WOW HELLO.

Hi guys! I am so sorry for being out for like, 3 and a half months but I just really needed to take a break from all my stories and enjoy the first half of my summer without stress. But I guess I'll update you on what I've done since March.

Number 1: I finished classes end of March and turned in my last assignment on the 4th of May. Since then I've been out of class and I don't go back to uni until late September. Basically l'll be out for half the year. I flew back to the US on June 11th and have been with my family at home.

Number 2: Since June actually, we've had SO many guests come in and out of the house from friends to relatives who've all stayed for a minimum of a week so we've gone to many places, done a lot of things and had to clean up a lot too. The last guest that was here left two weeks ago so up until that point our house was occupied.

Number 3: We've been going out many times to all these different parties so it wasn't just us at home, not to mention we hosted quite a few events ourselves. It's been a lot of work but it was fun and we have a shit ton of extra drinks and food left that I'm gonna get around to eventually.

Number 4: I actually started self teaching myself Japanese last month and it's easier than I thought it would be. I can already read stuff in hiragana and write a few things too. Anyone who wants to learn Japanese and is curious as to how I'm learning, PM me anytime and I'll send you my resources.

Number 5: We travelled! Actually I'm typing this in my hotel room in Dubai. We got in yesterday and I slept for 10 hours after eating and showering so I've actually been up all night. It's 6:22 a.m. and I haven't slept. I don't think I'm gonna sleep until tonight. But yeah my dad wouldn't let me bring my laptop for safety reasons so I've had to finish and edit this chapter on my iPad, so it's a pain in the ass but sometimes in life you gotta hustle, and so hustle I will.

A final thing I want to say is thank you for the response to my last chapter while I was out! It's been really hard to get back into writing after so long so thank you for all the readers who have patiently waited for my update. I hope I won't be out for too long this time! Anyway, onto the main event, here's what you've been waiting for. So, without further ado...

Please enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 18

"Wow Bokushi-kun, your house is so huge!"

Once the door had been closed and Midorima and Miyoko had been let inside, the little girl had already began running around excitedly, looking every which way to inspect the large property as her brother begrudgingly went along with Masaomi to the living room.

Bokushi was a little bit further behind her, holding her overnight bag as he watched her from a distance. He sighed, shaking his head in amusement.

"Is my house really that amazing to you?"

She whipped around to face him with a wide smile on her face.

"Are you kidding?" she said. "It's awesome! I've never seen a house this big before. What's over here?"

Without even waiting for an answer, she was already darting off in the direction of the dining room, turning the corner so suddenly that she almost ran into the butler who happened to be walking out. Bokushi blinked in surprise, rushing over when he saw Miyoko stumble back a bit. The butler, who was also stunned, immediately dipped his head down in apology.

"Terribly sorry," he said. "I must have not been looking where I was going. Are you all right?"

Miyoko nodded. "I'm okay," she said. Bokushi, who managed to catch up to them, turned to Miyoko with an exasperated look.

"Please try not to run so fast, Miyoko," he said. "You might get hurt."

"Okay."

Bokushi now turned to look up at the butler. "You are all right as well, aren't you? Neither of you ran into each other?"

The butler bowed to him. "I can assure you that the both of us are unharmed, Young Master. Speaking of which…" The butler turned his attention back to the little girl staring up at him, a kind smile on his face. "May I have the honor of being introduced to your friend here?"

Miyoko, realizing that she should introduce herself, bows to the elderly man with her own smile.

"Hi! I'm Miyoko and I'm five years old. Thank you for having me."

"It is my utmost pleasure to be taking care of you this weekend," said the butler. "I look forward to knowing more about you."

"What's your name?"

The man blinked. "Pardon?"

"Your name," Miyoko repeated. "What's your name?"

The butler seemed surprised at her question. But his composure soon returned, answering her question with no hesitation.

"Junichi. Abe Junichi. But Abe-san is fine, Young Madame."

Miyoko smiled and offered her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Abe-san!"

As Miyoko outstretched her hand to the man, Bokushi stood and watched without saying a word. Normally, working as house staff for people such as his father meant that the staff weren't as acknowledged as they should be. In wealthy families, the 'help' is often seen as nothing more than that. Just employed servants who are there to fulfill their duties to whoever they are working for.

