Full title is "We dream of a brand new start, but we dream in the dark for the most part". It's a piece of the lyrics from The Room Where it Happens, from Hamilton.

He didn't speak about their little disagreement the next day, or the day after that. Ai had sort of hoped that'd be the case, but that didn't bring her any closer to seeing him at all. Messaging was alright enough, but the only images that came to Ai's mind when she thought of him were that of Aqua trying to stop his bleeding, and the hospital bed where they met for the second time. Sufficient to say, that didn't do for a good memory. And, as Miyako-san and Ichigo-san said, that was probably the case for him too.

Scratch that, it was the case. Which meant that they needed to make happy memories together too. Override the bad with the good, just like how she did as she came home to her children instead of a cold and uncaring orphanage. She wanted him to look at a poster, or a picture, or anything related to her and not to shiver. But instead, to make him smile as much as any of her fans would. With fond memories and the feeling of having gained something, instead of having lost it.

Which meant that she needed a new plan of action.

"Eh? Where's my phone?" Ai felt her purse for it, getting Miyako-san to look up from attending to Ruby.

"Please tell me you're joking." The woman narrowed her eyes, letting the kid be by herself on the couch for a moment.

"I charged it last night, so it's here." Ai looked around, opening the cabinets just in case she'd placed it there instead of the jelly or something.

"Maybe it's in our room?" Aqua tilted his head. He didn't sound disturbed or worried, which encouraged Ai a little given that Miyako-san looked ready to start yelling at her.

Ai stretched her back.

"Might be." She strode to their bedroom, making sure to not cross eyesight with Miyako-san as she looked for it. It didn't seem to be around, with most things in order with the exception of a couple of books and toys.

Now, that was worrying…

Her tone sounded muted. Low, but unmistakably there. Ai had to wonder why or how, but instead followed the noise until she lifted one of Ruby's pillows to find Miyako-san calling her.

Smart.

"Got it!" She picked it up and triumphantly went back to the living room, where Aqua was glaring at a Ruby whose gaze was everywhere but paying attention to what she was doing.

Ai wanted to ask about it, but instead unlocked it to quickly go through her messages.

Hikigaya's chat wasn't there, as she'd hoped. She deleted it whenever she could. Committing to memory what had been said last time to avoid a problem like someone getting the conversation when she wasn't looking. They could still see the contact, but it'd be a lot harder to do something with that when nothing could be drawn without sending Hikigaya a message.

Or if he answered. But reading a "that sucks" hardly tells anyone anything about their relationship. If their back and forth could even be called that.

"I wonder why it was hidden away." Ai put a finger on her chin, looking for any guilt in her children's eyes. Which there was plenty of, but Aqua stoically held her glance and Ruby outright refused to acknowledge the comment. That… Admittedly told her very little. Any of them could've known and cover for the other, it felt just as likely "I got really scared for a moment, y'know."

"Ruby." Miyako-san called her with that "you're in trouble" tone she used with Ai as well.

"How do you know it was her?"

The woman blinked at Ai for a moment, like she didn't think anything for a second there.

"You think Aqua would do that?" She didn't have to sound so doubtful, though.

"Well, I mean. He's a kid too." Ai replied defensively. She knew her children, and she knew that Aqua was pretty well behaved. But also, wouldn't it be unfair to single out Ruby like that? Although small, it could've been her brother. Ai didn't want her to develop a complex where only Aqua's voice was heard.

"I guess." Miyako-san sighed, sounding unconvinced "That's still something that shouldn't happen though."

"Yeah. That wasn't very nice, even if it's a prank." Ai did her best admonishing tone without being hurtful, pointing a finger at the kids while pushing her eyebrows together "May I hear from you who hid it?"

Ruby still didn't look at Ai.

"C'mon, let's…"

"It was me." Aqua stated before Ai could finish her sentence.

"…Eh?" Miyako-san looked surprise, which made Ai a little smug on the inside.

See? She knows her children.

"Why would you do that? You know this could be dangerous if it falls on the wrong hands." Ai showed the device to him, shaking it like the piece of technology wouldn't break if it fell.

"I wanted to use it." He didn't hesitate to answer, which took Ai a little aback. It sounded like he thought he didn't do anything wrong.

"But why?"

"I was bored."

That… Wasn't what Ai was expecting. Aqua said so little all the time, that now Ai had nothing to work with. She wanted to admonish him, but she didn't really have anything to say but "ask first instead of taking it" and it felt like that wouldn't be enough.

She looked at Miyako-san for help.

"Isn't that counterintuitive? You're just making Ai worried about it being taken when she's not looking." Miyako-san spoke in a very serious and mature tone, making Aqua give her his full attention.

Ai didn't know if she could replicate that tone.

"But I wanted to…"

"Then you should ask. What happens if you forget where you put it?" Miyako-san didn't relent. Pointing at Ai while actually looking angry "She's been doing her best to keep you two safe, give you comfort and to be a mother. Don't you think she deserves at least a tiny bit of respect to her things?"

