I am SO sorry for the really late update! All I have to say is that life got crazy, and I've finally gotten a grasp of it. Thank you for sticking with me this far, and I promise I won't take this long to update again!

Chapter 6: Babysitter

Dear Diary,

Taking care of my little brother and sisters is hard. I'm tired of learning how to cook. Mommy says it's important to learn so that I could feed myself and everyone else whenever she's busy with work. She also said it would help me be a good wife someday. I wonder if being "wife" material will help my idol appeal? Maybe it will help me get some guest appearances on a cooking show or something? I'll try to think about cooking in that way to get myself motivated, because as of right now, all I can think about is how scary it is when frying things with oil! Mommy looked like she felt bad teaching me how to cook when I screamed the first time a little spark of oil shot out the pan. So I later acted like I wasn't scared in front of her. I know it hurts Mommy that she can't be cooking for us or spending time with us, so I am going to be a good big sister from now on. Cocoro has started calling me Onee-sama which I find a little bit weird. But that means I have to definitely be someone she can look up too! You know, maybe learning how to cook won't be so bad. Mommy also mentioned that she might take a new job soon that pays more once Cotaro gets older and when she feels more comfortable leaving him and my sisters in my care. I definitely want her to do it! Then maybe, just maybe, we can afford for me to take dance classes and she won't have to be so stressed all the time. Fingers crossed!

Maki sighed as she walked towards Nico's apartment. Tsubasa had been kind enough to offer her a ride, which she now regretted accepting. It just meant that she would arrive at the apartment sooner, which meant even more time spent with Nico's siblings. In reality, she knew her decision was incredibly impulsive, but she couldn't deny that she had felt a surge of pride seeing that her actions had made Nico smile so much. It was worth it, even though she knew she would have to endure hours of awkwardness with Nico's younger siblings, and it didn't help that Maki was not at all experienced in babysitting. But, at least it wouldn't really be entirely babysitting. In truth, the three siblings were more than capable of taking care of themselves, and were often home alone as long as Cocoro was there. The little girl was more than capable of watching the younger two. No, the purpose of Maki's presence was mostly to feed the kids, since Nico was the only one capable of cooking dinner while her mother was away. Maki cringed at the image of her attempting to cook a suitable meal for herself and three younger children. Nope, that was not going to happen. She would just take them out to eat instead. But first, she needed to spend time with them at their home, where she could hopefully find out a little bit about the family, more specifically, their father.

She stood in front of the building, just before entering. Finally, she entered and pressed the button to summon the elevator. She eyed the elevator warily as her nerves began to flare.

"Don't be stupid, get a grip of yourselves. They're just children. Perfectly harmless."

She stood in front of the door, her hand raised to knock on the door. "Nico better have called them to tell them I was coming. Otherwise this is going to be a very awkward situation."

She finally knocked, tentatively, but loudly. The door opened immediately to show an exasperated Cocoro who had a light layer of sweat on her forehead. She looked up at Maki and smiled brightly.

"Hi Maki-chan! Onee-sama told me that you were stopping by! Come in!"

Maki smiled at the younger girl and stepped through the doorway. "Yeah, I'm just covering for a few hours. Nico just had some important things to do with the rest of Muse." She glanced around the room, it was neat and clean, just like the other times she had visited. She walked over to the sofa and sat down, placing her bag next to her.

"Where is Cocoa and Cotaro?"

"They're in their room. I'll go get them now." The girl turned and walked quickly away.

Maki took the chance to observe the room, standing up to examine a picture frame hung on the wall. It was picture of Nico and her siblings, most likely take a few years ago since Nico looked even younger than she does now. Maki turned her head to a nail sticking out of the wall next to the frame. She frowned, was there supposed to be frame there too?

"Maybe they moved it…but why would they leave the nail there?"

She walked over to the cabinet where there was another picture of Nico's siblings. This time, it was just Cocoa and Cotoro. The red head began to walk around the room to look for any other pictures.

"If I can just see one picture of how Nico's father looks like that would really help me look for him. But I don't see any here. Maybe in their rooms?"

