Tomoko was printing out her end of shift paperwork as I stapled it for her. Every transaction we'd had, cancelled reservation, credit card declining, all of it had documentation that had to be accounted for. We were incredibly careful with this. She was peering down at the printer, crouched near the floor, when I saw him.

The younger Matsuda boy was approaching us cautiously. Something was behind his back. My brow immediately creased, wondering what he was holding. A squirt gun? Another stick? We'd been discussing them quietly among ourselves earlier in the day. They always appeared to be unsupervised, and then therefore we worried about what they were getting up to. I prepared myself, remembering this conversation. 

"Um," he said, getting up to the desk. He didn't look at me.

"Yes?" I asked, tapping my papers against it commandingly.

"Um..." 

Tomoko rose up, and he took a step back, his eyes wide to see two people there. Her own eyes narrowed at him. "Yes, what is it?" She asked a little rudely, but I understood where she was coming from.

"Um..." That nervous response again. Slowly, he brought out what was behind his back. I steeled myself for whatever it was. Prank or not, we'd be prepared, but... 

His only rose his pointer finger. He still wasn't looking at us. Upon seeing it, I knew he was embarrassed. I relaxed, staring at his finger. There was a little blood around his nail, some dried blood had escaped a ways down his finger. Tomoko tutted immediately, taking it in her hand as he flinched.

"How old are you?" She asked gently, examining it.

"Ten years old, ma'am."

"Where's your mom?" She turned it over, searching for injury on the other side. 

"She's shopping."

Tomoko's eyebrow went up, and I knew we were both thinking the same thing: typical. They were unsupervised again, and now one of them had gotten injured. But, I couldn't pretend I wasn't sympathetic to him. I leaned forward, and he flinched again. 

"What happened?" I asked gently, trying not to scare him. If I put myself in his shoes, I'd have been scared of these two adults in authoritative positions, too. I'd even have regarded them as similar to the police. 

"Um...We were running in the room, and my brother caught me. He knocked me to the ground, and stepped on my fingers with his shoe by accident."

"Oh, ow..." Tomoko tsked. "A crush injury, then. I can see it." She made noises like one would to a kitten, truly concerned.

"Yeah."

"How old is your brother? He's a lot bigger than you, right?" I asked. We had band-aids in our first aid kit, but we'd need anti-bacterial cream, too. Did we have any of that?

"He's fourteen."

"Right." 

"I bet you look up to him, huh?" Tomoko asked, distracting him. I took this as my cue to search for the band-aids. I nodded to her, and she nodded back. 

"Yeah, he teaches me a lot of things."

"Like what?"

"Um, he took me fishing..."

Their voices faded as I left them, closing the door to the back behind me. As I searched for the band-aids, it only made me think of my first interactions with the boys. How rambunctious they'd been, egging each other on. But, seeing the littler of the two now, it was easy to tell that he admired his big brother and just wanted to be like him. 

As I knelt down to search the bottom of a cabinet where I'd seen a flash of a white box before, I thought about these two brothers. This one didn't seem like his parents at a least. That one thought gave me hope. 

When I entered French Cup around 3PM, it was to a wonderful surprise. Standing in the middle of the floor were Kazuya and Nikki in full drag. They were speaking to Yash, apparently very seriously. The bell went off, and all three of their heads whipped to me, along with a bunch of other people at the tables scattered about. 

"Gyeong-Wan!" Kazuya gasped, bouncing to me on his cherry red heels. His dress wasn't as elaborate today. It was a bright pink with a yellow apron tied around the middle. The apron was fringed with ruffles made of the same material. The dress had short puffed sleeves and a white laced collar. It almost reminded me of a waitress from an old fashioned diner, but with a bigger skirt. He had a matching, yellow ,chunky plastic headband on his bobbed strawberry blonde wigged head, and the wig was a bit wavy and curly, ending at his chin. It was a much more conservative drag outfit than I was now used to seeing on him. No exposed shoulders, the skirt was longer, below the knee. 

"I like your dress," I said into his ear as we hugged. It had cute heart earring studs in it. It was strange, because usually his earrings dangled and were pretty large. 

"Thank you! Oh, this." We parted, and he spread out his skirt with his hands for me. I admired it for maybe a little too long. He was beautiful in it. He grinned, catching me more. "We're going to read at a preschool today in Nikki's hometown. It's about an hour away."

"Ah- a preschool?!" I couldn't hide my amazement and curiosity. 

