As Aqua walked into the assigned room, he felt a sudden sense of trepidation. The room wasn't well lit, almost dark, even though it was the middle of the day. The reason for this, Aqua found, were the blinds, let down so as to only let a minuscule amount of light move through. The amount of light wasn't enough to see the inside of the room. There was a faint, eerie sound playing, as if building tension, the subtlety of which made Aqua felt like his heart pumped a little faster. He had an image in his head of a predator, slowly circling his unknowing prey. Suddenly, Aqua realized. It was cold, but the faint hum of an air conditioner was nowhere to be found.

Uncertain, and with Ruby in one hand and Ai in another, he glanced at his true mother strangely. "Ai-nee, a-are you sure we're in the right room? Maybe we have the wrong room number?" Even in his fright, Aqua made sure to remember to keep the family secret alive.

Ai peered at the room number, seemingly puzzled, but strode into the room anyway, as if unconcerned. It looked clear to Aqua that something was off, but had to abandon his thoughts as Ai was still holding his hand and so dragged him with her to the center of the room. Ruby, who strode inside the room with Ai, ended up standing before him.

Aqua nearly stumbled at the suddenness of it all. He silently raised his gaze. "Huh?" he blinked, when suddenly, Ai let out a gasp. Turning to his actual mother, Aqua once more felt his attention grabbed as to his other side Ruby let out a shrill scream.

Aqua suddenly focused. Someone was in his face, lit up in red. The subtle, eerie music from earlier, without his notice, has suddenly increased in intensity, and Aqua felt the pressure inside him rise.

Ruby screamed again. Aqua turned to look at her, who he thought was screaming, but was surprised when her mouth wasn't even moving. It was only when his mouth started feeling slightly hoarse when he realized, 'No, it wasn't Ruby screaming, it was me.'

Right as this realization came, the lights flickered on, and Aqua blinked and found Ruby laughing uncontrollably on the floor. He felt Ai's hand on his head, slowly stroking his hair. Right in front of him was Mana, dressed in a shark onesie of all things, and Kana, who dressed in a normal casual dress, but was holding a red penlight held underneath Mana's face, making his face and the shark silhouette red.

All of the clues in front of him aligned to form an explanation and then Aqua finally knew that he'd been had.

Suddenly Mana was a whirlwind of activity. "Miyako-nee, Miyuki-nii, Shirogane-papa, did you take the video? How'd it go?"

Aqua was forced to watch as, from different sides of the room, the various parts of the prank revealed themselves. Some were clearly people he knew, while others were, based on their looks and general description, the neighbors that Mana and Kana had mentioned.

Miyako, Aqua's "mama" was first to report. "I had a good angle from behind. It was against the light, but it'll be a good part of the shot."

'So she really was part of this.' Aqua grumbled, pouting.

Seeing this, Miyako stuck her tongue out in a manner reminiscent of how Ai would do it.

"I followed what you told me to do." The elder "Shirogane-papa" reported, parroted by what looked like an 9 or 10 year old son.

Mana gave them both thumbs up.

"Mana…" Aqua drawled exasperatedly, watching the byplay in front of him. A smile rose unbidden. He was about to retort to all of Mana's antics when Mana suddenly turned to Ai and Ruby.

"Good job to you guys too! You were able to get him to actually enter the room!" Mana beamed at Aqua's secret mother before turning to Aqua's sister. "And Ruby, that scream was amazing! It definitely made things so much scarier!" Mana looked sincerely impressed.

Aqua couldn't help but agree, even as he ignored his personal feelings about being pranked by everyone in the room. There was a part of him that got so confused during the prank that he genuinely thought something was happening, and it was Ruby's screams that really sold it.

"You know, that kinda gives me an idea…" Mana started to say, and a shiver went down Aqua's back, a memory of Ruby dancing with Ai followed by his subsequent delusion of a blonde haired girl on a stage at the forefront of his mind.

Arima Miura, Mana's mother, cleared her throat, the action clearly intentional. "Mana." she interrupted, and Mana smiled sheepishly at her as he scratched his head.

Aqua watched as Mana shook his head, looking like he was making an internal note on what he was thinking about, before slowly heading to the other people joining the party that were strangers to the Hoshino family, standing right beside his sister, Arima Kana. 'I wonder what that's about?' Aqua wondered in his head, even as Mana started introducing them.

"This is Shirogane-papa!" Mana introduced, gesturing wildly at the older man. Aqua nodded, waving shyly as he saw his family do the same. 'We're about the same age, give or take a few years, if you count both my lives.' Aqua noted silently in thought. 'If I was still in my old life, I could have been friends with this man, drinking buddies even. It's kinda embarrassing to think that his kids are both older than me when you consider that." Aqua thought that thinking about age was a headache for reincarnators anyway.

"Shirogane-papa's a little weird, but he's very nice and funny for an old man!" so came Mana' s sparkling recommendation. Aqua wondered what could make the perpetually eccentric Mana call someone weird.

"Oi, don't call me old!" the man complained playfully, ruffling Mana's hair. 'He didn't retort to being weird, though.' Aqua noted dryly in his head.

"This is Miyuki-nii!" This time it was Kana who was introducing. The elder brother waved at them and Aqua waved back. "Miyuki-nii is 9 years old and he's super smart! He helps me practice for roles too!" Kana was a bit more comprehensive and descriptive about who she was introducing, so Aqua had more context about elder brother.

Aqua couldn't help but note the tone at which Arima Kana introduced the elder brother of the Shirogane family. 'Older brother figure, huh.' Aqua reckoned. The Arima family and the Shirogane family seemed quite close now that he looked at it this way. The presence of the Shirogane family, particularly the father's presence, combined with the presence of the Arima mother to raise a few questions in Aqua's head, not that he'd be rude enough to voice such a question out loud. These people were still strangers to him, after all, even if they were close family friends of who he admitted were close family friends to his own family.

Close family friends of close family friends. That's who the Shirogane family was to him at the moment.

Not caring about Aqua's inner monologuing, not that he was supposed to expect and know what Aqua was thinking anyway, Mana jumped in to introduce the last member of the Shirogane family. "Aaaaaaaaaaaand this one is Kei-nee! She always catches me when I run and jump at her!" Mana gloated, his chest puffed up with pride for some reason that Aqua couldn't place. Mana's older sister poked his cheek, her own cheeks puffed up angrily. "You're not supposed to be jumping at people anyway!" She nagged, and the two started their usual childish argument.

'Mana is as indescribably indescribable as always…' Aqua didn't even know if he was complaining in his head anymore. He was just going with the flow.

As Ruby stepped forward to introduce herself, the extravert that she is leaping forth to introduce everyone, Aqua listened carefully and made sure to be ready to jump in, just in case there were any slip ups.

Aqua sneakily glanced at the Shirogane family. They seemed like nice people but…

'I have to make sure my family is safe. No matter what.' Aqua stepped forward with this thought in mind.

I have been super busy, so the chapter is kinda short and kinda late. Ugh. But I'll try to get more time to write! I've had ideas multiplying like bunnies, and every review you guys leave seriously gives me more and more ideas, it's crazy. More Oshi no Ko fanfics too, they all make me bop and go boop and go ooooh

So I'll end it quick with another quick lie. We'll have more Oshi no Ko fics... I hope it's true though ;) ;)