Chapter 7

The Kids are (not) Allright

When he woke up that day, he had expected the usual, rather silent breakfast, that he normally shared with his family on the weekends.

They all weren't that talkative anyway, so it was usually Komachi who carried the flow of the conversation, bless her soul.

He did not get any of that though, and instead what he found when he walked downstairs was Komachi, still wearing her pajamas, seemingly frozen in place in the living room, with a sheet of paper in her hand.

And when he had walked closer to see what the issue was, she had simply given him said paper without saying a thing.

After reading it though, he couldn't blame her even a bit.

After all...

"What do you mean mom and dad left the country?!"

It was an oversimplification of what he had read, sure, but that was the end point, right?

Apparently, they had both gotten a big promotion on their jobs, ones that somehow involved worrking overseas efectively inmediately, to the point they didn't even have a chance to say goodbye.

Even the letter had been obviously written in a hurry, as his mom's usually neaty handwritte looked far messier than usual.

But those were details that he cared little about, for right there was only one thing going through his head.

This was fucked up, wasn't it?

Like, he didn't care how big of a promotion they got, wasn't this just straight up neglectful?! Surely, leaving your kids to fend for themselves was highly immoral, if not straight up illegal, right?!

And since when did their parents were being considered for a promotion like that? As far as he knew they were as middle-of-the-road office workers as they could get, most definitely not the kind that got sent overseas to work for, admittedly, crazy amount of money.

Wasn't that kind of stuff reserved for those that had connections with the higher ups of society? To someone like the Hayamas, or the Yuki-

Suddenly, his body froze, his shocked expression slowly turning into one of stone as a crazy idea surged in his head. Surely, he was wrong, right?

There was no way she had done this...right?

But then a few seconds later his phone began ringing, and he didn't even bother checking who it was before bringing it up to his ear.

Something told him he already knew who it was on the other side

"Good morning, Hachiman-kun."

"Yukinoshita-san." He greeted back with a tone as even as it could get given who he was talking to.

"What did I tell you, Hachiman-kun? We're family now, so you should call me by my first name. 'Yuki-san' is fine if you're still feeling shy."

He said nothing in return, too busy massaging the bridge of his nose in a vain attempt at stopping the migraine that he knew was going to ruin his already ruined Saturday.

"Or, if you would prefer it as such, you can always call me mother-"

"Yuki-san." He interrupted her immediately before some more weird ideas and mental images started popping up so early in the morning. "What did you do to my parents?"

"Your mistrust wounds me, Hachiman-kun." She did not sound wounded at all. "I assure you I only gave a little push in the right direction. They themselves earned this by their efforts alone."

That was most definitely a lie, not because he didn't think his parents worked hard, but because he could smell the nepotism even from here.

It didn't change the fact that this woman, the devil herself in his eyes right now, had pretty much sent their parents to god knows where, all thanks to her connections, and something told him she had not done so on a whim.

But then, why?

"Why?" He asked simply as his eyes narrowed. He did not think for a second she had done this out of the goodness of her heart, and quite honestly the fact that she could just push for such a big change in his life was more than a bit annoying and frightening.

Seriously, what the hell were his parents thinking? Even ignoring his own feelings, didn't they think leaving Komachi technically by herself was a bad idea? Because sure, he was here with her, but he doubted his parents had that much faith on him taking care of her.

Which either meant they suddenly had cared less about Komachi, which sounded impossible to his ears, or...

"I'm just trying to help everyone, Hachiman-kun." She responded, and he could feel the smile she was wearing on the other end of the call. "And if you're worried about having to handle things by yourself, especially with dear Komachi-chan, fret not. I have already arranged everything."

That statement sent a shiver down his spine.

It didn't help that, right after that, he realized the doorbell of his house was ringing.

And Komachi was nowhere in sight.

"Wait, don't open the-" He said as he rushed towards the entrance of the house in a vain attempt to salvage the situation.

But instead, what he got was an eyeful of Yukinoshita Yukino, wearing a white sundress that reached past her knees, standing on the now open door.

