Oh my god I only just now noticed that while I posted this chapter on AO3, I never posted it on FF! I'm so sorry my readers here! I feel so bad! I had it done and posted in April and now it's October! Aah, again I'm sorry! Anyway, I'm pretty I didn't day it last chapter, so I'd like to announce I have a Tumblr blog specifically meant for this AU! It's called ashfordisland and FF doesn't let me put links so sadly I can only tell you and you have to go to it yourself. Forgive me. The blog has character art for some of the siblings and a couple other characters for now, but in time I plan to add more info and things like maps of tbe Ash household and the island to it. I think it would also be a good place for people to ask questions if they have any but don't want to ask it in a comment/review if it's unrelated to the fic. So there's a place just for that, yay!

Now my apologies, please read the chapter you've been missing out on!


Mahiru walked into his classroom early the next morning and took a seat at his desk. He was always early enough that only a few other kids would be in the room before him. This particular morning however, Mahiru noticed one girl was there before him for the first time.

Suzuhara.

The only reason he even noticed in the first place was because she was staring at him from across the classroom. It wasn't obvious though, since she was trying to face forward while looking at him out of the corner of her eye. But that alone was enough to make Mahiru notice he was being stared at. He wasn't sure if he should ask her why, after all, it wasn't the first time he noticed her staring at him, but her being early to class made him feel like there was something more to it this time. Unfortunately, he couldn't even begin to approach her since Koyuki suddenly burst into the classroom.

"Ma! Hi! Ruuuuu!" Koyuki screamed and launched himself at Mahiru's desk.

"K-Ko! Yu! Ki! What?!" Mahiru shouted back in shock.

The taller teen practically threw himself onto Mahiru's desk and Mahiru tried to lean as far away as his chair would let him. Sakuya, he expected that behavior out of, but it coming from Koyuki was a complete surprise.

"You didn't respond to my texts at all! I spent all night being paranoid out of my mind!" Koyuki cried.

"That's what this is about?! Sorry I didn't respond! Sheesh! I was tired! Is that such a crime?!" Mahiru loudly responded.

"Yes!" Koyuki screeched, annoying the other students in the room.

Ryusei suddenly ran into the classroom and stopped in the doorway to catch his breath.

"Ah, Mahiru! Sorry, he's- agh… too fast! Ugggh! I tried to, ah, stop him!" Ryusei coughed a bit. "Legs… too short… Koyuki… too tall."

Mahiru just pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. At least starting off the day like normal was refreshing in a way compared to the hassle that was yesterday.

"If you're dying then sit down, Ryusei." Mahiru said, not sounding concerned in the slightest.

Ryusei dragged himself to his desk and plopped down in his seat, letting his head collapse onto the desk.

"Okay, now you have to tell me what happened! Don't leave out even the smallest detail!" Koyuki demanded and grabbed Mahiru by the shoulders.

"W-what are you even talking about?! And get off my desk!" Mahiru complained.

"When we left you and Ash alone! What happened?! What did you two do?!" Koyuki exclaimed.

Mahiru felt his eye twitch and he plucked Koyuki's hands off his shoulders.

"Off." He ordered.

Koyuki pouted and got off Mahiru's desk to sit in his own desk. "Okay, please spill now!"

"Why should I?" Mahiru questioned.

"Because I'm your friend and you love me." Koyuki flashed him some rather pitiful puppy dog eyes.

"What's it even… matter? Why're ya makin' a big deal out of it?" Ryusei grumbled.

"Because! I told you, Ryu, this is Mahiru's love life at stake!" Koyuki explained.

Mahiru tensed up at that being said plain as day in the middle of their classroom.

"And I told you I highly doubt that." The blonde responded.

"Koyuki! Have you been telling Ryusei about this?!" Mahiru questioned.

"Well who else am I supposed to talk to when you don't respond to me?!" Koyuki whined.

Mahiru simply groaned.

It was at that moment that Sakuya walked into the classroom. Ryusei was the first to spot him, and as he got closer, Mahiru and Koyuki noticed him as well. Koyuki was about to greet him, but at the sight of the rather glum expression on Sakuya's face, the brunet decided not to say anything. Sakuya sat down in his seat behind Mahiru and the shorter brunet watched him for a moment. Sakuya propped his head up with his hand and stared off into the distance. Part of his fingers and palm were wrapped up in bandages and Mahiru wanted to ask what happened, but he knew by now that asking Sakuya about his injuries never panned out.

"Morning, Sakuya. Everything with Lilac work out?" Mahiru inquired.

Sakuya glanced at the brunet. "Yeah. He got home just fine."

"Well, that's good." Mahiru said.

Sakuya just nodded.

"Okay, we're all here now, so please talk, Mahiru! I am so desperate to know what happened! It's causing me physical pain! I can feel it in my bones!" Koyuki exaggerated.

"Knowing you, that's probably just another growth spurt." Ryusei muttered.

"You're not gonna stop hounding me about this, are you?" Mahiru complained.

"Never." Koyuki stated.

Mahiru sighed again. "Fine. I went over to Ash's house for dinner after you guys left."

Koyuki and Sakuya went wide eyed while Ryusei just raised a brow.

"Y-y-you- you- you what?!" Sakuya shouted.

He cursed himself for being both relieved and pissed at himself for being unable to go over there last night when Shamrock texted him. If he went over there then he could have seen Mahiru there, but how would he explain why he was there? It would have been so awkward and he would have had to finally tell Mahiru things he never wanted to. But knowing Mahiru was over there at all and he missed it drove him insane. Sakuya gripped at his hair then looked down at his bandaged hand. Maybe that incident last night happened for a good reason.

"I said-"

"He invited you over for dinner?!" Koyuki interrupted Mahiru.

Mahiru just stared at him with an unamused expression for a moment. "No. He didn't. All Of Love did. The tall blonde guy, remember?

"Oh, the gay one?" Ryusei asked.

Koyuki snorted and shove a hand over his mouth. Sakuya bipassed laughter all together and just held a wide open grin on his face. Mahiru only looked annoyed.

"Why do you think he's gay?" The brunet struggled to muster up the willpower to even ask.

"Oh, I dunno. He just looks like it. No offense, Mahiru." Ryusei mumbled.

Mahiru sighed once more and leaned his face against his hand. "Ryusei… I'm not gay."

"Ya like chicks and dudes. In a venn diagram that would share a piece with gay, so they're both part of a larger catergory. So then-... Oh." Ryusei turned to Koyuki. "Now I understand why you were callin' it his love life."

"His love life?!" Sakuya repeated in shock. "Why are we talking about Mahiru's love life?!"

Mahiru groaned. "I regret befriending all of you…"

"No, seriously! Is there somethin' goin' on between you and that guy?! Mahiru, you know that's weird, right?" Sakuya continued.

"Okay, one. There is nothing going on between me and Ash!" Mahiru then calmed himself down. "Two. How would that be weird in the first place?"

"Uh, he- he- uh, he just… seems weird, ya know? Okay?" Sakuya struggled to find a reason he could actually say.

"Well don't be stingy! Give us the juicy details!" Koyuki requested.

"Don't call it that. But, I just… walked to his house with him. I met his siblings, all seven of them, and we hung out for a while before his sister took me home. That's it." Mahiru told them, leaving out the things that he didn't want to talk about.

"Oh, oh, oh! Did you meet the little one? Didn't Ash say he had a five year old brother?" Koyuki questioned.

"Uh, yeah. And he attacked me. Turns out he's really attached to Ash. Other than that, super cute kid though. He likes to dress up like some kind of old-timey gentleman." Mahiru answered.

"Aaaawww!" Koyuki fawned over the description of Old Child.

"What's his house like?" Ryusei wondered.

