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Chapter Text

"I wanna go to McDonald's, pyo..."

"Pyocola-sama...you know we don't have enough money."

"But we have more money than we used to have, pyo! We're not that poor, pyo..." The princess slammed her fist on the table. Even though she was a child, it was a strong one, making her "parents" tense up in shock.

Rik wanted to be strong, but he couldn't. He once promised himself he'd never make a member of the royal family cry. Especially not the princess, who was like a daughter to him. He sighed quietly and looked for some money in the pockets of his labcoat. He did find some coins and placed them on the table. "450 Yen." He said. "Can you buy yourself something with that?"

He could feel how his partner glared at him, but he didn't dare to look. Ky has just always been the most serious one. Yes, he was soft with the princess, too, but at least he wasn't scared to say no. But he didn't seem to be that mad. "Well... It's not like we're that poor, that's where you've got a point." Most people they treated in their "non-profit" clinic had a health insurance, so they did get some cash from it, and not to forget the gebas, who ran a whole black market and always gave the squad some of their salary.

"And we haven't been to McDonald's in a month." Coo spoke up. He only ever listened when they were talking about food. At least it seemed to be like that.

Ky gave him a look, a look that was a mix between annoyance and a look he'd have when he knew Coo was right but didn't want to accept it. "Okay, Pyocola-sama, you can go." He placed another 500 Yen on the table.

Her frown disappeared immediately. Ky hated it, not the fact that she was happy now, but because he feared that she'd grow up to be a spoiled brat who'd get mad at any inconvenience and it was all because he raised her that way, because he rarely said no. (He wasn't any better, he'd cry at any inconvenience, after all.)

But maybe he was just overreacting. At least Rik saw it like that.

"I may or may not have 50 yen, too." Coo smirked and pulled up a small coin, which he held between his fingers.

"I have a few yen, pyo." Piyoko held out her hand, in which she had two 10's and a 5. She had 25 Yen, to be exact.

Coo counted all the coins they have put together and nodded. "So we've got 1025. That's enough. But the question is, do 1025 yen feed four people?"

"I won't go." Ky replied immediately, looking a little bitter. "You know I despise that stuff."

"And I'm a vegetarian!" Yeah, no shit, Rik. Everyone knew that. He acted as if everything had meat in there. "And I agree with Ky, I don't like their food, either. So why don't you two go by yourself and buy something nice?"

"Yess, Piyoko, let's go there!"

"Behave yourselves and don't be cruel." Ky told them, but he wondered if they even listened at all in the end.

The two happily walked there, talking a lot as usual. Talking about things like what they want to eat, what kind of bug they found, gossip, what not... everything that came to their mind... everything. Or maybe not.

"Okay, what do you want?" He asked her, counting the money again. "We've got 1025 yen."

"I want a happy meal, pyo!" Piyoko answered, seeming a little impatient, just like always. "With nuggies...And the toy...just anything, I don't care, pyo."

"I'll take a big mac." Coo looked at the prices. "Oh, look, that makes exactly 1000 Yen! So I guess you can keep the 25 Yen you had."

Piyoko didn't seem very happy with this. "But I want to pay with them, pyo."

"You can donate if you want, I guess..." He pointed at the donation jar, just where the cash register was and she immediately rushed there. The physiscian shook his head and then came along to order their stuff.

Piyoko then rushed to her go-to seat, where you could look out of the window. "How long do we have to wait for the food, pyo?"

"Like, uh, 5 minutes?"

"They serve you in a minute when you order at the drive-thru, pyo."

"Yeah."

The two just looked out of the window. Watching some kids play on the slide, climb around...Piyoko didn't play on playgrounds back home, she could climb on rocks. It was considered normal there. She found playgrounds boring.

"Enjoy your meal!" A waitress suddenly said, placing their order on the table.

"You too." Coo muttered back, lost in thoughts. He didn't know wether she heard it or not and he didn't notice the weird stare Piyoko gave him after that. There was just a lot on his mind.

When they started eating, nobody said anything, either. Coo looked at Piyoko and couldn't read her expression. She probably stared into the void. Lost in thoughts, like him? He didn't want to ask.

She stayed like this for a moment, taking small bites of her chicken nuggets until she noticed Coo looking at her. "What's up, pyo?"

"Oh, nothing." He replied, his gaze not leaving her.

"Won't you eat your food, pyo?"

"I forgot about it." He then took it out of the package and took a bite. Yeah, heaven. This burger tasted like heaven. Piyoko didn't like the taste and he didn't know why. She was probably just a picky eater. It must've been hard for her to eat anything the last few years, ever since they've lived in poverty.

They were done pretty fast and just got up. "Piyoko, gimme the box, I'll throw it away."

She nodded and then handed it to him. Piyoko remembered when her and the others went to McDonald's for the first time, they took the happy meal box home and painted a black B (For black gema gema dan) on it. "Maybe you shouldn't throw it away, pyo."

"Come on, we have a dozen of them at home and you don't use them for anything." Coo expected her to protest, but she just lowered her gaze, probably thinking about something.

"You're right, pyo." She looked up at him and smiled. "Then throw it away!"

Honestly, Coo liked it a lot whenever Piyoko would smile. Ky could describe it perfectly: "A kid smiling, especially at you, and especially one with clean teeth, makes your worries go away." (Even though Coo saw the latter point as unnecessary.)

"Well, Piyoko, let's go home now, or Rik and Ky will eat each other or something..."

She giggled a little. "Did you ever catch them do that, pyo?"

Honestly, she probably didn't know what he meant. She probably thought they were actually eating each other, in a way. Coo saw neither of that and he'd prefer it if it stayed that way. "Nah. I don't want to see that."

"Coo, by the way...Thank you, pyo!" The princess thanked him. "Can you bend down a little, pyo?"

"Why?" He didn't wait for an answer, he just did what she said.

"So I can..." She pecked his cheek. She kissed him on the cheek. She gave him a kiss on the cheek. What? Did she actually do that?

Coo took a moment to process this, it even took him a moment to get up again. He held his cheek. "What..." He couldn't look at her. "What was that for?"

"I wanted to pay you back since I donated the money I had, pyo..." Plausible reason. Really.

He leaned back, still a little flustered, but not that much anymore. "Tch, that meal costed a little more than a cheek kiss."

Without a warning, Piyoko got on her toes and kissed him again. But this time on the lips. It was just a little peck, maybe a split second long, but Coo was practically paralyzed now.

The princess was now a little embarrassed as well. "U-Um, let's get away before people start to stare, pyo." She grabbed his hand and they headed outside.

Whenever they went home on other days, the two would talk a lot, too. But not this time. Both were...

Well, that feeling was hard to describe.

Not mad, not disgusted or anything. Only confused. Not even in a negative way. Just a thousand questions spinning around in their heads.

Piyoko remembered that there was a toy inside the happy meal and stopped to take it out. Coo was confused at first but he then remembered it, too.

It was a mini radio, Nevermind on the cover. Kinda strange for McDonald's to put Nirvana on a toy, but hey, that was no problem at all. Coo liked Nirvana a lot. Piyoko pressed the play button on it and even though it didn't smell like teen spirit, but like fresh air mixed with greenhouse gases and the song didn't really match the current situation, it was at least better than the silence.

Good that McDonald's wasn't that far away from their home. But still, Coo did feel really bad about not having said a single word during their way back home. He was scared Piyoko thought he's mad at her.

And she did think that. She also felt a little bad for kissing him on the mouth, like she stole his first kiss or something.

Both of their thoughts were interrupted when they were in the living room.

"You're home early." Rik acknowledged, looking up from the couch. He was probably watching this weird soap opera with Ky again. "How was it?"

"Good." Coo said. He knew they wouldn't believe them. He knew that usually, they'd talk their ears off whenever he and Piyoko went somewhere.

Piyoko held the small radio from her happy meal up. "That was in the happy meal, pyo." She yawned a little.

"Are you tired, Pyocola-sama?" Ky asked her. "You probably didn't know, but it's 8PM, it's not dark outside because it's summer." She probably did know, Piyoko wasn't dumb. And they've been on earth for like 2 years or so.

"Then I'm going to bed. Good night, pyo."

"Good night, Pyocola-sama!" Rik and Ky both replied at the same time. They've been doing that for years already.

Coo waved slightly. "G'night." He then sat on the couch and pretended to watch the show, but he actually thought about everything. He didn't even hear Ky talk to him until he muted the TV.

"Wh-"

"It's late, Coo. Go to sleep."

"But-"

"Look, your sister is in bed already."

Sister. Yeah, no. Maybe Coo used to see her as his sister, but not anymore. Sisters don't kiss you on your mouth. You usually wouldn't walk home in silence with a sister. Piyoko wasn't like a sister to him. And he didn't mean that negatively. It felt like something else. Seeing Piyoko as his sister would be freaking weird now.

"You're not even paying attention to the TV at all." Rik remarked before tilting his head slightly. "Did you two fight?"

"No?" Coo shot back. "We were tired because it was so late."

"Makes sense. I mean, go to sleep!"

"Whatever...Good night, guys."

Coo couldn't sleep that night.

Piyoko couldn't sleep, either.

But they didn't know about the other, since they were in seperate rooms.

They probably both fell asleep eventually, and they just went on with their days. There was no silence, no talking about it...just everything like always. As close as always, nothing different. Not because they were mad or embarrassed or anything, they just didn't really need to talk about it. At least not now. Maybe in a few years. Okay, probably never.

Chapter Text

Ky hates Rik.

He hates the way that even though he most definitely knows he's wrong, he keeps insisting he's not, he keeps insisting he's right.

He hates the way that he treats Ky like a little kid.

He hates how he's so sarcastic and not very bright.

He hates the books he reads.

He hates his friends.

He thinks his music sucks.

Ky can't stand Rik.

He can't stand that he needs to have at least one beer per week.

He can't stand how he makes the water bill go up because he has to wash his dumb hair every single day.

Ky dislikes Rik.

He dislikes how he allows Miss Pyocola every single thing she asks for, even though he knows she'll grow up to be spoiled if this continues.

He dislikes how he's rather cold to most people but always sweet to children and animals.

Ky minds Rik.

He minds how he always has to have the last word.

He minds how often he gets injured, even if it's just small bruises.

He minds how he falls asleep on his desk so often.

Ky doesn't mind Rik.

He doesn't mind his long hair. (Not at all, it actually looks kinda good.)

He doesn't mind how he prefers to hang out with either younger or older people because he doesn't get along with his peers.

He doesn't mind how he's sweet to Miss Pyocola but a little more strict to Coo. That boy is a tough case, actually.

Ky thinks Rik is pretty neat.

He thinks it's neat how he gets along so good with animals.

He thinks it's neat how he eats anything you give him.

He thinks it's neat that he can play the guitar.

Ky likes Rik.

He likes how he's putting the group first.

He likes how he sacrifices himself.

He likes how determined and energetic he is at times.

He likes how he has so many ideas.

He loves how he sees the group as his family.

He loves how he cares for everyone in there unconditionally.

He loves how sweet he is.

He loves his confidence.

He loves his eyes.

He loves his voice.

Ky loves Rik.

Chapter Text

"Everything is alright, geba?"

"Yes, everything is alright. I can assure you that." Ky smiled at Ethan, the 17th Geba he had to check the teeth of today but gave him the same smile he gave the other small black helpers. "Do you have any questions?"

"I do, geba." Ethan muttered, fidgeting a little.

"What is it?"

"How do I know if I'm in love, geba?"

Okay. WHAT? Ky did definitely not expect this. "I-" With questions, he meant stuff about teeth, since Ky was a dentist and stuff. But not- Well, if Ky was already like a Mom to Piyoko and sometimes to Coo, he could be a Mom to Ethan and all the other Gebas, too. "Can you explain the situation?"

"I like Wayne, geba."

Okay, Wayne. Ky probably checked him already, like 5 or 4 Gebas before Ethan. The Gebas all looked the same, small creatures, maybe 50cm tall, wearing a black astronaut-ish suit. He couldn't tell the difference. "You mean that one with a southern accent?"

"Yes, him, geba!"

"And what makes you think you're in love?"

"I'm asking you, geba. Well, I .. I always get nervous around him and blush, I feel so close and when he flirts with other Gebas I get jealous, geba."

"Yeah okay you definetly like him."

"Do you have advice, geba?"

"Uh..." Ky thought for a moment and then smiled. "Go for it! Tell him how you feel! The worst thing he can say is no. Wayne is a sweet one. He didn't bite me at all."

"Nobody here bites, geba"

"No, actually, Brad bit me once-- Yeah anyway - GO FOR IT, ETHAN."

"Thank you, geba."

The two smiled at each other before Ethan spoke up again. "Do you like anyone, geba?"

Ky blushed. Yeah, he did. But Ethan didn't even let him answer. "You like Rik, geba."

"HOW DID Y-"

"You're not even denying it, geba! Does he know, geba?"

"Uh, no."

"Then you should tell him, too, geba."

Ky rolled his eyes a little and then pat Ethan's head. "Um, anyway...Yeah whatever. Are you done? I still have four Gebas to go."

"Okay. Thank you again, Ky, geba!"

"Anytime." Ky pecked his forehead. "Now be strong and just be yourself, Ethan!"

The Geba nodded and went outside.

"Next!" Ky said before another Geba walked in. "Can you tell me your name?"

"Hello?"

"Come on, you know I can't tell you apart that easily."

"I'm Carrie, geba!"

"Okay." Ky ticked something off. "Now-"

"Can you gimme a kissy too when you're done, geba? You gave Ethan one, after all, geba."

Ky blinked for a moment. "Sure--"

Well, that was a mistake. Now, after he was done, every Geba came and wanted him to kiss their forehead. He could swear some even came twice or thrice. Well, at least they liked him. Oh, well. That's what you get for being nice.

