bored411: Oh my good gosh how I've missed your reviews...And man when I tell you you have no idea how rough it's going to get...But thank you so much!

JuggernautJJ: We all either know the baby or we are the baby, haha. Thank you!

Thanks to everyone for the views/reviews/follows/favorites! I'm so so so looking forward to the rest of this story and this is just the beginning! I appreciate any and all feedback.

There is something that I want to make clear as the next couple of chapters are uploaded: the first six-seven(ish?) chapters of this story is going to be dedicated to Kosuke, her story, and how it leads up to the rest of the plot. Kosuke isn't a canon character, so I think her backstory and personality need to be established a little more than the others', which we're already familiar with.

Next chapter is here! And I am simultaneously ecstatic and scared of what's to come!

The Lily Bowl is very quiet when Kosuke returns home with a sleep-tipsy Minami in tow. With the others already on their way home, she's left to basically drag her younger sister by her hand.

They barely make it up the stairs, and once they're in Minami's room, Kosuke knows she's not going to make it much longer. All she can manage is getting Minami to brush her teeth and change into her pajamas. She'll have to get her bath in the morning.

Kosuke tucks her in to bed, something she has not done in a long time but she kind of owes for keeping her up past her bedtime. She plugs in the nightlight, whispers a goodnight, and leaves Minami to sleep.

Sleep sounds very welcome at the moment. But Kosuke doesn't even get to her door, let alone her pajamas.

"Kosuke? Come here."

She hadn't even noticed the lamp on in the room down the hall. Walking in, Kosuke sees with some kind of relief that it's only her stepfather inside. One side of the bed has the sheets turned over, a horror novel on the nightstand, the lamp still on.

From the desk, Marti waves her over. Even though the master bedroom is the largest in the "house", Kosuke can still sit on the end of the bed and be close enough. She can almost touch the wheels of his chair with her toes.

Marti does not immediately say anything. He continues writing on the papers spread out in front of him—little more than bills, from what Kosuke can tell. She kind of felt bad that all the accounting and calculating was on Marti, but it wasn't like she could help him. Besides, after her mother's "What do you mean I ordered two hundred chairs instead of twenty?" mistake that happened the year before, Marti has already proven himself to be a worthy caretaker of their finances.

At long last, Marti clicks his pen and turns around to face her.

"Your mother isn't happy with you," he tells her.

"Is she ever?"

"I'm serious."

"So am I."

Kosuke honestly isn't trying to push her luck; she's just trying to lighten up the mood before it has the chance to get dark. It's not like she has anything to worry about; it takes a lot—a LOT—to get Marti annoyed, let alone angry.

So he just crosses one leg over the other and folds his hands on his knees. "She's outside."

The two short words are enough. Kosuke feels something terrible twist in her gut. Her mother's been trying very hard to give up smoking. Emiko had never been a heavy smoker; she'd never stained their clothes with the smell of tobacco, never had to go to the doctor about a problem. There were days when she didn't smoke at all, but however occasional it was, she wanted to stop altogether.

This stretch had been the longest one. Around forty days, if Kosuke was right. And now she'd ruined it. She was being so immature that she literally drove her mother to a cigarette—

"It's not you." Kosuke is becoming very convinced, as of late, that Marti can read her mind. "Not totally. We had some tricky customers today. Had a mom completely set her kids on the loose—broke two plates before we had to ask them all to leave."

"Customers usually don't bother Mom all that much, though."

"No, not usually. But we also got a review."

"Oh no."

"Oh yeah."

"Ugh. Let me see it."

Marti hands her the newspaper on his desk. It's already turned to the page, the review printed under a name that Kosuke does not recognize. She skims it with her eyes, and almost as if the words are highlighted, she seeks out the things that must have driven her mother to the edge.

...cozy atmosphere gone to waste in a cramped space...

...the "finely toasted croissants" were more along the lines of "completely charred bread socks"...

...with one waiter being unable to work due to an unknown family emergency, one wonders if two extra hands truly prevents the snail's-pace service I experienced...

The review is not entirely negative—the writer liked the other food, praised the cleanliness of the place, the freshness of the ingredients, etc. But the closing sentiment is essentially a warning not to get one's hopes up. Reviews are always tricky in the restaurant business. Kosuke knows with good confidence that her parents take criticism when they can. If the food is not made to par, they try to fix it. If a waiter causes problems, they try to straighten them out

Not all reviews really work to their merit, though. Kosuke knows of three different types of reviews so far: the bizarrely visceral, the pointlessly vague, and the one-bad-day-at-the-restaurant-should-not-measure-its-value.

