(A/N: I really don't know where I was going with this chapter. This whole beginning is just like...I don't know. It feels so lonely without Makoto, even though I keep mentioning her. Don't forget about our masculine idiot, OK? She'll be coming back soon~.

Anyways, it's here, you guys! I am just so excited.)

…in which Sora and Yukiho discuss random things in the park with Kenchi and his family

"Seriously, how did we not realize that ice-cream shop was owned by the twins? I mean, it was called 'Futami Mami and Ami's Ice-cream Shoppe', for crying out loud!" Sora huffed. "I'm…I'm just an idiot. This whole past week, I have been an idiot."

"It's OK, Sora-kun," Kenchi soothed. "Everyone is an idiot at some point in their life."

"For that kid it's right now," Kyoko affirmed, gesturing to Kenchi. "And that man." She jabbed Kyou with her finger. "…no wait, Kyou's been an idiot his whole life."

Kyou grinned proudly. Yukiho hid behind Sora and Kyoko.

Kenchi sighed. "Whatever you say, Kyoko. Anyhow…" He looked over at Yukiho and smiled. "It's nice to see you, Hagiwara-chan. How's Makoto-chan doing?"

"Fine," Yukiho answered. "It's good to see you also, Kentaro-kun."

Sora took her hand. "OK, so, I have a question for you guys. Have any of you ever been stalked by circus cosplayers on a date?" he asked randomly.

"I have never been on a single date in my life," Kenchi responded truthfully. "Well…unless you count that muffin date, and that time I took Makoto-chan to the agency."

"You're kidding," Sora decided. "Come on, even I've been on dates with someone other than Ohime-chan. Granted, most of them were blind dates set up by my cousin and they usually went horribly, but still."

Kenchi shrugged. "I just wasn't interested in any girls until I saw Makoto-chan. And once I did, I knew that no matter what, I wanted to remain as pure as possible for her, and I wanted to marry her one day. So I never even went on dates with other girls."

Kyoko and Yukiho "aw-ed". Kenchi blushed.

"And yet," Sora began, "while on a date with Makoto, you sexually harassed her. So much for purity."

"At least it was her, who I intend to marry one day, and not some random pedestrian," Kenchi muttered awkwardly.

"True," Sora agreed. "But still. OK, Kyoko, Kyou. Circus cosplayers?"

"No," Kyoko replied.

"Once I took my date to see a movie about circus cosplayers," Kyou explained. "Does that count?"

"They make movies like that?" Sora gasped. "Makoto and Hibiki and the rest would be perfect for it."

"I agree," Yukiho spoke up. "M-Makoto-chan is a fantastic circus cosplayer, although I think Hibiki-chan is the best."

"Me too," Sora agreed. "I mean…what the heck even is that costume?!"

"No one knows," Yukiho admitted. "Not even Hibiki-chan herself."

Sora sighed. "Well, whatever. OK, so now I want to know—"

"Who was the first girl you touched?" Kyou blurted. "Or for Kyoko-chan and Yukiho-chan, who was the first boy you touched you?"

"You," Kyoko said immediately, flashing her older brother a glare.

Kyou giggled. "But Kyoko-chan~, you look so cute when you get all flustered~!"

"That doesn't give you the right to just grab my breast for no reason!"

Kyou shrugged. "Sora-chan?"

"Please don't call me that," Sora muttered. "I'm not your pet or something."

"Sora-kun?"

Sora shifted. "Um…Ohime-chan."

Yukiho squeaked and gestured to Sora, then squeaked again and hid behind Kyoko. Kyou laughed.

"I knew it," he announced. "Sora-kun, you perv~"
"I-it was an accident!" Sora protested. "I was just looking for a light switch!"

"Breasts aren't light switches," Kyoko stated obviously.

"Well, neither are coconuts, but no one seems to agree with me on that," Sora huffed.

"…what?"

"Never mind. Kenchi…"

Kenchi looked up from the ladybug he had just made friends with.

"…don't bother answering the question, we all know who yours was."

