Burning the Midnight Oil

Chapter 10

Date Night, Part Two

~Nino~

Their night would end as Futaro parked the bike. He killed the engine, it died like a drowning man slipping beneath the waves.

Nino crossed her arms and said nothing, for a while they looked at each other in silence that begged to be broken. But silence was a damn withholding a deluge of everything still unsaid. Futaro had no trouble meeting her eye, but he was dripping with embarrassment at floundering their date, and she stayed quiet because anything she said would inevitably be tinted with blame. The specters floated above them, each threatening a different sad ending for their night.

But silence was like holding one's breath, you had to breathe eventually. Futaro gasped first and said, "Give met your helmet."

She gripped it and asked, filtering her frustration through a fine strainer, "What're you gonna tell him?"

"I'll think of something."

"You haven't already?"

"This is a tough one," he paused, looking like he was imagining all the tough ones recently pressuring his life.

Nino saw the weight on him as if someone turned up the gravity. She frowned, "So let's go."

"No."

"This isn't-"

"Nino," Futaro snapped, not in anger, rather in frustration for just one thing to go his way tonight, "I want to go alone. Give me the helmet," he said, reaching for it.

Nino leaned against the bike and said, "What's with you? What kind of guy leaves a girl alone in an alley?"

"He doesn't need to know you're involved. I want it to stay that way."

Nino tapped her finger on her arm, "He'll find out eventually."

"No, he won't." He moved his arm a little closer, "Please, give it back."

Nino wanted to deny him again and insist, as if that might make this any easier. But Futaro loomed over her like he did as her tutor, firm as a castle gate, unwilling to budge against the battering ram. Or like a knight ready to shield her from a vagabond. Her knight, just for this moment. So she let him, she handed over her helmet and said, "I'll be here."

Futaro took it and headed for the door with the poise of a soldier heading for the front lines. Or a prisoner to the gallows. Because that's what this was, really. He would walk in that door with a job and walk out without it, and maybe more if the manager involved the law. This cake shop was like his child, anyone daring to mess with its growth and prosperity could expect a quick boot out the door as a start. What had Futaro been thinking when he took that motorcycle without permission? He was supposed to be the smart one.

She watched his slowly retreating form and realized that when he stepped through that door without a job, that'd be it for them. She held their boxed leftovers, untouched from the restaurant, in front of her, they were going cold against her legs. There'd be no eating together afterwards, there was no way to salvage that kind of blunder. He'd take her to her place with some small platitude and end the worst first date in existence. How could he possibly want another? When something goes so incredibly wrong, why even bother with second chances? It's like the world was saying it wasn't meant to be.

Futaro was her knight leaving her safely in the keep while marching into battle. But sometimes knights didn't come back, or came back scarred. She could fill a hat with all the reasons she was upset with him now and raffle them off for prizes. She was angry with his lack of planning, his lack of attention, and definitely for his decision to borrow this damn bike. But she wanted him to come back to her in one piece. And she didn't want their night to end like this.

So she wouldn't let it.

Futaro opened the door and she squeezed past him. "Changed my mind!"

"Nino, stop!"

"Come on, keep up."

She stormed into the employee lounge where one of the servers was taking a rest. He went slack-jawed at the sight of her. At least someone gave her the reaction she wanted.

She asked, "Where's the manager?"

He deserved an award for managing to stammer, "Uh, the kitchen? I think?"

Futaro caught up and said, "Nino, I said stop!"

"Come with me," she moved on before he could stop her. Futaro sneered and followed her, leaving their coworker dumbfounded and doomed to spend the rest of his break wondering what comical event he'd unleashed.

Her entrance into the kitchen was less dramatic than she would have liked, but that was the nature of a bakery. If the trio of employees weren't absorbed in every detail of their work, they were doing it wrong. The three were carefully finishing their final cakes of the night, they'd all be on cleaning duty soon. None of them noticed her at first. Good thing, too, because the manager was right there with them. He was decorating a vanilla cream cake with strawberries with the speed and precision of an assembly line.

Futaro stopped behind her and grabbed her hand, pulling her back, "Nino, not now-"

"Hey! We're here!"

