"Yes, yes," I heard Raphtalia say over my phone. "Yes, I'll be careful. Don't worry, it's only for two nights."

She was trying to convince her family to stay over- I don't know what story she fed them (I doubt she told them the truth) as I was unable to eavesdrop on most of her conversation given how demanding Filo was all the time. Not that I was trying to eavedrop, but a part of me couldn't help but be curious as to what Raphtalia was saying.

"Alright," Raphtalia said, approaching me to gently take a hold of Filo. "I told my parents I'll be staying over. Come here, Filo."

"No!" Filo said. She started jumping up and down on the sofa again. "Filo is finally free! Filo's going to stay up all night! No bedtime for Filo!"

She said that, but within fifteen minutes she was napping on the mattress we had pulled out for her.

"My, what a handful," I said. I had developed a headache from all the noise she was making constantly. I was pretty sure that she had either drank a gallon of coffee or had ADHD or something, because the girl just could not sit down or shut up for longer than two minutes. She looked to be about the same age as Melty- though Melty was far more well-behaved. I couldn't believe that I actually found myself praising that other girl. Though, Melty was the outlier and Filo seemed to be closer to the rule regarding what a kid would be like.

"Yes," Raphtalia said. "But she does look cute while sleeping, doesn't she?"

"The law requires that I say 'no,'" I said. Raphtalia gave me a quizzical look to which I said, "It's just a joke. Give me a moment to change the covers on my bed."

"Your bed?"

"Yeah, so you can sleep in it."

Raphtalia began to blush again, and seemed to panic, "I'll be taking the sofa, of course," I added.

"Ah- r-right! That's what I thought!" Raphtalia said, clearly lying.

I was so tired I drifted off to sleep instantly and was woken up nearly as abruptly.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" someone was singing.

"I don't wanna go to school today," I said to whoever it was.

"Boo! Daddy's too old for school!" a voice answered.

With a great deal of groaning, I pried my eyelids open and glanced at my phone. Five thirty A.M.!? I didn't even wake up for law school this early! "Go back to sleep!"

"But Filo already slept! And now Filo wants to play!"

"Ugh... Raphtalia...?"

"Mommy's too busy sleeping! She said to wake Daddy up!"

Drat- I was going to suggest to her that she should wake Raphtalia up. But it looks like Raphtalia had beaten me to the punch on that one.

I got up to face her. Her face was bright as sunshine in the morning- and I was pretty sure that at the moment I looked like a homeless person. Or a live-action anime character; little difference between the two really.

"Aight, I'll bite," I said. "What do you want to..." I trailed off as something occurred to me as the post-sleep haze lifted from my mind. Last night it hadn't crossed my mind, but it certainly should've. "Hey- Filo, have you been around this neighborhood before? Or was yesterday the first time you came near my apartment?"

"This is Filo's first time here!" Filo said.

"Huh..." I scratched my chin. I had originally thought that Filo had been the one spying on us earlier- but it looked like she had just come around yesterday. In that case, why did Raphtalia and I feel we were being watched several days beforehand?

"Wha'cha thinking about?" she asked. Unless she was lying- but I doubted that. Honestly, given what I knew about her- it didn't make sense for her to be the kind of person to stalk us for several days before making her move. She lacked the patience for it.

"Nothing, nothing," I said. "Alright, let me get breakfast ready."

Breakfast was a humble affair of buttered toast and eggs- Filo didn't seem to like it that much but I promised her I'd make something better for dinner.

"Mister Naofumi, now that it's daytime- I think I should head back home. There are some things that I'll want to bring over if I'm going to be staying over another night."

"Alright," I said and waved her off, though not before I told her of my suspicions.

"To be honest, do you think we were overreacting?" she asked. "I mean... we never really saw someone following us... did we?"

"No we didn't," I said.

"Then I think it's better to not think about it," Raphtalia said with a reassuring smile. "It was probably nothing."

In my experience, not thinking about things just made them worse, not better, but I had nothing to add.

It took about fifteen more minutes after Raphtalia left for Filo to become bored.

"Filo's bored! Let's go somewhere!" she said.

"I can't be seen walking around with you outside," I told her.

"Boo!"

She looked like she was about to throw another tantrum when I heard my doorbell ring.

"Wow, Raphtalia that was fast I didn't know tha-" my heart froze as I saw that it wasn't Raphtalia returning, but rather, it was Melty. And Eclair to boot.

I nearly face-palmed; how had I forgotten that she was supposed to drop by?

"Something seems to be troubling you?" Melty asked. "Is this a bad time?"

"Ah, I'm really sorry Melty, I should've dropped you a text or something, but we can't work on the project today. Sorry you came out all this way for nothing," I told her.

"Eh? But wh-" Melty wanted to complain, but before she could, Filo peered out from behind me.

"Hey- watch it!" I told her. This was bad- strangers had seen me and Filo together! Granted, nothing untoward was happening, and Melty didn't seem to be the kind of person to blab, but still-

"MAGICAL GIRL KIIROI!" Melty screamed at a volume I didn't know that she was capable of and rushed over to meet Filo, ignoring me entirely. "Is that really you!?"

"Yup, that's Filo!" Filo said and made a 'peace' sign.

"OMYGOSHICAN'TBELIEVEITSREALLYYOU!" Melty shouted once again at a deafening volume, eyes now practically sparkling.

"Wait, you know Filo?" I asked Melty.

"Of course I do- she's the start of 'Magical Angel Girl!'" Melty said.

Magical Angel Girl? Was that some kind of anime- wait, didn't Melty have a girl on her lunchbox that looked somewhat like Filo?

"But wait, why are you here? Shouldn't you be shooting for the next episode?" Melty asked.

"Filo is here with Filo's Papa!" she said and then pulled on my leg. Darn it Filo, don't give people the wrong idea!

"Ah- Iwatani-san, you didn't look old enough to have a daughter Filo's age!" Eclair said, her normal poker face now broken into one of surprise, one of the few times I had seen her facial expression shift.

Melty looked at me with shocked eyes, as if I had sprouted horns at that moment; and with a mouth that had formed a perfect 'O.' In any other context, I would've found this expression extremely hilarious but given the situation, the comedy of it was lost on me. "Y-You're Magical Girl Kiiroi's f-father?!"

"No, I'm not- look, let me explain, okay?"

A/N: Happy late Valentine's Day to everyone else! Though it isn't that time of year in this fanfic.