It's been roughly a year ever since the four of them settled down on earth. Their financial situation has gotten better, there were still ups and downs, but neither of them knew what was yet to come. It would all be a surprise, an unpredictable surprise.

"Aaa, life's so beautiful." Rik sighed as he laid down on the grass, looking up at the starry sky. Seeing stars was hard in Tokyo, if you wanted to see any, you'd have to find a good place, and that was hard on - well - the biggest city on earth.

"Ha ha, what a funny joke." Coo retorted angrily, slumping on the ground too.

The vet didn't understand the physician's pessimism. "What's with the long face, Coo?"

"What's even the purpose of life? What are we supposed to achieve? 'cuz I just slack off all day."

Ky looked up from being so focused on perfectly grilling the steak. "Weeeell, you're not working yet. Maybe that's why you're so bored." His gaze went back to the steak and he panicked internally because he was scared the steak could burn anytime soon.

"H-Hey, I can't work yet! My physicians license is invalid here, and I'm 'too young'!"

The princess of analogue always had a question in her mind that has never really been answered. Maybe there would come an answer if she'd ask now. "How did you guys even become doctors so early, pyo?"

"I knew you'd ask us that one day, Pyocola-sama." Rik grinned, sitting up to look at the girl. "You know, it's different on Analogue. Medical school is only for a year there, so even kids can become one, I don't get why it takes so long here on earth and why you need such a good degree. Anyway, I was a super smart kid. I finished it at only eleven!"

"He finished it a few days before his 12th birthday..." Ky added. "Don't go around spreading news so vaguely, Rik."

"E-Eh!!! How did you know?! I mean- why would you assume that, huh?!"

"I saw it when I was browsing through your documents."

Coo looked at the dentist. "Why would you randomly browse through Rik's documents!?"

"It wasn't randomly!" Ky explained angrily. "I had to check up some stuff, I don't remember what it was but it was very important."

"Aha..." Coo nodded. He didn't believe a single thing.

After a while, Piyoko yawned suddenly, catching Rik's attention. "Tired already, Pyocola-sama? Maybe it's best if you go to bed now."

"I don't wanna, pyo... I'm not tired, pyo..." She knew she was lying when she almost shooted her upchuck bazooka, which she only did when she was extremely tired or asleep.

"C'mere." Rik carefully picked her up. "Let's pack up and then go home, everyone."

As they walked, Coo came a little closer to Ky and whispered something in his ear. "Don't lie to me, everyone and their grandma knows what's going on."

"Don't get the wrong idea you weirdo!" Ky hissed, pushing Coo away. "Am I not allowed to look at Rik's documents, huh? He wasn't the only one whose documents I checked. I know a lot more than you think, even about you and Pyocola-sama."

"You didn't even know what I meant-- Huh, 's that so? Well then, what are my biological parents names?"

"Sara and Erich Erhard, of course. And you committed arson when you were four."

"Wh- HEY!"

Ky started giggling, but it turned into a laugh quickly.

Coo squeezed his eyes shut, trying to come up with a good comeback. "And you have a huge crush ON-"

Coo's mouth was covered by Ky's hand. "No, I don't. Stop saying that! I'm 18 and he's 27. It's not illegal, but it's super weird."

"Hey, you didn't even know who I meant! Whatever. BUT STOP LOOKING AT MY PRIVATE DOCUMEN-"

"Shhh, you're waking the princess up!"

"Fuck you."

"That's not very nice, Coo."

"I don't give a SHIT"

Rik suddenly looked back at the two. "Where the Di Gi Charat did you learn all these words from?"

Ky immediately turned red. "Um, Rik! How much did you hear?"

"What? Did Coo swear even more? Or did you swear?"

"N-No, it's just..." The dentist sighed internally. If he heard the earlier conversation it might've been a bit embarrassing.

Rik suddenly stopped walking. "Amaenbou!" He saw the little pink creature approach them. "Have you been following us for a long time already? I'm sorry that we didn't notice you." He turned to Ky and handed him the sleeping Piyoko to bend down to Amaenbou's height. "Aww, how are you? Do you wanna come over our house and stay with us for a while?"

As he was occupied with talking to the thing, Coo rolled his eyes. "Let's just go without him." Ky nodded and they went home. Rik caught up to them only a few moments after.

"Amaenbou walked away from me..."

"Shut up Rik it's not the end of the world."

"Coo, don't be so mean to him!"

"Hmph."

