Today, I've chosen to be silly.

There were three people on the monitor, all dresses in vivid colors and wearing headphones with animal ears: The girl of the left, cat ones with neon green lights; the guy in the middle, small circular ones (bear?) with magenta lights; and the guy on the right, having headphones with weird pointy ears and orange lights. Ai hadn't wanted to ask: it kind of didn't matter, but the guy had been more than happy to move the conversation toward them. And, apparently, it was because one reference or another to some fantasy series he liked.

Good for him, but Ai was there to be interviewed, not to ask about the pointy ears or whether he liked this or that anime. He might've been the "lead" in the group's channel (as well as the son of one of the lead developers in the game that gave Ai the opportunity to record dialogues for); but he didn't seem particularly good at reading the mood of his co-stars.

…Not like Ai had any ground to accuse him of such a thing, of course.

Still, it forced Ai to be as bright as she could without focusing all of her attention on him. Having this interview was cutting it way too close. Some of her fans would jump at the idea of Ai being interviewed by a guy around her age, let alone two. Even through a monitor and in the company of another girl. This was unavoidable, but that didn't mean that Ai couldn't give the girl the opportunity to lead the conversation around from time to time.

Answering "I don't know" or "I hadn't thought about that" to more questions by the guys, compared to the girl's own, helped here. Ichigo-san had suggested it to help sell the idea that Ai was kind of lost when it came to talking to men, and that she was more at ease with a girl around. Although Ai didn't go all the way as suggested either, because that could be interpreted as Ai finding these guys in particular difficult to talk to. And, therefore, perhaps attractive.

Ai might actually be incompetent when it came to normal conversations. But, in her line of work, she had enough experience to feel her way around without Ichigo-san needing to babysit her all the time.

When do we get a bathroom break?

The interview was taking longer than Ai wanted, but there was no choice but to keep it up. After all, she didn't know when the same developer would give a recommendation to get Ai to voice act again. And the extra cash was always welcome.

…

Maybe not in this game, however. Because she was already a vendor. Hmmm… Well, Ai would simply trust Ichigo-san's judgment here. It wasn't like she understood how this worked out in practice.

"Indeed! Ai-chan will remain everyone's beloved Ai-chan for a bit, but it's only a matter of time before people bring up graduation discussions!" The main guy replied to something his friend said, earning a chuckle for himself and an awkward smile from the girl.

"I can't express enough how thankful I am that people can think this way." Ai replied before the girl could steer the conversation away. "It's kind of a scary thought, but now… Closing such a huge chapter in my life with a golden brooch feels like the best outcome, compared to the alternative."

"Right! That's… Ummm, I'm glad you're thinking in a positive way in spite of everything." The girl looked horrified for a moment, but she was the only one capable of taking Ai's words of the three.

"My life are my fans, after all. And I can't remain unresponsive to all the love and support I've been showered with." Ai smiled with her eyes closed, picturing the kids that she hoped to see after this interview to channel the right brightness into her voice. "I will think happy thoughts and do my best! Even in the face of adversity, 'B' is the sign. We can endure and make things better, happier, more blissful!"

Ai made a heart shape with her index and middle fingers, showing it off to the camera with some awkwardness. Ichigo-san had warned her against looking too happy, and therefore unhinged, when treading these topics.

"If I let bad things defeat me, I've already failed my mission."

The conversation carried on, not very well but it did. And Ai was able to remain more or less comfortable talking about things she didn't understand. She was used to it, and she didn't have any particular interest in the games being described. Only having played a few during her streams and whatnot, given that her fans had wanted her to try them out. But, otherwise, this was simply a low-end interview with a group of small online celebrities. Some people might question why she was doing this, given that she had been on bigger programs before.

Idols were, unlike what most fans would believe, a niche job after all. And even Ai was not exempt from having a range of workload going from ads or modeling, to talking to streamers and "critics" from time to time.

It would also be great if more people remembered her for appearing in a program of their particular interest, instead of one or another TV program detailing that she had almost been murdered.

"But did you enjoy it?"

"It was fun reading the chat going wild every time I failed a jump and pummeled straight to the bottom, but no. I don't wanna play it again."

"—and the times you've played horror games?"