"Big place. I didn't get to see all of it though. They have a library apparently, and I guess all of them have their own bedrooms so that's a lot of rooms." Mahiru explained.

"Ohhh, I bet it'd be fun to hang out over there!" Koyuki commented.

"I don't think all of them would like that, heh. But, maybe one day." Mahiru said.

Sakuya had to question whether that was a good idea or not. Although, he had to admit, in an ideal world, 'one day' sounded nice.

"Psst! Watanuki!"

The group looked over at the door to the classroom to see a guy peeking his head inside. All of them except Sakuya had no idea who he was, but they suspected he was an upperclassman. They looked at Sakuya, and he glanced around back at them. The guy at the door motioned with his hand for Sakuya to come into the hall with him. With a bit of hesitation, Sakuya stood up from his desk and walked to the door in silence. His friends watched him until he was out of sight in the hall.

Sakuya and the upperclassman stood against the wall, staring across the hall and seemingly not acknowledging each other. Sakuya glanced down to see the older teen's black band tied around one of his belt loops.

"Got an invite for you." The upperclassman said.

Sakuya stayed still and only bent his wrist to hold his hand out. The other guy did the same, swapping a piece of paper from his hand into Sakuya's, and Sakuya slipped it into his back pocket.

"Thanks, man." Sakuya responded.

"Your hand okay?" The guy asked.

Sakuya stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Yeah."

"Melancholy Gang gotta stick together, ya know."

"...I know. See ya later, man."

"Yeah, you too."

The upperclassman walked away without another word and Sakuya stood there for a moment before heading back into the classroom. His friends watched him walk by and return to his seat. He once again glanced around at them as they stared at him. Sakuya forced a smirk on his face and pulled the paper out of his pocket to show them.

"Party invite acquired." He bragged.

"Ohhh!" Koyuki clapped at the sight of it.

"Gh! Again?! What's your connection?! Who was that guy?!" Ryusei questioned in shock.

"You guys doubted I knew other people and now here's your proof!" Sakuya responded with a shrug.

Mahiru snatched it out of his hand and Sakuya flinched. The brunet stared at what looked like a ticket stub. It was blank other than a small red flower printed on the corner on one side. Sakuya quickly snatched it back and held it close to his chest.

"Don't think you can steal it from me, Mahiru!" Sakuya dramatically shouted.

"I'm not. I still don't care about those parties anyway." Mahiru denied. "That ticket is surprisingly well made though. Hard to believe they take it that seriously. I mean, what's the point?"

"The point is not throwing away our youth! We gotta take as much advantage of the time we have before it passes us by! Once you're, like, thirty, forty, going out partying, you just look pathetic! Like you're chasing the high of the childhood you wished you had! You gotta live in the here and now, Mahiru! That's why they care! That's why they take it so seriously! In a small, closed off, shitty town like this, you gotta do things yourself. And when you do things yourself, you can't half-ass it." Sakuya explained.

Koyuki looked inspired and Ryusei nodded his head in agreement. Mahiru had to admit he admired that kind of work ethic. In a sense, there was weight to what Sakuya said too. They were just in a small, traditional town that was closed off for the most part. Mahiru had overheard older people in town talking about how absurd the rest of the world seemed. How the people in the city up north were almost like traitors or even heathens. When they received word of major events happening somewhere else they acted like it was scandalous in a way. It started to make sense that those in his own generation that didn't want to grow up to be like their elders, but had to remain in the town, just wanted to make the best of their situation. And for some that meant being a little rebellious. Mahiru didn't agree with it reaching an illegal level, but he didn't think anyone that went down that road was a bad person.

Sakuya certainly wasn't. Mahiru was aware something was going on at Sakuya's home. He just wasn't sure what. Ever since the guy lost his older sister he started acting out. Skipping class and talking about hanging out with other people, showing up to school with different parts of his body bandaged up, having outbursts when something annoyed him, and even going quiet at strange times. Whatever changed in Sakuya from his loss, Mahiru knew this was just his way of letting it out. If being a little wild in his teen years helped him in some way, then Mahiru wouldn't hold it against him. And if Sakuya got into some kind of serious trouble one day, then Mahiru would just be there to help his friend through it.

"That's a rousing speech and all, man, but that's still a third rate invite." Ryusei noted.

"Tch. Thanks for the reminder." Sakuya sarcastically commented. "My connection isn't that deep, okay. It's like, knowing a guy who knows a guy, ya know?"

"So you can't bring us along." Ryusei grumbled.

"Who says I would?" Sakuya said with a slight glare on his face. "Besides, you're the only other one here who even wants to go."

Koyuki nodded. "Parties like that aren't really my thing. I would prefer something more relaxed. Plus I don't wanna disappoint my parents if it got crashed, heheh."

"Yeah, I'm just not the 'wild partying' type. A normal party would be fun though." Mahiru agreed.

"Oh, yes! Like putting on party hats and making a cake and stuff!" Koyuki added.

"So… a birthday party…" Sakuya muttered.

"They're my favorite kind of party!" Koyuki exclaimed.

Sakuya just groaned.

The sudden sound of a chair scrapping on the floor made everyone in the class look up and over at the source. Suzuhara stood up from her desk and stood there, staring straight ahead. The entire room fell silent as she turned and slowly walked up to Mahiru's desk. She stood in front of him, but couldn't seem to actually look at him. Koyuki and Ryusei shared a look with each other and Ryusei smirked when he got an idea of what was about to happen. Sakuya noticed she was holding something white in her hand, but he couldn't tell what exactly it was.

"Shirota… may we-"

The bell rang.

Suzuhara's grip on the object in her hand tightened and her shoulders tensed up.

"I'm sorry."

She quickly turned around and took a step to walk away, but Mahiru stood up and grabbed her arm.

"Suzuhara, wait. You wanted to tell me something? That was just the warning bell. You've got time to say it. I'm listening." Mahiru assured her.

The girl felt her heartbeat rise and she turned around a bit to face Mahiru. He had such a calm expression on his face and his grip on her arm made Suzuhara blush.

"May we… step outside for a moment…?" She finally asked.

Mahiru let go of her arm. "Sure!"

Suzuhara's brown eyes widened just a bit and she quickly looked away to her friends. The girls sitting across the classroom gave her two thumbs up each. Suzuhara nodded and she started to walk to the classroom door with Mahiru following behind her.

Ryusei, Koyuki, and Sakuya all quickly looked back to each other with shocked expressions on their faces.

"Is Mahiru about to get asked out?!" Ryusei blurted out.

"Omigosh, omigosh, omigosh! But what about Ash?!" Koyuki panicked.

"What about him? Oh, right. That's what your whole love life obsession is about." Ryusei said.

Sakuya stuttered out some incomprehensible sounds. "S-S-S-Suzuhara is a much better choice than that guy!"

Sakuya started to wonder if he was just going to have to settle for Ash not winning, even if it meant himself not winning either.

"Suzuhara doesn't talk to Mahiru. Do they even know each other all that well? She's been in our grade forever, but she's not a friend. Hell, we all still call her Suzuhara and she calls Mahiru, Shirota." Ryusei refuted.

"Weren't you just getting excited about the possibility of her asking Mahiru out?" Koyuki asked.

"That has nothing to do with who's the better choice though." Ryusei said.

"So you think Ash is the better choice!"

"I didn't say that either."

"Ryuuu! You gotta make up your mind!"

Ryusei shrugged. "It's not my love life. Althooough, if it was me, I'd date any girl that asked me out."

"Desperate." Sakuya commented.

"Hey, if she likes me, why should I turn her down?" Ryusei replied.

"There is no girl that likes your short ass." Sakuya grumbled, causing Ryusei to scowl at him.