"Good morning, Hikigaya-kun, Komachi-san. I hope you don't mind me intruding for a bit."

"Fufu, I hope you two enjoy yourselves with moderation, Hachiman-kun. I do not want to be a grandmother just yet."

And, as he had to put a hand on the wall to avoid falling over, a random through went through his head.

Was it too late for him too to leave the country?

"This is so good, Yukino-san!"

"I'm glad you like it, Komachi-san."

Did it really just take a breakfast for Komachi to forget entirely about the fact their parents had left them?

Because by now he couldn't see any semblance of her previous shock. Instead, it was just replaced by delight as she gobbled up the, admittedly, pretty good breakfast that Yukinoshita had decided to just...make for them, even though he had told her it was not necessary.

Sure, he couldn't cook something as pretty-looking and tasty as this American breakfast, as she had called it, but even he could whip out something decent, even if Komachi was the better cook out of the two.

Although given how much she seemed to be enjoying Yukinoshita's cooking, he was sure she would call his own trash if he were to ask her.

"Aren't you going to eat, Hikigaya-kun?" Then, Yukinoshita's attention moved to him, her eyes intently matching his own gaze.

"I told you, you didn't have to do this." He voiced out his thoughts, but that only earned an eyeroll from Yukinoshita, who was sitting on the opposite end of the table.

"I believe my culinary skills are better than yours, Hikigaya-kun. This was simply not that much for me, so you don't have to worry about it being a bother." That was not what worried him if he was honest, but good to know Yukinoshita was still a super woman. "Considering how much you liked to proudly declare you would become a househusband though, I would think you would have put more effort into your own skills."

At that, his eye twitched.

"Onii-chan is too lazy for that."

Komachi backing up Yukinoshita did not help things either.

"My plan was to marry someone that was well off so we didn't have to bother cooking for ourselves." He declared with a huff in a painfully obvious attempt at saving face, he realized.

"Oh..." What he did not expect though, was for Yukinoshita's gaze to suddenly move low, just as her cheeks seemingly flushed pink. "W-well I suppose your plan worked out in the end, didn't it?"

What was she-oh...

He walked right into that one, didn't he? And now he was looking to the side, more than a little bit embarrassed too.

Just what he needed.

"Did something happen between you two?" Suddenly it was Komachi who spoke out, her eyes darting between them in what looked like suspicious. "You're being even more lovey-dovey than usual."

He opened his mouth, more than ready to tell her that he and Yukinoshita had never been 'lovey-dovey' as she dared to put it, but one realization stopped him dead on his tracks, just as a sense of foreboding started to grow in his chest.

Had...someone told Komachi about the engagement?

Among everything that had happened, that single thought had somehow sliped out of his mind, with the justification that, surely, their parents had told her...right?

Judging by the confused look on her face though, that seemed to not be the case.

Which made him sent a pointed look towards Yukinoshita, hoping to stop her from revealing something she shouldn't.

"W-well, since we're engaged now, I suppose such 'lovey-dovey' acts, as you put it, are to be expected."

But of course, Yukinoshita was too busy squirming on her seat to catch his look.

His gaze immediately moved back to Komachi, who now looked like a deer caught by the headlights. She moved her gaze from Yukinoshita, then to him, then back to her, then back to him once more, right before she just blinked and slowly stood from the table.

"Excuse me." She said in an even tone, just as she moved to seemingly leave.

"Wait, Komachi!" He called out to her of course, but it was as if she was on auto-pilot as she just ignored him, right before moving up the stairs, back to her room he assumed.

Which meant he was now alone with Yukinoshota.

He threw her a dirty look immediately.

At the very least, she had the decency to look sheepishly, or at least, as much as someone like Yukinoshita Yukino could muster.

Yukinoshita was gone.

It might sound rude, but right now that fact had him more than a bit relieved.

Although she had made it sound as if she would be back as soon as she finished whatever someone like Yukinoshita did on a Saturday, which he hoped was just him being paranoid.

Right now, he didn't have the time to worry about that however, for his attention was sorely on one matter at hand.

Komachi.

