A lot of things happened while the twins were on "baby mode", and while they were picked from school by Miyako. They knew something was fishy when the woman drove them to her own apartment… No, even before when she took her time to talk to the homeroom teacher and gave her a weird document. One that had the portrait of a man that Ruby didn't want to see.

"Why him?" She demanded while Miyako drove them to the apartment, kind of angry but no less worried about the suddenness of the change.

Things were going too fast, too outside of the four walls that the twins were confined to. Away from their grubby little hands.

"Just in case." Miyako replied elusively. And the lack of backup had Ruby make a small tantrum, but the topic was forcefully dropped.

Ruby would have to have a team meeting with the boy and scold him on his poor performance, lack of initiative, and not 'donning the shirt' for the good of the two-people team on their mama's side.

Or so was the plan, until they realized they were heading; and entered the building to find their oshi-mama eating alongside her boss, resting their back on the kitchen counter.

Miyako scolded them for not sitting down to eat, rather than because they had started without them. So the twins quickly realized that something was wrong, much more because things became obviously normal once more as they returned from leaving their stuff and changing into something more comfortable.

Whatever they were talking about, they wanted to avoid the twins hearing it. So the reincarnated duo had to pretend to go watch TV or something, while the adults discussed things. But only really got anywhere when they supposedly took to the Saitou's room to take a nap.

"…this is serious. If that little girl has as much influence as you're saying, then we need to prepare. I didn't share that much confidential stuff, but she might be able to dig for it." From Ichigo's words, it seemed like that guy wasn't the center of the discussion. At the very least, but…

"She's not a little girl, Ichigo-san." The twins' mama corrected, speaking in a less hushed tone than before. "She's like 5 years older than me."

"That's literally nothing to me." The man replied with a deadpan tone. A lot less serious than moments ago. "That's less than the age gap between Miyako and I."

"Wait, how much older are you?"

"Seven years older."

"You're an old geezer!"

"I… Think we don't have to worry about this." Said Aqua after the most beautiful, most smartest (?), and most talented idol in the history of forever started laughing. It was such a beautiful sound that it almost brought Ruby to tears, wishing that she could record it and make it her ringtone when she eventually got her own smartphone.

"Ssshhh…" The little girl pushed Aqua away. If he didn't want to enjoy the heavenly concert through the slightly ajar door, then he was not worthy of it. But no matter, Ruby would take everything in herself.

"Seriously. Seems like they got this covered… For now." The little boy frowned, ignoring Ruby's little burst of strength and trying to find his place to peer through the spot he had been thus far. "Quit it. Let me look."

"Ugh…" Ruby stopped impeding him, for now. But only because he had a point. "I don't like this. We're out of the loop. Again. Now it's about this Yukiwhatever woman. She's probably very ugly and dumb."

"That's… Not the point." Aqua murmured while focusing his ear a bit more. "But it's to be expected. We're still defenseless against the ever-expanding 'outside'."

Ruby hated hearing that fact.

"I don't like this."

"I do." Aqua lied, closing his eyes for a moment before re-focusing on what was happening on the living room. "At least it feels livelier now."

Ruby focused on the way the three interacted, how her mama seemed to fit a little better in that table. She sounded so… Alive. A tone that had only belonged to Ruby and Aqua, or so it had felt like thus far.

"But it's not always like this." Ruby stated. "What's so good about it if she'll come back and be so stressed out? Have you seen as distracted as she has been since he appeared?"

"You say it like it's an everyday thing." Aqua retorted.

"It's been far too frequent to be a coincidence."

"Maybe we hadn't noticed the signs before. Ever thought of that?"

Ruby did not want to.

"If you like him so much…!" Ruby started to yell, but quickly controlled herself before the adults could notice. "Go live with him! Leave mama to me!"

Aqua snapped his face to her.

"Over my dead and cold corpse." He pushed her away this time. Fists up and fire in his eyes. "If we can't share, then I will have her all for myself."

"I knew this day would…! Wait, we're allies here!" Ruby squared up too, but realized that this wasn't about who got to keep mama. But, rather, about the fact that neither might be able to. "It's you and I against him."

"Against them." Aqua corrected her, taking their mom's phone from somewhere in his child clothes. "I'm looking this woman up."

"Smart." Ruby left the spot to look from behind Aqua's shoulder as he looked through their mama's tags, as a true fan should, before actually looking their current target up.

…

W-Well. She wasn't exactly ugly… But… Of course her beloved mother would always be prettier! More charismatic, lovelier… Were those pictures of places in Japan?

If they were, Ruby had been outside too little to know. She often appeared well-dressed, in places that looked way too fancy for even the Hoshino family to be in. Surrounded by people in suits, dresses, expensive-looking coats…

"Who is this person?" Ruby pushed Aqua's hand away and scrolled faster through the pictures.

There was nothing that could even hint at what this woman did. Nothing that Ruby could point at and say 'she enjoys this the most'. Only important-looking people and important-looking events. A huge ad masquerading as someone's social profile.

Ruby stopped when she found him in one of the pictures. Seemingly slotted between others that had nothing to do with it.

"…"

Hikigaya was there, for once. And he was just freshly graduated from high school, given the diploma and headpiece; but he wasn't the center of the picture. The picture had this woman in it. But she wasn't the center of attention either. Rather, the main focus was on someone else.