"Back up dancer."

Maki turned to face Cotaro who had entered the living room along with his two sisters. She gave a forced smile. It was better to just let him call her that, at least for today.

"Hi Cotaro, Cocoa, how are you?"

Cocoa grinned and gave her a thumbs up. "We. Are. Awesome!"

Maki twirled her hair around her finger nervously. What now?

"Um, so…what do you guys usually do around this time."

Cocoa smiled mischievously. "Well, as long as we don't destroy the house or break any laws…we do whatever we want."

Maki felt her skin crawl. "There are so many things that can go wrong within those rules."

"Please tell me you've never broken that rule." said the first year, not knowing if she really wanted to know the answer.

The three children burst into laughter. Even Cotaro laughed, wiping his eyes as they watered from his laughter. Maki's eyes widened slightly, not expecting such a reaction from the trio. She chuckled with them, feeling a smile creep onto her face. Seeing the young kids laughing made her heart feel warm, and for the first time, she felt like an older sister.

"Alright, alright, I'm going to assume you haven't gone beyond that." Maki reached towards Cotaro hesitantly, then withdrew her hand, deciding against it.

Cocoa suddenly jumped in front of Cotaro and grabbed Maki's hand to place it on her head. Maki gasped in surprise, and felt her heart warm as she patted the little girls head. Cocoro watched the scene silently, and observed their babysitter's actions and reactions. She had never seen this girl be so affectionate before, if anything she was usually hostile. The older girl had always left the impression that she was uncomfortable and annoyed at something. She had always just assumed that Maki was just not very good with children, and with her older sister Nico being a bit eccentric, she could understand why Maki would be a bit exasperated with her actions every now and then. She was shocked when Nico told her who would be coming over to watch them today, and even more surprised that Nico had agreed. But seeing her now, with Cotaro and Cocoa, the older girl seemed nervous and a little bit uncomfortable, but content. She had to admit, she was impressed. Maybe she would be able to see what her sister saw in this girl, and why she continuously spent time with someone like her.

"Nico with the heiress. Something I would never have dreamed of before." Cocoro thought as Cocoa stepped back from Maki and now Maki confidently reached to pat Cotoaro's head.

Cocoro chirped loudly, "So, what's for dinner?"

Maki turned to face her sheepishly. "Um. To be honest, I can't cook." Her face flushed with embarrassment. "I thought you guys might like to go out to eat? My treat of course."

Cotaro grinned. "Can we get ice cream?"

"After a proper dinner."

Cocoa pouted. "What's a proper dinner? Does it have to be some fancy steak or salad?"

"Eh? No, of course not?"

"Isn't that what rich girls eat though?" asked Cocoro, "No offense" she quickly added as soon as the she finished the sentence. She regretted every word.

"Not really…well, I mean sometimes yes. Wait, how did you know that my family is... well off?"

"Aren't you Dr. Nishikino's daughter?" blurted out Cocoa. Cocoro stiffened at her little sister's words.

Maki raised her eyebrows in response. "Well, yes, but how do you know that? My family doesn't work in the pediatric section of our hospital." She looked at Cocoro who was now glaring at her younger sibling. "My father is a surgeon…has your mother or father had surgery performed by him or…?"

"If that's the case, then maybe that's why Nico was talking to Papa as if she knew him the other day."

"No." Cocoro looked away nonchalantly, "Your papa has never performed surgery on our parents."

"O-oh. Ok." Maki frowned. "Then how do you-"

"Back up dancer!" Cotaro interrupted, tugging at Maki's sleeve. "I am hungry, when are we eating?"

Cocoro had never loved her brother more than she did right now. She could see Maki being pulled out of her train of thought at her brother's continuous tugging.

"Right…well, does burgers sound good? We can go to the place I always go to with your sister and the rest of Muse."

"Burgers!" declared Cotaro, slowly raising his fist in the air, triumphantly.

"Sounds awesome!" said Cocoro.

"Yay!" Cocoa began jumping up and down and promptly hugged Maki around her waist.

