Chapter 2- Mad Mad World
"A-ah-" Aoi's feet were glued to the floor, her tongue to the roof of her mouth. What could she say; she had been curious as to the personality of the woman living with her cousin and so poked around in her boudoir for answers? Somehow she didn't think that would cut it.
Besides, a few seconds after the man spoke, she realised that 'Anna' must be the young girl tucked behind his leg. Cursing mentally, though how could she have known?, Aoi stood up straight and attempted to stutter her way out of explaining her, rather embarrassing, position.
"I-I was...looking...for-"
The little girl, Anna, suddenly stepped forward and stared up at Aoi through a marble made of red glass. Her expression changed minutely, her forehead, smooth and white like porcelain, wrinkled and straightened, while her pink lips parted and pursed with it. Indifferent, curious, surprise, resignation, all in the space of a few seconds. Aoi wasn't sure she herselfhad that kind of emotional capacity.
"U-um-" Aoi began again, distracted by Anna's staring. After a moment Anna turned around and looked back at Mikoto.
"She's red." Her voice was soft, quiet; a complete contrast to the older man's gravelly tone.
"What?" The man refrained from scratching himself and looked at the little girl, no change in his expression other than his eyebrow lifting a millimeter.
"Red." Anna murmured again, though it appeared to be to herself rather than to the man in the doorway, who had to be Mikoto Suoh, the occupant of the third bedroom and Izumo's best friend. Aoi thought she could remember him very vaguely from her time in Japan, most of which she spent tagging along behind her cousin. Mikoto was younger than Izumo, but older than Aoi, she seemed to remember.
"Mm." Mikoto didn't seem to bothered. His amber eyes lazily flickered around the room and over her, making her feel almost intruded upon, so she looked away. His stare wasn't lewd, like that of so many men she knew, but it was intense, hot, and she couldn't suppress a shiver. Despite that, she swore that the temperature of the room was growing with every second that passed, though it had been quite cool when she first walked in.
"Aoi! What are you doing in the-ah." The heat Aoi had noticed subsided almost entirely when Izmo entered the doorway. Mikoto gave her one last look, then turned around and left, taking Anna with him.
"I-I-"
Izumo simply sighed and folded his arms, leaning back on the doorframe as he appraised his cousin.
"What am I going to do with you?" With a shake of his head he stood up straight again, switching into his usual, cheerful persona. "Well! I suppose it saves me introducing you to Mikoto and Anna. Come on, Tatara made dinner for us. Don't worry it's perfectly safe; I supervised."
The embarrassment slowly died away in Aoi's cheeks and she nodded, her smile growing, and followed Izumo out of the bedroom and down the stairs.
「K」
"So, you're Aoi?" The speaker was a charming young man who stood up from the bar immediately upon her arrival. He was older than Aoi but younger than her cousin, good looking and Aoi was positive he knew it.
"A-ah...yes?" Aoi said, her answer broken in her confusion. Who was he?
Come to think of it, now she looked around, there were quite a few new people in the room, all of them male. On one of the sofas sat Mikoto and Anna, on another Yata and Rikio. At the bar sat the man who was speaking to her along with a boy with glasses and a hat, who seemed exasperated by what he was watching. Further along the bar there were two more, one with his hood pulled up all the way over a hat and sunglasses, the other wearing a baseball cap and a cheery smile. On her left the door swung open and two other men walked in, one with spiky hair, the other pale blonde.
R-reverse harem?!
The charming speaker grinned and put his arm around her, taking her hand in at attempt to guide her to a seat next to him at the bar.
"I'm Yō Chitose, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Aoi glanced at her cousin behind her, whose bright smile was stretching to an unnatural degree, and quickly pulled her hand free.
"Aoi Tanaka." Stepping to the side, Aoi smiled at the boy, not quite charmingly, but nicely enough. Though teasing her cousin was fun, he was terrifying when provoked. "You too."
Apparently appeased, her cousin pulled out a chair for both of them at the bar and she sat down, Izumo on one side and Yō on the other. Unfortunately for her, her admirer wasn't so easily dissuaded.
"You know-"
"Leave the girl alone, Chitose." The voice didn't come from her cousin, surprisingly, but from the man in the glasses on Chitose's other side. "You're bothering her, and Kusanagi."
Leaning into the bar, Aoi moved so she could see her saviour clearly. He was still berating his friend for attempting to hit on a minor, while Yō pretended to listen, a bored scowl pulling his eyebrows together.
"She's eighteen-"
"She's a minor."
"You worry too much."
"You hit on girls too much!"
Sitting back in her chair Aoi turned back to her cousin, hiding a giggle. From what she could decipher Izumo's mood had improved considerably since Yō first talked to her; going from murderous, to thunderous, to irate and finally to an interesting (and mildly concerning) mix of sadism and ill disguised humour.
"Food's ready!" Tatara made a dramatic entrance, hands encased in pink flowery oven gloves that cradled a steaming plate. For a moment Aoi feared he would drop it, the man was practically skipping, but he made it to the table in time and set it down. The group of males swarmed around the table and Aoi followed her cousin, finding herself dragged into a seat between him and Tatara, who immediately struck up a conversation with her.
Accompanied by alcohol and good food, Aoi found herself loosening up and enjoying everyone's company. She just about managed to remember everyone's names, though nobody minded when she got them wrong, and she couldn't remember the last time she laughed so hard. Every so often she caught Izumo looking at her out of the corner of her eye and she assumed he was worried about how she was really getting along with his friends, so she would toast Tatara one more time, wave Anna off to bed, and stretch her smile as wide as she could.
It was still fairly early when Izumo made them leave. He insisted he didn't mind, that he was tired too, but she knew it was for her sake really so she hugged him as tight as she could before heading up the stairs to bed.
They weren't really what I expected. Izumo is so calm and they're all so rowdy...but I couldn't say I didn't enjoy it. They seem nice.
Nice, but strange, she thought after a moment. Very strange. Yata still couldn't talk to her, even after a few drinks, and they were so loud she was surprised her ears hadn't dropped off. Even as she thought about these things, the realisation came upon her that since she had left Japan, Izumo had moved on with his life, as she knew he would. He couldn't be a teenager forever, but it was still disconcerting to think about. He had a whole new life that up until she wasn't a part of despite them being so close.
It made her a little sad at first, but she cheered up when she realised that, in coming back, she was now a part of his world again, no matter how insane it may turn out to be, and she wouldn't give it up for anything.