Which was why he was standing in front of her door, his face set into a frown just as he thought of the best way to aproach this.

After all, not only he needed to make up with her, but now he needed to deal with her knowing about this whole engagement thing.

He could only wonder how much had that affected her, given her reaction.

"Komachi, can we talk?" So when he finally called out to her, just as he knocked on her door, it was with more than a bit of trepidation.

When no answer came out, he simply sighed before knocking once more.

And yet, only more silence was his answer.

"Komachi, please." He was almost begging now. "I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry, alright? We can talk about the thing with Yukinoshita too, but please, open the door."

No answer came to him for a few seconds, truly making him think she would just keep on ignoring him.

But when her door slowly opened, he could only watch in rapt attention as a clearly unsatisfied Komachi poked her head from behind the door.

"You really have no idea, do you?" She said, her tone far more guarded than what he was used to.

He shook his head in response, right before Komachi threw him a narrowed gaze, almost as if she was trying to figure out something.

"You..." She then spoke in a slow tone, and he could feel the trepidation slipping through her voice, which only made him even more worried. "You have to promise me that you won't laugh."

That certainly threw him for a loop in more ways than once. Why would he laugh at her explanation in the first place?

"I promise." Of course, he answered as such immediately. There was nothing Komachi could tell him that would have him mocking her, that much he was sure of it.

Even so, she still looked at him suspiciously for what felt like an eternity, until a sigh finally left her lips, just as she opened the door bit by bit.

"Come in." She said quietly as she stood to the side, prompting him to nod before following suit, although for some reason he was feeling with far more trepidation than usual, almost as if he was about to enter some sort of forbidden place.

Even though he had entered Komachi's room plenty of time before, just not as of late.

So when he entered, everything looked prety much the same as he remembered.

Well, except for one key change.

There were way too many sheets of paper scattered around the floor, to the point he didn't know where to step without accidentally stomping on one.

Since when was Komachi this messy? He even went as far as to bend to try and pick one of the papers on the floor.

Only for Komachi's hand to immediately grab him by the wrist, with such a serious look on her face that actually had him gulping a bit.

"Not yet." She somehow admonished him, to which he could only nod dumbly right as she released him.

"Maybe we should start about what Yukinoshita said..." He said, deciding that dealing with that might be a priority, given her reaction before.

"I called mom and she explained everything to me already." But his idea was shut down immediately by Komachi's offhand comment, just as she started looking through her closet. "She also told me to make sure you didn't upset Yukino-san while she was away."

For some reason, the idea of actually calling their parents never even went through his head, but hearing what his mother had told Komachi, maybe that one was for the best, even he wanted to give them a piece of his mind about suddenly letting their children to fend off for themselves.

But still, wasn't Komachi's response a bit subdued, especially given her reaction when Yukinoshita had blurted it out?

"And you're... ok with it?" Surely, at the very least, his sister would agree how insane this was, right?

"I was always worried I would have to look out for Onii-chan forever, but at least now I know Yukino-san will be there too. Always thought you two looked good together."

That...he did not know if to take that as an insult or not.

He also decided to ignore that last comment.

"There's also Saki-neesan too now, I guess. Onii-chan's surprisingly popular."

Wait, what?

"How did you know about Kawasaki?" He asked her immediately, only earning a shrug from her a she was still looking for something in her closet.

"Taishi-kun told me. He also asked me a bunch of stuff about Onii-chan in Saki-neesan's behalf."

He was going to have to talk to Kawasaki about her using her bug of a brother to get info about him.

Wait, was that how she learned what he liked to eat?

Kawasaki was definitely craftier than he had given her credit for, it seemed.

"Here." Finally though, Komachi took her attention away from her closet, right before she walked towards him with something in her hand. "You remember this, don't you?"

And then he was presented with...a light novel?

Not only any light novel though, but this one... wasn't it the boring one he had last read?

Since when did Komachi read this kind of things? He would have to talk to her about her tastes though.

Was this what she was afraid he would laugh at? He also read light novels, so what was the big deal? Sure, she could have better taste, but still...

