Going through the halls of an oddly normal but familiar apartment complex, he stopped in front of a door before knocking twice.

Birds were still chirping and the sun had barely come out at this hour, he yawned annoyed at how early he'd gotten up for a day he didn't even have classes to attend. As he gazed at the familiar view of the street before the door swung open to reveal the oddity that belonged to this apartment specifically.

Her hair looked all messed up with strands poking out everywhere, as she rubbed her eyes it was easy to tell she had just barely woken up. He knew she wasn't a morning person but didn't having kids force you to be a morning person?

"Morning," I greeted as her eyes met mine before the stars in them started shining brightly

"Good morning Hachi!" Giving me a smile I felt was a far cry from the smile she had whenever she went on stage as Japan's number 1 idol, he wasn't too sure on that title though since most of his sources were biased little kids, was Hoshino Ai. "C'mon, don't just stand there come in,"

Walking into an apartment I'd been in way too many times to count, I could easily see a mess in the living room and was that… glitter? I strongly felt the urge to strangle someone but I tried to restrain it as Ai leaned on the table top facing me.

"So, just to make sure you remember, the kids have to be at kindergarten by-," I just raised a hand to cut her off as I placed my backpack on the floor.

"You've already told me this like a hundred times Ai," She pouted at him

"Hearing again wouldn't hurt," I sighed at the pitiful look she sent me, sometimes he felt bad when she made faces like that. "It's okay though, I know you wouldn't let me down Hachi," Then when she immediately started smiling at a flip of a coin he remembered why he didn't.

"I'm gonna go get ready now," She rushed off to her room leaving me alone as I started to pace around the apartment.

The living room was in disarray with cardboard tossed everywhere, it looked like the twins had an arts and craft project, honestly teachers just gave out those projects as busywork.

I moved things to the side and glanced at what seemed like the finished work, it was a list of places that Aqua and Ruby wanted to visit for summer vacation filled with notable sights they could see at each place they listed.

He hoped Ruby realised she couldn't actually come with him to Chiba when she put it at the top of the list. Seemed like she had planned out a whole vacation to Chiba and put that as what she hoped her ideal vacation would be, he just put the thought out of his mind. He set the finished piece to the side before forgoing the rest of the mess for now.

He heard Ai showering as he started the coffee machine to make a pot, while the machine worked its magic he turned to the dirty dishes soaking in the sink and just put his hands to work as he sighed.

Soon enough the pot was ready and he started filling a thermos he'd grabbed from the cabinet above the sink, he did not relish the fact that he had to ignore his preferences and not even add a single drop of milk or sugar.

How anyone could enjoy such a bitter drink was beyond him honestly, before closing the cap though he did try to a sip and as expected it was just as horrible as he knew it-

Someone clearing their throat made him turn around to see Ai glaring at him with her hair neatly combed and a far cry from what it looked like earlier. "I saw that," She said as she held her hand out expectantly.

"Relax, it's not like I want to drink that foul thing you call coffee anyway." She smiled at him as he handed her the thermos letting go of her previous anger before opening the top to take a sip herself.

"That's just your opinion Hachi," She said while her eyes playfully kept gazing at me even as she sipped the coffee.

Suddenly she started shifting her feet while looking down, "Anyway it's about time for me to head off to practice I guess." She glanced up before wagging her finger at me. "Make sure you remember where to go mister!" Again, did she think I had selective hearing?

"Yeah, yeah whatever," I said as I turned my back to her. "Have a good day, see you later."

"You have a nice day too Hachi," I sensed her presence move towards me before stopping as I felt more, rather than actually seeing her plant her lips on my cheek.

She ran out way too quickly as I shouted in annoyance at her, stupid woman playing with my heart. If she kept that up I might even think I have a chance with her… Pffft what a silly thought.

As she left I took what was left in the pot to make something more my style, while I sipped on my sugary delight I just looked at the mess in the living room annoyed, I already knew after I was done with my morning pick-me-up that I'd go in there and start cleaning everything up. Somehow my life had actually turned into the life of a househusband and I wasn't even married yet!

I set my cup down and sighed as I picked up random pieces of cardboard strewn randomly across the room, I glanced at the carpet knowing there was no way Ruby nor Ai were careful enough to not have some amount of glitter fall off the table. I pushed it to the side as a problem for another day as I could hear the creak of a door as it opened.

