As I wait in the club room, I pass the time idly staring out the window. The two eventually return back as I act as though I've never left the room.

"Hey."

I greet them first as I walk to meet the two, Sayori steps in first, slowly followed by Natsuki.

"Hello, Yuki.~ Natsuki says-"

As though she wanted to be the messenger bird between her and I, Natsuki places her hand against Sayori's shoulder.

"It's okay, Sayori... I'll say it."

Stepping in front of her, Natsuki locks eyes with me before her gaze slowly drifts off to the side.

"...Thanks, Yuki."

"It's nothing you should th-"
"No, really."

She shakes her head repeatedly before looking my way, this time her gaze doesn't falter.

"I was angry... and I said some things I didn't mean, and... well, I'm sorry."

"...It's no problem, I should apologise too, for getting involved with your situation without your consent."

"...Mm."

She gives me a nod before walking over towards the door, hugging Sayori on her way out.

"I'll be going then... Bye."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow, Natsuki."

"Bye bye, Natsuki~"

Watching her leave, Sayori displays an affectionate smile as I wonder what occurred the moment I left.

"So, how did it go?"

I try to make it seem as though I've no clue what went down in those moments. Walking towards me, she simply tilts her head as though I was asking a redundant question.

"Hm, what do you mean? You were there for the most part, weren't you?"

"...ehh? You knew?"

Here I thought my cover was absolute, guess I was wrong.

"Mm, I knew you wouldn't just let me run off like that alone. It was good that you did, because I don't think I could've done it alone."

Stretching her limbs, she sighs in relief before taking a seat atop of a table.

"Well... it's not like I gave a helping hand. To be honest, you did well by yourself."

"I didn't really know what to say... or what to do, so I just decided to just let my feelings speak for themselves."

"Yeah, but that's probably what she needed, Sayori. What you said moved me as well."

"Heehee, does Yuki want to know how I feel too?~"

She kicks off the table; however it seems she misplaced her foot as she comes tumbling towards me in slow motion.

"W-Waa!"

*thud

She crashes into me as I try not to move back as we'd probably be in a more terrible state. Though I guess our current position is rather awkward to say the least.

"S-Sayori... you really should look next time..."

Holding her in my arms, my chest is throbbing in pain as I try to endure it.

"S-Sorry... heehee.~"

"Don't hee hee, me."

"..."

As time drifts by, we hold each other in silence as I wasn't too sure if I should be the first to let go.

"It's been quite a day, huh?"

"Mm, it has... I feel like if I close my eyes I'd fall asleep."

"Then why don't you?"

"Ehh? If I do then..."

We release each other as she fixes her hair and the ribbon tied against it. Come to think of it, she's had it since we were little kids; I'm surprised she still wears it.

"I'll wait until I get home."

A few moments later after fixing her hair, she reveals a smile as though she believes she's done. Well at least her hair's looking great now but...

"You missed a spot."

Taking it upon myself, I move in to fix her ribbon against her collar.

"A-Ahh, Yuki you don't have to-"
"Just stay still for a bit."

Untying her loose ribbon, I adjust the length and begin retying it. It's been awhile since I've done something like this for Sayori.

"Hmm, how come you never button your blazer, Sayori?"

"It's too much of a hassle to button it all the time. Not only that but I don't think it fits anymore, and I don't want to buy a new one."

"Is that so..."

"Y-Yuki? W-What are- Hya!"

I try buttoning it up for her, but as she said it's probably a size smaller then what she should be wearing.

"See, I told you."

The best I could do is get first button on, though it seemed to be on the verge breaking so I returned it back to its normal state.

"Yeah, you should just get another blazer though or you won't grow."

"Hmm, well I think I'm a healthy growing girl.~ Hm hm."

She puffs out her chest as my grip is still held against her blazer.

"..."
"..."

"S-Sorry!"

...

