Chapter 8: Part II

Shizuka poked Emi's cheek, causing the toddler to look up from munching on her piece of persimmon. Seeing no further response, Emi resumed eating her fruit. Meanwhile, Shizuka surveyed the mostly empty plates on the table. Emi had quite an appetite, she had pretty much finished up the meal on her own after Rido left. Maybe that's why she had such round and squish-able cheeks… Shizuka couldn't defy the urge to poke Emi's cheeks again. This time Emi didn't even bother looking up and continued munching away, as if used to such treatment. Seeing no resistance, Shizuka started kneading Emi's cheeks, they reminded her somewhat of mochi.

What am I even doing? Shizuka suddenly wondered, mentally breaking out of the lull that had befallen. She didn't know why she was still holding this child on her lap when she had already finished feeding her. What had possessed her to even pick Emi up in the first place? Perhaps it was because Emi had looked so pitiful trying unsuccessfully to pick up food with chopsticks. But now dinner was over, and Emi should be fine on her own.

Shizuka let go of Emi and stood up. She should work on her weaving or something – there was always a way to kill time. As she walked down the corridor, she heard small footsteps behind her. She turned to see Emi coming her way, still clutching the remainder of her persimmon. Shizuka sighed and waited for the toddler to catch up. When Emi reached her, she knelt down to face her.

"What should I do with you?" Shizuka asked, tilting her head slightly to the right. Emi tilted her head, mirroring Shizuka. Shizuka tilted her head to the left, and again Emi copied her. Shizuka observed the unruly curls bouncing around on the child's head. The messy hair had bothered her the whole time – she wondered if Emi had brushed her hair at all. An idea came to her and she smiled.

Emi saw Shizuka's smile and automatically shivered. It was the same smile as the ones her mom and Juri wore they wanted to play dress-up! She gulped, surely Shizuka wouldn't have a duck outfit for toddlers just lying around waiting for a victim, would she? Before she could flee, Shizuka scooped her up and carried her down the corridor.

There were no duck outfits to be seen, but plenty of dolls. They were currently in the one room Emi hadn't checked earlier. This room was packed and crowded unlike the rest of the rooms, filled with dressers and shelves, with dolls displayed everywhere. The majority were traditional Japanese dolls of girls dressed in pretty kimonos, but there were some of babies, little boys, oiran, samurai, etc. It was like a mini doll museum. Emi had thought that Shizuka was quite mature for a teenager, but it seemed she had hidden her girlish interests here.

Shizuka placed Emi down on the floor and started rummaging through drawers. Emi took her time to examine the doll collection. The craftsmanship was certainly detailed, but Emi thought these dolls must be an acquired taste – like those vintage porcelain dolls. Speaking of Western porcelain dolls, there was one right there in a corner! Emi made her way over to examine it. The doll had blonde hair, blue eyes, a red Victorian hat and a matching frock. It stuck out like a sore thumb among all the traditional Japanese dolls.

"That one is from your brother, or more likely your mother," Shizuka remarked from behind her.

Emi could already picture her mother picking out the doll for Rido to give to his then child fiancée. It was basically the same situation with the brooch all over again. Their mother put more work into this relationship than Rido himself.

Finally remembering the brooch, Emi took it out and held it towards Shizuka. "Your bwooch!"

Shizuka gazed at it dispassionately for a second. "You can have it."

Really?! Emi was elated. "Thank you!" Perhaps Shizuka was so used to riches that she could just give away jewelry to a toddler, but Emi certainly won't complain. She quickly stuffed the brooch back in her pocket. Hopefully her mom won't find out.

Shizuka then picked her up again and Emi noted that she clutched a clothe bundle in her other hand. They entered the adjacent room, where Emi had fallen asleep earlier, and Shizuka set her down and opened the bundle. She took out a comb and several small colorful garments and laid them out on the tatami.

"I've turned most of my childhood clothes into doll clothes but there are still some intact ones left. Now we can get you changed."

Emi groaned softly. She thought she had escaped the dress up game, but she was wrong. It seemed that different as Shizuka was from Juri and mom, she was not immune to the urge to dress the baby up. Perhaps this was the price she paid for being so cute. Oh well, at least she got a brooch out of it.