Some of the other pictures had her, but usually on the farther sides. Distant. Here, she was with the girl-friend of Hikigaya that the Saitou hired, and the guy himself; awkwardly displaying their diplomas while a woman in a yukata smiled behind them.

The girl, because this was still a teenager, had long black hair that reflected the light around her in an oddly vibrant way. Like it was so well-kept that the light almost bounced off of it. She had a demure body, and looked just as awkward as Hikigaya. But not in a way that made her feel out of place. But, rather, she looked the kind of timid that girls in shows and manga displayed. Looking even more charming, compared to the energetic pink-haired girl to her side. And was holding onto Hikigaya's sleeve with just a couple of her fingers. A small gesture, one that the way they were closer together to each other than to the rest almost covered completely. But one that the little girl couldn't help recognizing.

The woman whose account they were stalking was close to them. Not only physically either. Compared to every other picture in the whole account, somehow this one felt like it held some significance. If only because it was one of the few like this. The way her hand clung to the girl in the center of the picture, the fact that Haruno's eyes were closed and she uploaded the picture anyway when she had looked perfect in every other…

"Ruby?" Aqua had wanted to move on, to keep looking.

It struck the reincarnated girl that he probably didn't feel much about this picture. That he couldn't wholly grasp that this was a family picture in a folder full of displays of power. Because every other person that this woman took photos with was obviously a big shot in their own right, in one way or another.

Ruby took control of the phone and looked for more recent picture. The two women often appeared with the older one, when the younger one was indeed there. But Ruby couldn't find anything that gave the same vibe as the one that caught her attention.

She had to look further back.

There were a few pictures of the two, without the woman in the yukata now. But very few. She could count them with one hand, and they gave Ruby the same feeling. But not quite with the same intensity. Not with the same sense of finality.

Ruby went back to the beginning, trying to find the younger girl.

"Ruby." Aqua insisted, and the little girl snapped out of her stupor.

"What?"

"What are you doing?"

"Checking the competition." She stated before giving the cellphone back, and Aqua looked rather confused by her statement. "I… Think this person only cares about money and stuff. So this is better dealt with by mama's guardians."

"I…" Aqua looked at the screen again. "…Don't necessarily disagree."

"I still want to spend more time with mama." Ruby looked back at the door, wondering if she should keep spying on the adults. "I don't like to see her so low."

"Lower lows, higher highs." Aqua murmured.

"It's our job to cheer her up!"

"Do you know how?"

"By being cute!"

Aqua would either roll his eyes or say something sarcastic, but this time his eyes focused a little more on Ruby.

"Do you know how?" He repeated, and Ruby felt like his tone rubbed her the wrong way. "Do we even know what makes her smile for real?"

"She always smiles for real. We're her children."

"But she can get mad at us." Aqua insisted.

"When we make mistakes." Ruby crossed her arms. "We just need to be obedient, and show how happy we are to have her."

It was that easy… Right? It should be. There was nothing that they were lacking, that Ruby lacked, that would make their mom lose interest in them.

Right?

"I suppose…" Aqua looked a little conflicted, but he seemed to be coming to terms with Ruby's argument. Which, honestly, gave the girl the little push to keep up the high spirits.

"So we can tell her we want to be with her more, right?"

"I…" Aqua looked away. "It might trouble her. She's spreading her wings and…"

"But this is still her home! We're her family!"

"…We are, yes."

"Then we can tell her!"

"We can tell her that we want to be with her, but you can't be clingy. It's different."

"It isn't."

"It is."

"Okay, fine. Guess I'll just ask when we can spend an evening together." Ruby glared at her twin. "Is that small enough for you?"

Aqua looked actually impressed for once.

"You know, that might be just the right measure." He scratched his chin, thinking a whole lot about something that Ruby just came up with in the spur of the moment.

Was she, perhaps, actually way smarter than Aqua? Heh.

"Of course it is." Ruby puffed her chest with pride. "It came from here."

The girl tapped her forehead with a finger, smirking at her twin.

"Hmmm…"

"Maybe we should tell her that we miss her too."

"Ruby…"

"Just a bit!" The little girl made a motion with her hand like she was writing. "It's scheduling. Scheduling, Aqua! I know she's busy being super popular, okay?"

Aqua didn't respond.

"Don't you want to spend more time with her?"

"…I do."

"Then back me up here." Ruby pointed at herself with her thumb while talking. "I'll get us quality time with mama. You just look like an actual kid for once."

"When did you become this bossy?"

"I didn't become bossy, you just became super meek since the Hikigaya sister manhandled you that one time."

"…!" Aqua's face turned bright red, making his sister smirk. The embarrassment mixed with anger and inability to retort was utterly delicious. Some pretty damn good food compared to that one time their mama brought takeout from a fancy restaurant. "I… I don't know what you're talking about."

"Awww, is the little boy scared? Should I bring your blanket so you can hug it out?"

"That woman has held me strangely every single time I've seen her!"

"When did you see her before meeting…? Oh! After the concert, right? Oh, man. You looked so lame when Miyako-san─!"

"Mom!" Aqua couldn't take it anymore and ran out of the room. Angrier than embarrassed now.

Ruby scoffed. So much for someone that boasted about being an adult in his previous life…

Oh, Ruby should probably erase the evidence of using the phone before something could happen.