In hindsight, people can treat servants however they want, to a certain extent. To them, there was never really a need to say thank you when they served you at dinner, or when they cleaned your room, or when they drove you to your destination. After all, that was what they were hired to do in the first place. So, when it came to entering someone else's home, it was very rare for anyone to ask for the name of any staff member and then proceed to greet them as normal. For the type of people Seijuro and Bokushi had lived around, it was completely unheard of.

But the funny thing about children is that they tend to disregard that rule. That was probably why the butler looked so surprised at having been asked to introduce himself. It was so different from the way he was used to being treated by guests that it took him off guard. But Bokushi could see the smile on his face, a little bit brighter and warmer than before as he took her offered hand and shook it gently.

"It is nice to meet you as well."

~O~

The tick-tock of the clock sitting on the mantelpiece was the only thing keeping Midorima sane as he sat on one side of the sofa in the living room. A maid had come in a few moments ago and served him freshly brewed tea, and while Midorima had taken a small sip and deemed it the best damn tea he's ever had in his sixteen years of life, he didn't think he had the stomach to finish it. Not when Akashi Masaomi in the flesh was sitting on the opposite side of the sofa, staring so intently into Midorima's eyes that Midorima swore he was trying to read his mind.

He took a deep breath—because if he needed anything at that moment it was oxygen (and perhaps a distraction so he could leg it to the front door)—taking in the aroma of his tea. He felt slightly calmer and decided to speak first.

"I must thank you again for allowing my younger sister to stay here, Akashi-san."

"It was no trouble at all," Masaomi replied. "Any member of the Midorima family is welcome here."

Like I'd want to come back here, Midorima thought to himself. He felt like a gazelle standing in front of a hungry lion.

"I am honored that we are welcome in your household," he says carefully, making sure every word that comes out of his mouth is calculated and perfectly constructed. "I hope that Miyoko will not disturb you in any way. She can sometimes get excitable and I understand that you work most of the week."

Masaomi raised a hand to dismiss his statement.

"No need for your concern, Midorima-kun," he replied. "My schedule has been relatively freed up this weekend, so there is little opportunity to 'disturb', as you call it."

"Of course." Midorima distracted himself by taking another sip of tea as he reflected on Masaomi's words for a bit. It was usually rare that Akashi's father had free time from what Akashi had told him in middle school. It was rather coincidental that the one weekend he happened to be free was the weekend that Miyoko would be staying in the Akashi household. He frowned.

Did he perhaps do that on purpose…?

"So, Midorima-kun…"

Forest-green eyes shot back up to the intimidating figure sitting opposite him. Masaomi now had his legs elegantly crossed, leaning back on his elbow that was on the armrest of the sofa.

"Do tell me more about yourself. What are you currently doing with yourself these days?"

Midorima expected at least this much from Masaomi if he was to be questioned. At least he could answer in a straightforward manner.

"As the first term of the year is ending, I am preparing for end-of-term assignments and the like." The response was quick and automatic. Midorima couldn't count how many times he had used this response whenever an adult had asked him about school.

Masaomi nodded slowly. "I see," he said. "And I presume you are preparing for upcoming basketball tournaments as well."

"Yes," said Midorima. He adjusted his glasses. "Our team may have not been victorious in the Winter Cup, but we will not lose a second time."

"Which school do you play for, Midorima-kun?"

"Shuutoku High School," Midorima answered. "Our team had placed third in the Winter Cup."

"Ah, right below Rakuzan," Masaomi had muttered more to himself than Midorima. "Interesting… Remind me of the name of the team that had placed first."

"Seirin High School. Their team strategies had surprised everyone this year."

"Is there anyone on that team that had played for Teiko?"

Midorima paused, the cup of tea he was holding making it only halfway up to his lips before deciding to put it down altogether.

"Kuroko Tetsuya," he said. "He was our Phantom Sixth Man back in middle school."

"Kuroko Tetsuya… The one who had a birthday party earlier this year, no?"

Midorima narrowed his eyes slightly. Why would he bother asking such a question? And how did he know about that in the first place?

"Yes, he did," said Midorima, attempting to mask the confusion in his voice but not quite succeeding. "Our former manager had arranged a streetball match and asked everyone to join."

"Ah, yes, I remember Seijuro mentioning he was going to attend the celebration when he briefly came back to Tokyo," Masaomi recounted. "You Teiko members keep in contact, then."

"…Yes, we do." Midorima still was not able to predict where exactly this conversation was going. Either way, it was inevitable, but it would be nice to know the reason Akashi's father was suddenly grilling him about his—their personal life. What did Midorima, Kuroko, Momoi, or anyone from Teiko, matter to this man? What they do shouldn't really concern him, yet here he was asking strange questions.

