The first time he saw Usagi, he was over at his best friend's house. Motoki smiled when she walked in through the front door and yelled out a greeting. He then heard several thumps and then the sound of running. He stood there and watched as a petite blond launched herself into Motoki's arms. "I'm here!" she yelled.

Motoki stepped back smiling and then held her at arm's length. He looked and teased, "You got even shorter!"

She huffed and smacked his arm playfully. "I did not! I grew three-quarters of an inch!"

"Whatever you say, Shrimp. I think your measurements are off."

"Well, I might be short, but you're still a dork, and that's the worst of the two."

"No way. I'm the cool older brother, and you know that's true."

She shook her head, and her long streamers of hair flitted around. "You've never been cool, Motoki."

He laughed in response and dropped his hold on her arms. "I assume the thumping I heard was you dropping your bags all over the front hall."

"Yup. I knew my sweet brother, the best one in the whole world, would be nice enough to take them up to my new room for me." She then gave him an over-the-top smile and then flashed puppy dog eyes.

"I thought I was a dork."

"Yes, a sweet dork though. The bestest a sister could ever have."

He rolled his eyes playfully and went to retrieve her bags. As he exited the room, he shouted back over his shoulder. "Mamoru. Meet Usagi, my sister."

Mamoru heard Motoki struggling with her bags and turned to focus on the sister he'd heard a lot about but had never met before. Daaang, she was gorgeous.

She smiled at him as he focused on her beautiful blue eyes. She bowed slightly and said, "So you're the Chiba Mamoru. It's nice to meet you finally."

"The Chiba Mamoru?" He didn't know what to make of her announcement and wanted to discover her meaning.

"Yu-p. I hear you're like the academic version of Midas."

"What does that even mean?" He asked, chuckling.

"Everything Midas touched turned to gold. Everything you do academically turns to gold for you. Well, you do really well at everything you try. Motoki loves studying with you. He says you have a great way of explaining things."

"So, I'm Midas."

She nodded and said, "What I want to know is, what's the downside? Midas accidentally turned his beloved daughter into gold. What are the pitfalls of being so bright?" She asked that, with her clear blue eyes staring at him, seemingly for him, into his soul.

He lifted his arm and rubbed the back of his head nervously. "W-what?"

"Awe, come on. There has to be some downside to being incredibly brilliant."

He swallowed hard and nodded, "It's lonely sometimes."

"Why?"

He was mesmerized by her look. All her focus was on him, and somehow, even with one word, she conveyed the desire to understand him fully.

"I'm really good with book knowledge, but I'm not good with people. Motoki isn't just my best friend. He's really my only friend. Deep down, I realized that I could have more. I just don't know how to make friends. I'm pretty sure Motoki decided I would be his friend and didn't care if I acted aloof. He just kept inviting me over until I gave in."

She smiled at Mamoru and said, "That sounds like my brother. He's a dork, but he's kind. I would argue that he realized you were worth the trouble."

Mamoru laughed bitterly. "I doubt that."

"What do you doubt?" Motoki asked as he walked back into the room.

Mamoru blushed deeply. He felt uncomfortable over the idea of repeating what he said to Motoki. He focused on Usagi when she laughed and said, "Apparently, he doesn't think you're a dork." Mamoru fought not to breathe a noticeable sigh of relief.

"If I'm a dork, isn't that genetic?" He teased her.

"Nope! I'm popular, so you know that can't be true. Trust me. The teachers dispare on how different we are. I passed high school, but it was a struggle. Mr. Saito asked how you got all the brains in the family."

Mamoru snorted, "He really is an ass."

She shrugged and said, "He's right."

"I'm sure he's not, and even if he was, that doesn't give him the right to be mean."

Usagi blushed and said, "Well, he was mad at me at the time."

"What did you do?" Motoki asked with a harsh edge to his voice.

She fiddled with the hem of her blouse and said, "Nothing bad."

"Usa, what was it?"

"I might have kinda glued his stapler, tape dispenser, and pencil cup to the desk –a bit."

"Kinda a bit?!" Motoki asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Hey, he could still use everything. He just couldn't move them."

Mamoru started chuckling. "That's honestly pretty funny."

Motoki shot him a look. "Don't encourage her."

