There's just something about men in suits.
Women as well, if she was quite honest with herself, which she tried to be as much as possible, despite never being as outspoken about her sexual preferences as she would sometimes like to be.
Maybe it has something to do with the slim fit and overall air of elegance of a well-tailored suit. Perhaps it has more to do with seeing such a person in a less stiff, formal environment - the lack of a jacket over the thin fabric of a dress shirt, a loosened-up tie, possibly a few buttons left undone to showcase collarbones and the width of one's shoulders.
…or maybe she just needs to get laid.
Unaware of her current trail of thoughts, Kaname's elbow bumps into her own when he sees the girl fiddling with the dainty chain around her neck, "Relax Hana-chan, I'm sure this won't take long, Imouto-chan's a good student."
She doesn't feel the need to correct the man, reaching absentmindedly to fix the panels of his black suit.
"I know, I know," it's far from her first time acting as her sister's tutor, having taken the responsibility as young as fourteen after an arrangement was reached between her father and the direction; she hardly feels the need to be nervous anymore, "It's just that she's starting to think about university applications for next year, I know it's stressing her out."
Fondness curls the man's lips upward into a smile, "If only Yuusuke could be half as concerned with his studies."
"You're starting to sound like Ukyo," she chides, risking a glance inside the classroom they're waiting by, watching their siblings' homeroom teacher preparing some papers, "You know he's trying his best."
They'd gotten there ten minutes early at her insistence because that's what responsible adults do, much to Kaname's amusement and there were still two minutes before their allotted time lot for their parent-teacher conference.
Hanako knocks politely, opening the door when the teacher motions them over with a warm smile - she recognizes the woman from her High school days, although she had only been a teacher assistant back then.
The blond man behind her makes a show of holding the door for her, "Hello, thank you for taking care of my ungrateful little brother and adorable little sister."
Silence greets his words for a few seconds before Yuusuke gets up, pointing an accusing finger their way as the door closes behind them, "Kana-nii? Why?!"
"Masa-nii got called away for an emergency at work, I just so happened to be free and he asked me to accompany Hana-chan," the man explains, smirking slightly at his hot-headed brother.
"Sorry for the theatrics," Hanako rolls her eyes, kissing her sister's forehead as she reaches the desks used for the meeting and quietly pulling a chair for herself so she's facing the two high schoolers next to their teacher.
"It's fine," Ms. Kishida assures, looking quite amused, "It's good to see you again Hanako-chan."
"You too," she smiles, vaguely remembering the woman as quite the talented teacher, gentle and open in her affection for her students, "So what's our first order of business?"
All those present, perhaps except Kaname who thrives despite the awkwardness, seem grateful for the intervention.
"Well those are the children's report cards," the woman says, motioning to the papers laid on the desks, "The school year has just started so of course it's not quite representative, but it does allow us to target what subjects they struggle a bit more with-"
She listens attentively as the teacher discusses her two students' academic course; whether that be grades and tutoring for Yuusuke, university, or extracurriculars.
"I didn't know you did soccer," her gaze cuts to Yuusuke, wondering how the subject had never come up during discussions over the diner table.
The boy blushes slightly at that, tilting his chin down, "Yeah well it's recent."
"Sasakura-kun practically begged him to join!" Ema giggles behind her fingers, "The whole team, even seniors, would come and hang around at lunch to try and convince him to join until he finally accepted."
"Really?" Kaname seemed a bit surprised, as if the piece of information was as new to him as it was to the girls, "That's great Yuu-chan, some socialization would do you some good."
The boy's face nearly turns purple at all the attention he's receiving, pointedly looking everywhere beside in Ema's direction, "Whatever."
"There's only one thing left that I wanted to discuss with you two," Kishida-sensei smiles demurely, if a bit amused at her students' antics, "I assume Ema-chan might've mentioned it, but she's far above the regular curriculum in English, and I asked her to consider moving to the advanced class next semester."
"She did," Hanako smiles back, glancing at her bashful sister warmly, "We talked about it a bit and we agree that it's the best option, what should we take into consideration?"
"Well other than having to acclimate to her new classmates and teacher, she might struggle a bit with the new material at first, but it's still early in the year and I wouldn't be offering if I didn't think she could handle it," the teacher says as she puts all of the papers back into a large binder, "Really if you ask me, she should've been moved up at the very least last year. The textbook is the same, but there are some additional works of literature, here's the list."
