The next week came and went, Ema studying for finals in between helping Kiyomi cook and clean and learning her way around the small, dingy Akiyama household. The front gate was falling off and the back door didn't lock and there was a stair you couldn't step on or else you'd fall through (Kimiri had tried and failed to fix it multiple times), but it was all fine to Ema to have a roof over her head and a place to cool down.
She was incredibly grateful to all four Akiyama sisters, especially Kiyaki, for taking her in when they already had enough mouths to feed. It was still difficult trying to get along with them— still, Ema tried. She found within a few days that Kiyaki wasn't as mean as she was stern; growing up the oldest had made her mature faster and discipline her sisters harder. Kizuni wasn't as rude as she was tired; working night shifts nonstop made a person a little grouchy in the morning. Kimiri wasn't as malicious as she was shy; not being able to connect with her taciturn older sisters nor her outgoing younger sister wasn't exactly conducive to developing social skills.
As glad as Ema was knowing that the three elder Akiyamas weren't mean just for the sake of being mean, she still preferred to tack herself to Kiyomi's side— not that Kiyomi minded. In fact, Kiyomi chattered even more than usual now that she had a close friend at home to turn to. Kiyaki, Kizuni, and Kimiri were rarely all three home together, and ended up leaving the two younger girls to their own devices. It was only at the mention of them that Kiyomi's nose would wrinkle and she would say,
"No offense, but my sisters are kind of really mean. I prefer not to spend much time around them, thank you very much."
Ema would hold her tongue at Kiyomi's proclamation everytime, not thinking it her business to tell Kiyomi the true reason her sisters worked around the clock, or tell her that they may have been more kindhearted than Kiyomi gave them credit for. Still, perhaps for selfish reasons, Ema yearned desperately for Kiyomi to be happy with the family that she did have.
When Ema wasn't staying at the Akiyama household, she was busying herself trying to repay them for their kindness in letting her stay at their house for however long she needed. They'd moved the better of their two living room couches into Kiyomi's room, and Kiyomi slept on it while Ema took the bed. Ema was well aware of how much they were sacrificing to give her a good place to stay, so she asked Rei and Ryota to come over and fix nearly everything wrong with the entire house while Kiyomi was out, much to the blonde's delight (and the twins, who finally had a big project to work on).
It was during one of these gratitude projects that Ema found herself at the grocery store. Kiyaki would be working late that night, and the fridge was empty. Kizuni and Kimiri didn't have enough from their own paychecks to buy food and didn't know how much Kiyaki had budgeted from her own paycheck to buy some, so they had resigned themselves to give Kiyomi the last bowl of ramen and just eat at work the following day.
Ema had nearly wept at the sight of Kiyomi chowing down on ramen after Kizuni and Kimiri had feigned indifference to her having it (both claimed they hated the flavor anyway), while Ema could practically hear Kizuni's stomach growling and see Kimiri just about pass out from hunger. So, silently sneaking out and grabbing her wallet and phone, which her father had brought her from the house, she resolved to buy the three eldest sisters the best meat that money could buy and make them a stew pot that would last an entire week.
And at the grocery store, in the meat aisle, she stood beside a certain tall, blond, bespectacled lawyer who was also shopping to feed his siblings. Twelve siblings, to be exact.
It was perhaps the most awkward moment of Ema's whole entire life. Ukyo was well-aware of her presence: of that she was certain. She'd already bought all the vegetables needed to make the stew pot (along with some carrots, which she knew Kiyomi hated and which she hoped to put in the dish to discourage her from eating it so the three elder sisters would get their share). Ema didn't have a good reason to retreat; she'd already ordered her cut from the butcher and was waiting in line for her number to be called. Ukyo, on the other hand, had appeared to place his order earlier, but had gone off to do some shopping and returned to find that making enough cuts of beef for thirteen people took as long as one would expect. So they waited side-by-side as Ema pretended to be fascinated by the raw fish fillets on display while Ukyo pretended not to be fascinated by her.
The silence between them was absolutely terrible and Ema was well aware of passersby avoiding the tension there. He ignored her, not necessarily out of anger, but mostly from uncertainty of whether or not she would want to speak to him. But both knew they were sneaking wary glances at one another, hers as if she feared him getting on one knee and proposing to her, his as if he feared her opening her mouth wide and biting his head clean off.