The bakers were dedicated, but human, and Nino's voice was a siren of alarm no one could ignore. Their coworkers looked up and were flabbergasted at the sight of the most elaborately dressed body ever to set foot in their humble kitchen. Their eyes danced to her, to Futaro, and the hands between them, which Nino realized were still holding onto each other. Connected. To him. It hadn't happened the way she'd imagined, but what about this night had? She'd take what spark she could strike. She didn't know what Futaro was thinking under their stares, but whatever it was made him slowly release her hand. She tightened her grip and held on tight, not out of selfish enjoyment, but because the manager was looking their way.

Only a man with a gambling problem would dare to place a bet on what thoughts were streaming behind those tired eyes. The manager was blank as a lake on a windless day, calm on the surface, but with life in those dark depths.

In battle, she who seizes the initiative shall seize victory. Nino started, "What's this all about? Why are you calling us on our off days? What makes you think you can interrupt our evening?" Our evening, she stressed that part like Futaro stressed the spine of his textbooks.

The manager said, "Uesugi, she with you?"

Futaro opened his mouth to speak, Nino cut him off, "Why else would I be here? Do you know what time it is? What kind of manager calls their employees after sundown on a night off?"

"Fine. Both of you, come with me," he said.

"Why should we? Neither of us are-" the manager walked right past her tirade as if he were a rock sailing through rice paper. Nino stood embarrassed, her point half-made and roundly ignored. Her cheeks heated up like bread rising in the oven.

Futaro sighed and tugged her hand, "We're in this together now."

He led her after the manager. They entered his office, it looked like a broom closet that had been gutted to make room for a small desk that was still too long, the manager had to shimmy between it and the wall to reach his seat. Nino and Futaro took the two damaged dining chairs on the other side and waited like park security before the gates opened for business.

The manager sat down and went straight to the point, he didn't waste time on theater. He held out his hand and said, "Keys."

"Here," Futaro handed them over.

"What made you think you can take my bike for a joyride?"

Futaro tried to maintain his nonchalant demeanor. Tried. "You're the only other person who can ride it, and you never-"

"So you can just take it?"

"I didn't-"

"You did."

"No, listen, I was going to bring it back with a full tank of gas."

"Did you?"

"You told me to come straight here, so no."

"Now you're following instructions?" He glanced at Nino and she stared back, challenging him to bring her into this like a boxer in the wings. He never asked why she was with him, he'd gathered enough when he saw their hands. And even a dimwit could guess she was dressed for a special night. He shifted back to Futaro and said, "How did you-"

Nino interrupted, "How did you know it was missing? You'd never use it."

He glanced at her. He wasn't annoyed, but his eyes glimmered with a rare glow, like a lighthouse in the distance, "I know everything happening in my store."

"Even that?"

"Everything."

Futaro was still holding her hand, she could feel his sweat. He squeezed it and silently told her to back down. She ignored him, "Then you know Futaro does enough for you that you can lend him the bike for a night. How many nights has he closed for you?"

"This month? Four."

Nino paused, "...You actually know?"

The manager blinked, then looked at Futaro, "Closing. Not a bad idea. Your punishment will be to close each day you work for three weeks. And polish my bike, it's losing its shine."

Futaro paused, "You're not firing me?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Delivery service is picking up. Need a rider."

Futaro's hand went slack in hers, as if all his energy shifted to his brain to understand how he was getting off so lightly. These were the miracles that made men believe in higher powers. "I...can do that."

"Good," the manager said, then looked at the bag Nino was carrying. "What's that?"

Nino held it up, "Italian."

"Smells nice."

"It's gone cold, thanks to you."

He nodded, "Give it," she didn't, but he took it anyway and popped it in the microwave on the file cabinet in the corner.

Nino said, "You can't eat that."

"Huh?"

"It's ours, we're not sharing."

"Not hungry."

Futaro asked, "So why are you doing that?"

"You're not taking my bike again."

"I wasn't planning on it."

"Good," he tapped his fingers idly on his desk like a ticking clock marking the dawdling silence, until the microwave dinged like an announcement it was okay to breathe again. The manager took their food and told them to follow.

