A bit of a short chapter... But I'm amazed I had time to do it at all. Or rather, I'm impressed that I had the balls to procrastinate even now.

Welp, the chapter's here, enjoy!

Two weeks after Mana's birthday, Kana's busy schedule as a genius child actress finally cleared up, enough that the next playdate was scheduled.

This time, the playdate consisted of Kana, Mana, Ruby, Aqua, and Kei, who rode with the Arima family to make it.

This time, Miyako and Ai were off at work on another floor, leaving the Arima adult representative to keep watch over the not-very-rowdy children in the room.

Kana watched as Aqua, Kei, and Mana slunk off to the side. Aqua's face was nose deep into a book that looked as thick as his arm. Kei, on the other hand, was in the middle of showing Mana something in her phone.

Kana frowned, sitting down beside Ruby who she realized was also frowning. "What's wrong?" Kana asked her friend.

Ruby's face twisted and her brows furrowed. "… Is Mana okay?" she seemed to have sensed something off with Mana.

Kana thought to herself. It was a good question, she thought. Mana was more silent than he usually was in the playdate, even if he still did his usual headpats and cheery greetings.

If someone were to ask Kana if there was something off with Mana just based off his behavior, she'd say no because he was generally like this at home.

But she supposed it was weird for Ruby because Mana was just more hyper during playdates and outings.

"Mana's okay." She started when she realized that she was thinking for a bit too long. "He's just been kind of upset ever since papa came back." She continued.

She wasn't sure if she should talk about it. But she trusted Ruby, she was her best friend at this point.

"Him?" Ruby pointed at the man in question, who was watching over the children passively. He didn't notice Ruby point at him at all as he was busy typing out something on his phone.

"Yeah, that's papa!" Kana smiled. "But stop pointing at him, it's rude!" she pulled on Ruby's arm.

Ruby rolled her eyes, putting her arm down. Her gaze lingered on the man for a bit longer, before sighing. "So why is Mana upset?"

Kana frowned. "I'm not sure, actually. Isn't it a good thing that Papa's back? It means he loves us, right?"

Ruby's frown slowly mirrored Kana's. "…Parents love their kids, don't they?"

Kana shifted positions on her cushion, making herself comfortable. "Yeah, of course." Kana believed in that. "But I don't know if Mana agrees with that."

Ruby quirked her eyebrows upward. "What do you mean?"

Kana peeked at Mana over Ruby's shoulder. "Mana didn't even recognize Papa when he came. Mama said that it was normal for kids like us to forget our earlier childhood memories, but I can't believe he forgot who Papa was?" Kana whispered, a disappointed look in her eyes.

Ruby acknowledged Kana's rant with a thoughtful noise of consideration.

Kana grabbed on to Ruby's sleeve, continuing. "Papa wanted to come back to us and live with us again but Mana got really mad and said that we didn't need him."

Kana exhaled. "Papa's still not staying with us because of that." Kana couldn't hold back her disappointment with the entire situation.

Kana tried hard to convince Mana that their father's return was a good thing. She had even tried telling him all about how she was doing her best with acting so their father would notice them and come back to them, but Mana didn't budge. He only seemed to get angrier after hearing that.

Kana felt a warm hand on her shoulder. Ruby slowly rubbed her friend's arm, consoling. "That sounds really rough and difficult." Ruby empathized.

Kana smiled a watery smile at her friend, about to speak, when a familiar voice called out to them from behind.

"What are you two talking about?" Aqua's voice drawled, not unkindly, but rather softly. Kana turned her head to find Aqua stood behind her, book down on the table.

Kana whirled on him, letting loose her emotions and complaints in whispers the same way she let loose to Ruby just moments before, waving off Ruby's apologies as she did so.

"So, Aqua, you see, after you guys left that day…"

As Kana ranted about her feelings to Aqua, Ruby moved toward Mana and Kei, a little curious about what they were talking about.

From afar, Kei looked focused on the phone and the game, but now that Ruby was looking closer, Kei's gaze was unfocused, as if thinking about something from far away.

She couldn't help her worry.

She couldn't help it at all. Mana's birthday had gone really well, in her opinion. 'We got to do so many things and it was really fun watching people we know on screen.' Ruby thought to herself.

'Not to mention…' her thoughts trailed off as she shook her head.

Suddenly, by the end of the party, the original plans changed, and then Miyako started getting all cryptic with everything.

Combine that with Kana's worries, and she was getting the feeling that the situation was more complicated than she first conceived.

It was complicated as much as it was familiar. In many ways.

First, Kana's perspective on the situation was familiar with Ruby's first life's situation as Sarina. As much as she hated even thinking about that specific part of her first life, she knew exactly how long it had been since she had last seen her first life's parents, at least until she died: 2 years and 2 months. That didn't count her second life.

Just like Kana, she longed for her parents to come back to her. She did her best to get better, not just for herself, but for her dearest doctor, for her parents.

So they could be a happy family again.

But eventually, she failed. She died.

She didn't even know if her parents were there in her last moments, as out of it she was for the last few days. She couldn't tell.

Was she abandoned by them? Maybe. She hasn't seen them.

Was she loved by them? Maybe. But they said they loved her in texts and calls.