The butcher finally called Ema's number and she snatched the bag out of his hand before he was even done speaking, then turned to flee like she had seen a ghost— and in her haste, she ran right into Ukyo's solid chest and stepped around him with a muttered "sorry," diligently refusing to make eye contact. To make matters worse, she heard the butcher's comment to Ukyo from behind her— "Whatever you did to make your girlfriend mad, my friend, I suggest you fix it."
Her face burned bright red, but she forged on and ran from the grocery store as fast as she could.
Most of the week wasn't much better; between actively avoiding Kaito, Yusuke, and Fuuto, she found there was hardly a place she could go. She ran into Kaito in the library when both of them reached for the same book, and he'd blushed and ducked his head and walked away without a word. Her desk and Yusuke's were right next to each other for many of their classes, but he usually fled even faster than she could. And not even Fuuto had wanted to invoke her anger, so neither Asahina sought her out.
One Week Earlier
The house was a total mess. It didn't take long for Tsubaki to get his wits about him and make for the door before Kaname had one arm wrapped around his neck in a headlock, the other supporting Azusa as he wheezed for air.
"What are you doing?!" Tsubaki snarled at Kaname. "We can't just let her go!"
Juli chattered away to Louis, who seemed as stunned as everyone else. "Louis, you have to go get her! It's dangerous out there, and if you don't, one of these other wolf brothers will!"
"I— No, I can't do that," Louis said with an emphatic shake of his head, voice stretched tight with distress. "If I go, then they'll all want to go, and I can't stress her out like that. She's my dear sister, but I know she'll be safe."
"SAFE?! That's it, I'm finding her myself!" Juli made a move to leap to the door but was came to a screeching halt to avoid being stepped on by a sobbing Wataru, who leapt into Masaomi's arms.
And Hikaru . . . Hikaru had never expected . . . this. His hand went limp, nearly dropping his wine glass, and he slammed it onto the table. He cared about Ema, he truly did— how much, he wasn't sure, but if there was one thing he knew, it was that she was only an eighteen-year-old girl. She didn't deserve this; he hadn't realized how much it was affecting her, how terribly it must have weighed on her mind. He felt his stomach churning; even if she was the newest member to their family, he still had a responsibility to be her older brother, and some older brother he was— laughing in the face of this entire mess without considering the emotional trauma it could inflict on her.
Around him, the house seemed to be burning. Natsume was in shock, on his knees on the ground. Wataru was weeping, clinging to a Masaomi who seemed to be both on the verge of tears and a complete shutdown. Tsubaki was crying openly beside a paled Azusa, both having given up fighting against a grief-stricken Kaname, and just let their bodies go limp in his arms. Ukyo knelt by Natsume, head in his hands, and as Hikaru made a move to comfort him, the brother he wasn't even closest to, he turned to Yusuke.
"Yusuke. Yusuke! Snap out of it, Yusuke!"
Yusuke looked up from his place on the floor, interrupting his mutterings of "Why did I tell them, why did I tell them" to glare at Hikaru through bloodshot eyes. "What?" His voice was hoarse.
"I need you to tell me where our sister could be."
"Why would I do that? You're just going to go and tease her—"
"Do it now, Yusuke! You said it yourself, she has friends, and lots of them. You don't think they'll come looking for her? You want her to end up on the streets tonight? Hurry, and tell me where she likes to spend her time!"
"She— sh— wait! Wait, there's this c-c-coffee shop, down the road from here. I know she likes going down there to think; maybe she'll end up there!"
It was just in time Yusuke said it; Hikaru heard the upstairs main entryway open and a boy, tall and lean, appear at the top of the stairs with wide, russet eyes. Wataru had run upstairs to retreat to his room and had heard the knock; hopeful it would be Ema, he'd flung the door open, but instead was breezed past by the boy that Hikaru was now sure was Kaito. The messy hair and the loosened school-issued tie had to belong only to the boy who had thrown the family such a delicious, chaotic golden apple.
