it up and threw it at the next chance he had to see any part of the mysterious entity, but it was as if the glove went right through it.

"You haven't even tried searching for the truth. If you have the capabilities of seeing through the fog, and do nothing with it…you're just like anyone else, aren't you?"

Before Teddie could even respond, the figure laid a single finger on his shoulder. When he tried to turn around, the whiplash from the movement of his head woke him up. Not enough to spring his head up from the bed, but enough to shoot his eyes open. Teddie flipped his body over to look at his brother. He remembered something his parents told him when he found out that they were going to move.

"Our lives might change a lot, but I know you're going to love it there."

"How much more could it change?" he asked himself before falling asleep once more.