"Yes, it's called Drag Storybook Hour. Lots of places do it, especially libraries." Nikki rose his finger at me, making a literal point. "My sister owns a preschool. She likes to expose the kids to all kinds of people. She dreamed this up last year, and I've gone a couple of times. Now, Kazuya gets to go, too. He's really way too excited about this." Nikki was wearing a costume that reminded me of Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas, a pinstriped suit jacket with a longer back. The skirt matched the jacket in pinstripe. It reminded me of something Victorian, especially since there was a black top hat on his head with matching pinstripe material around the middle. Strikingly, his skin was white and his eyes were a very light gray, giving the impression that he had no irises unless you looked closely. His hair was long and black, curly, cascading down his back. A big spider perched at his throat, like a gothic cravat. 

"Ohh, that sounds fun. I wish I could go," I sighed, trying to imagine it, but not being able to. Just what did one do there? Surely there was reading to children, but what? Was that all it was? 

"You should go with us!" Kazuya gasped, taking my hands as I startled at his touch. He could touch me a million times and the result would be the same. My mouth opened at his suggestion. 

"No way, my sister wouldn't let us bring a strange guy into the preschool. All the parents are going to be there today. It's a special event. Way bigger than we planned. How do you think the parents would react if we brought him?" He put his hands on his hips, and I saw he was imitating them. They shared some characteristics with "Karens". "Who is this strange man around my child?" He said in an irritated, higher voice. "Take him away at once! Oh, I bet he's a pervert!"

"What?" Kazuya giggled. "They wouldn't say that." He took me to the middle of the room, and my smile didn't leave my face. 

"I'm sorry, Gyeong-Wan, but you can't go. They know Kazu. I'm a pretty big deal at that preschool. All the kids know me. I talk about Kazu there a lot, so they know about him, too." He flipped some of his long hair behind his back in an important manner.

I giggled as Kazuya stamped his feet too cutely and puffed out his cheeks in protest. He was still holding my hands and didn't seem to want to stop. I wouldn't let him. "Oh, but..." He began at him.

"Sorry, but no. No strange men."

"Gyeong-Wan isn't a 'strange man'! He's very nice!"

"The strange man is talking to my child! Why is he here?! I'm taking my child away and never coming back! The preschool let a strange man in-!"

"Nooo! That wouldn't happen! I'd convince them! Gyeong-Wan is very nice!" The voice Kazuya was using was higher than normal as he whined, too adorable. 

My shoulders were bouncing in laughter, watching them argue, when Yash let out a frustrated sigh. "You have to get going soon, you know. You need to come back early, too. I've got homework. I can only watch the shop for so long. Just, I don't know, dress him in drag or something. The more the merrier, right? Won't your sister like that? More queens?" He shrugged, his hands level with his shoulders as he gave a defeated look.

Kazuya's adorable red lipsticked mouth dropped open. The grin that came next made me go into awe. He began jumping up and down, our arms going with him, making me laugh even worse. 

"LET'S DRESS HIM IN DRAG! OH-MY-GOD-NIKKI-LET'S-DO-THIS-I-CAN'T-NIKKI-NIKKI!" He was yelling louder than I'd ever heard, his voice so high. He was so excited. There were almost tears in my eyes at how cute he was being. 

But, drag? Me? It made me stop laughing a little bit. This idea. What would I look like in drag? It made my eyebrows raise. 

"Yes, put another whole man in drag while I'm waiting," Yash sighed hugely, retreating to the counter as a customer approached the showcase. He began casually showing her the macarons. 

Nikki's hand was on his chin, clearly thinking. His eyes were narrowed at me, his lips inside his mouth. They popped out and he looked up the ceiling. "I don't have anything that would fit him. My costumes are all handmade to fit me. Aren't yours, too?" He stared at Kazuya, waiting for him to realize this terrible news. I already knew what it meant, and I admit I was disappointed. It had been a short dream. My hands already were up to comfort him, but he surprised me instead.

"Hanako would be about his size, right? His dresses are free flowing."

Nikki pointed at him, grinning. "You, my friend, are a genius and deserve an award. I bet he'll paint him, too."

"Yeah, yeah. Hey, who's wig is he going to wear? I only have strawberry blonde and redhead ones, so he can't wear mine. We'd be like twins."

"It may not look like it, but I've got a pretty small head, circumference-wise. I don't think my wigs would fit him." 

They were talking as Kazuya was leading me to the door. Our hands had never left each other's the whole time, a now familiar comfort in what was about to be such an unfamiliar journey.