When they returned home,(the four of them were able to afford a small apartment on the 11th floor of a building after they found out about unemployment benefit, undeclared employment and tax fraud. It was only the bare minimum, though.) Ky tucked Piyoko in her bed and gave her a little peck on her forehead. Then, he looked if Coo was asleep already, said good night to Rik and went to bed himself.

I wonder what made Coo think I have a crush on Rik or anything...* Ky thought to himself. He wasn't feeling tired, he didn't know why. It's been a long day, after all. *It's not like I do like him, right...,? He's almost nine whole years older than me. Actually, he's eight years, eleven months and like 29 days...that doesn't make it better. I don't like him...No, I absolutely don't...Okay, maybe a little bit...but it's just a crush, right?* With that, it took Ky hours to fall asleep, because a certain person kept running around in his mind, keeping him from forming a coherent and somewhat logical thought.

"Good morning, pyo!" Piyoko, already super awake and hyper on the couch they bought for 600 yen at a desperate-to-get-rid-of-it flea market.

"Pyocola Sama, I told you not to sit on this couch too much." Ky warned her, picking her up. "I'm scared it has fleas. It costed only 600 yen, after all!"

"You look tired, pyo." The princess remarked.

"Because I am...I couldn't sleep." Ky admitted, feeling a slight blush creep up. *I hope nobody asks why I couldn't sleep last night.*

"It's full moon, maybe that's why." Rik explained as he came out of nowhere. "I couldn't sleep, either!"

Yes, that was the reason. Ky was now gaslighting himself into believing that him thinking about Rik had no effect on his sleep quality.

"Anyway-" Coo crawled up from under the kitchen table.

Ky was so shocked he almost let Piyoko fall out of his arms, so to prevent any further harm, he sat her down. "Coo, why were you under the table?!"

"It's really comfortable and the sun doesn't sting in my face."

Everyone stared at the physician with a weirded out expression. Rik cleared his throat. "Well, if you guys have nothing to do today, how about we take a walk?"

"Yes, pyo! Walk, pyo! I wanna annoy Onei-chan again, pyo!"

"Mmm, without me." Coo murmured. "I found an abandoned daycare near the lake and I wanted to explore it."

Rik turned to the major with excitement. "Ooh, do you think there are some cool animals in there?"

"I don't know...How about you guys come with me?"

Ky huffed and crossed his arms. "I'll pass, it's way too dangerous!"

Piyoko didn't seem to be impressed either. "I wanna bother Onei-chan, pyo."

"Then we'll split up. Rik and I go to the abandoned place and you two go take a walk or something!"

Ky raised his index finger. "Okay, but please don't forget the lunch boxes I made for you."

"Don't worry, we won't, Mom!" Coo laughed loudly then headed out.

"Hey, Coo, wait for me!" Rik yelled after him. "See you later!"

"See ya..." Ky said in a low voice, his eyes following him until he closed the door. But still, he kept staring at the cheap fake-wood door for an eternity. Waiting for Rik to come back.

"Ky!" Piyoko's angelic voice woke him up from his whatever that was. "When are we going, pyo?"

"Umm, right now, Pyocola-sama! I just zoned out for a sec, excuse me."

"Yeah, Yeah," The princess grabbed his hand. "Let's go already, pyo!"

"Mhm, let's go." Ky finally snapped out of his daydreamish void stare and opened the door, letting Piyoko head out first. He then took her small hand again. "Shall we take the elevator or the stairs?"

"The elevator, pyo!"

"Alright..." He didn't want to anger Piyoko for no reason, but Ky didn't like the elevator. He was scared it could fall at any moment. Maybe it was because he saw a movie once where a girl took the elevator and fell down with it. She survived completely unharmed, though. But no one believed her that the elevator fell when she was in it. Oh, well.

As Ky pressed the button that opened the door, he gestured Piyoko to go in first once again.

"I wanna press the button, pyo! But which floor are we going now, pyo?"

"The one with the zero on it, Pyocola-sama. Can you reach it, dear?"

The poor girl attempted to push the button, but she was too short to so so. She jumped up a few times, and voila, she did it.

"Wow, you actually did it!" Ky clapped, smiling warmly. "Say, are you getting taller already? When was the last time I measured you?"

"I don't know, pyo. But I've grown a LOOOOT since then, pyo!" She did a small gesture with her arms, grinning widely so that her teeth were visible. They were white and shining, as expected from Ky, since he was a dentist. He smiled.

From one moment to the other, the lights suddenly went out. Piyoko jumped up in shock, instantly clinging onto Ky. "What happened, pyo?"

