I must warn people right now, there WILL be offensive language/themes/concepts of bullying in this story. I am saying this because I don't want to hear people bitching about how offended they are about epithets or insults used. THERE IS A POINT TO IT... the Shabanas are NOT good people the entire point of me writing this story is to give them the proper redemption they never received in the show and the only way to do that is to SHOW where they currently are and compare it to where they'll be later.

Most of their personality I pulled from real-life people I know who lived at the bottom of society and what their experiences were like including how they talk. Alot of the jargon used is from personal experiences with bullying so before people complain they're offended I'm putting it out there now that there will bw mature themes of bullying, sexual themes, and abuse hence the rating. If you still have complaints feel free to leave a well-articulated review and I will consider your viewpoint but otherwise I'm keeping with my overall theme. Change is NOT something you can demand from somebody, change is a very slow and deliberate process with set-backs, relapses and self-sabotage... it requires patience and empathy which is the theme I want to promote with this story.

My goal is to release 2-3 chapters a month until completion. As usual if there are errors tell me.

A few things she noticed very quickly over the next week was how understated the Ubuyashiki's comments were about the Shabana's nocturnal activities. They were ONLY awake at night, like vampires. She wouldn't say their activities were a problem, but they did create more questions than answers. She listened to the faint polyrhythms of music playing from the second floor(Daki's room she assumed) and the muffled humming of their voices talking loudly … and found herself really wanting to know more…

Like what did Gyutaro do for a living? She now believes he let Kensei off simply because he was too tired to deal with him, his sister AND Haganezuka at high noon. To say he was hired muscle of some kind seemed obvious but was it… legal? His sister was obviously a popular OnlyFans content creator, but was she a streetwalker too? Marin heard many complaints from the women on the street insinuating she was.

If only the siblings didn't hate her...

The very next day after receiving that welcome card, she tried inviting them over for video games and somewhere along the line she offended them because it was OBVIOUS they didn't like her. It baffled her so much she ran to the Ubuyashiki's again for advice like a dog with her tail between her legs the following weekend.

"Thank you for inviting me," she said when Amane opened the door.

"It's no problem, Marin, is everything OK?"

Yes!" She replied impulsively but then backpedaled, "Well, actually I don't know." Amane was wary at her behavior but understanding as if this wasn't the first time. They exchanged the obligatory niceties before she lent her a pair of slippers at the door before ushering Marin into her beautiful- if somewhat sterile home. Their house was very tidy and minimalist in design, considering Kagaya's health Marin understood why. The ceilings were high with skylights fixed to the top which bathed the room and a cozy natural light. "Would you like some tea?" Amane offered when the entered the living room where Kagaya was waiting.

"That would be awesome, thank you." she motioned for Marin to take a seat anywhere she liked in the living room with Kagaya while she got tea ready.

"Marin! Please come, sit!" he gestured with a particular zeal in his tone. He was sitting on the sofa (the kind that assists with standing up) with an IV drip in his arm though he wasn't at all dismayed in fact he was in very high spirits considering they weren't alone in the room.

"Boys say high to our guest." he waved to two boys– who looked identical– who momentarily paused their board game on the floor.

"Muichiro and Yuichiro are twins and they're ranked top 3 in our region's Shogi club." both boys stood up and gave her a proper greeting. She reciprocated but asked, "Region?"

"Yes, they're members of our Regional Board Game Association. I often invite them to babysit and teach my kids"

"Oh wow!" she beams, "What board games do you play?" she asked the twins. They listed a plethora of strategic games they specialized in as well as their rank in the region – Go, Shogi, chinese checkers, western checkers, Xiangqi, and Reversi– Marin didn't even know what the fuck Xiangqi or Reversi was until they explained it but she was impressed nonetheless, both boys ranked top 5 in all 6 games.

"Brother you forgot chess, I recently placed 5th." Muichiro stated casually, much to his older brother's chagrin, apparently chess wasn't Yuicihiro's favorite since he only ranked 9th. He admitted he wasn't the best at games with long time frames since he was less patient than Muichiro, but it didn't deter her amazement in the slightest. They didn't seem a day over 15 yet their brains were like supercomputers while she couldn't strategize her way to victory in game of tick-tack toe, if her life depended on it.