"Scary things are scary. I don't wanna go around turning on the lights at night to get a glass of water every time! I'm not good with them."

"—with FPS, you can practice a lot! We'd be down to carry you until you get good, right guys?"

"But I have to train, exercise, and attend meetings! I don't really have the time, even now. So these 'high ceiling games' aren't really for me. I'd love to have more free time, but it's just not possible given how our group is always doing something."

This last part, seemed to bother the main guy a bit. He didn't understand how Ai wouldn't have free time to play; but she couldn't really explain in any more detail than "B-Komachi is always busy".

One, if she had free time, she'd rather spend it with her children. Two, playing games did not bring Ai any more money than just hanging out with her chat and doing random things. Three, she didn't find joy in shooting things. Videogames had neither a taste or smell, Ai couldn't experience them through her senses. So they felt lackluster in the enjoyment department.

Her children, she could smell. And that only made Ai want to go back to them more. Had her wanting to experience them more, given that Hikigaya had blessed her with the opportunity. On top of giving Ai time to understand herself a little better.

Joy could be experienced through all of the senses, she found out. Joy felt like a tight hug, smelled like baby powder, and sounded like laughter; it looked like a lot of happy people close together, and tasted like saliva mixed with coffee and alcohol… Which wasn't that good of a taste, to be honest. But she had already put a pin on the topic, and it awaited further revision. So how could Ai care for something that only stimulated her brain visually? It was a concept that she couldn't understand no matter how hard she tried.

Ai reminded herself that she was doing this because Ichigo-san told her to, to keep her mind focused on the objective.

"I'm glad you look so happy! Hope you had as much fun as we did!" The other guy said while clapping his hands together. At some point, he had ceased encouraging the main one on his comments and adopted a more professional approach to his questions. So, overall, this was only mildly challenging to Ai.

"This was so much fun! Thank you for having me!" Ai didn't really hear the closing words after that. She gave the girl a personal farewell, just to distance herself from the guys one final time, and let them do their thing. She could think about this later. But, for now, she needed to stand up and stretch.

"It's done!" She cheered for herself while looking at the ceiling with her hands all the way up, like she wanted to stick her fingertips to the upper corner of the wall.

She eyed the door, smile growing as she pictured her children waiting for her. Brightening up as they saw her… Ah!

Warmth, warmth, warmth…! Ai had to cut her time talking to the other idols short due to this meeting, and she didn't even get to exchange a few words with Hikigaya's friend either. This was such an unproductive day… She at least wanted to spend the evening with her children! So she rushed to the door, waiting a second to catch her breath and make it seem like she was completely normal about finishing her job, and opened the door.

"I'm done! Who's ready to…?!" Ai froze in place, finding three faces look at her from the opposite side of the room. Just as still, but caught so by surprise, that Ai's brain took a moment to process what she was seeing. "Why are you taping my son to the wall?!"

Indeed. Instead of finding her children watching TV or Ichigo-san hard at work on his laptop; the first thing that Ai found was Ichigo-san and a girl pinning Aqua to the wall behind the long couch and using grey tape to keep him in place.

Ai rushed to them, almost shoving the girl that had Ichigo-san's sunglasses on her head for some reason, and trying to tear the tape out by instinct.

"Ai, Ai, Ai! Careful, he's gonna fall!"

"That's exactly why I'm taking it off!" Ai couldn't understand Ichigo-san's reaction. He hadn't been this irresponsible before, and it honestly made Ai forget about projecting confidence and good vibes while Aqua was still pinned to the wall. "Why are you like this when Miyako-san's gone?!"

"Relax, this is perfectly safe." The girl with Ichigo-san's sunglasses on her head put a hand on Ai's shoulder. "It can hold his weight; we're making sure to add a couple extra layers just to make sure."

"Why are you doing this, though?!"

"Ai, slow down." Ichigo-san also placed a hand on her shoulder. "Relax, we're just playing."

"Are you gonna use Aqua for target practice or something?!"

"I have been kidnapped." Was Aqua's serious response.

Ai looked at him, expression more even now. He didn't appear distressed or scared, so that helped Ai calm down a bit.

"What?"

