New Year Resolution for 2017. To give my fanfiction a closure LOL. Been dragging it for far too long already. Sorry I lied about finishing it last summer. 365 days have passed since then (oh look what a liar I am) nooooo I'm sorry D:

I actually already had the ideas in my head but I was just too lazy to write them down (bad!).

Even after so many years, when I put my fingers to the keyboard and narrate, it really is quite pleasant and enjoyable. Sometimes I will smile as I think about the reaction of each character. I hold this story very dear and I don't know if I can write another story like this ever again. Holidays ends in 2 weeks, so hopefully I would be near the ending or have ended by then haha. I'm not going to do a slip shode work and cram all the ideas just so I can end before my next school term begins so no worries.

Here's what you missed:

Len is an uptight violinist who lives alone in a fancy house at the top of the hill (chapter 1). The only other people he interacts with are is his mother, his personal cleaner who comes once a week - Megumi, his very annoying friend from high school who's now a reporter - Nami Amou, and a café owner and the proud and passionate owner of Robert's Café – Shinobu Ousaki,

On a dark and clichéd cold night, 5 orphanages who had successfully ran away begged to spend the night at his house. Seeing they were on the brink of death, Len let them in. After some drama, he decided to adopt them. Hence at the young age of 21 he became the legal parent of 6 meddlesome and lovable kids. (I can hear the breaking hearts of many young girls out there).

Ryoutaro, aged 13 now, is the oldest and most sensible. He was forced to grow up since he had to care for the younger 5. He had a girlfriend briefly, Sakimoto, and everyone was glad when they broke up, or rather they never knew who she was, she never did make an appearance to the family HAHA. Azuma, aged 11 now, likes to keep his hair long (nobody knows why). He might not talk much but he has the most going on in his mind. Next up is the family joke, I mean joker (oops), Kazuki. You can't stay angry for long at him and Len has a love/hate relationship with him. He's only 9 this year ("So close to that double digit!" is something he would say). A year younger than him is Kahoko at age 8, the red haired girl with golden curious eyes. She tries to be the perfect daughter any parent would want but Kazuki's temptations and invitation for mischief to too great to handle. Keiichi is at a lucky age of 7, and he loves nothing more but naps and honey. Last and the littlest is Shouko who's 5 this year. She always thought her teal hair was odd and then she saw Azuma with his purple hair. She's soft spoken and a boy at her pre-school, Sasaki, has a crush on her. She has also started to like him back!

So far, the parents of the following children have turned up: Kazuki and Shouko in that order. Kazuki's mom was a b*tch and Shouko's parents let their daughter go quite easily (lucky Len!). Or maybe I should have included more struggle because now it seems too easy. Hmm… And in the last chapter, Ousaki, the owner of Robert's café, just revealed himself to know Kahoko! Read on to find out!

By the way I've decided to finally get my dates set right. Cause I'm unfamiliar with Japan's school terms, i went to ref from /The-Japanese-School-15161 so since the last chapter, they stopped after the first semester (autumn) and are now embarking on Spring term. (Second sem of one academic year)

"Kahoko… Hino Kahoko…?" Ousaki said.

"Kahoko, do you know him?" Len asked.

The other children were leaning in closer out of curiosity and had stopped eating except for Kazuki who continued to stuff his mouth with chocolate ice cream.

Ousaki bent down cautiously. "You really don't remember me?"

Kahoko shook her head slowly.

Ousaki combed his fringe up with his fingers and gave Kahoko a goofy grin. Kahoko immediately burst into peals of giggles and silly laughter. "Funneh bunneh!" she cried.

"You remember now?" Ousaki asked in an excited tone. Both of his hands were palm flat on the table and bent at the elbow. His chest hung dangerously close to all the whipped cream, anxiously awaitaing Kahoko's reply. But she merely shook her head, saying, "I only remember 'funneh bunneh'."

Ousaki stood up in disappointment, but it quickly turned into a small smile at the sight of Kahoko's happy face. He didn't think he would see their child here, of all places. He was very relieved. Len had the EXPLAIN-YOURSELF face as he stared at Ousaki with confusion. But Kazuki beat him to it. "I'm not following…" he said lazily, swinging his spoon around like an extended finger.

"You won't believe it, Len," Ousaki chuckled. He crossed his arms and continued to hold Kahoko's gaze. Len leaned closer to hear what Ousaki was about to say next, and was surprised to see that Ousaki's eyes were the same pair of golden drops bursting with curiosity and honesty as Kahoko's.