The moment I return home, my Mum left word that my Dad will be out for the day. I take it that even he would want some fresh air and perhaps lighten up at the local pub. But knowing him... he's probably doing something else.

As the following day arrives, I once again head off to school in high spirits as my mind wanders. With a little bit of optimism to lighten my steps I meet Sayori by her front door.

"Morning, Sayori. At this rate you probably wouldn't need an alarm clock."

"Mm, but... I still feel sleepy, ehee. Good morning, Yuki.~ After what happened yesterday, I really wanted to see Natsuki."

Yawning into her cuffed hand, she soon smiles as I do the same. With Natsuki's help we may be close, however, my Father would call me a fool if I tunnel vision and let my guard down.

"I'm the same. Let's get going."

...

Greeted with the same scene as usual; like a scene set on repeat, Natsuki had her usual daily intake of dairy as we made some small talk before the start of class. We couldn't quite bring up the topic of her Father; if anything has changed or not.

I manage to put trust in her and asked during club time; she answered in her usual manner as we soon sat by the same table and discussed our next move.

"Ehh, child service?"

Natsuki asks as though she's never heard of them before.

"It's a service designed specifically to tackle matters such as these. If you call them and explain the details in depth, chances are they'll conduct a thorough investigation."

"That sounds serious... Then, if I do call them, what would happen to him?"

"Your Dad?"

I look to Sayori for confirmation; however she nods her head as if she already knew my answer.

"...He may be sent to court, and if the investigation comes out positive... He might face some jail time, while you'll most likely be moved away."

"..."

As silence stretches on, Natsuki takes a deep breath as though to ready herself.

"I see... well I guess he does deserve it. But..."

Taking out her phone, she stares at the screen for a few moments before asking us for their number, in which we give to her. However, as time passed, even though she has the numbers inputted, she couldn't bring herself to actually dial.

"N-Natsuki..?"

"...I can't."

Closing her phone, she wipes her eyes against the sleeve of her blazer.

"What if it I do call them, and then they do investigate and it comes out negative? What'll happen then? My Dad will be even more angry and then-"

Forcing her eyes close, she huddles herself up like an animal trying to guard against their predator.

"Natsuki..."

To live in fear of your Father every day, I don't know if I could put up with it. I could only imagine the sort of hardships she's been forced through; where nothing seems like it'll ever go your way... I guess it's what one would come to believe, that they'll never be given what they truly desire.

To escape from the pain, Natsuki found relief through literature and made herself a sanctuary here, in this literature club. As much as I'm honored to be part of it, I don't really like how this is the only place she can be herself.

As Natsuki starts quivering, Sayori moves towards her side and wraps her arm around her whilst gently patting her head.

"It'll be okay, Natsuki. We're not forcing you to call them if you're uncomfortable with it. Yuki has a second plan, right?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah. I told my old man about this, he's part of the force and has been of great help already. It's because of him that I managed to speak with your Grandma."

"You mean stalk her?"

Rubbing her eyes, she lifts her head and musters up a grin.

"With good intentions, I swear!"

"Yeah... she said she'll be visiting either tonight or tomorrow... Frankly, I'm a little scared of what might happen. So um, could you-"

Suddenly my phone begins ringing as I look to her to see whether or not it'd be okay to take it. She insists in the end as I take the call outside.

"Dad?"

"Son, are you with her right now?"

"With her..? You mean Natsuki? Yeah I am, we're doing club activities for the time being."

"Great. Listen; don't allow her to return home yet. Not until sundown, do you hear?"

"What..? What do you mean?"

...

After my Father tells me about his rather simple plan, I step back into the club room and tell them the details.

"So what would you both like to do? We could hit the cafe again or something."

Standing just outside the school gate, we discuss where we'd like spend some of our free time.

"Hmm... Ehee, I guess I could go for another slice of cake again.~

"Ehh, that cake again? You can't call something like that a cake. It puts the cake name to shame!"