"Oh that's great I have a few of these already at home," she says, browsing the titles on the list as the meeting comes to an end, "Thank you very much for your time, have a nice evening."
Kaname utters a similar line, Kishida smiling pleasantly their way as the four of them make their way out.
"There wasn't much talk about college," Hanako hums thoughtfully as they reach her car in the parking lot, "But that's to be expected as you're both still only in your second year."
It wasn't, not with the ridiculously overwhelming pressure the Japanese school system put on entrance exams - as if a single event could define a person's academic worth, but she did like Kishida-sensei's more laid-back approach far better.
Yuusuke grunts as an answer, his eyes darting around as if looking out for any classmates who might see him and Ema leaving together.
While she appreciates the boy's efforts to shield Ema from any rumors, his near paranoia is quite absurd.
"Buckle up everyone," she says as she starts up the motor, putting on some music as background noise, "Does anyone have plans for later?" she asks absentmindedly, fingers tapping along the steering wheel.
"I'm meeting with a client soon actually," Kaname says, glancing at the girl to his left, lips twitching against his will when he sees the way she's bobbing her head along the music, mouthing the words to a song he doesn't recognize.
"Really? Will you still be home in time for dinner?" Hanako purses her lips slightly when he shakes his head, "Oh, well if you don't need to get changed I can drop you off, just call me when you need a lift back home."
"Thank you, a lift to get there would be nice, it's not too far from here," the monk says, his chin propped on curled fingers, "But I can't in good conscience ask you to wait out for me like that."
"Sure you can," the woman shrugs, stretching out her neck in a way that has a few pieces of hair falling from the elegant twisted low bun at the base of her skull, "It's no problem, not like I have anything better to do."
He sighs almost fondly, "You know sometimes you make it hard for us brothers Hana-chan," at her brief, confused glance, Kaname smiles her way, "We're unable to say no to you, especially when most of your endeavors are to take care of us, talk about a way to spoil a man."
For some reason, heat rises to her cheeks as she glances in her rear-view mirror to look at the two teenagers in the back of her car, finding Ema dozing off with Yuusuke looking far off in the distance, glancing her sister's way so very often.
"It's a two-way street you know," she argues, lowering the sound of the music and of her voice, "You've all done your best to take care of us the second we moved in, you can't expect me not to try and return the favor, besides...isn't that what family is all about?"
She tests the words, wondering how a few syllables can hold such weight.
"Of course," the man shakes his head fondly, "I know it's not quite a habit of yours, but you can rely on us too, whenever you feel the need."
"I know, I mean I am," she says, fumbling a bit with her words, "I appreciate everything you've done," and she truly does, even when she doesn't often allow herself to rely on them, just as he said.
Because she doesn't know how to, because it frightens her.
Thankfully, the current conversation is left hanging as Kaname instructs her to take a left and into the parking lot of the restaurant where he's meeting with a client.
"Wow," she blinks, eyes taking in the sight of a simply beautiful terrace, full of plants and lit up by decorative lights, "This place seems fancy," with a semi-formal dress code that left women in cocktail dresses expensive enough to make her economies diminish by just looking at them.
A place almost more suited for a date than a business meeting, but she keeps the thought to herself.
"I'll take you some other time," the man smiles pleasantly and she cracks a smile, vain enough to enjoy dressing up once in a while. If Yuusuke snorts in the back almost dismissively, both of them graciously ignore him, "Thank you for dropping me off."
"Of course," she says as she manages to snag a good parking spot by the skin of her teeth, "Have fun, and give me a call when you need me to pick you up."
Yuusuke wastes no time in taking the place left vacant by his older brother, almost childlike excitement drawing itself across his features - being the eleventh child and all, he probably doesn't often get the opportunity to sit in the front.
Swallowing back any laughter that might slip past the seam of her lips, she waits until his seatbelt is clipped into place before letting go of the brake and taking the now familiar path in the direction of Sunrise residence.
They get home right in time for dinner, Hanako rousing her sister from her nap reluctantly before they all make their way to the common room. "Welcome home," several voices call as the three of them make their way down to the bottom half of the loft where the table is nearly done being set.
"How is everyone?" she inquires with a smile, pointedly ignoring the warm feeling that curls in her chest at the greeting when Juli, who had been perched on Louis' lap, jumps her way and forces her to catch him midair.
