The next days were a strained hassle on everyone, especially Keitaro and Motoko. Su just thought of it all as one big game to her, and less was hanging on the line for her. Motoko on the other hand had both Keitaro's, and her own skin to worry about. Keitaro had little spare time to himself anymore. He was either doing his daily chores, fake studying with Su under Amalla's watchful eye, or worse; Tsuruko was constantly shoving Keitaro and Motoko together. It was easy enough to fake the relationship, but it was another problem when Tsuruko was literally right there in front of them.
All these events didn't give Keitaro an opportunity to study, which he desperately needed if he was going to take the entrance exams again. He couldn't even use work as an excuse, since the B Rank missions were rather low at the moment. The Urashima slowly made his way up the stairs, knowing very well what waited for him. He was barely down the hallway when he heard Su's excited, childish laughs. As Keitaro exhaled, preparing to open the door, Skinny tugged at his pant leg.
"Boss, if we leave now, we can get a flight to Mexico by the hour."
"No Skinny, we've gotta do this. It's only for a few more days", Keitaro tried to reassure the both of them.
Inside Amalla waited calmly for Keitaro, while Su rummaged through Keitaro's belongings.
"Su what are you doing", Keitaro yelled as he quickly retrieved his things.
"I was bored when I was waiting for you, so I wanted to see if you had anything to play with. Ooh, how about this?"
Su held out a large bag of catnip, which was a mystery to even Keitaro. He looked over at Skinny.
"That's not mine boss I SWEAR", the pine martin defensively said.
"Su let's put that away for now", Keitaro said as he took the bag away from her hands. "We're going to talk about this later Skinny."
The pine martin left the room for his own safety.
"Are your study sessions usually like this", Amalla asked suspiciously.
"Uh, yeah", Keitaro asked trying to play it cool. "Noting starts a good old study session with a good game first. Hahahaha, like they say, all work and no play makes a dull child."
Lucky for them, Amalla didn't notice the sweat dripping on the sides of Keitaro's face. The entire time that she was her, Amalla neglected to actually watch them study. This was going to be a problem, but not as bad as his next problem. At that point Su found a small box that Keitaro let no one else ever see.
"Huh, what's this", Su asked.
Keitaro's pupils dilated to ridiculous proportions. He knew very well the ring he hid from all others was within that box.
"Hey give that back!"
"What is it, is it something tasty?"
Su and Keitaro had a small struggle over the box. Eventually, Keitaro prevailed over his smaller opponent. However, the container was already seen, and Amalla knew very well what was inside.
"You have a ring Keitaro. Why is that", Amalla asked.
"What is this I head about a ring?"
The door to Keitaro's room suddenly slid open to Tsuruko and Motoko.
"Aww Tsuruko, Motoko", Keitaro screamed in his head. "This is starting to feel like Deja vu from last night."
"Keitaro has a ring for Motoko? Is this true Keitaro?"
"Nope, no, nothing here", Keitaro squeaked.
"Really, then what do you have behind your back" Amalla pressed on, wondering what was going to happen next.
"What this", Keitaro asked as he turned around. "Oh, no, this isn't a ring."
Keitaro quickly switched out the contents of the jewelry box with something else. He pocketed the ring in the process.
"These are my umm", Keitaro turned back around to everyone as he opened the box for them. "These are my dog tags from the military.
The girls became intrigued with the new items in the box. It was a good cover up for the time.
"Interesting", Amalla said as she held the metal tags. "Lamba, our step brother, was in the military too."
"Really, what a coincidence", Keitaro threw in.
"But Keitaro, didn't you have those tags on just a moment..."
Keitaro covered her mouth to prevent the younger girl from speaking anymore.
"Let's begin our study session now shall we Su. Remember, less talking, more studying!"
"Now hold on a minute Keitaro", all attention turned to Tsuruko as she spoke. "Ever since I arrived, I have seen little interaction between you and Motoko.
"Yes, well he has been rather busy with his studies ,and I must continue practicing my kendo skills", Motoko tried to use as an excuse.