The dentist patted her head. He knew something was off, but he didn't want to scare Piyoko even more. "Aaa, it's normal. The building is very old. Look, the elevator stopped already..." They waited, but the doors didn't open. They waited a bit longer, the doors still didn't open. They remained as they were. "Maybe we can call someone, don't worry. It happened to me before."

It was a lie. It didn't happen to him before, he only said that so that Piyoko wouldn't be scared. That she knew everything would be alright.

The princess pressed herself against him more. "And did it go alright, pyo?"

"Yes, Pyocola-sama, it did go alright." He could hear her sniffles, so he stroked her golden locks. "Don't cry." He hugged her. "It'll be fine, I promise."

Clack

Clack

Thud.

"What was that?!"

Thud

Thud

Thud

Thud

The abrupt sounds got louder and more frequent, now the elevator started shaking abruptly. Ky pulled Piyoko as close to himself as he could to keep her safe. "OKAY, MAYBE I LIED. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON."

Thud

Thud

Bang.

It fell.

There was almost no time to process, Ky threw himself on the floor, still sheltering Piyoko with his arms, praying that everything would turn out alright or that they would at least die fast, if there'd be no other way.

"Pyocola-sama, I'm pretty sure that we're going to die at this rate, but if you survive, please tell Rik that--"

BANG.

Silence.

Nothing. Only dust.

And darkness.

Until he slowly started seeing light. This must've been heaven.

"Yay! Again, pyo! Again, pyo! Ky, it was so fun, pyo!"

And Piyoko was there, too! Ky wasn't sure if he should be happy that he's not alone or if he should be sad that she didn't make it either.

"Hey, pyo! You're not dead, are you, pyo?"

Or maybe he was dead and now only a ghost spectating.

But he was wrong. Ky slowly opened his eyes, also being able to move his hands. He lifted his head up and saw Piyoko stand in front of him. She climbed out of the elevator, that was now completely smashed, dust and smoke coming out of it. She was however small enough to not get trapped. She bent down and held out a hand to him. Ky groaned weakly and reached for her hand.

"You're alive, pyo! I'm so glad, pyo!" She didn't seem to have any injuries, since she was now jumping around. However, she was dusty and her clothes were wrinkled. That didn't matter. All that mattered was that Piyoko was alive and well. (If this wasn't a dream. (And no this definitely wasn't because Ky was actually able to differentiate dreams and reality.))

"What-- How did we survive this...?" The lieutenant whispered, coughs coming out shortly after.

"I don't know, pyo! But can you get out?"

Ky tried, and yes, he was able to crawl out of the metal thing. He only needed help getting up. And he didn't feel any injuries, either. But he noticed something off. "Huh, where are my glasses?" He could be glad that he was still able to see a little without them, so he found them on the floor. His glasses were the only thing that didn't survive the freefall. "Aw, dang it..."

"We'll get you new ones later, pyo." The princess grabbed Ky's hand once again and pulled him out of the building. "I need to tell Onei-chan about this, pyo!"

"Aaaa, wait, please..."

Piyoko had always been a fast runner. She was a kid, after all. A kid that was always running around.

Their apartment was only a block or two away from GAMERS, so that the four could keep an eye on Dejiko while trying to come up with a better plan to kidnap her. But honestly, earth wasn't so bad. The black gema gema gang decided that they'd stay on earth as long as they could, because the earth was better in many ways. Way less dangerous critters or plants that could kill you, everything was planned and structured, no unnatural stuff...The ransom money they'd get from kidnapping Dejiko one day was for a sports car they wanted so they wouldn't have to spend so much cash for taking the bus.

"Onei-chan, Onei-chan, pyo!!" Piyoko hopped around in excitement as her and Ky arrived at the store. "Guess what, pyo! We survived a falling elevator, pyo!"

The green haired neko girl looked up from her yaoi manga with her usual resting fish face, and then went back to reading said manga. "I'd like to believe that, nyo."

"I'm not lying, pyo! Right, Ky, pyo?!"

Ky couldn't form a coherent thought right now, he just slumped down slightly.

"How would one survive a falling elevator, gema?!" The yellow balloon now floated to them. "This is impossible! Oh, doesn't Ky usually wear glasses, gema?"

"Well," Piyoko scoffed. "Guess what, pyo! They broke when we fell down, pyo!"

"And they both have dirty clothes, nyu." Puchiko pointed out.

"See, pyo? Seeeeee, pyo?! Anyway, whatcha doin', Onei-chan, pyo?"