"He's not taking this seriously!" Ruby's voice made Ai look to the side, finding her sitting on the armrest of the smaller couch. With Hikigaya sitting on it, hand around Ruby's ribs to keep her from falling off. "So we're making it easier for him to understand his current role!"

Ai's previous thoughts about joy and warmth were all but forgotten by this point.

"We're performing random situations." Hikigaya, at least, had the decency to look a little embarrassed. Or what Ai thought embarrassment was supposed to look like, because she couldn't even reliably read his face at the moment.

So, if he was here, then the girl had to be A-chan. Right? Same weird cowlick and all that. Ai would need to see the girl angry to be sure, but it felt like a safe bet to make.

"I…" What was he talking about? At least Ai felt confident in asking, because Hikigaya always explained things no matter how many times Ai asked. "What does that mean?"

"We're helping the kids with a game. Using prompts to roleplay and improvise." Ichigo-san moved away from Aqua, making Ai lean closer to try and catch him. But the little boy really did not even tip over when Ichigo-san stopped holding him. He was tightly glued in place, it seemed. "Aqua's the kidnapping victim at the moment, but his production has been found lackluster. So we're 'enhancing' the experience so he can perform."

"But did you have to tape him to the wall?"

"No." A-chan replied, getting the sunglasses on her face before snapping her fingers and making a finger gun pointing at Ai. "But it was either that or hiding him somewhere. And everyone thought that taping him would be more fun."

"This is more comfortable than I expected." Aqua moved his shoulders, arms dangling in the air given that the tape ran across his chest and below in a horizontal fashion. "Being strapped by the arms would've been torture, but this is fine…ish."

"But… But you've acted before." Ai really couldn't understand this. Aqua didn't feel like the kind of kid that would agree to this. It felt way too immature for him… And the least said about Ichigo-san's adult status, the better. "Why is this necessary?"

Aqua considered his words carefully for a moment.

"Have you seen Ruby try to behave like an evil minion?"

"We agreed I was the secret mastermind behind this!"

"My point exactly." Aqua sighed after his twin interjected.

"But why did you let them…?"

Aqua furrowed his brows more.

"I have the strength of a four years-old."

"Right. Sorry, Aqua-sensei…" Ai looked down, feeling her heart pumping so fast that she almost felt dizzy.

Well, no matter. Ai knew exactly who to blame for this.

"…I don't like that expression of yours." Hikigaya leaned farther into the couch as Ai made her way toward him.

"Why are you letting this happen?"

"Isn't Saitou the one in charge here?" Hikigaya countered so quickly that Ai almost didn't have an answer ready.

"Apparently not! Someone has to be the real adult here, and I thought that would be you."

"Hey, I am—"

"Well, you're not seeing me either helping or encouraging them. So I really don't know what you mean." Hikigaya tipped his head to the side, motioning with his free hand while playing dumb.

"Why aren't you stopping them?"

"There's two of them, Hoshino." The guy pointed at Ai's little girl now. "And she said it would be fine."

"Eh?!" Ruby snapped her face toward him when Ai turned to face her. "Not true! Not true! It wasn't my idea!"

"I didn't say it was." Hikigaya pointed out with a small smirk.

"It still wasn't!"

"I was trusting you here." Ai complained, crossing her arms when her voice broke a little for some unknown reason.

"Hoshino, it's fine. I—Hold on, let me just…" Hikigaya tried to stand up, but he stopped midway and turned to pull Ruby onto the couch proper. So that she wouldn't slip on the armrest when he wasn't looking. And only after that did he rise to his full height. "They're having fun, there's three of us. Nothing was going to go wrong."

"You don't know that. What if everyone was distracted and Aqua fell? What if he hit his head because he couldn't put his arms out?"

"My hands are free." Aqua made waves with them to illustrate the point. Ai pretended not to notice.

"That's not happening. We're applying number 173 procedures here, he's not without at least two of us supervising him. And the tape really is strong enough. We taped the drone Saitou just bought to test it out."

"It really is a strong tape." Ichigo-san nodded to himself. "Although we needed a bit of cardboard or Aqua's clothes would be ruined."

"And… And you found no problem with that…?" Ai looked at her son breathlessly, with the urge to hit someone growing stronger by the second.