This one seems to fall mostly in the third category. Kosuke had already found out that a large group of children—probably on a field trip, who knew?—had come to The Lily Bowl for lunch. Kosuke loved her family's restaurant dearly, but it just wasn't yet the place for sudden, large groups.

"Emiko admires that reviewer," Marti sighs. "She's really beating herself up over this one."

"But?"

"...But it would probably help if you let her be for a while."

Kosuke nods, even though she does not at all feel happy about it. She kind of hates how childish she's being—"I'm going to cause a lot of problems, then feel bad for myself when everyone rightfully gets mad at me!"—but it's not like anyone enjoys being ridiculed. It's not something you look forward to.

"For future reference," continues Marti, "don't use your sister as a pawn. It's not moral."

"Yeah...Sorry."

Marti does not say anything for a moment. His eyes flicker over her face searchingly. "Something else is wrong. What is it?"

"Nothing serious."

"If it wasn't serious, you wouldn't look so down."

"It's just...Kohta and I had a talk. About—" Kosuke flaps her hands around. "—the future and everything."

Marti's lips purse as he leans back in his chair. There's pity in his eyes that Kosuke was not expecting.

"We have ice cream downstairs," he offers. "Or I could get one of my old punching bags out, if that's what you need. I'm here for you."

"We didn't break up," Kosuke quickly corrects. "It just gave me some things to think about."

"What kind of things?"

Kosuke looks to the door, as if expecting to see Emiko there. She's not, of course, and Kosuke is kind of relieved. One-on-one talks were never easy for her. Two-on-one talks are nightmares.

"I need to ask you something," she says.

"Go ahead."

"Are you angry with me?"

Marti thinks for a moment. "I'm not happy that you weaseled your way out of your grounding, but I'm not furious—"

"No, I mean just...In general. With how I am."

Kosuke isn't waxing poetry and she knows it. Yet, Marti seems to perfectly understand what she's asking. His posture does not change, his mouth does not immediately open, but something thoughtful and almost sad fills his eyes. A finger taps against his knee. Kosuke can hear the clock ticking.

"Angry isn't the right word," he tells her. "Neither is disappointment. Concerned, I think. Come here."

Marti reaches over the papers. Kosuke groans.

"Please," she begs, "not the flowers."

"Yes, the flowers. Now come here and look."

Kosuke rolls her eyes, but does so. She walks all of one foot closer until the edge of the desk is against her hip. In the windowsill above the desk rests her stepfather's potted orchid. He always had something blooming on this windowsill.

"This orchid didn't get thisway on its own. It had to be watered, the air around it had to be humidified, the sun has to hit it just right. It takes a lot of care and effort, but it pays off in the end."

"Pays off how?"

"It turns into something beautiful, as you will observe. The fact is that without making an effort to take care of it, the bloom wouldn't be what it is. Now, imagine if...growths started coming out of it."

"Growths?"

"Yes. Just weird spuds that are popping up for no reason. I would cut them off, of course, but let's say they keep coming back. So I do everything I can to get rid of them, but no matter what, they come back. The growths are ruining the orchid, and all I can do is cut them down and wait for them to come back, because I don't know what else to do. See what I'm getting at with this?"

"I'm an annoying growth?" Marti's glare is very withering. "I'm joking. Yes, I see what you're getting at."

No. No she did not. She never understood any of his flower metaphors and she never would, but at the age of thirteen she decided she'd just nod along at his wisdom.

Marti reaches over and picks up the small watering can beside the orchid. He gives it to Kosuke.

"You are who you are," Marti continues as Kosuke tilts the can, letting just the right amount of water trickle inside the pot and darken the soil. "We just want you to be the best you can be. The world can be scary, honey. We want you to be ready to take it on."

Kosuke snorts. "I don't see why. If I ever have a problem, I just have to get my dad to beat it up, right?"

Marti snorts, too. "Yeah, well, your dad can't beat up taxes. Even if he really, really wants to."

Kosuke looks down at the papers. Setting the watering can down, she lifts a paper up. An electricity bill, and even though it's probably reasonable for a small restaurant-home, it still looks like a lot to a jobless high school graduate.