"Me, nyo?" Dejiko pointed towards herself. "I'm playing gaydar, nyo!"

"What's that, pyo?"

"Basically, I look at people and judge if they're gay or straight, nyo! I made a list, nyo!" She rummaged through the nearby drawer and pulled out a strange book with a table and crosses all over it.

"Murataku is not gay, nyu." Puchiko mumbled as monotone as usual. "Your gaydar doesn't work, nyu."

"And how do you wanna know, nyo? Look at him, nyo! He has long hair and wears leather pants, nyo!! G-A-Y, nyo! Gay, nyo!"

"His younger brother, Minataku, exerts homoerotic energy, though, gema!"

"No, nyo. He's just a little weird, nyo. There's a differentce between being gay and just being a theatre kid, nyo." Dejiko's eyes moved to Ky, who snapped out of his schock. "You, nyo!"

"Huh?"

"Are you gay or straight, nyo?"

"Me? Oh, I'm neither. I'm bisexual!" Ky explained, rubbing his neck. Not out of nervosity, but to check if everything was okay there.

"That makes no sense, nyo!" Dejiko pouted. "Does that mean you like leaving people after you hooked up with them, nyo? Bye-sexual, nyo?"

"No! It means I'm attracted to both, male and female."

The green catgirl tilted her head.

"On Analogue, it's the default sexuality. Heteros and Homos exist there too, but they're pretty rare." *Why the heck am I explaining this to a eleven year old?! What did I do when I was eleven? Definitely not a 'gaydar' or whatever...*

"Hahaha, it's illegal to be gay on Di Gi Charat, nyo!"

"It's illegal in some places on earth too, nyu."

Ky crossed his arms. "Well, that's a shame. On our planet, the only difference is that a same sex couple can't have biological children, I guess. They often adopt some, though." He realized once again that this wasn't a topic to talk about with literal children, so he shook his head. "You guys shouldn't think about that stuff yet, though! Pyocola-sama, let's g--" she wasn't with him! "Pyocola-sama?"

"CAN'T YOU JUST SHUT UP?! I CAN'T GIVE YOU THAT FOR FREE, FOR THE LAST TIME! You need to PAY!"

"Hohoho, Usada is getting all angry, nyo."

"I'm sorry, Pyocola-sama is probably still a bit dizzy from the fall earlier..." With that, Ky went off to see what Piyoko was doing to Rabi~En~Rose right now.

"H-Hey! Aren't you her Mama? GET HER OFF ME!!" The bunny girl screeched. Piyoko was biting her hair while Rabi~En~Rose held something in her head. Piyoko probably wanted to have that item for free but Rabi~En~Rose wouldn't give it to her.

"Pyocola-sama, I'll buy that for you, but please stop attacking the poor girl, okay?"

"No, you know what?" Rabi~En~Rose threw the mysterious manga to Ky. "You guys can have it. For free. As long as Piyoko doesn't ATTACK ME ANYMORE!"

"Yippee, pyo!" Piyoko fetched after the manga. "Ky, look, pyo! I got a manga for free, pyo!"

As he took a closer look on the manga, his ultramarine orbs widened and he snatched it out of the princess' hand. "Pyocola-sama, this book isn't for kids. Can you go play with Dejiko for a while? I need to talk to Rabi~En~Rose for a sec."

"Okay, pyo!"

As the girl hopped away, Ky angrily slammed the doujin on the table, making the bunny girl creep up. "What the heck, Utada!"

"Utada?! At least say Usada! But My name is Rabi~En~Ro--"

"I don't care! What idiot gives out... unholy stuff like that to kids?! You should've told her she can't have it!"

"I did, baka!" Rabi~En~Rose said offended, brushing off some virtual dust off her clothes.

Ky shook his head. "You said she has no money. You didn't tell her a kid like her can't read that! Especially such an innocent girl! My poor baby!"

"C-Calm down, okay?" The pinkette raised her hands up. "I didn't know it was a doujin. The cover? I've seen kids mangas with even more suggestive covers." And the cover wasn't that bad. There was a girl who held up a white blanket to cover her naked body, that was all. The reason why Piyoko must've been so eager to buy this one was probably because the girl in the cover was surrounded by candy.

"What's your full name again? Hikaru Utada, right?"

"Hikaru Usada...Utada is the singer. Why do you even wanna know?"

Ky huffed. "I'll file a restraining order against you." Then, he made a gesture with his hand and turned around. "Pyocola-sama, let's go home."