The bedroom was silent, and the only sounds came from the mountain wildlife outside. Emi turned her head and squinted at Shizuka, trying to determine if she was asleep. After an hour of being dressed up by Shizuka, they had taken a bath and gone to bed. It was nice being all warm and cozy in her futon after the bath, but Emi had a mission to fulfill. Shizuka's futon was laid out next to hers, so Emi slithered off her futon and onto Shizuka's, making sure to stay under the warmth of the comforter and away from the cold air. Seeing that Shizuka did not move or make a sound, Emi crept closer and closer until she could peer into Shizuka's face. Yes, Shizuka's eyes were closed, she was asleep!

Emi had always found Shizuka to be one of the most interesting characters in the series. This was someone who had been raised in a cage her whole life, with minimal social interactions – a situation that sounded like the premise of an unethical psychology experiment. That upbringing and the alleged family history of insanity suggests that Shizuka would be extremely mentally unwell. But so far, Emi found Shizuka quite well composed, though rather aloof. And even her actions in canon did not strike Emi as truly insane. Sure, she was vengeful, killing Zero's parents and turning him into a vampire because they killed her lover, but even if those actions are "evil", they are understandable, as revenge is a common tale. In fact, considering her background, it's surprising that she hadn't been more violent and destructive.

On the topic of "evil", Emi didn't find Shizuka evil. If Shizuka was truly evil, she would have forcefully taken over Maria's body, like Rido did to Senri, but she didn't, instead offering her own blood in return. She even went as far as taking in Ichiru, her enemy's child, and cured him with her blood. Seeing how loyal Ichiru and Maria were to her, Shizuka couldn't have been all bad.

Canon aside, from Emi's own interactions with Shizuka so far, she had no cause to consider her evil. In fact, Shizuka was kinder and more caring to her than Rido was. Shizuka had fed her, bathed her, dressed her, combed her hair, and tucked her in bed. Even if many people consider Shizuka an evil villainess, the one before her was not.

Besides, I'm not a "good" person myself… Emi lowered her gaze as she recalled her previous life.

As Emi was busy pondering, Shizuka's eyes slowly fluttered opened. She had been awoken by the awareness of a warm and foreign presence beside her. Strangely, Shizuka didn't seem startled to see Emi peering into her face. She simply stared back at Emi blankly. After a few seconds, she decided the toddler probably wanted to leech energy like the young of their kind are apt to, pulled Emi into an embrace, and fell back asleep.

Emi was reminded of being cuddled by her mom and instinctively snuggled closer. She made up her mind. She liked the Shizuka before her and did not want her to go down the tragic path she did in canon. She would change Shizuka's fate.

The most straightforward way of preventing the canon events is to have Shizuka leave and go far away. If Shizuka was removed from the whole mess with the Kurans, Rido would not put her lover on the hunter list, Kaname would not be able to use her to turn Zero into his weapon against vampires, and Zero would not lose his family. Shizuka would also get to actually live, and not waste her entire life away in this cage. This was a win-win situation for everyone, even Rido, who clearly found his fiancée so undesirable. You're welcome Rido, Emi mused, pleased to finally have a solid plan in place.

This was also the only real thing Emi could do so far to change the course of the series, as she still had no concrete strategy to prevent Rido from eventually killing their parents, Haruka, and baby Kaname. To successfully prevent that, she would have to tackle the root of the problem, namely Rido's ridiculous obsession with Juri, and that was something way above her abilities. Emi was no expert on affairs of the heart and found romantic love infinitely more trouble than it's worth. Getting Shizuka to go far away was a lot more doable, but it would probably still be an uphill battle.

Shizuka was very sheltered, and probably had no idea how to function in society. If Emi was to get her out, she would have to ensure that Shizuka can socialize normally and handle living on her own. But before all that, Emi had to spark Shizuka's desire to leave her cage. From what she had observed so far, the cage was not fortified enough to prevent a pureblood from leaving if they really wished to. Seeing as Shizuka could use her obi to slash apart a sofa in canon, she could definitely break the lock on her cage if she wanted to. Canon also suggests that Shizuka was content staying in her cage until she met her lover and finally found a reason to leave. But all this was just speculation...Emi yawned and closed her eyes. Ascertaining Shizuka's willingness to leave would be her task tomorrow.