"I'm her uncle." Ousaki dropped the words.

Len stood up and said seriously, "I was expecting something else," placing his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Like what? Father?"

"Nah, you're too old."

Both grown men looked at each other awkwardly before breaking into nervous laughter.

"You owe me a long explanation," said Len.

Ousaki gestured to a quieter spot away and Kazuki wanted to follow. Unfortunately for him, he was trapped between Ryoutaro and Azuma. And every time he attempted to climb under the bench to escape, Ryoutaro responded by striking the top of Kazuki's head with his spoon.

"If you keep hitting my head, I'll become stupid!" Kazuki said defiantly.

"Your head is so hard that I think my spoon will break first," replied Ryoutaro. The children burst out laughing and Kazuki playfully pounced on the older boy. They both started wrestling and tackling each other in the corner of the seat, striking each other's ticklish spot.

Azuma took advantage of the situation to scoop a generous amount of fudge from Kazuki's sundae.

"Noooo! Not the fudge!" Kazuki whined for it was his favourite.

But he was held down fast by Ryoutaro. He kicked Ryoutaro's belly and with an oomf, Ryoutaro fell backwards onto Azuma. Kazuki then gave a war cry and jumped onto the two older children.

The younger 3 who were sitting opposite watched with wide-eyed amusement. Seeing that the older sibling's sundaes were left unattended and melting, they helped themselves to all of their chocolate biscuits and marshmallows.

Len and Ousaki settled down with a cup of cappuccino and black coffee, far away from the noisy chatter of the children but close enough to keep watch. Luckily the television was tuned to the cartoon channel so the 3 boys soon stopped their silly fight to watch.

"I was her father's younger brother," Ousaki started.

Len blew at his coffee and took a long sip, listening as Ousaki told his side of the story.

Apparently he lost contact with his brother after the Hino family boarded the plane destined for San Francisco. His brother had been planning the family vacation for many months and everyone was looking forward to it. Ousaki and his older brother, Oda, were very close since young, being the only 2 children in the family. Ousaki and his parents were devastated when Oda and his family did not return home and the immigration officials couldn't find any traces either. Kahoko was only 3 at that time.

Len guessed as much that in San Francisco, the family must have been attacked and Kahoko was taken away to the no good orphanage. The two men then drifted to talk about the other children's stories. About how Kazuki's mother caused a scene in the police station, and about Shouko's parents coming to find her.

Len was always hopeful that the children's parents were still somehow alive somewhere and would come back for them one day. But after seeing Kazuki's mother, he told himself that he'd prefer them dead.

After about 20 minutes, the children were finally finishing their ice cream. Kazuki's sundae was especially less compared to the rest, since his sundae had been "shared" against his wishes.

Turning to Ousaki, Len asked, "Do you want Kahoko to stay with you?" And he immediately regretted it. For some reason he knew it was the right thing to ask but on the other hand he was selfish.

Ousaki looked at him in surprise, and gave a little smile before shaking his head.

"I have no experience living with kids, and my apartment is too small…"

"A raving café owner's apartment is too small?" scoffed Len. Ousaki just grinned at him. "A raving café owner can never compare to a concert performer."

Just then, the children were climbing down the seats, carrying their empty sundae cups in their hands. Len groaned as he thought that they wanted second servings, but to his surprise, they brought them to the kitchen. "Let's help to clear our cups. It's basic manners!" He could hear Kahoko say. "At home yes, but we're outside! That's what waitresses are for!" Kazuki exclaimed. Hearing that, the annoyed Kahoko as she stacked her cup onto his. She then started grabbing everybody else's cup and stacking them onto Kazuki's cup and bossed him to bring them to the kitchen to wash. "Punishment! Say one more stupid thing and I'll make you wash EVERY CUP IN HERE!" The other children, Len, and Ousaki burst out laughing at the comical scene.

Ousaki then turned back and said to Len, "She looks really happy with the other children. I think it's the best that she stays with you." Len just propped his elbows on the table and smiled while looking at the children. "But please bring her around more often, I'd love to be able to see my niece even when I'm working."

"You can count on it," Len replied.

After paying up, Len shuffled the children towards the car. The children bade Ousaki goodbye as they piled into the car. Ousaki was whispering to Kahoko something and he passed her a small item. She gripped it with both hands. He then suddenly lifted her into the air, much to the little girl's delight. Kahoko giggled as Ousaki carried her to the car. He fastened her into her seat and gave a little peck on her cheek as a sign of farewell. All the children were shocked by the sudden act of affection but were too stunned to say anything until Len had driven off a bit.