Hmmm… Somehow… It felt as though Miyako-san was enjoying herself here.

Regardless, Aqua stared at the floor.

"Sorry."

Umm, well. At least he knew he had to apologize immediately, right?

"It's alright if you want to take my things." Ai got to her knees to hug her son "I'm just asking you to tell me first. I don't mind giving it to you."

"As long as you're supervised." Miyako-san added while Ai was trying to comfort him.

"…Okay."

That pause… Hmmm. Ai should probably be more careful with her things from now on.

"…"

"…"

In the living room of the Hikigaya household, the two siblings were sitting on the same couch, on the same position, with the same dissatisfaction in their faces. Had anyone been there, seeing them be a copy of one another save for things like their eyes, height, and hair style; they'd not have doubted that these two had grown together. That they were indeed, brother and sister. Not just by blood, but in the way that only people that have lived their lives together can be.

"Somehow… Hmmm…" The younger sister finally breached the awkward silence, breaking the stance of having her elbows on her lap and hands pressed together over her mouth like she was praying, and reached out to the phone on the tea table in front of them.

[u suck so bad]

[u call yourself a man like that?]

[don't even have the balls to turn me down in my face]

She picked up the open conversation as looking at the screen made her older brother cringe. And change his position from the same that she had had, to instead cover his face with both hands while letting out a small pathetic moan.

"Onii-chan… You don't have the necessary tact to talk to girls." The younger girl finally finished her idea. Adding nothing to the problem, but also not really helping either.

Hachiman could only groan in reply.

"I mean… It's okay! That happens, I think, to most people! There's a lot of fishes in the ocean. Huh… The point is to keep trying, and stuff." She sounded like she didn't know what to say. And for good reason. She'd found him like that. Stunned, bemused, confused. She'd made a joke about his fish out of water expression until she read the messages. And then… This.

"You got it wrong." Hachiman finally managed to speak while taking a lungful of air.

"Right, right." His little sister nodded sagely "I mean, it's okay. I'm not mad or anything. Yukino-san was a great catch, but your happiness is what's important."

Hachiman closed his eyes again.

"Eh… I mean, you weren't trying to seduce her to forget about Yukino-san, right?" Komachi did the opposite of what Hachiman wanted and kept talking "That'd be a really shitty move on your part. She'd be right to be mad."

Wow. In spite of how serious and mature she'd been before, Hikigaya Komachi was still his sister. And as such, she couldn't help putting her foot in her mouth as badly as Hachiman sometimes did.

"No." He felt like crying, just a bit. The only thing that kept his emotions in check was the implication that Komachi didn't actually believe her older brother was that kind of trash "I wasn't."

"Ok, great. Then you don't have to feel bad for this." The younger girl nodded to herself "Not so bad, at least. You'll get better! Komachi trusts you!"

Okay. That was relieving, probably. But Hachiman just couldn't lose face in front of his little sister. She'd been there for him, and part of the reason for him to move on was so that Komachi wouldn't worry. He didn't feel well taking time off her youth having to look out for her useless older brother. Yes, she'd know what he expected when he went in a trip to Tokyo. Yes, she'd been the first to visit him at the hospital. And perhaps she got a bit of a bone to pick with the Yukinoshita because of it; but no. He could not do this to his little sister. Not anymore.

"The problem is actually that I didn't say anything to upset her." Technically the truth, since Saitou-san had been very clear in what was expected of him. Hoshino was a pro, after all. No matter what he thought about her, or what he thought she thought, reality dictated that if she got mad at him for whatever reason it would look completely different from this.

And there laid the problem: What to do? Call Saitou-san? Ask Hoshino what this was about? This went far beyond the idea that one simple mistake would make her hate Hachiman or make her mad enough to write a message like this, at least. He didn't doubt she could find reasons to hate him. But he wanted to believe that this wasn't the same girl that projected a carefully crafted persona to the masses for over years. He could just as well show this to people. And whether they believed it was Ai-chan or not, it'd probably make some waves.

Hachiman might have many negative traits to his name, but being stupid is not one of them.

"Somehow I don't believe you."

"Hey. What's that supposed to mean?" Hachiman glared at the little shit staring back at him with a straight face like she'd said something evident.

"Let's be honest, onii-chan. You like playing hard to get and it doesn't suit you."

"I'm careful to choose who I open up to, which is different. It's about my own peace of mind." He crossed his arms and lifted his chin, disregarding the message and its implications for now.

"Sure, sure."

"Besides, I am allowed to choose who to let into my life. It comes with the territory, and it's my prerogative to…"

"So you did make her mad?"

"Just a little bit." Hachiman scoffed "But it ended in an alright enough note."

"Sometimes you easily miss beats when you think you have everything figured out." Komachi pointed out.

"Umm, we agreed to talk about it later one." Hachiman shook his head.

"Maybe she wanted you to take the initiative and do it soon."

