"This is it."

Deep into that same sunday morning, an antique model of a dark red Oldsmobile Toronado car, with a surface so pollished that one could see their own reflection on the doors, stopped in front of an apartment building in Shibuya. The driver flicked a small button on his side and unlocked the doors.

"Is this where Tate lives? I thought he lived closer to us." Ryuuga said, tapping the tip of his cigar on the ashtray inside the car. 

"It doesn't matter who lives here and who doesn't." Izuru deadpanned, opening the door on his side and leaving the car. "I know we had plans for today but something came up. I'll make up to you... Somehow."

"Hey hey, no worries, little bro. A respectable and exemplary big bro like me needs to let his little bro go out into the world and spread his wings like a butterfly. It's the cycle of life, be it human, animal or insect." Ryuuga shrugged.

"Oh damn..." Izuru just stared at his siblings in disbelief. "That was so lame... I hope a deer attacks the temple again, that entire sentence is the same as begging to have the hurt put on you." He said bluntly, quickly drawing his phone and snapping a picture.

"H-hey, we do not talk about the deer incident! The other managers bully me enough but being the guy who had to be saved from a deer by his wife isn't helping out! I'm some how dropped to be more lame than Blade-san and he's the worst of them all! And what's up with the picture?!"

"Oh, that? Me and Mayuri made a deal. If I get proof of you also smoking in the car, I get paid."

"Wha- You traitor!"

"Sounds like a you problem if we're being honest." Izuru shrugged and closed the door. "I'll see you later."

"Hey wait, when do you want me to come pick you up?! Homura's busy with her job, usual teacher shit, so I got the whole day for myself!"

"I'll call you when I'm done. Have fun on your sad lonely husband day."

"Thanks, have fun with whatever you're doing too!" Ryuuga waved with a smile. "Now then, what to do... Welp, Taira said Hinata was out of town the weekend so I'll just go annoy him at his branch. Sucker finna learn why not leaving your weekend paperwork to your assistant isn't a very cash money move! This is a massive poooooog!"

"...do you seriously still talk like a teenager? So this is what a midlife crisis looks like." Izuru said.

"Oh screw you!" Ryuuga said, driving off out of shame. "Have fun, love you!"

"That dumbass brother..." Izuru sighed, waving at the car. Looking up at the building with a stern look, he put his hands on his pockets. 'Even if you tell me to go away... I'll keep trying until you hear me out, Aimi.'

Stepping into the entrance hall of the building, instead of head off to the elevator that would take him to the floor of Aimi's apartment, Izuru walked up to the front counter, where the old doorman Sakamoto sat reading the newspaper.

"E-excuse me, Sakamoto-san." Izuru spoke up.

"What did you do, Sawada?" The old man asked, not steering his eyes away from the newspaper.

"Ah, so she said something." He muttered.

"I was told to not let you in any further than this. I can still kick a kid out of the building if I have to." Sakamoto replied, looking up from his newspaper. "So out with it. What did you do?"

"I... Really screwed up this time."

"I like vagueness as much as the next, get out."

"W-wait, please!" Izuru implored. "The truth is that I spent this entire last year not considering Aimi's feelings on tons of things and acting like she was just a tag along, I kept lying and lying to her because it made things good for me in my stupid dream!"

"You stupid kid." Sakamoto sighed and placed down his newspaper. "I've been working in this exact same spot for over four decades already, you know that? I've seen young people coming in and out of this building for the past fourty years, each one not mattering towards my paycheck, but I still looked out for them as if they were my grandchildren. I've seen heartbreaks, wounds, meaningless fights, lies, all of the bunch. But I never met someone like Aimi-chan and her mother. They've lived here ever since she was six- No, twelve years old, and she always had that apathetic look in her eyes. The first time I ever saw anything close to a smile was last year, and then you began showing up here every week, waking her up and walking her to school. By the time my shift starts, Hanagata-san's leaving for work, and we've talked alot about her life and the life of her daughter. By the time I'm done for the day, she's only then arriving from her workplace. We've talked about their lives before they came to live here, how the fall of Hanagata-san's marriage only made Aimi-chan grow more and more apathetic towards the outside world, how she kept clinging towards the hope of seeing her first friend again, how she barelly made any friends at all. But then she mentioned how her daughter once mentioned a rermarkable young man she met at school, who made her show her smile once again. And then you had the brilliant idea of lying to her over and over again and destroy all the hope she had regained with you. Good day."