"What was that?" Ryoutaro was the first to ask, his face full of concern.

"What? That kiss?" Kahoko asked, pointing to her cheek. The children nodded. Kahoko said, "Kisses are how people say 'I Love You'".

Len struggled to hold in his laughter as the rest of the children flipped.

"OMIGAWD NOOOO" "THAT'S NOT A VALID ANSWER" "DUDE NOOOOO" Even Keichii, who were normally quiet went "WhaaaaaAAAATTTT."

"He's her uncle." Len simply said.

"Oh! So that's what Ousaki wanted to tell you just now! When I couldn't listen in too because SOME PEOPLE wouldn't let me go…" Kazuki said, glaring at Ryoutaro and Azuma.

The rest of the car ride was then spent explaining everything to the rest of the children. They were happy that Kahoko had found a relative so close to home and that for a start he's actually nice. Len asked what item Ousaki passed her just after she had left. Kahoko took out a pendant and opened it, revealing a family picture of her father. Ousaki and Oda were standing behind an elderly couple, who were Kahoko's grandparents. Kahoko strapped it round her neck and looked at the locket affectionately.

The sun was setting already by then, and the growl of Kazuki's stomach reminded everyone that dinnertime was near. Even though they had just downed an entire sundae.

At home, Megumi welcomed them warmly, took their coats, and made the children wash their hands before they seated themselves at the dining table. Saying their thanks, they tucked into a scrumptious meal. There was roast chicken, steamed egg, 3 kids of vegetables, and 2 plates of pork cutlets. The children loved pork cutlets so Megumi always made sure to cook a portion extra.

If Megumi could state a benefit of having these children around, it was that her meals were never wasted. With Master Len, it wasn't uncommon to find more than half of his dinner untouched. The violinist fanatic often skipped meals and fed himself with music instead. All those long hours he spent practising often left him with no appetite.

"Megumi-san," called Azuma.

"Yes dear?"

"There's a lot of food here, what's the occasion?"

"Well… since you all are starting school tomorrow, I thought it'd be a good excuse to eat more of my food since you all will be eating lunch in school from tomorrow onwards."

"OH NO SCHOOOOOOLLL…" wailed Kazuki and Kahoko.

Azuma then tried his luck and said, "Well if you make us bento lunch we can still enjoy your cooking…"

For the past year, all the children, except Shouko who ended by noon, had to fight in the canteen to buy their lunches because Len was too tired to wake up in the morning to prepare their lunches and Megumi only came around on weekends to do cleaning. Len did try to prepare something simple before, like sandwiches. But even then, preparing for 6 portions was much harder than he thought. So he took the easy way out and passed them lunch money instead.

Megumi apologised that she had her own family to take care of in the mornings which is why she isn't able to come down even if she wanted. She then tried to persuade some of them to learn cooking instead and help Len with the morning craziness.

Azuma earnestly expressed interest in learning how to cook from Megumi during the weekends and of course she gladly obliged.

Len thought it a very good idea indeed. It suddenly hit Len that he had to go through the routine of fetching all of them to school again and he groaned. If anything was worse than having the children make a ruckus at home, it was beating the morning rush. On the bright side, he would have complete peace and tranquility for those few precious hours when they were in school. He can take a morning nap or 2 and practice his violin. He made a mental note to check the upcoming concerts and pieces he needed to practice.

After dinner, they all put away the dishes and headed to do their own things. Ryou was on the piano, Kazuki wanted to play but his playmate, Kahoko, was busy learning the violin from Len. So he turned on the TV instead to find that power rangers was currently showing. Being the overly active kid he was, he decided to imitate all the power ranger moves he saw.

Keiichi, with no surprise, went to bed early and Azuma took this extra time to start studying the school material for the first week. Shouko was looking at the family calendar in the hall and counting the number of clarinet lessons she had with her teacher. She made a silent New Year resolution to be able to play well enough for the school performance in March, which was just 3 months away.

After finally tucking them into bed, Len decided not to make Megumi stay back and clean up the mess since it was getting late already. While he was giving Megumi a lift to the train station, she casually asked, "So I heard Kahoko's past came to light today. Isn't it great she still has a living relative living so close to here?" Len nodded in agreement and uttered something like "Mm". She continued, "What about the rest? So far only half of the children have had relatives or someone coming to look for them right?"