"Eesh," she groans. "Is this what it usually is?"

Marti sighs. "No. They upped something, somewhere. It doesn't really matter; we have to pay it, anyway."

"But we're good?"

"Yeah, we're good." Marti gives her a thumbs-up and a wink. It makes him look very young. "Still going strong."

Kosuke looks down at the papers once again. Only one is handwritten, and she picks it up out of curiosity. The handwriting is little more than chickenscratch, and she can only pick out a few words—"owe", "impatient", "don't be stupid".

The last one gives her pause. That's...not something you would read in a professional letter. "What's this?"

The paper is plucked from her fingers at once. Marti does not look panicked save for his tapping foot. He just folds the paper in half and tucks it into his shirt pocket.

"Dumb personal matters," is the only explanation he gives. "From a sorta-kinda-not-really-friend."

"They sound...gruff."

"They are." Marti lifts a leg and taps his foot against her butt. "Now go on. Your mother will be here any second now."

"Alright." Kosuke taps him on the forehead and heads for the door. "'Night."

"Good night. Hey, by the way…" Marti nods at a cardboard box at the foot of the bed. "Those are some of our old clothes we're getting rid of. Go through them to see if you want any. Love you."

Kosuke picks up the box and grunts, "Love you, too."

She's only halfway to the door when she hears footsteps coming from the stairs. Kosuke absolutely dives for her bedroom door, almost falling on her face in her haste to lock it shut behind her. The box goes clunking to the floor.

She stays there a moment, listening to the footsteps as they pass by. A door opens and closes. She can just barely hear her parents' voices, the words no more than warbles. Her mother sounds tired more than anything.

Kosuke only stays up a little while longer. She changes into her pajamas, creeps to the bathroom unnoticed, and plays around on her phone for a bit before calling it a night. It's kind of sad that she's done very little all day and she's still exhausted. Oh, well.

Sleep does not come easily, however. She ends up tossing in her bed over and over, fixing her pillows, even plays some relaxing music on her phone. Yet awake she remains.

Her and Kohta's conversation keeps coming to her mind. How disappointed and tired he looked with her. The way he almost cringed every time she said anything. He'd said they were okay, but now Kosuke was not so sure. She wouldn't put it past him to say that just for the sake of getting out of the conversation.

Her mother isn't giving her peace of mind, either. Kosuke really, truly did not intentionally push her mother to the end of her rope. Her mother was always hardheaded and fiery about everything, from cooking to her family to just getting groceries from the store. So Kosuke honestly couldn't tell when to take her mother's annoyance seriously or not. This time, however, she knows it's the former.

She doesn't know which makes her feel worse:

Knowing that she has disappointed people she loves.

The fact that she's gone through this guilt before.

The doorknob twists. Kosuke almost closes her eyes, just open enough to see who it is and still look asleep.

Emiko stands immobile in the doorway for a moment. Kosuke cannot see her face from the bed. All she can make out is her mother's nightgown, her bare feet, her short blonde hair mussed around her head.

Leaving the door open, Emiko walks closer and closer. Kosuke doesn't know what to do—should she admit that she was fake-sleeping for no reason, or...?

Her mother stops beside her bed, pauses, and sits down on the floor. Her back rests against the mattress. In the moonlight, and through her fluttering eyelashes, Kosuke still cannot see her despite her being a mere arm's length away. Her face is turned in her direction. Her hair looks silver.

Something brushes against Kosuke's cheek, and she almost jumps.

Emiko brushes a lock of red hair from her daughter's face, then just lightly runs her fingertips through the rest. She never says a word. At some point, she pulls her hand back and looks away, but remains seated at Kosuke's bedside.

Sleep has finally started to get its hold of her, warping Kosuke's senses. Her thoughts are incoherent to herself, because even though she kind of feels awkward and confused and concerned and loved all at once, she (for some reason) finds herself looking at the wrinkles on her mother's face. In daylight, they are almost unnoticeable. In moonlight, they are stark gray.

She's going somewhere with this. 'She's lived a long life,' or something similar, comes into her head. But then she's asleep, and when she wakes up to warm yellow sunlight, her mother—of course—is gone.

Graduation comes and goes with much (but fast) fanfare. Before Kosuke can even comprehend it, she's done with high school. Everyone else seems to be bursting with joy and sadness, but she's just kind of relieved more than anything. Neither she nor Okina cry at the ceremony—though for Okina, it seemed to be because of pure refusal not to make her mascara run. There are hugs and kisses and final goodbyes, and then that's it.