Yuichiro the elder brother, was fairly, sharp-tongued and sarcastic while Muichiro was very saccharine and sentimental by nature; a very sweet boy although sometimes his mind wandered mid-conversation as if he had a hard time concentrating on anything other than games. Amane came back after a while with tea and freshly baked muffins for everyone to enjoy before kindly asking if the twins could move their games into the office so they adults could speak in private. They obliged without so much as a murmur taking a plate each of muffins and cream cheese to another part of the house.

"Now," Kagaya began while his wife cut his muffin in half and smeared cream cheese for him. Their conversation started off mundane, first talking about the weather and then the renovations on Marin's home, followed by gardening tips before segwaying into whether Marin would be open to babysitting in the future because they were always looking for help with the kids. She was shocked they would trust her with their kids, considering she still considers herself a stranger, but after hearing about Kagaya's health and how he struggled with seizures and other emergencies from time to time she completely understood. They even offered to pay her a generous amount of money (the kids were quintuplets after all…sheesh!) So after exhausting all regular talking points they finally dove into her main reason for the visit.

"And how are you finding your new neighbors?" Kagaya asked before sipping his tea.

"mmm, yeah about them..." She gulps the muffin in her mouth, "Do you know them well?" Marin figured she should ask now before she inhaled all of Amane's delicious muffins like a whale.

"Somewhat," Kagaya says as he sips at the tea again, the single muffin his wife cut for him was still waiting on the table to eat at some point. "I have a few friends who work in law enforcement who told me about them. According to one, the two of them have substantial records, although Gyutaro is the only one with any outstanding warrants - assault and battery-"

"Oh, wait," Marin cuts him off, "sorry but could you not get into those details? If what you know about them is secondhand, I'd rather not." Kagaya and Amane stared owlishly at her for a few moments. She actually worried if she offended them. "Oh, I see," he finally breaks the silence and Marin's discomfort, his voice just as even as before, not at all offended. "Then this must be a personal matter." he leans forward slightly in his chair. It said a lot about the kinds of conversations people came to him. Like how Kagaya smiled but his blind eyes appeared wistful as if Marin wasn't the first (or last) to come to him about the demon siblings.

"Yes, it is! They stopped talking to me. I think I may have offended them and was wondering if you could offer me tips on what I should do?" He taps his fingers on his leather chair again, but she felt the need to speak first, "I apologize for the intrusion, a-and I'm sorry for cutting you off-" He raised his hand which abruptly shut her up, a testament to the soft power he had. "you are not hurt Marin, are you?"

"N-no, sir– I-mean Kagaya!" She quickly corrected, feeling nervous all of a sudden but he chuckled lightly, easing the tension, "Good, with that settled there is no need for you to apologize. You refused to hear the reports on the Shabanas because you wanted to hear it from them, am I right?" She bit her lips, not that Kagaya could see her but she always felt he could 'see without seeing'. "First tell me what transpired before they stopped talking to you."

She thought back to last weekend, it was the day after meeting Daki, and day 2 of their tournament at her place, which ran for some time into the afternoon. Everybody was laughing at Kensei when he explained how Hotaru was a nut and how he thought he was gonna lose his life when Gyutaro heard him talking about his sister. But Marin dismisses his story with a shaking of her head. "Oh, please it wasn't as dramatic as all that. He barely did anything."

"I swear Marin NOTHING FRIGHTENS YOU! I'm telling you, that guy had the freakin eyes of a war vet! You know he's seen something rough. Didn't you say he was ex-mafia or something?" she rolls her eyes but in truth, maybe she shouldn't write that off. From what she hears he very well could be.

"Well, Daia says she would love to meet him!" Rune chimes from her spot ont he couch presumably texting Daia. But Jim rolls his eyes, "Yeah because Daia gets hard-ons for sick and twisted people." He furrows his thick black eyebrows in aggravation and contempt for Marin's friend, while playing Mortal Kombat with his girlfriend Nowa, which earns him a harsh scolding

"Do not start! Daia isn't here Jim so keep those comments to yourself. Besides, it's wrong to judge the Shabanas when they haven't done anything. Everything we know about them is from other people."

"Marin I'm a fucking cop, profiles exist for a reason. Trust me, if the entire neighborhood says they're trash even if half of the rumors are BS it still doesn't change the fact they're trash."