Outside in the hallway, Mahiru and Suzuhara stood in front of each other in silence. Mahiru rubbed the back of his head and Suzuhara nervously shifted her weight on her feet.

"The simplest thing to do is just spit it out." Mahiru said.

Suzuhara looked up at him then quickly looked away. "R-right…"

She fumbled with the paper in her hand before ripping it in half. Mahiru looked shocked as she held out the bigger piece to him.

"My friends… convinced me to invite you instead of them. I got an invite to the party in the park because my older cousin is on the prep team this time. I know you're not interested in going… I… could hear you and your friends… but, I committed to inviting you, so I need to follow through." Suzuhara explained in her usual soft and monotone voice.

Mahiru stared at her before gently taking the paper from her. With it in his hand, he realized it was actually a ticket. She didn't rip it either, she just tore two other tickets off of her own one. On his, one of the tickets looked just the one Sakuya had. The other ticket had a larger and more intricately designed red flower on it. Glancing at Suzuhara's ticket, Mahiru could see the red flower was even more detailed, with petals surrounding it as well.

"I gave you the second class one so you can invite a friend if that would make you feel more comfortable if you go. If not, you can give it to your other friends instead. I don't mind." Suzuhara continued.

"Well, thank you, Suzuhara. That's really kind of you, but… why me?" Mahiru asked.

The girl felt her face start to burn up a bit. "Be- Because… I thought… if I got to go, then I would want to see you there too."

"I… didn't know you felt that way…"

Suzuhara felt her chest tighten and her eyes widened a bit as Mahiru smiled at her.

"You should come hang out with me and my friends sometime!"

And then her hopes were immediately dashed. Was Mahiru of all people really that dense?

The second bell rang and the teacher ran past the two teens.

"In class! In class, in class, in class! Right now!" He shouted at them.

"Y-yes, sir!" Mahiru responded in a panic.

He and Suzuhara rushed back into the classroom and the teacher came in behind them. They sat down in their seats while the teacher stood at the desk and fumbled around with his papers. Sakuya nudged Mahiru in the arm and the brunet looked over his shoulder to see his friends staring at him in anticipation.

"Well, is she your girlfriend now?" Ryusei whispered.

Mahiru wanted to shout, but kept himself silent as he suddenly looked flustered.

"Uh, wh- how- she- No!" Mahiru whisper-yelled then held up the ticket for his friends to see. "She gave me a party invite."

The trio stared at the tickets in his hand and then glanced at each other. They seemed speechless.

"We'll talk about this later." Mahiru added.

The other three nodded, but only Koyuki started paying attention once the teacher began talking. Sakuya just stared at the back of Mahiru's head and Ryusei rested his head in his hand while trying to take a nap. Even Mahiru was distracted with staring at the two tickets in his hand.

Would he go? He never even considered having the chance to go, so he never gave it anything thought if he would take the chance if he had it. The way he understood it, he had a ticket for himself and for someone he decided to invite. Who would he invite? That question didn't really matter if he decided not to go. He could just give it to Ryusei and Ryusei could pick someone. Ryusei was the one that actually wanted to go anyway. But he would feel bad for Suzuhara if he didn't go. She invited him specifically after all. But she did say it was okay to give it away since she heard him say he wasn't interested. Still, the ticket was given to him personally, so the simplest thing to do was just go.

Maybe it was time Mahiru chose to be rebellious for one night. After all, Sakuya was right. His youth would be behind him before he realized it, and in such a small town, this would probably be his only chance. He would just do it for the experience. He didn't even need to drink anything. He just had to go and hang out for a couple hours, then leave.

And then something occurred to Mahiru. This was exactly like the resolve he had to help Ash last night. He wanted to help ease Ash into a normal life. The guy was homeschooled and kept himself cooped up inside a lot and definitely had something going on deep down. He probably never had a chance to go to a party that wasn't a birthday party. He didn't seem interested when Mahiru brought it up at the park, but it was worth a shot to ask him at least. If he said no, then Mahiru would just invite Ryusei instead.

Simple as that.

Across town, Ash stirred in his sleep and reached a hand up to rub his eyes. Unfortunately, he was awake now. He opened his eyes, but didn't bother to move. He closed his eyes again and had no idea how much time passed before he felt something on his bed. He heard a meow and opened his eyes to see Kuro in his face.

"...Ay."

"Mrow."

The cat cocked his head to the side and laid down. Ash only closed his eyes again.

Kuro didn't know if he should be worried about Ash or not. Yesterday was definitely weird, and Ash didn't take some of it well, but he couldn't tell if it was still affecting Ash or not. Him laying there for hours on end was normal for the man too. Kuro would just have to wait and see if there were consequences or not.

"What time is it?" Ash wondered aloud.

He sat up just a bit to look at his window. Of course his curtains blacked out any light so he couldn't tell if it was day or night. It was dark in his room anyway thanks to having no light source, but he preferred it that way and Kuro being a cat meant the little guy didn't have much trouble seeing in the dark.

Ash instead felt around on his bed until he grabbed his phone. He held it up and squinted at the sudden brightness when he turned the screen on. It was a bit past eleven. He assumed it would be later in the day, but he did sleep for about thirteen hours so he considered himself lucky to get such a good night's sleep. That was certainly rare after all, especially considering he managed to take a nap yesterday too.

Oh, right. That was with Mahiru. Mahiru had slept in his bed. That was still so hard to believe. And then he felt like he relived the entire evening. Watching Mahiru wear his shirt, Mahiru worrying too much about him, the awkward drive to Mahiru's place, the talk with Mahiru's uncle, and then his fight with his sister.

Did he still feel the same as he did in the car last night? Who was he kidding, he always wanted to die. That feeling would never go away. But it wasn't like he could anyway. And besides, if he died, he couldn't see Mahiru again.

Mahiru.

He wanted to see Mahiru again. How was Mahiru doing anyway? Ash glanced at his phone. He had no texts and he swiped away all his game notifications. What day was it? Friday. So Mahiru was likely in school. Would Mahiru even text him? Was Ash expecting him to? Mahiru did want to see Ash again too. After last night maybe it was best for Ash to reach out first, so Mahiru would know Ash wasn't trying to push him away.

What would he say though? He really didn't want to make plans. Maybe just saying hello was enough. Just so Mahiru knew he was there. It was eleven, so it was still early. Maybe greeting him was a good idea.

'Hey morning.'

As soon as Ash hit send, he smacked himself in the face. It wasn't morning. It was eleven. That may have been super early to Ash, but it wasn't morning. It was almost the afternoon. He had to not look dumb.

'Wait shit. It's not morning.'

Ash groaned. Why did he send that?!

'Hey afternoon.'

That still wasn't right. Only past twelve would it be the afternoon. How was he messing up so badly?

'Wait it's only 11.'

Ash dropped his phone and rolled over, covering his face with his hands as he felt it burn up. He had to stop. He was sending too many texts. Mahiru probably thought it was annoying. He was only bothering Mahiru when he was just trying to start a conversation. He couldn't leave it at that though. It looked ridiculous. He rolled back over and grabbed his phone, noticing Kuro give him a confused look at the same time.

'Sorry that was weird. Just wanted to ask how you're doing.'

Ash sighed. There. Hopefully that fixed things. Ash greeted Mahiru and asked how he was. That was definitely how normal people had a normal conversation. Ash cursed himself for being so bad at talking to people. He had no problem addressing his siblings or clerks at stores since those were almost like scripted conversations, but half the time talking to Mahiru was such an ordeal. He felt like he had to try so hard to say the right thing or it would ruin everything. Mahiru really didn't seem like the kind of person that would care if Ash said something weird, but it mattered to Ash. He didn't want Mahiru to think he was weird, but it was probably far too late to avoid that.