"N-No, I'm sorry! I'll never do it again! PLEASE!" Rabi~En~Rose fell on her knees, begging him to not report her to the police. Little did she know that it was only a lie to scare her off. Dejiko laughed at her, while Puchiko just stared into a void with her usual x mouth and Gema floated around, complaining about random things and not even noticing the bunny girl's misery.

"Oi, I hate it when we take the bus but there are weird people with us..." Coo complained. He tried to lean back but the seats weren't comfortable. When he and Rik entered the bus, everything was normal until weird drug-addicts started shouting random things, letterings, as if they were zombies. All the people sat away from them, and now the back row was completely empty.

Rik sighed. "I know. But the driver didn't do anything about it, even after everyone and their grandma complained." He looked back at the two zombie-like things and shook his head. "I wish Pyocola-sama could help us with her upchuck bazooka...See, Coo? That's why you shouldn't do drugs."

"I won't." The major nodded, quickly looking behind. "Ky keeps watching this one series about a girl and her friends who became drug addicted at only 13 or something! He's always so paranoid because he only watches the worst case scenarios."

"Still, it can happen. Not to you, of course, because we're your parents and raised you well." Rik smiled smugly and then cleared his throat. "Not that we're actually your parents, hahaha~"

"Hm, you two do kinda act like a Mom and Dad sometimes, though!" It was no secret and it was no lie that Coo and Piyoko wanted Rik and Ky to finally be an actual couple instead of always just shrugging everything off. "Would ya consider Ky as your wife?" He wiggled his eyebrows and leaned forwards.

Rik laughed at that. "Haha, what a silly question. Oh, wait, this is our stop. Let's get outta here before these druggies eat our brains or something!" The two got up and left the bus. "So, Coo, where's the daycare, though?"

Coo completely forgot the question he asked before. "We need to go to that street right over there and then walk towards the forest. But not completely! You'll see it eventually."

As the two crossed the street and walked right over there, Coo pointed at a white building that was a hundred meters behind the rusty fence they walked past.

"Ah, yes, it really is abandoned." Rik remarked, fixing his glasses. "Doctor Rik Heisenberg approves of this attempt! We can find a broken fence and push ourselves through it! However..." He turned to the street. "Cars are frequently passing by. What are we gonna do?"

"Why the heck are cars even passing by here?" Coo huffed. He looked around. "Hey, this estate's pretty huge! We can just walk along the fence, because there's a forest, and no one would actually go there."

The two ran further. Suddenly, the question from earlier crossed Rik's mind again. "About the thing with considering Ky my wife..."

"Yea?"

"Wait, Coo, look!" Rik found a broken fence. "Here are absolutely no cars passing by and the fence is broken! Quick, let's go through it!"

"The older one goes first!"

"Hey, no, it was your idea!"

"AAAAAGH, I'M TOO SCARED."

"Coo Erhard himself is scared?"

"Yes?"

"Brave of you to admit that. Didn't expect it from you. Now that you say it, I'm also scared. Let's just try to calm down, okay?"

The two stod there, observing the area.

Rik snapped his fingers, making Coo look up. "Now, honestly, Ky is definitely going to be a great husband and a great father one day, if he wants to."

This made Coo a little sad. "Why are you saying that? I thought we are family? You are our Dad and Ky is our Mom...?"

"You know that Pyocola will return to her biological parents when she's 13." The vet mumbled in a somber tone. "But it's kinda sad...She...doesn't even remember them. And look, Ky is 18. He basically has his whole life infront of him. He probably has better things to do than be a Mom at such an age. One day, he'll find his Mr or Mrs Right... maybe something else...and start a family on his own. He probably sees this as some kind of practice. I'm not sure if I'll get or even want to get married one day, because at my age..."

"Richard, you're fucking 27."

"Watch your mouth, you rat!" Rik hissed. "O-Oh, I apologize to all my rat friends--"

"Damn it let's just go through the fence before you say something worse, please."

"O-Okay."

Now there was only silence. The two crawled under bushes, sticks and what not. They tried their best not to crack anything.

But Coo kept stepping on Ky's feet all the time. At first, he didn't mind, but after a while it got super annoying. "Ow--! COO! Stop stepping on my feet!"

"Not my problem you've got so long legs!"

"Aw, thank you!"

"Bro thinks his--" As the physician looked up, he saw a grandma standing a few feet away from them, doing nothing but look in their direction. "Oh no. Oh no no no..."