After dressing Emi up in a light green kimono and failing yet again to tame her curls with the comb, Shizuka carried the toddler to the reception/dining room. She set Emi down, rang a bell, and soon after, the servants appeared with breakfast and informed her that (unsurprisingly) Rido would not be joining them. It was a much simpler affair than yesterday's dinner, consisting of rice, miso soup, tofu and some pickled side dishes.

As Shizuka was about to pick up her chopsticks, she noticed Emi staring at her expectantly. With a small sigh, Shizuka pulled Emi onto her lap and proceeded to feed her like she had yesterday. As Emi ate, Shizuka studied her young charge. She had met the other Kuran family members a long time ago and Emi had all the usual features of a Kuran. However, the thick obstinate brows and dark brown rebellious curls instantly reminded Shizuka of a certain someone.

"You look like a mini version of your brother," she murmured. Hearing that, Emi whipped her head around and gave her a seemingly insulted look.

Shizuka smiled then added, "But much cuter."

Emi nodded, apparently mollified, and went back to enjoying her food.

Remembering Rido and his entitled and condescending order to babysit his sister, Shizuka felt a bit conflicted. It irked her to be doing exactly what he had demanded, but she liked holding Emi and looking after her. It wasn't only that Emi was adorable and entertaining, it was also the fact that she was the first person to be so comfortable around her.

Her whole world was basically this cage, secluded away in the mountains with only the servant couple as company. The servants attended to her needs, but otherwise kept their distance. She used to have a governess and a kendo teacher, but not long after she reached 14, they both retired. As for her family, her father visited her only occasionally, not much more than Rido did. The only other people she came into contact with were the human sacrifices that were sporadically ushered into her cage.

When she was a child, the sacrifices had been human children. The first sacrifice she met had been a girl that had looked around her age back then. She had been fascinated seeing someone else her age and had wanted to talk to her. But the girl had stared at her with fear and the only words she would say were something strange about going to heaven. The other child sacrifices were pretty much the same. As she got older, the sacrifices got older too. The human adults that had been caught and thrown into her cage were mostly the dregs of society, some of them owed huge debts and others were criminals secretly funneled out of the prison system as part of some underground network controlled by certain vampires and their human collaborators. The human adults alternated between pleading for mercy and trying to attack her in desperation.

Sometimes, when she saw herself reflected in those eyes expressing horror, dread, and despair she wondered what exactly she was. To the child sacrifices, she was a fearsome god that would send them to heaven, and to the adult sacrifices, she was a terrifying monster in beautiful human skin. To her servants, she was their master, to her father, she was an expendable asset, and to her fiancé, she was an unwanted obligation.

Lost in thought, Shizuka hugged Emi a little tighter. She could not remember the last time she hugged someone or was hugged and wondered why she found it so soothing. Eventually she realized that Emi had finished eating and was now looking up at her with an oddly opaque expression.

After a second, Emi broke into a toothy grin and said, "Let's pway!" Without waiting for a reply, Emi got up and tugged Shizuka towards the doll room.

The blizzard had stopped around the time they went to bed, but the snow still had to be cleared. Kohei and the male servant had left early to go down the mountain and hire some humans from the nearby villages. Even now, they were working hard to clear the mountain road sufficiently for their car to leave later. Thus, some time remained until Emi and Rido's departure.

Emi led Shizuka to the doll room, where she recalled seeing a toy chest last night. When they arrived she searched for a few seconds before pointing at a wooden chest decorated with simple floral engravings, sitting beside a display of dolls.

"What do you want to play?" Shizuka asked as she went over to the chest. She pulled out some old toys and spread them on the tatami mat. Emi picked up a temari ball. It was very pretty, with intricate blue and gold embroidery but that was not why she chose it.

Shizuka put the other toys back in the chest, then picked up the chest and took Emi to the largest room. It was the most sparely decorated out of all the rooms, with only a calligraphy scroll and a katana displayed in the alcove and appeared to be some sort of training room. Shizuka set down the chest and proceeded to gently toss the ball at Emi. The first few times, Emi ran after the ball and threw it back normally. During the seventh time throwing the ball, she mustered all her strength and threw it straight at the katana display, managing to successfully knock it over.

"Oopsie," Emi said and made an innocent face when Shizuka went over to reset the katana on its stand and pick up the ball.

"Maybe we should play something else instead," Shizuka suggested.

"No, we go out pway! More room out!" Emi segued into the topic of outside as planned.

After a brief pause, Shizuka simply shook her head.

