Chapter 17
She shook her head twice, slowly because she felt she was having a slight headache, expressing her disagreement with Kou's opinion: according to him, the bright yellow coat in the store's display window would have suited her.
- No. Never.
- Neko-chaaan~ - the blonde complained, pulling her arms - You need cute and lively clothes, yours are too much simple!
But I'm fine with that!, the girl mentally yelled in despair, looking behind her: with only a scarf wrapped around his neck, Yuuma was quietly munching sugar cubes, Azusa was looking among the various stores for an interesting one, Ruki had a dreadful face, annoyed by that sudden and futile change of plans.
Why dragging the whole family when Mary could have gone outside by herself?
This way, they would have also spent the entire weekend before she found a coat suiting her taste: Kou would keep on taking her to the most expensive and popular stores, recommending her pricey and flashy jackets and coats which she didn't like at all; and she couldn't even raise her hand to say "But I want a simple black or gray coat" that the blonde was already grabbing her and moving to another store, once it became clear that it was useless to insist with his advices.
Left behind, Ruki would shout at him to stop, then forced to retrieve back the giant who had been dangerously enchanted by the sweets' store selling discounted packs of coloured sugar cubes; the youngest brother would speed up his pace to reach the half-witch, as a chick following its mother, rubbing his face against her shoulder and wrapping his arms around hers.
Mary shuddered as she ignored the blonde's very accurate review of a jacket, wondering whether all idols or similar professionals were experts in fashion; she clutched her sweatshirt, cold, gliding through the shop windows with her eyes, trying to resist the temptation to stop by the ones selling artistic tools and restock her watercolours.
Thinking about it, I finished the metallic colours...
Then, in a moment of distraction during which Kou had been recognized by two fans, Ruki had closed his eyes, massaging his temples irritated, and Yuuma had quickly saved the jar of sugar cubes slipped out of his hand, Mary and Azusa had disappeared. The three brothers had first looked at each other, then examined the surroundings and stared back at each other: the blond was pale, the giant's eyes were wide opened and the oldest... had a very frightful expression on his face.
After about ten minutes searching after the two and wondering why they couldn't perceive their smell, they met near a bench as prearranged; a bench where those they had been looking for were waiting for them: Mary with a satisfied smile, wrapped in a dark grey winter coat and holding a plastic bag with the store's logo "Colours 4 life", and Azusa half asleep, his head resting against her shoulder and his hand tangled with hers; the giant saw in her hands a box of painkillers for headaches.
- Neko-chan! - Kou uttered horrified - Did you buy it without me?! Nooo, that color is sooo sad! - he complained, shaking her shoulders as she remained calm and satisfied.
Yuuma snorted, teasing her about that absurdly serene expression; Ruki, instead of reproaching them for disappearing, showed a pleased grin, stating that it was time to return home, as the goal for which they had gone out had been achieved. The blond waved his arms to protest, breaking in a cold sweat in front of his brother's glare; the giant murmured that it was really time to go back, pointing with his head pointed at the peacefully sleeping vampire.
- I wanted to spend a nice evening with Neko-chan and my dear brothers... since I wasn't busy with work today, and we didn't have any lessons... - the blond murmured, pouting.
Ruki opened and closed his mouth, unable to answer, the other rubbed his nape, looking elsewhere with a slight blush on the cheeks; Azusa opened his eyes a little and lifted his head, staring at the brothers with a sleepy face, Mary blinked thoughtfully, then stood up and approached Kou.
She grabbed his hand, holding it.
- Shall we go and eat something, Koucchi? We usually have dinner at this time...
Kou widened his eyes, then smiled happily at her.
- Yup! It's my treat! - he exclaimed, jumping to wrap an arm around her and with the other grasping Azusa's hand and pulling him to surround his shoulders, and proceeded towards a restaurant where he was used to dine during lunch breaks.
Ruki didn't oppose and followed them, cracking a small smirk, and Yuuma did the same, quietly; he stopped just a second to look back; he thought he had seen a familiar person, but he didn't care anymore: that moment was too good to ruin with his bad feelings.
- You really love hazelnuts... - Ruki murmured, slightly upset by the triple dessert the girl sitting on his right had ordered: a cream puff filled with hazelnut ice-cream, hazelnut mousse and a small slice of cheesecake with hazelnut cream.
Mary blushed and mumbled that for once it wouldn't be bad eating more sweets, backed up by Kou on her right, who had eaten five courses of vongole bianco, after all...
Azusa was watching them as he was munching gingerbread cookies, disappointed that they weren't as spicy as he had hoped for, and slightly unhappy that he wasn't sitting close to his Izanami; Yuuma, between his youngest brother and the oldest one, was eating his dessert made of caramel chips.
- Don't complain if I call you chubby, then, ehehe.
The water he had in his glass went to his face.
- MESU-...
- Yuuma - Ruki silenced him in a moment, with a look that could have frightened the Devil; the giant bit his lips, choking the wave of curses and insults towards the half-witch who was staring at him with an innocent smile and at the same time with a pleased gleam in her silver eyes.