He led them through the hall and into a door they'd never opened. They climbed the thin stairway to the second floor. They stepped into a room and wondered why there was a haunted house above their restaurant. The manager flicked on the lights and illuminated columns of boxes stacked one after another in a room as wide as the dining area below. It felt like they'd stepped into a back alley pawn shop.

Nino crossed her arms and eyed the boxes warily, as if they might unleash some horror from the darkest corner of her mind, "Why'd you take us here?"

"No outside food in the shop. Lounge is for on-duty employees only." He pointed to a mesh table with four chairs that looked like it belonged at a yard sale, "Take it to the balcony. 'Night." He left without another word, as if a manager taking his off-duty employees to their creepy storage room and telling them to eat was an everyday affair. It wasn't, at least not to Nino. But who was she to judge? This was her first job, was all employment secretly this crazy?

The answer was no, they were not. But what about this night had been normal? This was par for the course, unplanned surprise was their evening routine.

Nino resigned herself to the insanity and held up their food, "Wanna eat?"

She watched Futaro, who was taking this all too well. Maybe he was used to it. His eyes shifted between the food and the table, then he clapped his hands and strained to smile. He announced with an enthusiasm stripped of all authenticity, "Alright, sounds like a plan!"

He got to moving the table, or, trying. The guy needed to lift some dumbbells. No, that was starting too strong, maybe some soups cans. Small ones. She reminded herself that this was her prince.

Nino grabbed the other end of the table and lifted, it was heavier than it looked, "Come on," she said. Futaro looked embarrassed as they lifted it. Together they got the table out onto the balcony. As he opened the door she was blasted by the frigid air, like walking into an industrial refrigerator. They set the table down and she rubbed her arms, wishing she'd brought something thicker.

Then Futaro did something right, he noticed her chill and offered his jacket. "Here, take this," he said, almost sounding eager. He finally saw his chance to act on something he studied and seized it like a shopper snatching the last of the hottest item on sale.

Not that it wasn't appreciated. It was a definite step in the right direction. Nino slipped on his jacket with his help. It was still warm from his body, like wrapping herself in a sauna. It was big on her and wrapped her up like a blanket. But his gift was a sacrifice. Futaro's body was skin, bones, and enough muscle to support his massive brain. He had all the insulation of an open window. Futaro rubbed his arms casually, but she could see the chill.

Nino said, "Let's put it back inside."

Futaro blanked, "With the boxes and the dust?"

Good point, but the chill would ruin their night just as quickly, and it'd only get worse as the night went on.

Before she could say more, Futaro said, "I'll get us some water. Wait here."

Nino said, "Okay," as he headed back down the stairs. She closed the door to the balcony and sighed. What was she doing here? At work, on a date. Where were the flowers, the candles and the subtle string quartet weaved into pleasant conversation? She wanted a date, not an obstacle course. Dates with your sweetheart were supposed to be bonding moments, a release from the stresses of the outside world. She tried leaving everything in her life outside of tonight, so that the two of them could be alone and together.

And the funny thing? In spite of all of that, she still wanted this to work. This date was an unparalleled disaster and she still had this vague idea that Futaro could right it somehow. And he hadn't given up yet, even if he looked close to breaking, like a crack spreading through a window. She'd let him try a little longer.

Futaro returned with two glasses of water and a slice of cake. "Where did that come from?"

"The manager gave it to me. Said it was damaged and he couldn't sell it."

She checked it, "Where? Looks fine to me."

"That's what I said," he set it down and continued, "Wait a little longer, I found something!" He left before he could explain, the look of a hunter in his eyes. She was alone again.

This time he didn't return right away. Whatever he was doing, he was taking his time doing it. Nino amused herself and wandered through the piles of boxes. She wondered what was inside each one. What kind of things did the manager squirrel away in these things? Was he a hoarder who never threw anything away? It looked like it. These boxes were sinking into each other from neglect. She resisted her desire until she saw a piece of white fabric peeking out from a tear.

The material was a fine lace, slightly faded with time, but still pure enough to be called white. She thought it was some kind of cloth and imagined using it with the table to make a more proper setting. She opened the box and pulled it out, but it wasn't just a cloth, it was a dress. A white summer dress that fell to her ankles. It belonged to a much taller woman, and she mused, from a more distant time.