"Here, this is the author's name, right?' She then said as she pushed the open novel into his hands, while then pointing to the section in the first page that clearly had the author's name on it.

"Ichamok Ayagikih, yes?" He read out loud, not understanding what she was getting at.

"Read it backwards, Onii-chan."

Backwards? What would that do-oh.

Oh...Oh.

He lowered the novel in his hands, with a shaky gaze aimed at a nervous looking Komachi, right before his eyes went back to the novel, and then back to Komachi.

"You...wrote this?" There was a mix of shock, disbelief and awe in his tone, while a million different questions were going through his head.

Her shily nodding away almost made him stagger. It was hard to believe, even though she had just confirmed it.

His little sister was a published author, of light novels of all things, and a pretty damn popular one to boot!

Wasn't that crazy? How did she even get it published? And it even became so well known, how did she-

"Mediocre, boring, run of the mill, average at best." Then, Komachi started talking in an almost dead tone, her words making him feel unease. "Everyone else loved it, and yet those were the words Onii-chan used to describe the volume I spent so much time working on."

Oh...That was true, wasn't it? The review he had left about it had definitely been...not kind.

"H-how did you-"

"Onii-chan always uses the same username for everything." She explained swiftly, making him gulp. "You even rejected the preview of my next volume."

That felt like another stab to his chest, to the point he could only show a grimace as Komachi refused to loot at him in the eyes.

Even he wasn't insensitive enough to not realize how much that had probably hurt her, and considering the day he had done so...

No wonder she had been pissed at him the entire week.

"I'm sorry." He said immediately and with nothing but honesty. "I shouldn't have been that hard. I'm really sorry, Komachi."

Had he known it was her, he would have, of course, minded his words more.

"But you meant it, didn't you?" She threw an accusatory glare at him, which had him flinching. "Even if you say it in a different way, it doesn't change the fact that you didn't like it even a bit, didn't you?"

He opened his mouth to quickly deny her statement, but he could only close it without saying a thing. He could have lied, of course, but what good would that do when he had already expressed what he thought about it in detail for her to see?

"I mean..." He still needed to salvage this though, since it was Komachi who he was dealing with. "I didn't hate it..."

That was technically not a lie.

After all, hating it would imply he actually had given a damn about it, which had not been the case at all.

He most certainly cared now though, or rather, he cared about Komachi being behind it.

Still, the tense air around them after what he said was so thick it was hard to ignore.

"I didn't even know you could write." He commented, trying to dig himself up from the hole he was right now, while also being more than a bit curious about how she got this far. "How did you even find someone to publish it?"

"Taishi-kun's family has some connections, apparently." She answered with a shrug. "And he insisted my stuff was too good for me not to try publishing it, even though I was just doing it as a hobby."

Before, he would have scoffed at the idea of that guy having connections of all things, but remembering who his father was, he honestly wasn't surprised about that family had connections.

Which honestly made him wonder about Kawasaki's financial situation a bit given the request they had taken in regards to her last year.

Question for later though, for right now he still didn't know what to do with Komachi.

"I haven't even told mom and dad. I was going to tell you but..." Then, she glared up at him, and he could have sworn he saw tears at the corner of her eyes. "Then you went and pretty much called it trash not worth reading."

Alright so maybe he had gone overboard on that one just a bit.

"I'm really sorry, Komachi." Once more he apologized, although it seemed to do little effect. "I will do anything to make it up to you, how does that sound?"

"Anything?" And then, she perked up as soon as she said that, her eyes matching his with such an intensity that it caught him off guard.

"Yeah of course." He still relented however, for surely, what was the worst she could ask for anyway?

"I want two things then." She said immediately just as she raised a finger. "First, I want you to read everything I write before it goes out and tell me what you think properly. Taishi-kun was already doing that but he can be a bit...soft with criticism."

"After what I said..." He spoke carefully, wanting to make sure there weren't any misunderstandings here. "Are you sure you want me reviewing your stuff?"

If it was anyone else, like when Zaimokuza had asked for them to do the same, he would have found it more than a bit dreadful, especially considering the quality of what he would be reading.

