When she got up this morning Yuzu's mother would never have guessed that she would receive a call from the hospital notifying her that her daughter had three broken ribs and a 'minor' head injury. Of course the situation was more clearly explained by Mei while she frantically left her workplace.

As a mother she would immediately be struck with the feeling of terror and worry if they heard that their daughter was sent to the hospital but this wasn't the first time Yuzu's mother experienced this kind of nauseating fear only a mother could understand.

She could clearly remember the last time her daughter was in the hospital. That was the night when she lost her first husband. 'Please, not again…', she thought while hurriedly driving to the hospital.

Mei's POV

The middle aged woman's worries vanished when she arrived at the hospital and was replaced with relief as Yuzu's examinations had already been finished and the results showed that she did not have any internal bleeding in neither her head or abdomen.

However, her relief soon turned to anger. As Mei and her step mother sat in the car quietly on the way back to their house. They had to pick up a few things for Yuzu during her stay in the hospital. Mei was looking down at her hands, which she was fidgeting with.

Noticing her step daughter's unusual behaviour she took a deep breath to calm herself down. She reached her arm out towards Mei while keeping the other on the steering wheel. When Mei felt a soft hand patting her head she looked up to see her step mother.

Not looking away from the road she calmly said, "It's not your fault...".

Mei's tears started to fall and she finally let out a small whimper and began to silently sob.

The middle aged woman was ashamed for acting so childishly in front of her step daughter. She realized that Mei must have already been blaming herself for what happened and now her anger was only amplifying the feeling of guilt. Although Mei was her step daughter, she really did grow to love and cherish her like her own daughter as well.

When they finally arrived Mei grabbed some clothes and other accessories that Yuzu requested before shoving them all in a bag. There was no time to be neat and tidy as she had no intention of letting the blonde out of her sight for another minute.

She inwardly groaned when she passed the stack of documents lying on her desk. 'Those can wait…', she thought.

Yuzu's POV

Yuzu stared at her hand pensively as her mind wandered. She let out a defeated sigh before chuckling, "Man, this hurts more than I thought…".

"What hurts?", a voice suddenly spoke from behind the curtain next to Yuzu's bed. The owner of the voice pulled the curtain aside, revealing the blonde's opponent from earlier.

"Sh-shiraho-senpai?! Why are you here?"

"I see... Saying 'why are you here' as a response after you beat and injured me is quite interesting…", she said with an eerily indifferent tone.

Yuzu scratched the back of her head, "Oh… yeah, sorry 'bout that".

"What about you, Aihara Yuzu? After I was taken to the infirmary I heard a lot of commotion", she asked with a tone of voice indifference once more but the words were genuine.

"Nothing much… just had to beat some guys up but wait- how do you know my name?", Yuzu raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"I know more than just your name. You're 16 years old, born August 8th, a Leo, and your blood type is O. Second year student in class A, student number is 2, and you're right-handed, you sit in the last seat near the window, you like primary colors, and the color of your top and bottom undergarments are orange, your three measurements are-"

"Stop! H-how do you know all this personal information?!"

"Just from observation… but also because I read your student card earlier while you were changing into the karate gi earlier", the older girl explained nonchalantly.

Yuzu covered her chest defensively, "Th-then you were peaking while I was changing?"

"No, I only saw now. These hospital gowns are quite revealing you see?", she tugged at the top of her gown.

"I see… well, that's quite impressive! Knowing all those things just from observing. But anyway, how bad is it?", Yuzu pointed at her own chin to indicate the huge bandage that covered the other girl's chin.

"Not that bad. Just a bruise and a minor case of whiplash. But my family insisted on bringing me here…", the older girl shrugged.

The blonde sighed, "That's a relief…".

There was a moment of silence before Shiraho spoke up, "May I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure?"

"Aren't you weirded out by me? Though it's just a habit of mine to observe people, others usually feel uncomfortable and start acting all awkward around me. However, you said it was impressive. That's actually the first time someone has said it was amazing, since most people dislike it…"

Yuzu held her chin in thought before answering, "Well, it's true that you surprised me… but that's not enough reason for me to be 'weirded out' by you!"

"Hm, I guess there are some exceptional people I don't understand at all…", the upperclassman mumbled to herself. "Ah! I'm late in introducing myself, even though you already know my name, it's still common courtesy. I'm Suzuran Shiraho".

"Suzuran, huh? That's a nice name. Hmm Shiraho… shiraho-ah! How 'bout I call you Shirapon-senpai?", Yuzu suggested excitedly.

1 week later

Yuzu stretched as she got out of bed, suddenly flinching when a sharp pain shot through her sides. She was recuperating well but she was still far from recovering from the bad break in her ribs.

"Finally, I can go home…"

It was Sunday and though she enjoyed her time off school she was still excited to leave the hospital. Shiraho had left a few days prior, seeing as her injuries were not as bad as hers. After being cramped up in her hospital room she was ready to go back to school.