She heard groaning from the stairs. She stuffed the dress into the box and headed through the door to find Futaro struggling up the stairs with his prize. "Is that a space heater?"

"Yeah," he groaned, "Can you...gimme a hand with this?"

She took one side and together the maneuvered it to the table, sliding it underneath so it'd warm their legs. As he plugged it in to the wall socket by the door, she asked, "Where'd you get that?"

"We have a couple in storage."

"Did you ask the manager this time?"

"It's still in his store, he won't care," he paused, "I think." He plugged it in and grinned, "Aha, let there be heat."

But one victory came with a sacrifice. Their food had gone cold again. Her first bite was like tasting leftovers straight from the fridge. She tasted it. Futaro tasted it. She wouldn't have said a word and lingered through it, but Futaro grumbled and grabbed her food, disappearing down the stairs in a cloud of frustration. So she waited for him. Again. At least she was warm this time.

He returned triumphant with twice-microwaved pasta, a dating delicacy. At last the two could enjoy their meal in relative peace. A night screaming through the city let them forget their hunger, but it returned with interest as soon as they smelled the sultry steam as potent as a drug. Nino ate in her normal refined manner, habits beat hungry instinct, but she wondered if Futaro was intentionally slowing his pace for her.

Futaro blew on a fork full of lasagna and offered it to her, "Want to try?"

Nino blushed and was embarrassed at the thought of being fed with the same fork. It was different when she was on the receiving end, had this been how he felt on the rooftop? She couldn't refuse and opened her mouth, letting him navigate it into her mouth. It was good and she found herself wishing their orders were switched. Maybe hers was just better fresh. She offered him a bite of her shrimp pasta and he opened his mouth obediently, only the noodles slid out from her fork and fell into the table mesh.

"Dammit," Nino cursed.

"I got it," Futaro said. He took napkins from the bag and cleaned the spilled food.

Nino blushed at her mistake, saying, "Thank you." She saw tiny white drops on the floor, sauce that hadn't been saved. At least it was on the floor and not on their clothes, she didn't know how she'd bear the shame of ruining her, or his clothes. Those might be the only nice ones he had.

She tried again as Futaro looked on hesitantly, she was determined to get it right. She wrapped the noodles tightly around the shrimp to avoid spilling and crossed the table, slipping it between his lips. He chewed, swallowed, and said, "It's good."

His response felt straight from a novel. A corny, predictable novel doomed to the bargain bin. It felt like they were going through the motions of a date without the natural spark. It was awkward and clumsy. She wanted it to flow like the romance she saw in dramas with her sisters, the way she always imagined her first date would be. But they were not trained to practice joy on command, they had no script to guide them through the awkward pauses. They only had themselves and what they brought with them. And she wondered if this was all Futaro had.

They finished their meals and Futaro tried to start a conversation, "So, how was it?"

Was he asking about the date or the food? She chose the safe answer, for now, "Not bad, your mom has good taste." Would've been better fresh, though. Eating microwaved shrimp was like chewing rigor mortis.

Futaro smiled with relief, then said, "Yeah, she did."

"I don't remember her at the hot springs. Why couldn't she come?"

"She's dead."

"Oh," Nino said, feeling like she'd walked straight into a glass door. "I didn't know."

"It happened a long time ago," he began, then continued as if she'd asked for their life story. "It must have been, ah, about eight years ago. I remember my mom started complaining about this pain in her back. Dad took her to the hospital for a test, then more tests, and then that was our life, one test after another. We switched between hospitals and doctors from one treatment to the next, trying to find something that would work. In the end, it just delayed the inevitable, and two years later, she was gone." Futaro scratched his nose and said, "If you ever wondered how my family fell into debt, that's how."

Nino listened and tried to keep her awkward feeling from rising to her face. It felt like she'd stepped into a dark room marked off-limits and she couldn't find her way out. "So, what was it?"

"Huh?"

"Her illness?"

"Lung cancer."

"So, she smoked?"

"No, just chance," Futaro said. Then he looked at her expectantly, like a test, "So, what happened to your mom?"