Chapter Text

Party Nights always paid off for GAMERS. Even if Mister Manager had these strict policies like no alcohol, no inappropriate music, whatever...they still paid off big time.

And since he was visiting his extended family that moved to America right now, Dejiko and the others were free to do whatever they wanted. Mister Manager knew they'd throw a party night, but not what kind of a party night.

"I don't know, Dejiko." Hikaru mumbled, overthinking everything again. "What if he comes back because he forgot the keys?"

And obviously, Dejiko was annoyed. "Usada, he's in AMERICA, nyo!"

"Rodoyan, nyu." Puchiko just adopted mentioning the american whenever someone talked about the states. She got that from Dejiko, obviously.

"Puchiko you're right, nyo!" The greennette suddenly shouted. "If Rodoyan goes to the party, Mister Manager will find out, nyo!"

"Dejiko, are you stupid, gema?" Gema floated next to her. "Mister Manager is in Hawaii and Rodoyan lives in Wisconsin, gema. These states are like over a thousand miles away, gema!"

"GEEZ I DIDN'T KNOW THAT NYO." The catgirl pouted, looking away before glaring again. "Mekara BEAM!"

"GEMAAAA!" The poor balloon was hit by her eye beam and nobody cared. Well, he wasn't hurt or anything, anyway.

"Dejiko?" Hikaru's voice was a little worried. "The party starts at 19, right?"

"Yup, why, nyo?"

She just squinted her eyes and made a nervous smile, tilting her head towards the entrance, where four people stood. And Dejiko knew these four people and didn't like them. The black gema gema Dan.

"You're way too early, nyo!"

"We know!" All four said in unison.

"We came early on purpose." Rik now said, giggling evilly. He looked over at Coo who was also laughing for some reason, Ky scowled at Coo for having a dirty mind and Piyoko was just mindlessly looking around and then, Rik continued. "We're early because we're..."

"EVIL!" The four made their absurd poses again, trying to symbolize how "evil" they are.

Dejiko was about to fire her eye beam again but Puchiko interrupted her. "You can help us plan everything then, nyu."

That nonchalant nature of Puchiko was just scary, so the four obeyed.

Hikaru just gave everyone random tasks and they all moved on with their stuff until the first guests came.

"Rabi~En?" Minataku peeked through the door. "Huh, why is it so empty in here?"

"Because you're the first official guest." Hikaru replied a little annoyed. "But anyway, I'm glad you're here."

"REALLY?"

"Damn don't get your hopes up high weirdo." And with that, Hikaru quickly walked away, leaving the boy alone.

"Puchiko-chan, I'm here, too!" The next one. Murataku was overdressed again and just twirled around in his expensive suit. "Puchiko my dear, remember not to pass out like last time." Not that she drank any alcohol, but she was barely a child, so the last time they did a party night, she just fell asleep on the floor.

Dejiko and Gema stared at the entrance, holding a contest against each other who can keep count the number of guests.

"Gema, you think she'll be here today, nyo?"

"Who are you talking about, gema?"

"You know. Akari-sama, nyo."

"You know that she's busy, gema!"

"Let a girl dream, nyo!"

With that, the iconic duo just kept quiet, both annoyed of each other.

Dejiko eventually realized she forgot to turn the music on, people were just standing around at the moment. She spent the whole weekend maxxing out the playlist she made with Puchiko and Gema the other day.

"Puchiko, go call the DJ, nyo!"

"Nyu." Puchiko nodded, hopping away with surprising speed for someone so small.

The music finally started and people actually danced for now. Dejiko and the other three were supposed to take turns on who was doing the barkeeping, they'd take turns every hour.

It was Hikaru's turn first. "Yo, I'll take five vodka shots." She heard someone say.

"I got it!" She took the vodka bottle and when she turned around, she knew why that voice was so familiar. Coo. "Hey, you're underage!"

"Yeah, go away, Coo." Rik now scolded him. "But, uh, I'll take a beer."

"I'll take a bottle of peppermint liquor." Ky added. "And Coo, go look after Pyocola-sama, please."

When the boy walked away, Hikaru looked for the stuff the two requested. "Ky, I didn't know you're drinking."

"Only on special occasions!"

The way Rik looked at him right now made Hikaru know these special occasions were at least twice a month.

"Onee-chan, these songs are boring, nyo."

"Piyoko, shut the hell up, nyo! At least our music taste is better than your dumb schlager shit, nyo."

When Dejiko said that, Piyoko's face turned red
"Schlager doesn't suck, pyo!" She then remembered something. "But you know, Coo made a few mixtape CDs, pyo."

Dejiko just raised her eyebrow at that. "And?"

"Coo has a good music taste, pyo!"

"I'd like to believe you, nyo!"

"YOU'RE AN ASS, PYO!"

The party just completely turned into one of the coolest parties in the following hour. Everyone had fun. Or at least it seemed to be like that.

It was Gema's turn right now to play bartender. Well, technically it was Puchiko's, but Murataku insisted an elementary schooler shouldn't be a barkeeper, it'd be dangerous. He lowkey wasn't wrong, though.

When "I'll be missing you" started playing, Gema gave Dejiko a look which Dejiko reciprocated. An evil smile. Their song was going to play right after. That wasn't anything evil, it was just the best song.

Gema was in the middle of serving Murataku a glass of sparkling wine when the song started.

"Up in the club with my homies, tryna get a little V-I, keep it down on the lowkey, you should know how it feels..."

Dejiko now had a camera (which she took from Minataku without permission) and filmed the party, since it was so cool. Her, Puchiko and Gema even made a performance to the song and Coo randomly joined in, freestyling everything with just being cool.

After a while, deriving from all the whispers, Akari was here now. Hikaru was obviously walking through the whole party trying to find her, but she wasn't successful.

Coo and Piyoko were standing near the bar, judging everyone like their parents always did. Coo actually found a girl that looked pretty much like Akari, so that was probably her. "Dang, look at that, it's the belle of the ball." Piyoko only replied with a shrug. She wasn't that much of a fan of Akari, anyway.

"Dejiko! The lights are flickering, gema!" Gema yelled over the music.

"That's part of the show, nyo." The greennette replied. "Where the heck is Rodoyan actually, nyo? Wasn't he going to-" suddenly, someone covered her eyes. Dejiko was about to screech.

But then, that person said something to her. "Guess who!"

"An ass, nyo!"

"No! I mean, my butt is actually really sugoi but-"

"RODOYAN WHAT THE HELL NYO"

The American laughed loudly and let go off her. "Hey!" He then greeted, rising his arms. Usually, Dejiko would tackle him, but this time she just stared. "Hello? Where my hug at?"

"If you keep being like that I'm gonna get your american ass deported, nyo." Dejiko replied monotonously and Rod then walked away from her. Not that he was mad but Dejiko was probably in a bad mood?

A few songs later, the DJ announced that they'd be doing a conga line now. Murataku was complaining about how his back was starting to hurt since Puchiko was in front of him while Piyoko had to get carried on Coo's back so that she could catch up with Murataku because he was so tall. And Takeshi fell down thrice because of Yoshimi, who also kept walking into Minataku in front of him, because he was walking so fast.

"Guys, did you-"

"YOU'RE HINDERING OUR LINE, NYO!"

Rik was trying to get through the line, but the whole party was here so that was practically impossible. "Have you seen Ky? I lost him when this queue formed."

"I think he's behind that famous idol." Minataku then replied.

Akari. Yeah, Ky was kinda close to her. And that made Rik super mad. "Oh, well. And where are they?"

"She's leading the line." The Bukimi replied both at the same time. And yes, she really was.

Rik scowled. "Who does she think she is?" He then got a little nervous. "Oh no wait I mean... nevermind!" He walked into the opposite direction next to the moving line and joined as the last one, until the song ended and everyone went back to their earlier spot.

"I still can't find him!" He muttered. Rik went back to the spot at the bar he was hanging around at with Ky before the conga line and saw a person standing neabry. He almost got a heart attack because he thought it's Ky for a second. And that person also looked at him.

"Sorry." Rik apologized sheepishly. "I thought you're someone else for a moment."

"It's okay," the guy replied. "But by any chance, have you seen Akari? You know, the idol."

"Yeah, but I dunno where she is right now. Uh, why?"

The guy took a sip from his drink. Rik identified it as a martini. "I'm her manager and when the conga line formed, I lost her."

"Isn't-"

"She has two!"

"Okay?"

Rik thought for a moment. "Well, the same thing happened to me. I was chilling with my partn--- I mean HOMIE...and then I lost him. Now that I'm looking at it, from afar you two look kinda alike."

Akari's manager blinked at him for a moment. "I don't know how to feel about this."

"Me neither. He looks better, so don't - NO Um I mean..." Rik then quickly walked away. At least he found Coo on the dance floor now.

"Coo! Did you see Ky?"

"No, but watch this!" Coo then started aggressively shadowboxing.

Unfortunately, Gema always had to fly around where it was going to hurt. Because Coo accidentally hit him so hard, the poor balloon flew through the room.

Rod caught him. "Yo, I have an idea!" He then shouted. "We should use Gema as a volleyball!"

"Hey- HEY, I DO NOT ALLOW THIS, GEMA!" Gema's protests didn't bring anything because Rod then did a serve and Gema flew once again through the room.

"Hey, what's going on here?"

Rik turned around when he heard that voice and voilá, Ky and Piyoko were standing there. He immediately turned to Ky to hug him. "WHERE WERE YOU?"

He was stunned first and then pat the older one's back. "Pyocola-sama lost her bag."

"But it's okay, we found it, pyo! I was wearing it all the time, so it was useless, pyo."

Coo rolled his eyes and then quickly hit Gema away again because Puchiko passed the balloon to him. "Typical of you."

Usada then pushed the DJ off to make an announcement. "Hey, GEMA IS NOT A BALL!"

"Thank you, gema..." Gema muttered and flied away.

"Man, but what am I supposed to do now?!" Coo asked angrily, but he quickly remembered that he was shadowboxing and he now did it again.

Minagawa's goal for the night was to ask Hikaru for a dance. Maybe he could do it. He just needed a plan. "Rabi~en, can I tell you a joke?"

"Ugh," the bunny girl eyed him in annoyance. "Go for it, I guess."

"Okay, what does a-"

"Puchiko, don't drink that! It's for grown ups!"

Both stared at each other before Hikaru apologized. "Sorry, go again."

"Fine." The boy cleared his throat. "What does a gay horse-"

"Amaenbou, what are you doing here?" Hikaru now picked up that pink thing that has been only causing trouble lately. "What was it now?"

"What does a-"

The look Amaenbou gave Minagawa scared the hell out of him, so he tensed up a little.

"What does..."

"What does a gay horse eat...?" He now gave Hikaru an uncomfortable look. "Oh haayyy..."

When no reaction came from her, Minagawa just wanted to disappear in a hole. She wasn't even listening to him, she just held Amaenbou, that attention stealer, in her arms and looked at him how Minagawa wanted her to look at him.

"I'm annoying. Good night!" He muttered and then fled.

"Huh, he didn't even tell the joke."

The boy walked over to the DJ, who glanced over for a moment. "Yo, do you have a song request? This playlist kinda sucks."

"Anything but a slow song now." Minagawa muttered. Hikaru was talking to Coo now. Coo, out of all people.

"Yeah, you're right! It's time." Before he could react, the DJ already made an announcement. "Yo Yo Yo, it's me again! Don't you also think we should let the couples get together now? And what song is the perfect one for that? Right! Careless whisper!" The song switched faster than the color draining from Minagawa's face. He just hid behind a plant.

Surprisingly, most people quickly escaped from the dance floor. Then again, this was GAMERS. Dejiko tried to flee too, but Rod was just waltzing her through the entire store now. He was a little too fast, though...Murataku was dancing with a random woman, Puchiko danced with Amaenbou, but both seemed to be kinda annoyed, (Minagawa's guess was that Puchiko wanted to practice dancing and needed someone around her height) and he didn't recognize the other people.

"I like this song." Was the first thing Ky said when it came on. Secretly, he'd hope Rik to ask him out for a dance but he just knew it wasn't going to happen.

Yeah. Rik completely changed the topic, as expected. "You know, I actually saw someone at this party earlier who kinda looked like you."

"Wow. I look better, anyway."

"I said that, too!"

"Really?"

"Uh, yeah."

Piyoko now joined the two. "I want to dance with someone, pyo."

"This isn't a song you should dance to, at least not now." Ky said to her, patting her head.

"Come on, it's just a song." Rik then replied. "Why don't you ask Coo if he wants to dance?"

"No." Coo stood next to them now, no one knew when he came here.

"Come on, ou should practice your dance steps."

"Didn't you tell me you can't dance? Go and practice." The boy winked at Ky and then walked away with Piyoko.

Rik looked after them for a moment before smiling at Ky. "Yeah, he's right." He extended his arm a little. "Care to dance, lieutenant general?"

No way. No way was this happening. Ky must've looked at his hand for an eternity but it was a second because he then replied "YES" immediately and the two now waltzed through the room, too.

"Aw, what a waste." Hikaru said as she looked at the two. "Now there are no ladies who get to dance with them!"

"Usada, don't be homophobic, gema!" Gema replied hastily.

The bunny girl panicked. "N-No, I wasn't -" she squinted her eyes slightly. "Where is Kiyoshi-kun, anyways?"

"Aren't the Omocha brothers in Slovenia right now, gema?"

"What?"

"Their parents live there, gema."

"Oh." Hikaru cleared her throat. "Well, I don't want any weirdos to ask me, so Gema, as friends, would you care to dance with me?"