"Morning Hachiman," I glared at the little brat as my urge to strangle someone returned in full force, staring at the smug face of Hoshino Aqua.

"Oi!" I exclaimed annoyed, "Couldn't you have tried to stop them a bit, weren't you here?" I gestured wildly to the scene of horror around me.

"I did the best I could," He had barely lifted a finger I bet, "It's fine anyway right, you'll clean it up won't you Hachiman?" I could feel my right eye twitching as I kept telling myself he was just a kid like a mantra to hold back my violent urges.

The brat even had the audacity to just sit on the couch before turning on the television, ignoring me as I was forced into my job as the slave of the Hoshino family.

"Did you make breakfast yet?" He asked while he watched some sort of crime thriller, Ai would probably tell me to stop him. saying he wasn't old enough to watch those types of shows. Honestly, I think the kid was already way too corrupted with the way he snarked at me everytime I was here. It seemed all the cuteness in the family had gone to his much sweeter twin.

"Wake Ruby up and I can start," I decided this mess would take way too long to clean, I'd set it aside for later.

"You wake her up," The way he ordered me was really grating on my nerves, "She would like it more." Sadly he did raise a valid point.

Walking into Ai's room, as expected I found the way too old girl to still be sleeping with her mother hugging a pillow as she drooled on it. I called out her name before shaking her slightly only for her to unconsciously pull the blanket to cover her more.

"Wake up!" I shouted as I dragged the blanket away from her exposing her to the elements.

That seemed to do the trick though as she blurrily opened her eyes before finally noticing him, unfortunately for him it seemed she wasn't happy with his method of choice.

"Idiot Hachiman!" Ruby said as she glared at me, "Why can't you wake me up like mama, she's always so nice about it too!" More like she spoils you way too much and didn't know how to actually be a parent?

"Because I'm about to make breakfast and we need to get ready." She huffed and turned her head away from me, "I'll make pancakes," This got her attention as she finally got up without looking at me before leaving the room.

"Tasty!" Ruby commented as I laid the last I'd cooked pancake onto her plate. "I think we need to get more syrup Hachiman," glancing at the near empty bottle, I just mentally added that to the list of things in my head.

"Finish up quick and change," I said, glancing at my watch. "We need to leave soon and you two are still in your PJ's."

"How are we even going to get there, Miyako's car isn't here?" Aqua asked, having started to move to wash his plate before I just gazed pointedly at him as he handed it off to me, thankfully without arguing.

"We're taking the train," I remarked idly, already cleaning up the dishes and pots I had used.

"Are you sure that's safe? Does Ai or Miyako know?" He was just way too serious sometimes, it wouldn't kill him to act more like Ruby.

"It's fine, relax," I waved him off. "Ai was the one who suggested it, you both have never tried the train before with Miyako chauffeuring you all around, right?" I glanced to see Ruby's excited gaze while Aqua only nodded. "It'll be a good experience, get you used to it for the future."

"How is the train like Hachiman?" Ruby asked with food in her mouth as I shooed Aqua off telling him to change.

"Loud, cramped and honestly the last place you want to be when you just woke up." She seemed fascinated at the thought, guess Ai knew a good idea when she heard one, it was kind of depressing how excited Ruby was at something as simple as riding a train.

"Honestly, you should be glad to get to ride in a car in your life as you did. When you're in highschool I'm sure Miyako will still be driving you both everywhere. No need to join us plebs in public transport." There that would be a suitable way of saying her life was fine as is.

"How did you get around in highschool Hachiman?"

"I biked," Ruby glanced at me excitedly, compelling me to elaborate, "It wasn't anything special but it was healthy I guess, there was a girl who actually had a chauffeur who drove her around in a limo."

"I wonder how mama went to school. Do you think she had her own limo? I bet she did, it's only what mama deserves." As expected of Ruby she somehow managed to fit her mother into the conversation. I did wonder, how did she attend school? She was surprisingly cagey about her past, she'd let him know about a few things but a lot of the little stuff like this? They just didn't talk about it. She seemed way more interested in his life and during their talks he struggled to get a word out between her rapid fire questions.

"Don't know," I responded honestly before turning to see she wasn't even eating the rest of her breakfast, "Eat your food Ruby, we need to leave or we're going to be late."

"Hai!" She said cheerfully.