She almost berated him for asking that question. Futaro was a brilliant linguist and knew how to maneuver every word into its place. But he lacked the cultural sense to know how the end sentence would sound. His mom was dead, so he said so. He didn't soften it with kinder, more date-appropriate phrases, he was blunt as a bar graph at an investor conference dipping down into the red. And he had no sense that he just knocked on a bank vault asking for treasure. So she responded like any good bank manager would.

"I don't want to talk about that."

"Oh. Okay."

She waited for him to continue like a man in a maze running into a dead end. When he didn't, she imagined that same man pulling out his map to figure out which direction to try next. But Futaro looked off to the evening streets humming with weekenders seeking relief from the work week. Neither said anything and the silence between them echoed like strikes at a baseball game.

Nino glared at Futaro as if stares could power action. They could, but hers didn't. Futaro remained blissfully unaware of her as he pondered whatever was running through his mind. Nino sighed and got up, "I need to use the bathroom."

She lied, she just wanted to get away from their silence and enter her own. She lost herself in the piles of boxes that looked abandoned, as if someone packed away their entire life for a move and then just forgot. That was how she wanted to feel about this night.

Where was the prince of her dreams? Where was the fluttering of her heart? They were lost like the memory of her first date as it should have been. She had hoped that when they finally sat down they might recover a fragment of the date as she imagined it, full of warm smiles and easy conversation.

Futaro was her prince, this she knew. But for the first time she asked herself why. What about this introverted academic made her heart sing? She, a girl who wanted to be swept off her feet by her knight in shining armor, her glorious prince charming, loved a man who could barely move a table on his own. She wanted to be called beautiful, charming, and wonderful by a man with hard, determined eyes that only softened when they looked at her. Yet she loved a man who's language was technical as a user manual and stripped of romance; a man seemingly ignorant of her womanly graces, as if he wiped his sexual appetite from his brain to make room for new, geekier programming.

Was this man really her prince?

She wanted him to be. She wanted him to soften like a glacier melting into a warm sea that would carry her into the sunset of love. Why wasn't he even trying? She went through all this effort to impress him, and for what? Driving from restaurant to restaurant before winding up at their workplace among boxes of dusty crap.

She wandered through the abandoned things, descending down this rabbit hole. If something hadn't caught her eye, things might have gone very differently that night. But something did. It was an old photo on a desk, it was facing down among piles of papers that looked like they'd been blown into place by a hurricane. Only these papers were recent, they looked like they dealt with the restaurant's finances. The manager used this desk regularly. She turned the picture frame upright and looked into the past, a younger manager who still had youth in his eyes to one side, and on the other was a woman wearing the white dress from before. His arm was around her and she smiled like...Nino realized that's how she wanted to smile tonight. Nino wondered where she was now. She wasn't here. Gone.

And she realized this could be her, or rather, this could be Futaro. He would grow up, move on, without her. And this is where she would stay, with all other forgotten things.

And she hated it. She slammed the picture back down and refused to consider it. She would not be forgotten like her! She wanted to be there beside him. And she was angry because she still didn't know why! He was nothing like the prince of her dreams! So why did the thought of him leaving infuriate her!?

"Nino?" She turned, Futaro was standing between a broken bike and a faux Christmas tree. "I heard something crash."

He came for her. Just like he always did. Just like, she hoped, he always would. That's what princes did for their princesses. But hasn't he always been chasing her, even from the beginning? From the day they met, when he struggled to bring her and her sisters to the study table. At first, it was for money. Then it was for the five of them. Now, it was for her. Just for her. After all her resistance and sabotage, he still kept coming for her.

And as she looked at Futaro, she saw the hint of uncertainty he tried to hide behind abrasive eyes. The unanswered questions were consuming him. Yet he didn't stop trying. This entire night, he'd never given up, even when things kept falling apart and doors slammed in his face, he tried to make their date a success. And Nino realized she hadn't, she simply expected it to be. She was still resisting.

What had she done for their date? She prettied herself and waited to be taken away. That's what she was supposed to do, wasn't it? The guy took the girl out, that's how dating worked. So she left everything else to him, all the preparation, the planning, the paying, that was his responsibility. Hadn't they been at their strongest tonight when they faced their manager together? She burned brightly for a moment to save their date, but expected it to come from him the moment it resumed. It was his job to map their journey from start to finish and then navigate their date like a captain on the high seas. It was her job to follow like a beautiful shadow. Only now she realize how silly that sounded. And not just because of the gender dynamic, but because of who loved who.