"Sure I can, gema!" The balloon grabbed her hands and then pulled her to the floor. Hikaru thought it's nice first since he was floating and could adjust to her height in that way, but Gema had such a force he made Hikaru float through the room with him. And everyone stared.

"Let me do- Hey, I think that's Akari-neesama..." Akari was indeed there, she was talking to her manager. The male one, that Hikaru liked even less than Yoshimura. "Akari-neesama! Hello!"

The idol looked up. "Hikaru?" She giggled. "What are you doing up there?"

"It's obvious that we're dancing, gema!"

Gema finally let her down after a while, and they were standing in front of Minagawa. Coincidence?

"I think there's someone else who'd like to dance with you, gema."

Hikaru looked at Minagawa. "I haven't forgotten about the joke earlier. What was it now?"

Minagawa wanted to say something, but the next song started playing. And it wasn't a slow one. "Rabi~en, I need to dance the Macarena first."

"Eh?"

Most people now migrated back to the floor and danced the Macarena. Hikaru looked over to the DJ and saw that Puchiko was practically leading the dance by standing on the booth and dancing too.

"Huh."

The party lasted a few more hours and Dejiko only remembered waking up on the floor. No, she probably used Gema as a cushion. She didn't drink any alcohol, but it must've gotten so wild that it felt like a fever dream and Dejiko didn't remember what happened and what she just imagined.

Puchiko was peacefully sleeping next to her. And another surprising thing was that the store was completely clean. Did the guests clean up or was it all just a dream?

No, it wasn't.

Minagawa's camera was still there and a lot of pictures were shot. Crazy ones. Like Coo's face being scattered with lipstick marks or Abarenbou doing a party selfie with everyone...when did Abarenbou join them? There was a picture of Murataku having a broom fight with Rik and some other pictures of random people cleaning up. There was also one of Dejiko and Puchiko sleeping on Gema, what they were still doing now. And other ones, but explaining them all would take up too many words.

Just as long Mister Manager would never get his hands (he didn't even have any) on this they'd be fine. Best party night ever.

Chapter Text

"And we need bell peppers."

Kiyoshi looked at the shopping list he wrote and then back into the shopping cart, his eyes switching between the two again and again until he realized his brother has been doing nothing but stare at the price tag of...

"What do you need parsnips for?"

And then he realized Yasushi wasn't even listening at all.

"Hello!"

"YES?" Yasushi was no longer paralyzed and now gave Kiyoshi a fake smile.

His younger brother frowned at him and crossed his arms. "Bell pepper. We need that."

"Then go get it yourself, you're not five anymore, geez..."

"Okay." When Kiyoshi turned around, Yasushi thought to himself how lucky he was that his brother wasn't hard to raise. He wasn't rebellious and just did his own things, which were...uh, trying to make slime or clay. Yeah, maybe he would get somewhere with that someday, but definetly not in the early 2000s.

A moment later, the younger boy came back with a small plastic bag with red bell peppers in it, grinning. "I weighed them, don't worry." He put them into the shopping cart and the brothers kept walking through the grocery store. "Hey, what are you even thinking about?"

Yasushi caught himself not listening again. "What?"

Kiyoshi groaned and grabbed the shopping cart. "I asked what you're thinking about."

The older one had to think for a moment before he responded. "I thought about what toy to make next."

But his brother knew him. "Yeah, sure."

"You don't believe me?!"

"Aniki, you have a different look on your face when you think about that." Kiyoshi said, smiling innocently. "No need to be so embarrassed, I know that it was Akari."

Yeah, her. They were dating now. Sort of. Well, it was official between them (and Kiyoshi but how he found out is another story) but no one else since the press would go crazy otherwise. "Look, I didn't mean to-"

Kiyoshi shook his head. "It's okay! I'm actually super glad about it. That you have a girlfriend, I mean."

"Why?"

"Because you're not that lonely anymore in that way."

Yasushi put on another fake smile. He did not want to talk about it anymore, honestly, he just wanted to tell Kiyoshi he wasn't lonely but they both knew that would be a lie. The worse thing was how his brother thought having someone you were seeing would take away all of your problems immediately. Yeah, no.

"Imagine she'd show up here now!"

"Kiyoshi, I doubt that Akari would-"

Now it was just getting ridiculous. Yasushi stopped talking because who was there, taking a look at all the shelves at the baking aisle? Akari. It was her. She was wearing pretty casual clothes, so that was probably why she hasn't been surrounded by paparazzi yet. Or maybe because this part of the town was populated with people that had other things to care about than celebrities.

"Isn't that her! What a coincidence! Aniki, let's go talk to her."

It looked like Yasushi was hesitating, so Kiyoshi grabbed his arm and pulled him near the aisle Akari was currently at.

She still didn't notice them, so Kiyoshi tapped her shoulder. Maybe that was a bad idea, because the idol got such a big shock, she almost screamed. At least she turned around and sighed in relief when she saw who it was.

"Kiyoshi, don't scare me like that..." Akari mumbled. "I thought you're a paparazzi or something." She then blushed a little. "If you're here, does that mean your brother is-"

"Yeah, he is!" Kiyoshi pulled Yasushi to himself. "Fancy meeting you here!"

It was honestly kind of awkward. The two were staring at each other, both blushing furiously. Kiyoshi found it adorable, though. "I'll leave you alone."

"So..." Yasushi tried to find something to say. He actually had a lot to say right now, but he just didn't know what. "Um, why are you here? Not that I mind, not at all, actually, I'm just wondering-"

Akari then giggled. That giggle always relieved him, he knew he wasn't awkward, and if he was, at least she found it funny. "I got a day off and I was taking a walk!" She explained, and then she linked her arm into his.

"Great..." Yasushi tried to recompose himself since he did get a little flustered from the arm stuff. "Kiyoshi and I are running errands and what not. For short, we're buying some groceries!" He noticed that Kiyoshi wasn't even around right now, he walked off somewhere with the shopping cart to leave the two alone.

They kept walking through the store in comfortable silence before finding Kiyoshi standing in front of the candy aisle. "There you are." Yasushi said, scaring his younger brother with that sudden approach from behind.

"Wah!" The boy quickly recovered from his shock. "Are you two done already?"

Akari tilted her head a little. "With what?"

"With shopping."

"How are we supposed to be done if you stole the shopping cart from us?" Yasushi asked as he ruffled Kiyoshi's hair. He then noticed that Akari didn't have any bags or stuff in her hands. "Did you want to buy something?"

"Just something to eat. I'm hungry."

Yasushi could see Kiyoshi grinning at him from the corner of his eye and he got what he meant. "Uh, why don't you come over and eat lunch with us?"

The idol's eyes lit up immediately, so it was a good idea. "That would be great! Are we going to cook something?"

"Yeah, we can do that." Kiyoshi responded, turning his gaze back to the candy he was looking at earlier.

"Okay!" Akari smiled a little more and then pulled a golden card out of her pocket. "I'll pay." She noticed that Yasushi was going to protest. "It's not my money, anyway." That card she got was a credit card, neither of the brothers really knew how it worked, probably like that she got refunds from her agency or something, so it was alright.

They bought some more stuff and then went to the cash register, the cashier did seem to recognize Akari, deriving from the shocked look on her face, but she didn't say anything.

After that, the three left the shop and that was when Akari got a call. "Oh, that's my manager." She acknowledged, looking at her phone.

Yasushi got a little bitter immediately."The girl or the guy?"

The idol giggled once again. "Come on! They're my managers! And it's Yoshimura. The girl. So don't worry. And now, excuse me a moment..."

The brothers just stared at her while she was making the call, Yoshimura seemed to talk for the most time because Akari just dropped a few Uh-huh's and I understand's and after a minute or two, she hung up. "Hey, I have bad news."

Both knew that she got an appointment pushed into her schedule now.

"My photoshoot for tomorrow got preponed. I can't join you for lunch. I'm sorry."

"Hey- that's no problem at all!" Yasushi reassured her immediately. "I hope the photoshoot will be fun."

"Thank you." Akari mumbled, looking down slightly. "Well, I'll be busy now, but my appointment after that is tomorrow evening, so I could come over for dinner, if you don't mind."

Yasushi tucked a strand of her wavy, violet hair behind her ear. "You can come over whenever you want."

"I will." Without a warning, Akari pulled him into a kiss. She pulled away quickly and her blush got more prominent. "I-I better get going now! See you!"

"Yeah...see you." She already ran off, but Yasushi still looked into her direction for a moment, even if she was already gone.

"That was smooth." Kiyoshi acknowledged suddenly. Yasushi actually completely forgot he was here.

"Y-Yeah, whatever. Let's go home..."

Chapter Text

The only thing Ky knew about his room was that he had a roommate. He didn't have a roommate before, not even in medical school, since the one he attended was pretty big compared to the small amount of students it had, so everyone got a dorm to themselves. This place was one of the many community houses of black gema gema dan members, specifically for minors. A pretty modern house with around ten other people living here.

Ky knocked on the door before going inside.

"Come in!" a voice called. Deriving from the voice his roommate was a boy a little younger than him.

When he came in, he immediately noticed the stuffy air. That person probably never opened the window for fresh air. But aside from that, the room looked really comfortable. The bunk bed was most noticable and the lights were pretty dim.

"Are you my new roommate?" A young boy asked him, sitting on the upper half of the bed and climbing down.

Ky smiled and shook the boy's hand immediately. "I'm Ky Schweitzer, I'm twelve and I joined a few days ago. I'm a dentist, too!"

"You can call me Coo. Coo Erhard." His roommate responded, still shaking his hand enthusiastically. "I'm eight years old!" He ended the handshake. "My old roommate moved out to study, I think engineering or somethin'."

"And what's your Major?" Ky asked him. He facepalmed internally because Coo was too young to study, asking anyone what their major was was just an interaction starter he had from medical school.

Coo grinned. "Bitch, I AM the Major! I'm literally the Major of this whole ass thing,"

"But aren't you a little too young for that?"

"Nah," the boy rolled his eyes and noticed the luggage Ky had with him. "Just put that in the cover over there. And don't get any ideas, the top of the bunk bed is mine!"

"Okay," Ky brought his luggage into the corner just like Coo said and then sat down on the lower bed. "So, how come you're in such a high position?"

"I've been in this Gang my whole life, my parents are in it, too, after all." Coo explained, climbing on top of the bed and probably also lying down. "I'm even friends with the princess. Pyocola Analogue. You know her?"

"I do," Ky replied immediately. "You probably won't believe me, but I actually held her when she was a baby once." He explained. Because when he was around Coo's age, he was on vacation with his parents here.

"Huh, that's crazy." He actually expected Coo not to believe him. "Well, her parents went to who knows where for so called 'safety reasons' and my folks had to come with them for some reasons, too, so they left me here. And where are your parents, huh?"

Ky kept quiet for a moment. Coo was a little kid, of course he would ask weird questions like that and not think anything of it.

"One day I'll get it," he replied. "But not today. And not this week, either. And probably not in the next years. It will just come to me one day, to me doing whatever and then...then I'll know where they are and why they went there. But not now. And you're just a child, you wouldn't understand."

There was a moment of silence, so Ky cleared his throat. "Sorry, I was rambling, wasn't I?"

"You're right, I don't get it." Coo replied, climbing down. "But you know what I'm about to get?" He held out a few coins. "Ice cream! Are you gonna come along?"

"Yeah, I'll do that." He got up. What a weird roommate he had.

Chapter Text

Of course Welfare was never enough, but still, at least the BGGD could go shopping now. As in, grocery shopping, of course.

Their car was currently broken, so they had to walk. And too bad the next store was like a mile away from their house.

"We should've used this month's money to make someone repair our car." Ky sighed. He carried one bag full of groceries right now and it sucked. It was alright if you brought them from your car to your home, but walking a mile with them was hell. It reminded him of those days where they didn't have a car yet.

"And what would we eat?" Rik asked him, carrying a bag as well. He pretended to be nonchalant about it but yeah, he hated that involuntary training, too.

Ky shrugged. "I don't know? The kids eat too much, anyway." He didn't mean it like that, but they were really eating a lot. "Then again, they're growing up, so they need this." He let out a little huff at how exhausting it was to carry a bag for so long.

And obviously, Rik noticed. "What, you tired?" He asked with a smirk.

Ky placed the bag on the floor to catch his breath. "Yeah." He gasped.

"Want me to carry it for you?"

"No?" The younger one grabbed the bag again. "I need to train a little."

This was a good start. Rik ruffled his hair. "Well, you can give me the bag if-"

"I'm fine."

"If you say so."

The two continued walking in comfortable silence. After a while, Ky looked up and realized how dark it was. He looked at his watch and it said 4PM. Wasn't that a little too early? "I think it's going to rain."

Rik looked up as well. "Man, we still got a long way. And we don't have an umbrella."

"I guess we gotta hurry up, then."

They looked at each other for a moment and nodded. They were going to run home and did that for a moment but running with bags was hella painful. "Worst idea ever." Rik groaned, leaning back to catch his breath. And then he already felt a few raindrops falling down.

"Hey, did you-" Ky was interrupted because his question just confirmed itself. It started to rain! And since it was april, the rain started full on hundred just when it began. "We have to hide somewhere!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Rik couldn't hear him because the rain was extremely loud.

Ky groaned and looked around. At least they were near a playground now, and there were trees and a playhouse they could hide in. He grabbed the older one's wrist and rushed towards the playground with him. "Let's get inside."

The playhouse didn't have a big enough entrance for them to get in, even though it was supposed to be like a castle or something. So they had to settle for underneath the trees.

"What if Pyocola-sama and Coo think something happened to us?" Rik asked as leaned against one.

"If they care. And they're probably walking around somewhere, too."