Honestly he didn't mean for this to happen, glancing around the cabin they were in, he could see a lot of unfriendly faces glaring at him. He looked to his side at Aqua who looked back at him before shrugging as he left Hachiman in his predicament.

Glancing up he saw the office lady who had given up her seat glaring at him with disgust. It wasn't like he intended to steal her seat! All he'd asked was if she'd be willing to give it up for one of the kids since she'd been next to an empty seat.

It's not like he could've expected Ruby to shove him in the seat before happily claiming his lap for herself. So here he was looking like the guy who used a kid to trick an innocent bystander.

He just ignored them as best he could, he held Ruby close to himself holding her by the waist, while she happily hummed as she used his phone to browse the net, she was just looking at videos online of Ai so it should be fine. Nothing weird.

Later when he got notifications on his phone of heated messages from strangers online he would think nothing of it.

He struggled to fit in the seat with everything he had to hold. Ruby herself occupied most of his personal space but he was also trying to keep hold of the art project they needed for class later, he'd placed his backpack on the floor and just tried to hold it close to them using his feet.

Thankfully Aqua was willing to hold onto his sister's bag so that was at least one less thing I had to manage.

"You seem happy Ruby," I irritably told her as the girl kicked both of her feet unaware of the humiliation she'd doomed me to.

"Yup," She popped her lips before leaning into me, "This seat is reaaaally comfortable." Again my eye twitched but this time my face also heated up as she spoke way louder than I was comfortable with drawing glances again from the rest of the cabin. This girl, just like her mother, was way too much trouble.

"Bye bye Hachiman!" I waved to Ruby as she joined Aqua in entering the kindergarten, I glanced around seeing parents doing the same as they sent their kids off.

Then people started to give me weird looks, for my age or my appearance or whatever, it was my sign to leave.

I glanced at my phone as I followed the instructions the navigation gave me, I walked around before spotting my destination after a short walk from the kindergarten, a small cozy looking cafe that looked way too lovey dovey for just one person. Sighing again, I seemed to be doing that alot today, I entered and quickly found a booth that was empty in the corner of the room hidden away from prying eyes.

I pulled my laptop and a bunch of notes for college out of my bag, as they say no rest for the wicked even on their day off it seemed. I brought out my book on psychology and slowly started to revise for his test at the end of the week.

I wondered if agreeing to watch the twins for the day a few days before my finals was a smart idea? Sadly I couldn't really decline when Ai told me the Saitou's were out of town for some reason or other. It's not like the twins had anyone else.

Hopefully he didn't botch his goal of becoming a teacher for this, surely one day would be fine, what was the quote? Rome didn't collapse in a day or something?

So idly I worked as time passed by before I suddenly was being roughly shoved deeper into the booth, I glanced at my assailant and saw her taking off her shades while cheekily grinning at me.

"Had a good day, Hachi?" Ai greeted me as I just reorganised my things before shoving them in my pack, I glanced at his watch and noticed it was already past noon. I'd lost track of the time it seemed.

"Not really," I kept a deadpan look before grinning at the crestfallen look she had, she quickly regained her composure before playfully smacking me on the shoulder

"Mouu, you shouldn't tease me like that," The biggest hypocrite he'd ever known, but okay. "I should've known my goodluck charm wouldn't let me down." I raised an eyebrow as she laughed before leaning towards me while tapping her cheek, struggling to stop the heat from rising in my cheeks, I just averted my gaze.

"Have you ordered anything yet?" She asked before rushing to the counter when I'd shaken my head, she did know that there was a button to call for service already installed at the table right?

"I ordered soup and bread for me and got you a sandwich." Already she was back, barely a minute had passed. "Told them no tomatoes since I know you hate them." The girl then nabbed his drink taking a few too many sips out of his coffee.

"Thanks," I said before roughly grabbing my cup away from her, "If you can drink coffee like this why do you always have me make it black then?" It looked like she had inhaled my drink, in the few seconds she'd had my cup she had already drank more than I did in the couple of hours I'd been waiting.

"Cause I know you won't steal it if it's bitter, sweet-toothed coffee addict that you are."

"Oi, if I'm an addict, so are you," She drank just as much if not more coffee than I did, always forcing me to make her a thermos if I was around before she left for whatever thing she needed to get to next.