"It's not like you have anything to worry about. I'm at university now, and I won't be playing any pranks on my professors. By the way, thanks again for letting me move in with you."

Motoki snorted out a laugh. "Dad's paying me to do this. You know he wants you to be guarded from the boys."

She acted shocked and crossed her arms. "He's paying you?!"

Motoki smiled at her. "You can't blame me for taking the money."

"No, but now I want half of it!" She huffed out, smiling at him. "It's not fair."

"He's paying your rent here. Trust me. It's fair."

She shrugged, "Yeah, but then I could get more milkshakes this way."

"I tell you what. I'll buy you one once in a while."

She then got a devious sparkle in her eyes. "What if I start dating lots of guys? He'd take the money back then."

"Fine! Three milkshakes a week."

"Five," she countered.

"If you clear your schedule through me, then I'll raise it to four."

"Four and half the increase you'll get from Dad for reporting on me."

"Deal. You drive a hard bargain."

She shrugged. "Yeah, but you love me. Plus, I knew he'd have you spy on me. This way, I get something out of it."

"Calories?"

"Yup! Chocolate ice cream calories. The very best kind of calories in the world." She paused and smiled. "So this weekend, I'm going over to Rei's, and we're having a girl's sleepover. It will be the fab six of us. Molly is back from her vacation. Then, on Sunday, we're all going shopping for last-minute clothing necessities. I need to look mature, after all."

Motoki smiled and pulled out his phone. "And now you have extra money to go shopping with. I'll be back after I tell Dad."

Once he exited, Mamoru asked her, "That doesn't bother you?"

"Nope. Not at all. They're both protective of me, and honestly, it's kinda endearing."

"But he's giving your father your schedule."

She swayed her hips saucily and said, "No, he's giving Dad the schedule I told him. That's not everything I'm doing. If I tell them the highlights, they don't look into the details. I'm devious," she said, raising her hand and wiggling her fingers.

"What are you really doing?"

"I'll never tell. You'd feel honor bound to tell my brother. You're that kind of guy."

"What does that mean?!" He asked defensively.

"It means that you value my brother and wouldn't want to lie to him. It's good."

"But you can lie?"

"Omit. I omit things because I'm nineteen, and they don't need to know everything. I'm not drinking or doing drugs, or sneaking around with some guy. I'm just going to have fun. I'm not rebelling or going to do anything dangerous."

Mamoru sighed, "Then why lie?"

"Omit. And I do that because it's crazy how much my father tries to protect me. It's sweet but unnecessary."

"They value you. You have no idea how much other people out there would love to be cared for like that."

"Oh, I absolutely do. I may have the perfect family, but I care deeply for my friends who don't have what I have. I know how much it matters. It's why I agreed to move in with Motoki instead of one of my friends."

"I feel like I should know. If you get hurt…."

"Dancing. I'm going dancing with the girls. We've all taken self-defense, and my friend Makoto spent her middle school years getting kicked out of different schools for beating up boys. My friend Rei is shockingly okay with fire and even tried to light a guy on fire once when he wouldn't stop trying to touch Amy. We have a reputation for being… aggressive in our defense of one another."

Motoki walked back in smiling and handed her some money. "He's depositing the money now in my banking app. I figure you'd like cash."

"Thanks."

Motoki sighed and said, "Just be careful. I'm not stupid. There was a lot you left out."

"I'm a good girl. You don't have to worry."

"I know," he said honestly.

Later that afternoon, while Mamoru and Motoki worked on preparing for the new school year, Usagi came up. At least, that was what Mamoru wanted Motoki to think. His friend wasn't fooled, though.

"So, your sister. She's…"

Motoki laughed, "She's pretty."

"That's not what I was going to say," he replied defensively.

"You're not the first guy to say that. It's comical, really, anymore. She draws everyone in."

"I was going to say it must be nice to have family around."

"Yes, it is, and no, that wasn't what you were going to say."

Mamoru ran his fingers through his hair; he wasn't fooling his friend. "What is it about her? Something in her just radiates sincerity."

"She made you feel seen. It's because when you're around her –you are. It's not artifice. She really wants to understand people." Motoki smiled and added, "She's pretty too."

"Yeah," he admitted reluctantly. "She's beautiful."