But since it was Komachi here, what else could he do but to agree? But even so, mincing his words wasn't something he could just do. Of course, knowing that it was Komachi, he would have user a... softer set of words, but if she wanted his opinion on the matter, lying to her wouldn't be helping at all.

"Yes!" She answered back with nothing but fire though, and her eyes were as hard as steel. "Because I'm going to get you to like it! You'll be singing praise to me once I'm done with the story, Onii-chan, you'll see!"

That...was the spirit, he supposed, and while a part of him wanted to tell her that she should rather focus on the thousands of apparent fans her work had, rather than the one guy that had disliked it, in the end he could only nod, pretty much sealing his fate

If that was what he needed to do to make peace with her, then so be it.

"And the second one?" He followed it up with another question, but for some reason, the answer he got was Komachi smiling cutely at him, a smile that usually spelled problems for him.

It reminded him of certain junior of his.

Then, without saying anything, she took out her phone from her pocket, and he watched with rapt attention as she started tapping at it, apparently sending a message if he had to take a wild guess.

Then, he saw her smile widen just a bit, to the point he could see that little fang of hers.

Next thing he knew, he was being pushed out of her room.

"I'll tell you the second thing later." She said as he protested her manhandling of his body, although it did little to stop her. "And call mom and dad, I think they are on Europe right now!"

Then, she closed her door, leaving him more than a little perplexed as he tried to figure out his now writer of a sister.

But when that proved to be too much, he ended up simply sighing before moving up to his own room. He needed time to think, and calling his parents sounded like a decent idea all together, even if it was mostly to rant more than anything else.

"Onii-chan, go get the door!"

If he hadn't finished apologizing to her earlier today, he would have said something about why wasn't she opening the door if she was alreay downstairs.

He would have also said something about her taking the fact that their parents were gone way too lightly, or that she could have at least acted a bit overprotective about the fact he had been pretty much sold to the wolves that were the Yukinoshita family.

But right now, he just didn't want to have another fight with Komachi.

Specially since calling their mom had only brought him a headache.

No, he did not care that they didn't have to worry about money anymore, and he was also more than worried about his mom saying everything was already taken care off, whatever that meant, he still found this entire thing pretty fucked up.

The fact that he was the only one that did was not helping with his sanity.

And now someone was ringing on the doorbell?

If he was lucky, it would be Yukinoshita again for some reason.

If he was extremely lucky, it would be Miura.

But when he opened the door...

"Hey, Hikigaya."

Instead of black or blonde, it was a mop of silver hair that greeted him.

"Which one of these is the salt?"

"The right one."

"Thanks. Did you finish peeling off the potatoes?"

"Yeah, they're over here."

"Good, now pass me that bottle..."

How did things end up like this?

How did he let himself get swept by Kawasaki's pace, to the point they were both standing on the kitchen, her cooking launch with expert ease while he was assisting her as best as he could.

Seriously, was Yuigahama or Miura going to come for dinner later now? Because he was starting to sense a pattern here, one that he wasn't sure what to make off.

The fact that Kawasaki knew his parents had left though, it didn't take a genius to figure out how she learned that one tidbit.

"...!"

t didn't help that, even from here, he could see Komachi poking her head from the living room which just made it even more obvious.

Although the fact that he had been pretty much sold by his little sister, something that he was starting to think was becoming a family tradition, wasn't what had him the most worried.

But rather, the fact Komachi was writing something on a notebook after each time she looked at them.

He could have even sworn he saw stars in her eyes...

"I'll give you the recipe after we're done." Kawasaki suddenly spoke, earning his attention once more. "Since you'll probably have to cook for yourself from now on."

Then she looked down, a frown on her face that had him a bit confused, but also hopeful.

Perhaps, someone else would finally say something about the insanity that was his parents ditching them?

"I would come and help you daily but I'm kind of busy most days after school." Her words, of course, dashed away all of his hope. "Sorry about that, but if you ever feel overwhelmed, you can just call me, you know?

No no, definitely not.

Sure, he appreciated the sentiment, he truly did.