The first week of her vacation passes at a snail's pace. Besides occasionally hanging out with Okina, Kosuke does not do much at all besides sleep and eat. Which, okay, she did that before she graduated, but now it feels kind of disappointing. Kind of like she's stuck on a bus stop, waiting for the next big part of life to come even though she just got out of one. This next part would begin at Seneca, just a month away and having already bitten a huge chunk out of her family's money.

So. A week after graduation. Nothing has happened. Kosuke is sleeping. What a happy ending.

"Kosuke. Kosuke!"

Kosuke stirs and groans at the voice. Her stepfather is leaning over her bed, brows furrowed. He's wearing a button-up shirt and slacks, not the T-shirt and jeans he usually wears around the restaurant. His hair is combed neatly, very handsome.

Her voice is thick and scratchy in her throat. "Yeah?"

"I thought you already woke up. I saw you go into the bathroom this morning."

"Yeah...I think I was going to go out to the store, but...Bed..."

"Ignoring that it's about one in the afternoon now," sighs Marti, "your mother and I are headed out. Emergency business meeting. The restaurant is closed up, so just...Try and eat something?"

"I will do so with great enthusiasm." Kosuke lets out a long, catlike yawn. "Later."

"Don't I know it. We'll pick up Minami from her party on our way back, but keep an eye on Hitsuji, alright?"

As if summoned, her little brother all but flies into view and throws himself against his father's legs. Marti doesn't even flinch as Hitsuji dances atop his feet, saying, "Rocket ship! Rocket ship!"

"Just a second, astronaut." Marti looks down at the box tucked away in the corner, almost out of sight. "Did you go through the clothes yet?"

"Yeah. Didn't see anything I wanted."

"Nothing?" Marti reaches over and grabs the first thing stuffed into the box—a brown bomber jacket, lined in sheepskin. He holds it over his chest, and even though the initials on the right sleeve mark it as his, it can't possibly stretch over his wide shoulders. "Not even my old bomber?"

"No offense, Dad, but it's kind of outdated. And it smells like paprika."

"There's a story behind that, but I'll tell you that later, even though you have no sense of fashion." Marti folds the bomber back up and tosses it back into the box. Hitsuji is waving his arms at him and whining almost in a panic. "We're off. Love you."

"Love you, too," Kosuke mumbles.

Marti finally wraps his arms around Hitsuji's middle and lifts him up, slowly, muttering a robotic countdown beneath his breath. Hitsuji is giggling like it's just the absolute best thing in the world, and when Marti says "Activating asteroid shield…breaking through the stratosphere…Kissing Mama goodbye…" Hitsuji plants a kiss against Emiko's cheek. Emiko smiles after him and waves as the "Hitsuji Rocket" flies away with a throaty rumble from Marti.

Watching them go, Kosuke only then realizes that her mother is still standing in the doorway. She'd been doing so the whole time, but she lingers now. She's buttoning up her blouse without even looking at her fingers.

"Love you," she says.

Emiko...doesn't say goodbye like this. Almost ever. She'd said it before, of course—she was her mother, of course she'd been told she was loved a thousand times over—but never as a farewell. It catches Kosuke off-guard, and after she says it, Emiko hesitates like she's pondering it herself.

"Love you too," Kosuke says back. It is not at all insincere, but it comes out more like a question.

Emiko and Marti leave.

Kosuke finally pulls herself out of bed, gets dressed at least semi-decently, and brushes her hair. She has no plans for the day, but she has to watch Hitsuji while they're gone.

She makes her way downstairs. Hitsuji is in the hall, setting up a game Marti had bought him a while ago. It was something where you set up some tiny cardboard figurines of cowboy robbers and flicked a little wooden ball at them as the "sheriff". When she comes down, he flicks the ball at her, and even though it doesn't even hit her, she makes a show of bleeding out and dying on the stairs. Hitsuji just continues with his game after that, completely unfazed by murdering his own sister, and well, Kosuke can't bash his commitment.

The front windows of the restaurant have the shutters pulled down, the door locked. It was always kind of weird seeing the restaurant empty during the daytime, but it isn't a sight she'd never seen before. It's very quiet in the building, save for Hitsuji playing with his game and birdsong outside.