"Maybe." Rik mumbled, leaning against Ky slightly.

Ky turned a little to look at him and smirked. "Are you scared?"

"No, tired."

"Hmm."

At this moment, the rain got heavier, and some raindrops got through. "Great." Ky hissed.

"So, what do you say we'll do now?" Rik wondered, not minding the rain at all.

"The tree is the best hideout right now. We can't get the groceries wet." Ky leaned them against the tree stem and tied the bag handles together just in case. "We have to wait." He shielded his hand over his eyes, but that didn't really help.

Rik nodded in acknowledgement and looked around. The rain blurred everything, it was beautiful, in a way. Except for the water not sinking into the ground because it was so much water. Their shoes were going to get wet. "Got any ideas how to kill time?"

"No." Ky slumped against a tree. No matter where he was, the rain got through. "Hey, do you smell that?"

It smelled like rain. That fresh and slightly earthy smell. It kind of felt nostalgic, but Rik couldn't tell why.

"Rain brings a lot." Ky murmured.

"...What?"

"I said rain brings a lot."

"Yeah. But like..." Rik tilted his head slightly. "Like what?"

"Umm..." Ky rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "I don't know? I was trying to be poetic."

"I know something it brings." Rik announced happily.

Ky smiled back. "And that would be?"

Rik blushed a little. This was going to be so dumb and cheesy, but whatever. "Rain brings couples together in a way."

"We're already together, dumbass." Ky muttered, wrapping an arm around him.

"I know, that's not what I meant." Rik turned to him. He didn't care he got a bit more of the rain now. "I meant this." He leaned down and gave his partner a kiss, just like that.

"!" Ky tensed up for a moment. But he couldn't deny it always felt nice. He felt a few raindrops on the other's lips.

When Rik pulled away, he smiled at Ky, who was like usual, this blushy, embarrassed mess after a kiss. The mess that couldn't look one in the eye after something like that. "Rain brings kisses!" Rik finally announced cheerfully.

"That's the dumbest thing I've heard ever since Coo said smoking vapes isn't unhealthy."

"Hey!"

"I was just kidding." Ky recovered from his embarrassed state and now smiled back, before getting on his toes to kiss Rik again.

Maybe that wouldn't hurt. Kissing in the rain. Ky never found it romantic, he thought the movies were making stuff up. But now he got it.

"Eww, Mom, look! There are two guys kissing under that tree!"

"Don't look there!"

The couple immediately turned away from each other when they heard that. A kid and their Mom were walking past the playground. They had an umbrella with them.

When they disappeared again, Rik and Ky couldn't help but laugh. After all, they were evil. And evil people piss others off like that. But the mood was gone. Not that it was a bad thing, though.

"The rain's calming down." Rik acknowledged. "Shall we go home now?"

"Sure."

The rain wasn't that bad, after all.

"Hey, look who's finally home!" Was the first thing Coo said when the pair arrived at home.

Piyoko rushed over. Not to hug them, but to kneel in front of one of the grocery bags. "Did you get Piyoko the food she asked for, pyo?"

"Oh, Pyocola-sama, the cookies were out of stock." Ky sighed. "But they had the ice cream you like, so we got that."

"Yay!"

Rik realized that Piyoko was soaked. "Hey, were you out in the rain?"

"Yeah," Coo shrugged. "We were making the streets unsafe and all of a sudden it was raining like crazy! So we ran home."

"You're gonna get sick!" Ky whined. "You should change!"

"Piyoko should change, pyo?"

"Change your clothes, dumdum." Rik smirked, patting her head.

"Well damn, you two aren't dry, either." Coo groaned. "We came home a moment ago. Also...what the hell took you so long? Didn't you like...went shopping two or three hours ago?"

The two looked at each other for a moment. "We were waiting for the rain to end." Rik then explained.

Coo eyed them from head to toe. "Didn't help much, huh?"

"I guess not." Ky shrugged, grabbing a towel that was lying there for some reason and handed it to Piyoko.

"When we went home, we saw two people kissing under a tree at the playground, pyo!" Piyoko gushed. "Weren't they going to get sick, pyo?"

"The freakiest of the freaky don't give a shit about that." Coo snickered, taking the towel away from her to get dry, too. "They just care about each other." He gagged.

Rik and Ky both immediately realized they probably meant them. It was a wonder the kids didn't know it were the two of them, though. Or did they?

"Coo, you're fourteen. Don't talk like that." Ky sighed.

Coo rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'm gonna go and take a bath."

"No, Piyoko is taking a bath first, pyo!"

The kids rushed into the bathroom at the same time and were fighting about who was going first now.

"Do you think they meant us?" Rik asked.

"Hopefully not." Ky sneered. "And...if they did, I hope they didn't know who those people were."

"Yeah."

Chapter Text

So much to think about...

The four were extremely short on money again this month. One of the Geba's wife gave birth, so the Black Gema Gema Dan insisted they'd support the Geba and his new, small family financially since nobody here was well off. Too bad they forgot they were short on groceries again.

Rik was home alone with Coo right now. Piyoko was whining around and Ky suggested they'd take a little stroll. Coo was either napping or trying to nap. What else would he do. So Rik sat in the living room, alone. Losing his head about what to cook. Well, he thought of something, but nobody liked his cooking. So he scrapped that.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a knock. Did Ky forget to take his key? Or was it a visitor?

One way or another, Rik had to get up and open it. As long as it wasn't the police...Well, why would it be? They didn't have to pay taxes, therefore they couldn't do tax evasion.

The person that was standing there surprised him. Negatively. It was this weird bunny girl actress. Akira or whatever her name was. Why was she even here? She was really famous. Wait, she's been talking to Ky a little too much...Maybe she was here because of him. Hopefully not!

"Can I help you?" Rik asked politely, keeping the door only slightly open. What if she was here because she was secretly working for the police?

Akira bowed slightly. "Hello there. I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Usada Akari!"

Oh, her name was Akari, not Akira. Didn't really make a difference.

"I was wondering if Schweitzer-san is home? Ky Schweitzer?"

When she mentioned his name, Rik's expression darkened immediately. "No, he went outside with Pyocola-sama."

The girl tilted her head. "Pyocola-sama?"

"Yeah?"

"Oh. And when is he coming back?"

"I don't know." Rik shrugged. Nosy bitch.

"Um, do you know where they went?"

This was the last straw. Couldn't she just leave? Rik was obviously not gonna kill her or anything. "Listen here, you can forget about the Lieutenant because-"

"Hey, Rik, who's at the door?"

He turned around immediately and saw Coo standing there. He saw the two at the doorframe and shook his head, disappearing again.

"I-" Rik inhaled. He was just going to lie. "The Lieutenant has a wife, you know!"

"I wasn't-"

"In...In Switzerland you get married earlier!" Rik made up now. "But...um, Rieke...his wife stayed there. So pay some respect and leave him the fuck alone!" Before that dumb hoe could reply anything, he slammed the door shut, quickly leaning against it and slumping down.

Was he jealous of a teenage girl? Did he yell at her?? How embarrassing...

Wow, great job, Rik.

Chapter Text

It's a pretty calm night in the lucky cat shopping district.Yasushi is sitting at a table, not really doing anything. He's supposed to design a new toy or whatever, but he's kind of too tired for that. He agreed to let Uzuki stay with him and Akari for the weekend, because his mother (Hikaru) is on a business trip. He's in the living room with him and observes everything there.

“Oji-san?” He speaks up after a while.

Yasushi looks up from the table and smiles at him. “What's up?”

Uzuki points to the wall of the room that has pictures on it. His finger is on one specific frame, though. “Who's that?”

“Let me see.” He gets up from the table and walks over to the wall. It's the exact picture he thought it was and turns pale. “Oh.”

The boy grins. “Is that you?”

“No, that's not me.” Yasushi sighs and takes the frame off the wall to take a closer look. “That's the most important person in my life.”

Uzuki’s eyes widen. “It's not Oba-sama?”

“Huh? W-What? No, of course Akari is important, too. Don't worry.” He rubs the back of his head. “That's my younger brother, actually. He's so cool. I literally remember how when he was born I asked my parents to name him after a robot I built. And he was good friends with your mom! When he was still in school, he used to forget his bag all the time, and one time, he-”

“I didn't know you had a brother!”

“Yeah? Yeah…Well, that's because…” Is that really a good thing to tell? It's not like he died or anything, but explaining that Kiyoshi no longer talks to him to a child barely older than Puchiko when she came here would be a weird thing to do. “He doesn't live here. Well, to put it short, he doesn't like me anymore. We've been together our whole life and then…He just changed. And I didn't take it well. So he left. But he's alright. He's a teacher now, did you know that? And he got married too, so maybe you'll have a cousin to play with.”

“My Dad and his new girlfriend are getting married soon, too!” Uzuki replies, pretty indifferent about it. Poor kid. “How was the wedding like?”

“Oh.” Why did he say that? “You see, I wasn't there…I had to…take care of my shop.” The truth is, he wasn't invited. “His name is Kiyoshi, by the way. He was a really cool kid. No, he still is! He's really cool. He always says what he thinks and is also such a nice guy!”

The boy blinks at him. “He can't be a nice guy if he doesn't like you.”

“I'm the problem.” Yasushi sighs, ruffling the boy's pink hair. “You have to promise me that if you ever get another sibling or even more, you'll stick together.”

Uzuki shrugs. “Okay.”

“Good.” He looks at him for a moment before crossing his arms. “Anyway! Don't you agree it's kinda late?”

Somewhere else, on the same night, somewhere in the south of Japan, two people are currently moving into a house. One of them is actually Kiyoshi. He and his wife are unpacking the last boxes.

“Eh? What's this picture?”

“What?” Kiyoshi looks up from a box full of clothes.

She shows him a frame. “Is that you on the picture?”

His face falls immediately. “No.”

“But it's definitely not your Dad…”

Kiyoshi inhales sharply. This is embarrassing. “You know, that's actually my brother.”

His wife stares at him in disbelief. “Since when do you have a brother?!”

“Since always.” He rubs the back of his head. “I just…never told you about it.”

“Why?! That's basic information.”

“I think the answer is obvious.” Kiyoshi clears his throat. “He's obviously not dead! He…he's not really a bad person. We just had a fight a long time ago.” He sighs.

“And you didn't bother to invite him to our wedding if he's not a bad person?” She asks, half shocked and half enraged.

“Look, honey, I'm sorry! It's just…when I was older, you know I was rarely at home. And he kept annoying me about it…which is now that I think about it the right thing to do... It was really complicated. Whenever I came home Aniki would cry and cling onto me and beg me not to go…” Kiyoshi tries to explain, burying his head in his hands. “Look, you're an only child, you wouldn't get it.”

“I'd still have some basic human decency.”

“It was so many years ago, there's nothing anyone can do. I bet he's happy without me.”

“Kiyoshi, don't say that.” She clings onto him and it's like he forgot everything now.

“Sorry. You know what? Let's not talk about it.”

“Alright. Well, then tell me something else.”

“I was gonna!”

And so, even though they are hundreds of miles away from each other, the Omocha brothers have the same conversation. Another proof they'll be related forever, doesn't matter whether they see each other or not.

Chapter Text

Neither of the two really remembered whose idea it was to go on a date. (It was Kiyoshi's and he actually knew)

Were they dating? No idea. They were definitely more than "besties". Maybe it was just an instinct in the beginning, but whenever Minataku was scared he'd grab Kiyoshi's hand. And Kiyoshi would give it a light squeeze. To tell him it's alright. (or that he's overreacting)

Kiyoshi wanted to look if a bigger grocery store had this weird food he ate in Slovenia once. And the tram that used to drive past that shop was discontinued, so they had to walk a ridiculously long route.

"So that's it, they're basically just there because they were a gift. But that's also the trademark. And that's actually really-" Minataku stopped mid sentence. "Hey, do you think that creepy guy is coming to us?"

"Shh, don't talk, I'm counting gravel." Kiyoshi hissed, crouching down.

For some reason, the brunette wasn't annoyed at all when every other person would be. "Hey, I'll help you."

Now they were both counting gravel. Not even Puchiko would bother. No, wait, Puchiko was practically an adult in a child's body, so bad example. Nobody would do that. The strange guy from earlier just passed them. Even he was probably weirded out.

After a few minutes, the honey blonde boy sighed in defeat, getting up and pulling his date with him. "Man. Aniki had a machine for that, but I have no idea where it is. I think it's in his basement."

"I didn't know you had a basement!" Minataku replied in surprise.

"Oh, yeah! Because he doesn't let me in!" He replied, smiling sweetly. "Aww, that sucks, because sometimes he lets people in, but adults. When he was drunk once told me he sells toys that's not for kids there? But he wouldn't elaborate further!"

Minataku was confused for a moment before grabbing the other boy by the shoulders, making him blush. "Kyossan...Your Aniki is..."

"Huh?"

"YOUR ANIKI IS SELLING GUNS!"

Kiyoshi's smile faltered slowly. Like a small child about to cry. "OH! That... explains a lot."

The brunette didn't know what to do. "Uh...Wanna switch topics?" And Kiyoshi just nodded at that, so Minataku thought for a moment. "Remember when Coo let me try his vape?"

"Yeah?"

"I thought about getting one, but I'm too youn-"

"MINA. STOP. YOU'RE GONNA GET LUNG CANCER." The other boy whined now, pulling him close and hugging him. "Don't die on me!"

"Haha... I'm too young, anyway." Minataku replied awkwardly, patting his back. "Umm...Okay. Uh, let's see...My newest play!"

"Oh? Elaborate!" At least now Kiyoshi wasn't upset anymore.

The brunette grinned from ear to ear now. "I think I'm gonna base the antagonist off Rabi~en! But she's not evil, she's just misunderstood."