During the past week Mei had been taking care of her (though she used the excuse of delivering Yuzu's homework since Mei was such a tsundere). At first it was quite awkward between them since their kiss was interrupted but things went back to normal after a while. Mei decided not to press Yuzu about her grandmother and her knowledge of martial arts since it seemed to make her uncomfortable.

Harumi suddenly burst through the door, "Today's the day, Yuzu-chi!"

"Good morning Yuzu-nee", Matsuri casually walked in followed by Mei and Himeko.

Yuzu sighed, "You guys are more excited than I am. It's only 8 o'clock and I don't have to leave 'til, like, 10".

Mei, Harumi, Matsuri and even Himeko had just arrived to pick her up from the hospital, they offered to help Yuzu with her bags and Mei had to pick her sister up in their mother's stead since she was busy at work (not that she minded).

As a result of her injuries Yuzu couldn't overexert herself as her lungs were still in danger of her ribs poking into them. She also couldn't move her upper body much, particularly her neck and back, due to her head injury..

Yuzu got up from her bed and staggered towards the bathroom to get dressed. Just as Mei was about to help her a nurse came in.

"Um Miss Aihara needs to sign some papers before leaving…", the nurse meekly said.

Since Mei was responsible for Yuzu, (even if she was the younger sister) she decided to sign the papers. "You go get dressed. I'll sign them for you…", she offered.

Yuzu gave her a thankful smile before entering the bathroom and getting dressed.

A few hours later

When they arrived at the house they decided to throw Yuzu a 'welcome home party'. They ordered pizza and decided to sing karaoke on the TV.

"It's already getting dark so I should get going", Himeko stood up and walked towards the door.

Harumi got up and followed suit, "I'll see you in school tomorrow, Yuzu-chi!".

"Well then, I guess I should go too. Make sure to take good care of her Mei-san", Matsuri gave her a knowing smirk.

After they left there was an awkward silence between the two stepsisters as Mei blushed at Matsuri's implication.

"I-I'll put the dishes away", Yuzu got up but was suddenly struck with a feeling of dizziness. Just as she was about to hit the floor Mei stretched out her arm and caught her.

"Let me…", Mei grabbed the stack of plates from Yuzu's hands and left in the direction of the kitchen before turning around, "You should get some rest, it's been a long day…"

Yuzu merely nodded and blushed at Mei's kindness. She slowly made her way to her room and collapsed on the bed face down.

"It's great to be back on my own bed", she said to herself outloud, 'next to Mei'. She suddenly perked up and slapped her furiously blushing cheeks, "What am I thinking?!", she screamed into a pillow out of embarrassment.

Just moments later Mei walked into the room. Yuzu suddenly stiffened, 'Did she hear me?', she thought. "Oh, M-Mei you're already done cleaning the dishes?", Yuzu awkwardly said.

Mei merely nodded and slowly, almost seductively, walked towards Yuzu. When their faces were mere inches apart from each other Yuzu closed her eyes out of nervousness. 'Wh-why is she so close?!', a million scenarios went through her head. Before she could finish her thought Mei suddenly spoke up, "Yuzu".

"Y-yes?!"

Suddenly she was enveloped by warmth. At first Yuzu was confused but she suddenly grew embarrassed as she realized that Mei was hugging her. "M-Mei?"

"I missed you", Mei finally said. She didn't just mean it physically. Ever since the events that happened during the school trip, things had been quite awkward between them. She felt like an emotional distance had grown between them and started to feel lonely.

Yuzu's eyes widened and she smiled as her hold on Mei tightened, "I missed you too". She understood the deeper meaning her words held. Yuzu had also started to miss Mei's touch.

Mei suddenly broke their hug and looked into Yuzu's eyes. She leaned closer to the older girl and her lips were hovering over Yuzu's when suddenly they heard the front door slam closed followed by a voice shouting 'I'm home!'. Their mother had arrived.

'Why now?!', Yuzu thought in frustration. She suddenly felt cold as Mei backed away, breaking their embrace. She sat down in front of the desk and started to work on a stack of documents that was presumably student council work.

Suddenly the door opened, "Yuzu, welcome home!", greeted the middle aged woman.

"O-oh Hi mom.."

"What, it sounds like you're not happy to see me!", Yuzu's mother pouted.

Yuzu averted her eyes as sweat dropped from the side of her forehead. She was disappointed that their kiss was interrupted yet again.

The middle aged woman then turned to Mei who was busily signing papers, "Mei-chan thank you for picking Yuzu up".

Mei merely replied with a quiet 'Mhm' before resuming her work.

"You shouldn't overwork yourself, alright? Dinner will be ready soon!", Yuzu's mother said before leaving.

Once again an awkward silence filled the room except for the sound of scratching against paper. Yuzu noisily shifted between the duvet, panting at the energy it took to make herself comfortable. She decided not to think about what might have happened if their mother hadn't interrupted them. A headache had already started to set in and she decided to sleep on it.

Suddenly Mei broke the silence as she spoke without looking away from her work, "Yuzu".

"Hm?", Yuzu opened one eye.

"Welcome home…"

Yuzu smiled before dozing off, "I'm home…"