present tense will return after this brief commercial break

"Now, listen here, Yui." Kan-chan had his serious face on, the one he'd learned from Kai-senpai and practiced in a mirror when he thought no one was looking. "I've got two classmates visiting these few days, so no calling me Kan-chan, okay?"

Yui frowned as he reached over to redo the ribbon bow on her ponytail. "But why not? That's your name!"

"That's not – ugh – I only ever let you say that because you couldn't pronounce my name correctly when you were younger! Aren't you always saying you're all grown up now?"

"I am, I'm almost six this year!" Yui replied fiercely. "But Kan-chan is Kan-chan anyway, right?"

Kan-chan scowled, and –

"Oh dear, bullying younger girls now, are you, Kansuke-kun? How disappointing indeed," said someone else from behind him, and Yui peered out from around Kan-chan's legs to see another boy about the same height as him. "You must be Yui-chan, then. I'm Morofushi Takaaki, an acquaintance of Kansuke-kun's."

Kan-chan was scowling really hard now. Yui thought she could hear him grinding his teeth. "Shut it with your long words, Koumei, not everyone was born a walking dictionary like you."

Yui perked up at the familiar name. "Oh, so you're the niichan that Kan-chan's always complaining ab– uh oh!" Her hands flew up to cover her mouth. She shouldn't have said that!

Koumei-niichan didn't look angry, though. "Well, at least some of us were born with manners, evidently enough. Don't worry, Yui-chan, I'm rather curious to find out what Kansuke-kun has been saying behind my back."

"What d'you mean, 'behind your back'?" Kan-chan snorted. "You don't worry, Koumei, I have absolutely no problems with saying the same things to your face – "

Yui watched, fascinated. She'd seen Kan-chan annoyed before, of course, but this was like watching Kai-senpai practice archery, except that his targets never shot back.

So she jumped a little when another someone else tapped her lightly on the shoulder.

Yui looked up to see an older girl, who was smiling apologetically. "Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you! I'm Kobashi Aoi, a classmate of those two over there."

She smiled back, wider. "Nice to meet you, Aoi-neechan, I'm Yui!"

"Nice to meet you too, Yui-chan!" Aoi-neechan bent down a little, so Yui didn't have to look so high up. "Want to hear a little secret?"

Yui nodded, eyes wide.

"Actually, Kansuke-kun's talked so much about you, I feel like I know you a little already." She winked, and held a finger to her lips. "Don't tell him I said that, though!"

"Eeehhhh?!" exclaimed Yui – but very quietly, since she was keeping it a secret. "That's unfair, Kan-chan never tells me anything!"

"He doesn't? Now, that won't do at all." She sighed dramatically at Kan-chan's back. He didn't notice. Neither did Koumei-niichan. "Say, Yui-chan, do you want to be penpals?"

"Penpals?" Yui pointed at herself. "With you?"

Aoi-neechan nodded, smiling. "Yes! You see, I'm going to be a writer someday, so I need all the practice I can get."

"Really? That's amazing! But..." Yui wilted a little. "I don't really know many words yet, and Kan-chan always complains that my handwriting is terrible."

Aoi-neechan raised an eyebrow, and Yui decided that she was going to learn how to do that someday. "I've seen the chicken scratch that Kansuke-kun calls kanji, I'm sure yours is neater than that. Besides, you won't get better unless you practice!"

That made sense, Yui thought. It was definitely more helpful than Kan-chan grumbling about messy squiggles in every one of the few letters he wrote.

"Here, let's exchange addresses!" Aoi-neechan reached into her backpack and pulled out a notepad and pen. "I'll tell you everything that happens at school, and you can tell me about your village – I heard Kansuke-kun talk about an annual horseback archery festival, that sounds so interesting!"

"Yeah, it's super cool!" Yui's face brightened, even as she concentrated on writing down her home address correctly. "You should come to watch it this year! Koumei-niichan too – "

"WHATEVER IT IS, KOUMEI'S NOT INVITED!" hollered Kan-chan indignantly. "If you even dare to suggest anything like that, Kobashi, I swear I'm banning you for life, I don't care – "

(Both of them came for that year's festival anyway. Kai-senpai even wrote an invitation to send with Yui's letter, along with answers to the questions that Aoi-neechan had been asking about both horseback archery and his work as a policeman. Yui wondered if all of it was going into her first book. She hoped so.

Kan-chan yelled a lot when he found out. He would've yelled more, except then Koumei-niichan arrived and they were too busy glaring at each other and ignoring everyone else.

Aoi-neechan rolled her eyes, muttered something about leaving them to it, and asked Yui to show her all the best stalls at the festival.

Which Yui did, of course, starting with the food stall that Kan-chan's grandma ran every year, and Aoi-neechan bought one or two extras of everything.

"So that they can have something to eat while they argue," she answered when Yui asked her why, and continued with a little wink. "Don't worry, I'll get them to pay me back! Maybe even for our share as well, since Kan-chan's playing host this time. Right?"

Yui laughed so hard she nearly cried.)

END

how do write children, anyway,