Ash stared at his phone, hoping for a response, but none came. He didn't know what the schedule was at the school since he never went there. He only hoped he didn't disturb Mahiru in class. Maybe Mahiru would get back to him after school, so Ash put his phone down. He could check it later and hope for the best. In the meantime Ash just laid on his back and stared up at the ceiling.

Kuro stood up and stepped on Ash's chest only to curl up in a ball on top of him. Ash glanced down at the cat and scratched him on the head.

"Am I warm?" Ash muttered.

He could hear Kuro purring so he supposed he was. Ash closed his eyes again, knowing he wouldn't go back to sleep, but it was close enough. And once again some unknown amount of time passed before Ash heard a bang against his door and Kuro shot his head up. Ash groaned, recognizing the sound. The toddler had arrived.

"Sleepy Ash! Get up!" Old Child shouted from the other side of the door.

"I'm gonna need a new door soon…" Ash mumbled as he sat up and Kuro jumped off of him. "What?! Come in!"

The door flew open and Old Child waltzed in like it was his own room.

"Oh good! You're up!" The kid said in a surprisingly cheery tone until a scowl appeared on his face. "What happened?!"

Ash tensed up a bit, wanting to keep his distance from his little brother. He could tell the brat was pissed about something. Was it due to last night? Old Child slept through all of it so what did he know about?

"W-what do you mean what happened?" Ash questioned.

"The girls caught me up to speed this morning." Old Child stated.

Ash's eyes widened slightly. "Why are you asking if you know what happened then? How much… did they tell you anyway?"

"You and the boy had a discussion, it apparently did not end well, he went home, his uncle is a high ranking member of C3, you and Sister did not have a pleasant conversation afterward." Old Child answered. "So, what is your side of the story?"

Ash furrowed his brow. "Sis shouldn't have told you that stuff."

"Well, what's done is done. She told me not to tell you she told anyway, but you know how I am." A sly grin formed on the boy's face. "Keeping secrets isn't good for the family anyway you know."

Ash was starting to get irritated. Something about that last statement just rubbed him the wrong way, like Old Child knew it would get under Ash's skin.

"What's your angle here?" The elder brother questioned.

"No angle. I simply want to know what I missed." The boy responded.

"If you're not gonna offer advice like you usually do then there's no point to this conversation." Ash said and laid back down to pull his blanket over his head.

Old Child walked over to the door and closed it, then made his way to Ash's bed to jump up and sit on the edge. Kuro made his way over to the kid and Old Child pet the cat on his back.

"I don't have advice this time, Ash. I wouldn't want to give it even if I had it anyway. I don't like anything about this situation. I can, however, take it seriously." Old Child said.

"There's still no point in talking." Ash muttered from under the blanket.

Old Child crossed his legs and took his hat off, placing it behind him on the bed.

"You didn't make plans with him again today, did you?" The boy wondered.

"Not yet. I texted him but he's probably busy." Ash replied.

"Do you intend to make plans?"

"Why?"

"You don't remember?"

There was a long moment of silence.

"Hot springs?"

Old Child nodded, but Ash didn't see it. "I won't yell at you about going this time, but you did promise… and then you broke that promise."

"I know… I'm sorry. Things just keep happening." Ash sat up in bed. "I don't really wanna go out and do anything with him today, so… we could go today."

"About that… I got fed up so I invited Tsubaki instead."

Ash just stared at the boy in disbelief. "Y-… You replaced me… with Tsubaki? Tsubaki, Child. Tsubaki."

The boy groaned. "I know, don't remind me. I got desperate and he's the only one not glued to someone else in the family. I'd be happy if you came along too though, I just wanted you to know I jumped the gun and invited someone else. I just feel weird going alone. He looked so happy about it too, I don't think I can uninvite him. The more the merrier as they say, ya know."

Tsubaki looked happy about it? Why did that have to make Ash feel bad? Even just thinking about Tsubaki made his chest tighten. Tsubaki's entire existence was a harsh reminder of his crime. But Ash still had some form of compassion in his body. He wanted Tsubaki to be happy. If that meant Tsubaki joining them, then Ash would just put up with it for Tsubaki's sake.

"You don't need to do that to him. He can come too." Ash said.

Old Child raised a brow at his brother. "I'm surprised you're agreeing to be around him."

"I guess I need to get used to it at some point. It's been eleven years and I've still barely had a one on one conversation with him."

"Because you avoid him like the plague."

"Gee, I wonder why."

Old Child just stared at Ash and Ash looked down at his blanket.

"I need to do better. I need to move on." Ash whispered.

Old Child scoffed. "You and Lawless are the only ones who haven't. And yet he's quite amicable with Tsubaki."

"You know why."

"Because they both still look up to him." Old Child watched Ash's hand gripped at the blanket. "It's quite childish actually. Foolish greedy Lawless is still in denial and no one has the heart to break the truth to poor melancholic Tsubaki."

"Can we not talk about this."

Ash's eyes were hidden behind his hair, so Old Child couldn't tell what the man was feeling. Was he mad or upset? Could he tell the boy brought it up on purpose? Ash said he needed to move on, and Old Child was glad about that, but trying wouldn't be good for Ash if he wasn't ready. Old Child only wanted to test him a bit, and his test determined that Ash wasn't ready.

"Yes, we can save this discussion for later if you like." Old Child put his hat back on and hopped off the bed. "Now, be ready around four! I want to be there long enough to make up for not going in a while!"

Ash groaned. Relaxing at the hot springs did sound like it would be a good way to destress after the last few days, but he didn't want to be there for so long with Tsubaki. Still, he had to make an effort. Maybe Tsubaki would know to not be… himself while there. The place did have rules after all.

"Well, I'll be in the living room if you need me. Sister went to her office and All Of Love is at the Alicein's today so I don't believe dinner is going to happen tonight. Oh, and Tweedledee and Tweedledum went to the studio." Old Child said as he made his way to the door.

"Doubt in his room?" Ash wondered.

"I assume. That, or the library."

"And Tsubaki?"

"Around here somewhere I'm sure. Enjoy the silence while it lasts."

And with that, Old Child left the room. Ash and Kuro looked at each other then Ash laid back down again. Kuro walked over to curl up beside Ash and the man closed his eyes once more.

The bell at school rang and students poured out of their classrooms. Mahiru walked down the hall to make his way to the cafeteria, but an arm snaked its way around his shoulder and pulled him aside. He looked over, completely unsurprised to see Sakuya smirking at him.

"Hey there, lucky guy!" Sakuya greeted him.

"Hello, Sakuya." Mahiru said, but it sounded more like a question.

Mahiru removed Sakuya's arm from around him and the two teens walked together to meet up with Koyuki and Ryusei down the hall. Koyuki waved as they got closer while Ryusei looked impatient.

"Sup." Sakuya greeted.

"Hey." Koyuki replied with a smile.

Mahiru noticed Ryusei glaring at him as the group continued walking.

"Okay Mahiru, talk! What happened?!" Ryusei suddenly shouted.

Mahiru just stared at him for a moment, not wanting to put up with such dramaticness.

"You mean with Suzuhara? Relax." The brunet pulled his tickets out of his pocket. "She just invited me was all. There's nothing else to it."

"But why you? And why did she have a first class ticket anyway? You have to literally know someone on the party team!" Sakuya added, staring at Mahiru's tickets.

"She said her cousin was on the team and she got it from them. She said if she was gonna be there then she wanted to see me there too. It's not a big deal." Mahiru explained.

Sakuya crossed his arms. "It is a big deal actually! That means we're both gonna be there! And Suzuhara! And whoever you invite!"

"You're inviting me, right?!" Ryusei suddenly got really close to Mahiru's face.

