This is Lotus

This is Saiki

Saiki and Lotus

~Thoughts of others~

It's a New New New New Year!

"~Hehehe…the time has come. I've been watching the house closely, weeks of research have built up to this moment, and now is the time to strike!~"

Makoto chuckled to himself as he approached the Yamaguchi home. He'd been watching the home for an unsettling amount of time, waiting for the perfect moment, like a predator waiting to pounce upon its unsuspecting prey. He'd been waiting for the moment when Violet and Ethan would leave the home, meaning Lotus would be by herself.

"~I knew those two couldn't resist that special New Year's couple's lunch flyer I put in their mailbox. Now that that purple-haired banshee is gone, I can approach my darling wife! I'll swoop her off her feet and give her a magical day out. She'll fall head over heels!~"

From the upstairs window of the home, the blinds of the window were drawn as Lotus looked outside. Her lips were pulled back, as a cringing expression painted her face.

Makoto stepped out of a nearby bush, dusting off any stray leaves and snow that clung to him. He adjusted his jacket and smiled making his way over to the home. He paused, giving himself one more opportunity to check his hair, before he rang the doorbell, waiting for Lotus to answer. Well, the door did open, but it wasn't Lotus who answered it.

Makoto almost bit his tongue as a titan of a man stood in the doorway.

"~Who the heck is this guy?! And what is he doing in my wife's house?!~"

"Hmm, so Dad answered the door instead of Mom. I wonder if that's better or worse for him?"

"Yes, is there something I can help you with?" Takumi asked

"I uh…"

Takumi towered over Makoto, the idol having to look up to meet his gaze with the older man.

"Yo Takumi, who's at the door?"

Camellia approached, peering around her husband to look at Makoto.

"~Now a random woman?! Who are these people?! Wait! I see it…these must be her parents! Yes, this skyscraper man looks like that brutish older sister and this woman…yes, I direct hints and notes of my lovely lady Lotus within her features.~"

"Hints and notes? She's not sampling wine."

"~So these are my future in-laws?~"

"No, they aren't."

"~Ah, then all I have to do is turn on the charm, and they'll be putty in my hands! I'll most definitely get a blessing from them. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to bless our union, no-! They'll be begging when they see I'm the most perfect fit for their daughter! Any other man is nothing but garbage compared to me!~"

"Oh, you poor man. I say I'd feel bad for you, but you have this coming."

Makoto put on his best charming smile as he introduced himself.

"Hello, my name is Mugami Tooru!"

Makoto paused waiting for the gasps of awe and surprise but when it didn't come the young man's brows furrowed in confusion.

"Aaaaand?" Camellia questioned, raising a brow.

"Uh…do you not know who I am?" Makoto asked

"Nope," Camellia said, with a pop of the "P".

"~What?!~"

"Dear," Takumi glanced down at his wife. "This man is a famous idol."

"~Wait if you knew who I was then how come you didn't react! What kind of person just stares blankly when they come face to face with a pop idol!?~"

"Oooh, no wonder I have no clue. Yeah, I don't keep up with celeb stuff, I got too many things to cram into my brain to worry about what goes on in some random strangers' life. This big lug though-" Camellia chuckled, gesturing to Takumi. "-eats that kind of stuff up! So whatcha doing here?"

"I'm here to speak with-!"

"Hey!"

Makoto's back went stiff as he heard the shrill cry of Violet.

"~What's she doing back?!~"

"Dad grab him! That's the pervert who's been harassing Lotus!" Violet shouted

"What!" Camellia snapped

Takumi, with a still calm expression on his face, grabbed the back of Makoto's shirt, and with just one arm easily lifted him up off the ground.

"Ahhh! Hold on wait!" Makoto said

"Sooo-" Camellia got in close, glaring at Makoto. "-you messing with my baby, huh? Takumi! Get him out of my face!"

Takumi grabbed the back of Makoto's pants and hauled the celebrity up in a classic hold you'd see bouncers perform as they prepped to toss out rowdy patrons. Takumi reeled Makoto back then swung forward, throwing him clear across the yard.

"Aaaaahhhh!"

Makoto screamed as he easily cleared the yard's fence, landing face-first in a fresh pile of snow.

"And if I see your face again you'll be dealing with me personally and trust me I'm the crazy parent!" Camellia shouted

"Ah, mom, mama bear doesn't even begin to describe you."

Winter break was over, so that meant only one thing. School was back in session.