But there was no way in hell he was just going to call Kawasaki to help him with the household chores.

Not only because he didn't want to and found it embarrassing as hell, and not only because he didn't want to give her false hope by doing that, but also because...

"I don't even have your number." He commented lightly, thinking it would deter Kawasaki somehow.

"You're right..." She followed suit, only to stop her current actions to look at him straight in the eyes.

He returned the look of course.

"It would also make it easier for us to do that math project."

"...Indeed it would."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...just tell me your number already."

"You can at least stay and eat, you know?" Seriously, even he wasn't to just going to kick out someone that had bothered to just come in to cook for him and Komachi. He hadn't done with Yukinoshita, and he wasn't going to do it with Kawasaki.

"Nah it's cool, I came in a bit of a rush so I have a bunch of stuff that need to be done." Kawasaki explained with a huff however. "But still, call me if you need any help, alright?"

"Sure..." He still found it more than a bit strange that Kawasaki had been willing to come here the way she did. Sure, he knew she...liked him, for some reason, but wasn't this still a bit too much?

He wasn't an expert or anything when it came to stuff like this, but he was still pretty sure this wasn't considered normal in the dating scene, especially when they weren't even dating in the first place.

"Or like, if you just want to talk or anything..." She continued though, her tone growing soft as she did. "You can just call, or text me, I wouldn't mind."

"...right, thank you." He doubted he would, given that calling or texting others wasn't something he actively sought out, and he would have thought that Kawasaki would be the same, given she was a loner like him.

Apparently though, she didn't mind if it was him, which made sense given what he knew about her but, it still made him feel a bit self-conscious.

"See you on Monday, Hikigaya!"

And then she was gone, with a sigh leaving his lips as soon as he closed the door, right before he rested his head on said door.

He needed just a second to gather his thoughts right now...

"Four points!"

Which he didn't get, as the next thing he knew, he was jumping in surprise as Komachi suddenly yelled from behind him.

"What?"

"You should have been kinder, Onii-chan! Saki-neesan bothered to come here just for you but you were acting all aloof and stuff! That's not going to cut it anymore, so four points out of ten!"

"I won't even bother asking just how you're grading this because it doesn't matter." He said with a narrowed gaze. "And she was only here because of you, don't think I didn't figure that one out, Komachi, so I'll ask just once...why?"

And then, rather than looking at least a bit ashamed at setting him up like this, Komachi simply gave him a toothy grin just as she thrusted one of her fingers towards him, almost touching his nose.

"This is my second request, Onii-chan. You said that my writing was uninspired and just stealing cliches from other novels, so I've decided I'm going to use Onii-chan as my inspiration for my next volume!"

"Absolutely not!" He shot back immediately, with a sense wariness growing inside of him by the second.

"Too bad, you promised already!" But she still had the gall to stick out her tongue, right before showing him a page of her notebook, which he could see was filled to the brim with her writing. "Today's event with Saki-neesan was good, but I'm going to need more! And then there's Yukino-san too..."

"Give me that!" He moved to snatch the book out of her hands, but she was already running away from him the moment he moved.

"Never!"

"I'm not kidding, Komachi!"

Seriously, was it too late for him to leave the country too?

And that is Komachi's shtick, this is the, mostly played for laugh, route that I decided to use. Let's consider it a route that supports all the other ones, so to speak

That makes it 4, how many would be left then? Well, the absolute minimum is 3 more, good luck figuring out who the 3 characters are, although I guess two of them are obvious enough.

Thank you all for having read this far and for your continuous interest in this story!

Next Chapter: Respite

Plots so far:

1) Yukinoshita Yukino: "Because of my grandfather, my high-class Club President suddenly became my fiancée."

2) Miura Yumiko: "I discovered the most popular girl in the school is my old childhood friend and now she won't leave me alone!"

3) Kawasaki Saki: "My mundane high school days are being threatened by the Yakuza Princess' constant flirting!"

4) Hikigaya Komachi: "I somehow became the inspiration for my cute little sister's ongoing romantic comedy light novel and now she keeps setting me up with every girl I know!"