Kenchi blushed, nodded, and looked back at his new pet ladybug.

Kyoko punched Kyou in the arm. "Your turn, perv."

"I don't remember," Kyou admitted. "I think it was…um…Takeru Kana-chan back in seventh grade. That girl had bust to spare, let me tell you that."

Kyoko punched him in the arm again, harder. "Why are you so…weird?"

Kyou just shrugged and giggled.

Kyoko sighed. "I have a non-pervy question. How many of you have ever gotten your tongue stuck on a telephone pole?" she asked.

Kenchi raised his hand slowly.

Sora laughed. "I didn't know you got your tongue stuck to a telephone pole."

"It was a dare in eighth grade. It hurt a lot to get it off," Kenchi elaborated.

"That's hilarious. Well, my friend—the one I'm living with now—got his tongue stuck to a lightbulb. Poor guy."

The others were silent.

"…a lightbulb?" Kyoko laughed. "What? How do you even…"

"He poured glue all over a lightbulb and licked it, and the glue dried and it held his tongue on the lightbulb."

"…why?"

"My friends are all stupid," Sora remarked, chuckling. "Except for Ohime-chan. And you, Kyoko. You're not stupid."

Kyoko grinned proudly.

"If you had a pet ladybug," Kenchi started, "what would you name it?"

"Why?"

"I have a pet ladybug~. I don't know what to name it."

Sora looked over at the small red-with-black-dots insect crawling around on Kenchi's finger. "Ah. Um…how about Balthazar?"

"…you want me…to name my ladybug…Balthazar?"

Sora laughed. "Why not?"

"I like Jonas," Kyou decided.

"How about…Akai?" Yukiho suggested.

"I think it should be named Kyoko after your beautiful and talented big sister," Kyoko decided.

"You're only older than me by a couple hours," Kenchi muttered.

"So? It still counts."

"OK…I think I'll name it Makoto-chan. It can sleep in the bed with me~."

The others fell silent again.

"You have problems," Sora stated bluntly.

Kenchi blushed. "I love her. A-a lot."

"Too much," Sora corrected.

"You can never love someone too much. Love is the most important thing in the world, and you can never have or give too much of it," Kenchi replied.

"Aren't you just full of wisdom?"

"That's basic knowledge. It takes knowledge to know what love does and wisdom to know what it is."

"Seriously, where is this coming from?"

"I have a deep well of wisdom flowing through me, as do we all. The difference is that I know how to tap into mine."

"Dude, stop it. It's kinda weird. You're supposed to be simple-minded and socially awkward and weird, not wise and serious."

"Often one who has received a label will begin to act the part, but that doesn't mean they don't have their own personality as well."

"STOP."

Kenchi shrugged and started petting his ladybug, which was apparently named "Makoto".

Sora sighed. "OK. Yuki—Ohime-chan. You have a question?"

"Y-yes," Yukiho answered. "Um…w-what is your biggest fear? M-mine is men…and dogs…mostly dogs…"

"Rapists," Kyoko said immediately. She cast a glance at Kenchi. "…but, I don't think I'll have to worry about those with this little guy around."

Kenchi blushed and smiled at her. Kyou chuckled.

"I'm not afraid of anything," he announced proudly. "Except sea pigs. Have you ever seen those things? I mean—"

"Did you say pigs?!" Sora gasped, cutting in. He giggled. "I love piggies! They're so cute! Just…little pigs…! I love pigs!"

Yukiho giggled. "I didn't know you liked pigs, Sora-kun."

"I don't. I love pigs. Pigs are the most amazing creatures on Earth—well, pigs and you, Ohime-chan."

"Aw, that's cute," Kyoko purred. "OK. Sora! Biggest fear?"

"Um…Makoto."

"What?" Kenchi laughed. "Makoto-chan isn't scary!"

"Yes she is! I always feel like one day she's just going to tackle me to the floor and rape me or something!" Sora whined.