"Wait-!"

"I didn't see anyone come in or come out of the building." Sakamoto interjected, picking back up his newspapers. "Aimi-chan deserves better, and Hanagata-san deserves to not have to worry about her daughter all the time. Make things easier for the two, they deserve it." He muttered.

"T-thank you so much!!" Izuru bowed and dashed into an elevator.

'Now that I think about it... I never gave much thought regarding Aimi's parents. I never saw any of them when I came to pick her up, and I never saw any sign of them living there with her. I knew she at least had a mother since she said so, but I guess what Sakamoto-san said explains why I never saw her father.' Izuru thought, walking through the floor of Aimi's apartment.

Izuru stopped in front of the door to Aimi's apartment and looked at it silently. He reached out for the handle, but hesitation took the best of him and he stepped back.

'I can't do this... Even with what Sakamoto-san said, she'd be better off without having to deal with me... But still...'

He reached out for the handle once again, his right hand trembling from hesitation, but all those feelings of doubt vanished as he heard a scream coming from without the apartment. His eyes widened and he barged through the front door, not even stopping to take off his shoes, and ran towards Aimi's room.

"Aimi!" Izuru called out, slammed the room's door open.

The sight that laid before him was somehow more shocking than all of the idiotic things his brother had ever done, and the list of said idiotic things managed to outgrow him in height.

Aimi stood in the middle of the room, looking back at him blushing. She wore nothing more than a yellow and green two piece swimsuit, with her arms around her chest.

And standing next to her, Sumireko was holding onto the strings of the upper part of the bikini, pulling on them to get that part off. The sight of Izuru made her grin slightly.

"Yellow and green really goes with her eyes, doesn't it, Izuru-kun?" Sumireko asked.

"W-wha... W-wha... W-wha... So my doctor lives with my student council president, talk about a weird deal..."

"At this moment, my brain, having been put under a sudden, heavy load, overlooked how simple the whole ordeal was and spat out the most half-assed response it could. I don't remember what happened next."

"My head... Why was my doctor living with Aimi..." Izuru muttered as he slowly opened his eyes, but then they became wide open upon meeting with Sumireko's.

"Hey there champ, are you doing better now?" Sumireko asked, smiling.

"Ah... It wasn't a dream... Well then... By the way, I get that I'm laying down, but why do I see your face when I open my eyes?"

"Most kids your age would feel blessed for having a hot doctor mom giving them a lap pillow, so just rejoice on getting luckier than everyone your age."

"And then it clicked."

"Ah, so she's your daughter... WAIT WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S YOUR DAUGHTER?!" Izuru asked, jumping off the couch and off Sumireko's lap. "Ah crap, my head... But that's besides the point, she was your daughter all along?!"

"I mean, we do have the same last name. Did it never occur to you that the Hanagata from your school but may related to the Hanagata from your neighbourhood clinic?"

"That- But- How- I- It- I thought your daughter was a different Hangata and her mother a different Hanagata!"

"And you talked about Ryuuga-kun being stupid." Sumireko giggled.

"My big stupid brother is also besides the point! Ah, my brain doesn't have time for you being her mom! Where is Aimi? I came to talk to her!"

"So you're why she's been feeling so down lately." Sumireko said, stretching her arms. "Well, you aren't getting a convo with her anytime soon now. Shouldn't have bursted in to her mom trying to get her butt-naked."

"Yeah, what was up with that anyway?"

"Summer's coming and I happened to buy some stuff for Aimi when me and Yu-chan went out to get our own swimsuits."

"I still hate the fact you're so buddy-buddy with my mom but that's besides the point." Izuru said, sitting back on the couch and sighing. "Goddammit, I really wanted to get things straight with her..."

"So what's all the fuss about? What did you this time?"

"You could at least pretend I'm not failure." Izuru deadpanned. "It's a long story involving Takagi Ren and the Mona-Lisa."

"My daughter is sad because your escape plan and Leonardo Da Vinci's artwork?"

"Not that Mona Lisa, I mean Ban's dogs called Mona and Lisa."

"Yikes buddy, tough luck."

"Don't yikes buddy me, I had a talk prepared for you too!"