"Why no?"

"I cannot go outside."

"Why?" Emi persisted.

Shizuka gazed at Emi silently for a bit, then murmured. "I shouldn't."

Emi moved closer to Shizuka. "You want go outsye?"

"Not really," Shizuka said and looked down at the ball in her hands.

"But fun things outsye," Emi said stubbornly. As she had predicted, making Shizuka leave would indeed be a hard task.

"Such as?"

What sorts of things would she like? Emi thought for a moment then exclaimed, "Flowers and purtty clothes!"

Shizuka smiled. "I can get those here too." When she wanted to make flower arrangements, the servants harvested the flowers in the garden and brought them to her. When she wanted new kimonos, she could order them from catalogs the merchants sent.

Emi shook her head. "Types you no see! And thing like sea and volcano and desert and icebeg and elepant and shawk and snek and bug -"

Emi was interrupted from listing more of nature's wonderful creations when Shizuka cupped her cheeks in her hands.

"I'm not sure if I want to see any snakes and bugs," Shizuka said teasingly.

Heresy! Emi was shocked that Shizuka did not see the allure of those slithery creepy crawlies. How could she not want to feel firsthand an anaconda coiled around her, or a stag beetle crawling up her arm?

Emi pouted. "Wut anima you like?"

In response, Shizuka removed one of her hands from Emi's cheeks. Emi looked on as a drop of blood seeped up from Shizuka's palm. The amount of blood increased and started twisting and contorting until it took on the shape and appearance of a sparrow. The sparrow gave a chirp then flew up to rest on the ledge of the barred window.

Hmm...so her familiar is a sparrow. Emi was mildly surprised that Shizuka had such a common and unassuming bird as a familiar. But then again, Shizuka and Maria did seem fond of birds in canon.

"I can see the outside world through its eyes," Shizuka remarked, then recalled her familiar, changing it back into blood and reabsorbing it into her palm.

"You see me house?" Emi was intrigued. Has Shizuka been spying on her fiance? If she were Shizuka, she would be mad as hell if she saw Rido gallivanting around with his lovers while she was stuck in a cage.

Shizuka laughed lightly and shook her head. "Our familiars' ranges are limited. The furthest I can see is the closest city."

"You like city?"

"It's strange, there is a lot of people…"

Emi pursed her lips. Of course Shizuka would not be used to something as crowded as a city. There is much work to be done getting her ready for departure. If only there was a TV here, something that could expose her to the outside world and ignite her interest. Emi briefly wondered what sorts of TV shows Shizuka would like, she didn't seem like a romance drama type of gal unlike her mom and Juri. Forget about a TV, Shizuka didn't even have electricity here! This girl is living a life even more secluded than that of a nun seeking enlightenment in a mountaintop convent!

"Anyway, let's play something else," Shizuka said, leaving the topic about going outside. She returned the ball to the chest and looked over the available toys. She selected a colorful toy dog wearing a den-den drum. "How about this?"

Emi shook her head.

"The drum?" Shizuka asked, detaching the drum from the dog and shaking it. Once again Emi shook her head. She peered into the toy chest for a moment, then pointed at a Chinese yoyo.

"I don't know if you're the right age…"

"You show me?" Emi stubbornly held out the yoyo.

"Fine."

Thus, the remaining time flowed by with Emi watching Shizuka demonstrate the yoyo and the other skill toys in the chest. Emi was impressed yet concerned by how Shizuka could do such professional level tricks – she must have been really bored in her cage to polish her yoyo, kendama, and top spinning skills to that level. Emi herself was too busy polishing her "running away and hiding from mom and sister" skills instead.

It was almost time to leave, so Rido got dressed and headed to Shizuka's quarters. He wanted to quickly drop Emi off at home and go on break as originally planned. To his annoyance, the reception room behind the cage bars was empty. Shizuka and his sister were somewhere deeper in her chambers.

"Rido-sama, you can wait here while I go get Shizuka-sama," the lady servant suggested as she unlocked the cage.

"No need," Rido brusquely replied and brushed past her. He wanted to be out of there soon and was not willing to wait another second longer. Although he had never gone any deeper into Shizuka's chambers beyond the reception room, he was sure the layout of the place could not be that complicated. He got onto the engawa and soon heard Emi's voice coming from a room further down. Following the voice, he reached a set of sliding doors and threw them open, only to be smacked right in the face by something hard.

