Team One
"Wait so how many of us didn't complete our tasks?" Yana questioned as they moved up to the front door. "I know I didn't because Fuji wouldn't eat the popcorn I made."
"I didn't because Fuji discouraged all my potential arguments with Yana…" Taka said.
"I didn't because Fuji wouldn't switch clothes with me." Kirihara said.
"And I didn't because Fuji told Taka where I hid his precious item." Mizuki crossed his arms.
They all looked at Fuji.
"Well, I did MY task." Fuji shrugged.
"I guess we all just have to face the consequences of our failure." Said Taka sadly.
Taka pushed the door open and everyone entered, except for Fuji who grabbed Mizuki's arm and held onto it firmly. No one else noticed this and just continued into the house.
"Mizuki…" Fuji said pleasantly.
"…What?" Mizuki said slowly.
"I don't like people referring to me as the devil." Fuji said.
"I didn't call you the devil."
"You called me Lucifer."
"Are you sure that was me…?" Mizuki said nervously, tugging at his collar.
"I am quite sure." Fuji nodded.
Just then, Kirihara, Yana and Taka's yells of utter despair came from inside the house. In the moment Fuji was distracted, Mizuki ran in to join them, and then Fuji calmly entered as well.
"Our furniture…it's all gone!" wept Yana as he held up the note, and Fuji took it since he figured he was entitled.
Fuji took it and glanced around the room to see that this was, in fact, true. The couch, the kitchen table and the television were all missing. There were only empty voids where they SHOULD have been.
"It's a good thing we have TWO comfy chairs." Said Kirihara.
Fuji opened up the letter. "Team One," he read out loud. "Perhaps you have noticed that you are missing some of your furniture. For every person in your family that failed to complete his task, we have taken one piece of furniture. We apologize for the inconvenience."
"Oh it's not THAT bad." Said Mizuki.
"Wait…" said Taka. "We should have FOUR pieces of furniture missing. Television… couch… table… that's only three. What's the fourth one?"
They all looked at each other and then decided to go on a scavenger hunt.
The first place Yana looked was the Kid's room and he dropped to his knees when he saw the terrible sight. Everyone else filed in behind him and gasped.
"THE BUNK BEDS!" he shrieked. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"Where are we going to sleep tonight?" complained Kirihara.
"Yeah, no couch either." Mizuki frowned.
"This really IS a problem." Said Fuji with a nod.
"We wouldn't be having this problem if you hadn't sabotaged all of our tasks!" said Mizuki angrily to Fuji.
"Calm down, Mizuki, remember who you're talking to, okay?" Yana said desperately as Fuji just stood there and took it all.
"Oh yeah." Said Mizuki. "We're talking to LUCIFER."
Fuji gave a contented sigh. "Mizuki…" he started walking towards him but everyone else dove on top of Fuji to hold him back.
Team Two"We're so fortunate that we completed all of our tasks!" said Choutarou as he made some meatloaf to feed to his hungry family.
"Yeah, I was talking to Oishi at the challenge and he said that he didn't complete his task." Eiji said, looking nervous. "I hope nothing TOO dire happens to him."
"Well, the note DID say dire consequences." Choutarou said as he set the timer.
"Oshitari also didn't do HIS task." Said Gakuto. "I hope nothing dire happens to him too."
"I'm glad Shishido did his." Choutarou gave a sigh of relief. "I would hate it if I found out that there were terrible consequences. He works so hard you know. He doesn't deserve anymore hardships."
"I miss Oishi…" Eiji said sadly.
"Well, Jackal says—" Marui started but Momo slammed his hands down in the table to interrupt.
"Well, well!" said Momo. "Isn't this nice? Everyone sitting around the dinner table! Let's start a friendly conversation!"
The others were silent.
"So…how about them—" Momo was going to try to bring up some tennis team that he really idolized but he knew that would only lead to a discussion on their doubles players, which would of course lead to a discussion about everyone's appointed doubles partner that they missed so very much. "…Red Sox?"