"I would have to agree" Kensei raises his hands, "That guy gave me hella Sunny vibes Marin, and we all know Daia's ex was pretty rough himself." She wrinkles her nose grumbling under her breath at that, "Funny how you talk shit about the brother but not his sister who was just as rude in the office Kensei. Thinking with the wrong head, are we?" she scoffs before standing up from the couch and flipping her shades open to survey the house next door when low and behold–

"Holy shit! He's outside!" she could hardly believe it! There he was sitting on a stool in his driveway haunched forward fixing his motorcycle. She was stunned, like finding a four-leaf clover when she wasn't even looking. His hair this time, was pulled back off his face in a full ponytail, he was wearing skinny jeans ripped at the knees (atleast she thinks they were skinny jeans but given his low-weight they hung fairly loose from his body, he was wearing a black tank with tools laid out on the pavement.

Shiki, Akira, Rune, Nowa, Kensei all piled on her by the window and yes even Jim treid to look too although he played it off like it was stupid. "Let's invite him!" Marin smiles wriggling out from underneath her friends' bodies to put her shoes on. But Kensei quickly stopped her. "WAAAAAIT! Marin please do not invite him without a plan!"

"Relax! Even if he doesn't come we have plenty of food! Who could say no to free food!" it always irritated her when everyone thought she never thought things through. It made her feel insecure to always be seen as the dumb one so she doubles down tying her shoes on with a quick knot before daring someone to come with her, "Or do I have to go it alone?" Nowa wanted to volunteer but a quick glance from Jim shut that down, so Rune opted instead, putting her shoes on and telling everyone not to stand so ostentatiously close to the window. Nobody objected to Rune going since she had a cool head and could reel back Marin if she got too 'intense' but just to be safe Akira volunteered as well.

"Gyutaro didn't seem too bad," she explained to the couple, finger to her mouth, "I mean.. He didn't kick me out after knocking his bike over..."

The silence was palpable. The way she casually glossed over that rather egregious mistake had both Kagaya and Amane visibly gobsmacked for a bit before asking her for clarity. Bashfully, she scratched the back of her head. "W-w-well. In the time it took to get our shoes on, he went inside aaaand I kinda sorta figured he wouldn't mind if I.. you know… I only meant to look" she waved her arms frantically in front of her body like she were waving off bad spirits, "I didn't mean to knock it over but he left that stupid stool there and I tripped!" She couldn't tell if they wanted to laugh or shake their heads in disappointment. But after a few moments, Kagaya chuckles again, "I see! I see!" Marin was relieved he laughed at her clumsiness. It was definitely better than ridicule. But Kagaya's answer to her conundrum was a fairly simple one: Apologize.

"Huh? But I did that. I even paid for the damages but I didn't receive a thank you or anything!" Amane tried to clarify, "Marin a heartfelt apology is something you give freely without expectation. It does not mean you are entitled to forgiveness." Marin sat back in her chair letting the words sink in. Is that it? Was she behaving as though their forgiveness was owed to her for apologizing? Now she felt bad. She didn't mean to come off entitled like that. Kagaya interjected breaking her from her thoughts, "Marin may I ask, what are your intentions with those two?"

"My... intentions?"

"Yes. What is your end goal?"

"To be friends of course," she thought the answer was obvious. Kagaya sets his empty cup down on the table shifting his attention so his body directly faced her. Strange, although he can't see it certainly felt like he could. His expression, while placid, was very serious as he offered her words of wisdom AND caution, "Marin, my wife and I have lived here a long time and have experienced many people from all walks over the years so please understand what I'm about to say is purely my subjective opinion," She nodded tentative but earnest. "I can say for certain few people I have met in my life are more deserving of kindness than Daki and Gyutaro." the statement shocked her, she always suspected he didn't like how the neighborhood treated them but it was the first he had openly said it.

"Out of privacy I will not go into details of their story but I will leave you with this, they are not monsters, but if your desire to befriend them is entrenched in pity for their misfotune or fear of what they'll do to you- it will be apparent to them and you will not get the result you seek. They will revel in your fear and they will spit in the face of your pity and you will never become friends." Marin's face flushes in shame at thinking it could be so easy but Kagaya quickly continued before she grew more despondent, "However if your desire is rooted in empathy and genuine kindness, they will not understand it and the road will be exceptionally difficult and painful for you but..." her eyes widened eagerly for what came after that pause, hopeful that Kagaya held the key to success, "...but I assure you, if you stick it out, it will be well-worth the effort. Few people know this because they've never given them the time of day but they do reciprocate good deeds…in their own way of course."