The high school student patted the girl's head and looked at Cocoro. "Alright, let's go!"

Maki felt slightly uncomfortable stepping outside of the apartment with the Nico's siblings. She wasn't used to having three younger children trail behind her. She even held one of Cotaro's hands in her own. Cocoro had told her it wasn't necessary, but Maki still felt like he was her responsibility after all. The two sisters chatted excitedly the entire way to the restaurant, skipping ahead every now and then, making Maki nervous when they went too far. She knew it was foolish to worry though, after all, they had first met Cocoro walking by herself in the street, and it wasn't uncommon for children her age to be a little more independent. However, this time, Maki was in charge, and she knew more than anyone how the naivety of young girl could be easily taken advantage of. She shuddered at the thought, but quickly brushed it away as she focused on the two girls skipping ahead of her yet again.

"At least we're almost there."

One crossed street later and they were there, standing in front of the fast food restaurant she frequented with her fellow school idols. Maki led the way and opened the door for the Yazawa trio, ushering them inside. The three ran to the counter and chatted excitedly about the menu. They contemplated their order out loud, and would argue about the pros and cons of each value meal. Only Cotaro seemed to know exactly what he wanted as he had simply tugged Maki's sleeve and pointed at the hamburger value that came with a toy hammer.

"Of course. He loves hammers doesn't he?"

Finally, the girls had decided what they were going to order.

"Maki-chan! We're ready!"

Maki nodded at the girls and ushered them forward to the counter to place their order. Both girls recited their orders and Maki added hers and Cotaro's after they finished. She paid for the meal and accepted the drinks they handed her, carefully distributing them among the children.

"Let's find a place to sit ok? I'll text Nico-chan while we wait for our order to see how she's doing."

Once seated the girls began swinging their feet happily in their chairs. They loved fries more than anything, and Maki hadn't seemed to mind the fact that they had ordered a large sized fries each. Their mother or Nico never let them have a large of anything, stating that they were far too young to be eating that much and that they had to maintain their figures if they wanted to be idols someday. Cocoro felt a little guilty about making their babysitter spend more money due to their large orders, but quickly brushed it off as she reminded herself that Maki could easily afford it. She watched their babysitter text her sister and noted the smile on her face once the message was sent. As soon as the message sent, the red head's phone rang and an image of Nico filled the screen. Maki quickly answered it.

"Hello?"

"Maki-chan! How's it going so far? I haven't heard anything from you yet, so I couldn't help but get a little bit worried." Nico's voice could be heard faintly by her sisters, even if Maki held it to her ear.

"We're ok. Sorry about that, I actually just sent you a text like a second before you called. I meant to text earlier but we were walking on the street and I wanted to watch the little ones properly."

Cocoro rolled her eyes when Maki said 'little ones' but Maki didn't seem to notice.

Nico chuckled on the phone. "Of course. Are you guys out of the apartment now?"

"Yes, we're just getting food. I know you said I could cook something with anything in the fridge but…" Maki blushed. "I can't cook, so I thought I'd just take them out for burgers."

"Burgers." Cotaro said suddenly, emphasizing each letter.

Nico laughed out loud. "I completely forgot that you couldn't cook. Sorry about that Maki-chan! But thanks for covering for me anyways, this meeting has been amazing! We already got to speak to Ryuuguu Komachi! They are even cuter in person!"

Maki felt a twinge of jealousy but quickly brushed it away. "I'm glad you're having fun. I'm having a good time with these three too, right guys?"

"Yeah!"

"Alright, well I gotta go. Eli is about to turn in our paperwork and go over it with some people here. If you could just walk them back to the apartment after you guys eat that would be great. Cocoro can handle the rest from there, plus I'll probably be home soon after."

"Ok, I'll do that then."

"Thanks again Maki, seriously." With that Nico hung up. Maki looked up to see that their food was ready at the counter for them to pick up.

"I'll go get the food."

After they had eaten, the Cocoa and Cocoro dragged Maki out of the restaurant chanting "Ice cream, Ice cream, Ice cream!" Cotaro would also join in the chanting with the occasional, drawn out, "Ice cream."

