Ema stands on her tip-toes and tries to peer past Ukyo's broad back. He moves aside, like he can sense her burning curiosity telepathically and Ema hopes that's not the case because she'd be so embarrassed.
Ema's eyes widen. What greets her is the biggest dining room she's ever seen, and also the coziest. The dark, wooden table looks both new and worn in all at once. It stretches through the length of the room and seems to take up mores space every time she blinks.
She looks up and sees Ukyo chuckling at her from the sidelines.
"I know it can be a little intimidating," He says, eyes crinkling happily, "But there's a lot of us, so it's necessary."
Ukyo sets the bowls down carefully. He moves fluidly, spreading them out across the table in even chunks before taking Ema's from her grasp.
"The formal dining room is on the opposite side of the kitchen," He adds and Ema gapes again.
There's another one? She thinks with wide-eyed fascination.
Ukyo seems to finish setting up and walks past Ema and back into the hallway. She takes another look at the dining room and dutifully follows, huffing a bit in her quest to keep up.
"I'm going to finish cooking," Ukyo begins.
Ema opens her mouth, deciding that the rudeness of interrupting overrides forcing Ukyo-san to cook alone for someone who is technically an uninvited guest in his own home. The was never raised to be rude.
Ukyo seems to sense her reluctance and cuts her off before she can even get out the first syllable.
"Before you say anything, this isn't something you can help me with. And I think you should rest up before dinner. I don't want to see you falling asleep in your food."
"Doctor's orders," He quips jokingly.
Ema furrows her brows and gets ready to dig her heels in a fight the decision before Ukyo moves aside and she finds herself in another unfamiliar room.
The dark haired boy she saw earlier is here, sitting on one of the couches with his homework in his hands. His gaze switches between a textboko and the paper he's holding onto tightly. His red-haired older brother is nowhere to be seen and Ema notices he's changed out of his basketball shorts into another pair of track pants.
Ema feels bad about bothering him. He seems very focused, if restless, as indicated by the constant tapping of his foot.
"Subaru," Ukyo calls, interrupting the boy's concentration. Ema spares a moment to form a mental apology.
"I don't think you were ever formally introduced. This is Ema. Please make her feel welcome until dinner is ready."
Subaru nods mutely. His gaze jumps nervously between Ukyo and Ema, as if asking Ukyo not to leave. The pace of his tapping increases. Ema could probably waltz to it, if she wanted.
"Um, ok," Subaru eeks out hesitantly.
Ema steps up and bows. Time for me to show some courage!
"It's nice to meet you Subaru-san. I won't bother you while you work."
Ukyo looks at Ema like he wants to protest the wording of her statement, but Subaru looks strangely relieved, so he drops it and moves back to the kitchen. Ema takes a careful seat on the corner of the sofa and lets her eyes wander.
This room is bright and cozy like the kitchen and the dining room. In fact, Ema is beginning to believe the entire house is like this. It's unusual since she's used to staying in small, one or two-bedroom apartments with a constant layer of dust on the top shelves and some impersonal coffee table books above the television, before moving on to the next one.
Eventually, her eyes wander back to Subaru, shoulder hunched and eyes back on his textbook as he works out a problem.
There are a few sheets of crumpled up paper near her side of the couch. Ema casually takes one before she catches sight of the scratched out problem that takes up half the page.
She bites at her lip and wages a mental war between her shyness and natural desire to help. Eventually, she clears her throat and calls him over.
"Subaru-san?" Ema says in the quiet of the living room. The scratching of pen on paper stops and Subaru's shoulder hunch inward further.
He turns to look at her reluctantly and Ema points toward the bottom half of the paper she's holding.
"I think this problem is about decimals, not fractions."
Subaru is deathly silent and almost as still. Even the tapping of his foot had stopped at some point. Ema takes her reluctance, shoves it out the door, and firmly doesn't think of the way her classmates would snicker at her if she ever pointed out a mistake one of them had made.
Subaru-san is an Asahina. They've been nothing but kind to me!
She continues.
"I think you need to subtract in this part instead of adding."
Subaru cautiously reaches out and takes the paper from her hands. He looks at it and begins looking at the textbook anew. After several seconds of intense concentration, he nods and takes out a fresh sheet. The ink flows from his pen as he rewrites the math problem with purpose.
He seems re-energized and Ema swears she can see the hunch lift a little from his shoulders.
Once he's done, he looks at the textbook one more time and then his eyes land on Ema. He cautiously hands her his piece of paper and Ema looks back at him in confusion before lighting up with realization. She looks it over and nods.
Subaru takes the paper from her and flips the page on his textbook. He begins again, but with looser shoulders and a slower pace at which his foot taps. Ema could even venture to say he's no longer agitated, but she doesn't know him well enough for that.
Instead, she just accepts the next piece of paper he passes her way. And the next one. And the next one. With each positive comment and nod of her head at his correct answers, Subaru's frame grows lighter and he relaxes further into the couch with an almost-slouch.
Ema smiles.
author's note: look...i introduced a new character! sort of.. Also, who is your favorite character and who do you want to see appear? im curious