She loved Futaro, and he knew it. She'd told him repeatedly, so often she risked coming off like an irritating song stuck on repeat. So what did he have left to prove? She was the one who promised to make him notice her, and she had, right up until their date. That was where he was supposed to take the reins and guide her somewhere special. But Futaro wasn't in love with her, not yet. He was wandering his own feelings that were just starting to grow. How could he guide anyone when he was still lost himself? Shouldn't she be reaching out to him, and show him the way to her?

"Nino?"

He'd really given this his all. And as turbulent a night as they had, he was still reaching out to her. That's why he latched onto his mother, her mother, as a link they might share. He was trying desperately to find something to connect them. But what he found made her shut herself up like a fortress under assault from a messenger. Why did it have to be their mothers? It could be anything else, but that was a topic she wanted to keep locked away. And she could if she wanted to. All it would cost her was her chance with him.

Futaro reached out to her with something personal, something she doubted he shared with anyone else, let alone her sisters. Now it was her turn to reach back. If she didn't, she knew he would drift away. There would be no second date, she wouldn't have another chance. Futaro had opened a part of himself he never showed to anyone, a vulnerability, a way to his heart. If she rejected it, if she couldn't do the same, what was she doing playing with love?

It would be so much easier if everything were a dream. Her gallant prince escorting her on a night written in the stars. But maybe love couldn't be easy. Here was her prince. He wasn't strong...no, he was. He had the strength to bare himself before her. And she couldn't just be his pretty sidepiece. He wanted a partner. Did she have the same strength as him?

She decided she did.

"Do you want to know why I hated you?" she asked.

Futaro blinked, "What?"

"Why I hated you as our tutor?"

Futaro bit his lip and said, "Sure."

"Our mom was a superhero. She could do anything."

Futaro said, 'It's okay, you don't have to talk about this."

Nino continued, "We used to joke that the sun rose and set because she told it to, but a part of us thought it was true. She was amazing, she took care of the five of us all on her own. But I don't think people are made to deal with challenges like that, and it wore her down too quickly, like she was a candle burning too brightly. So when she got ill, the five of us started growing up and taking over. I took over cooking and housework. Ichika started watched over us like a hen. Yotsuba tried to be our joy, and Itsuki acted like our moral compass.

"But you know how our mother was a teacher? She specialized in teaching high school, but she took charge of our education too. She tutored us every day after school before dinner. And when she, died, we didn't have anyone to take her place. Miku tried, she did her best, but she couldn't do it. So we had no one to fill that place, and without her, studying was too painful. So we stopped," she paused, then finished, "until you showed up."

She didn't need to say anything more. She took a moment to admire him filling in the pieces, his eyes hardening and shifting with each neural connection. Maybe now he'd understand how much it should mean to him that they, that she, accepted him taking over the last of their mother's roles.

And then she spoke again, for in opening her heart she found there was more inside her pressing to be free, to be known to him. These were things that she never told anyone, not even her sisters. These secrets were hers, her most private possession. But she wanted him to know. She wanted him to see her as she was and to accept her, and so they came out with the rest.

"I think my mom hated me."

Futaro blanked, "She what?"

Nino continued, "Maybe not hate. But she resented me, I could see it in the way she looked at me sometimes."

"Why would she do that? You said she gave everything for the five of you."

"She did. For the five of us. I think that's the problem. See, our mother didn't do everything right. She didn't mean to get pregnant, it was an accident. We were accidents. She didn't go to a doctor after she got pregnant either, she didn't think prenatal care was necessary. So she thought growing as large as she did was normal. So when the time comes, she gives birth to Ichika and she thinks it's done, but the doctors say there's more. I come out next and she knows the life she imagined for herself is gone, and it's going to be at least twice as hard as it should be. Then Miku comes out, then Yotsuba, and finally Itsuki is the sign that it's over for her. I think she loved Itsuki the most, because she was the sign of the end. But I was the first sign that her life would never be the same. I don't think she meant to hold it against me, but sometimes I'd catch her glaring at me like she was thinking about it, like if I'd never followed Ichika, her life wouldn't be as hard as it was. She loved me, I know she did, but I think you can love and resent someone at the same time."