Getting riled up over cake, I don't know what basis she has over it as I'm sure she hasn't had a taste of it.

"There you go again, Natsuki.~ Your cupcakes are nice but that cake was good too!"

"Don't underestimate my cupcakes! You just haven't seen me go serious."

"Ehee, then prove me wrong, Natsuki and I promise I'll only eat your cakes from now on.~"

"Is that supposed to make me happy!?"

...

We ended up back at the cafe we visited last time and ordered some cake and parfaits. This time, Natsuki was willing to indulge herself with it. Chatting among ourselves until sundown, it was only when artificial lighting illuminated the streets that we left.

With it being a rather cold evening, we could see each other's exhale in the air; perhaps that's why we decided to walk side by side. Heading towards Natsuki's home, I received a call and was notified that everything's in place and that all we need to trigger the following events, is to simply walk Natsuki home.

"Nervous?"

"Hah? Of course not, what's there to be nervous about?"

In juxtaposition to her words, with her small body trembling and her eyes darting around, Sayori takes her hand.

"W-What is it?"

With a warm smile, Sayori's cheeks are flushed as I soon recall her being quite sensitive to the cold.

"Ehee, it's nothing.~"

"...your hand's cold."

"I know.~ Which is why you can be my personal heater 2.0, Natsuki."

"Hahh? Why would I want that?!"

Wrapping her arms around her, despite Natsuki's complaint she doesn't attempt to shrug her off.

"...do what you like."

...

Turning the corner towards her home, we see a man standing before it looking extremely grumpy. It's no doubt that it's her Father who's too lazy to make dinner for himself, one who takes his daughter for granted and acts like she owes him everything. While you do owe it to your parents who have looked after you since you were a baby, but we're neither objects nor slaves to do your bidding.

"Natsuki!"

The moment he spots her, he comes walking as anger morphs his face.

"What are- You!"

Realising me standing beside her, it looks like he's about to pop a vein that's clearly visible on his temple. As his breath reeks of alcohol, I could only imagine his thought process; he has none.

"What are you doing to my daughter, huh?! Do you know what time it is!? You-"

Lifting his arm into the air, he prepares to strike down on one of us, as Sayori readily shields Natsuki, I stand as firm as possible. However, a voice roars in the distant which causes him to flinch.

A tall figure emerges from the shadows and walls steadily towards us. If I weren't on the lookout for him, I'd say I'd be pretty afraid of him rather than Natsuki's Dad.

"Your actions will have repercussions."

Finishing off his cigarette, he disposes it in his portable ashtray.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Just an off duty officer out for a night stroll."

"Hah?! If you're off duty then leave me alone, this has nothing to do with you!"

Averting his attention, he raises his arm to strike once again, only to have his blow intercepted by my Father who firmly grasped his fist.

"Which is why I'd like to make this quick. We don't want this problem to escalate more than it has already, do we?"

"Youu, you set this up, didn't you?!"

Natsuki's Dad bats his arm away before pointing his finger at me; I can't help but secretly smile as he seems to be in distress. However, it all fades away the moment he chuckles to himself.

"Well it's not as if I've done anything to warrant the police to get involved, ahaha! Right, Natsuki?"

He reveals a grimace before turning to Natsuki as though he's ordering for her to say the exact same words she relayed to me on that day. I was hoping that she'd outright deny his request; however, it appears she's having difficulty expressing herself.

"He's... r-"

With the word being at the tip of her tongue, all our efforts will be for naught if Natsuki can't stand up against her Dad. As her gaze falls towards the earth, my heart pounds like a Taiko Festival.

As though he believes he's won already, he chuckles once again before turning to my Father.

"He's... wrong. ...You're wrong."

Shaking her head, she lifts it and stares directly at him with intent; as though she were Medusa, he was turned to stone for a solid moment, bewildered.

"Y-Y-You little-! Do you know who it is that puts food on your plate?!"