The three each clutched their own bags carrying their leftovers since a large portion did end up being too large for them to each at once. Maki hadn't minded their size choice and just encouraged them to take some to go to eat later. Even Cotaro had leftovers, since his sisters had managed to sneak in an extra order of fries for him when Maki had ordered him a small size. Again, Maki just laughed at them and even ordered an extra meal for Nico to eat when she got home in case she was hungry. Now, the kids were excited to eat their promised dessert, and they were determined to have it at their favorite ice cream store. Maki soon found herself in the same ice cream place that Nico had dragged her too earlier that year. She smiled, it seemed like ages ago with everything that had happened since then.

"Maki-chan! Hurry up!"

"I'm coming! Stop running so quickly!" Maki hurried to follow the three Yazawa siblings into the store. The three children ran to the counter and began peering over the ice cream choices as they contemplated out loud over which flavor to get. The red head walked over and gave the salesman an apologetic look at their rowdiness, but he just flashed a smile in return.

"Alright you guys, have you decided which flavor yet? We don't want to keep people waiting." Maki ushered the three kids together.

"Strawberry!" declared Cocoa.

"Vanilla please!" added Cocoro.

"Chocolate." drawled Cotaro.

"Coming right up." The salesman looked at Maki. "What would you like miss?"

"Strawberry, please." She placed the money on the counter as he began preparing their orders. Each Yazawa gave a squeal of delight when the man handed them their ice cream. They settled in a small table in the corner to eat their desserts, placing their belongings on extra chairs beside them.

"I don't have much time left. If I'm going to find something out about their father it has to be now. After this, I'm just dropping them off at home and I don't think I'll get another opportunity alone with these three."

"So," began Maki. "Do your parents bring you here often?"

"Yeah, Mommy does sometimes. Usually right after she comes back from a business trip." Cocoro began focusing on her ice cream.

"Oh really? That nice. How about your dad?" There. She had said it. She had finally brought up the topic.

"No papa." Cotaro said slowly as he ate his ice cream. His voice was his normal, calm voice, as if it wasn't really a secret he was revealing.

Cocoro glanced at her brother with fierce eyes but said nothing. This time, Maki noticed the gesture.

"No papa? What do you mean by that?" Maki looked between Cocoro and Cocoa, hoping to understand more from their reactions on the topic. Cocoa just shrugged while Cocoro began looking slightly frantic.

"Interesting. Cocoro knows something, something that she doesn't want me to know…but why? Why is this such a secret? What aren't they telling me?"

"What happened to your dad?"

"It's just us and Mommy," said Cocoro quickly. "That's all. We don't have a dad anymore, which you know isn't even that uncommon. Single parents are everywhere nowadays, no big deal."

Maki frowned. "Yes, but wha-"

"It's so late huh?" Cocoro stood up suddenly. "We should get back to the apartment before it gets too dark don't you think? Cocoa is scared of the dark."

"I am NOT!" cried Cocoa.

Cocoro gave a mischievous look. "Oh? So you wouldn't mind if we left you alone in the street at night by yourself?"

The younger girl visibly paled. "N-no."

Maki reached over to pat her head. "Don't worry. No one is leaving anyone on the streets alone at night. We'll head to your home now." She stood up and motioned them to follow.

It was starting to get dark outside. She had to admit, even though it seemed Cocoro had mentioned the time to change the subject, she was right. It was better to have the three siblings home sooner rather than later. Good thing the ice cream shop was close to the apartment.

"Are you sure you guys are going to be alright?"

Maki stood at the doorway as the three young children stood in front of her in their living room. Cocoro grinned and gave her a thumbs up.

"Of course! Onee-sama is on her way over already!"

Maki sighed and couldn't help but think that she didn't want to leave. Not just because she felt responsible, but because she couldn't deny this warm fuzzy feeling she felt whenever they laughed or smiled at something she said of did. It was different from the tingling butterflies she felt whenever Nico looked at her, but it was still warm. She never had any opportunities to spend time with younger children, and this occasion had shown her that she rather liked spending time with them. It was more than responsibility, it was pride. Pride that she could make them smile, and it was proof to herself that she could accept Nico as she was, family and all.