"Only because you made me one." I plead not guilty to that accusation, she always just stole my drinks until it got to the point where she started making me have something ready for her anyways. If I didn't have something prepared she would just make my drink hers, case in point as she snatched back and finished off the rest of the cup of coffee.

"The girls were surprised when I told them I was heading out for lunch alone," She slid herself across the booth getting a little too close to me to the point our shoulders were touching, "Practice was so rough today, we couldn't even move much after the routines."

"Don't push yourself too hard, you could've just stayed back to rest." He wondered how tough it really was when he could barely see any sign of fatigue on her, idols were scarily good at putting on an act.

"And miss lunch with you? Not a chance!" Okay, now she really was too close, pressing herself to him, he could only shift further back into a corner as the space left in the booth was rapidly disappearing.

"Enough about me," She excitedly bounced in her seat "Tell me how it was, did Ruby and Aqua like it? Nothing bad happened right?" I just pulled out my phone showing her some selfies I'd 'reluctantly' let Ruby take, my ears rang as I heard Ai squeal next to me.

"Mouuuu, you three look so cute together!" I didn't see what part of me, looking anywhere but the camera while Aqua gave it a blank look was cute but maybe Ruby did make up for her two deadweight teammates as she smiled charmingly.

Having Ai's looks in that chibified form was way too dangerous in Hachiman's opinion, another little girl too cute for her own good. The bigger problem was the fact she seemed to know how cute she was. In a few years, she might even become as cute as Komachi was… oh why was he kidding himself, he already put both of them at the same level of cuteness, the maximum.

Seriously, he wondered how the little brat had wormed her way into that special spot in his heart he left for cute little sisters. Maybe it was the way she had always brightened up as he entered the room? Always trying to include him in whatever activity she was doing at the time. He didn't particularly care to watch Ai's idol performances but when Ruby shut his laptop and forced him to look at the TV, there wasn't much he really could do.

"Maybe we should get it framed at home," Oi, too far again Ai, making me think like I'm a part of the family is mean. "I wish I could've joined you, I don't think I've ridden the train in such a long time, being well… me, doesn't really allow me to go out in public too often." And there she went making me feel bad for her now, she really was good at pushing his buttons.

"It's not like you missed out on much," I tried to cheer her up, bumping her shoulder with mine. "Being out in the public is overrated anyway,"

"Hmmm, I do remember this one time we went out in public, we got something amazing out of that trip." She turned her head facing me, making me realise how close we actually were.

"What'd you find?" I got out, looking at her eyes this close up was really distracting. They were completely unlike my own. While my eyes detracted from everything good about me, hers seemed to enhance what was already picture perfect looks.

"You," I winced slightly at the painful reminder of how I entered their lives but at the same time couldn't find my gaze to be taken away from the earnest look she gave me.

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, our food had arrived breaking whatever spell had fallen upon us making my heartrate settle.

Eating lunch was a nice affair, she complained about something or rather about showbiz, seems like Meimei and Ari were asking Ai for tips on acting, wanting to branch out of the idol industry. I just hummed or interjected when appropriate to show I was still listening. It was idle chatter to me but her voice was oddly soothing.

As she finished her soup, she quickly leaned to rest her head on my shoulder making me stiffen slightly in surprise.

"Are you sure that's enough? Didn't you say practice had been tough?"

"An idol like me has to watch her diet y'know Hachi, we can't all eat what we want like you." I glanced to the side at her smirking face as I looked back at the honestly pitiful sandwich she had ordered for me.

"What idol? All I see is an idiot who can't take care of themselves." I said harshly though without any real heat.

"Don't be mean," She huffed out, "I've got you to cover for me right?" What was it with this family and thinking he would take care of all their problems.

"Do your part and I'll do mine." She chuckled at the statement, abruptly a waiter had returned to their table.

Why was he holding a tray filled with slices of cake? Hachiman could only stare at the sheepish look Ai gave him and just had to place his face in his palm in sheer exasperation.

"Watching your diet huh?" He genuinely didn't even know if they could finish all of what the fool had ordered, it looked like she ordered one of every slice they'd had in store or something… nevermind that seemed like exactly the thing she'd do.

"Uh… I'll just leave this here." The poor waiter left the tray in the middle of the table before walking away, "Enjoy your date!" That's… was what this looked like didn't it? Ai resting on his shoulder as she surprised her 'boyfriend'.