"She's a busy woman."

"Oh, really? That's convenient." Komachi narrowed her eyes only to blink with some surprise "Well, I mean. It's the first time I'm hearing about this. So…"

"There's a reason to it too." Hachiman sighed, pushing his shoulders back and making his spine pop.

"I'm sure there is."

"Like, actual real life reasons." Hachiman looked away "It was agreed to keep this under wraps."

Komachi's expression oozed with disbelief as she put a hand on his shoulders.

"She's toying with you, onii-chan. Get out of there."

"We're not dating." He hissed, actually mad now "It's more complicated than that."

"I know you love that, but some things are very straightforward onii-chan…"

"She's famous." Hachiman put a hand on his stomach.

Komachi blinked again. It seemed like she was trying to piece things together.

"How famous?"

Hachiman sighed once more.

"Famous enough to get a stalker." He lifted his shirt, letting Komachi see the still-red scar.

Realization hit her in that moment.

"No way." She looked away, to somewhere Hachiman couldn't follow "Mom knows. I knew she was keeping quiet about something!"

"They probably paid for the hospital to some extent." Hachiman nodded.

His little sister stood from the couch.

"Delete her number this instant."

"What?"

"Isn't it insane that you met her when she was about to get killed? You're just asking for trouble!" Komachi took the device and pointed at the last message displayed "What if she's a psycho? Do you not watch TV? This is a terrible idea!"

"I think you're still insisting on something that's not happening." Hachiman kept his voice level in spite of the vile growing in the pit of his stomach.

"This is very suspiciously implying you're not man enough for her." Komachi insisted.

"You're now just accusing me of random shit." Hachiman growled "At best, she's salty that I don't care for her career."

"Oh, sure. Yeah, because that's…"

[went for sum icecream]

[it was nice]

Komachi stopped in her tracks as the new messages popped up, forcing her to look at the screen like an alien message had randomly been intercepted by her brother's phone.

"She's a psycho…" Komachi wheezed in disbelief.

Hachiman couldn't deal with two meddlesome girls at the same time, so he flipped a mental coin and chose to pick the phone with a heavy heart.

He resent the messages to her.

[What's this about?]

[?]

[You sent this to me like 3 hours ago.]

[what]

[did not]

Hachiman only had more questions now. Perhaps Komachi was right and she was just a psycho. Or maybe someone got her phone and typed that…

She didn't strike him as being too close to the rest of her group, so maybe this was a case of bullying. He could believe it. If kids can be cruel, he couldn't imagine the vileness of people used to being the center of attention for a living.

[id never say that to u]

Somehow, he could believe it. But it didn't make him feel better.

[Well, someone did. Using your phone.]

[i dont think so]

Hmmm…

[sorry]

[wasnt me]

Right…

Hachiman and Komachi exchanged a glance. She made a cutting motion over her neck in silence.

[If you say so.]

[rlly rlly]

[i swear]

[If that's the case you should be more careful with your stuff.]

He locked the device in spite of the immediate answer he got and threw it to the side of the couch with a sigh.

Komachi just stared at him with some tiredness.

"Is she very famous?"

"Yeah."

"Have I heard of her?" This line of questioning…

Hachiman stuck out his tongue and lifted his arms, pushing his index fingers back and straightening the middle ones to make half-hearts to either side of his face with the closest to a wink he could muster.

"No way…" There was no surprise in Komachi's face. Just pure, unfiltered disbelief "Is onii-chan actually a ladies' man…?"

"What?"

"How do you do it?"

Although the question irritated him, it gave him enough of a pause to make him consider it for a moment.

"I think god hates me." He replied with as much honesty as he could muster.

Komachi lifted her hands to either side, palms looking up like she wanted an explanation until she fully thought about the situation for a moment.

"Well, it's not ideal but… Huh." The younger girl walked to put herself right in front of Hachiman and kneeled "Please accept Komachi's honest apologize, onii-chan. For doubting your charisma."

"Get the hell out of here." He leaned in and bonked her in the head "If someone got her phone, her career will be over and it'll be a mess for me too."

"Nah." Komachi stuck her tongue out when Hachiman didn't cheer up "I mean, true. But so what? You're not gonna…"

She looked back at his stomach.

"Oh."

"Oh, indeed." Hachiman sighed once more.

"Ummm…"

"I'll figure this out." Hachiman assured his now worried little sister, kicking himself mentally for doing exactly what he wanted to avoid "Don't worry."

"Kind of late for that."

"Well, you barged into this." Hachiman decided sending that text to Saitou-san after all. Talking it with Komachi made him realize that this could indeed get ugly for him too "Cope."

"What are you doing?" The younger girl frowned.

"I'm not getting knifed twice." Hachiman growled "I'm not stupid. I won't risk my life uselessly like this."

Komachi was still frowning while he typed.

"I don't think I like Ai-chan that much anymore…"

Hachiman just rolled his eyes. Boy if it was just about liking her, everything would be far easier.