"And then, Langris had the gall to say, "Well, that's not my problem," after his poor brother brought him a handmade lunch," said Mimosa, huffing in all her righteous fury. They just entered the grounds of the Vermillion Family Estate where the entirety of the Vermillion Family lived. It was basically a gated community but with mansions, instead of regular houses. Yuno still wasn't used to entering the massive grounds, even after years of friendship with three of the Vermillion (Leo, Mimosa and Kirsch).

However, Yuno was used to Mimosa's temperament. She was generally very sweet and kind, but when you pissed her off, she'd let you know about it. It was usually her older brother Kirsch that set off Mimosa, but today was Langris Vaude, Mimosa's on-again-off-again boyfriend. They were currently not dating, but still hung out with each other. Langris was someone that Yuno didn't get along with but did so for the sake of the basketball team and for Yuno's friendship with Mimosa. Langris can be a bit of an ass, especially where his older half-brother Finral was concerned.

"You know he's got a chip on his shoulder about Finral," said Yuno, for the umpteenth time. From Mimosa, Yuno knew full well that Langris did love his brother but it was complicated because of the parents.

"But Finral is trying! And Langris won't even give him a chance," said Mimosa, high-voice squeaking in anger on behalf of Finral.

"Not everyone is as close with their siblings as some," countered Yuno.

Mimosa stopped. "Are you implying that I'm close with my brother?"

Yuno gave her a look. "You are."

"Ew," said Mimosa, wrinkling her nose in disgust. She was close to Kirsch, but he annoyed her to no end with his ego and need for attention. Kirsch was someone you really had to get used to being around, otherwise you'd want to punch him in the face.

Sighing, Yuno replied, "Which is why you can't say anything about Langris and Finral's relationship."

"Ugh, fine," said Mimosa, as they entered the main house where Mimosa's grandparents lived, but where the Vermillion Family Library existed. They were going to be reading the first few chapters of their book and writing notes, then compare them. It was unfortunate that the gym had to be cleaned because of stink bombs (again). Mimosa and Yuno dodged the servants to make it to the library.

The Vermillion Family Library was as big as an actual public library, maybe even bigger. It had deep mahogany red rugs, the shelves were made of the finest wood, and there were various work-spaces for family members. Since Mimosa and Leo were about the same age, they shared one table. And to Yuno's surprise (pleasantly surprised), Leo was there with Asta.

He didn't think that Leo would bring Asta here in fear of making the other boy nervous. Suddenly, Yuno was very aware that he was staring at Asta and averted his gaze.

"Ah, hey, Yuno, Mimosa," said Leo, cheerfully. Asta looked up from the book he was reading and smiled awkwardly at him and Mimosa.

Mimosa, being personable like Leo, went over and shook hands with Asta. "We've not been properly introduced. I'm Leo's cousin, Mimosa. It's nice to meet you."

Asta shook her hand and nodded, seemingly agreeing with her statement.

Never deterred, Mimosa said, "Mind if Yuno and I join you? We're just gonna be reading."

Asta gestured welcomingly to the table. Leo laughed and said, "Yeah, no worries, Mim, we're just reading too! We picked an awesome book!"

"Frankenstein, huh," said Yuno, spotting the title of the book that Asta was holding. "Interesting choice."

"It's a classic of the horror genre," said Leo, grinning. "And Asta already read it, so he's just re-reading it."

"Who reads Frankenstein just because," asked Mimosa. Asta scribbled something on the paper and handed it to Mimosa. She read it aloud. "He wrote, "I watched the movie and I felt bad for the monster so I wanted to hope that the book treated him better. But it didn't." Wow. That must have been depressing."

Asta made the motion to indicate sorta by tilting his hand up and down.

Yuno hid a smile, as he sat down and took out his book. Since Mimosa was introduced properly, she sat down too. Seeing that they needed to get work down, Asta and Leo went back to their reading and Yuno and Mimosa started theirs.

Everyone worked diligently, though Yuno found himself a bit distracted. He glanced at Asta way too many times. There was just something magnetic that drew Yuno's gaze to the ash-blond boy who had a lot to say but not enough words to say it. It was cute that Asta was focusing so much on reading and taking notes, despite having read the book already for fun. Asta chewed on his pen cap in concentration. He didn't know that Asta read often, but then again, Yuno barely knew him.

That was a shame. Yuno had a hard time making friends on his own. Mimosa and Yuno became friends because they had been in the same 2nd grade class after he had been fostered by Dorothy and William. Yuno lent Mimosa his blue crayon after Eric Finch ate hers. It was from that interaction that Mimosa decided that she was Yuno's best friend. With Mimosa's friendship came his friendship with Leopold and Noelle and subsequently learning about basketball. People always came to him to become friends. He never initiated friendship on his own.

He'd have to ask Mimosa for help, which was going to be both embarrassing and taxing.

"God kill me now," said a loud voice belonging to Noelle Silva, Mimosa's cousin and Leo's second cousin. Noelle's long silver hair was in a bun today and she had a mopey face. She dramatically collapsed onto Mimosa. "I tripped in front of Kahono again today! She's got to think I'm such a klutz. Ughh."

"Uhhh, Noelle," said Leo and Mimosa, at the same time, to get her to stop talking. Noelle hadn't noticed Asta yet. Asta was a friend of Kahono, the head of the school chorus and Noelle's crush for the last year.

To his credit, Asta looked pretty amused but covered his mouth, so it didn't seem like he was laughing at her.

"And then, ughhh, Bah-ha guy showed up and pretended to save me. He definitely scared her away," said Noelle. "She's never gonna speak to me at this rate."

"Noelle," said Yuno, calling her attention. "Have you met Asta?"

"Ehhhhh? Why didn't any of you stop me," screeched Noelle, blushing horribly. She was bad with her emotions unlike her cousins, but she can be just as loud.

Yuno tugged on his ear, a nervous habit from his youth. "We tried to stop you. Asta, Noelle. Noelle, Asta."

Asta smiled, and handed Noelle a piece of paper that he clearly wrote while no one was looking.

Noelle stared at it and said, "You really won't say anything to Kahono? And thanks for the luck."

Asta nodded, encouragingly. He gave her a thumbs up with a grin on his face.

Yuno was right in his earlier observation. Asta was very cute.

He really needed to go back to basketball practice and have something other than a cute boy to grab his attention.

~to be continued