"Huh. I guess that's fine." Kiyoshi thought, crossing his arms and then taking Minataku's hand. "I think it's adorable how you started writing your own play, you know."

"Thank you..." Minataku was now the one who squeezed his hand. He couldn't look Kiyoshi in the eyes right now. He was too flustered. "And you...um..." Oh, wait, which special qualities did his partner even have??

Kiyoshi looked down because he just saw an interesting bug, so he wasn't really listening, anyway. Oh, and it was obviously not meant in a bad way! They were both just frequently getting distracted. "Wait a moment. I feel like I forgot something."

"Uh, you...wanted to count gravel."

"Right! Thank you, Mina. Why did I even give up?"

"Beats me! I'll help again."

Chapter Text

"I wish Mister Manager wasn't so hard on me, nyo." Dejiko finally fell into her bed after a twelve hour shift. The usual nice and sweet boss...he turned into a monster. And nobody knew why. At least Dejiko didn't.

She turned her head to the window. Where a cat was sleeping. Not Puchiko. Her snoring cat!

"Aww, nyo." The girl cooed, sitting up, patting on her lap to gesture the small animal to come to her.

He didn't. Of course. Because he was asleep. He didn't get his name for nothing, after all.

She didn't give up. "Pspspsps...Nyooooo...Nyough....Hello!"

When he still didn't react, she got up, despite being really exhausted and went to him.

"You're a cat, nyo." Dejiko cooed, patting him. "You don't have to work, nyo. I'm so jealous, nyo."

And then she realized that she was a cat herself. A cat girl, though. But still.

"Not fair, nyo."

Chapter Text

"Okay, now listen to me, devi!"

Deji Devil brought Piyoko in a room, looking for something in his cupboard.

"What are you planning, pyo?" The blonde tilted her head as she watched him struggle to get to the highest shelf. He managed it after a moment, though.

"And now close your eyes, devi!"

As confused as she was, Piyoko obeyed. She heard him place something small on the table.

"Now open them, devi."

She did. There was a marshmallow on the table. "Huh? What's that for, pyo?"

Deji Devil grinned. "Don't eat it. Just wait until I come back, devi. If I come back and it's still there, you'll get another one."

Piyoko had a thousand questions running through her head but she couldn't ask a thing because he already left.

Now she stared at the small treat on the table. Marshmallows...Well, they were alright. Though, Piyoko was kinda hungry, but if Deji Devil told her not to eat that then so be it.

She didn't know wether she was allowed to touch it or not, either. So she just tilted her head around, looking at it from different angles.

Marshmallows...

They are made out of gelatin. Gelatin is made out of pig skin and bones. So-

"I'm back, devi!" Deji Devil returned and saw the girl sit at the table innocently, the marshmallow still there. "You listened to me?"

"Uh, yeah, pyo. I- I don't really like marshmallows, anyway, pyo."

"Oh." Deji Devil held a package of marshmallows in his hand. "Then, uh...I guess I'll just eat them myself."

"What were you even trying to do, pyo?"

The devil laughed. "Oh, just an experiment I read about, devi!"

The princess was rather confused about it but shrugged it off.

Then, Deji Devil turned to the cupboard again and gave the girl something else instead. A sand cookie! "Here, you get that instead, devi!"

He heard something outside and looked through the window. "And when it's still there after I left again, then-" When he turned to her again, the cookie was already gone.

"Man, couldn't you tell me earlier, pyo?"

Chapter Text

Dejiko once again had to run an errand, so she walked through the streets of Akihabara. She knew this place like every single information about Iori Yagami.

"Pupupu... It's neither too hot nor too cold, nyo." She hummed. "I'm satisfied, nyo."

Many people walked through many directions, but for some reason they all looked like fingers or whatever, so Dejiko saw no real difference between them. Well, maybe the color, but that was all.

One person in particular, though, caught her eye.

"Aw, shucks, it's Piyoko, nyo. I better scram, nyo!"

But before she could flee, the girl already noticed her. "Onee-chan, pyo?"

Dejiko thought about fleeing for a moment, but she was in a good mood today. "Y-Yes, nyo?" She noticed how the blonde was alone and kinda looked sad. "What's with the long face, nyo?"

"I..." Piyoko sighed. "I got lost, pyo."

The greennette couldn't hold back her laugh. She almost fell from all the laughing. "How can one get lost, nyo?!"

Piyoko didn't find that funny. At all. She teared up.

"N-No, don't cry, nyo!" The last thing Dejiko wanted now were whiny people. "Uh, who were you with, nyo?"

"I was with Coo, we just made the city unsafe, pyo." She shrugged. "Usual stuff, pyo."

Dejiko rolled her eyes. "Okay, and where did you saw him the last time, nyo?"

Piyoko thought for a moment. "I saw a bug and ran away, but now I don't know where I am, pyo."

"Well, where were you when you saw the bug, nyo?"

"In front of black gamers, pyo!"

The older girl sighed and grabbed the other one's hand. "You know what, I'll help you find Coo, nyo. We don't want you to whine, do we, nyo?"

Piyoko shook her head and tried her best to catch up with the cat girl's walking speed.

"Hey! Don't kidnap Piyoko!"

Dejiko turned around immediately when she heard the voice.

Coo rushed to them, catching his breath. "What the hell, man?"

"I, um..." Honestly, Dejiko was a little embarrassed to tell him why she actually walked away with the princess. So she lied. "Oh no, you caught me, nyo! I was really gonna kidnap her, nyo!"

The boy was going to say something, but the greennette already ran away. "How weird."

Chapter Text

The two were currently at Yasushi's place, like always when they'd meet up. Both on the couch, some weird midnight program on air. Akari being in her boyfriends arms while he held her carefully, because she was so delicate he was scared she'd break. Like a doll. And she didn't even notice how much he was panicking.

Right now, neither of the two were paying attention to what was on TV. The idol was playing with the inventor's hands while he was only paying attention to her.

"This show is so boring." Akari sighed after a while.

Yasushi didn't listen so he had to take a moment to realize she said something. "Say that again?"

"I said this show is so boring."

He squinted his eyes at the program. His vision was a bit blurry from being so tired right now. It was a mascot being at a party, but a weird one. "I'd rather say this show is a fever dream."

The girl turned her head to look at him for a moment before turning to him completely, sitting on his lap and catching him off guard. "H-Hey, at least warn me before you-" His reluctant complaint was silenced by a kiss.

When Akari pulled away, Yasushi pulled her closer, his face in her shoulder. "And warn me before you kiss me."

"Why? I like it when you get so flustered." She giggled.

It felt like there was a cloud in his head right now and he felt even dizzier. For short...He had no idea what was going on.

Yasushi pulled back slightly to look at her and then pinned Akari down before realizing what the hell he just did. "Wait! Is that okay? Are you okay?"

She tilted her head to the side to avoid his gaze. "I am."

"Really? You look so-"

"Please keep going."

Oh.

He was honestly just feeling like a mess right now.

"Look at me, then." He murmured, lowering himself a little.

Even though Akari was as, if not even more flustered than Yasushi, she obeyed. "And now?"

"Now I'll keep going. Because you're gorgeous and because I love you." He cringed at that sentence, it felt like it was one of the dumbest thing he ever said, but his girlfriend seemed to like it because she gasped at that, before kissing him again. And again. Her hands wandering around the couch, or at least around where her hands could reach, so that she could find the remote and turn that annoying TV off.

Chapter Text

It was around four AM when the telephone rang.

"Come over, I have an emergency..." was the only message Takeshi left.

So Yoshimi obviously rushed to his best (and only) friend's apartment as fast as he could, still wearing his pyjamas. At least they were living in the same building.

He knocked on the door as strong as he could, but nobody opened it. Even if he was weak, he had to help. So he prepared to kick it down.

"Eh? What the hell are you doing, man?!"

"Takeshi!" Yoshimi immediately fell into his arms. "What's wrong?!"

"Oh." The chubbier one finished the protein bar he ate right now and stepped back, getting a small card among with a pen. "I need your help."

"WITH WHAT?!"

"How do I spell Dejiko in roman letters?"

The tall one stared at the card. 'CONGRATULATIONS, D' was written on it.

"Because I heard people write it literally how we write it with the kana letters but some fans in the west said they write it D-I-G-I-C-O..."

Yoshimi blinked.

"You called me for that?! Man, Takeshi, we're literally going to the convention tomorrow! Couldn't you ask your british cousin?"

"John?" Takeshi shook his head. "He's on his psychedelic trip right now."

"Yeah, my british cousin is there, too." Now that Yoshimi thought about it, why the hell did both of the Bukimi have british cousins that were even best friends themselves?! Well, maybe he was too dumb to know. Whatever. "Man. Did you ever smoke weed, now that we're talking about it? Our cousins pull that shit all the time, we should try that, too."

"Hmm, I heard someone from the Buge Gang deals it. I can't imagine who, though." Takeshi sat on the floor and took the pen again, thinking. "Like, back to the topic, I wanted to give this card to Dejiko, since it's her birthday in a few days."

Yoshimi now sat next to his friend, looking at the card. "Oh, right! I forgot about that."

The chubby one stared at the guy next to him for a moment before grabbing his telephone again. "Maybe Rod knows. I think it's not nighttime in America right now."

"And why did I have to come here now?" Yoshimi groaned, lying down. "I think I'll might as well sleep here tonight."

Takeshi nodded in approval before calling the American and asking him about the original question he had. Shortly after, he hung up. "Rod said it's D-I-G-I-K-O."

"Oh. Write it down, then!"

As he did, Yoshimi kept thinking. "Maybe you could've asked Dejiko herself instead."

"Then she would've asked why."

"Oh, Oh! I got it! Doesn't she sign her autographs in latin letters?"

Takeshi's small eyes widened and he got up, looking for it. His apartment was small and not even really messy, but he still had a hard time finding it. "Huh. She writes her name G-E-T-L-O-S-T..."

"I doubt that's actually..." Trying to remember what Paul taught him, the taller one could make an assumption. "Hey, I think that means something rude."

Takeshi sighed as he noticed as well, putting the birthday card down and then picking it back up, drawing something else on it.

"Huh, what's it gonna be now?"

"Here, for you, bro."

Yoshimi read the card. 'Congratulations D on being my best friend (and only friend, too.)'

"Aww... You're my best and only friend, too, Takeshi!"

"I figured!" He replied smugly, before getting up again, going to his fridge. "Do you want anything specific to eat?"

Yoshimi got up, too. The way Takeshi was, his fridge was probably empty. "Well, what do you have?"

"Nothing..."

"Yeah. Hey, let's just go to my apartment, then."

Chapter Text

Today, Mister Manager had the whole store to himself. Dejiko was sick, Puchiko was on a field trip, Gema had to take care of Dejiko while Usada was asked if she wants to join a tour with her famous cousin again. Just like in the good old days, he had to do everything alone. Just that back when this store opened, it had way less visitors.

"Huh, I wonder if they closed up but forgot to lock." A customer said as he looked around.

"Actually, everyone is sick, so I'm taking over today." Mister Manager approached the guy, bowing. "I'm the manager."

The customer took his sunglasses off. "Oh, really? So these guys with the funny tics aren't here, huh? Great."

He raised an eyebrow. "How is that great?"

"They always pick up fights with me." The customer walked to a shelf - he was probably a regular. (Now that he thought about it, Mister Manager should spend more time here so he knows who the regulars are...) "I'll take these!"

"Three Iron leg Johnny cards." Usada's boyfriend or whatever bought them often, too. "Sure! That'll be-"

"540 Yen, I know."

Mister Manager grinned. "Nope, you don't!"

"Dang, did they raise the price?"

"We have the 'buy three pay two' offer right now, you know?"

The customer seemed to be a little surprised and then got 360 Yen from his wallet.

"No, actually, you'll need to give me 400 Yen."

He glared a little. "So you DID raise the price?"

Mister Manager flinched a little. "Not my problem that inflation is a thing!"

"Yeah, it's alright. I have enough money." Then, the customer gave him the money and winked. "Do you know who I am?"

Even when he squinted his eyes, he didn't know. "Uh, sorry, no. Who are you?"

"I-I'm asking you. I- I have amnesia." The guy turned a little red and walked to Henna Ikimono to look for some free stuff.

"Hey, don't worry, I just don't have that much time to get into everything right now. I bet other people recognize you."

"Y-Yeah, maybe." The customer put his sunglasses back on and waved before leaving the store.

Mister Manager felt a little embarrassed himself, but oh well. That guy was already gone. He opened the cash register to put the money inside.

"Hopefully everyone is back by tomorrow..."

Chapter Text

She was actually just going to stay for dinner, but when they went outside, they noticed a crowd.

"Oh, look, it's John and Paul playing songs again!" Kiyoshi cheered happily. Well, that was something. Yasushi has been friends with them since they were middle schoolers and yet it was the first time he heard them singing.

Akari recognized the song in an instant. What else to expect? She was a singer herself, after all. "They're singing a beatles song! It's Octopus Garden."

The two musicians were already done shortly after and noticed the three - more specifically Akari - standing in the crowd.

"Hey, if that isn't her!" John called her over. "Come and sing a song with us, would ya?"

Paul nodded. "Yes, we always wanted to sing with you!"

The idol hesitated at first. But Yasushi gave her a reassuring nod. The Lucky Cat Shopping District wasn't full of crazy fans like other parts of Tokyo. And she was here pretty often already, so it wasn't that much of a surprise anymore.

She then approached the two guys, John immediately handing her the microphone. "Friggin' sweet of you to join! Which song do you want to sing with us?"

Akari tapped her lips to think. "You know, I would love to sing let it be."