The brunet pushed past the shorter teen so he could walk ahead. "We'll get to that later. What makes you even think I'm going?"

"You won't go?" Koyuki wondered.

"I was considering not going, but then I felt bad for Suzuhara. She went out of her way to give her extra invites to me instead of her friends. I shouldn't just toss them on someone else then." Mahiru said.

"If you don't wanna go then give 'em to her friends." Sakuya commented.

Mahiru got a look on his face like he didn't consider that. "Uh, but, um… I already decided to go."

Ryusei groaned. "Then why didn't you just say that?! So! You're inviting me, right?!"

"I said we'll get to that later." Mahiru repeated himself.

"And it's later now, gimme my ticket!"

Ryusei reached out to snatch the tickets from Mahiru's hand, but the brunet held them up in the air and stretched his hand out to push Ryusei away by the blonde's forehead.

"Down boy, down!" Mahiru shouted.

"This is dehumaniziiiing!" Ryusei yelled.

Sakuya tried to stifle a laugh and Koyuki hid behind Sakuya. Students walking down the hall tried to walk around the strange sight.

"I decided to ask Ash first!" Mahiru revealed. "So back off, Ryusei!"

The other three froze, and the force of Mahiru holding Ryusei back made the blonde get pushed down. Koyuki gasped while Sakuya broke out into full laughter and Mahiru just sighed. Ryusei only laid there on the school floor.

"Are you done now? I'm sure that floor is dirty." Mahiru stated.

"Why pick the catboy over your own friend?" Ryusei groaned.

"He's my friend too, ya know." The brunet responded.

Koyuki walked over to help Ryusei get back on his feet and Sakuya shoved a hand over his mouth to stop laughing once he realized what Mahiru was saying.

"Y-y-y-you're… not really gonna ask him are you, Mahiru?" Sakuya questioned.

Even if Suzuhara was the one that invited Mahiru, since he and Sakuya would be there together, it was a good place for them to be alone. He didn't need Ash being dragged along to ruin that. They guy already made a mess of two days, Sakuya didn't want that turning into three. Mahiru seemed to be getting a little too chummy with Ash anyway. What was his deal lately with inviting Ash along for stuff?

"Yes. Is there a rule that says I can't?" Mahiru wondered, turning to his other friend.

"I don't think anyone has invited someone outside of school before. But, seriously. Why invite someone that doesn't even go here?" Sakuya said.

"Because he was homeschooled. He's never gotten a chance to do something like this before. I wanna give him a chance to be a normal teenager. Besides, I'll just ask. If he doesn't wanna go then I won't force him." Mahiru turned back to Ryusei. "So if he says no, I'll invite you instead. And if he does say yes, then if I ever get invited again, I'll give all my tickets to you, Ryusei."

Ryusei thought for a moment. "Hmm… ya know what, okay. But that means I'm gonna be hoping he says no. I really doubt you'll get invited again anyway, and I don't trust Sakuya to ever get an invite that isn't third-rate."

"And like I said, I wouldn't invite you anyway!" Sakuya argued.

"But, it's not all bad for you if Ash says yes. Since Sakuya and Mahiru will be gone, we can do something fun for ourselves that night. Just the two of us, Ryu!" Koyuki suggested with a smile.

Ryusei suddenly stepped away from Koyuki and stuttered out gibberish. "Uh- b- I- w-... Just- just the, uh, two of us?!"

Mahiru glanced over his shoulder so he and Sakuya could share a knowing look with each other. Ryusei's reaction was always the same every time without fail.

"Yes! You can come over to my place and we can have a movie night! That'll be fun!" Koyuki elaborated.

"Can we hurry up and go to lunch, please! I'm getting hungry here!" Ryusei tried to dodge the conversation.

"Yeah, yeah, sure ya are." Sakuya walked on ahead of the group to the cafeteria.

Ryusei groaned as he, Mahiru, and Koyuki caught up with Sakuya. Koyuki and Sakuya went to sit at their usual table while Ryusei and Mahiru got in the lunch line. Koyuki took his lunch out of his bag and immediately pulled out his sandwich to break it in half, holding out one part for Sakuya to take.

"Every day…" Sakuya muttered as he accepted the food.

"Every day!" Koyuki repeated. "Well, I just hope it's all fun and games and no one gets in trouble."

"Eh, as far as I've heard C3's never shown up before. Whether they know or not, I dunno, but why would anything happen this time?" Sakuya responded before biting into the sandwich.

Even with the inclusion of Ash there, if the guy even went, Sakuya didn't think that would change anything. How would C3 know Ash was there? Granted, C3 seemed to be everywhere. Always watching from around every corner. It was like they knew everything. And according to Shamrock, C3 kept close tabs on every member of the Ash family. Ever since Sakuya met Tsubaki he noticed C3 members hiding in places he'd never seen before. Not only did C3 stalk the Ash family, they also stalked humans in regular contact with them. Maybe Ash being there would change something then. Would it put everyone at risk? Maybe Sakuya could tell Tsubaki to have a word with Ash, although that wasn't guaranteed to work. But maybe Ash would understand, for Mahiru's sake.

Mahiru and Ryusei came out of the lunch line with food and joined the other two, Ryusei next to Koyuki and Mahiru next to Sakuya. The first thing Mahiru did was pull out a textbook from his bag.

"When's the party anyway?" Ryusei suddenly asked.

Mahiru looked up and immediately stared at Sakuya for an answer. He didn't even think to ask Suzuhara that.

"They're always on Saturday nights. So, tomorrow. And, don't think you can show up without a ticket! You get kicked out for that." Sakuya answered.

"Oh, so this is kinda sudden then." Mahiru noted.

"That's the point. Gives folks less time to talk, less chance for authority to hear, and less chance for a party crash." Sakuya said.

"Well, that just means things are gonna be super busy lately." Koyuki commented.

"Hm? What else's goin' on?" Ryusei questioned as he ate his lunch.

"The festival, remember? For the six hundredth anniversary. It's a new century for us, so it's gonna be a huge one. My mom was already hearing plans for it starting a month ago." Koyuki explained.

"Ohhh, yeah! That really snuck up on us, huh." Ryusei said. "At least we get three days off next week."

"Three days? I thought it was just one." Mahiru said.

"Mn." Sakuya finished his half of Koyuki's sandwich. "Every decade on each tenth anniversary it's a way bigger celebration than normal. So we get three days off instead of one. Same thing on every hundredth, but with an even bigger celebration."

"That's right, you moved here just after the last tenth anniversary, didn't you, Mahiru?" Koyuki wondered.

"Yeah, I think so. I definitely don't remember being at a festival that year." Mahiru agreed.

"Oh, it'll be so much fun this year! It'll be all four of us this time! And it's for a new century! We all really were born at the right time, huh!" Koyuki practically cheered.

A small smile appeared on Mahiru's face and he nodded. "Yeah, I think we were."

Except both he and Sakuya thought there was something else to it. For Mahiru, he was only there because his mother died and his uncle was the one that took him in, which meant moving to Ashford. He wouldn't be there if she was still alive. It was a conflicting feeling. Mahiru loved his friends and his uncle and he had a nice life in Ashford, but in order to have that life he had to lose his mother and deal with that every single day.

Sakuya, on the other hand, remembered it was his sister that took him to last decade's festival. His parents never went, and before meeting Mahiru, he hadn't gone to another festival without her. It was her that helped him stand on a brick fence to get a better look since he was so short at the time. She bought him all kinds of food there too. And then next year he didn't go. He didn't think he was close enough with the other three yet at the time to go with them, and it wasn't like he could ask his parents.

The group spent the next few minutes finishing their lunches in silence. Mahiru looked over a section of his textbook to study for a bit while he ate and Ryusei took his empty tray to the nearest trash can. When he sat back down he pulled out a notebook from his bag and grabbed a pen from his pocket.

