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Rito woke up to the faint smell of pears and ginger on his pillows, and a bed of dying warmth. He realized that he must have fallen asleep with Lala, and that she must have just gotten up mere moments before him, as the bed was still warm from where she had laid next to him the night previous. Quite surprised not waking up to the sight of a naked woman, Rito almost felt a pang of sadness. Almost.
Choosing to disregard that fleeting emotion, he gets ready for the day, and is the last one to the table for breakfast. It seemed Mikan had prepared breakfast again, and everyone was already in various stages of eating. Nana and Rito seemed to have both arrived late, as everyone else seemed to be almost finished with their dishes. It seemed that Nana was also only slightly pissed off at him, hopefully due to Lala having told her of what had really happened, and got her to slightly forgive him. No doubt when Lala's back was turned, he would no doubt be punished for the misunderstanding, but it seemed she wanted to keep up appearances with her elder sister in the same room.
Rito equally was thankful for Lala's presence, since it seemed that Momo too seemed to be holding off from her normal numerous advances and innuendos. Perhaps it was the sharp glare Mikan had been sending her way, once Rito had walked into the room and sat down. Tehn again, Mikan just didn't trust Momo like she did Lala or Nana, even Rito could see that in these past months, though it had gotten a little better as time went on. He didn't know if that meant Mikan was starting to become tolerant of Momo, or whether she was just tired of running into the same awkward spots he ended up in inevitably with any of the Deviluke sisters or his various female friends.
Sighing, Rito finished up his breakfast and began to clean up his dishes. Going into the kitchen, where Mikan and Lala had already begun cleaning their own, he makes his way to the sink and adds his dirty dishes to the pile. Mikan turns to him as he walks by, and catches his attention. "Rito, I need you to go out shopping with Nana this morning, we're needing to get some more meat and veggies for dinner and more food for the rest of the week," she states, before moving to another dish Lala hands her, "Nana needs to learn not to snack on everything in the fridge when she feels like it, so she needs to go with you so both of you can ensure the food gets back here for tonight's meal!" Nana whines from the kitchen entry, as she manages to catch the latter half of the conversation.
"I was going to have lunch in the park with Mea-chan this afternoon, those 'snacks' were going to tide us over!" she looks sadly at Mikan, trying to pull off puppy eyes, "Besides Mikan, I don't want to go with this lecherous beast, he might assault me at a moments whim, or embarrass me in a public place, or violate my body in some other, equally perverted way!" Nana's eyes seemed to be glowing with an ethereal fire as she sweetly worded her phrases toward Mikan, though he could feel the venomous undercurrents directed towards him. Mikan was stone faced as she glared at Nana in response, causing the Deviluke girl to flinch in response and chuckle slightly. "R-right, go with the irresponsible beast and be his leash," Nana states, "I-I'll make sure he gets home without doing anything too perverted or shameless- maybe even make it home without any incidents."
Nana's confidence aside, Rito was happy he might just have a moment alone with her. She might kill him, but he had that as a likely option just deciding to approach her to ask about her feelings. At the most she would end up killing him, and ending the matter all at once, the least she would do would just bodily torture him for insinuating there was anything between them, imaginary or not. Sighing and accepting his unlucky fate, Rito got himself ready and met Nana at the door. "We're heading out!" He called back inside to ensure they knew he and Nana left, "Let's go Nana." The pinkette merely grumbled at that, before following him from the house and to the store. Rito knew it was going to be a long day, if the second princess of Deviluke was going to act like this.
Later at the Convenience Store
"Nana, can you grab some nori for the onigiri Mikan is going to make tomorrow," Rito points Nana to the dried seaweed, as he goes for items a bit further up and on the other side of the aisle, "How about we go for the rice, then the other vegetables we'll need..." As Rito is reading off his list his sister sent with them, he turns while distracted and barely looks up in time to see he had caught Nana's arm in the basket he was carrying, as she attempted to put the item into it. Dropping the piece of fluttering paper to the ground, Rito tries to pull back and correct Nana's balance, only for him to slip on the waxed floor, and dropping his basket of ingredients on the floor and spilling everything out of it.
Having dropped everything, Rito was surprised to find he hadn't hit his head on impact with the floor, though he did have the wind knocked out of him with Nana having toppled onto him afterwards. Trying to regain his senses, he realizes his hands are currently in inappropriate places on Nana's figure. Her non-existent chest wasn't really a problem, as long as he didn't bring it up, but his hand resting partly on her rear end, just below her skirt line, was another matter entirely. Bolting up from his spot on the floor, he can't help but babble as he tries to apologize. "Na-Nana, I'm sorry, please d-don't hurt me!" he cries out, kneeling on the floor as he awaits execution, "L-let me help you up, or let me get all this stuff picked up so you can get up, j-just please don't kill me I've been trying my hardest to stop embarrassing-" He feels the sting before he even hears the crack of her hand against his face.
Putting his hand to the reddening area of his cheek, he notices Nana currently has tears in her eyes, as her face turns red with anger. "Just shut up, Yuuki Rito, stop giving all these excuses about 'curses' and stop pretending to be a gentleman," she states, eyes downcast as she keeps going, "You're nothing, Yuuki; you mess around with both of my sisters almost everyday in some way, your so-called friends aren't able to escape your 'mistakes' in the safety of their own school, even your sister, a person you should be protecting instead of groping, isn't immune to your perverted acts!" She stops what he is doing and begins to pick up the fallen items near her, harshly yanking the basket from Rito's hands in the process. "You think this is all just a game, don't you Yuuki, that you can just lead all of our hearts around by little red strings, and cut them off once you get what you really want," Nana coldly states in a voice just above a whisper, "Do you even know why Haruna isn't in our school anymore, have you even asked any of her friends why the one you 'claim to love', hasn't even been going to our school anymore?"