"Kagaya may I ask, is that how you're able to maintain your relationship with them?"

"Our relationship is a bit more complicated than what you have. There is history that I do not want to overshadow your reasons for coming here. Just understand that what you see and hear about them is very surface level to what is actually there." She knew what he meant. She thought about the jealousy reflected in Daki's words when Marin absentmindedly mentioned how popular she was online. The sneer of ridicule on her face when Hotaru offered his full assistance to her while disregarding Daki's presence completely; her eyes all but screaming 'That's not fair'.

She remembered her scoff not quite reaching her eyes when Marin invited her- no strings attached– to her party. Almost like she was aching to say yes but forced herself to reject the invite instead just in case it was a trap. She focused her sights on Kensei immediately as if she were shit-testing to see if Marin's offer would still stand if Daki revealed she wasn't a good person. It was so …deliberate and mean-spirited and … so, so sad… just really, really sad and childish.

With Gyutaro it was similar, though admittedly he was far more mature than his sister. But when Marin invited him over, he was distant, cold, and unresponsive. At first she thought it was because he was angry about her knocking the bike over, but that didnt seem to be the case. Sure, his tone was exasperated, (probably at her idiocy) but he didn't immediately boot them off the property. Just very calmly lifted the bike back onto its wheels and continued as usual, to her he seemed almost curious about what she had to say or more specifically what she wanted from him. Maybe if she had knocked his bike over on purpose he would've received her quite differently. Like Kagaya said he wasn't a monster… he just…

"...he just has no umbrella…" the words sort of flowed unfiltered from her mind and she clasped her hand over her mouth at the realization that it was a half-finished thought. The couple tilted their heads but said nothing as if beckoning her to go on, "Dad often likened sad people to being caught in the rain without an umbrella. It's uncomfortable, and cold and embarrassing." Despite the snarls, intimidation and back-handed compliments there was this ever-present haze of sadness that clung to them, like a dark cloud raining on them constantly and while everybody else in the neighborhood carried umbrellas the Shabanas stayed soaking wet.

Suddenly, there was moisture in her eyes, she rubbed her face shamefully with her forearm when she realized it was pity she was feeling. "When we invited him to our party, he was incredibly standoffish on purpose." she explained, recalling how the rest of the conversation went.

"I am not surprised they often test people to see if they can find the deception in your invite." So she was correct in her assessment.

"Yes, that's exactly what I thought! And when we invited him any way he seemed confused by the gesture, frustrated at not knowing how to respond. Could they still be testing me? Neither of them wave or speak to me now in fact they purposefully keep their backs to my house. I don't believe they should be excluded from acts of kindness, but…" she pauses to rub the mist from her eyes again before quietly stating, "It just... seems really lonely." She said absentmindedly and found herself flustered at such a stupid simple response. But Kagaya actually laughed startling her back into looking at him, "Marin. I knew it upon our first meeting, you are a truly empathetic soul." She stares, brain still racing, her heart filled to the brim with such warmth at hearing that from Kagaya.

"What do you mean?" she asked still rubbing her face gently with her forearm. Amane filled in "Like Kagaya said, the road will be difficult, but if you are honest they will know. Do not force the moment, but if there is one, make sure they are aware of it." She groaned, yea already fucked up on that front, I was about as subtle as a wrecking ball. She thought to herself.

But then Amane adds, "Don't give up on them, Marin" The weight of Amane's sentence stuck with her as she walked home. They can bet their bottom dollar on that; she will never quit. Once she set her mind on doing something it was gonna take a wrecking ball to make her stop. But what should she do? Leaving their house she couldn't help but feel she still didn't learn much, should she say something? Just wait it out? She got all the way to her stoop when something caught her eye, an envelope tucked in her door. She rushed to open it then whipped her head to the Shabana's home. The shades were pulled, bike was gone, there didn't appear to be any activity but she knew one of them must've waited until she left to drop this off and she had a nagging feeling it was the brother because the note read, "You still owe me, neighbor." With a second IOU for damages.

End of chapter 2. I am trying to keep chapters short and concise however there will be times where chapters are between 8-10 pages... sorry. I will do my damndest to keep those chapters interesting so they don't feel like a drudge to read through. Sometimes information needs to be conveyed for foreshadowing of future events.

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