"So, remember what I said about a venn diagram this morning?" Ryusei spoke up.

"Hm?" Mahiru looked across the table at the blonde. "When you called All Of Love gay?"

"Well, yeah. It got me thinking, so I've come up with an idea." Ryusei said.

"This doesn't sound good." Sakuya commented.

"No, no, no, no! This is good, I swear! I know what I'm doing. I'm gonna make one, so I can visualize this whole thing." Ryusei assured them.

Mahiru and Sakuya side eyed each other.

"What is there to visualize?" Sakuya whispered to the brunet.

"I have no idea." Mahiru whispered back.

"Okay, so let's make a circle over here, and one over here." Ryusei used his pen to draw circles in his notebook. "And then make them into venn diagrams."

"Mhm." Koyuki nodded as he leaned over to watch Ryusei draw on the paper.

"So, we got girls over here, and guys over here. These two are the straight circles, and then we've got the girls who like girls circle… and then the guys who like guys circle."

"Mhm!"

"So the overlap in the middle is for ones who like both."

Koyuki watched Ryusei draw another circle off to the side near the bottom of the page. "And that one?"

"Well, I figured there's gotta be people that don't like anyone, right?"

"Ohhh, smart!"

"And then… um… Mahiru, is there anything else?" Ryusei looked up and asked his friend sitting across from him.

"I'm not an expert on the subject. But yeah, I'm sure there's a lot you're missing." Mahiru responded.

Ryusei stared down at his sheet in mild confusion, wondering what he could possibly be missing.

"Oh, what about people who aren't a guy or a girl?" Koyuki questioned.

Ryusei's eyes widened a bit.

"Oh duh! I didn't think about that!" He lifted his hand up to draw something, but he couldn't figure out what. "Uh… so where do I add that?"

"In the middle between guy and girl maybe?" Koyuki suggested.

"But how do I connect it all then?" Ryusei wondered.

"Do you need to?" The brunet asked.

"I… don't know." Ryusei started to get genuinely confused looking at his diagram. "W-well, uh, we'll worry about that later. That doesn't apply to any of us anyway. I'll start putting people down now."

"Woah, wait. You're writing people down in that thing?" Mahiru wondered.

"Yeah, it can be like a flow chart! So I never forget! I can always make a better version later anyway." Ryusei explained. "So, I'll put you down in the middle here, Mahiru. And obviously I go in the straight bubble."

Mahiru and Sakuya shared a look with each other. Sakuya smirked and looked away from the brunet while Mahiru let out a silent sigh. Ryusei had no idea how much they both found that hard to believe.

"So where do you go, Koyuki?" The blonde asked.

Koyuki stared at the chart for a moment before pointing to the circle that was drawn off to the side. "I think I go there."

Ryusei looked at Koyuki with a hint of surprise on his face. "Really?! No one? You're such a romantic though."

"Oh I know. I love love, but I'm more focused on it with other people." Koyuki explained with a giggle.

Ryusei only stared at Koyuki before adding the taller teen onto the chart. Mahiru and Sakuya shared another look with each other. This was starting to get painful for them to watch.

"So. Where do you go, Sakuya?" Ryusei suddenly questioned.

Sakuya quickly tensed up and went wide eyed. "Uh, I don't- That's not- Mind your damn business, man!"

"He's dodging the question!" Koyuki exclaimed.

"I am not! I just shouldn't have to say it out loud so you can put me in a little box!" Sakuya denied.

"It's a bubble. And I'm gonna go ahead and make another one with a question mark over it juuuust for you." Ryusei said.

Sakuya groaned.

Mahiru shrugged. "It's not that big a deal. I dunno why some people turn into a whole thing."

"Well, that's exactly what I'm about to do." Ryusei stated.

"Huh?" All three of his friends stared at him.

"I think I'll perform a bit of a… what's this called? Census? Eh, data gathering… whatever." Ryusei tried to explain, but failed.

"If only you put this much effort into actual schoolwork…" Mahiru muttered.

"Hey, if I ever need to fix my grade badly enough I can just turn this into an extra credit project." Ryusei said as he stood up.

The trio watched him take his notebook and walk away to another lunch table to start talking to a random group of students. After a moment, the three of them looked back at each other.

"I didn't expect him to suddenly get so invested in that topic." Koyuki said.

"Eh, seems like it'll be good for him. That's not exactly a topic people like talking about around here." Mahiru said.

Sakuya scoffed. "Tell me about it. I've heard some horror stories on that."

Mahiru stared down at his textbook. "That's a shame."

The brunet realized how lucky he was to have such an understanding uncle. Sakuya himself was so unwilling to answer such a simple question even when surrounded by his friends that he knew wouldn't judge him. Mahiru didn't care either way about talking about it since it never really felt like it mattered that much, but it did matter in both directions to other people.

"Is it different in Japan?" Koyuki asked the other brunet.

Mahiru raised a brow. "I don't know. I was six when I left. I don't think people talk about that stuff with six year olds."

"Fair." Koyuki said with a nod and glanced over his shoulder to check on Ryusei. "Sooo, when are you going to invite Ash? If the party's tomorrow then Ryu would probably need to know soon if he's going instead or not."

"Oh, I was considering waiting until after school in case it turns into a long conversation, but I guess I could text him now." Mahiru said.

The brunet reached into his bag and pulled out phone. As he checked it, he realized he already had a few texts from Ash. Mahiru immediately felt bad for missing them, but once he got a look at what Ash sent him, he couldn't stop the small smile that formed on his face.

'Hey morning.'

'Wait shit. It's not morning.'

'Hey afternoon.'

'Wait it's only 11.'

'Sorry that was weird. Just wanted to ask how you're doing.'

Mahiru chuckled and leaned across the lunch table to show his phone screen to Koyuki. "Look. He totally slept through the morning. He thought it was the afternoon."

Koyuki took a moment to read the texts and then giggled. "He really tried."

Sakuya just stared at the two brunets in shock. Ash had texted Mahiru and Mahiru was acting all… cutesy about it. Showing Koyuki and laughing and smiling over it. Sakuya couldn't believe it. What the hell happened at Ash's house yesterday?

"I guess I'll just ask him if he's free tomorrow night first." Mahiru muttered.

"He probably is, Mahiru." Koyuki commented.

Mahiru paused for a moment then nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right."

'Hey, afternoon! Sorry I didn't respond, I was in class. I'm okay. And how are you? Are you free tomorrow?'

Mahiru left it at that and placed his phone down on the table. A moment passed and there was no response. Perhaps he fell back asleep. Either way, Ash would see it eventually so Mahiru went back to reading his textbook.

Sakuya glanced at Mahiru's phone screen before it went dark and felt himself relax. If Ash wasn't responding then he didn't need to rush to get Tsubaki to stop Ash just yet.

The trio fell silent for the remainder of lunch. Ryusei was off interviewing as many people as he could with the time he had left before the bell rang. Everyone then packed up their things and Ryusei ran over to join his friends. Mahiru took one last glance at his phone to see Ash still hadn't responded, then stuffed it into his bag. He would just have to wait until after school for an answer. The group left the cafeteria together to head off to their next class.

Back at the Ash household, Sleepy Ash walked out of the bathroom at the same time that the door beside the bathroom opened up. Ash looked over to see Tsubaki walk out of his bedroom. The two brothers stared at each other for a moment before Tsubaki smiled.

"Hey Nii-san! Whatcha doin'?" Tsubaki asked.

Ash's eyes glanced at the bathroom door then back to Tsubaki. "Um… coming outta the bathroom?"

Tsubaki noticed Kuro on top of Ash's head. "You bring Kuro into the bathroom with you?"

