Ema finally gives in and ends up sleeping over. Ukyo's pleading that the Asahinas would love to have her and Tsubaki's blatant enthusiasm (a little too much enthusiasm, if Yusuke's embarrassed protests are to be believed) oes not convince her. It was Subaru and Louis combined pleading gaze that lead her to finally agree.
Tsubaki is the one who insists on holding a surprise sleepover.
"This might be our only night with Ema-chan! We can't just let her sleep all alone," He whines.
Yusuke's red blush comes back in full force.
"Oy, don't say it like that!" He elbows Tsubaki in the side and gets pushed into the sofa for his trouble. The boys begin another round of rough-housing as Azusa watches, entirely unimpressed.
"Stop it you two!" Ukyo groans. He nearly refuses right then, but Hikaru steps in (as usual).
"You should let them stay with her. Or are you just jealous?" Ukyo sees Hikaru's smirk as it begins to tug up the corners of his mouth and lights up his eyes.
He looks as cool and fashionable detached as ever, but there's a flare of interest somewhere in the back of his eyes. It seems like Ema managed to capture even Hikaru's elusive attention. Ukyo isn't sure that's a good thing.
"Fine," He holds off a patient groan and acquiesces. His brothers rush to pull out their sleeping bags and pull them into an optimal position next to Ema's bed. Ema returns to her guest room for the night smellling like Yusuke's apple body wash.
She expects the blank white walls and familiar loneliness of the guest room. Instead, the lights are already flicked on, shining from beneath the crack in the door, and there is shuffling and arguing coming from her room for the night.
"Am I in the wrong room?"
Azusa chuckles and shakes his head no. He is clad in a set of dark pajamas with opalescent buttons lining his shirt. He looks as neat in the evening, minutes before bed, as he does during the day.
Ema marvels at how he does it, self-consciously patting the flyaway hairs that escaped her shower cap despite her best efforts. Ema could never forgive herself if she ruined Louis's masterpiece less than a day after he had styled it for her.
She takes in the mountain of sleeping bags and tangled up blankets surrounding her bed.
Fuuto is arguing with Yusuke over who gets the spot on the left side of the imperious expression on his face says it all. Ema looks on at the scene helplessly and Azusa chuckles again at the lost look in her eyes.
.
.
.
Ema wakes up the next morning to Fuuto's fluffy hair in her mouth. At some point in the middle of the night, he had crawled out of his sleeping bag and wormed his way under the covers next to Ema. On one hand, she's not that surprised.
Ema remembers him complaining about how hard the floor was on his back and almost starting a pillow fight with Subaru because he had been told to get over it.
"Something hard? Try basketball camp," Subaru had retorted.
"Sports are for stupid people," Fuuto had sneered with his arms crossed.
On the other hand, imagining Yusuke's response and the loud squawking that would ensue is already giving Ema a headache.
She quietly slips out of bed and pads out to the kitchen with a plan in mind. The sun rose recently and rays of light are visibly shining through the apartment's windows.
I don't have a lot of time, so I'm going to have to be quick. Coming up: breakfast!
Ema surmises that Ukyo won't mind too much if she takes over the cooking for one meal.
But she doesn't know the brothers' schedules or their daily habits. Even with how at-ease this family makes her feel, how relaxed and content she is in the Sunshine Residence, she remains a stranger in a strange land.
She rolls up her sleeves and gets to work.