"I'm sure it'll only be a matter of time. Maybe I could push for another story to be published. But at the same time it'd be quite hard for them to leave since everyone's so used to each other already. Personally I'd prefer they just remained."

"But the children must have some kind of closure to their childhood."

Len thought about the possibility that some of them might hire private detectives to track down their families when they grow up, but that was a worry for the future. Right now he just wanted them to grow up safe and sound and have a good comfortable future.

Thus the first day of school came and gone. And within a week everyone had adapted to their new school life. Shouko practised hard every day after school while the older ones were still away, or at least she tried for she was constantly distracted by Len's violin practice. It had also became Kahoko's duty to wake Kazuki up every morning because the rest had given up. Ryou's piano had gotten a little better and Len's mother, Misa Hamai, was growing very proud indeed. It was probably due to the fact that he had no more girlfriend issues. On Valentines day all he did was come straight home and practice even harder, and he was actually very happy. Kahoko tried her best on the violin, and even though she struggled initially, Len's strict and precise teachings helped her improve by leaps and bounds eventually.

Azuma, who even though was not in the final grade of middle school, was studying especially hard as he wanted to get into a good high school of his choice. His high school was different from Ryou's and because of that Len initially disagreed because it would mean another destination during their already hectic morning drive. But it gained Len's approval because there was a music division there and it wasn't too far from home. Azuma even briefly mentioned that he could take public transport to school from the next year onwards.

Len hesitated at first, remembering the kidnap incident that happened last year and said he'd think about it. Ryou who overheard it also said he would take transport so that it'd help Len lighten his morning fetching load. But to be honest he was just a little embarrassed to come by car every morning as majority of the school came by transport/foot/cycle.

Kazuki on the other hand, was very popular in class due to his jovial and dramatic personality. He was literally everyone's friend in school and some even said he was the most popular boy in school. Kahoko was very proud to be his sister and she always went around bragging to her school friends that she stayed with Tsukimori Kazuki. But only Azuma knew that Kazuki was popular because of his relations to the cute red-haired Kahoko.

Azuma wondered when would Kazuki realise that most of his male friends who hung around him everyday mostly talked about Kahoko only.

During the school's physical test, Kazuki came home and proudly exclaimed that he'd grown 7cm since the last time. And after comparing with the rest of the children, he was declared the undisputed winner. Ryou then decided to annoy him by standing behind him and saying "You'll need to grow more than 7cm for me to stop literally looking down on you whenever I talk to you." Kazuki didn't talk to Ryou for three days after that.

Kazuki joined the basketball team, thinking it would help him grow taller if he jumped more. However Len got pretty sad to see Kazuki so involved in his extra curriculum activity to the point of neglecting his trumpet. Kazuki's trumpet teacher had also stopped coming for a while now.

Perhaps it was because all the other children were greatly involved in their musical learning, or perhaps Len decided not to force all of them to pick up music, but he left Kazuki alone and let him pursue sports. Maybe having an athlete in the house wasn't so bad after all.

Before Len knew it, it was already March. On the day of Shouko's pre school concert, Len was feeling rather proud as he walked through the school grounds. Even though this was just a small scaled school performance to showcase talents of the kids, he still felt like it was a big deal. He invited her clarinet teacher (refer to chapter 6), Adalgasia Reginheraht, the German with 30 years of teaching experience but she was too busy teaching to take time off and watch. Ryou had the duty of videotaping down her performance and Kazuki made a promise that he would cheer as loud as he could.

Luckily this wasn't a formal concert so Len couldn't be bothered what Kazuki wanted to do as long as he wasn't a nuisance to all the other parents.

The audience was filled with parents and siblings alike. For the opening ceremony, the principal gave a short speech about how this annual talent showcase was always something that the students looked forward to and the teachers and school were very blessed to have talented students. Kazuki opened his mouth to yawn and Kahoko quickly covered his mouth with her handkerchief, unintentionally gagging him in the process.

The first few performances were class plays or skits. It was comical to see how some of the students forgot their lines and just stood there stoning at the audience and a teacher had to come up on stage to tell them their lines. Azuma chuckled when one boy ran off in fright after forgetting his line in a song. Ryou had taped down all of the performances so far and was even thinking of doing a gag reel. Shouko's class did a Snow White skit and Shouko was one of the seven dwarves, Sleepy. She didn't really have much to say except follow the group around the stage.