"Alright. I'll be leaving now. I already called my dad to pick me up anyways, so he'll be here any minute."

"I wonder if he remembers how to get here? He can be hopeless with directions…even though he found the place just fine last time."

She started to turn away from the apartments. Looking back one last time she said.

"Don't forget to lock the door ok? Nico-chan has her own key."

"Ok ok! We got this!"

With that, the door was closed behind her. Maki sighed again and began walking away.

"I would call that a success. Even though I didn't find out much about their father, I still got to spend time with them and get to know them a bit better." She smiled. "I hope they will continue to trust me."

She walked out of the building just in time to see her father pull up. To her surprise, the passenger door opened and Nico stepped out. She looked slightly annoyed, but her face brightened as soon as she made eye contact with Maki.

"Nico-chan?"

"Hi Maki!" She jogged over the bewildered first year. "Tell your dad thanks for the ride! It really helped me get here faster."

"Oh…he gave you a ride?"

The older girl nodded. "Yeah, he saw me walking and offered me a ride since he figured I was heading home."

"I see. I'm surprised he recognized you."

Nico's smile faltered slightly. "Right. Well you know old people. They remember things easier. But more importantly," she eyed Maki carefully. "How did it go?"

Maki smirked and brushed the hair out of her face. "It went well, obviously. Even I can do this much."

Nico laughed. "Ok that's good. I hope they didn't give you too much trouble. Even I admit that they can be handful sometimes. But again…thank you…for everything. I really appreciate it. I had a great time."

Nico walked past Maki towards her apartment. "I'll see at school tomorrow! Be ready for a lot of practice!"

Maki waved good bye to Nico then approached her father's car. She opened the car door and was greeted by her father's beaming face.

"Hi! How was your first time hanging out with children? Nico told me all about how you volunteered to babysit."

"It was ok. So, you just happened to recognize Nico?"

"Yeah I did." Dr. Nishikino started driving away from Nico's apartment once Maki had strapped herself in. "I saw her walking alone on the street on my way over here. It's dark already and I didn't want her walking out there on her own. If anything happened to that girl I wouldn't be able to live myself…and you know how dangerous the streets could be."

"Yeah, I do." Maki answered quietly, looking out the window. "Hey Papa, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Have you met Nico's parents before? Maybe at the hospital sometime?"

Her father took a quick breath and glanced at her quickly in surprise. "That's unexpected. What makes you ask that?"

"Just wondering. You said her family are members at our hospital and I can't help but notice you seem a bit…familiar with Nico."

Her father laughed. Although Maki observed that it was not genuine.

"Not at all. I just pay attention. I remember her from when I picked you up the first time that's all."

"Really? That's all?"

"Of course." He faced forward. "No need to read too much into it."

"O-ok."

"Tell me something, are you sure you're feeling ok? You've spent so much time outside of home lately, and when you are home you just sit in your room with the door closed. Are your studies going well? It's been a long time since you've talked about your test scores to us."

"My test scores are fine!"

"I may not have the top score of the class, but I'll just do better next time!" Maki thought bitterly. She hated to be anything but the top of the class. She couldn't help the slight shift in scores with everything that had been going on.

Dr. Nishikino frowned slightly but said nothing. After a period of silence he spoke again.

"You know…if you're struggling with anything you can tell us. We love you and all we would ever want to do is help you."

"I told you I'm fine! You're acting as if I'm being completely abnormal which I'm not. School is busy that's all, and that is completely normal, its high school."

"Of course…I'm sorry. Just promise you'll let me know ok?"

"Ok, I promise."

Maki sat back in her seat and looked outside her window. By now, the sky had lost its color and darkness loomed over the city. She felt guilty keeping secrets, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't the only one keeping secrets.

"But what could there possibly be to hide?"

I apologize again for how long this took to update! Thank you everyone who has favorited/followed this story, it really means so much!

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Until next time :) (I promise it won't take too long for the next chapter!)