Hikaru strode up the steps to meet him, stopping on the one just before him. Fortunately for the teen, the other Asahinas were far too lost in their anguish to notice his presence. Hikaru narrowed his eyes at the boy; he was tall, taller than Hikaru, but he seemed to shrink back from the fourth brother's stony glare.
"You."
"Don't." Kaito's voice was soft, pleading. "I need to find her. Please. Please, let me find her. I know she's been here."
"And she left."
"Then where is she?"
Hikaru simply leveled his stare harder into the boy, and Kaito, for once, felt fear of an Asahina.
"You're— you're Hikaru. Hikaru Asahina. You're the writer." Kaito took a deep breath to steady his voice. "Age twenty-six. You dress up as a woman to get writing materials. You lived in Italy but moved back to Japan— Ema says it's because you're a good person and you secretly missed your family. But even though you missed them, you also contributed to Ema's pain by not stepping in and instead standing by and laughing. But I know you love Ema; I don't care whether it's as a sister or as a woman. I need your help because I love her, too. And I know she loves me. She's told me everything; everything about you and your family and your brothers. From all the happy times she's had with all of you to all the suffering she's been put through. Why would she tell me if she didn't trust me? Please. Let me find her. I can't just leave her out there alone tonight."
Hikaru's eyes narrowed more— Kaito Hashira may have been a brat, but he was a damn honest one.
"What will you do when you find her?"
"Keep her the hell away from you."
Hikaru's eyes widened in surprise, and he couldn't stop the barking laughter that burst from him at Kaito's confident, nonhesitant answer. As if trying to soften the blow, Kaito added, more softly, "All of you."
It was then that Hikaru sobered, and his grin slipped down into a bitter smirk. But he couldn't deny that that was likely what was best for Ema at that exact moment. Looking down at his brothers, then back at the Hashira Brat, he gripped Kaito's tie and yanked him close to hiss in his ear.
"Fine. I'll tell you. But you hurt her the same way we have, and you're dead."
"Trust me, I agree."
Hikaru scrawled the cafe's name down on the back of one of Kaito's math assignments and the boy was on his way, thanking Hikaru profusely as he ran to meet Ema. The Asahina descended the stairs, only to find the situation had worsened with the addition of Subaru, Iori, and Fuuto arriving home, baffled at the disarray before them.
The only one relatively calm at the moment, Hikaru pulled his three younger siblings aside and took no joy in watching their faces twist from disbelief to horror to agony as he filled them in.
"She said that?" Iori choked. "Verbatim?"
"Verbatim." Hikaru confirmed. "I think it's best that we don't speak to her for a while so that she has a chance to cool down, and so that we have a chance to rethink everything that's happened and see if there is any way we can fix this entire mess. And I know that being aggressive is not the way to do it."
He shot a pointed glare at Fuuto, who had opened his mouth to speak but shut it, jaw grinding. "Well, we can't just leave her out there!"
"She's safe," Hikaru snapped. "Trust me."
"And what about the family? Who knows how long she'll be gone?" Subaru asked, desperate. He may have been awkward, but he wasn't stupid; he knew very well that the reason the household had functioned so well was because of her arrival, the way she cheered on their successes and picked them up from their failures and given them a person to run to.
"She'll be gone however long she needs to be," Hikaru said curtly, though he wasn't sure if her being gone indefinitely— or, God forbid, the possibility of her moving out, would be any good for the family at all. Even the thought of it seemed to ripple through the entire room at once, as a wail came from the direction of the mourners while Hikaru's own little group didn't seem to be faring any better.
"I'm only saying this because I know that Masaomi will say it as well once he pulls himself together: leave her alone. Do not engage with her or attempt to. Trust me, all of you, that she will not take kindly to that. Let her approach us first. If you don't heed my warning, then I can't promise that she'll ever talk to you again."
From the way the three younger boys' faces paled, Hikaru knew they got the message.
Hope you liked the chapter! I tried to cover some of what we missed and give us an update on how Ema's doing at the same time. Special thanks to A Helpful Reader; your review was really well thought out and really helped me get my thoughts together! I'm glad that what I intended for the story is actually getting through.
Please let me know what you think!