He shoved her off him glaring at her as she did that silly face she always did when he got mad at her, one eye closed as she stuck her tongue out trying to act cute.

"Why? Why would you order this much cake, Ai?" She patted his shoulder as I was just too exhausted to deal with her antics.

"We're at a cafe, Meimei told me this place had the best cakes so c'mon, we had to try them all right?" He could barely respond to her, what kind of logic she was operating on still was impossible to understand even after knowing her for over a year, he just made flabbergasted noises unable to express himself at the sheer disbelief he felt at her actions.

"I'm not paying for it,"

"Mou relax Hachi," She grabbed a plate with a dark black cake before getting a spoonful of it and offering it to him as if she was feeding him. "We can bring whatever's left for the kids, I'm sure Ruby would love to have some cake tonight." He really couldn't understand just where she found the confidence to act like this, she had the whole ditzy cute girl act down to a pat.

I just grabbed her hands, extracted the spoon and plate and ate it myself making her pout. "You're acting way too weird about it Hachi," She remarked as she took her own plate of cake.

This whole situation was weird! He came out expecting to just have a normal lunch, for some reason Ai had insisted that he come to this specific cafe after dropping the kids off. She'd gotten way too touchy and close, though that was normal behaviour for her at this point but it still made him feel awkward so it was weird.

He'd gotten accused by a waiter of being on a date… with Ai… Japan's sweetheart. In what world was that a normal situation, this world it seemed because that's exactly what had happened! He couldn't even blame the guy, it really looked like a date but it really wasn't… right?

"We are not having cake for dinner," So he did the only thing he could, changing the topic so naturally he was sure Ai didn't notice, or maybe she did. At this point he just wanted to think about anything else.

"Of course not for dinner dummy," She chuckled at the thought even though that was exactly something she would've done before he had started teaching her how to actually make healthy meals for her children. "Just as a treat, or maybe dessert like we are having now?"

"This is not dessert," The sandwich he'd started with barely filled him, one slice of cake already had him feeling full. "This is an entire main course you ordered." She just waved me off smiling as she nibbled on a strawberry flavoured cake.

"Just try each cake once, we don't have to finish all of them," That was an odd way of going about things but sure what the hell, it's not like they were having a normal lunch anyway.

Abruptly again she pulled the same trick, grabbing a spoonful of cake before shoving it at my face, "Here try it, it's strawberry!" Unlike earlier my hands were full now, and even after an awkwardly long silence she would not move the spoon away.

Reluctantly I opened my mouth as she shoved the delicacy in, gulping at the brightness of her face. It was that face that was dangerous for him, not the one she put on when she went up on stage but this genuine show of joy that she gave him.

So he listened, not really looking to finish any one particular cake, just going through them all until he found one that he couldn't help but finish.

"Coffee flavoured," Ai remarked as she stole a spoonful of his beloved, "Of course that's your favourite, I feel so silly now." He raised an eyebrow at her but she just sighed. It wasn't a surprise that he liked all things coffee, anything sweet with that coffee flavour was just perfect for him.

"Was that the point then?" Ai jumped slightly. "You could've just asked what I liked instead of this song and dance." She rubbed the back of her head shyly looking away from him,

"Well I'll remember now, and you should remember I like vanilla then." She said it as if I should treasure that fact.

"I wonder what Aqua and Ruby would like out of this batch," Suddenly Ai snapped her fingers,

"See!" She got way too excited suddenly and up in his space. "That's a good enough reason to buy all this cake, now we can figure out their favourites too!" She was like a child sometimes, way too active and way too impulsive, she'd get an idea and just run with it.

Again she leaned on his shoulder seemingly uninterested in the cakes anymore after accomplishing her goal of finding out what his favourite flavour was. She did such weird things for such simple reasons. He was tempted to shove her off but looking at her as she closed her eyes smiling… he couldn't be a monster. So he sat there in silence letting her take whatever comfort she could find from him, for however much she acted like she was fine she probably did have a harsh practice earlier.

He just hoped that the waiter didn't come and see them like this, heck the guy might even recognize Ai, she'd taken off her shades and her eyes really were a bit too recognizable. They were how he'd found out who she was, back when he just called her Hoshino.

It was a needless risk but he did feel a bit of pride that she'd trust him to make sure nothing happened. Ever since he'd known Ai it seemed like she took needless risks, she seemed to derive some form of sick pleasure by pushing boundaries.