"Nonsense, our loved ones must come first."
"I understand Tsuruko, really I do", Keitaro tired to convince her. "Right now just isn't a good time, as the manager here, I have to make sure everyone gets what they need; And Su need to study right now."
"That's very reasonable. Perhaps to show that you are not neglecting her, how about a small kiss", Tsuruko asked with a calm face.
"Whaaaat", Keitaro and Motoko blurted in unison.
"A small kiss, to show your gratitude for one another."
"Tsuruko, that kind of behavior is inappropriate in front of other people", Motoko shouted.
"Oh don't be so shy. It's no different than from kissing in the park, or on the beach. Just one, that's all I ask. If you do, then that's all I need. I can go back home happily knowing that my dear sister is in good hands."
Both Keitaro and Motoko hesitated to what was going to happen next. They sheepishly looked to each other. Both of them basically said, "It's just to get her out of here, that's all." Keitaro was the first to lean in closer, then Motoko was responsive. Everyone watched as Keitaro and Motoko closed their eyes, leaning in closer and closer.
"Why here, why now", Motoko thought in her head as the rest of the world seemed to crystallize into nothing. "My hearty is beating so fast. Why is it beating fast? This feeling in my chest, it doesn't feel bad. It feels, kinda nice."
Suddenly an odd turn of events occurred. Keitaro and Motoko were literally splashed back into reality as a large amount of water was poured onto them. Keitaro a Motoko coughed from the unknown amount of water that was abruptly dropped on them. All eyes traced to the ceiling, but there was nothing there.
"What sort of phenomenon anomaly was that", Keitaro asked trying to regather his senses.
Once he was fully recovered, he noticed that he wasn't the only one drenched to the bone. Motoko had been doused in the same amount of water, leaving a good portion of her clothes as see through.
"Motoko, I am so sorry", Keitaro apologized as he gave her his sleeping blanket to cover up. "I don't know what that was."
"It's fine Keitaro, it wasn't your fault. You're soaked too."
Keitaro took a good look at himself. Sure enough, Keitaro looked as if he dived into the hot springs with his clothes on.
"I'll go change in the laundry room, I'm sure there's other clothes for me there", Keitaro said to the others.
"There's no need Keitaro", Tsuruko insisted. "Your closet is right here, and I'm sure both you and Motoko have seen each other changing before. Perhaps you can let her borrow some of your clothes."
There were some times when Motoko was in the middle of exchanging outfits, and Keitaro had showed up at the wrong time. Still, he had never dared to stay and watch. Plus there were others watching him, and Keitaro didn't need this kind of attention.
"No actually, I umm, have to go fix something!"
With that Keitaro dashed through the door leaving everyone in his room behind.
Above them all, no one noticed as Naru covered the hole that lead from her room into Keitaro's. She replaced the piece of wood, and set down a large, empty water bucket.
"Phew, that was a close one", Naru said to herself.
She wasn't quite sure why she did what she did. It was just something she felt in the heat of the moment. However, Keitaro and Motoko avoided an awkward intimate incident. Now only two questions remained for her. What was she going to do about this next, and why did she even care? She looked back at the closed hole beneath her as she remembered what her and Keitaro were talking about.
"Naru...What DOES bother you so much about this", Naru remembered Keitaro asking her last night.
Like before, she had no answer. Naru was still upset about the whole, finding out about Masuka thing; And now Keitaro's love life was turned around by Motoko and Tsuruko. Su and her own sister weren't helping this ordeal in any way. They hadn't left things on good terms between each other since they found out about Masuka. Now they were going to have to table talking to eachother for a while. Time was going to eventually heal the problems for them, but it worked the other way around too. Sometimes it's the waiting that slowly kills a person on the inside. Now the final question was, who was going to snap first?
Keitaro raced through Hnata Sou aiming for the laundry room. Things were getting out of hand really fast, and the Urashima was on the verge of snapping.
"How do I get stuck in these things", Keitaro thought to himself. "What else could possibly happen?!"