Ash looked away from the younger brother. "Um… yeah… He knows to look away."

"Smart cat. But still weird!" Tsubaki then laughed and Ash winced at the sound.

"Did you… need something, or…?" Ash trailed off.

"Not from you, no. Headed to the kitchen. Snack time." Tsubaki said.

Ash just nodded and Tsubaki turned to walk away, but stopped before he could take his first step. Ash flashed a curious expression at the younger brother, who seemed to be staring past the elder. Ash slowly turned around to get a look behind him and in the darkness of the hallway he could only see a single small red glow. He practically flinched and backed up against Tsubaki, who put his hands on Ash's shoulders.

From within the shadows of the hall, Doubt Doubt emerged and stood in front of his two brothers. They both let out loud sighs of relief at the realization that it was just Doubt.

"Oh, geez! It's just you, Doubt-nii-san!" Tsubaki laughed again. "Scared us there for a second!"

"I… scared you? Sorry…" Doubt muttered.

Ash let himself relax and he stepped away from Tsubaki so the younger man couldn't touch him anymore. "It's fine, Doubt. You just… gotta stop sneaking up on people like that. It's not easy to hear you."

Doubt only nodded.

Tsubaki looked between his two big brothers and got an idea.

"Hey! It's just the four of us in the house right now, but Old Child-nii-san and I are going to the hot springs later today and it would suck if you two just stayed in the house by yourselves. Why don't all four of us go together?" He suggested.

Ash and Doubt looked at each other, then back at Tsubaki.

"Child invited me a little bit ago actually." Ash stated.

"Huh?! So are you going?" Tsubaki questioned.

"Uh, yeah." Ash responded.

"That'll make it even more fun! But then Doubt-nii-san will be all alone!" Tsubaki suddenly pouted.

Ash looked at Doubt again. "I think he's fine with that."

Doubt remained silent as Tsubaki stared up at him. Neither brother, nor Kuro, could tell what he was thinking, or if he was even thinking at all. It seemed like he wanted to say something for himself, so the other two just waited. However, the wait started to get awkward and Ash rubbed the back of his neck.

As far as Ash knew, Doubt had never been to the hot springs before. Ash did know Doubt preferred to stay in his room, but he still had times where he went out, mostly with All Of Love. If it was just going to be Ash, Child, and Tsubaki, then Ash felt it would be more bearable with Doubt coming along. Old Child was mostly fine, but combining him with Tsubaki seemed to spell disaster. Ash wasn't going to back out, but maybe he could convince Doubt to join them.

"You know, Doubt, the water in the hot springs is really soothing. It does wonders on these old bones." Ash said and Kuro meowed in agreement.

"Heheh, calling yourself old." Tsubaki chuckled.

"I know when to admit it. And if you don't wanna get in then you don't have to. You can just sit on the edge." Ash continued.

"You can't get in in your clothes though. That's a no-no." Tsubaki added.

Ash glanced at Tsubaki with an unamused expression. He was trying to convince Doubt to go, not stay.

Doubt stared at them for another moment. "Okay."

"Hm?" Both brothers went a bit wide eyed.

"I'll go. I'm not… opposed to going out. I just… don't usually have a reason." Doubt clarified.

Was that really it? Ash supposed it made sense. Doubt didn't have a job, or any friends, and his only hobby that required leaving the house was hunting, which he didn't do all that often. Considering Doubt though, it felt like there had to be something more to it than just that.

"Awesome then! I'll go tell Old Child-nii-san!" Tsubaki cheered.

The youngest brother ran down the hall to the stairs and disappeared as he stepped down them.

"I'm surprised you agreed." Ash said.

"Is this… not like me…?" Doubt wondered.

"You sound like you don't want it to be." The elder responded.

Behind his paper bag, Doubt's gaze dropped to the floor. He gripped at the cross around his neck for just a moment.

"I don't… want to be like that."

Doubt walked past Ash, who just stared at him. Ash finally began to realize that he had no idea who Doubt Doubt was. He knew who Doubt seemed to be, but it seemed like that wasn't really who Doubt was. So then, who was Doubt? And why didn't he act like how he wanted to?

Downstairs, Tsubaki ran into the main room to see the television was on. He had to stand behind the couch and look down to see Old Child sitting there. The elder brother looked up to see Tsubaki, but said nothing and only went back to watching television.

"Why didn't you tell me you invited Ash?" Tsubaki questioned, his tone sounding rather dead compared to his cheerfulness from before.

"I just did it, like, not even an hour ago. I was gonna tell you when we were close to leaving." Old Child answered.

"Well, Doubt is coming with us now too." Tsubaki stated.

"Huh?" Old Child stood up on the couch and leaned over the back of it. "You're not forcing him to go, are you?"

"He's not. And don't… stand on the couch." Doubt muttered as he walked into the room.

Old Child groaned and hopped over the back of the couch, landing on his feet on the floor next to Tsubaki. Ash walked in after Doubt and stood next to the tallest brother.

"I never thought you would want to go to the hot springs…" Old Child said to Doubt, then smiled. "I'll make sure you like it! It's a relaxing place!"

Doubt didn't respond and Tsubaki went over to the fridge to find a snack. Ash sat down on one of the couches and Kuro jumped off his head to lay in his lap.

"Hey, Tsubaki, hold on a minute." Old Child called out.

Tsubaki pulled his head out of the fridge and looked back at his brother.

"If it's going to be the four of us, and no one else is home, why don't we leave early and get lunch on the way?" Child suggested.

"Where… are the others?" Doubt asked.

"Working." Ash said.

"Lunch sounds fun! No dinner sucks and I bet none of us can cook, huh." Tsubaki commented.

"Would that be safe though?" Ash asked. "I know the hot springs are fine 'cause they welcome us there and it's private, but restaurants are different. Are there even any that'll let us in?"

"Oh sure! There's one that Lawless and World End go to all the time! Granted, I don't know if they know or not. Those two don't exactly stick out in a crowd like we do. But, it's worth a shot!" Child said. "You up for that, Doubt?"

The younger brother hesitated before nodding.

"Awesome! So, who's paying?" Tsubaki inquired.

Even though he asked the question, Tsubaki immediately looked at Ash, and Old Child did the same. Doubt noticed and looked at the eldest as well, but more out of confusion than anything else.

Ash sighed. "I'm the only one between us with access to the account so it kinda has to be me."

"Yay!" Tsubaki and Old Child cheered, making Doubt tense up.

"I guess I have to go get dressed now, huh…" Ash grumbled.

"Yes, go! Hurry! Do not keep us waiting, Ash!" Old Child exclaimed.

With a groan, Ash stood up and Kuro jumped onto his shoulder as he walked out of the room.

Back at the school, the final bell rang to release the students for the day. Sakuya was the first of the group to run out of the classroom. Koyuki tried to keep up with him and Mahiru didn't want to expend the energy to deal with Sakuya's sudden burst of excitement. Ryusei trailed behind not only the group, but the whole class. Usually he tried to compete with Sakuya, but he didn't even seem like hanging in the back with Mahiru. He was just… behind.

"Hey, Mahiru." Ryusei called out. "Can I borrow ya for a minute?"

Mahiru turned around to face the blonde and stopped so Ryusei could catch up to him. "Yeah, sure. What's up?"

Ryusei slipped his backpack off one shoulder and reached into it to pull out his notebook. He flipped it open and held it up for Mahiru to see. The brunet's eyes widened a bit as he saw the page Ryusei filled out his chart on. It was covered in dozens of new circles and categories with countless names written down in all the circles. Ryusei turned the page to reveal he even remade it with a much more intricate system that Mahiru couldn't understand without a thorough explanation.