She tilted her head down and looked at her shoes. She didn't cry, she's lived with this long enough not to cry anymore, but she felt naked and warm under his gaze and she didn't want to see what he was thinking of her. She set her arm across her stomach and hugged herself to fight the pressure in her gut. Two leather shoes fell into her periphery, she looked up and saw Futaro looking at her uncertainly. He was looking for the right words to say, but he still hadn't learned how to say them. This was the look she'd been waiting for, the one he'd been waiting to give. Futaro could never fall for the physical, she would never have won his affection with all the time in the world in front of a vanity. It was this spark, these peeks inside of her that made him see her as anything more than just another girl.

He took her hand, squeezed it, and asked, "Do you want to eat cake with me?"

Somehow those were the right words, because she knew he was happy she'd been born. She nodded and followed him back to the table. He took the fork and fed her one bite, then took one for himself. Nino held his free hand in hers like a trophy. His fingers caressed the back of her hand that felt like matchsticks striking flames.

Nino felt welcome and accepted after revealing such a deep part of herself, and she wanted to know more about him, to glance inside him as he'd done to her. She asked, "Was your mother's treatment worth it?"

Futaro finished chewing and asked, "You mean our debt?"

"That, and everything else."

Futaro pondered her question for a moment, feeding her two bites before answering, "We got two more years together. Raiha can remember our mom. That's worth any price."

She agreed, and she felt the same about them.

They lingered a while after finishing the cake and enjoyed the quieting evening air. His hand stayed warm in hers against the chill. Then Nino asked, "Walk me home?"

Futaro said, "Yeah."

They moved the table and chairs back inside and headed down the stairs. They passed the kitchen and saw the manager inside cleaning baking pans. He didn't notice them as they passed. He looked content in his place.

The walk home was memorable and short. But it was the most pleasant transit that night. They stopped a short distance from her home in case her sisters stepped outside. Someday he'd escort her straight to her door, she hoped.

Futaro said, "This is it, then."

Nino nodded, "I had a good time."

She meant it, but Futaro looked like he didn't believe her, "Ah, good then, I-" Then Nino broke all the rules and demanded her intentions be known. She rushed forward, leaned to his side and kissed him on his ice-cold cheek. She leaned back as quickly as she'd come and burned at her burst of daring. She watched him work through what just happened like a computer rebooting as blood rushed to warm his frozen cheeks.

Nino dared to ask, "Walk me home tomorrow after work?" Will we be together like this again? She'd understand if he said no, the date must have gone horribly from his perspective. But she wanted this to continue, it all came down to this.

Her heart danced when she heard, "Okay."

She waltzed away, "So then, see you at work."

"Yeah, and, after too."

After. They would have an after. She'd call that a success She smiled and turned away, heading towards home. But she couldn't resist checking over her shoulder just once. She was disappointed to see he was already walking away, but her night was complete when he reached up and touched the skin she had kissed. From now, through her sisters' subtle questions as she walked through their door, and through when she fell asleep, she'd hold that memory in her heart.

~Futaro~

It wouldn't go away. The tingling on his cheek was a sparkler that should have died long ago but continued burning through the night. It was like his muscles were squirming with excitement over the memory, or was this all in his head? If so, why couldn't he control it? Did he even want to? As with so many Nino-centric questions, this remained unanswered by the time he got home.

"I'm back," he announced.

His father was slipping into sweats and said, "I beat you tonight."

"I'm starting to see a pattern. Where's Raiha."

"Good question. You didn't see her?"

"No, I just got home. Why would I?"

"She's better than I thought. Raiha!"

A burst of unconstrained energy dressed in black shot past him and saluted, "Right here, dad!"

Futaro asked, "Where did you come from?"

He was ignored, their father called, "Raiha, report!"

"Their date was a complete disaster!"

"You were following us!?"

"Yup! All night long."

"How!?"

"Memorized your dating notecards. They were very thorough, big brother."

"Why is that the only thing you're good at studying!?"

Father interrupted, "Raiha, stay focused and report!"