The kitchen is sparkling clean, everything in place save for a large bowl in the middle of the table. There's a little sticky note attached to it.

Kosuke,

Eat.

Mom&Dad

Well, Kosuke doesn't have to be told twice. Peeling the tinfoil off the top of the bowl, she sees that it's filled with fried rice tossed with carrots, broccoli, and peas, God bless her parents' souls. Kosuke does not doubt that she would be capable of eating the bowl by herself, let alone with her little brother, but sitting almost alone in an empty restaurant's kitchen sounds...sad.

She pulls her phone out and goes to the most recent caller.

"What's up?" Okina asks on the first ring, right to the point.

"Do you want to come over?"

"I'm practicing my pirouettes. My teacher said they're off and I'll have to do this all day just to get it right."

"Mom and Dad left food."

"I'll be there in ten minutes. But I swear, if I get there and you just need me to get you a drink because you're too lazy to get out of bed, I'm not going to be your friend anymore."

"Cool. See you in ten."

"See you."

Okina does come ten minutes later. Even her most casual clothes have some elegance to them, Kosuke muses to herself. Okina hasn't been outside the house all day and she's still wearing a pearl necklace and pretty pink flats.

Kosuke dumps a third of the rice onto one plate, a third onto the other, a half of the last third onto another, heats them up in the microwave and maybe too quickly slides a plate over to Okina. Kosuke digs out a spoon from a drawer. Okina eats hers with chopsticks like a normal person.

"How's life?" Kosuke asks through a mouthful of rice. She turns her head and calls, "Hitsuji! Come eat your lunch!"

Okina looks very old in a short moment, but nevertheless replies, "I don't know how much more I can take, Kosuke. You know ballet is my life, but if my college professor is half as strict as Madame Reaux is, I think I'm going to crack the first time she tells me to lift my leg higher."

"So," Kosuke says while Hitsuji practically crashes into his seat. "Will you quit?"

"No," Okina snaps back. Beside her, Hitsuji parrots her again and again, 'No, no, no,' and she goes on a bit softer. "I will have a mental breakdown before I quit ballet. I've spent far too much time with it to drop it now."

Isn't that the truth. Okina had been dancing to "Pas de Deux" since the second she was born, it seemed. Kosuke cannot remember a single day where Okina hasn't danced, or at the very least talked about ballet. Though she admires her commitment, and knows that Okina is a beautiful dancer, Kosuke can't imagine a life like hers. Always performing, always perfecting upon perfection, always being yelled at while her toes ached and her back went stiff…Then again, she isn't Okina, so maybe it isn't half that bad.

"Have you talked to that Ikuto guy yet?" Kosuke asks.

Okina twiddles with a piece of carrot and doesn't respond save for the lightest of pinks taking over her already-blushed cheeks. Hitsuji, none the wiser, loudly and curiously asked, "Who's Ikuto? Hey, Kobuay, who's Ikuto?"

"Koh-SOO-KAAAY. Ikuto's a boy Okina likes, but she won't admit to it."

Hitsuji just about instantly loses interest in the conversation, but Okina swells up like a balloon. "You say that like I've been pining for him forever!"

"Haven't you?"

"No! He's just a guy in my class that I think is a little cute. That's it."

"If 'that's it', why haven't you talked to him yet?"

"You know, not everyone is as flirty as you."

"I am not flirty. I've been dating the same guy for two years, what are you even talking about?"

"Yeah, but when you realized you liked Kohta, you just went for it. No fear, no hesitation. I can't even think about just walking up to Ikuto and laying it on thick, you know?" Okina pulls a napkin out of the dispenser on the table and dabs at her lips in the daintiest way possible. Beside her, Hitsuji has found that 'flirty' is a hilarious word—if, of course, one pronounced it as 'flurtee', as he is doing. "How's it been going with you and Kohta, by the way?"

"Uh..." Kosuke stirs her rice. She's not looking at Okina anymore, instead staring a hole into the table. "We've been texting. Not a lot, but enough. He and his family are on vacation right now, so...Yeah."

"Yeah," Okina repeats. "You want to talk about it yet?"

"No, it's an 'us' thing. No use in talking it out with anyone else, I think."

"Alright. It's fine." Okina jabs her chopsticks upwards, towards the ceiling. "You want to do anything, or...?"

"Movie?"

"Let me do your nails during, and you have a deal."