"Good choice."

Paul had a guitar in his arms so he started playing the instrumental and then the three started singing already.

Yasushi thought it was unusual for an idol like Akari to sing a song like this. Not that he was complaining. He was happy whenever he got to hear his girlfriend sing live. Kiyoshi was pretty excited, too.

When the song ended, Akari looked at her watch. "Sorry guys, I have to go now. You know how tight my schedule is, right? But I had a lot of fun!"

"Come sing with us again sometime!" The taller one waved her as she went back.

"Aneki, that was amazing!" Kiyoshi told her immediately when she arrived. "You should try singing more covers!"

Akari was surprised now. She even got a little red. Not because of the compliment, but because he called her Aneki. Big sister. So she was like a sister to him... "That makes me happy. But I have to ask my managers first. You know how they are! Is there any specific music you like? That I could cover?"

"Aww, don't be like that." The boy grinned. He could feel how annoyed his brother was right now. "But if you want to know, I like Buddy Holly a lot right now. You know, Weezer."

"Weezer! I like this band, believe it or not." The bunny girl smiled. Then, she turned to her boyfriend. "What kind of music do you like? We've been dating for three months, yet we still don't know each others music taste."

"Wait, you're right." Yasushi remembered. But he couldn't tell her because Kiyoshi did for him.

"Aniki pretty much only listens Toy Box!"

"The band?"

"Um, no. The...The song." He rubbed the back of his head. "ICP?"

Akari was genuinely surprised by this. But not even in a bad way. "Oh, you're a Juggalo?"

He seemed to be a little embarrassed. Mayhaps because they were a little too violent. "Yeah."

She then smiled at him. "Do you know the Neden game? That's my favorite ICP song!"

"W-Wait, really?"

"Yeah! I don't really listen to their music but when I do then that song's it. I generally listen to, you know, the kind of musicians I am myself like Fukuyama, who happens to be my favorite artist!"

"That was a bit predictable." Yasushi smiled, also being a bit relieved. He also wanted to say that he was glad she didn't judge him but she probably knew it already.

The idol nodded and linked her arm with his. "Next time I'm here, we're gonna do a music date! But not today, I have to go home."

Chapter Text

The dog days were just about to start. At least the evening cooled the temperatures down for now. Also, the Black Gema Gema Dan went to the beach today, so the heat wasn't a something to deal with anymore.

Piyoko was already asleep, Coo was on the balcony to vape while Rik and Ky were watching TV. Ever since they got access to Analogian cable TV again, despite living in Japan, they were practically glued to it.

"I heard Christmas this year is on a friday!" A woman on TV said. "Well, I at least hope not on the 13th."

"Right, I haven't thought about that." Rik worried now. As far as he knew friday the 13ths were only bringing bad luck to him, as far as he remembered.

Ky was snuggling up against him and it took him a moment to realize what a dumb statement that just was. "Say, are you dumb or something?"

"Huh?" The older one blinked. "Oh- Yeah, I am. Sorry! But do you know what time it is?"

He looked at the clock that was literally hanging next to the TV. "10:22PM. Why?"

Rik got up without saying anything and opened the balcony door, making Coo almost jump off by fear. "Hey, don't scare me like that! I almost fell down!"

"Ky, come here! You need to see this!"

"Okay?"

Ky now entered the balcony, too. Good thing their balcony was big enough for all three to fit in. "What did you wanna show me?"

The man leaned against the terrain to look around. "Is Pyocola-sama asleep? I bet she'd like to see this, too."

Coo rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me some random swarm of insects is passing by again-"

In that moment, hundreds of birds were seen flying in the sky. No idea which kinds of birds they were, though.

"My honeys! Hello!" Rik was acting like a little kid now. "Have a safe trip! I love you!"

When all the birds flew away, he started explaining something about them. Ky didn't listen, though. He was somewhere else in his mind.

"Hello, are you listening? Ky??" When he snapped out of his thoughts, Rik was incredibly close to him, making him flinch a bit.

"What? Y-Yes, I am."

"Really?" Coo asked." Didn't look like that."

"You look upset." Rik then commented. "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine, I..." The guy sighed, realizing lying didn't help. "You called these birds your honeys and told them you love them."

"Huh? Ky, you're my honey, too! And I also love you. Don't think otherwise!" He grabbed him by his shoulders and wanted to lean in.

"Um, hello? Can y'all like, leave?" They forgot Coo was still here. "Let me finish my vape. Go get a room or whatever."

Chapter Text

"Hey! Sorry I'm late, I was doing stuff."

The urge to say "It's okay, I am stuff." was strong right now. But Yasushi would never actually say that. So he sucked it up and said: "You're not late, actually!"

"Really?" Rik looked at his watch. "Wait, yeah. I'm actually even early. I thought I'm late because you opened the door so fast. Hahaha..."

The younger one smiled and let him step inside. "Do you want to drink anything specific?"

"Tea or coffee. Honestly, anything. Just nothing with alcohol, I need to have enough energy because Ky and I have a bar hangout planned in two days." Now that he said it, he also remembered something else. "We actually decided on that exact date like a year ago!"

"Huh?" Yasushi raised an eyebrow. "Why? I didn't know you have so much to do."

"We don't. It's just like that because he's a dentist. Duh." His tone was all serious, so he probably meant it.

Yasushi turned the kettle on and wanted to offer Rik a seat, but he already sat down, so he did the same. "It's nice of you to come over..."

Rik tried to find a good position to sit in since he still wasn't really used to sitting on the floor. His legs would always get numb way too fast. "Well, you invited me. But yeah, it's nice. Your house, too."

He could swear he felt a small blush creep up, but it was just a compliment about the house, so nothing big. "So..." Fuck. Now he didn't have anything to talk about.

At least Rik already asked him something now. "So what do you think of Ear-- Erm, This place?"

"Oh." Yasushi sighed. "It's complicated. I mean, everyone here is nice, but it's...you know, I don't know if you do, but..." He made a reluctant gesture. "It's kind of awkward. Considering my youth days or whatever."

"Were you a delinquent?" Rik asked him, leaning forward a bit.

Yasushi panicked. "What- No! I..." What did he even do? "I was just kind of weird. Like in another way than now. All emo and stuff, how the kids now would call it."

"Murataku told me you had to take care of your brother by yourself from a young age." Why the hell did he tell him?!

"Y-Yeah, since I was like 16, I think. N-Not that I minded, though. Kiyoshi is a good child and I'm glad I have him."

"I'm really impressed. You know, I had to raise Pyocola-sama on my own for a few years, too, I was a bit older, though. And I know for sure it's not really easy, either."

The blush came back and this time stronger, Yasushi couldn't really hide it, so he looked down. "You think so?"

"Aww, don't get embarrassed now!" Rik grinned.

That made it worse. "Sorry, it just happens!"

And the worst thing was the silence that followed. Was it really that embarrassing? Yasushi had to break it, he didn't like silence. But how?!

"What's your type?"

No, why did he say that?!

The older guy was a bit surprised by it but then smirked. "Hmm, good question. For women, I'd say the ones that are a bit similar to me. As for men...?" He looked away a little. "It's a secret!"

If he were to describe it, Rik would probably describe Ky. Yasushi didn't know the BuGeDan for long yet, but he knew there was something going on. And he didn't like that.

"Y-You're Bi?"

"You could say that. Sorry, I hope that doesn't make you uncomfortable."

"I-It doesn't! I'm bi, too!"

That came fast. Yasushi never directly told that anyone. Well, some people knew he liked both genders, but he never stated what he is.

"That's great! I didn't come across that many others yet." Rik said in relief. "So, how many people did you date already?"

What a weird question. Then again, Rik was from Germany or something, these questions were probably normal for them.

"U-Umm...One."

"One?"

"Yeah." Yasushi played with a strand of his hair. "Do you know Senyu Hitomaru?"

"No?"

"Oh. W-Well, I thought maybe you do, he's the bathhouse owner's son. We dated a bit in highschool. But we kind of fought a lot, so I told him maybe it's better if he dates someone else since...I, um, seem to cause him so much distress."

"Hm. Well, I'm sorry about that." Rik leaned back a little. "I dated a handful of people back in my younger days. But that's kind of a bad thing, right? So when I joined the Black Gema Gema Dan, I stopped. The last time I had a fling with someone was in 1992 or something. Woah."

Yasushi tensed up. Hopefully this conversation wouldn't turn more suggestive or whatever. "So you'd like to have one again?" He blurted out. Now he accidentally shifted the topic himself. Was he unconsciously trying to seduce him or what?!

"What?" Rik blushed again. "No. There is a person I like...That person would be mad if I would." He definitely meant Ky. "But guessing from what you told me you're inexperienced?"

"I-If you mean-" He couldn't even mention it. That alone screamed he was a virgin. "...No. If I ever date again, I'd like it to be serious. My brother keeps saying I should be married at my age. And maybe there is someone I like..." The only person he'd...start something with and he had romantic feelings for was the one sitting in front of him. But he knew that nothing would ever happen.

"Hah! You should hear what my parents say. Well then, I hope you'll get with the person you like!" Yeah, he was saying he hoped that they would end up together...

"Y-Yeah...And...I hope...that you get with the person you like, too."

Chapter Text

Today was the day. Friday, 6PM, mid spring, the clouds and sunset mixing, making the sky pink. There couldn't be any better timing.

Hikaru was standing on the hill under the sakura tree, waiting peacefully, the soft breeze carrying her magenta hair. She peacefully hummed, her eyes closed, her hands behind her back.

"Kiyoshi-kun should be here soon." She thought.

And she was right, a moment later she heard frantic steps and then panting.

"Sorry I'm late, I accidentally almost went home." The boy gasped, trying to catch air. Then, he put his hand to his chest, inhaling one last time before calming down. "You...wanted to see me?"

The girl nodded softly. She needed a moment to find the words scattered around her brain. Even though she practiced so often while being alone in the store, with Dejiko spying on her and then bursting out laughing while Gema said she shouldn't care what the cat girl thought and Puchiko just saying nothing. Good that Mister Manager didn't hear it...

"Kiyoshi-kun," she started. "...There is something I, um, need to tell you."

He smiled at her. "Take your time. You seem to be distraught."

Hikaru reciprocated the smile weakly before breathing in. "You see, we've known each other for a while, right?"

"Yes, why?" Kiyoshi's smile faltered a little. But why? Hopefully he didn't think she was mad at him...

"I've been looking up to you pretty much ever since we met, you know? It's just that..." She didn't dare to look at him anymore. "No! It's not just that... it's and...I couldn't help but notice how, um, pretty and kind you are. And honest. And helpful, too. Seeing you help your brother with the shop made me want to work harder in GAMERS as well."

She pushed the tip of her heel into the ground slightly. "So, I started to develop romantic feelings for you, Kiyoshi. And I'm glad someone like you makes me feel this way. So...happy and motivated. Especially because you're so oblivious, it's more challenging to make you notice a romantic gesture."

"To sum it up, I love you, Omocha Kiyoshi."

There was a long silence. He didn't leave, because she could still see his legs while looking down.

"Hikaru..." He began. He called her by her first name, so it should be a positive outcome. "I appreciate your words, they touched me. I never expected anyone to...er, fall for my oblivious nature, honestly. And I'm really glad you told me."

"I love you too, Hikaru, I really do, but only as a friend. I'm sorry."

There it was. Her world shattered.

She smiled, even though tears were starting to form in her eyes and she had to hold back a violent sob. All these years of crushing for nothing. There must've been another girl, right? "Please don't apologize. I can't force any feelings on you and I respect you, of course."

He awkwardly smiled at her. "I'm sure if I could feel the same, I would."

What the hell did he even mean by that?

"You see..." Kiyoshi scratched his cheek with his finger. "I'm...you know. Playing for the other team...?"

"What?"

"I'm attracted to men."

"You're gay?" Hikaru stepped back.

He frowned when she flinched. "Do you have a problem with that?"

The girl now removed a tear from her eye and went the step forward again. "Huh? No, don't worry. I'm just surprised..."

"I understand that." He mumbled, looking at her. And that was when she broke. She broke down crying. Kiyoshi reluctantly tried to hold his arm out, but he couldn't hug her now, it would be wrong. He just rejected her, after all. Instead, he patiently waited until she calmed down.

"Kiyoshi-kun, I'm s-sorry." Hikaru sniffed.

"Don't be."

"You shouldn't see me like this, I don't know why I'm crying..."

"But I do." He sighed. "I think."

The girl now averted her eyes. "Can you..." She sniffed again before continuing. "Can you please go...?"

"I can." Kiyoshi said softly. He turned around to walk away, but before he did, he looked back. "I'm so, so sor-"

"GO AWAY!"

He obliged in panic and it didn't take him long until Hikaru couldn't see him at all anymore.

For some reason, she knew it was going to end like this the whole time. Then why did she even confess in the first place?

Chapter Text

The autograph session after the concert is thriving, as always. Akira is sitting at a table, his two managers and Rhonda nearby doing whatever while he has to sign an autograph for every. single. fan. in this huge crowd.

A fan is shyly waiting for Akira to finish. Patiently, yet impatiently. The idol hands the autograph after a moment.

"You're the only fan who means something to me." He says seductively, winking. He then tilts his head slightly and rolls his eyes at the rest of the crowd. He's stuck here.

"Okay, next!" He then shouts, scaring the fan a little. They look around and don't really know what to do or where to go. "I said next!"

But to his dismay, Yoshimura heard it. He goes to his table, leaning onto it. Akira can feel his piercing gaze and sweats nervously, not daring to look at him. "Akira! Do your job! Do not harrass the fans, you hear me?"

