From his oden cart, Chibita watched clouds traveling across the orange sky hung over the calmly flowing canal. He couldn't help but replay every memory from last night's venture in his mind. Never would he have guessed that he'd spend an hour of his life slow dancing with another man, let alone Karamatsu. True, Chibita found Karamatsu the least annoying and complicated out of his gang of NEET brothers. He had spent many hours conversing solely with Karamatsu while cooking, trying to teach him the wonders of oden and listening to him babble on about romance and his imaginary posse of "Karamatsu girls."

Still, Chibita couldn't shake the memory of Karamatsu's eyes viciously piercing through that jerk's soul nor how softly the hairs on Karamatsu's nape would brush against his fingers while they danced. Even that stupid nickname Karamatsu kept calling him echoe.

My star…

The sizzling of the oden broth snapped Chibita back to reality. "Get a hold of yourself, damn idjit," he cursed to himself. "You just had too many drinks last night. Damn sake's messed with your brain."

Though he made a convincing argument, he couldn't simply forget; after all, he had promised to go on a date with Karamatsu tomorrow night. Fear flooded through Chibita over the date. He knew he had to tell that Matsu the truth, but some unkempt desire continually advised him to keep his mouth shut. For the first time, he had something more prominent than oden to contemplate.

"O-DEN! O-DEN! OOOO-DEN!"

"Shit!" Chibita knew exactly whose lips were singing that chant. Rubbing his hands nervously on his apron, he tried to focus on his beloved food as the Matsu brothers sat in their usual spots at Chibita's oden chart. Glancing up, Chibita's heart violently pulsed at the sight of Karamatsu. Though he was wearing hoodies similar to all his brothers, Chibita grew a strong belief that the outfit complimented the wannabe cool guy best.

"Afternoon, Chibita," spoke Osomatsu first.

"Hi, Chibita," Todomatsu and Choromatsu greeted in cheerful unison.

"Uh…hello, NEETs," stammered Chibita in return, trying to sound normal and to avoid contact with Karamatsu as best he could.

"What type of oden is on the menu today, Chibita?" asked Todomatsu, reaching for a napkin to place on his lap.

"There better not be more shellfish in this batch. It made the oden too crunchy last time," Ichimatsu critiqued with his usual monotone voice and unamused expression.

"PORK! PORK! PORK!" Jyushimatsu chanted to his own exaggerated and unmelodic tune, slapping his sleeved hands against the table as he did.

"Quit with all the racket! I have too big of a headache to deal with your usual banter, idjits!" Chibita began to hastily chop vegetables as Jyushimatsu ceased slapping the cart.

"Ah," Karamatsu finally interjected, "my body has also been aching all day." He pressed his sunglasses closer to his eyes as a slight chuckle emerged from within him. "However, ache is a small price to pay for meeting your one true love."

Karamatsu's words caused Chibita to drop a few onions onto the dirt. He automatically reached down to pick them up, but his mind and heart were racing.

One true love?

"Oh, boy, here we go again." Choromatsu rolled his eyes and rested his head on his hand.

"You'll have to excuse our brother," Osomatsu said apologetically as Chibita rose with the onions in hand, "but he's been going on about some girl he met last night."

"She was everything a man could ask for," Karamatsu proclaimed while producing a dramatic pose. "My star was truly a celestial beauty, a fallen angel from Venus itself."

Cheesy bastard! Chibita's cheeks reddened as he began spooning soup-style oden into bowls for the sextuplets.

Todomatsu giggled at his daydreaming brother. "Kara, you had to have dreamed it. She's probably one of your imaginary fangirls, hmm?"

Karamatsu's cool smile was overtaken by a frown of insecurity. A bead of sweat appeared on his forehead. "S-she is real! I saved her by fighting off some disrespectful bastard, and we danced all night at the Primrose. She even let me walk her to the corner where the bus comes on our way home."

"You didn't fight. You couldn't beat a fly in thumb wrestling," Ichimatsu stated with a cruel half-hearted grin.

Karamatsu glared directly at his harsh-tongued brother. "I did so fight!" He held his fist against his chest while his glassed flashed in the light again. "I was her noble warrior, saving my pure and beautiful star from a ruthless barbarian. Once he saw my flashing blade pointed at his throat, he quickly surrendered. As the villain fled, my star came close and insisted to be under my protection for the rest of the night. Thus, she cuddled close to me in my arms, and we danced into the evening."

"H-here's your oden, idjits! Um…eat up already, damn it!" Flustered from Karamatsu's statement, Chibita sloppily passed six oden servings onto the table; he had to apologize for spilling some on Todomatsu's hoodie.

This idjit sure loves exaggerating... Chibita thought while handing Todomatsu a few extra napkins. As conflicted as he felt in the situation, he desperately wanted to smile at the image of Karamatsu dressed as a cool, strong warrior.

"Oh, now I have to do wash again," moaned Todomatsu in discouragement.

Choromatsu began to grill Karamatsu as well. "Oh yeah? If she was real, what's her name?"

Karamatsu began to open his mouth, but panic painted his face. He grew pale and looked down at his oden with a distant stare. "I…she never told me her name."

Choromatsu sighed. "Kara, you want us to believe you met a lady, danced with her, dropped her off at a corner, and she doesn't give out her name?"

"She is real," Karamatsu insisted in a soft tone.

"If she was real," Ichimatsu said in between chewing, "she sounds like some common street hooker."

With a violent growl, Karamatsu launched at Ichimatsu, knocking his own oden bowl to the ground in the process. Grabbing the collar of Ichimatsu's hoodie, he splurted out in rage, "Shut up, you loner cat lady! All of you shut the hell up! My star is real, and I'm going to see her again tomorrow night! That's right; we are going on a date, and it won't be just any date! It'll be a date so romantic that Cupid will come down from his cloud and strike arrows so deep in our hearts that no one will ever split us up!"

Osomatsu scolded, "Karamatsu, calm down! You're making a scene again."

Todomatsu sniffled faintly and hid his face in his hands. "Why do you guys have to embarrass me in front of all these people?" (This statement was one of pure exaggeration since the emotionally confused Chibita was the only audience to this scene).

Choromatsu attempted to comfort Todomatsu by rubbing his back caringly. "Kara, you're making Totty cry. You know how sensitive he gets in public."

Karamatsu's face went expressionless for a moment. He suddenly dropped his hand from Ichimatsu's collar and took four steps back. Chibita's heart began to sink as he noticed thick streams of tears coming from behind Karamatsu's sunglasses.

With a shaky fist on both sides of his hips, Karamatsu slowly spoke in a blubbery voice. "At least he has brothers who care about him enough to believe in everything he says…" The sextuplets and Chibita watched as Karamatsu turned his back on them and ran away in defeat and depression toward the direction of the Matsu boys' family home.

The remaining brothers at the oden chart silently glimpsed at another, individually processing what had happened. Even Chibita couldn't stop himself from being overly concerned of Karamatsu's state.

That idjit better make it home okay.