"Is it about you finally admitting you peak into my shirt when I get close to you? Don't think I haven't seen your eyes go down there when I'm checking your heartbeat." Sumireko pouted.

"That's a blunt lie!"

"It wasn't."

"Your mind might have been telling you no, but your body? Your body was telling you yes." The doctor said with a smug smile. "Well then, since Aimi won't be here anytime soon, might aswell get my own Izuru-Talk. What do you wanna talk about, Izuru-kun?"

"It's about-" Clouded by the feeling of uncertaintly from before, Izuru quieted himself and shook his head. "Nevermind. It was about this one guy in school with a weird mole on the back of his neck, I was wondering what your professional opinion about it-"

"Just come out with it. I know you better than you think, Izuru-kun."

"N-nermind, just forget about it!"

"If I have to take a guess..." A small smile appeared in Smureko's lips. "It's about her, isn't it?"

"You were Minami's mother at some point, weren't you?"

"You sure know alot, Izuru-kun..." Sumireko let out a weak chuckle. "There isn't a day when I don't think about seeing Minami again. Man, where can I even begin... I guess it was when I still worked at a big hospital. One day, this worried single father came in with his sick daughter. That pitiful guy had no idea what to do and was overthinking himself to so many headaches, but that made me resonate with him. He returned there some days later with flowers to thank me for what I did for his daughter, even though it was just a regular cold, and we began going out from time to time. He was a divorced man who was abandoned by his wife, and I? I was never married before, but I had experience in raising a child by myself. We ended up getting married and for almost a year, Aimi had a father and Minami had a mother, and both had a sister. But Mitsuki had his own issues to take care of, so he insisted on us getting divorce, and he even offered to support us in whatever we needed. That day was the last day those two sister ever saw one another, and then me and Aimi moved here."

"But she kept trying to find you! She went to that same hospital looking for you and never found you!"

"That's because I was fired from that one and went on to work on a smaller one. I tried to find Minami after that, but nothing. And I guess that's it."

"She's still there, Sumireko." Izuru said. "She's still on the house you four used to live as family, living by herself. Not even that good for nothing shows his face around there!"

"And here I thought they kept giving me the old address because her new one wasn't added to her files." Sumireko chuckled.

"How- How can you be laughing like that?!"

"Because maybe it was for the best I didn't find her. Right after the divorce, I spent my days being a screw up. Shall we get on to my side of the story?" Sumireko asked, reaching for the small necklace she wore around her neck. A small medal hanged off the necklace, with the number four inscribed into it. "Do you know what this is?"

"N-no."

"Then that's good for you. This is my four year medal. It proves I haven't drinked for the past four years."

"S-suremiko, you-"

"Right after me and Minami split apart, I just spent my days drinking. I even arrived to work outright hammered, and only didn't lose my license because the director was a friend of mine and she helped me alot. That's why I ended up getting fired and going to work in another hospital. But what other choice did I have? Aimi's the proof that I was never loved, and Mitsuaki's excuses didn't made me feel any better. Did you ever wonder how young looking woman like me already has a daughter in high school? I got pregnant with Aimi right before I began college and her father just left the picture for good. I called him to tell him about it but he just ended the call and I never heard of him again. My parents really wanted me to not go through with it, that I was such a promising student who had so much ahead of her in life... But I didn't care about any of that. I had to protect Aimi. I had to protect my daughter. I ran away from home and stayed with a friend of mine who was going to the same college. For the time I could go unnoticed, I went to class, and when I couldn't, I just had my friend give me her notes and learned at home. When I gave birth to Aimi, I only knew I had to protect her, nothing else. So I begged to my familiars to take care of her while I finished my studies, and eventually my grandma said yes. I'd go see Aimi whenever I had the chance, and through all those years, I'd recieve letters of my parents telling me to give her up to adoption or anything, how I was better focusing on my life instead of taking care of what they called a bratty child of some deadbeat good for nothing. But they didn't mattered. They even got to my grandma's head by the time my last year of med school rolled around and she wanted me to let Aimi stay with ehr for good, so I took my daughter and ran away. I spent that last year raising Aimi and working to make sure we could stay on that crappy house with one room I managed to rent. Aimi's father didn't love me, my parents didn't love me, my family didn't love me, and eventually, not even Mitsuaki loved me... Being hit by all of that just made me take the easy way out and drown all of that in booze. I'd get home hammered, and fall on the middle of the floor, just for Aimi to help me get to bed and put me to sleep, or help me walk to the bathroom for me to puke. That made me realize something. I don't need anyone else to love me, because I already had Aimi. So I did the whole group talk things you hear about and then four years later, here we are."