"Nana! You better have been on the lookout with that perverted monk, I don't understand why he's the one that had to come with you instead of the doctor-" she tunes out the rest of Juli's repetitive speech, scratching at his chin distractedly.
When he catches her not listening to him, the squirrel instead goes on to bother Ema, who is far more likely to listen to his tiresome rants, and she uses the opportunity to help Ukyo finish setting the table.
"Everything looks delicious," she compliments, balancing the last few missing plates as they rejoin the living room, "Hope the kitchen didn't feel too lonely," she teases lightly.
But then Ukyo has to do something stupid like smile slightly and say, "Maybe a bit, you and Ema tend to make the thing not seem like such a chore."
"Oh," can't say she was expecting that, "That's...thank you, that makes me very happy."
"Stop hogging Hana-chan to yourself Kyo-nii," Tsubaki calls lightheartedly, munching on a piece of meat as Hanako takes one of the only seats available, smiling at Louis to her left, "That's not fair at all."
Ukyo rolls his eyes, passing a hand through those platinum hair strands of his, "Must you always act like such a child Tsubaki? She's not the newest toy you can just claim for yourself all the time."
"He's right y'know," Yuusuke adds, glaring down at the elbow that had bumped into his own as his older brother kept moving around, "You make Wataru seem mature in comparison at times."
It's all so familiar now; the banter, the chaos that always unravels whenever the room is somewhat crowded.
"What was that you little brat-?" before his twin can go ahead and try to put their younger sibling in a headlock, Azusa fists the back of the neckline of his shirt, keeping him firmly in place, "Not while we're eating."
Ema slaps a hand to cover her mouth, the giggles that slip out sounding quite like chiming bells.
Sharing a glance with her sister, Hanako lets her elbow rest on the armrest to her left, chin propped on her palm, upper body shaking with suppressed laughter.
"You have a little something there," Iori suddenly says from the couch closest to the one she's lounging on, a finger tapping the corner of his mouth.
Blinking, she uses her thumb to wipe at the area, watching the boy's brows furrow slightly, "Just a bit lower, uhm," smiling apologetically, the boy reaches for her over the two armrests separating them, "Do you mind if I..?"
She almost tells him not to bother, that a bit of food doesn't bother her, instantly conscious about the unease churning low in her gut.
At her hesitant nod, he swipes right underneath her lower lip and it takes everything in her not to physically tense up at the gesture, "Thanks."
In the privacy of her own mind, Hanako allows herself to question such an action, one that is almost intimate even if she's sure Iori meant nothing by it.
She's a touchy person by nature, never shying away from any surprise hugs or cuddles, and she's far from bothered by any accidental nudity as it was quite expected when sharing a house.
This sort of insidious, if entirely innocent touch, however, seems almost deliberate.
She brushes it off, because what else is there to do?
"Ano..." Ema's voice immediately gathers her complete attention, dismissing any other thought, "I was wondering Ukyo-san, if I might, uhm," worry scrunches up the woman's features, "If I might be allowed to invite a friend over this weekend for a sleepover?"
The tension that had taken over the room fades in a heartbeat.
"Of course," Ukyo chuckles, "I see no problem with that," Ema beams right back, even when her sister reaches over to pinch her cheek.
"You scared me there for a hot second Em'," she rolls her eyes, then looks contemplative, "Since we were planning on going to buy you shoes the next day, how about the three of us go on a little shopping spree before I drop her off?"
The brunette's eyes light up at the idea, "Sure! Maho-chan's been complaining that you haven't hung out with us in a while."
Suddenly, Yuusuke sends the girl a near-alarmed look, when he realizes just who the girl is talking about, "Wait, you're inviting Imai over?"
"I know you don't want anyone at school to know we're step-siblings," Ema begins, munching on her lower lip, "I haven't told Maho-chan yet, but she won't say anything I swear, we'd usually just go to her place but her mother will have business associates over that night...I can always reschedule if you're really against it."
The glares that nearly everyone in the room send to the boy makes it quite clear that such a thing is certainly not an option, "Whatever, it's fine," he says instead, watching as the girl lights up once more fondly.
Hanako watches the two, sagging against the armrest, oh sweetie what have you gotten yourself involved into?
Later that night, as she's watching with faltering attention the child-friendly, comedic anime chosen by Tsubaki, her phone rings.