The next two hours pass in Kosuke's bedroom, her computer propped up on a mattress while Okina, Ikuto, and Kosuke sit on the floor. Kosuke nearly nods off several times, always reawakened by Okina poking her and complaining that she messed up a flower or something. If not that, then Hitsuji asking questions about the movie—you know, the ones all four-year-olds ask, where the answer comes is simply "keep watching"—certainly does the trick.

Once the nails are done, Okina tries to braid Kosuke's hair, which turns out to be a very difficult task since Okina's fingernails keep getting stuck in the strands.

"Please," Kosuke begs when Okina yanks another strand out. "No more!"

"Beauty is pain," Okina snaps back. "Pain is beauty!"

Praise the good Lord above, the phone downstairs rings, and Kosuke escapes. She all-too-happily rips the phone off the wall, despite the burning in her scalp.

"Hello?" she answers.

"Emiko? Is that you?"

"No, I'm sorry; this is her daughter."

"Oh! I'm sorry. Is your mother there?"

"No, she's on a business trip right now. Do you want me to tell her something when she gets back?"

"Well, no, it's—your sister, Minami? She's over here for my son's birthday party, but it's over now, and everyone else is gone. I'm fine watching her for a little bit, but I was wondering when your mother would come to pick her up?"

Huh. The business trip must be going on longer than her parents thought it would. Ah, well.

"I'll call her and see. I'm sure she's on her way right now."

"Okay, thank you! Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

Once she's back in her room, Okina tugs on her leg like a needy child, but Kosuke kicks her off. She picks up her phone and dials Marti's number, sitting on the bed as it rings. Okina is left pouting on the floor. Hitsuji points at the movie and asks, "Is the bad guy gonna win?" So the two of them turn their rapt attention to it to see what happens.

Marti does not pick up, nor does Emiko. Kosuke waits for another five minutes and tries again. Still nothing. Another five minutes, and two more voicemails, Kosuke just sighs and goes to her messages.

To: Dad

I know you guys are busy but Minami's party is over. I'm going to go walk her home. Tell mom please

"Alright." Kosuke goes to her closet and pulls the doors open. "I have to go out for a bit. You can stay here if you want."

Okina takes her eyes off her nails. "What's up?"

"Mom and Dad are running late and I need to go get Minami from a party."

"I'll come with you," Okina offers.

"No, I'll come with you," Hitsuji all but demands. He's already on his feet and bouncing with determination. "Kobuay, I'll come with you!"

Kosuke ruffles his curls and turns to Okina. "You can't spend thirty minutes doing your makeup first."

"I'll stay here."

"Where's Mommy and Daddy?" Minami asks the second Kosuke walks through the door.

Kosuke gives the woman at the door a smile—she has no idea who this woman is, she just knows that she's the mother of the birthday boy, who she also does not know—and goes to her sister. She's wearing a pretty red dress with white lining, but it's kind of undermined by the drying paint on the little girl's fingers. A smear of purple paint goes across Minami's forehead.

"Business stuff," she tells her.

Minami huffs and holds out a wrinkled sheet of paper. "What do they do when they have business stuff?"

"Math," answers Kosuke. "They probably drink coffee and talk about boring stuff, too."

Minami's nose scrunches up, wrinkling her entire face. "Eugh."

"I agree." Kosuke gives her a little bop on the nose.

Hitsuji comes in—having been distracted by the cute but unaffectionate cat that had brushed by him on the way in—and at once goes to give his sister a hug. While she gives it back, Kosuke looks down at the paper.

The fingerpainted drawing is of their family—Minami, Kosuke, Hitsuji, Emiko, and Marti, all standing side-by-side and holding hands. Behind them, there's a house, clouds, a smiling yellow sun, two dogs (that they do not have), a dragon (ditto, sadly), and maybe a boat.

"It's beautiful." Kosuke runs a finger over the dry, mottled paint that makes up the grass. "I really like Mom's dress."

Minami nods with pride. "I got Daddy's mustache, too."

"It's red!"

"Yeah, I didn't have any brown paint."

"...Well, why is my hair blue?"

"Because blue is a pretty color."

"I can't argue with that." Kosuke holds out a hand palm-up, and Minami all but slaps hers into it. "Say goodbye to...your friend. And thank his mother for having you!"

