Chapter Three

Sojiro brings his new friend and her kid three months later.

Four year old Yume is in love.

"Can I hug you?" Yume asks the wide-eyed, orange haired girl. She immediately claps a hand over her mouth, not having meant to say that. "I'm sorry, that was rude. I'm Yume! I mean, Ishii Yume! Call me Yume! I'm sorry!"

The orange hair girl keeps staring.

The woman laughs and nudges her three year old daughter forwards. "My name is Isshiki Wakaba, and this is my daughter Isshiki Futaba. It's a pleasure to meet you, Yume. Sojiro talks about you."

"He does?" Yume brightens and turns her eyes to the man, glomping his leg. "Yay! I knew you cared!"

"Whatever, kid," Sojiro mutters, patting her head distractedly. "You didn't bring Ms. Eguchi around with you, right?"

"Iie!" Yume shakes her head, backing up to her booth. "Her sons are visiting, and Mr. Enomoto said it was alright to stay after the lunch rush."

"Always," Mr. Enomoto says, coming out from the back. "Hey Wakaba, long time no see."

"Hello," Wakaba smirks nudging her daughter towards Yume. "Why don't you play with Yume for a while, Futaba?" The young girl grabs her mum's skirt and shakes her head, still staring at Yume with wide eyes. "Hey now, remember what we talked about? The promise still holds."

Futaba slowly unclenches her hands. Wakaba stays still, watching her daughter shuffle up to the older girl. "H-hello…"

Yume smiles, slowly motioning to the booth. "Would you like to draw with me, Ms. Isshiki?"

Futaba manages a smile and nods. "Futaba."

Yume smiles wider and bows slightly. "Please, call me Yume, Futaba."

The girls get into the booth. The smaller, orange haired still doesn't look away from Yume, even when the older girl holds out a few crayons.

"Is something the matter?" Yume asks, smile faltering.

Futaba stares some more. "…cherries."

"Eh?" Yume asks.

Futaba flushes a bit and ducks her head. "Y-your hair is dark cherries!"

Yume blinks. Comes to a decision.

I will protect this sweet angel.

"Thank you!" Yume cheers, setting the crayons down before turning to fully face the girl. "I love your hair! It's the perfect shade of orange! And it matches your cute shirt! Can I give you a hug and will you be my friend?"

Futaba, wide-eyed, nods stiffly.

Yume glomps her, making sure to give room if the timid girl wants to push back. To her surprise, Futaba latches on like a koala.

Click.

"Aw," Wakaba says, lowering the camera. "Why didn't we meet her sooner, Sojiro?"

"Futaba?" Yume asks quietly, the girl curling up and resting on her.

"If we friends…" Futaba mutters, keeping her head ducked. "Will you come to my next year birthday?"

You're adorable and I want ten of you.

"Ee," Yume has to work to keep her verbal tick at a quieter level. The older girl nods quickly. She grabs a crayon and writes down her phone number. "When is your birthday?"

Futaba tells her, proudly but quietly, stating she's three now. Yume writes down the date, and then rips off the phone number. "Call me anytime!"

"She speaks quite well for a four year old," Wakaba mutters to the other adults. The woman smiles gently when her daughter silently gives her the paper. "Oh? Is this your home number, Yume?"

"Ee!" Yume chirps, nodding. "Call me!"

"We will." Wakaba laughs and pats her daughter's head. Futaba scuttles back to Yume in time for a couple drinks to be placed at their booth. "Enjoy, girls."

Yume stares at the sippy cup of hot chocolate, Futaba already drinking it. Yume stares with wide eyes as the little girl chugs back the steaming drink. When Futaba slams the cup down, she freezes under the older girl's look. "What?"

"You are amazing," Yume tells her seriously. She looks at the drink, barely able to touch the sides. "It's so hot…"

Futaba holds up a determined fist. "No pain no gain!"

Yume stares, and then nods. "Hai!" She chugs the drink.

Such a mistake.

Futaba giggle as Yume breathes heavily, the older girl's face slumped on the cool counter. She can practically feel the dizzy circles over her eyes as she makes a cross between a grunt and a cough.

"No pain no gain!" Futaba chirps, patting Yume's head hesitantly.

Yume sticks her tongue, going cross-eyed. "Pain…"

The door chimes open and Yume lifts her head up when Maki calls out, "Wakaba, it's so nice to see you again."

Futaba 'eep's and ducks under Yume's arm. The older girl easily shields the younger one, patting her head in retaliation. "It's okay. That's Ms. Eguchi. She's really nice."

"Maki," Wakaba says, standing up to hug the woman. "It's good to see you are doing well."

Sojiro's head thumps on the table.

"Is he okay?" Futaba mutters.

Yume nods and ducks down into the booth. "Ee; Ms. Eguchi likes to tease him."

Futaba frowns and crawls to the end of the booth seat. She hisses, "Sojiro!"

He straightens and looks over, along with the other adults.

Futaba squeaks and scuttles backwards, keeping in sight of the man. She beckons him over. "You can hide with us!"

The women chuckle while Sojiro shakes his head and declines the offer. "I've got to face the demon sometime."

Ms. Eguchi rolls her eyes as the door chimes again, three men spilling in. The youngest and eldest look dead tired, but have bright smiles as they greet the adults. The middle helps Ms. Eguchi to a booth, straight faced.

"Hold on," Maki pauses, smiling at the girl's booth. "Jiro, that's little Yume, and you must be Wakaba's daughter. You've grown so much."

Futaba squeaks and lifts Yume's arm up to hide under.

"Hello!" Yume greets with a smile. "I'm Yume!"

The middle brother of three nods, still straight faced. "Eguchi Jiro."

"My name is Eguchi Nobuo," says the eldest. He goes to hold out a hand, but retracts it when Futaba squeaks again.

"Hitoshi," says the third brother, smiling tiredly at the girls. "Nice to finally put a name to a face."

"Ee!" Yume nods. "Ms. Eguchi tells me lots of stories about you!"

"Only the good ones, I hope," Hitoshi says, reaching for his pocket when his phone vibrates. He sighs and shuts it, moving to the booth his family is at.

But Yume catches the red eye app he scrolled past on his flip phone.

And suddenly, Hitoshi's late-night, unknown whereabouts make a lot more sense.

A/N: Thanks for reading! (No idea when the next update will be, sorry)

Thank you, Harukawa Ayame, for your review! Glad you liked it! Hope you'll enjoy the other, younger versions of everyone! Only time will reveal them all… Thank you so much for your review, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Thank you, Guest, for your review! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and thanks again for reviewing!