"Y-Yes, Yoshimura. I'm sorry." He apologizes nervously, sweating more. He finally turns to look at him. The manager has his arms crossed, if there weren't all the fans here he'd probably yell at him, so angry does he look. "I am for real!" Akira then whines, and finally, the brunette goes back to the younger manager, who seems to be struggling with something on her clipboard.

The autograph session ends at around 10PM. Manager-chan gets told by Yoshimura to tell everyone to leave.

"O-Okay, everyone..." She starts, pressing the clipboard to her chest with one hand and twirling the braid of her sky blue hair with the other. "I'm afraid the autograph session is over. It's already late."

The crowd doesn't care. They all roll their eyes at her or groan.

"Ahem..." Manager-chan fixes her glasses. "...Akira-sama is very tired!"

And then the crowd immediately feels bad and leaves.

"Geez, what a hassle."

As soon as everyone is gone, Akira's pretty-boy expression turns into a more relaxed one. "Ahh, what a day, what a day." He sighs. "Was a good one. I wonder how many autographs I signed..."

His two managers are there, but where is...? He can't finish his thought, because in this moment, the american girl rushes to him excitedly. "Akira! You were SUGOI!" She compliments him. "This is exactly what we'll need for Geborupushu part 7! Ain't it?"

Yoshimura rubs his temples. Depite already working with the agency for a little over a year, she still has as much, if not even more energy than before. "Yes, but we're gonna take it easy for today and...damn, it's so late! But I'm hungry. Who's down for takeout?"

"But it's so late..." Manager-chan protests. "If we eat so late we will feel nauseous as soon as we wake up! And we can't really take it easy tomorrow either!"

Akira scoffs at his manager's stupid worries. "We're in our prime. We live the high life, like that girl from the toy store would say!"

Rhonda wants to say something but someone knocks on the door now.

"Hey, we're closed already!"

"You shouldn't have told them anything in the first place, Rhonda. Now they know we're in here." Manager-chan says.

The blonde sees from afar that it's someone she knows, as it seems, because her face lights up. "Dejiken!" She rushes to the door to open it, and yes, the green haired catboy valet steps inside.

Yoshimura groans out of frustration. "Young, why did you open the door?"

"Doesn't matter, nyo! Hello, nyo!" Dejiken grins cockily into the round, but then flinches. "Wuh-Wuh-Wait, nyo! Is that really Akira, nyo?"

Rhonda gives him a dumb look. "I, like, told you he's here?"

"I thought it was a joke to get you and me to hang ou-- Nevermind nyo. OH EM GEE NYO! Hey, Akira, nyo!"

The idol waves back awkwardly. "Hey..." But then he decides to actually show his actual emotions or whatever. "What do you want, Dejiken? I'm not in the mood for your shenanigans, I signed like a thousand autographs."

"Ahem." Yoshimura clears his throat. "Barely 300."

"Oh." He blushes in embarrassment at that. "But like I said, be nice, Dejiken!"

"I'll be nice, nyo!" Dejiken promises, his grin widening. "I was very nice at work today, too, nyo! Miss Manager was very happy with me, nyo!" His face then falls. "But your cousin, nyo...He broke a vase, nyo. An EXPENSIVE vase, nyo!"

Akira honestly didn't know what to expect. Hikaru just is like that sometimes. He's not really any better, actually. "I didn't know they sell vases at your shop, but pop off, I guess. By the way, we, uh aren't actually cousins, I'm not related to Hikaru at all."

"I KNEW IT, NYO!" Dejiken yells. "Usada sucks anyway, he's too shitty to be your cousin, nyo!"

Yoshimura rolls his eyes at that. "What. No. He was joking, young man. They are related. He's just teasing you."

"Yeah, I was." The idol twirls his hair cutely. "And you're goddamn right, he is shitty. So, any good news or was that the only reason you came here?"

"Uh, I guess I can also say..." The boy tries his best to think of something, because he presses his index fingers to his temples. "Puccino can shoot better Mekara-Beams now, nyo!"

Akira nods. "Aha, interesting. I'd like to see that."

The group hears another knock at the door and Rhonda is about to rush to open it again, but Manager-chan grabs her by her wrist before she can do so.

Dejiken turns around and cackles. "Ooh, that must be your shitty cousin, nyo."

"Hikaru? Why would he be here?" Rhonda wonders.

"I ran away from him on my way here, nyo!"

The door gets kicked in and it really his Hikaru. He looks like he fell down thirty times and a bear also mauled him on the way. "DEJIKEN!!"

"Usada~"

The boy steps inside, breathing heavily and gasps as he sees the other people. "You guys are here...? Are you telling me that..." He tears up. "You met up without me? On purpose?"

"Hikaru, don't be stupid." Akira groans. He would never meet up with Dejiken, out of all people.

"Akira onii-sama! Y-You're the stupid one here!" Hikaru sniffs dramatically. "I bet Kiyoko-chan's here, too..."

"Actually-"

Manager-chan gets interrupted by the boy. "No! I don't even wanna hear! You guys are TRAITORS! You hear me?" And then, he runs away, just like that.

"Don't get killed on your way home, nyo!"

Everyone looks into the direction Hikaru fled, but Yoshimura quickly changes his gaze to Dejiken's direction until he notices.

"Nyo?"

"I think it's time for you to leave, too!"

Chapter Text

It was a normal day for the BGGD. They just came back from the beach.

"Walking upstairs with sandals pmo," Coo groaned.

"Oh shut it it's not that hard!" Ky replied.

The physician frowned. "Bitch are you deadass"

"Yeah!" Rik chimed in. He was carrying Piyoko, who was asleep, on his back. "Especially when you wear socks."

Ky was gonna complain about Rik being too German and that it offends his Swiss self but he slipped and fell down, Rik caught him in before he could get injured.

He was like 0/////0 but the vet just pat his back. "Careful there," he smiled.

"Guys we can't forget about our plan pyo" Piyoko said angrily

"Ok Pyocola-sama," Rik and Ky said. "We have to hijack the plain first." Their plan was to kidnap a famous movie star that was going to fly from Tokyo to Paris tomorrow and then blame it all on Dejiko.

The four arrived at their apartment where Amenbou was waiting for them.

"Well hello there, sweetie!" Ky greeted him with a fake smile.

"What are you doing here, Amaenbou?" Rik asked, picking him up.

The thing explained why it was here and everyone but Rik were like 0.o

"Well we were gonna go home, chill and then go outside to hijack a plain." The 26 year old explained sweetly. "We also considered hiring someone to fly the plain for us because nobody here can fly it and we don't wanna die."

"And," Ky added, "We will pretend that Di Gi Charat and here stupid friends are responsible for it!"

"Can we go now I'm fuckin hungry" Coo muttered. He got the key and kicked the door in. Piyoko was like xD while Rik made a 0.o face and Ky just >:(

They went inside and watched Germanys I mean Analogues Next Topmodel.

"Y'all," Rik spoke up, "Want something specific for dinner?"

"Rik I'm sorry but whenever you ask you ignore us and cook what you want!" Ky whined.

"Fr!" Coo agreed. "Stop pmo."

Rik groaned. "Coo wtf does pmo mean and also shut up Ky that is NOT true"

Piyoko got nervous. "Pmo means...put me in, pyo."

"Bitch stop lying we all know it means pisses me off," The boy who was half Rik's age whined, "Rik didn't know because he is a boomer."

"Coo, people born in 1973 are not boomers." Ky corrected him. "It may sound old but Rik is only 26 right now."

"P Diddy Moment" Coo and Piyoko said at the same time.

"Puff Daddy?" Rik asked, "He's cool!"

"I heard he has a tunnel to Micheal Jacksons house pyo," Piyoko remarked, "Oh and I want chicken nuggets pyo"

"Pyocola-sama I am a veteranian you know I won't make them ever"

Piyoko glared and then started crying.

Ky picked her up, cradling her. "Now she is crying because of you!"

"Omg Pyocola-sama don't worry I can make tofu nuggets okay?" Rik tried to comfort her.

"Or," Ky sighed, "I'll just make dinner instead."

Coo stared at Piyoko. "Is Pokela sleeping?"

"POKELA?!" Piyoko glared again. "KUCHI KARA BAZOOKA!"

"No!" Everyone shouted

*Timeskip*

And so, Rik and Ky lived manny happy days and lived happily ever after as a couple with Piyoko and Coo. Amaenbou as well. But Ky disliked that thing, so Amaenbou was their pet.

The end xD

Chapter Text

"I'm back." Who did he even announce that to? This mansion was huge, and-

"Hey, you're home!" Yasushi was already there, giving a sweet smile. A bit too sweet. He did something. Hopefully nothing dumb while Murataku was gone. "Would you like dinner first? Or a nap? Or-" as he realized where that went, his sweet smile went over to a smirk. "Or me?"

"Ha ha, very funny. But you didn't abbreviate anything yet, so I guess you." Murataku joked, gently shoving his friend aside to put a small bag, filled with stationery he just bought, down.

The inventor giggled at this like Minataku did whenever he saw Usada. "B-But you gotta see this! I got Puchiko a cool outfit! Hey, Puchiko-chan, come here!"

Murataku blinked, hearing the small nekomimi's footsteps, quieter than usual, her showing up not long after. Her cowboy (or rather cat?) hat was way too big for her, so she had to look up, her bells that fixed her pigtails were replaced by a red ribbon on each side, (so that's why her steps were quieter than usual!) she wore one of Murataku's old jackets as a cape and held a (toy) dagger in her hand.

Yasushi crouched down to her. "Adorable, right? Or for short-"

"Are you for real?"

"What? Don'tchu like it?!"

"It's fine, brown's just not her color. As in outfits." The elementary school teacher shook his head, his blonde locks elegantly following. "Couldn't you dress her up in something more elegant? Like...Lady Justice!"

Puchiko swayed from one side to another. "I am biased, nyu."

Murataku didn't know what to say about that comment, he smiled nervously. "But say, my dear, do you like it?"

"It makes me want to become a cowboy, nyu." she now spun her (toy) dagger in her hand, accidentally dropping it and picking it up again.

"You mean cowgirl? But don't you want to be something more serious?" Then again, let her dream, like Mister Manager once said as Murataku made a fuss when Dejiko mentioned something about becoming a super-idol... He turned back to Yasushi, raising an eyebrow. "So you didn't do... y'know, anything dumb? While I was gone? Like sorting my books by color?"

"Of course not!" Yasushi striked a dramatic pose, feigning offense. "I'm a good boy! Gobo for short!"

Murataku grabbed him by the shoulders, done with his way of words. Them being friends for more than eight years already was not an excuse to abbreviate words so ridiculously. That was it, the 'Days without Yasushi abbreviating words' sign had to be reset a millionth time. Then again, it always just came to one day. "So you're a root now?!"

"What?"

"Gobo. THAT'S A FOOD. Never heard of it? Arctium lappa? Commonly called greater burdock? Lappa? Beggar's buttons? Thorny burr? Happy Major?"

Yasushi's confused look turned into a smirk again. "Where do you know all these Americans from?"

The long-haired man let go of him, grabbing his own hair in frustration. "No, those are- NEVERMIND! You can't abbreviate words, for the love of god! You see what happens when-"

"Achoo!"

Both flinched, their heads slowly tilting to Puchiko, who now rubbed her nose. She kinda looked like a cat cleaning itself now.

"Oh...are you sick?" Murataku knelt down to her, removing her cowboy hat, pulling her bangs up and placing the back of his hand on her forehead to check on her temperature. "You are..." he got back up, turning to Yasushi and glaring just as much as when the Bukimi were being dumb. (which was basically always but whatever) "How come you didn't notice?!"

"Well, you were away for half an hour only and she wasn't sick before." But he of course felt bad for Puchiko as well. "I'm sorry for not noticing, Puchiko-chan."

The girl raised her hand. "It's okay, I'm not sick, nyu."

"Don't lie to me, miss!" Murataku scolded her. Her statement was proven wrong again, she sneezed a second time, thrice in a row now. "Look, sneezing thrice in a row means you're sick." he looked for a tissue in his pocket and handed it to her. "Here." After watching her for a moment, he spoke up again: "Maybe you should go to bed?"

"Pui, nyu." Puchiko hopped upstairs to her natto-themed room, climbing into her bed without any help.

Yasushi wiped away an imaginary tear. "She's growing up so fast."

Murataku huffed, having to think about what to do for a moment. The cough syrup was here in this room already. He poured some of it in a spoon. "Puchiko-chan, open up." Of course she didn't, she wasn't fond of the taste. "Come on, I know you don't like how it tastes, but it makes you healthy!"

"Can I?" The inventor took the spoon. "Here comes the natto-train!" Surprisingly, Puchiko did open her mouth at that. Even though she knew it wasn't natto. Kind of cute. Puchiko, of course...

Murataku shrugged, giving Puchiko a headpat. "Good, you're going to be healthy again soon. Just rest for today."

The nekomimi nodded, leaning back a little and pulling the covers more up. "Thank you for taking care of me, nyu."

Both guys had to "AWWW!" at that. After a moment, they regained their composure. "You gotta say, Puchiko-chan," Yasushi began, "I'm the dad and Murataku's the mom, right?" Eh? Why was he asking that? He always asked stupid questions but that was completely random. Maybe he got that from the Black Gema Gema Dan, Rik and Ky were also the parents...

"Why am I the mom?" Murataku bit back, "Because of my silky, beautiful, long hair that YOU DON'T HAVE?!"

"My hair's nice, too! But no, you're just-"

Puchiko pointed at Murataku: "You're dad," And then at Yasushi: "And you're mom, nyu."

The teacher stifled a laugh, smiling confidently. "Very good, Puchiko," he said, while Yasushi pretended to whine.

"Now let me sleep nyu."