Minami, always eager to keep moving forward, takes all of ten seconds to do both. Then all three of them are outside, walking back for home. Minami tugs on her sister's arms several times, begging to be lifted, but Kosuke just can't. Minami pouts about it, but doesn't whine. The last time she hadn't taken 'no' for an answer, she had all but pounced on Kosuke. The teenager had been knocked off her feet and very nearly split her head on the edge of a table. So now Emiko's words have gone from "Kosuke, pick up your sister, for goodness sakes! She's begging!" to "Minami, no, no, no! She can't take it!"

Hitsuji is not so easily dismissed, and after the second gentle "no", he's getting dangerously close to fussy. It's only by asking him to pick whatever flowers they come across on their walk that he's distracted.

The sky has been overcast all day, but of course, it's just Kosuke's luck that it begins to downpour while they're walking home. The rain is not heavy, and the walk is only about twenty minutes, but Minami nearly has a heart attack when a raindrop hits a corner of her masterpiece. She freaks out in a heartbeat, all while Hitsuji is having the time of his life. Kosuke stuffs the picture into her shirt and powers them the rest of the way through.

When they come back to The Lily Bowl, it's a little past four and it's really starting to come down. Minami immediately runs upstairs to change clothes, while Kosuke just takes to drying her hair with a towel. Hitsuji just plops right back down to his paper-flicking game, and Kosuke almost has to wrangle him out of his soaked jacket.

When she checks her phone, Kosuke sees that her parents still had yet to call or text back. Which is odd, but it has happened before, courtesy of a three-hour traffic jam where both of their phones died.

"Kosuke?"

Kosuke looks up from the ribbons in her fingers. Across from her, Okina is painting Kosuke's toes with exquisite detail. Okina would not let Kosuke near her with anything appearance-changing, not even if her life depended on it, so Kosuke is left braiding her a bracelet that she knows Okina probably isn't going to wear anyway.

Somewhere downstairs, Hitsuji and Minami are playing some game or another, and other than the occasional fussy disagreement, it's quiet. Or, at least, it was, as now Minami stands in her doorway in only a T-shirt that comes down to her knees. It was probably Marti's. Downstairs, Hitsuji is calling for her impatiently.

"Yeah?"

Minami twists a handful of fabric in her fingers as she says, "My roof is leaking."

Kosuke reaches up to her desk and grabs a cup. It still has a bit of sticky soda in it, but whatever, it wasn't like Minami was asking for fine China. It doesn't stop Okina from wrinkling her nose at her when she passes it to Minami, though.

"Here you go," Kosuke says.

Minami's fingers just barely touch the cup when the lights suddenly die.

Minami lets out a little squeak as the room is dimmed to grays and blues. The only light comes from the window, and with the daytime sky covered in stormclouds, it is not so much light as it is an eerie white glow.

Minami suddenly cheers, and Kosuke very narrowly avoids spilling soda on the rug. Downstairs, Hitsuji is calling her over and over, "Kobuay! Kobuay! Kobuay!" She does end up messing up Okina's work, however, and the blonde lets out what can only be likened to the sound of a grieving beast. Her little brother barrels up the stairs far too quickly moments later, one second away from freaking out and only stopped when he sees Minami's smile.

"No lights!" Minami throws her arms into the air and bolts out of the room, still singing, "No lights! No lights!"

Hitsuji joins her with double the enthusiasm. "No whies! No whies! No whies!"

Kosuke sighs and stands to her feet. Okina tries to grab onto her ankle, but she dances out of it easily. "Protocol. You know the drill."

Okina finally just groans and stands to her feet. Kosuke pulls the comforter off of her bed while Okina grabs the pillows. Minami very nearly mows them down in the hallway. She's cocooned herself in her blankets, but still blazes downstairs with ease. Hitsuji is trying to do the same and is content with just dragging a sheet behind him.

"Can we do it in the restaurant?" Minami calls up the stairs. "There's nobody here!"

"Sure," Kosuke calls back, earning a giggle of delight.

Okina and Kosuke rearrange the tables and chairs until there's enough room for them to spread out the blankets. While Minami runs upstairs to get more pillows, Kosuke finds the instant ramen in the kitchen cabinet. She fills a pot full of water, opens the gas flame on the stove, and lets it boil.

"Are we having noodles?" Hitsuji asks her, somehow teleporting right at her side and tugging on her pants leg.

"We sure are," Kosuke replies.

"I want a lot! Give me a lot!"

"Sir, yes sir."