"Right! It was a disaster right from the start, especially when he got caught stealing his boss's bike, but big brother managed to turn everything around by the end! He walked her home and she kissed him on the cheek!"

Futaro scowled, "Raiha, you'll make a great spy someday."

Father nodded approvingly, "Excellent work Raiha, I knew I could count on you. Now go take a bath, you earned first dibs."

"Good, keeping up with you two on wheels was not easy." Raiha grinned and headed to the bathroom.

Futaro fumed, "Wasn't there something about no secrets?"

"No secrets, just things a father must do with his daughter."

Futaro said, "Either I need to be home more or you need to get another job, because you're a horrible influence on her."

His father shrugged, "She'll grow out of it. You did at her age." He grabbed a ceramic bottle in the kitchen and set it in the microwave as he said, "So, went well?"

"Not really, but I guess it went okay."

"You seeing her again?"

"I think so. She asked me to walk her home tomorrow."

"Do you want to?"

"I said I would."

"That isn't what I asked."

Futaro remembered the softness in her eyes as she told him about her mother, and the warmth of her lips on his cheek, and said, "I think so."

"Then it went well."

"It didn't start well."

"What first date has ever gone well all the way through? You're kids, you're allowed a bit of fumbling." He pulled out the bottle and brought it with two small matching cups to the table. He motioned for Futaro to sit, "Come."

Futaro sat and said, "I thought you stopped drinking."

"Only on special occasions."

"I'm in high school."

"Rules are made to be broken."

"No, they aren't."

"Your manager think the same?"

Futaro fumed, "That was a mistake."

His father pushed one of the glasses his way, "Here, live with me. This is a big day."

"Why? Because I had a date?"

"Yes, and because I kept my promise to your mother."

"What promise?"

"Something she made me promise before she died. I told her I'd see you two were raised right, and that you had everything you needed to live your lives. I promised her, because she couldn't do it herself. I was worried about you, until tonight." He raised his glass with a knowing smile, "Now, I think you'll be alright."

"All because I went on a date?"

"No, because you're looking for something you want. I don't care if you marry or stay a bachelor until the day you die, I don't care if you have zero kids or a hundred. All I want is for you to find the life you want to live. You finally started looking, and I know you'll find it. You always were a smart kid, you'll be a smart man too." He held out his glass, "Can you drink to that?"

In that moment Futaro didn't know if he could love Nino or not, but he knew he loved this brash, gregarious man that was his father. He loved his family. Maybe he'd love more someday. Maybe it'd be her. He wanted to find out. He raised his glass, "I'll give it a try."

"Cheers to you, son," he said and they drank. Futaro tilted the glass back and tasted the cheap, dry liquid slithering down his throat like a rope on fire. He gagged halfway through and fought for breath. His father finished his glass and laughed.

A/N

From the beginning, it's bugged me how little impact mothers seem to have had on the manga. Mothers are deceased in a lot of fiction, and despite the author enjoying subverting certain tropes, this one stands firm. So I wanted to explore their mothers and the impact they've had on their children and families, at least in their childrens' eyes.

Of course I do this right as the flashback chapter 87 comes out, delving further into their past. I'll remind readers of this story that this story diverges from manga chapter 73 onward, everything beyond that point does not apply to this story unless I specifically include it.

I received a fair bit of feedback regarding this story's humor that really ran the spectrum. Humor really is a subjective thing. Some have enjoyed my attempts at comedy, others found minor enjoyment, or none at all, and even cringe at times. I might have misstated my intention. I'm not going full comedy anywhere (except maybe Raiha, I'm clearly going wild with her character and I'm loving it), when I say comedy I'm referring to witty dialogue exchanges that I personally find hilarious (once again, Raiha, chapter 2). In any case, humor is not the focus, romance, family and friendship are, and I'm happy that most of you think those areas are on point.

My original estimate of one week for this chapter was generous, I ended up needing another to finish it. For good reason, this is the longest chapter so far. Thank you everyone for your patience, two weeks is going to be the schedule for a while longer. I haven't responded to any reviews this last chapter due to how busy I've been, so I apologize to anyone who expected a response.

Part of the next chapter is already drafted and I expect to publish again in two weeks. Please review and I'll update soon.

Chapter published May 30th, 2019.