Shortly after the photos had been taken, the photographer and the stylist had left them. Kobayashi-san and the journalist were still there. The journalist had taken all of them into a different room with a round table in the middle and 8 chairs around it. At the center of the table were a pot of tea, another of coffee and 8 cups along with a bowl of fruits and a plate with cookies,

"Strange," Rei commented.

"What's so strange about it?" the journalist asked.

Rei hesitated for a bit to put his words together before answering. "I thought an interview would seem more official than this," he said.

"Some are," the journalist responded. "But this interview will not be used until in two weeks time," she said. "It doesn't have to be so official looking,"

Rei nodded and took a seat around the table along with everyone else.

"So, help yourselves," Kobayashi-san said. "Get something to eat and drink, it's all here for us anyway," he smiled at Makoto and his family while following his own words and helping himself to a cup of coffee.

Makoto started pouring tea into cups and handing a cup to each of his adopted sons. Kisumi and the journalist had coffee as well. Nagisa grabbed himself a cookie while scanning the bowl of fruits for strawberries, with negative results.

"I want to start with a simple question for all of you," the journalist said. "What is your relationship to Shigino-san?" She looked at Makoto first, seeing as he was the oldest one.

"Kisumi and I were childhood friends. We have gone to the same elementary school, middles school and high school," Makoto explained. "We stuck together for as long as I can remember. We had a falling out when he went to Tokyo but picked up right where we left off once we met again. He's a dear friend to me and has done a lot for me,"

The journalist then looked at the four adopted boys.

"For me and Nagisa, Kisumi-san was always a dear friend of the family," Rei said. "He came in our house a lot ever since we were adopted and except for Makoto he was the first who was willing to look through our troublesome sides and befriend us. It meant a lot to me, but I think to Nagisa the most," At this, Rei looked down at Nagisa, who nodded in agreement while taking a bite of the cookie.

The journalist then looked to Rin and Haruka.

"To us, in the beginning, Kisumi was that guy who wanted to take our family away from us," Rin said. "We hadn't even met him before we decided that we hated him and would do anything to drive him away, but we learned to accept each other and after we moved in with him, we have become friends,"

The journalist nodded. "That's some story. So, Tachibana-san, you said you and Shigino-san had a falling-out. What caused that and how did you get back together as friends?"

Makoto smiled. "Well, it's about 11 years ago now, when Kisumi got scouted as a model he suddenly had to move from Iwatobi and we didn't really have the time to see each other as much anymore. We lost touch with each other for eight years, until I had to move to Tokyo as well with my own family and suddenly ran into him in the hospital by coincidence. After that, we started seeing each other again and we spent a lot of time together," Makoto explained.

"I've heard you moved in together, but what's the reason for that?" the journalist asked, she was still speaking to Makoto.

"Well…" Makoto took a sip of his tea. "Iwatobi hospital had to shut down because of financial trouble and I was moved to Tokyo and had to bring my family along. When we got there I had to work a lot more for a lot less than I was used to, to keep on making a living for my family. I had no time to see the boys because of work. Kisumi helped me out a lot by taking care of them in my place, but we couldn't keep it up, and in the end Kisumi just offered that we could move in with him because there's a lot more room in his apartment and the job as model gives him a lot more than I earn on a monthly basis, that gave me more time to spend with my family,"

"Rumor has it that there is a little more than just a close friendship going on between you and Shigino-san. Is there anything true to those rumors?" the journalist questioned while writing down keywords for Makoto's previous answer.

Rin and Haruka exchanged looks of disbelief, Rei was literally shocked by the question, while Nagisa and Makoto didn't understand a thing.

"A little more than a close friendship?" Makoto asked. "What would that be?"

"Are you trying to put a scandal over my head just before my retiring?" Kisumi asked.

"No, I'm just trying to test the rumors," the journalist smiled. "So is there?" she looked at Makoto.

"I still don't even get the question," Makoto said while feeling a slight pressure.

"She's asking if you and Kisumi have a romantic relationship," Rin said. He regretted this the next second and blushed slightly from embarrassment. So did Makoto.

"Eh… ah…" there was suddenly an awkward presence in the room that made everyone uncomfortable. "I… There isn't… I guess," Makoto said. "I mean, we're close friends sure but… honestly I couldn't picture myself in a romantic relationship with another man, not even Kisumi,"

"I see…" the journalist sounded very disappointed as she wrote that down as well. She then turned to Rin and Haruka. "You said that you didn't get along with Shigino-san at first, what's that story?"

"Rather long," Rin answered, not feeling like explaining the whole adventure from three years ago.

"We've got plenty of time, do you mind telling it?" the journalist asked.

"Haru knows more of it than I do," Rin said before eying Haruka. The journalist turned to him.

'Why'd you have to put me on the spot?' the glare Haruka send Rin, asked.

'Just get on with it,' was the response from Rin's eyes.

Haruka sighed and started explaining the whole thing. "Makoto adopted us after Kisumi had been scouted. We didn't know of him at all until we moved to Tokyo three years ago. We took an instant disliking to him and planned on having him take a disliking to us by driving him crazy, among our plans was making a staged argument. Though, things happened and it turned into a real argument. After that, Rin was never home when Kisumi came to visit and he and I just didn't get along," Haruka then stopped talking. He wasn't sure if he should talk about what happened next.

"Then what caused things to go better?" the journalist asked, trying to encourage Haruka. Haruka responded by looking away, signaling that he didn't want to talk about it.

"For reasons, I'm still not sure about, Haru ran away," Kisumi continued the explanation in Haruka's place. "I ran into him at the central station that same morning, but I only caught a glimpse. It was enough though. I talked to Makoto and explained the situation and lend him my car. Then I explained my side of the story to Makoto and later that night, when Makoto returned with Haru, we were able to sort things out and things got better from then on. First only with Haru, but later with Rin too," Kisumi smiled at the journalist.

"That's a bit of a story," she said before writing down.

The interview continued and they spoke about a lot of stuff for almost two more hours before saying goodbye. When Kisumi and the Tachibana family were about to leave, Kobayashi went up to Rin and Haruka again with a serious look on his face.

"Don't forget what we talked about. No matter what, my offer still stands," he said.

"We'll remember," Rin assured.

Then they all went back to the apartment. Haruka made dinner, it was still something the family stuck with. He was really good at cooking. Makoto had even claimed once, that Haruka was better than him, to which Haruka had denied.

"So, we had our life stories spilled today," Kisumi said as they sat around the table. "What do you think about having a taste of my work?"

Makoto laughed. "Fun, but a bit awkward, I must admit, do you get those weird questions a lot?" he was referring to when the journalist had asked if there was more than a friendship between him and Kisumi.

"Not often. Last time I got one was when they suggested I had a thing for my manager,"

"I'm glad we didn't have that little kiss-scene with me and Haru involved or it would have been totally embarrassing," Rin said.

"A kiss scene?" Nagisa asked. "When'd you guys kiss?"

Rin blushed. "Let's not talk more about that!" he yelled, painfully aware of the embarrassment he had gotten himself into. This caused the others to laugh.

Want to know why I didn't delete this chapter, seeing as there are now two with just about the same information in them? It's simple really. I wanted to write the suggestions of a relationship between Kisumi and Makoto, and Makoto's reaction to the suggestions. I also thought it could be fun to share it with you reading this, so that's why.

I hope you like the chapter.

See you next time

Jackie