"Red Sox?" everyone repeated, sounding utterly baffled.
"You know what?" said Momo. "Never mind! Let's talk about something else!"
"We WERE talking about something before you interrupted us to ask if Ootori finished the laundry." Said Gakuto.
"Which of course REMINDS me…" Choutarou said as he departed kitchen.
"Indulge us, Momo." Said Marui. "Why do you hate doubles so much?"
"I don't hate doubles." Said Momo. "I just don't LOVE it."
"That's just silly." Said Eiji. "You either play doubles or you don't."
"Well I play doubles AND singles." Momo said. "And I'm good at both."
The others coughed under their breath.
"Hey!" said Momo. "You guys said I was the best at tennis on this team!"
"We said that because you're a singles player." Said Gakuto. "If we were to play a singles match against you, you'd probably beat us, just because we're so used to doubles."
"It's not that hard to transition." Said Momo. "I'm sure if you guys played a few practice matches as singles players, you'd easily be able to play singles against me and win. I'm not THAT great."
"Now you're just fishing for compliments." Said Marui.
"That's not true!" argued Momo.
"Does anyone have any whites you want…" Choutarou started as he walked into the kitchen with a laundry basket but froze completely solid with his mouth half open.
"Ootori…?" said Eiji, jumping up. "Are you okay?"
"Oh…yes…" said Choutarou, clearing his throat. "Yes, I am."
"What's wrong?" Momo asked.
"You look like you've seen a ghost." Said Marui.
"It's just…" Choutarou began. "When I walked in here… and Marui was wearing his hat on backwards…I… I just… for a second…I guess… even though I knew it was impossible… I thought he was Shishido!"
Choutarou then burst into tears, dropped the laundry basket and ran out of the room. All the other people who play doubles obsessively ran in to comfort him so he wouldn't be crying alone, leaving Momo to tend to the cleanup of the laundry and the cooking of the meatloaf.
Team Three"It was a good idea to move the cot in here so we can continue to plot against Tezuka without him getting suspicious." Said Aoi as he, David and Tachibana all sat in the Kid's room on their assigned beds.
"How is he not getting suspicious just because we moved the cot in here?" Tachibana questioned.
"Because now he doesn't have to wonder where you are all the time." Said Aoi. "He can ASSUME we all went to bed."
"It's kind of early for that." Said Tachibana, checking his watch. "I almost think this is MORE suspicious."
"Well whatever!" said Aoi. "It's not like we're keeping it a secret from him anymore."
"We pretty much told him straight up that we were plotting against him." Said David. "In fact, I think we DID tell him straight up that we were plotting against him."
"Yeah…" said Tachibana. "Looking back at that move, I'm not thinking it was that great of an idea…"
"He can't do anything about it." Said Aoi. "This is his last night as the Dad in this family anyway. There's no way he'll win the individual award for today's challenge after he failed to answer the questions right."
"He did come in third…" David reminded him.
"Yeah well…he didn't WIN!" Aoi tried.
"Well, he did pretty well, regrettably…" Tachibana said sadly.
"All right, fine." Said Aoi. "I was TRYING to look on the bright side of things, but you guys just shot me down every time. SO NEVER MIND."
"…Sorry…" said Tachibana and David very apologetically.
Just when they were going to get down to business, there was a knock at the door.
"It's Tezuka, don't answer it." Said Tachibana.
"Why would Tezuka knock on the door?" said Aoi.
"Who else would it be?" said Tachibana.
David went over to the door and opened it up a crack.
"Hey guys, it's Kabaji." Said David.
Everyone stared at each other blankly as they opened the door up all the way.
"Um…hi Kabaji." Said Aoi.
"What's new?" David asked.
"Something you said." Said Kabaji, pointing at Aoi. His sudden speech scared the bageezers out of everyone.
"I said?" Aoi asked.
"You said 'Because he sleeps outside so we don't have to' and you were talking about me." Kabaji said.
"Um…yeah!" said Aoi. "You've been doing that!"
"Tell me," said Kabaji. "Is this something I don't have to be doing?"