Nevertheless, Masaomi nodded at his answer, unaware (or that's what Midorima would like to think since Akashi's father seems to be aware of everything) of Midorima's bewilderment.

"Fascinating…" The man rested his chin on his hand, eyeing Midorima from those strange golden eyes of his. "You must be keeping in touch with Bokushi as well since he visits your house more frequently than ever."

Midorima spotted the boy in question out of the corner of his eye, trailing after Miyoko as she skipped over to the staircase. His eyes then flickered back to Masaomi, who was waiting for an answer.

"Of course," he said. "Even before he became his own person, we were in the same year, and we spent time together playing basketball, so it would only be natural that we continue the nature of our relationship."

"Which would be?"

Midorima paused for a moment, thinking about what the question was implying. The only people he actually spent time with these days were everyone from Teiko, his current teammates, and anyone in between, like Kagami, or any other person's teammates. However, Akashi was still the one person he got along the most with, the only one he'd play shogi with, or the only one he'd have intellectual conversations with. But he never really considered what Akashi even was to him. Looking back, Midorima didn't think he even addressed that. Back then, despite how much time they spent in each other's company, he was still a classmate, but Midorima saw now that it was probably something more significant than that.

The word he should probably use to describe their relationship is embarrassing in itself to say for Midorima, he's never called anyone by that, nor did he really want to. But he cannot deny the fact that Akashi was really not just a mere classmate to him by this point, especially after Midorima wanted to bring Akashi back to his original self so badly in the Winter Cup. He pursed his lips together and glanced off to the side.

"We are… friends, I suppose," he answered. "And Miyoko seems to be rather fascinated with him as well."

"So it seems," said Masaomi. "How exactly did she become acquainted with him?"

"Well, I was originally taking her to the park, and I happened to run into Akashi and Bokushi there, along with Kuroko. When Bokushi introduced himself to Miyoko, she began to take an interest. After that, I had agreed that Miyoko could invite him to our house whenever she wanted."

"Mm." Masaomi took a moment to take a reflective sip of his tea. "They seem to have an interesting dynamic, your sister and Bokushi."

"It is strange, but they somehow complement each other. At the very least, Bokushi is interacting with a friend while Akashi is in Kyoto. Before this, Akashi was wondering how Bokushi would spend his time, as all of us are in school and you…"

At that last word, Midorima abruptly stopped himself before he could finish the sentence, suddenly overcome with what seemed to be minor panic, making Masaomi raise an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

I cannot believe this, Midorima thought to himself. I cannot believe I almost finished that sentence, in fact.

It was one thing to point out that Bokushi was bored at home, but it was another thing to then drag Akashi's father into the equation. Midorima was seriously glad he caught himself before it was too late.

"Before this, Akashi was wondering how Bokushi would spend his time, as all of us are in school and you…"

And you don't seem to have the time to spend with him.

While he didn't really concern himself that much with Akashi's family life, there was something about Akashi's father that stirred up a bit of irritation inside him. Perhaps because he knew that he was solely responsible for Akashi turning out the way he did. Just knowing that made him annoyed, especially since his father didn't seem to care back in middle school, or at least, that was the impression he got from Masaomi when he met him for the first time back at the Teiko graduation ceremony.

Although now, from what Bokushi had been telling him anyway, Masaomi seemed to be changing in that aspect. But he was not about to go and tell the man that he was not doing his job as a father correctly—most certainly not in his own house.

Midorima shook his head vigorously. "Nothing, Akashi-san."

The man's other eyebrow shot up as well as he stared at Midorima with a quizzical expression. "Is that so?"

You know it's not, thought Midorima. It was Akashi Masaomi he was talking to. Of course, the man knew that something was up. But that did not change the fact that he was not going to finish that sentence.

"Yes, sir."

Masaomi stared at him for a bit longer after hearing his answer but then dismissed the topic with an elegant flick of his hand.

"If you say so. I assume what you were about to say must not be that urgent. Anyway…" He uncrossed his legs and then crossed them again with his other leg, intertwining his fingers in his lap and locking eyes with Midorima once more, making the boy twitch at the discomfort he was feeling.

"Where were we?"

Midorima shuddered. This is going to be a long conversation…

~O~

Bokushi followed behind Miyoko as she climbed up the stairs watching her run up in excitement, the little girl giggling all the way.