By the time she dumps the ramen in, Okina has gotten all the candles out and on the tables. When Minami asks, Okina lets her blow one out just so she can light it again. Then, of course, Hitsuji does the same, albeit via spitting it out instead of blowing.

The one thing that Kosuke knows how to make is really good instant ramen. Her parents have great disdain for it—or the idea of it. Said it was insulting to genuine ramen chefs (even though that could be applied to any food, ever, in Kosuke's opinion.) Still, that didn't stop the No Lights tradition from coming to existence. Kosuke takes out some ham and onions from the fridge while Okina watches her in a condescendingly impressed way.

In what seems like a very short time, Kosuke, Okina, Hitsuji, and Minami are sitting cross-legged around a little wooden table in the blankets, slurping up ramen and watching rain poor through the door windows. Minami proposes a race to see who can finish first. She and Okina are horrified and impressed when Kosuke wins in about ten seconds. Hitsuji takes the longest and doesn't finish but still declares himself the winner, and who are they to deny him?

The designated No Lights cabinet is thoroughly pillaged. Okina uses an old sewing box to stitch together a little teddy bear. Minami puts together three different puzzles at the same time. Kosuke folds strips of paper into stars. Hitsuji takes out a jumbo-sized coloring book and is just going to town on it.

Once it gets dark enough, Kosuke pulls out the old probable DVD player and some old animated movies. The screen is tiny, but Minami still cuddles up next to it with Hitsuji not far behind. Kosuke goes to make popcorn, old-style, popping kernels in a pan.

While they're popping, Okina stands behind her. Eventually, she asks, "Have your parents said anything yet?"

Kosuke checks her phone. It's almost eight. No messages.

"Nope," she sighs. "They're missing out."

The four of them get all through one movie huddled together, munching on popcorn, whispering in the dark. They pop another movie in, but Minami is already nodding off, and the lights come back on halfway through. Hitsuji has already fallen asleep and doesn't notice a thing.

"Lights," Minami mumbles. She yawns with her mouth wide open.

"Lights," Kosuke agrees.

The three of them stand to their feet, and Minami raises her arms at Kosuke. She looks sideways at Okina, who is all too conveniently folding up blankets and blowing out candles.

Kosuke reluctantly picks up her sister and makes it up the stairs before her legs give up on her. Minami brushes her teeth and goes straight to bed. Kosuke wouldn't mind joining her, but knowing that Okina is still downstairs, she whispers a goodnight and goes down.

That leaves Hitsuji to take upstairs, and he is not amused by her denial to lift him up. He very nearly cries when he's told he's going to have to just walk the rest of the way up. Bribing him with a bedtime story fails, and it's only when Kosuke puts her foot down that he finally complies. He drops the disappointment quickly once she's getting him into his pajamas. Then she leaves him and Minami to sleep to their heart's content.

All it takes is a few more minutes of cleaning up. Okina sits down at a table, and Kosuke sits across from her before checking her phone.

Still no messages. It's past nine.

"They have some explaining to do," groans Kosuke. Then she adds, "You can go home if you want."

"No," Okina sighs. "I'll just text my dad that I'll be home late. You know how freaked you get when you're home alone."

"Only when it's dark."

"You still believe in ghosts, just admit it."

Ten minutes pass. Kosuke takes the dirty dishes to the dishwasher and cleans up in the kitchen a bit.

No messages.

Twenty minutes pass. Kosuke goes upstairs to change into her pajamas. Okina takes a shower while she's spreading her blankets over her bed. They've slept in the same bed plenty times before, and even if it was a twin and they were well grown by this point, there wasn't an ounce of awkwardness to be found in the arrangement.

No messages.

Thirty minutes pass. Okina takes almost an hour in the shower and still isn't completely satisfied with the perfect silkiness of her hair when she's done. When she comes back downstairs, Kosuke is waiting at a table. It's past eleven.

No messages.

"Have they been out this late before?" Okina asks.

"No," Kosuke answers. "Never."

It's almost midnight when someone knocks on the door.

Kosuke stands to her feet, relieved but annoyed at the same time. Figures that when she doesn't answer her phone within five seconds, Marti and Emiko get mad at her. But almost ten hours on their end is okay.

She pulls the door open, neverminding that she's still just wearing her pajamas because honestly, the nerve of these people. "You guys better have a good excuse..."

It's not her parents on the other side of the door. It's a police officer.