The limousine ride couldn't have been over quickly enough, and thankfully my apartment soon came back into sight.

The others were all inside the apartment by now, and Fitoria made an effort to appear warmer by smiling when she walked in. "Hello Filo!"

"Fitoria!" Filo said, jumping up. I had thought that as Filo had run away, she would be mad at Fitoria or something, but on the contrary Filo seemed quite happy to see her. "Filo's been having a great time with Filo's new family!"

FItoria actually froze for a second, as if she was unsure of what to say. Then, she forced herself to smile. "Alright then, I'm very happy that you had fun. But, we need to get going."

FIlo pouted. "But- but can't we stay here a bit longer?"

"Don't you want to keep being in that show? You have another rehearsal tomorrow," Fitoria said. "Remember what we've been over? You have to rehearse on time."

"Okay... but..." Filo began, eyes downcast. "Filo can come back here, right?"

"Back here?" Fitoria asked.

"Yeah! Filo loves hanging out with Melty-chan!" she said.

"Aww, Filo, are you going to be busy?" Melty asked. I found this ironic given that Melty was rather busy herself. For the two of them to find time to be with each other would no doubt be extremely difficulty.

"And, and, and... Filo wants to play with Raphtalia-onee-san!" Filo said, pointing to Raphtalia. I thought Fitoria would say something to Raphtalia considering it was her who was in the picture she had shown me, but she said no such thing. Maybe she didn't want to say anything in front of Filo? She had taken me aside before saying things, right? "And FIlo thinks that even meanie Naofumi is pretty cool sometimes! Filo wants to eat his cooking all the time!"

"Hey- what do you mean sometimes?!" I asked.

Fitoria sighed. "So... you want to come back here?"

"Yes!" Filo said, with a wide smile on her face. Fitoria seemed to be unable to process this- what, did she think that we were treating Filo like the stepsisters treated Cinderella or something?

"Can we go over to Melty-chan's house?" Filo asked.

"Ah, the thing is that-" Melty began, now flustered "-you can't come over for a while, but, but, one day you'll definitely be able to visit! Oh, but I can come visit you on set!" Her eyes seemed to nearly pop out of her skull at the idea of being able to see her favorite show actually being filmed.

"That's... a bit difficult," Fitoria said. "Ah, the sets are, well, exclusive, and not anyone can just wander in... as for the hotel we're staying in, sure... I'd be happy to have you over... but Filo spends most of her time on set so..."

"So then can Filo come back here?" Filo asked, looking around the place.

"That's a great idea!" Melty said. "I have to come over here for a while to help Naofumi with a group project anyway, so we can meet up here!"

"Oh, I'd be here as well," Raphtalia said, likely talking about the streaming situation.

I wanted to yell out that they shouldn't be claiming my apartment as some sort of meeting HQ without asking me- but another part of me thought it was worth it just to see Fitoria fume as the gears turned in her head thining of a way around this.

"Well, this is a bit of a convenient location, when you think of it," Eclair said. "It's not too far off the route from our house."

The conversation was moving more towards having these meeting be a regular thing, which I would've wanted to avoid earlier if possible- but... after what I had learned about Filo, my thoughts had changed.

"Hey- mind if we talk again for a moment? Outside?" I said to Fitoria in a low voice. She had a very annoyed look on her face, but seemed to be fine with an excuse for weaseling out of the situation for now.

Unlike her, I didn't intend to lead her to a café, just near the gate of my apartment. "Tell me... does Filo have any friends?"

"Well," Fitoria said. "The other actors in the show she-"

"-I mean outside of the other child actors she works with," I told her. "Is anyone she has a real 'friend' rather than just a 'colleague' or 'acquaintance?' Has she ever had a real birthday party where other people came?"

"Yes, all sorts of people-"

"-aside from people who you worked with?"

"What on earth are you trying to get at with this!?"

"My point being is that," I began, unsure of how exactly to phrase myself. 'I get that you're trying to help Filo- shielding her in a sense, right? But, if you protect her from everyone thinking that everyone is out to get her well... you saw what happened right? She ran away. And she'll do so again. You can't protect her forever, you know? She'll grow up to be eighteen one day, be out of your care, and what then?"

"That doesn't meant that I'll leave her alone and-"

"-yeah, yeah, I get what you're saying," I said. "And I get why you're angry- I shouldn't have done that, though in my defense, I just thought of it as harmless fun... but don't take Melty away from Filo, Melty's rich enough as it is and she gets nothing from being with Filo other than her friendship. And i don't want to see the two of them broken up."

Fitoria seemed to have difficulty getting this next part out. "I've... I've never seen her connect with someone that fast. It's as if..."

"...they've already been best friends for several years? Yeah, that is how it is," I said. It was odd that Melty and Filo got along like a house on fire, but I guess some people just cliked with each other?

Fitoria sighed. "I don't want to see Filo sad or anything... but..."

I handed her back the check. "I won't be needing this." I realized I had messed up when I brought the money up as a counterargument earlier- it hadn't been why I was doing half the things that I did for Filo, it had just been something I had thrown out. "Plus, I think she really likes Raphtalia too."

Fitoria sighed before her head jerked up and she glared at a nearby bush intently. "Do you... get the feeling that someone's watching us?"

"Huh?" I asked her before realizing that I was getting that strange feeling too. Had those idiots we had run into again yesterday not learn their lesson yet? But... when I went to go check on things, I didn't see anyone, and there was no way that men of their size could hide in bushes of that height. "No... I think you might've been imagining things. It was probably just a racoon or some other small animal."