When he jokingly said the only way he could take the kids to kindergarten on time without Miyako's help would be by train, he didn't have a car so the train was his best friend during his time in Tokyo.

She'd jumped on the idea, like a shark smelling blood. Her enthusiasm was infectious but he'd had to bring her back down to Earth when she'd said she could come too. Again way way too risky, Hachiman wasn't in the showbiz but it seemed like common sense that an idol just maybe shouldn't go in a public and cramped space where an infinite number of things could go wrong.

She wasn't stupid though, every risk she took he felt was calculated. Weighed against some sort of internal scale that decided if she should actually do the crazy idea she'd had or not. He still remembered being invited to see the set of one of her acting gigs.

A horrible idea to anyone with sense, any number of people could have made the same assumption that the waiter had earlier. Heck, they probably did make the assumption just never actually voicing it out. Ai didn't care, she'd brought him with Miyako and said he was 'President Saitou's nephew visiting town,'.

Maybe there were rumours Hachiman wasn't privy too in the industry about how the idol Ai was fooling around with her president's nephew. He couldn't tell, Miyako and certainly Ai would never tell him.

It's not like Hachiman had any right to complain, it was her career… her life that she was risking. If she felt it was worth it to bring Hachiman to some acting gig just because she wanted to, who was he to argue?

Time with Ai was different, he never had a dull moment with her. Even now, as they sat in silence with her resting on him he could feel his heartbeat ringing through his ears.

He still hadn't gotten a straight answer out of her, everytime he asked why she spent so much time with him specifically. She'd always just cheekily say 'Why not?' As if that explained anything on why she took a chance on him.

Sure nowadays he was way too entangled with the Hoshino family to leave, Ruby worshipped him almost as much as she did Ai. In Aqua, he found camaraderie in trying to reign in the two hyperactive females. Of course there was Ai too, he could never find the words to appropriately describe her. The best he came up with was her being way too much trouble to be worth it.

He really had tried to keep her away in the beginning of their interactions, but she just kept coming back, ignoring his protests and dragging him along for the ride that was her life. He could've left all things considered.

So why? Why didn't he, you may ask? Because everytime he was with her, he could feel himself chipping away at the wall of lies she surrounded herself in. Slowly but surely he got closer to the truth located deep in her heart. He had help from Ruby and Aqua so he expected they'd crack through completely soon enough.

He'd left the cafe soon after Ai, she'd departed needing to head out for a talk show or whatever it was she did these days, sometimes he couldn't turn a street in Tokyo without seeing her face.

As he walked towards Ruby and Aqua's kindergarten he noticed them talking near the entrance to an older lady, probably a teacher. Ruby perked up when she saw him and started waving excitedly.

"Hachiman!" She called making the teacher glance at me as I approached.

"So you're the person picking them up?" The lady had asked, honestly I was glad she looked suspiciously at me. It wouldn't do if anyone else with my demeanour came to pick up some children, there were some real creeps he was sure. That he himself had a creepy appearance was something he was just used too at this point.

Before I could get a word in though, "Yup, He's mama's boyfriend."

What?

I stared blankly at Ruby, what in god's name was she doing?

"Mama hides him from everyone, he can only visit her at our apartment." To my horror even Aqua joined in, sure Ruby he could maybe understand, Aqua? Did these two lose braincells between when he dropped them off and now?

In what world did they think telling the world that he was Ai's boyfriend, was a good idea. I mean these two spouted on the virtues of idols everyda-

"Eh?! Does Ichigo-san know about this?" I lost my train of thought as the woman looked at me while blushing. It's not like I was actually dating Ai there really wasn't anything to 'know'! "I can't believe Miyako-san would be that type of woman." Eh?

Slowly my brain tried to piece things together, in the teacher's eyes, Ruby and Aqua were the kids of Miyako. If she was their mama, then the boyfriend Ruby spoke of would be me. Ichigo was married to Miyako. Miyako hid me from everyone…

I blushed as I realised this woman now thought I was some sort of boytoy that Miyako hid from the world. "No no no, please this is a misunderstanding." The woman still blushing glanced at me while Ruby giggled behind her. "I'm not even that close to Miyako, I barely even know Ichigo, he doesn't even acknowledge me, always calling me a pain." Hachiman rambled out of embarrassment.