- Izanami, your eyes - Azusa warned her with a murmur, losing himself in those bright irises that returned dark as soon as Mary blinked.
- Ne, Neko-chan - Kou said at one point, licking his lips stained with the cream covering his ice-cream and fruit parfait – You have a twin, haven't you?
The girl nodded, swallowing a teaspoon of mousse.
- What's his name, again? – the blond asked again, chewing a piece of pineapple with a little fiordilatte ice-cream.
- Mark.
Ruki frowned, thoughtfully, as he ate his lemon sorbet; Mary and Mark, why did those names begin to sound so familiar, put together...? He then thought, casually, that they both started with the same three letters and they both had four letters; surely, the one who had given them those names hadn't been very original...
- MARK FLYER?! - Kou suddenly screamed, making Azusa jump on his chair and almost provoking Yuuma's choking with a sugar cube; Ruki raised an eyebrow and the sherbet slipped from the spoon into the bowl.
Most of that restaurant's customers were looking at them silently; the girl was nervous under all those eyes, wishing she could disappear underground.
- Ops... sorry, hehe - Kou giggled, feigning an innocent smile.
Someone murmured the blond's name and "idol", but soon everything went back to normal; the oldest brother glared at him and the half-witch looked at him questioningly.
- Isn't your brother the same one who is running that famous music blog? - Kou looked very excited.
- Oh, that blog... well, he doesn't really manage it, but he gives the necessary directions to write the posts... - Mary said, placing an elbow on the table and her face on her hand, reproached by Ruki who didn't want to see any elbows on the table.
Reiji is enough, Ki-kun.
- Ah - the blond commented - Why isn't he the one running it? - he asked, swallowing an entire ice-cream bal.
- Animal - Ruki and Yuuma remarked, disgusted by the blond; the older turned to the other, vexed, and began discussing about his own table manners and the giant felt a nerve pulsing painfully.
- Kou, Mark-san... is blind - Azusa said instead of Mary, who nodded, adding that their friend Theo was in charge of the site; then she fell silent, slowly chewing the cheesecake.
- Kachiku? - Ruki called her, interrupting the lively conversation with the giant.
I'm here with Theo, Aneki.
You'll find us in an electronics' store next to a pizzeria.
Keep on eating calmly.
You know how long does it take for Theo to choose what he needs.
The half-witch smiled and turned to Kou.
- Koucchi, would you like to meet my brother?
Mary could no longer bear all the blond's curious questions.
- But does he look like you? How tall is he? What does he wear? Does he have the same personality as you? What is his favourite colour? Does he really know how to play any instrument? Is he popular with girls? Does he have a sister complex?
- Is he chubby too? - Yuuma snickered.
The last two questions worsened her mood, and before she could snap, Ruki had put a hand around her neck, rubbing it gently to threaten her not to make another scene in public; the girl puffed her cheeks, keeping on walking arm in arm with Azusa, who caught her attention after a few moments by lightly pulling the hem of her new coat.
- Azucchi? - she gazed him curiously, looking in the direction pointed at by his finger; she smiled and reached the person whom the shy vampire had (strangely) recognized.
Aniki!
Aneki...
The sister wrapped her arms around the waist of a young man who returned the hug by surrounding her shoulders and affectionately resting his head against hers; he was a few centimetres shorter than Yuuma, wearing a half-opened large grey hooded jacket, which other layers of clothing could be seen below. He was wearing an indigo beret on his head, not hiding the pink-dyed locks of hair reaching the base of his neck, around which there was a headset with the MP3 player integrated.
They stayed like that for exactly five minutes; Ruki cleared his voice, making them part away, as Yuuma stepped ahead, with a perplexed face.
- Hey, we're still here, Mesubuta and Momo-kun.
The twins turned at the same moment and stared at them with the same, impassive expression on their face: Kou doubled up with laughter, Azusa widened his eyes at their resemblance, Ruki smirked and Yuuma bit his lip to hold back from laughing.
- Yuu-kun, he's Mark... - she began, turning her shoulders to her brother, who wrapped his arms around her, leaning his chin on her head.
- Not Momo-kun - he concluded with a very faint and delicate voice; if Ruki could have compared it to a concrete image, he would have said it was like a petal.
- Oooh! - Kou leaped forward, grabbing the guy's (gloved) hand and squeezing it – Nice to meet you, I'm Mukami Kou! I'm a big fan of yours, your blog is really interesting and captivating! - he introduced himself with a wide smile.
- Ah, Mukami Kou the idol, right? - Mark muttered, his eyes still and blank – You're talented, but your voice is broken.
Silence.
- Eh? – Kou whispered, the shadow of his smile still on his face, eyes wide opened.
The brothers were silent: they suddenly felt like the frost had wrapped them, even though it was the last week of October. Mary felt deeply tense and telepathically reproached her brother for not holding back his opinion.
Ops.
Aniki, baka!
Fortunately, Theo came right in time, causing an earthquake.
- CHOOO-HIMEEEEE!