Rito was going for some pickled ume, only for his hand to be cut on the jars broken glass, the sharp edges having been revealed once the broken jar was turned over. He tried to stop the blood, as his heart was being cut to pieces. "No, I didn't think so," Nana continues, "Why tell the man who is considered the school's number two pervert, the man mistrusted due to supposed 'acts of god', a man who seems to have eight or so girls wrapped around his finger, and who is sullying their reputations just by being near them..." The Udon noodles remained intact, thankfully, though he doesn't think he can salvage the ume, so he'll have to go back and get so more. He still has to pick up some rice for the week as well, since it seemed like they always were so low- "Are you even listening to me, you womanizer?" she asks, grabbing his wrist as he goes to pick up the noodles from where they spilled out, "Are you wanting me to beat the crap out of you? Do you even care about their feelings anymore Yuuki, or are you just that heartless?" He really tries to cool his simmering anger, but the grip on his wrist is just too tight, and he really wants those noodles for Mikan's cooking.
"We just need to get some rice, some fresh vegetables, and some fish and beef from the store," he says lowly, "Then you can either follow me home and yell at me some more there, or you can just beat me up as soon as we go outside, for no reason at all, other than your pissed off at me for something I'm trying my damnedest to control..." He feels her grip weaken a bit, and flexes his wrist to break her hold. "You know what, I don't care if you yell at me, if you're still pissed at me for last night, but I didn't particularly want to spend time in a neck brace because you sent one of your alien monsters to trample me," he states calmly, as he collects the last of the spilled food into Nana's basket, "If you want to yell at me, go ahead, but do it after we take the food home, and after we leave this store, before you get us both kicked out or worse." Nana narrows her eyes at him, but she quickly gets up and picks up the fallen shopping list, left forgotten in the disarray.
"The park, after lunch, we have things to discuss," she says, as robotic as possible, "You'll come with me and I'll try not to beat the crap out of you with Mea's help, around the place Mea and I first became friends." She looks back at him for a moment, contempt in her eyes. "I know you think it's all just been fun and games, but your choices have a way of catching up to you, Yuuki Rito," she says, "When will you learn your actions and indecision are breaking hearts as much as wooing them?"
After tense moments of shopping and a quiet walk back to the Yuuki household, Rito found himself saddled with the bags and a heavy heart. "Here Mikan," he states, "They're pretty much organized, so all you need to do is sort out where to put them." Mikan thanks him for completing the task, but she notices how he flinches at the briefest touch as he passes off the bags. "I'm going to go to my room, call me when lunch is ready," he states emotionless, already walking away, "Oh, hello Momo." As Rito passes the other girl, he can't help it but not be surprised by the youngest Deviluke sister's cold shoulder, which he had already earned this morning for something he was no doubt responsible for.
Almost running up the stairs, he can't help but be happy Nana seemed to have stuck with staying downstairs, after Mea had arrived. The red headed living weapon had given her usual morning greeting, before joining Nana on the couch, watching some animal documentary on the television. Rito took that time to walk into his room and face plant onto his bed. His thoughts were swirling, but he knew he was just angry at himself, more than Nana. She was right, of course, when wasn't she? He was a screw up, a failure as an older brother, who had gone from some repressed, lonely, lovesick child, to an unrepressed, perverted, klutzy, confused, and hormonal teenager, who had friends but was always alone because he caused them too much trouble.
He hadn't even thought that Haruna might have had a reason to leave, he had always been an outcast in school, and he hadn't ever thought of approaching her friends. He had tried her sister, though that hadn't panned out since she hadn't returned to her place either, and it seemed she had temporarily moved out after summer had ended, with no forwarding address at all. Haruna's sister seemed to work for some kind of paper, of course, it wasn't too hard to assume she had been hired for some globetrotting reporting, causing Haruna to have to move in with her parent's and switch schools. It had been months, after all, since he had seen her, and he wasn't even really one of Haruna's friends, at least not enough for him to even be called by her.
Sighing, he turns to his closed door and notices that his portal to his Cyber Hangout had been activated. Except Mikan was downstairs, and he hadn't even touched the genetic lock when he closed his door behind him. Someone was inside his space, and frankly he didn't care who it was. Rito proceeded to open up his closet and rifle through the things he hid in the back, before coming across the gift Zastin had given him prior to ending their after school training regimen. Pulling out the wooden practice sword, he goes for the secondary sword he hides behind it. Pulling out the weighted blade, he adjusts the grip in his hand. It may just be another practice sword, but this one still was metal and had edges like Zastin's, though they were dulled. Whoever managed to invade his private domain, breaking through something both Lala and Nana had built together, meant that they were dangerous. He couldn't let them do something to Nana Mikan, Celine, Momo, or Lala, no matter what they thought about him. He needed to protect them, no matter what.
He hoped it was Nemesis, though, but cause at least then he couldn't get hurt. The nymph may have been evil, but she had mellowed out ever since Rito had saved her, still she was chaotic, as the need to invade his space would show. He hoped it wasn't Black, or some other assassin sent out to take his life, because they must have been poor assassins to set such an obvious trap. He really hoped Momo hadn't cracked the genetic lock and in attempting to do so broke the entrance to his Cyber place. It would have explained why she ignored him, since she wouldn't want to be connected to the malfunctioning door. Stepping into the portal, he found himself at the entrance to his space. Hitting the emergency closure button on the inside, Rito Yuuki watched it sputter and die behind him. No whoever was here, was trapped with him. Rito really hoped that wasn't a mistake on his part.