Lotus and Saiki walked together to school as per usual. Just like any day the duo walked to school along the way they were joined by Kaidou, Hairo, and Nendou.

Kaidou sported a new face accessory, a face mask. This was most likely because of the clear cold he had if his constant coughing said anything about it.

"Come down with a cold Kaidou?" Hairo asked

"Ah, kinda," Kaidou answered, in a rough raspy voice.

"If you are sick, go to the hospital, not school."

Kaidou lowered his mask, revealing his flushed and sweat-drenched face.

"Isn't it obvious? It's a new biological weapon that Dark Reunion has released on the earth as part of the first stage to destroy the world."

"Just go to the doctor."

"And please put your mask back on."

"Gee runt your so weak," Nendou said

"Come on, everyone catches colds!" Kaidou shouted, sending himself into a coughing fit.

"So it is a cold. Though not everyone catches colds. I never have because of physic powers."

"Hmmm…I didn't know psychic powers did that."

"I've never caught one," Nendou said

"Yea, come to think of it neither have I," Hairo said

"That's not normal."

Kuboyasu walked by, he is too sporting a white face mask.

"Kuboyasu? You have a cold too?"

The glasses-wearing former punk turned around, confusion in his eyes.

"You're wearing a mask!" Kaidou exclaimed

"Oh right," Kuboyasu said

"See everyone-"

Kaidou's words were drowned out due to another round of coughing.

"Both of your bodies are so weak. Not me," Nendou said

"Oh, I get it. Goody goodies only wear face masks when they catch colds," Kuboyasu muttered

"For punks, it's a fashion statement."

The day rolled by quickly, the teachers seemed to be as enthused to be back in school as the students. Before anyone knew it, it was lunchtime. Lotus sat next to Saiki at their usual table, Kaidou sitting across from the two.

Of the three Kaidou was the only one who ate a school-bought meal, Lotus and Saiki, however, both had their own homemade bento's. Lotus's box was pink, while Saiki's was green. It was only known to the two of them, that the two bento's were a matching set, and that the food resting inside had been cooked by Lotus.

"Hey, buddies! Runt!"

The trio took their attention off their meals to look Nendou's way. The taller teen started busting moves, dancing in a ridiculous manner.

"Look! My first weird dance of the year!"

"My first time not caring."

"First weird face," Nendou said

He scrunched up his face and stuck out his tongue while crossing his eyes.

"Not true. Your face is always weird."

"He better be careful or it'll get stuck like that."

"That would be an improvement."

"Quit fooling around, you dumb jerk! Take my first Ultimate Night Storm!" Kaidou said with his nasally voice.

"Hey Mera."

Nendou turned, completely, ignoring Kaidou.

"Is that your first ramen of the year?" Nendou asked

Mera sat by herself at the table next over, looking ever delighted, face stuffed with noodles.

"Actually, it's my first meal of the year. I finally got paid today! I was mostly just living on grass and snow, I thought I was gonna die," she said.

"I'm surprised and amazed you didn't."

"Uh, we're already 20 days into the new year already."

Lotus sat happily at her desk with the newest issue of manga she had gotten. Of course, Saiki sat next to her at his own desk, wearing his typical apathetic expression. Behind him, Takahashi and his crew had moved their desks together to face one another.

"What were you guys doing at the start of the New Year?" Takahashi asked

"Huh? Why are you asking that now?" Jaga said

"I wasn't even on Earth the moment the New year began!" Takahashi said

"That's amazing!" Jaga said

"Yeah, that is amazing Takahashi. Amazing that you'd brag about something so stupid!" Shuuji said

"Oh, give me a break! You must've done something like that at least once!" Takahashi said

"Well, I tried it once when I was little, but it wasn't all that much fun for me. All I could think to say was that the Earth was blue."

"Wait…" Lotus lowered her manga. "You actually left earth?"

Before Saiki could devel deeper into that, Reita popped up next to the couple.

"What were you two doing at the start of the new year?"

"You too? If you wanna leave Earth, I'll do whatever I can to help."

Reita, smirked, looking back and forth between the two.

"Don't tell you two were-"

The Medium was cut off by the dark aura that wafted from both Saiki and Lotus, the latter glaring over the edges of her manga.

"You'll only finish that sentence if you no longer value your life."

Reita looked away, quite scared, and coughed clearing his throat as he recomposed himself.

"I was busy ringing the new year's bell at the temple," He said.