Her brain doesn't register the ringtone as her own at first, and it's Louis, who had at some time taken the seat next to her, left vacant by Ukyo who had some work to do, that hands her the device, absentmindedly playing with the ends of her hair with his other hand.
"Hello?" she greets as she summons the will to get up with great difficulty, only half-surprised to hear Mayu's voice filter through despite the phone calling hers being Kana's.
"Hana-chan! I haven't heard your beautiful voice in ages," a traitorous smile tugs at her lips, and she sees the twins sharing an amused glance from the corner of her eye as she makes her way to the balcony.
"I miss you guys too," she admits, remembering a time when they shared more similar schedules, when she'd see her closest friends every day at school, "How's everything?"
In a matter of minutes, she learns that Kana brought in a stray with the intention of bringing the poor thing to a shelter, only for Mayu to forbid such a thing and cling to the kitten ferociously until her roommate relented.
She's filled in about Mayu's latest idea for her next tattoo - one that Kana will, of course, draw for her. The girl truly had a gift and had drawn all of Mayu's previous tattoos as well as the single one on Hanako's ribcage.
Tears nearly spring from her eyes when she's told about the latest love confession Kana received, about the poor guy's reaction when Mayu had come out of seemingly nowhere to link the fingers together, dropping a loud, wet kiss to the girl's lips so he'd get the hint.
"You're a menace," she says in good humor, taking note that she needs to catch each of her girls alone to talk about this privately.
Only those two could share a living space, act like a married couple, and hook up on occasion all the while not acknowledging that they're hopelessly in love with each other.
Idiots, but they're hers, just as she is theirs.
She folds her knees close to her chest, the darkness surrounding her nearly acting like a comforting blanket. There is no such serenity as the one found in moments like these, where the line between seclusion and companionship blurs in the most beautiful way.
The girl doesn't budge an inch, even once she hears the distinct click of a call ending, lashes fluttering shut for an unknown stretch of time.
"Don't fall asleep out there now," a voice calls seconds after the door leading to the balcony opens, "You'll end up catching a cold if you stay out any longer," eyes opening, she cranes her neck to meet Azusa's gaze.
"I'll come in soon, promise," she says to hopefully reassure the man, risking a glance inside to find the room nearly and with only his double and Louis remaining, "Besides, the temperature's pretty comfortable don't you think?"
"It is," the dark-haired twin chuckles, draping around her shoulders a blanket from inside before taking a seat in the cushioned chair next to hers, "But I'm pretty sure those goosebumps on your arms disagree."
Hanako blinks slowly, just now noticing that her own skin felt noticeably colder to the touch than it had minutes prior, "I hadn't realised, thank you."
They stay silent for a while, as if torn between wanting to say something, anything really, to break the silence, and simply wanting to enjoy the moment. On most days, she can do mindless chit-chat as well as the next person, but the mood doesn't quite fit at the moment.
"See that star over there?" she asks suddenly, pointing at a particularly bright dot of light off in the distance, shining through Tokyo's artificial lighting the way it always does, "My dad used to call it 'flos', said he could see it from every country he ever stepped foot."
Flos as in the latin word for flower, flower as in the first half of her name.
Azusa blinks, brows furrowing at the foreign word and pronunciation, "That's complete bullshit, of course," she snorts softly, fingertips tapping along the edge of the armrest, "He doesn't know about astronomy any more than I do, but I can't blame him for his attempt at sentimentality."
As a child, the mention of that stupid celestial body had been his favorite way to ward off any tantrum of hers during their nightly calls.
When she'd been nursing a sick Ema alone while he was off in Costa Rica, when he'd missed her first track competition because of a delayed flight.
It softened her up like butter every single time, made it easy to slice through.
"Your mom's perfect for him," it's not meant as an insult, not when she has a healthy dose of respect for any self-made woman, not when Miwa has always been delightful to be around.
But it's not a compliment either, not when she probably talks to the woman more than those that came from her womb, not when the last time Wataru remembers seeing her in person is sometime before the new semester in April.
"She tries," Azusa says, somehow managing to pick apart her innermost thoughts from a few cryptic words, "Cares enough to offer us what's best, and after the death of our father, I think she started to believe that what's best is Masa-nii…who knows, maybe she's right."
He offers a small, sympathetic smile and Hanako has to look away and set her sight back on the skyline, "I hate you for being so mature about this," she sighs, burying her head in between the arms crossed over her folded knees, "Really I do."