"I-i'm sorry..." Izuru muttered, looking away.

"Oh, so you can cry, eh?" Sumireko laughed.

"S-shut up! I was thinking about that Hachiko movie! How can you still laugh after all of that?!"

"Because that was ages ago. It's no one's problem anymore. It's over. I'm an adult, we outgrow these things eventually, and I outgrew that too. Aimi usually likes to go to that cute bookstore near the mall, you'll find her there."

"H-hey, I can't just leave you!"

"Oh shut up, go make my daughter feel better. But keep your hands to yourself, buddy. I don't want to become a grandmother this soon, even though I'm pretty sure I'd look stunning hot as a grandma."

"Your words can't get any more humbler, can they?" Izuru sighed, getting up from the couch. "Well, in that case, I'm off. See ya, Sumireko."

"Bye bye!" Sumireko giggled.

"And, Sumireko, one more thing..." Izuru stopped in front of the door and looked back at the doctor with a small smile. "I love you."

"Damn dude, are you saying that because of what I said? You really are a lame old man inside a teenager's body!" Sumireko laughed.

"If you think that's lame, then you haven't seen the quotebook we made about things that came out of my brother's big mouth!" Izuru laughed, stepping outside the apartment.

Upon entering the hallway, the first thing to be caught in Izuru's eyes was the person standing on the other end of the hallway, walking out of an elevator, who looked at him with the same insulting smirk from all their previous encounters.

"Fancy meeting you here, Sawada-kun." Endo greeted the student with a nod. "What brings you to this part of Tokyo? I myself came to visit an old collegue of my time as a teacher. He's a college teacher and finally had break for us to have to a cup of tea." He explained, walking forward.

"You..." Izuru muttered, gritting his teeth. "Aimi's sadness... Minami's sadness... And Sumireko's too...!"

"Hm? Is everything alright?"

"It's all your fault..."

(Media - Fighting Festival)

Izuru began walking forward, getting faster with each step, until he was in an all out dash towards the headmaster. Blinded by a rage bigger than before, but also a clarity now that he knew the full picture, Izuru slammed his face across Endo's face, glaring him dead in the eye.

"You're just a damn blight in their lives!"

"I see you keep intruding in affairs that have nothing to do with you..." Endo muttered, glaring back at Izuru and hurling his fist towards his chest, like in their previous fight. "You blind berserker!"

But unlike during their previous combat, Izuru stopped the strike by grabbing hold of Endo's fist and brought it closer to his torso, locking it between his left arm and chest, and then slammed his right elbow across the headmaster's face, replicating the attack that ahd been used against him one week ago. 

"No, I have a pretty clear vision this time!" Izuru replied, releasing the lock on Endo's arm and uppercutting him with his left palm.

Using the close distance between the two to his advantage, Izuru unleashed a flurry of strikes against Endo, a mix of punches, palm strikes and karate chops, forcing the older fighter back despite his attempts to deflect some of the strikes, until he grit his teeth and put the wave to a halt by grabbing Izuru's fists.

"You-!" Endo held back his words, shocked by the reaction of his opponent.

A small smile appeared in Izuru's face, despite his attack being stopped. With enough strength to not break Endo's grasp, Izuru pulled by arms back, forcing the headmaster towards him against his will, and with a swift kick to the side of his torso, Izuru broke free of his opponent's grasp. He pulled back his left palm, and then slammed it against Endo's torso, forcing him to stumble back, but before he was far from his reach, Izuru using the side of his right palm to land a strike across Endo's chest, as if his palm was a sword, with just enough strength to make his opponent stumble back.

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not to fear the result of a hundred battles..." Izuru muttered, panting. "That's what you said, right? Last time was different, but now... Now I know! You're someone I can never accept!"

"I'll give it to you..." Endo coughed, getting back on his two feet. "At this moment, you are strong! But you're little hero roleplay will only go so far before it falls down like an engineless plane!"

"Shut and drop all of that hero crap!"