"C'mon, Bokushi-kun, hurry up! I wanna see upstairs!"

"Really, are you that excited to see what's upstairs?" he inquired.

Miyoko reached the top of the staircase before looking down at him and flashing a smile.

"Of course I am!" she said. "It's amazing! Just like a castle."

"Well, I hardly…" Instead of finishing, Bokushi simply just left it at that. She was five years old, of course, a child would be in awe of such a house. Their house wasn't exactly any old apartment flat. It was an actual mansion. Even adults were taken aback walking into this house at times.

"Yes, I suppose it is like a castle," Bokushi replied. "If you would like to see it in that way. Now, follow me so I can put your bag in my room."

When Bokushi had also reached the top of the stairs, he walked in the direction of the East Wing, turning back to beckon Miyoko to follow him.

"Come, it's this way."

Miyoko nodded and caught up to him before continuing to walk ahead, wanting to explore the hallway they were walking through. Every little thing amazed her about Bokushi's house. From the vase sitting on the table to the pictures hanging from the wall, there was nothing that the girl didn't stop and stare at. Bokushi just ended up watching her, somewhat taken aback that a child could be so interested in the hallway of his house.

"Wow. I was right. Your house really is like a castle," Miyoko said in awe. "It's so fancy."

Bokushi said nothing in response to that, deflecting the compliment. "My room is this way. Follow me."

Miyoko nodded and followed behind Bokushi as he took him to a dark wooden door with a golden-colored doorknob. When he twisted it, he pushed the door open, allowing Miyoko to go first to see the inside of the bedroom.

If she was impressed by the hallway, words could not describe how shocked she was by seeing what was in Bokushi's room. Her mouth flew open when she looked around at the large bedroom.

"Bokushi-kun, your room is so cool!" she said. "It's way bigger than mine. My parents have a bed like yours at home."

"Is that so?" As much as Bokushi disliked having his house compared with other people's houses, children were brutally honest and said whatever came to mind. Miyoko was not wrong when she said that his house was bigger, so he wasn't going to correct her. For now, he would just let her run around, which was exactly what she was doing as she had already climbed on his bed and was standing on it as if she had just reached the summit of Mount Fuji.

Well, at least she had taken off her shoes first.

"Look how high I am off the ground!" she called to him. "Is this really your bed?"

"Yes, it is," said Bokushi. "You seem to enjoy it."

"Yes, I enjoy it. It's perfect for jumping." As if to prove her point, she began jumping up and down on the bed, smiling as she bounced around. "Mommy and daddy never let me jump on the bed. I don't know why though, it's loads of fun!"

She abruptly stopped and began staring at Bokushi, who in turn looked at her in question, his eyebrow raised.

"What is it?" he asked.

"You don't wanna jump?" Miyoko inquired. "Are you not allowed?"

"It's not that I'm not allowed—"

"Then come on!"

She bent down and suddenly grabbed his hand, pulling him up as best as she could onto the bed. Despite not wanting to climb on the bed in the first place, Bokushi surrendered himself to his fate and hoisted himself on, putting Miyoko's overnight bag to one side as he stood next to her.

As soon as he had stood himself on the bed, Miyoko began to jump up and down again, having fun by herself but furrowed her eyebrows when she saw that Bokushi was still not moving.

"Come on, aren't you gonna jump? It's really fun."

"Well…" Bokushi gazed off to the side.

Miyoko blinked. "Do you not know how?"

"No, I obviously know how to jump," Bokushi retorted, wondering how she could possibly come to that conclusion. "I just—"

"Just what?"

It took every ounce of energy he had to hold back an eye-roll. Out of all the things to ask him to do, he really did not want to jump on the bed. Although those kinds of terms of whether he was allowed to or not were never discussed with his father, it wasn't like he ever wanted to do it anyway.

Jumping on the bed always sounded silly to him, even as a kid. Never did he have any desire to stand on his bed and jump up and down. But now here he was, standing on his bed with his five-year-old companion who was waiting for him to jump and wasn't going to stop staring at him until he did something.

Bokushi sighed. This is going to be so embarrassing…

"Alright, alright," he finally said, his shoulders slumping in defeat. "I'll jump."

"Yay!" Miyoko shouted with joy. "Bokushi-kun's gonna jump!"

"But…" Bokushi held a hand up, effectively cutting off her celebration. "For thirty seconds. Just thirty seconds, though."

Miyoko seemed to find his terms and conditions odd, but she shrugged it off after a moment and her usual smile returned.