"Fuck!" He covered his nose, feeling a few drops of blood slide onto his lips. The bleeding stopped almost immediately. He glared at the culprit, Emi (no surprise) and saw that the flying object had been a Chinese yoyo.

"Oopsie." Emi mumbled, looking suspiciously gleeful.

Out the corner of his eye, Rido saw Shizuka hide a smile behind her sleeve. Perhaps he had been wrong to let Emi and Shizuka meet, the two thorns in his side. For a moment, he pondered whether he should take this chance to berate Shizuka about letting a toddler play with the yoyo but decided against it in the interest of time.

"It's time to catch the train." He grabbed Emi and started dragging her out, but his path was soon blocked by Shizuka.

He halted and stared down into her light pink eyes as Emi squirmed like a slippery eel in his grip. This was the first time Shizuka had gotten this close to him. Now that she stood so close, he finally noticed that Shizuka was a bit taller than Juri.

"What?"

"It's too cold for her in those clothes. I need to get her ready."

Rido glanced at Emi, who was currently in a kimono. She didn't have socks on, and she had not bought a jacket when she snuck out.

Why did Shizuka care so much about the kid? She already surprised him yesterday when she had fed Emi, and now this? Prior to this, Shizuka had always been distant and uninterested, to the point that he didn't think she was capable of caring for another person.

"Fine but hurry up." Rido released his hold on Emi, who was soon scooped up by Shizuka and carried off to another room. He returned to the reception room and wiped away the dried blood on his lips.

Around a quarter of an hour later, when he was reaching the end of his patience, Shizuka returned with Emi in her arms. Emi was now wearing her original socks and shoes, but with the addition of a fur muffler around her neck and a bow in her hair. Rido snorted upon seeing his sister. The muffler was too big for her, and she resembled a fur ball with legs. At least the brat was definitely warm now.

"That was the only thing I could find to keep her warm," Shizuka said as she set Emi down. She handed a clothe bundle to Emi.

"You can keep the toys…" Shizuka paused for a second, unsure what else to say. "Goodbye."

"Alright, we have a train to catch." Rido grabbed Emi's wrist and started moving towards the door.

Shizuka remained standing in her spot as she watched them leave. She probably wouldn't see Emi again for a long time, maybe not until Emi was grown up. By then, Emi might not even remember her. She felt an uncomfortable tightness in her chest and quickly suppressed it – she had always been good at burying her emotions before they even became clear to her.

As Rido stepped out of the cage, Emi broke free from his hold without warning. She ran back to Shizuka and hugged her legs.

"I'll be back, Shizu-nee!" Emi grinned, then ran back to Rido before Shizuka could respond. She waved to Shizuka and Shizuka gave her an awkward little wave back.

Seeing that the goodbyes were finally over, Rido picked Emi up in his impatience and carried her all the way to the car. As they drove away, he glanced at Emi who was now assessing the contents of her clothe bundle. It contained her original clothes and some toys.

What did Emi mean when she said she would be back? That was unlikely to happen anytime soon. How did she get so attached to Shizuka over the course of a day and a half? And why did his icy fiancée care so much for the brat anyway? The affinity between those two was odd. Shizuka had never shown interest in any of his other family members before (not that they visited her much, despite constantly nagging him to do so).

"I have no idea what she sees in you," he muttered, thinking out loud.

Emi looked up from her loot.

"She say I'm bery cute," Emi then gave him the smuggest smile he had ever seen a kid make, before adding, "unlike you."

Kohei made a weird choking sound from the driver seat, trying unsuccessfully to hide his laugh. Rido sent his valet a frosty look before turning his glare back to Emi. He clenched his fists and resisted the urge to smack the self-satisfied look off the toddler. Every day this child tested his patience. As if a headstrong fiancée wasn't enough, the heavens decided to make his life harder with a troublesome sister. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his flask. Fortunately, he had bought some brandy with him or else he wouldn't be able to survive the train ride back with the goblin.

After a long and torturous overnight journey, Rido finally made it back to the Kuran manor. He was exhausted and cross, especially since Emi had annoyed him with a den-den drum for most of the ride home. (In his paranoia, he wondered if Shizuka had purposely given Emi the drum for such an insidious reason.) As the car neared the entrance, he saw his parents standing outside the mansion waiting for them.