Yuuma lost his balance and fell on his back; Ruki's inseparable book slipped from his hand; Azusa massaged his ears pleasantly surprised by that voice that had almost broke his eardrums; Kou slammed his hands to his ears, hearing only a strange whistle.
Some pedestrians looked around, dumbfounded; some shop windows had cracked, cats were meowing, dogs barking, and the lights of some street lamps were flashing at irregular intervals; some machines had risked swerving.
Twins, who were used to that and now immune, had both slapped their friend who had just reached them by running, putting a hand on his head and apologizing a thousand times with a guilty smile and bowing every time.
He turned to the four brothers and quickly shook hands witheach of them, picking up and returning the book to Ruki and helping Yuuma standing up from the ground, the giant who had finally witnessed the strangest thing happened in his whole long life!
- Nice to meet you, I'm Theo, the best friend of... - he paused, leaping behind the twins and hugging both of them - Markucchi and Cho-hime! - he exclaimed, smiling and affectionately squeezing the twins, one emotionless, the other snorting with a smile and rolling her eyes.
- Did you cause... that earthquake? - Azusa asked before they others could, approaching the newcomer who grinned and nodded, rubbing his nape - Can you also hurt me? - he asked again, his eyes gleaming.
Mary immediately stood between the two, ignoring the perplexed face of her friend, and grabbed Azusa's shoulders, scolding him to stop looking for physical pain everywhere and pinching his cheeks as if to appease his thirst for pain.
In the meantime, Kou had given an indecipherable look to Mark, obviously unaware, also because he was focusing on the sound sources coming from the surroundings; Ruki was observing him, absorbed in his thoughts: he was digging into his memory, in search of something he couldn't really explain to himself...
Yuuma noticed that, besides the other small differences such as the height and the thicker neck, the girl's twin had a slightly different eye shape and it reminded him a little of his own eye shape... and he had the same green spots the giant had in his own eyes.
- Neh, Theo-san... why do you call her Cho-hime? - the youngest brother questioned at a certain point, once Mary stopped lecturing him.
- Because she is Butterfly Princess! - he exclaimed, showing a smile even more idiotic than usual; she blushed, and because of Azusa's confused look and his brothers' questioning ones, she sighed, raising her hand.
Five butterflies appeared on her finger, lilac, white, grey, light green and pastel blue: Kou widened his eyes, surprised and excited; Azusa smiled faintly, enchanted by those delicate creatures; Yuuma wondered if those insects had infested his garden all the time, snickering; Ruki was smart enough to link those butterflies to her telekinesis, finding an explanation, and at the same time his mind was sending him other hints.
He frowned as soon as a memory re-emerged among his thoughts, along with the image of a white-haired woman...
- Oi... Kachiku... - he called her with a whisper, but he wasn't heard because Mary was busy communicating telepathically with her brother; he had nothing to lose anyway, because he would have come to the conclusion shortly thereafter.
- Cho-hime, by the way, we're with... ah... - Theo interrupted himself, seeing the twins engaged in their secret conversation.
- Have you come with mother? - Mary looked at her friend, who nodded.
- Oh, we'll get to know Neko-chan's mother too?! - the blond exclaimed – She's a demon, right? – he asked, imagining in his head the woman's appearance.
Ruki became very tense.
- Izanami's mother? - Azusa repeated, excited; knowing the half-witch, he was expecting a sweet and friendly woman (he wasn't completely wrong, but...).
- Is she, too, a princess? - the giant joked, ruffling the girl's hair, ignoring her protests, while her brother turned his face slightly towards his voice, thinking about where he had already heard a similar one.
- Well, she's actually called Glass Lady... - Mary murmured, grabbing the vampire's arm and trying to get it away from her beloved hair; maybe shaving it completely would have helped? She would have regretted it though... Ryan... had told her to make them grow...
Aneki, don't think about the past. You become all melancholy and depressed.
Sorry. That pink?
I wanted to try it... you don't like it?
It suits you better than expected.
You'd be pretty with purple. Or dark blue.
Dark green?
Nah.
As they were trying to call the twins back to reality, the vampires and Theo were interrupted by a woman's clear voice.
- Good evening, dears. Theo, don't yell, please. Mary, my lavender flower, straighten your back. Mark, my sweet nightingale, hands out of your pockets. And you…
The vampires widened their eyes, speechless; at last, Ruki remembered everything.
Before them, a woman slightly shorter than Mary was smiling and gazing at them with noble aquamarine eyes; they recognized that fair face framed by long white curls, the cobalt dress similar to a kimono down to her feet, and the crimson overcoat with laced hems, shades recalling the wagasa, the typical Japanese umbrella, she was leaning on.
It was her, the Glass Lady. The same woman who had visited Karlheinz in the mansion where they had lived for a while, about fifteen years before. Only then they realized that the girl they had been living with those weeks and the guy they had just met were those same twins she had brought with her that day, those three-years-old children who, with her lively big eyes and with his shy and scared face, had wandered everywhere.
- Ruki-kun, Kou-kun, Yuuma-kun, Azusa-kun. It's a pleasure to see you again, dears.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Please let me know what you think of the story! °w°