Izuru charged forward again, to which Endo responded by taking a defensive stand with his arms crossed slightly above his head, and flexing his knees ever so slightly, something that would be used against him. In a quick motion, Izuru placed his right foot top Endo's right knee, and using it as a jumping support, he launched himself into the air to perform the same move he had used against Ban, in their fight all those weeks ago.

"Triple Kick!"

A sequence of three conseceutive roundhouse kicks was unleashed before Endo, the first breaking this defense formation by kicking away his arms, the second making him lose his balance by hitting his chest, and the third one, going for his head to put an end to the fight.

But that would prove to be inefficient.

Endo stopped the final kick by quickly and abruptly bringing his left arm up and have the kick hit his forearm, and right after, in a fit of slight rage and annoyance mixed into one, he grabbed Izuru's foot and pulled it back, making Izuru start to fall back.

"Be quiet, blind berserker!" Endo grunted, moving forward and hurling his right fist down at Izuru's face.

"Shut up, you damned blight!" Izuru growled.

Tugging onto Endo's coat because of their proximity, Izuru quickly slammed both his feet down, and though he barelly dodged Endo's strike, with Endo's knuckles still grazing his skin, he blasted a right fist of his own, to which Endo barelly dodged, making Izuru's knuckles also graze his skin.

"You are someone I can never accept!" The two fighters roared, slamming their foreheads together.

But what stopped them from continuing their fight and keep getting hurt wasn't any of their actions, but the words from a third party.

"Stop already, you two morons!" Sumireko commanded, steppting out of the Hanagata apartment.

"S-sumireko!"

"Sumireko-san..." Endo muttered under his breath.

"Look at you clowns, fighting in the middle of a hallway. At least be real men and take it to the streets. You'd think a headmaster and a student close to being an adult would have that much decency." Sumireko scoffed. "Get in the house, Izuru-kun."

"But-!"

"Shut up, dumbass." Sumireko interjected. "Come on, get in."

"Tch." Izuru clicked his tongue and let go of Endo, as he ordered, he walked back to the Hanagata apartment.

"And you? Got anything to say in your defense?" Sumireko asked.

"All I did was in self-defense. Should he not have thrown the first fist, I'd have never responded with violence." Endo said.

"Well isn't that riveting." Sumireko sighed. "Good to see you still have the personality of a wet history book, Mitsuaki."

"Likewise, Sumireko-san."

"I could have won that one." Izuru said, sitting back on the couch. 

"Maybe keep fighting the top of horns of your school to a verbal basis next time, okay?" Sumireko sarcastically asked, closing the apartment's door. "I get that teenagers are dumb and like to throw their hands at anything that moves, but that doesn't mean you should."

"Well... It's in my blood to have fistfights with loud music playing in the background." Izuru muttered.

"Is that so? From what side of the family?" Sumireko asked, sitting next to Izuru with a first aid kit on her lap.

"My mom's. She comes Asakusa, making me an Asakusa guy. I keep missing the Sanja Matsuri because of stupid mid- Gah, what the hell?!" Izuru yelped. "That stings!"

"It's called alcohol." Sumireko chuckled, pressing a piece of cotton dipped in alcohol against the bruise in Izuru's face. "He got you good, not gonna lie."

"To be fair, I did better this time than last week. At least I'm not coughing blood this round."

"You what?"

"Huh- GAH, STOP PRESSING IT THAT HARD!!"

"This one is for getting in not just one, but two fights." Sumireko sighed. "What was it about last week?"

"He said some things that didn't sit well with me, so... I rammed my fist into his face."

"And this time?"

"I thought back to all the crap he did to you, Aimi and Minami, and just couldn't help but ramming my fist in his face."

"Hm... So none of those fights were about Heiwa?"

"Of course not. That was the least of my concerns."

"Alright, that's acceptable!" Sumireko giggled, accidently pressing the cotton harder.

"AH!"

"A-ah, that was an accident, I swear!" She laughed. "And boom, good as new. Eventually." Sumireko said, applying a band-aid on the bruise.

"T-thanks... You really didn't need to go out and face that guy again. I had it handled."

"What, you think I can't face Mitsuaki? It's like I told you when you left, I'm an adult. Well, I'm older now, at least."

"Yeah, I can see that."

"There's a coackroach behind you."