"Of course!" The inventor closed the curtains and they left the room.

Yasushi leaned against the wall. The last time he leaned against the door and accidentally fell down because it opened, so he must've learned from his mistakes. "I think we're doing a pretty good job raising her."

"We are."

The two looked at each other, genuinely smiling. Raising a child with your friend wasn't that bad. Maybe they were going to be something else...What? Where did that come from? Murataku then walked off somewhere. "I'm gonna eat dinner now."

"H-Hey, wait for me!"

Chapter Text

Closing his eyes, he recalled the day they first met. It was another con, as always, this time for video games. Yoshimi was helping out for 1000 yen, a free drink of choice and some sushi. He was carrying a box with cartridges that contained the demo of some game. Which one it was, he couldn't remember.

He hadn't eaten at all that day, so the thought of finally leaving and his boss handing him the promised food made him zone out...

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL?"

"I'm sorry!" he quickly bent down to pick up all the cartridges that fell down, when he noticed the guy he bumped into was helping him as well.

When that guy took a cartridge, he got back up, looking at it. "You got the game already? It's supposed to come out in Fall!"

"Oh, yeah, it's only the demo." Yoshimi smiled nervously, fixing his red bandana and brushing some dust off his clothes. "You want one? As a compensation?"

"Why not." The chubby guy placed the cartridge in his pocket and then grinned proudly. "Are you working here? Got anything else?"

"I'm helping out! And no." A little embarrassed, the tall one cleared his throat. "Yoshimi."

"What?"

"That's my name."

"Oh. Well, I'm Takeshi."

And even though it was evident from the start that Takeshi wasn't merely interested in him that day, Yoshimi still found himself vent to him.

"Yeah, my mother isn't there anymore either," The tall one sobbed, "and now my dad, he's so ill. I can't describe what I'm even feeling."

Takeshi hasn't been looking at him at all, only this small side glance that lasted a split second, then his bug eyes were glued to the screen again. "I'd like to believe you. Alright, guys! The game is on, wanna start a round?"

Of course this was one of the worst ways to get rejected possible. Yoshimi faced a lot of rejection in his life, but it was the first time that it was someone like him...

Sulking, he went back to work. When he was about to leave to get the promised food, he felt someone tap his shoulder.

"Oh. You again."

Takeshi's already hesitant look turned into a worried one. "Hey. I know that was an asshole move earlier. I...wanted to apologize."

Yoshimi raised an eyebrow to show some skepticism, but he definitely wasn't that kind of person to actually hold big grudges against people. "For?"

"For being insensitive, and a jerk, and-"

"It's fine."

"I knew it, I'm-" his eyes widened. "...Huh?"

"Yeah! It's fine. Just don't do that again."

Takeshi grinned smugly. "Oh! Of course I won't!"

"Well, um..." Maybe this wasn't a good idea, but Yoshimi decided to shoot his shot. He wasn't going to lose anything, at worst. The best case, on the other hand, was having a friend for the first time in forever. "My boss gave me a coupon for free sushi and a drink. Do you want to join me?"

"Sure!"

That was when their friendship began. How long ago was that? Two? Three? Somewhere along these numbers...

They rarely fought, but if they did, the fights were ugly. Coming back from a con in Osaka was already stressful enough, but they both were getting salty during this trip. Dejiko promised she'd be there but in the end she never showed up. No grudges, of course... The con itself was alright, though.

Miscommunication between the Bukimi was happening way more often currently. For whatever reason... Well, maybe they both knew why. Long story short, unspoken feelings, maybe?

Takeshi has been making too snarky remarks again, and when they were about to walk home, Yoshimi snapped and ran away. Since Takeshi was, well, not the slimmest person, he was expected not to keep up with his friend. But he did.

"YOSHIMI!"

"WHY ARE YOU STILL RUNNING?!"

"BECAUSE I WANT TO APOLOGIZE, DAMN IT!!"

"Look, I accept your apology, but leave me a-"

"No, wait! Please!"

Yoshimi stopped running but he still didn't turn around. 'Have some dignity,' he said to himself.

"I-" Takeshi wanted to grab his arm, but he hesitated. He had to catch some air first. "I...am a rude, obnoxious asshole, okay? So what?!"

"What do you mean so what?!" Yoshimi now turned around in fury. "You're an egoist and only want to hang because-"

The boy tried calming down. "So I won't be alone, correct! But I want to be your friend, man! Your friend, Yoshimi. I know I'm not the nicest person alive and all, but I like you, okay? Compared to me, you're nice. And also the only person who is more otaku than me. C'mon. We've been friends for so long, I-" With a shrug, he stopped himself from saying more.

Yoshimi felt his anger disappear. Flash before his eyes. "Takeshi-" Trying to find words, he slumped. "This is the nicest thing someone ever said to me but that's probably because you're the only genuine friend I've ever had-" he was going to hold back a sob but he just couldn't. "I don't deserve you."

"What the hell? Have you- Is your- Get a grip! I don't deserve you! But yet, you're still here! I love you, man!"

Pause.

"I love you, too."

Yoshimi dropped his bag on instinct, taking two steps, bending down like a jackknife to fall into Takeshi's arms.

"Like actually?" The chubby one spoke up after a bit. "Like not as, y'know, friends, but as like-"

"As lovers?"

Both got red, an incredibly awkward and tense silence getting the best of them.

"Because I do."

Yoshimi pulled away, looking at his friend, who flinched. Like Gema, whenever Dejiko threatened to use her mekara-beam. The taller one immediately hugged him again.

"I do, too."

"Good." Takeshi stepped back, looking at his own shoes. This was embarrassing, after all, neither of them had any experience in romance. (except for some dating sims but that's it) "Hey, so we're, er, lovers now?"

"Wha-" Pretty unexpected. But sure, why the hell not?! "Y-YES WE ARE. I WANTED TO ASK YOU OUT A WHILE AGO ALREADY BUT YOU KNOW, ALL THAT STUFF."

"REALLY?! ME TOO!"

The way they were, the Bukimi had to laugh loudly. Maybe it was a bit forced, but the two saw the looks on each others faces and the laughs got genuine.

When Takeshi calmed down, he waited for his boyfriend (HIS boyfriend? Such a surreal term for him) to regain composure as well. "Hey, could ya bend down?"

"Eh, sure." The tall one mindlessly bowed, so...

So Takeshi could give him a small peck on his lips.

Yoshimi freezed, even when the kiss was over after a couple dozen of milliseconds. It didn't help that the other Bukimi now placed a finger on his own lips, trying to do a flirty wink. (but he just looked goofy) "H-Hey, you can't kiss people just like that, you know."

He huffed, even though neither of them actually were mad now. "Sorry."

Takeshi had to laugh again, so Yoshimi glared. He grabbed his face, but gently, and their lips touched again. Longer this time. For a moment, the chubby one tried protesting, but he eventually held Yoshimi's wrists that were still grabbing his face to pull him closer.

"I hate to interrupt your... conversation, but..."

The two flinched at the person who just pulled them back into reality. Murataku, looking like he belonged to them, a hawaii shirt, his hair untidy in a ponytail, sunglasses, you get it...

"You're in front of a grocery store, damn it!"

"S-Sorry." Yoshimi coughed, stepping away slightly, letting the man pass them.

"Gosh, I JUST came back from vacation and stress is taking over already."

They watched him leave before at least Takeshi's composure came back and he scoffed. "Jerk."

"Ya said it."

The two were standing there now, even more awkward than ever, the silent hums of the trumpet ghost (whatever his name was) flying through the sky.

"E-Erm, so," Takeshi's gaze was fixated on his own shoes as he fidgeted with his hands nervously, until he felt Yoshimi hold them gently, causing him to look up.

Yoshimi was nervous himself, that was clear, but he tried his best not to freak out, making things even more embarrassing. "Let's go home."

"Yeah." His boyfriend felt his panic slowly leave, he picked up the bag Yoshimi let fall earlier and handed it to him. "Let's go."

They now made their way back to their apartment, not feeling that nervous anymore. "I got the new release of a GAMERS documentary on VHS earlier, let's watch that!"

Chapter Text

Right now, Rinna was praying for her life. Why? Because Mike caught a huge fish in a storm, while the two of them were on a small boat all alone.

"C'mon, Rinna, I almost got that one, mya!" The redhead shouted just as a huge wave shook the boat, making her friend scream in fear. Mike honestly never saw her like this and they grew up together.

Rinna's only somewhat safe solution was to lie herself in the boat. And to fall asleep. But she couldn't. She'd usually fall asleep in seconds, due to her condition, but fear took that away or however you'd say it.

Mike's attention went back to the huge fish, she pulled and pulled, but the fish was stronger. "Hey, you up to an one on one or what, mya?!" Even after shouting that, it didn't help. She recalled some policemen shooting a catfish for some reason back home but that was CHEATING! "If I ain't gonna get'cha you're in huge trouble, mya..."

She considered asking Rinna for help, but that girl was scared of losing her own life right now. Mike was kind of scared too... Not that she'd admit that, though.

That was when she felt someone wrap their arms around her waist, pulling her.

"Rinna-"

"If I won't help we'll be stuck in here forever, myu!"

Mike nodded and with the new burst of strength, they got that thing out, making the fisher girl fall right into the one behind her.

When she gained consciousness after a moment, she pushed that sudden wave of embarrassment away and wrapped her arms around the fish. A bass, huh.

"RINNA, WE DID IT, MYA!!"

"Yeah, I'm completely soaked and still shaking, myu..."

Mike turned her head to her, grinning sheepishly. She wasn't gonna be able to talk herself out of this one...

A smile then decorated Rinna's lips. "But I don't regret a single thing, myu."

The blush took over, Mike's face and hair were nearly inseparable from each other. "Y-Ya don't, mya?"

No reply, Rinna fell asleep, her head resting against Mike's shoulder. The girl couldn't help but brush her cyan bangs away to plaster a soft kiss on her forehead. "I'm glad, too." Mike whispered as she put the bass that she held in her arms the whole time into a huge ziplock bag she had in her inventory and then wrapped one arm around Rinna's shoulder, leaning into her to protect her from the rain.

Worth it.

Chapter Text

"Akari, why did you do this to me?"

He'd mumble this all the time. Whenever he was watching her from the glass while she was recording her radio show. When she'd come late, giving a sweet smile as an excuse, talking something about being late because she had to help someone out or brush her bunny ears or whatever.

"No problem, we still have time." Manager-san assured her bashfully, tapping on his watch and then grabbing her arm. "But let's go now or we'll be late to your dance practice!"

He'd actually get flustered about physically touching her, but Akari was super absent at times you had to pull her back into reality, literally. Yet, she was so cute, so perfect...

And she never noticed how he felt! Or maybe she did and just pretended not to because she wasn't interested? That one remark... She said that if there ever was someone he liked, she'd help set them up. Would she set herself up with him? Whatever, back to business.

When he peeked over at her practicing the moves for her newest single again, dancing so gracefully yet energetically, so cute yet hot too, he noticed she did a little mistake. She stepped right when she should've stepped left. Oh, well, the dance instructor corrected her already. Good.

He quickly buried his head in whatever he was up to right now, documents about anything. Oh, and gambling magazines. But not that anyone had to know, so he just hid them behind even more documents.

Time went by fast, Manager-san handed Akari a water bottle when she was done.

"How was practice?"

"It was amazing! I had fun. I'm really excited about the concert next week." She rambled, already grabbing her stuff. "Hey, wanna go to the playground and ride on the swing?"

He blinked. "Swing??"

"Yeah! I was there with Hikaru a few days ago and I thought you could take a break, too."

Oh, she thought of him. How cute. No, it wasn't the time to freak out. But if he denied, she'd be sad. And he hated seeing his queen sad. "S-Sure, we can do that!"

They walked through the snow, although it wasn't that much yet. It was maybe four or five, yet the sun was almost went completely down already.

The idol took a seat on one of the swings, Manager-san on the one next to her. She started swinging back and forth a little, and somehow she sped up in no time she was almost doing loopings.

"Akari-chan, don't you think you're going a bit to-"

"Nope!"

"...Okay then."

He reluctantly decided to do the same, but not as much as she did. As a kid, he hated playgrounds. Not even now did he like them, as an adult nobody would expect anything else. But being with Akari made it alright...

She slowed down after a while, giggling. Just because. Hearing her giggle made Manager-san's sorrows fly away. Like Rabi~en~Rose whenever she flew somewhere.

He looked at his watch again, his eyes widening a bit. "It's getting late! We should head back. I'll bring you home!"

"How about I walk YOU home this time?" Akari asked as she got off the swing.

Manager-san panicked internally. His house was already bad enough and compared to her house it was even worse. He got off the swing, waving his hand in dismissal. "A woman shouldn't walk a man home. Especially not someone as famous as you, you can't walk alone, especially not when it's dark."

Akari rolled her eyes but she knew he was right. "You're right... Sorry, you've been at my place so often when I've never seen yours, heck, I don't even know where you live!"

He shrugged. "Don't worry about it, Akari-chan! My house is boring." He wanted to start heading back but he noticed that she still stood her ground. "Are you coming, mademoiselle?"

"It's snowing!"

Now that she said it, yeah. Although not that much. And it was early December, so the snow wouldn't actually stay for now.

Akari caught up with her manager, smiling. "I like snow. It reminds me of you, too!"

Did she really just say that?

"W-What?"

"I don't know, it just does. Okay, let's go now before we get snowed in~"

"Mhm!"

They kept walking and Akari was talking about something again. But Manager-san could only overthink. In what kind of way did she mean that? "I like snow because it reminds me of you" Or "I like snow and it reminds me of you" ?

One way or another, Akari was perfect and Manager-san was very, very grateful he had her.