"Uh…well…" Tachibana stood up. "Technically no since you're not the Pet anymore, but…you just seemed to like it so much that we decided to just leave you alone…"
"Why didn't you tell me?" asked Kabaji.
"Well, like I said, you seemed to like it so much." Tachibana admitted.
"What makes you think I liked it?" Kabaji's eyes narrowed.
"Well…cause you never left the doghouse except to come in and eat or go to challenges." David said.
"Where am I SUPPOSED to be sleeping?" said Kabaji.
"Since you're the Mom…I guess you're supposed to be sleeping in the big bed in the other room." Aoi said.
"Oh." said Kabaji as he departed the Kid's room.
The three remaining in the Kids room all looked at each other and gave heavy sighs of relief. Then they realized how funny this was going to be and couldn't possibly miss it so they all dove for the door.
Of course, they all got stuck in the doorway because they are such comical characters who would definitely find themselves in such a situation. Once Aoi squeezed out and released everyone from the tight spot, they ran to the Parents room and stood outside, eagerly listening to what kind of horror that would befall Tezuka in only a moment's time.
Team Four"Guys." Said Ryoma as the five of them all lied on the living room floor staring at the ceiling.
"Don't say it." Said Saeki.
"But…"
"Don't say it." Saeki repeated.
"I really don't think it was our best idea to just ignore the tasks…" Ryoma said.
"ALL RIGHT!" said Saeki, sitting up. "Don't you think we noticed that?"
"We've lost our couch, our comfy chair, our big bed, our bunk beds and the kitchen table." Hiyoshi reported apathetically.
"How sad!" said Sakurai, crying into his arm.
"Where are we going to sleep tonight?" Yukimura asked.
"We could always pretend we're having a sleepover and see if there are any sleeping bags in the shed." Hiyoshi suggested.
"Actually, I think I saw a few." Sakurai said. "I could go get them and we could lie them out on the floor."
"There's got to be a better way to do it though." Said Saeki, standing up. "What if our teachers are testing us and they only HID our furniture someplace?"
All the people still lying down looked at each other.
"Okay… so I'll check in the shed." Hiyoshi said. "And when I DON'T find the furniture, I'll bring the sleeping bags back in here."
"Come on, with that attitude, what makes you think we'll EVER find our furniture?" said Saeki.
"Where do you expect to find the furniture?" said Ryoma. "This house is so small. We can practically see in every room from where we are. And it's not like you can just hide furniture."
"Yeah." Said Sakurai. "Furniture is usually something you hide other things with."
"It won't hurt to look!" said Saeki as he paraded off.
Hiyoshi sat up. "Does anyone want to help me get those sleeping bags?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'll come." Said Ryoma, sitting up as well.
Yukimura and Sakurai continued lying there.
"So." Said Yukimura, putting his hands on his chest and looking over at Sakurai. "How are you?"
"…Good." Said Sakurai.
"Are you in good health?" Yukimura asked.
"As far as I know." Sakurai answered. "And you're not, I bet."
"No." said Yukimura. "I'm not."
"I'm sorry." Said Sakurai.
"It's all right." Said Yukimura.
The two of them continued lying there until Saeki returned.
"I didn't find the furniture anywhere…" he confessed.
"We TOLD you." Said Sakurai.
"Oh well." Said Saeki. "It's not like it was THAT time consuming to go off and search for it. Where are Hiyoshi and Ryoma?"
"They went to go get the sleeping bags in the shed." Yukimura answered.
"Oh yeah!" said Saeki. "We can't forget to play the name game when they get back considering Ryoma doesn't know any of our names."
Almost exactly when he said that, Ryoma and Hiyoshi both entered carrying some sleeping bags.
"These smell pretty bad." Hiyoshi said.
"It's all we've got." Said Sakurai. "Our couches didn't even leave any of our blankets or pillows."
"They took…EVERYTHING." Said Saeki very dramatically.
"Let's start setting up." Said Sakurai as he stood up and grabbed one of the sleeping bags.