"...I know, I know you work tirelessly with work, alone. I know the work you do is tough, but that!-"

"Quiet!"

About to get physical once again, my Father holds him back by his arms as he tries breaking free; trying to shrug him off with every ounce of his strength.

"Don't make me laugh! All you have to do is listen to me and follow my orders! Isn't that why you continued to stay?! Heck, I could've kicked you out a long time ago! What then?!"

"You couldn't..."

As Natsuki's face reddens, this is perhaps the most emotional state I've see her in; trying to bottle down her uneasiness, her weakness, and her vulnerability. It's as though the feelings she's been bottling down was finally released.

"You couldn't kick me out... because deep down inside, you needed me. ...You needed someone to cling on to, to give you purpose ever since Mum left."

Grasping her own body, she trembles.

"You had no idea... how much I endured it all... You worked hard for us, I know. Sometimes you'd treat me, but the amount of times you did, doesn't necessarily remove the bottomless pit of pain you've inflicted upon me."

"That's your own damn-"
"No it isn't!"

"Do this, do that. I'm sick of it! I've been sick of it for a long time now! I wanted to love you as a Father! But... how could I? ...you come home late, sometimes drunk, ordering me around to make food for you every single day. I have to clean up your mess, and do everything else around the house. Not only that but you'd come home cranky and beat me without a second thought."

"Because that's your freakin' job!"
"No it's not!"

Striking the air; tears well in her eyes as they stream down her cheek whilst she continues emptying out her frustrations.

"I didn't sign up for this! I-I probably could've, but not all the damn times you wanted me too! I get tired too you know?! It'd hard! Why don't you put yourself in my perspective and see just how much I worked tirelessly to keep the house from collapsing!?"

Lifting up her dress just a bit, she reveals a faint line that runs across her thigh.

"Look! You don't even remember this do you? Of course you don't, you don't even know how much it hurts. All of those times you used me to relieve stress, I could've died numerous times if I didn't defend myself! You could've committed murder, then what would you have done?!"

"..."

"When Mum left, I was already in turmoil! But then you looked at me as though you needed me! But you didn't need me in the sense that I was hoping for! Is this the kind of Dad you wanted to be?! You said you'd change! That you'd try harder to return back to the persons he loved you as! But all you did was tell lies after lies! I can't stand you any longer!"

Out of breath, she heavily breaths as Sayori supports her. With such strong conviction, the feelings that she's been repressing finally find its way out as her Dad couldn't say a single word back to her. As though he lost strength, he slumps down as my Father releases him, before crouching down to his level.

"There's a fine line between tough love and blatant abuse. Perhaps you had forgotten where that line was and unknowingly crossed it."

"Get out of here; I'm not saying anything to you."

Perhaps the alcohol kicked in and made him lazy, in the state he's in I'd say he'll have to do some serious rethinking of his life if he wants to continue living with Natsuki. Though I guess that won't do, because the two will have to separate by the end of this.

"That's fine by me. But, how about someone who has looked after you since you were a child?"

"Hah? What are you-"

My Father rises and then walks over towards a familiar looking person.

"...Ma?"

As he notices his Mother standing before him, his expression drops as she too already looks like she's about to tear up.

"...I thought you and Natsuki were as close as family could be... so why... what went wrong? Was it my fault? I know I couldn't get you everything you wanted... I know I couldn't..."

Getting down on her knees, she places her head against the ground as though to seek forgiveness from him.

"M-Ma, no it's, it's not you-"

"Forgive me, if I have just realised sooner I-"

...

It took quite the time for the two to settle down. Even though he acted as though no one could tell him what to do, his entire self fell apart the moment his Mother realised the truth. Natsuki and her Father merely acted as though they were getting along, and because she always believed nothing could ever go her way, she never denied him, despite the pain etching up towards her heart.