"Who are you then?" The lady had asked, and just how was he supposed to answer that?

He looked up as the greying lady came back to them as she exited out of her office, he was now sat next to Ruby and Aqua after they'd been prevented from leaving out of suspicion from the lady standing infront of them. At least he'd found out she was the head teacher of the twin's class.

"Well, I did call Miyako-san, she did acknowledge that a 'Hikigaya Hachiman' was someone she trusted and the person that she'd sent today." Why did she say my name like that? I didn't even do anything.

"So you can go, it does seem to be a 'misunderstanding'." I could see no matter how much I would try to defend myself as well as the Saitou's, this woman had made up her mind and in her eyes we were doing some form of weird adultery. Honestly he felt bad for Miyako, she wasn't even here and now people were going to be spreading weird rumours about her.

He just bowed before grabbing his things, Ruby's backpack and leaving. He could hear Ruby mumbling his name at his side as they walked.

"I'm sorry Hachiman," She said, "We just wanted to pull a joke." A joke that pulled at all the wrong chords of his heart, stay strong Hachiman, don't look down and fall for her looks.

He just kept walking as Ruby kept pawing at his leg like a cat that wanted attention while she tried to stay ahead of him, he did feel bad hearing her sad voice. She needed to learn a lesson though, I mean what kind of joke even was that? A joke where he was some sort of lecherous figure that had ensnared Miyako away from her husband without him even knowing. Where did these kids even come up with that?

Then Ruby abruptly tripped as she kept walking faster than she normally would in an attempt to stay in front of him. He recognized it as just another ploy for him to look at her but when she fell on the ground he just couldn't take it. Hopefully the lesson had sunk in… maybe he was just as bad as Ai was when spoiling Ruby.

He quickly got down, checking to see if she was fine. There didn't seem to be any actual injuries, just some small scratches on her knee that would disappear in a few hours, he looked up at her face to find her staring at him.

"Does it hurt?" He asked while wiping away the rubble that had stuck to her knee.

"Yes," She said, "The pain is too much Hachiman! I don't think I can walk." This cheeky brat really was using the opportunity to her advantage, like mother, like daughter. People were looking at us as I struggled to find a way out of my predicament.

I glanced back at Aqua who was smirking at me smugly, handing him the bag filled with cakes from the cafe I just gave up at trying to escape.

I then grabbed Ruby and just started to carry her in my arms while she rested her head in the crook of my neck. We'd done this before a few times but it had been a while, she was getting big honestly. I could barely fit her in my arms anymore, maybe next time we could do a piggyback ride? I was fairly fit, thoughts for the future.

"You're getting too old for this Ruby," She was just way too clingy for her age, he'd blame Ai.

"I really am sorry Hachiman," She mumbled into my shirt.

"It's fine," It was at the end of the day a harmless joke, "I don't know why I got so embarrassed anyway."

Only thing that was lost was just an hour of their time, it's not like he had much dignity left to lose in life.

"We can't go to the park today because of you so I think that's punishment enough." She nodded into his neck. "Just… don't do it again, Miyako's reputation might not be a big deal but if that lady or anyone else ever hears that they might assume it's about me and Ai." He could hear the little girl giggling in his neck. "What's so funny, I'm being serious here."

"You always worry about mama don't you Hachiman," Tch.. she was the one who had the most to lose, it was only right to worry about her more. "That's one of the reasons why I love you y'know." He paused his walk, as Ruby cuddled deeper into him.

This girl really was trying to overtake Komachi's spot as number one in his heart.

At least this time I had a reason to have Ruby on my lap as we sat on the train, she'd cuddled herself to sleep and was even drooling slightly on my shirt. Unlike earlier people were actually looking at me with admiration. How easily people's opinions flip flopped.

"Hey," I glanced at Aqua who was looking at me with a serious look, or was it just his normal one? "I'm glad you're here." I raised an eyebrow at the odd statement, "In our lives I mean," He continued as I could see a faint sign of pink on his cheeks.

"They both get way happier when you're around. The way Ai lights up when she sees you, it's obvious to everyone." He glanced down into his lap averting his eyes,

"I thought our life was fine, just the three of us. We were happy for sure, I won't deny it but no matter how much we tried to ignore it there was just something missing in our lives. Ruby always spoke on how she never needed a father and how Ai was all we needed, but well, look at her now." He gestured to the soundly sleeping girl in my arms. He resented the idea that he was old enough to be her father, even though he was 2 years older than Ai so technically he could be old enough but that's besides the point.