"Okay!" she said, and with that, began to jump once more.

Bokushi watched her jumping up and down for a few seconds before she turned to him and used her hand to beckon him to jump.

"Come on! You said you would."

How he wished he didn't.

Nevertheless, Bokushi was a man—well—boy of his word, and he wasn't going to now take back what he said on account of his pride. The sooner he started the sooner he could finish. He threw away whatever dignity he had left and sighed once more.

Let's just get this over with.

At first, he slowly began to just move up and down, not really jumping but not really standing still either, but then when Miyoko saw what he was doing, her expression took on something of disapproval.

"That's not jumping," she said. "You have to go higher than that."

Internally debating with himself for half a second, Bokushi came to the decision that he shouldn't say anything and just do what she asked, because if he started being difficult, he would end up on this bed for longer than he wanted to be. So, he began to actually jump this time, giving in to the girl's request. As he was jumping, however, he didn't realize how high he could actually go. He was surprised by the amount of height he could gain off of jumping. Not to say that he was enjoying it, but at the very least, he was slightly impressed.

Although, he was still not budging from his thirty-second rule.

"Look, Bokushi-kun!" Miyoko called to him as she went higher. "I know how to somersault. Watch this."

Eager to show her friend her trick, she ceased jumping and tumbled head over heels on the bed, successfully completing her somersault before looking over at him with a smug expression.

"It only took me one recess to learn this," she bragged. "I bet you don't know how to do it."

Bokushi was planning to ignore whatever boasting she was going to make to him after finishing her somersault, but at what she just said he couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Nonsense," Bokushi retorted. "Out of all the acrobatic maneuvers I've ever witnessed, somersaulting requires the least amount of skill. Of course, I can somersault."

Miyoko gestured to the bed below them. "Let me see!" she said to him. "Do a somersault!"

The boy sighed, weighing the options in his head before shrugging.

"Very well," he said. "Just this once."

With that, he mimicked her actions from before, tumbling head first, flipping himself over and rolling, landing back on his feet on the other side of the bed. When he was finished, he stood himself up again and looked at her.

"There. Are you satisfied?"

Miyoko seemed to be more amazed than put out at the fact that her assumption was wrong. Her eyes were practically sparkling as her mouth was open in awe.

"Bokushi-kun your somersault was way cooler than mine!" she said to him, jumping up and down. "How did you get yours so perfect?"

"It's really just a somersault, I don't understand what the fuss is about," he replied. "Just don't do it too slowly or else you'll lose your form. Keep still when you're rolling yourself over."

"Hmm…" Miyoko stroked her chin in thought as she stared down at the sheets. "Let me see you do it one more time so I can get it right."

Is it really that hard to figure out? Bokushi thought to himself. He shook his head. Whatever. She was still a child.

"Fine," he said. "Watch closely."

Again, he tumbled over head first and rolled on his back before landing back on his feet and ending up on the other side of the bed. Miyoko was impressed once more.

"Wow! The way you do it is so smooth and neat! You should do gymnastics!"

As strange as the circumstance he was currently in, he cracked a small smile, amused by Miyoko gushing over something as simple as somersault.

"Well, it really isn't anything to get excited over," he said, standing himself up. "But thank you any…"

As Bokushi was turning around, he trailed off when he caught someone standing by the door. It was one of the maids who was carrying a stack of towels. She had a knowing smile on her face, and from that, Bokushi knew that she must have been watching them. A wave of horror washed over him as his eyes widened in realization.

She must have seen me jumping around and somersaulting.

His cheeks began to turn red at the sheer embarrassment of one of the maids watching him behave like a child, but the flush on his face seemed to just make her smile even wider, and she turned and disappeared back into the hallway as if nothing happened. Bokushi watched her disappear before he could even open his mouth to explain, Miyoko noticing him staring at the now empty door frame and cocking her head to the side in question.

"What are you looking at?"

Bokushi turned to face her, taking in her expression of curiosity. However, instead of explaining, he just shook his head.

"It's nothing," he replied. "In fact, we've been up here for quite a while. I think it's about time we save—I mean get your brother from my father downstairs."

Miyoko nodded, finding nothing wrong with his behavior and deciding to go with what he suggested.

"Okay then," she said. "Let's go and get onii-chan."

With that, they both slid off the bed and left the room, on their way back to the living room downstairs.

...