Before Rido even finished exiting the car, Kyoko dashed over, almost shoved him out of the way, and grabbed Emi.

"Emi!" Kyoko cried, her tone a mixture of anger, concern, and relief. She hugged Emi tight, as if trying to absorb her baby back into her body. "How could you make mommy worry like that?"

Emi made a whining sound at how uncomfortably tight her mom's grip was.

Kyoko frowned and pinched her cheeks, her pinch stronger than usual. "You are so grounded!"

I'm pretty much always grounded anyway! Emi was unfazed by Kyoko's declaration, until she heard the follow up.

"And no dessert or sweets for two weeks!"

"No!" Emi protested.

"Oh you!" Kyoko fumed, and pinched Emi's cheeks even harder. She relaxed her pinch when she saw Emi sulk and wondered if she should bother with punishment as Emi was only a toddler...how much of a lesson could she really learn at that age? And after all, what she really cared about was that Emi had returned safe and sound.

"Did you have fun with Shizuka?"

Emi nodded.

Kyoko sighed, at least Emi had been well cared for. And it was nice knowing Shizuka had a nurturing side to her. She started looking Emi over, in the clothes Shizuka had given her. The light green kimono peeked out from under the white fur muffler. Of course her baby looked adorable even in traditional clothes. The muffler was too big, but it looked warm and soft, prompting her to touch it.

Is it fox or sable? As Kyoko stroked the muffler over Emi's chest, she felt something hard. She looked quizzically at Emi, who now wore that guilty face she did when caught doing something she wasn't supposed to. Following her maternal instincts for detecting trouble, she slipped her hand into Emi's kimono collar and retrieved a very familiar pearl and gold brooch.

"Emi!" Kyoko scowled. "Why do you have this?"

"Shizu-nee gave!"

"Oh, I'll deal with you later!" Kyoko huffed and confiscated the brooch. She finally turned to Rido who had been reluctantly making small talk with Hiroshi nearby.

"Did Shizuka not like the gift?"

He shrugged. "I don't think she likes anything."

Kyoko frowned. "There must be something she likes. As her fiancé, you should get to know her likes and dislikes."

"Shizu-nee no like Wido!" Emi interrupted proudly, causing Rido to glare daggers at her.

"Nobody asked you, you cheeky little thing!" Kyoko scolded.

Hiroshi took the chance to take Emi from his wife's hold. He had missed his darling little girl and was glad to have her back. Seeing her mope from Kyoko's rebuke, he playfully tapped her nose and slipped her a piece of candy when Kyoko looked away. Emi smiled conspiratorially at her dad.

Kyoko had turned her attention back to her son. The situation between Rido and Shizuka was more dire than she had thought if even a toddler could pick up on Shizuka's dissatisfaction!

"Anyway, Shizuka may just be feeling shy around you because you don't visit her enough," Kyoko suggested. That was probably it, she reasoned. After all, her eldest son was so handsome, capable and responsible, even if he was just a tad selfish, arrogant, and stubborn. She brushed the latter half of her thoughts away – it's not as if her son was not the only man afflicted with those issues. Just look at Hiroshi! She and her husband had had rough patches in their marriage too, but it was all in the past.

"She is just abnormal, like her mother," Rido muttered.

"Don't say that!" Kyoko reproached him sharply, startling Emi with her sudden change in tone. "That whole incident was dreadful, and if anything, you should pay her more attention knowing that!"

What incident? Emi was curious but from her mom's tone, it seemed a touchy topic. One day when she is older, she'll ask Juri to spill the tea.

"Anyway, go rest dear, you must be tired," Kyoko said, back to her usual gentle tone.

Rido merely nodded and headed into the mansion.

Hiroshi reached over to squeeze his wife's hand. "At least he went to see Shizuka this time."

"Yes, hopefully the visit went well overall." Kyoko replied. She leaned against her husband's shoulder for a moment then turned to Emi.

"You naughty child!" She glowered at Emi. "Don't think I've forgotten you!"

Emi sighed mentally and prepared herself for the upcoming reprimand. It was time to pay the price for her outdoor venture, but she didn't regret it one bit.

A/N: Just another day with Emi creeping on people as they sleep, Rido being a jerk, Hiroshi rewarding bad behavior, and Kyoko being in denial about her son.