"I think we could've gone on with our lives-" I'm gonna stop him there, I smacked him on the head lightly, cutting him off mid sentence, "Hey, what was that for?!" He glared at me, finally looking like the kid he was.

"Stop it with the sentimental stuff, it's fine I get it." I ruffled his head, as weird as he was sometimes, he was a good kid, a little too much like me at times for a kid his age but maybe he'd grow out of it.

Honestly I didn't need the kid to go on a huge spiel about his life, I really did understand. He had a mom who acted way too childlike at times, and he had his baby sister to look out for, of course the kid as the only male in the house would grow protective. Then Hachiman enters their life and well not to toot his own horn but he definitely made life easier for the Hoshino family.

No matter how much he complained he really didn't mind that much whenever he came to see a mess in the house, he didn't mind when he had to babysit the twins, didn't mind when Aqua made snarky comments at him, didn't mind when Ruby pestered him to play with her instead of finishing a report for class.

So sure, maybe he did make Aqua feel less burdened but he didn't need the kid to tell him. Again, from one big brother to another, he got it,

"Tch, whatever." Maybe stopping the kid when he was finally opening up wasn't a good idea, he just didn't like seeing Aqua all mushy like that, it didn't suit him.

Hachiman just grabbed Aqua and pulled him in for a small hug despite the kid struggling out of his grasp quickly. He'd remember now, no matter how mature Aqua looked and sounded, he really was just a kid trying his best.

Hachiman was exhausted as he fiddled the key to the apartment, Ruby had woken up on the walk from the station and seemed way too energetic. As soon as he opened the door she'd already rushed in leaving her backpack behind.

Aqua just gave me a side-eye before following Ruby, I sighed before picking up the bag and entered myself. Too tired with the day's events as I was, I barely noticed the extra pair of footwear left by the entrance.

"SURPRISE!" I heard Ruby and Ai exclaim loudly while Aqua said it much softer, but he could've just not said it at all, as they all stood below a banner saying 'Happy Birthday!' while Ai held a cake with two larger candles and two smaller ones with them all being lit. There were a bunch of balloons spread out across the room though… I could see the mess from the morning just being roughly shoved to one corner.

Looking at this sight I really only had one response didn't I?

"My birthday isn't until next week idiots," And for some reason not putting them off, both Ruby and Ai just giggled.

"C'mon, Hachiman!" Ruby called him as he still stood in the doorway, "Shut the door and make a wish, before the candles melt!" Seemed like she wanted to get to eating the cake as soon as she could,

I just walked to the countertop where Ai placed the cake with the words 'Happy Birthday Hachi!'.

While they sang the song to him, he noticed how remarkably familiar this cake looked to the coffee cake he'd eaten back at the cafe. He glanced up at Ai and all he saw was her winking while carrying on with the song, she really could have just asked him.

"Happy birthday to Hachiman…" They all looked expectantly at him.

"Make a wish!" Ruby nearly shouted.

A wish huh? He didn't ask for much but he had an idea of what he wanted. So he blew the candles out making Ai and Ruby clap enthusiastically.

"What did you wish for Hachiman?" Ruby asked as she came to hug his legs.

"Don't you know if you want the wish to come true you've gotta keep it a secret Ruby," She nodded as if he had taught her a state secret or something.

"Happy birthday Hachi," He heard whispered into his ear before he felt familiar lips plant themselves on his cheek.

Ai drew away much slower than in the morning blushing as she did, she held out a plate with a cake and spoon to him. He blushed profusely when he started to hear Ruby's giggles over the drum-like sound of his heart beating through his chest.

"Thanks," He looked away and tried to use the taste of the cake to draw his mind out of the gutter.

Looking fondly at the scene before him as Ruby chatted to Ai as the mother handed a plate of cake to Aqua, while they all had that same silly happy smile, maybe this would be the truth Ai needed. Hopefully his wish came true sooner rather than later he thought as he joined the family.

Leaving them behind next week when he returned to Chiba for summer vacation was going to be tough on his poor heart. Komachi and his friends would understand if he chose to return back to Tokyo earlier than usual right… right?