Bokushi and Miyoko seemed to come downstairs at the right time because Midorima was at his limit with Masaomi. The amount of exhaustion written all over his face made it look like he ran two 10-kilometre marathons in the time they spent upstairs. That was what talking with Akashi Masaomi could do to people. Bokushi had never seen him look so stiff.

"Onii-chan, we're back!"

The switch from stress to relief on Midorima's face was so apparent that Bokushi couldn't help but wonder what his father actually said to him. But before Midorima could mention anything, though, Masaomi had already turned around, registering Bokushi and Miyoko approaching the sofas in the living room.

"You've returned, I see," Masaomi noted. "I presume you set your things down upstairs?"

"Yes," said Miyoko. "Bokushi-kun showed me around a bit, your house really is a castle!"

Her statement earned her the slightest raise of an eyebrow from Masaomi.

"A castle, you say," he began. "In what ways?"

"There are so many rooms, everything looks fancy, and you have Abe-san for a butler. Isn't that exactly like a castle?" The man thought for a moment.

"I suppose when you put it that way, our house does resemble a castle."

Miyoko nodded. "If this was a castle, then you'd be the king."

Bokushi almost scoffed at that as he shared a look with Midorima for a brief moment. 'Dictator' or 'Tyrant' would be a better comparison to use, but he supposed King would suffice.

His father seemed to somewhat appreciate the comparison, though. He could see the slightest bit of amusement dancing around in his eyes.

"Yes," he said. "Yes, I would be."

As Bokushi watched them go back and forth, he couldn't help but feel an air of awkwardness. He'd never witnessed his father talk with a child like Miyoko before. Even though his father has talked with children before such as Seijuro and himself in the past, the children of rich, aristocratic parents were different. They were quiet, calm and collected. Everything about the children of the rich in Japan was reserved. Especially their behavior. None of them got over-excited about anything. They didn't run around or scream, they didn't have meltdowns, they didn't jump around, and they didn't say anything that didn't need to be said. Bokushi was sure that if his father were still like he used to be, and he had said something like this, his father would've asked what type of benefit his statement would have had by him voicing it aloud, the answer being none. It was interesting how he was willing to entertain such a nonsensical conversation with Miyoko about whether or not their house looked like a castle.

Suddenly out of nowhere, however, Midorima interjected and effectively stopped his sister from saying anything else.

"I apologize for cutting this short," Midorima began "but I'm afraid that it is getting late, and my parents are expecting me home soon. If I may, Akashi-san..."

"Ah," Masaomi waved a nonchalant hand in Midorima's general direction. "I do believe I've kept you for quite a while. Allow me to walk you to the door."

As Masaomi walked to the front door, Midorima turned and began to trail behind him. As he exited the living room, he passed Bokushi, who looked amused by his weary expression.

"Would you like me to purchase a bigger lucky item for you next time?"

"Shut up. I don't want to hear another word from you, in fact," he muttered. "Just get me out of here."

"Your wish is my command, Shintarou."

They finally reached the front door, and Masaomi stood to the side to let Miyoko say goodbye to her older brother. She wrapped her arms around him in a hug as he stood at the doorway.

"Goodbye, onii-chan, I'll see you later!"

Midorima still seemed a bit out of it from whatever conversation he had with Bokushi's father, but he still hugged her back anyway.

"Goodbye, Miyoko," he said to her. "Behave yourself over the weekend. I'll come pick you up on Sunday, in fact." He looked up to Masaomi and bowed. "Thank you for the tea, Akashi-san."

"It was not a problem," said Masaomi. "Do travel safely."

"Yes."

Midorima turned to leave, but as he was doing so he glanced down at Bokushi for a moment. It was brief, but Bokushi was still able to catch what he was silently trying to tell him.

'Keep an eye on your father.'

Bokushi nodded lightly at him, and once Midorima saw that he understood, he was satisfied and was finally able to leave. So with that, glancing back at the house one last time, he went out of the driveway, down the block, and out of sight with Miyoko waving after him the whole time. Once he could be seen no more, the door was finally closed and the three of them were left in the foyer. Taking one look at Miyoko, and then another look at his father, Bokushi took a deep breath and let out a long, deep sigh.

Well, he thought. Let this sleepover from hell begin.

Thank you so much for waiting! I just wanna warn you that I'm gonna be traveling to a lot of different places between now and the next 2 weeks and so there are times where I will have no wifi, but I'll work on chapters in the meantime.

So until my next update, you know what to do...

Read and review please!