With just a phone call, my Father called up one of his colleges to take him away; leaving him with her a ribbon that she uses to tie her hair. Natsuki and her Grandmother too have to follow before long, however he decided that he'll be the one to drive the two.

"...It's all over."

In relief, Sayori and I smile at each other before my Father places his hand upon my shoulder.

"It's not over yet, not until he's put behind bars."

"...How long will he be in there?"

Natsuki asks with a slight touch of care in her words.

"Can't say so for sure, however the penalties for assault is rather high. I'd say a few years at most, depending on his charges."

"I see..."

Despite this being a victory for us, the time doesn't quite call for a celebration in cheers, but a calm silence with small smiles.

"Thank you... everyone. Before I was sure I'd have to listen to him for the rest of my life with no say in the matter... But now, I realise that was just fear twisting my thoughts."

With a small bow; she reveals a smile that I've never seen before; one that comes directly from the heart as though she found no reason to keep her emotions in check.

"Ehee, you're welcome, Natsuki.~ I'm glad everything worked out in the end."

"Yeah, same. I'm just glad we did something, rather than ignore it."

"...Mm, I know I got really angry... and said some things I didn't mean at all. But you two put up with me... and still chased after a future in which I thought would never come true. Now it feels like plenty of options have opened up for me."

Perhaps now, her paradise won't only be limited to the club room, but anywhere she sees fit. She needn't longer live in fear of her Dad creeping up on her happiness.

"I admit it was tough... but I knew it'd be worth it in the end."

On that note, I soon remember the part in which I made a thorough promise that I'd quit anything anime related.

"...Right, the end."

I automatically heave a heavy sigh as Natsuki notices it.

"Hm, what do you mean?"

"A-Ahh... well, I just remembered a small matter... a promise that I made that entitles me to quit everything anime related at the end of the year, for sure this time."

"Y-You what?!"

Surprisingly outraged, she steps towards me as I take the same amounts of steps back.

"Y-You idiot! If you did that then who's going to read Parfait Girls with me now?! Who can I talk to about anime and get recommendations off?"

"W-well... umm, the internet?"

"The internet!?"

I feel as though with one problem dealt with, out came another as I didn't expect for her to react this way.

"Hahahaha!"

With a laugh, we stop in our tracks and turn towards the man laughing, which appears to be my Father.

"W-What's so funny? In fact you're the one who made me make that promise!"

"Hahaha, well I needed to test your resolve. You know, a man can sacrifice what they loved most, for their most beloved, when the time comes."

"M-My w-what?!"
"What?!"

I look over to Natsuki as she looks back at me, red in the face. I cover my own with my hands in embarrassment.

"Y-You didn't have to say that!"

"Hahaha! Well, I'm not proposing anything now. But, son, perhaps that was a little too severe. What you've done deserves praise, and a reward."

Finishing off his cigarette, he tosses it in his ashtray once again before pulling out an awfully familiar book from his hidden pocket.

"W-Wait, is that-"

Soon recognizing the cover, its novel I was searching for a few days ago; the one which relates to law and court trials.

"If you quit, who will be the one to keep me updated?"

As though it was his plan all along to test me, he smirks.

"D-Does that mean..."

"Your promise is here by nullified; you can continue on with your hobby even after the year ends."

"...Y-Yay..?"

Still confused over the fact that he's been secretly reading through each of the volumes I had, I look to Natsuki who seems to be relieved with a sigh.

"W-What? I-It's not like I'm relieved or anything!"

She tries to play it off as usual, however, she makes a surprising attempt to be a lot more honest with herself. Despite before she'd simply become tongue-tied and drop the subject entirely.

"It's just that... maybe I just wanted to keep reading with you... A-And maybe... we could also... become closer... and-"

As red tints her cheeks, her words trail off into nothingness. But with this feeling I'm getting, perhaps those words have already been conveyed. I avert my gaze as my heart begins beating at an alarming rate.

"…If you're okay with me... I hope I can continue reading with you; and remain by your side."