"Eh, he's a growing kid. It won't last long anyway." Ichigo-san shrugged.

Ai had thought that Miyako-san was being too nasty when she said that Ichigo-san was useless for anything unrelated to work, but now she thought differently. So she returned her gaze to the only adult she had hoped was responsible.

"Is this because of the thing with your junior?"

"It wasn't… No, it has nothing to do with that." Hikigaya looked more troubled now. "We were all caught in the moment, and even I would've liked to try it out when I was young."

"What if he fell…?"

"Hoshino, I don't know how else to tell you that there was absolutely no chance of that happening." He tried to reach out to her, but Ai gave him her back. So he placed his hands on her arms, fondling them a bit while he made his voice softer. "But, look. If it's a problem, we'll get him down. Why don't you help us and see for yourself just how secure he is?"

"I don't think I could come free if I wanted." Aqua moved from side to side for a moment, and Ai's heart jumped when she imagined that he'd come down, wall behind him and all.

"I think this will damage the paint, actually." Ichigo-san scratched his neck.

"Why did you tape him, then?!"

"…Because it was funny." A-chan murmured.

"Would you like it if they taped you, then?"

"Oh, yeah. But to the ceiling." A-chan pointed up with both hands, becoming cheerful again. "We wanted to try that out, but there was no way for us to safely get him up there."

"What is wrong with your sister?" Ai snapped her attention back to Hikigaya.

"We're just letting the kids have fun~" A-chan patted Ai's back.

Ai stared at her son in disbelief.

"You're smarter than this."

"…Sorry." Aqua looked down.

"He's just a kid." Hikigaya interjected again. "It was dumb, but we said yes. My bad, I trusted Komachi's gut too much."

"But it's fine…"

"Even so, Hoshino's right. It's very irresponsible." Hikigaya interrupted his sister, still with his hands on the sides of Ai's shoulders. "We should've said no; my bad."

"Mama… Mama's not mad… Right?" Ruby approached her sheepishly, hands intertwined and facing the ground. "I lied, it was my idea. I was gonna get taped after Aqua."

…

So it was something that children wanted to do…?

"I…" Ai didn't know what to say. She felt light-headed, unable to recall the last time she was scared like this.

"She's worried about you." Hikigaya dropped one of his hands and lowered himself a bit to place it on top of Ruby's head. "That's all. There's a limit to what we should play with, and Aqua is indeed high up enough to hurt himself."

"…Yes, that." Ai sighed after a moment of holding her breath.

"Sorry…" Ruby clasped at the hem of Ai's blouse. "I didn't think about that."

To have her little baby apologize…

Ai faux-glared at Hikigaya.

"This is not over yet, Hikigaya Hachiman."

Hikigaya raised his hands, like he was asking for mercy.

"Hey! No, no, no! The only one that gives onii-chan ultimatums is me!" A-chan quickly approached, but stopped in her tracks when Ai jammed a finger in her direction.

"You too! I didn't reveal my heart to you so you could juggle it over a pit!" Ai snatched Ruby from Hikigaya's hand and squished her in a hug. "These kids are my life! Are you okay playing around with someone's life?!"

"Geh… Well, there's no need to be so dramatic…" A-chan looked away, embarrassed. It seemed like she shared her brother's weakness to direct attacks…

"I… I…!" The idol's stomach turned a little, making her have to put Ruby down and clench her jaw. "I need a bathroom break. But, when I come back, you guys better have put Aqua down or I'm telling Miyako-san!"

"Wait, Ai. C'mon, girl…" Ichigo-san rushed to her side and started begging. "We're having fun here! I swear I…"

"I'm getting my phone."

"Shit… Okay, playtime's over. Let's get Aqua down!" Hmph. At least Ichigo-san knew when he wasn't going to win.

"Okay…" Ruby waddled to her brother's side and got to her tiptoes to try and help take the tape off.

She didn't reach that far, so she kind of had her arms up. Being useless as the adults worked on unmaking their job.

The picture was kind of cute when Ai looked back, but she sure thought that it would be cuter if Hikigaya hadn't allowed them to play with the kid like he was a toy.

How could she raise them right with so many bad influences around?! A mother always had it rough, huh.