But that wouldn't change that fact that for years, she hadn't seen their faces in person.

And neither would that fact change the fact that yes, truly, she really did wish to see them again. Because she still loved them. They were her parents, after all.

But on the other hand…

The other side of the situation, Mana's side, or what she knew of it, was familiar with her second life's situation.

On Mana's birthday, she told her mama that they didn't need their father. She stood by that. The person who has never appeared in front of her, Aqua, or even her mama, she couldn't feel anything even remotely familial towards the person who was her second life's father.

'I don't even know his name or face, how could I love that person?'

Ruby knew just how hard her mama worked to provide for her and Aqua. How hard she worked to protect them, keep them safe, keep them happy. How she worked, day and night, to give the twins a good future.

She risked everything for them, and Ruby knew that. And she knew that there were things she was glancing over, too; Aqua, Miyako, Kana, and even Mana had all come with little warnings, considerations to think of that they did to protect everyone from the darkness of the entertainment industry.

Aqua kept going on and on about how important it was to keep their being mama's children a secret, and Ruby knew just how important it was, being a gigantic idol fan herself.

Mana, too, on his birthday, got self-defense classes. She has known Mana for the better part of a year at this point; she knew that he was pretty smart, although in a different way to how Aqua was smart. She knew that there had to be some reason Mana insisted on self-defense classes.

'Perhaps he was worried that someone would hurt her.' Ruby considered.

She knew Mana cared very much for her mother. Mana's eyes had always firmly been on Hoshino Ai, after all, just as much as they had been on her and Aqua.

'Unavoidable. After all, Hoshino Ai was the most amazing idol and mother ever.' Ruby thought to herself.

And it was unbelievable that someone could hurt her mother like this. It was unbelievable that they would abandon Hoshino Ai to raise twin children alone.

Hoshino Ai had the looks. She had a sparkling personality. She was kind. She worked hard.

'And despite all that, that person still left her. Abandoned her. Abandoned me and Aqua.' Ruby recognized.

And so she understood, in the deepest way, in a way that perhaps nobody did, what Mana was going through.

…What Kana was going through, too. Although Ruby thought that Kana didn't really see just why, exactly, Mana was so angry. Why the return of their new father might not be the best.

Ruby had been on both sides. And she cared for both of them as her friends.

Ruby approached the duo, pushing aside the feeling that she was intruding on something, she overheard a bit of their conversation. "…so yeah, because -… -, papa is -… - and I'll have to-". Unfortunately, there was absolutely nothing she could really gleam from the little bits she could overhear.

Although from the bits she was overhearing, she wasn't surprised that the topic had to be about family.

What surprised her was that the one talking was Kei, and the one listening was Mana.

She was close enough to the conversation that they would notice her at any time. Putting on a sheepish smile, Ruby waved at Kei and Mana, who'd just noticed her approach. Kei's head burrowed into the jacket she was wearing shyly, but did mumble a greeting at Ruby, while Mana smiled back in reply to Ruby's greeting. "Hey guys, is everything alright? Are you guys okay?". She asked.

Mana put his hand on Kei's head, slowly patting it.

Ruby felt strange, looking at the comforting action. It wasn't strange for Mana, because he did all the time, but Ruby nonetheless felt strange looking at it. Something didn't feel right. Something made her feel uncomfortable with that.

"Yeah, we're alright. Kei and I were just talking." Ruby watched as Mana looked questioningly at Kei, mouthing 'Do you want to talk about it?'. Kei hid even deeper into her jacket before shaking her head.

Mana smiled sheepishly at her.

Ruby got the point, however. She smiled back at Mana.

Ruby stepped forward and put her hands on both Mana and Kei's shoulders, keeping her head down. "If you guys need anything at all, you can talk to me." She made sure to offer.

Kei nodded her head shakily from within her hiding place within the jacket while Mana smiled brightly at her.

As both of them gave their thanks to her and she turned around to walk back to Kana and Aqua to check on them, she suddenly realized what exactly made her feel uncomfortable about the earlier situation.

Mana had to be in a rough spot, according to Kana's story, as well as his relatively subdued behavior in the day's playdate.

'If Mana was in a rough spot, then why was Kei the one being comforted?'

If the birthday arc was really about setting up different plot points and arcs, well, this is one of those things that were set up.

We finally hear a bit from Kana, who is having perhaps her first serious fight, and it's with Mana of all people. And Ruby's been doing some thinking ever since Mana's birthday, although right now she's focused on the friends that she is worried about.

We finally see the father of the Arima family! Well, Miyako saw him last chapter.

I actually got a comment saying that I changed the Arima family's backstory to suit the story, and well, kinda? I guess?

This is fanfiction, so that's not something that's inherently bad, but also, it's a little quick and forward to assume that things are different or same to canon. Perhaps it's just a little detail in between what we've seen in canon to fill in the story. Perhaps it's completely different from canon.

Well, I'm not calling it out or anything. I just found it kind of interesting that people assume things would be one way or another. I find it fun as an author to see what people think.

Anyway, I love all the fanfics on Oshi no Ko coming out! Some of those are really exciting and amazing, and I can't wait to see more.

So let's lie again: We will have more fanfics!

This lie will come true :))