"You rang it 108 times to rid yourself of your 108 earthly desires, right."

"Sounds like the perfect job for you."

"Yeah, but after seven or eight times my hands hurt, so I quit," Reita said

"Earthly desires."

"Then a bunch of people came who wanted to ring the bell, so I joked it'd be a 1000 yen a ring, and they actually paid! I made a killing!" Reita said

"Earthly desires."

"There was this one girl with huge boobs, every time she rang they bounced like crazy!" Reita said with a perverse smirk.

"Earthly desires."

"Anyway, the new year's bell is the best!" Reita said

"Next time, hit your head 108 times."

"And if your hands get too tired I'll do it for you," Lotus said

Lotus snuggled a bit more into her scarf. Despite the fact that it was snowing outside, the students still had to participate in physical education, and for some ridiculous reason, it had to be outside.

"Hey guys, let's have a snowball fight!" Nendou said

Hairo gasped, reacting quickly he dug his hand into the snow, grabbing a large chunk of the fallen frost.

"A snowball fight sounds like fun. No matter what type of fight, I will defeat Nendou! I will!"

The burning passion of Hairo's will to win caused the snowball in his hand to melt.

"Hairo, it's melting. It's melting!" A group of students shouted.

Hairo quickly made another snowball.

"I'll just try again."

He launched the snowball at Nendou, but the thing melted before it could even make contact.

"Hairo, it's melting. It's melting!"

"Why? What's happening?"

"Hey guys, look, we made an igloo. Come on, get in."

Everyone minus Saiki and Lotus piled into the igloo but the moment Hairo stepped in the snowy structure started melting.

"Hairo, it's melting. It's melting!"

"Why is this…happening to me!" Hairo shouted

The surrounding snow started to melt rapidly, the bare ground making an appearance as all the snow vanished.

"Hairo, it's melting. It's melting!"

"Welcome to the world of psychics."

"I really hope that's not a skill I end up copying."

Teruhashi opened her mailbox and she frowned to find that it was empty.

"~Seriously? Nothing for me again? What's going on?~"

"How on earth hasn't Saiki sent me a reply to my New Year's card!? After going back and forth, I even signed it with a heart. And yet still nothing! This is impossible! There's gotta be a reason!"

Teruhashi gasped, her mind coming up with a scenario.

"Could it be that…he's afraid I'll start hating him if he accidentally writes the wrong thing?"

Teruhashi gasped again, this time in an even more dramatic fashion.

"Maybe…Or maybe his handwriting is so embarrassing that he has to take penmanship lessons first! That's possible right! Or maybe he wants to keep me in suspense! Does he enjoy torturing me like this? Who does he think he is?! Yeah, that's possible, right!?"

In the next street over stood Lotus and Saiki, slightly obscured by a wall, as they gazed at Teruhashi's home, the girl's loud cries echoing through the neighborhood.

Saiki held in his hand his reply letter to Teruhashi's new year's letter. A simple and generic thank you letter.

"I am conflicted. To get her interest to go down, should I give this to her or not?"

He'd picked the plainest card in the whole store, signing it only with his name. No embellishment, nothing special. He'd hope by giving her a below-average card would make her lose interest, but now he's not so sure.

Saiki glanced Lotus's way, and the girl wasn't looking at him, rather she was pouting ever so slightly.

"Lotus? Are you jealous?"

Lotus sighed. "Yeah…I don't mean to be, really! It's just natural that a girl would feel this way when her boyfriend is being pinned after by another girl. One really tenacious girl who always seems to get her way. I know we're a couple, and you have no interest in her, but I can't help it. Honestly, I don't want you to give it to her because it'll only encourage her but…"

Lotus groaned, grabbing her head.

"Gahh! My jealous side doesn't want you to. But I have such a strong sense of right and wrong, I know it's the right thing to do to give her a "Thank You" reply even if it's just that plain meaningless piece of paper. My cordiality demands it must be given."

"Cordiality?"

"Oh yeah, I'm trying to expand my vocabulary," Lotus said

"It's working."

"Thanks, but…I'm sorry Saiki, I can't tell you what you can and can't do. I also shouldn't let my jealousy interfere. Sorry," Lotus said

"Hmmm."

Saiki tucked the letter away, then grabbed Lotus's hand.

"Huh? But the letter?"

"It's best not to give it to her anyway. Come on, we were going to a café right?"

"Y-Yeah," Lotus said