Kenchi's expression suddenly changed. "…Sora-kun, if you ever lay one finger on my precious and beloved Makoto-chan, I swear I will kill you," he muttered seriously, his face suddenly seeming very serious and his voice a bit deeper. Kyoko immediately took a step closer to him, sensing the change in personality.

Sora cringed. Uh-oh. That's the face he had when he was harassing Makoto. This is that Dark Kenchi, huh? he thought to himself. He frowned. "Relax, Kenchi, I have no interest in Makoto. You can have her."

Kenchi sniffed indignantly. "You'd better not. She's mine, OK?"

"Take her, please. She scares me."

Kenchi took a threatening step towards him, fist raised and an angry expression on his face.. "Don't you dare take about her as if she's undesirable! As if there's something wrong with her! Don't you dare!"

Kyoko slid in front of him, her hands up. "Calm down, Kenchi," she soothed. "I'm sure he didn't mean it like that. Just calm down."

Kenchi's eyes flickered to her for a second; then he shoved past her, stepped towards Sora, and flung a fist towards the other boy's face. Sora was hit and he stumbled backwards, clutching at his cheek. Kenchi glared at him.

"That'll teach you not to talk about my Makoto-chan like that," he snapped, turning aside and glancing at his finger. The ladybug had flown away during his fit of rage.

Yukiho hurried to Sora's side and eagerly began tending to his new bruise. Kyoko looked over at him, then at Kenchi, then decided Kenchi needed her more and went to his side. Kenchi stared at his finger where "Makoto-Jonas-Kyoko-Akai-Balthazar" had once been for a little longer, then he sighed and turned to Sora, the fury gone from his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Sora-kun," he muttered quietly. "I just…really miss her. I'm getting anxious and overly-protective. I guess I just lost it for a minute. Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine," Sora sighed. "…I understand. The same feelings I have for Ohime-chan, you have for Makoto. I don't know WHY, but…" He chuckled. "It was my fault for provoking you, I guess."

"You can hit me, if you want," Kenchi told him. "I-I deserve it."

"It's OK, really," Sora assured. "I…probably deserved that anyways."

"You didn't," Kenchi sighed. "…sorry. I get a little out-of-control sometimes…"

"It's part that whole 'true personality' thing you were talking about earlier, huh?"

"Yes, sort of…when I was a child I was very unruly, but I got punished all the time so I forced myself to calm down. I still harbor that grudge, though…" Kenchi paused. For a moment, he zoned out as though experiencing a flashback; then he shook his head and shrugged. "Anyway, y-you didn't come out here to hear my life story. Sora-kun, I lost my ladybug."

Sora laughed. "Did you? Well, it probably flew away when you, you know, punched me in the face."

"I-I'm so sorry, Sora-kun…!"

"Sora-kun!" Yukiho suddenly whisper-hissed. A butterfly had landed on her finger. She giggled and slowly turned around. "Sora-kun, I-I found a butterfly…! It likes me~!"

"That is adorable," Sora stated quietly. "That is just…adorable."

Yukiho giggled and reached out the pet the butterfly. It flinched when her finger drew near, then flew away before she could touch it. She yelped and tried to catch it again, but the butterfly was gone. Saddened, she looked at Sora.

Sora chuckled and gave her a quick hug. "Well, anyways, I guess we should do something productive now," he sighed.

"Like rehearsal for the concert that you're a part of because Tategami-kun has the flu?" Kenchi suggested.

Sora snapped his fingers. "Right, I forgot about that! Poor Tategami, I hope he gets better soon. Anyhow. We should go then, huh?"

"Probably. Bye, Hagiwara-chan."

"G-goodbye, Kentaro-kun…Sora-kun."

The group spilt up; Sora, Kenchi, and Kyou walked off towards the agency and Kyoko offered to walk Yukiho home before rushing off with her brothers. As they were walking away, Yukiho suddenly noticed something crawling in the grass. She bent to pick it up, then cried out in excitement and ran after the boys.

"K-Kentaro-kun! I found your ladybug!"