"AH AH AH AH AAAAAAAH!" Izuru screamed, throwing himself into Sumireko's arms. "Kill it kill it kill it!"

"Pfff... Just so we're on the same page, you were fine punching your headmaster, right?"

"...there isn't a cockroach, is there?"

"Nope."

"You are a... Very awful person, Sumireko." Izuru muttered, backing away, all the way up to the end of the couch. "You do not play with a man's fear of-"

"It's on your shoulder now."

"W-WHAT?!" He yelled, jumping off the couch.

"Oh man, talk about gullible." Sumireko chuckled with a smug.

"You do not play with a man's fear of cockroaches, woman! This is just pure evil, vileness that no one ever asked for!

"Y'know, it's cute that you and Yu-chan share the same fear of cockroaches but while she actually acts like someone whose roots are in Asakusa, you scream like the first blonde bimbo to die in horror movies!" Sumireko laughed.

"You really are the worst!"

"I know, it comes with age. Now sit back down, you need time to properly recover. I know for a facth that Mitsuaki punches hard, I've seen all his trophies from his days in the martial arts club when he was your age." Sumireko said, walking off to the kitchen.

"Is that so?" Izuru asked, sitting back down with a sigh.

"Yeah. He was part of this wonder fighting duo with this friend of his I never met during our time as a couple. While Mitsuaki had an amazing technique, this other guy was just a gorilla in terms of brute force. What was his name again... I heard he bought this café in Ikebukuro after he divorced from his wife, who owned this big franchise of maid cafes called Arsene. He think he had a bunch of daughters- Risei! The guy's name was Enomoto Risei!"

"Enomoto Risei... Enomoto... Enomoto... Eno- Oh." Izuru stared blankly at the ceiling. "I think one of his daughter might have kicked my brother's ass for swearing in one of those maid places. I'm pretty sure of that."

"Ryuuga-kun really was a rascal like you when he was your age, wasn't he?"

"No, he was just a dumbass." Izuru sighed. 'But I guess that makes both of us a pair of dumbass brothers too.'

"Can I ask you a favour?"

"Sure. I'm pretty sure I own you a ton of them either way."

"You think... You think you can stop by one day with Minami?"

"Hm?" A small smile appeared in Izuru's face and he nodded. "Yeah, you got it."

It was already late in the afternoon, and the sun had began to set already, making the skies above Tokyo take on an orange colour, but it was at that time that Izuru finally left the building.

"Man, I keep wasting my sundays with stuff these days..." Izuru sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. 'I guess talking with Aimi will have to wait some more time. Ah dammit.' He thought. He got out his phone to call Ryuuga, but doing so made him think back to Sumireko's words.

"You think... You think you can stop by one day with Minami?"

Izuru began to scroll through his small contact list, and instead of calling his brother, he called someone else.

"Hey Minami? I'm at this friend's house, you wanna come by? Cool, I'll text you the address and all of that stuff. See you soon." Izuru ended the call and looked up with his small smile.

"What are you smiling at?"

"Hm?"

Izuru looked back down, and right in front of the building, Ryuuga was waiting by the car, with a bruise on his forehead.

"...what did you do?"

"Well it turns out that going to a maid cafe when you are married isn't that acceptable. And then when Hikaru asked Hanae what the shit was wrong with that, we both got our asses kicked."

"Man you really are dumbasses."

"Are you any difrent from us though? Hmmmm?" Ryuuga asked.

"I may be a dumbass, but you will always be a dumbass bigger than me." Izuru chuckled. "That's the one universal truth in the world."

"This is the place... But why would he invite me here?" Minami muttered to herself, standing in front of the Hanagata apartment. "Uhm, excuse me?" She asked, knocking slightly on the door.

"Did you forget something, Izuru-" Sumireko asked, opening he door. "Kun..." She looked at Minami in disbelief, but through the shock of their reunion, she managed to muster a small smile and some words. "You look as beautiful as the day I lost you, Minami..."

"S-sumi... Sumi... Sumireko... SUMIREKO!" Minami cried in shock, throwing herself into Sumireko's arms and grabbed tightly onto her, as if to never let her go ever again.

"Mhm." Sumireko nodded slightly, and despite doing it in a small degree comapred to Minami, crying nonetheless. "Welcome home, Minami..."