"I even went around asking the younger kids, and a couple teachers added themselves too. I had… no idea there was so much to it. We're a… pretty complicated generation, huh." Ryusei said, but his voice sounded like he was having trouble speaking.

"Y-yeah…" Was all Mahiru could say.

"Um… Mahiru… I feel like you're the only one I can say this to." Ryusei paused and Mahiru felt a tension fall between them. "I don't… know where I belong… in any category."

Ryusei stared at the floor and Mahiru didn't know what to do. He may have been the only person Ryusei knew that was properly out, but like Mahiru said earlier, that didn't make him an expert. He didn't know how to help someone else through the process. And Ryusei seemed to only now start questioning himself. Where was there to even begin?

"Well… Ryusei, what makes you not know in the first place?" Mahiru asked, hoping that was a good start.

Ryusei closed his notebook and rubbed the back of neck. "I… I just… feel weird around Koyuki sometimes, ya know? I… I thought it was 'cause I wasn't comfortable not having you or Sakuya around too, but… I've known Koyuki longer than you two, so that doesn't make sense. And then, when he picked the spot for not liking anyone, I felt… I dunno, like, disappointed or something? But then I started wondering why I felt that at all."

"Sooo…?" Mahiru tried to help Ryusei along to reach the realization for himself.

"So, I…" Ryusei sighed. "But Koyuki's the only one! There's never been another guy like that before! Is it 'cause he's been my friend for this long? Am I even sure it's like… that?"

Mahiru came to his own realization. "You know, thinking about it now, does it have to be those kinds of feelings for you to know Koyuki means a lot to you? Do you need to know if you love him as a friend or something else to know that you just love him at all?"

Ryusei stared up at Mahiru. "I can just… love him?"

"Hm? Did you never consider that before? Koyuki says all the time that he loves us. And you guys may get on my nerves a lot, but I sure as hell love you guys too. That doesn't automatically make it romantic." Mahiru explained.

Ryusei seemed to have a look in his eyes like he was processing things.

"It doesn't… matter. So long as I know I love him at all." The blonde muttered mostly to himself.

Mahiru smiled and nodded. "Yeah, there ya go! That's a great way to look at it. It can be as simple as that. You don't have to know, you can just love him anyway."

Ryusei looked back at the floor and a small smile appeared on his face.

"Yeah…" He looked back up at Mahiru again. "And I… love you too, Mahiru."

The brunet let out a chuckle. "Love you too, Ryusei."

Both boys did a fist bump and Ryusei slung an arm around Mahiru's shoulder.

"Let's go catch up with the others. We can't leave Koyuki alone with Sakuya of all people after all." Ryusei only half joked.

"Oh crap! Good point!" Mahiru agreed, genuinely worried for Koyuki's sanity.

They both hurriedly walked off down the hall to look for Sakuya and Koyuki. They couldn't have gone far. And sure enough, they found the two standing near the front entrance waiting.

"Geez, I know Mahiru's slow but what's wrong with you today? Legs get shorter?" Sakuya teased the blonde.

"Yeah, so I could make room for the legs I'm about to steal from you." Ryusei replied and kicked Sakuya in the shin.

Sakuya yelped and pulled his leg up to hold it as he winced.

"Ryu, no violence!" Koyuki whined.

Ryusei looked at the pout on Koyuki's face then turned away without a word.

"Alright, enough fooling around. Are we going out today or skipping?" Mahiru questioned.

"Ugh." Sakuya put his foot down. "Why would we skip?"

"Well, I thought if you and I are going to the party tomorrow and Ryusei might go too depending on Ash's answer, we would wanna spend the afternoon getting ready." Mahiru explained.

"Ah, good point." Koyuki said. "So do you wanna skip, Mahiru?"

"Uh, I'm fine either way." The shorter brunet responded.

"We could just head home earlier than usual. And if we're together when the catboy responds then it'd be easier for you to tell me. Like, when he responds then that's when we'd go home." Ryusei suggested.

"Well, I'm sure he won't wait too late to text back so that should work just fine." Mahiru said.

"Okay, then! Let's go shopping until Ash responds!" Koyuki cheered.

"Shopping?" Sakuya grumbled. "I'm starting to miss you constantly dragging us to karaoke."

"Would you rather do karaoke?" Koyuki asked with genuine curiosity.

"N-no! Shopping it is!" Sakuya protested.

"Then let's go! Oh, maybe we can find Mahiru a cool outfit to wear to the party!" Koyuki exclaimed.

"We'll see…" Mahiru muttered, not really sure if he wanted that.

Koyuki ran past the front doors of the school and Ryusei was first to follow after him. Sakuya and Mahiru glanced at each other. Mahiru felt like he wanted to say something while he had the chance, but he wasn't even sure what he wanted to say. Mahiru simply flashed Sakuya a big smile.

"Let's go, Sakuya." Mahiru said.

Sakuya's eyes widened a bit before he looked away. "Uh, yeah."

They walked out of the school together to catch up to Koyuki and Ryusei, who were waving at them.


Okay, bear with me for a minute cuz these end notes got long, lol.

I really didn't even mean to have a mini subplot there with Ryusei. I just got so hung up on his venn diagram comment and wanted to elaborate on that. Then I remembered his moment a while back where he got nervous about being out alone together with Koyuki and wanted to build on it. He started coming off as the 'token straight friend' in the group despite my previous Ryuyuki(?) hints, so I had to. Ya know. Bring it around town, lol. And I actually really like what I did.

I'm honestly not much of a fan of slash work just going off of 'everyone is gay, this is never mentioned' logic. I want it to be mentioned that Mahiru had come out to his uncle in the past. That Lily is genderfluid. That Sakuya is something and doesn't want to be out about it for his own safety. That Ash is now experiencing Attraction for the first time in his life. That Ryusei is so in denial that even when he gets flustered around Koyuki he can't comprehend not being straight until he's forced to face that fact in other people.

I want these things to be discussed and play a role. Like, Ash questioning early on if he and Mahiru are even compatible, instead of assuming everyone just automatically is. The Mother had a husband, but is she straight? Tsubaki and Belkia are dating, but are they both even gay? Is Tsubaki bi? Pan? Is Belkia even cis? How would that affect the label of their relationship if he's not? What orientation was anyone that hooked up with Lily? What orientation even is Lily if he's genderfluid and never been attracted to anyone before? Does any of it matter? Not to me. But not assuming everyone is strictly gay, or, bi, or straight does matter. Everyone is different, and that's what I want acknowledged in my writing.

And now for another topic, lol. I'm really happy to include Suzuhara since I liked her one appearance, even if she wasn't in control of herself, lol. I think that was her in an early chapter too. The girl wearing the dress that Mahiru sewed up. They look really alike, but the designs are slightly different. But! Knowing Tanaka-sensei, it likely is her both times with a slight design update cuz of the art style improvement. Everyone in the cast has had design tweeks anyway, lol. She also seems to be implied to have a crush on Mahiru, I can't really tell tho. Again, she wasn't in control of herself during the djinn chapter, so I can't be sure. But I just got attached to her and think she would serve a good purpose in this arc, so I'm making the most of this opportunity! As a multi-shipper, I even think her and Mahiru would be a cute ship, so can you blame me for almost giving Mahiru a harem here? Lmao.

Anyway, back when Mahiru was talking about the parties in the park in chapter three, did anyone guess we'd come back around to them actually attending one of those parties, lol. That's called a... a... okay I don't remember the term, lmao! Let's just go with foreshadowing. That's close enough. (During the process of copy-pasting this chapter I remembered it's called a Chekhov's Gun)

Also, one last quick thing! I love Koyuki soooo much! When will he and Ryusei return? Are they okay? Please show them to us Tanaka-sensei!