Because she may be a semi-responsible adult, but she is still her father's child, even when she rarely gets to act as such.
"If you don't mind me asking, what brought this on?" he asks, genuine curiosity shining through his voice, a bit mystified that she was speaking about such a sensible subject with him, rather than with another one of their siblings.
He's not so surprised that she'd rather keep thoughts like these from Ema, shielding her from them like she does anything that might slightly discomfort her sister.
But he was rather surprised to see her confide in him, instead of some of his brothers who he knew she was closer with - namely Kaname whose flirting astonishingly didn't deter her in the slightest, or Ukyo and Louis who she shared quite a few interests with.
"Nothing," maybe the fact that as time went by the idea of this mismatched family of theirs had finally solidified in her mind, or maybe the end-of-term period had reduced her to nostalgia, "I don't know," she admits after a while.
Is there ever really a reason to consider the impact of one's parents on their lives?
The door to the terrace slides open suddenly, making her nearly jump out of her skin, "Oi," Tsubaki pokes his head outside, an unimpressed frown marring his features, "I thought we agreed the plan was to get her inside, not enable her further, Azusa."
"Like you have any room to talk about enabling," the dark-haired twin scoffs slightly but follows after his step-sister when she finally comes back inside, the blanket still wrapped around her like a cocoon.
Tsubaki sniffs haughtily, bumping an elbow into his twin's, "It's a matter of principle, really what is the world coming to if I'm acting as your voice of reason?"
She laughs slightly, melting into the boy's side when his arm wraps around her, pulling her to him without warning to rub her arms over the blanket, "See? She's freezing!"
"I'm not," she shakes her head amusedly, eyes darting around the room and finding it empty, "And even if I was, it wouldn't be Azusa's fault."
"Louis just went up," he informs her, the three of them settling on the couch with the best screen view despite all of the spare amount of sitting places, "I was thinking of watching the first episode of that anime with the octopus teacher before doing the same, if you're both up for it."
"Don't talk as if you haven't watched it numerous times," Azusa chuckles slightly, sending the girl squeezed between them a glance when Tsubaki's squirming reduces the distance between the three of them considerably.
"What can I say? It was one of my favorite projects," Tsubaki intones, playing around with the remote. His brows furrow when he catches a glimpse of the message conversation displayed on her phone, "Why're you texting Kana-nii?"
She doesn't pick up on whatever underlies his tone there, instead trying to find what to answer the man's latest message.
"I offered to come pick him up from his meeting since I insisted on taking my car for the parent-teacher conference earlier," she informs, writing down a reply, "Seems like he won't need it after all."
"No surprise there," she blinks at Tsubaki's snort, wondering what exactly it is he's trying to convey, "You know I was afraid you and Ema-chan's arrival had changed him, should've known better."
Slowly, she puts her phone down, "I don't get what it is you're trying to say," or rather, she'd rather not know, "Why would Kaname need to change anything?"
There's something quite weird about being entirely left out of a discussion, perhaps more so when it is done by eye contact alone.
Disregarding any warning Azusa might have issued with his gaze, his older twin looks down at her almost carefully, the anime's opening song acting as background noise despite its upbeat quality, "Well let's just say he has a habit of leaving a trail of broken hearts behind him."
Oh, the crease between her brows unfolds and laughter suddenly leaves her, so that's what he meant.
"He probably does, he is rather pretty," she hums almost contemplatively, "But then again, I can't picture Kaname leading any woman on, he's quite frank about his," she pauses then, mouth curving playfully, "intentions."
In her book, any woman who still let herself fall for the man's charms could certainly not shift the blame onto him, not if he was as transparent as what she believed him to be about his stance on relationships.
"I think you might have too much faith in him," Tsubaki shakes his head slightly, "He's a good man, but couldn't commit to a single woman if his life depended on it."
"Maybe not," she shrugs, turning her gaze back to the screen, "But that's neither my business nor something that bothers me," why should it when she was very much the same and when Kaname had proven himself to be quite the fantastic company despite his endless flirting, "As you said, he's a good person."
For all that he could be frivolous, she had rarely seen anyone as respectful, as considerate as Kaname, and that mattered far more than whether he had a habit of fooling around or not.
She stifles a yawn, the split second in which her eyes close long enough for Azusa to pinch his twin and for the subject to be dropped.