The individual performances were scheduled for later. But when Shouko went on stage, she could already feel nervous. Her knees grew weak when she imagined how it'd be like when she was on the stage alone later on. She spaced out in fear as she thought about it that she forgot to exit the stage after the scene ended. Her teacher jokingly went up and said to the audience "That's Sleepy for you, falling asleep while acting." The audience laughed as the blushing Shouko quickly descended the steps and went behind backstage.

A couple of other classes performed songs and there were a few more skits. After all of the classes had finished presenting. It was time for the individual performances.

EXTRA : A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A TSUKIMORI (6)

"Len! NOOO! Don't go! You can't do this to me!"

"You said you owed me one. I'm claiming it now!" Len puffed as he hopped out of the house struggling to fit his foot into his shoes. "You'll be fine! You love kids!"

"That's a lie and you know it!" Nami screamed back. But Len had already gotten into the car.

Len had an urgent masterclass to attend to because the host fell ill and the conductor called him to fill in. His house helper, Megumi, and mother weren't around to care for the kids for the weekend so the next best alternative was his somewhat close friend, Nami Amou. Len knew that she would never agree to babysit for the weekend so he tricked her into coming. Actually it wasn't a very elaborate trick, all Len said was that something was happening and he didn't want the media to know about it first. Nami, who naturally gravitates towards gossip, cabbed here without hesitation.

She stomped back into the house and looked around at the kids. Ryoutaro shook his head, unable to believe that Nami fell for such a lame excuse. Kazuki took the opportunity to ask Nami if she'd like to see him perform a smash hit.

"You know that super viral song from the movie Frozen?"

"Let it Go?" Nami replied. "Are you going to singing it to me?"

Kazuki grinned, and everyone knew he was up to no good. The only one in the room who couldn't tell was the grown woman standing in the hallway. Kazuki then turned with his back against her and began.

"Err… if you're performing to me why aren't you facing me?"

But it was too late.

"Let it GOOOOOO" sang Kazuki, syncing his farting with the last word. "Let it GOOOOOOO! Can't hold it back anyMOOOOORE."

"YOU DISGUSTING BOY!" Nami exclaimed and swung her bag up his butt, knocking him over. All the children started laughing really hard when she did that.

Kazuki stood up while laughing and told Nami, "That's why Len-nii told me when I farted into his room HAHAHAHA. Only children know how to appreciate the art of farting. Adults are the only ones who find it gross."

Nami groaned. It'd be a really long weekend. For the next two days, Nami got locked in the toilet and corned into the wall multiple times. Once she emerged from the toilet in tears and Ryoutaro had to console her. Kahoko felt bad for the grown lady and chided Kazuki to stop as well. When he didn't, Keiichi threatened to push a cork up his butt hole to stop him from farting anymore.

Nami locked the doors at night and refused to come out until the children started banging on her door and begging her to make lunch. Luckily, Azuma took charge and made curry. The scent managed to lure the hungry Nami out of her room and into the kitchen. But Nami soon fled back into her room in tears with her plate when Kazuki scared her with a fake cockroach on her seat. She didn't leave her room after that and Azuma had to put her dinner near the door.

Finally, Len returned. He drove the car in and parked next to the garden. The children opened the door and happily ran towards him. Nami emerged last and gave him the look of death. When he saw the look on Nami's face, Len considered staying in the car. Nami stood on the porch and shouted "IT'S OVER BETWEEN US!" Which attracted the attention of all the neighbours. "I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE. I'M LEAVING FOR GOOD!" She cried as she stomped out of the driveway.

Slowly, Len emerged from the car. He and the children just stood there with shocked expressions. Kazuki finally broke the silence. "I don't know what she's talking about we were angels!"

I don't know how many more chapters I'd need to end this off. I'll try my best. D: Judging from the current plot line I'd say it's about halfway there only (yikes).

In any case, I'd like to ask for reader feedback regarding the story. Did you guys enjoy the story? Which was the best part? Did the characters have enough depth? I really tried to make them come alive, and not just stick to their usual personalities that we're so used to seeing from the anime/game.

I've been pretty out of touch with my inner artist since junior college started in 2011 and I feel like I'm going to be even more detached after I start work in the second half of next year, 2017. It's pretty sad when I think about it. I always remembered that it was my childhood dream to be a comic artist when I grow up haha. But here I am majoring in operations and analytics. So at least I'll try to make writing/drawing my new hobby and do away with all the studying/CCA crap I had to put up with haha.