"What's up there?" Rik stood up - he immediately realized it was a mistake. He couldn't read the grandma's expression. "Dang it, she can at least yell at us or something! These dumb people always call the police even before snapping at us!"

"Did she call the cops, though?"

"I'm not sure..." Rik wished once again that Piyoko would be here to shoot the lady with her upchuck bazooka. Okay, no, that was too vile. Instead, he tried to solve this differently. "Say, do you have nothing better to do? Who are you, huh? Go away! Shoo!"

The grandma stood her ground, still doing nothing.

"Coo, fuck this. We're leaving. Now!"

"Haha, did you just swear?"

Rik didn't answer and instead picked Coo up, jumping over the fence and running behind a tree. "We'll wait for her to disappear..." He suddenly heard a sniff and looked down. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah..."

"Don't lie to me, Coo."

"Really..." Coo's own tears betrayed him. Tears started rolling down like a waterfall. "I-I..."

"Are you crying because of...what I said earlier...?"

As embarrassed as he was, Coo still nodded.

"Hey..." Rik pulled him into a tight hug. "You'll always be like a son to me. I don't know how Ky sees this whole situation, it was just my assumption... I'll always be your Dad if you want me to...Even when Pyocola-sama returns to her parents. It's not like we'll never see her again, plus, it's still a few years until that."

Coo cried into his shoulder while Rik patted his back. "I-It's just..." The boy tried to speak between the sobs. "You, Ky and Piyoko are the closest thing to family that I have left..."

"Me too, man, me too..." The vet softly cradled him. Everytime Piyoko cried, the cradling worked wonders. He had to try his best not to cry. It only worked when he realized what they originally wanted to do. "Hey, do you wanna go home or try again?"

"Maaan..." Coo let out his last sob. "I can't explore a place when I just had an emotional moment. That was wild."

Rik smiled. "Well then, let's go home!" He quietly carried the physician back to the bus stop. It wasn't an awkward silence, it was a comfortable one. The one that most people only had with family or close friends.

When they returned at their apartment, Coo ran to the elevator. "The last one to arrive at the elevator is a-- Broken?"

"That kinda makes no sense...Oh."

There was a sign and a wooden wall at the place where the elevator usually stood. "The elevator is currently broken. Please use the stairs." Both groaned - they'd had to walk up to the eleventh floor now. That could take forever.

After roughly three minutes, Coo didn't want to walk anymore and jumped on Rik's back, making it harder for him to walk. They arrived at home around ten minutes later.

"Tadaima..." Rik coughed, opening the door. "The elevator was broken! We had to walk for ages!"

No one responded. "Mm, are they maybe still outside?" When Rik went into the kitchen, he heard a sob. Not Piyoko's sob, though.

It concerned Rik. He never saw or heard him cry before. "Ky, are you alright?"

He and Coo walked in the living room to find Ky and Piyoko sit in a corner, both crying. Both of them instantly ran up to the two. "What's wrong?! What happened?!" Rik also noticed that Ky wasn't wearing his glasses.

"Hey, Rik..." Ky sniffled. "It's really weird, um...You probably saw that the elevator is broken, right...?"

"Yes, we did. Why?"

Both, Ky and Piyoko broke into tears again. "We were in it and it fell."

"Wait, how the heck did you survive that?!" Coo asked. He rubbed his eyes to make sure this wasn't a dream. He then booped Piyoko's nose. She'd usually giggle and boop Coo's nose back, but the only thing she did was sob.

"I don't know...!" The dentist now covered his face with his hands, the tears streaming out.

Piyoko did the same. "I-I don't get it, pyo. We were fine just a moment ago, and now we're so sad...pyo...!"

"Are you alright?" Coo asked immediately. "Did you guys hurt yourself somewhere? And where are your glasses, Ky?!"

"No, No and they broke from the freefall."

This was a super weird situation. The only thing Rik could do was hug them both, Coo did the same from the other side. "Look, Pyocola-sama, sometimes it takes a while until you process something. And that's okay. You're okay. Everything's okay...And, uh, Ky, we'll get you new glasses, if you want...?"

They stayed like this for a while. All four of them sitting on the cold parquet floor. The spring air was chilly, but they weren't cold. They were okay. Rik woke up after a while, it was already completely dark, the only thing he could hear was the clock ticking and the fridge humming. Ky snuggled himself against Rik in his sleep while holding Piyoko clinged onto his arm and Coo lying on his lap. If Rik would stand up now, they would all probably fall over and wake up, but they were looking so peaceful right now, so he didn't get up.

"Maybe we are family, after all."