Near the entrance to the laundry room stood a surprise for Keitaro. He stopped in his tracks and rubbed his eyes to confirm that he wasn't hallucinating. This however did not make anything clearer for him. Less than twelve feet from Keitaro, stood what looked like Keitaro. This other Keitaro had darker skin, darker hair, and green eyes. Besides the styles of clothes, this person was the spitting image of Keitaro. Both Keitaros were stunned by what was before them. Keitaro raised his right arm and began to wave it, and at the same time the darker Keitaro did the same movements. Immediately, Keitaro lowered his arm. Almost in exact sync, his opposite did the same.
Keitaro tried different movements from tapping his feet in a certain pattern, making silly faces, to just random things. The entire time, the Keitaro duplicate copied his exact movements at the exact time. Keitaro hid behind the entrance of the laundry room, and the other took cover around the corner of the hallway. Keitaro took a slow peek at his opposite, and found that he was doing the same. Both retracted themselves back into hiding.
"What the heck is this", Keitaro thought. "Am I in the Twilight Zone or something?!"
With another deep breath of preparation, Keitaro marched down the hallway. He watched as the other Keitaro did the same thing. It didn't take many steps before there was only two feet of distance between them. Not sure of what else to do, both of them just stood there. Keitaro slowly lifted his hands to his face, and his mirror opponent did the same. Both Keitaro and the new Keitaro lifted their glasses to their forehead. Keitaro placed them back into their rightful position above his eyes,yet so did this other person. Keitaro tried a new strategy by moving the glasses below his nose. Still in synchronized motion, the darker boy did the same. Lifting the glasses on, above, and under his eyes continued.
There was no real meaning to this, it was mainly to see who would give up first, and what was the difference between them. The original Keitaro didn't give in, but was soon on the losing side of this game. The foreign opponent quickly jabbed Keitaro in the eyes with his index and middle fingers.
"OOOOOOWWWWW! AWW, SON OF A...AHAHAHA, OOOOOWW!"
Keitaro rubbed his eyes to ease the pain as someone ran down into the hallway yelling, "What going on down here?" Naru and Kitsune reached the hallway Keitaro and his double were in. Needless to say that both were just as surprised as Keitaro was.
"Aww shucks, now there are four of them living here", Kitsune said as she emptied the last of the contents in a Sake bottle.
"Keitaro who is this guy", Naru asked pointing to the darker version of their manager.
"His name is Lamba."
Everyone's attention was turned to Amalla and Su as they also entered the hallway.
"He's our older step brother. How was your journey Lamba?"
"It was quite well, thank you Amalla", Lamba formally said as he bowed to her. "My Su, you have grown up so well."
"Ahahaha, thanks big brother", Su told Lamba.
"Okay, so now we have more relatives here", Keitaro said. "I don't mind the guest, but why are you here?"
"I sent Amalla away to bring Su home, and I became concerned when they did not return."
"I actually have some news about that Lamba", Amalla added to the conversation.
"Oh, what is it?"
"Su wishes to stay here and study under Keitaro's extensive teachings."
"I see", Lamba turned his vision back to Keitaro. "Education is very important to one's growth. Is this really what you want Su, to stay here and learn abroad?"
"Why yes", Su said as she held Keitaro's arm. "Keitaro is an excellent teacher!"
"I understand Su. If you feel studying away from home will help you grow up, then I am not one to stand in your way", Lamba said to his adopted sister.
Keitaro had a sigh of relief. Maybe now Lamba could take Amalla home, and ease some of the stress on him.
"However", that one single word put a lump in Keitaro's coronary artery. "I would like to make sure that Su gets the best education that she can receive. Perhaps I can stay here for a few days, to keep a close eye on her.
From there Keitaro face planted into the wooden floor.
"Aww, I should have seen this coming. Amalla said the same thing", Keitaro said before his brain fully shut down.
Someone suggested I through in Lamba Lu, and I thought, "Fuck It YOLO!" More pressure is put on Keitaro. How is he going to handle this one?