If there was anyone in the world she never wanted to live near, her first pick would be her own father. Whether or not he was still alive, that honestly didn't matter. He took first place in that, and he always would.

However if she weren't to count Katsuragi Toji, she could easily name the very next residing within second place - That would be Asano Gakushuu.

She never had a problem with him until coming to Class E. Never had she been given a reason to reject his very presence in a volatile form of defiance. However, he continued to antagonize her in just the wrong way, entirely to manipulate her into bringing into words the information he wanted.

And now she was Asano's neighbor, and even if there was the slightest glimmer of possibility that he hadn't realized it now, he would realize it within the next few days.

The sudden snatching of her wrist snapped Amaya out of her stunned and horrified stupor, alerting her to her current situation. A remarkably sour look was written across Karma's face as he dragged her out of the street with more haste than she felt was really necessary at this moment.

She was being dragged through the now-open gate of the property, stumbling slightly on loose paving stones here and there as she was tugged into what looked like a tiny little patch of garden.

Well, if one could call overgrown grass poking out of the crevasses between paving stones a garden, in any case.

The gate shut with a metallic groan behind Samuel's following form, causing the blond to let out a yelp as he rushed to latch onto Amaya.

It was here that Amaya noticed the rather curious looking building was a little in disrepair. The bricks were beginning to grow tainted with the start of moss, chips missing from the exposed beams that lined the corners, and the coat of had-been ochre pain was mostly flaked away to reveal a weather-worn jarrah beneath.

However, it was easy for Amaya to see that there had been some very recent modifications – The lock and handle of the door itself had been replaced with a much more modern, and far heftier looking version. The windows were also remarkably pristine and clean, and they looked to be made from glass far thicker than considered normal.

'I hope we're not here just to admire the outside.' She heard Karma remark as they reached the door, a moody edge to his tone as he released her wrist.

Well, no... she hadn't had a chance to even collect her thoughts after that unfortunate instance out on the street. Though she didn't respond to his words and instead just fished the key out of her bag.

The interior was a little different to what she'd expected.

The door opened up to an expansive room spanning a good half of the buildings floor-space, presumably the main living area, in a somewhat curved, backwards L shape. There was evidence of a couple of walls having once separated the room into three smaller ones presumably made up of a lounge room, living room and a Kitchen in order from left to right. The floors were a had-been varnished set of floorboards, the only places left with undamaged varnish being certain parts where large items of furniture had once been.

The walls were all a old, time-worn kind of tan, and the ceiling was open with a large array of exposed beams with a fair amount of open space above the horizontal ceiling beams. Two other doors were visible along the wall directly in front of front door, a small hallway to the left leading to what was presumably another room on the immediate left of the house.

There was no real furniture in the building, though, only a small dining table with two chairs, and a refrigerator standing in what was obviously the kitchen. There were no curtains, either. A few rather weighty envelopes sat neatly on the dining table, clearly left for her, along with a couple stacks of school-books, a rather tattered looking travel-case, and ... another box of sweets, from what she could smell wafting through the dusty air.

'I expected it to be in better condition than this.' She heard Karma mutter as she kicked off her shoes.

From the souring look across what she could see of Karma's face, he didn't seem to like the place, which was fine since he wasn't the one who was going to be living here from now on.

'The apartment wasn't much different when I first moved in.' Amaya remarked.

'Yes, I'm sure it wasn't hard for you to repair, either.' He quipped, the sarcasm dripping heavily from his words.

He didn't believe her at all, did he?

The thought drew a sigh from her as she decided there wasn't much point in talking to him right now. His mood would sour even more if she did.

'It's honestly not that bad.' She muttered beneath her breath as she set her bag next to the door. 'At least I don't have to leave ...'

This was just as an audible crash echoed from a door slamming shut upstairs.

Amaya left the brooding redhead at the door, lifting the few envelopes sitting on the table as she walked past on her way towards the stairs. She wasn't used to living in such a large space, but with someone as energetic as Samuel, all four of them couldn't fit comfortably in the apartment, even if they still had the lease.

Whenever the twins had friends over, it always felt very cramped, unlike Karma's apartment where it honestly seemed to be three, maybe four times larger in terms of room-space. And that was already after subtracting space taken up by all the souvenirs his parents would bring back.

The stairs creaked just a little beneath every step, something that could be fixed with just the smallest bit of time hammering the nails back in. She made a point to keep her gaze away from Karma as she disappeared upstairs, her fingers prying open the top envelope as she walked.

The upstairs section of the house looked much the same as downstairs – the same had-been varnished floors, same old colour to the walls, and the ceiling showed exposed beams in numbers. The landing room was of an odd shape, possibly a room that could be turned into a second lounge, with just three doors leading into what looked to be other bedrooms, as far as Amaya knew.

Samuel had just barreled out of the room situated directly over the kitchen, glee written across his face as he noticed Amaya standing at the top of the stairs.

'Any particular room you like?' She asked.

If possible, Samuel's expression grew even brighter.

'I really like this one!' He exclaimed, whirling around to throw the door open again.

'Yes, but don't slam the doors...'

'Okay!' Samuel sung loudly as he ran back out of the room to grab Amaya's wrist and tug her along after him. 'Come see! The tree is really close!'

Amaya let out a breath as she let him tug her inside, looking around the room briefly.

It was a simple room, a good four meters by about five, which was larger than the bedrooms back in the Apartment. There was a futon folded up in the corner of the room, beneath the window almost completely covered by the needles of the pine tree outside.

'Are the other rooms like this?' Amaya asked.

'Yup! Blankeys and everything! Oh! And the rooms downstairs are even bigger!' Samuel turned to face Amaya, bouncing enthusiastically on the balls of his feet. 'The tree is bigger here, but!'

Amaya looked down at the contents of the envelope as Samuel sprung back towards the window, presumably to pour over the tree's presence with glee. The envelope was thin, a simple hand-written paper with what looked to be ... three keycards?

Quite simply, the note read nothing more than the fact that she was permitted to do anything to the premises so long as she returned here every evening, and that she used the three key cards for the purposes written on the page – Black for bills, blue for the actual building modifications, such as paint, etc, and the red one was actually under her "new" name of Mao with an alloted amount for her deemed use.

Of course, Amaya certainly wasn't going to go by the name of Mao.

In fact, Samuel had done wonders for having her dislike the name merely by utilizing the warped cat-sound variety of it.

Though she didn't speak of it.

Amaya let out a breath as she looked back at Samuel, closing the envelope as she stewed on that information for a little.

Well, she'd expected a fresh coat of paint and varnish was allowed considering the state of the place, but not to that extent.

'Alright. What colour do you want for the walls?' Amaya spoke up after a moment, earning Samuel's immediate attention. 'You can have this room.'

While she had expected an excited squeal to escape the boy, she hadn't received it. Instead, he fell silent and motionless, his eyes wide as he stared up at her with tears beginning to well up.

'I-I I can have my own room? Really?!' He asked, almost disbelieving.

It brought the smallest of sighs to escape Amaya.

'That's what I just said. What colour do you want the walls?'

'PINK!' Samuel announced with an excited squeal, flinging himself across the room to leap upon her. 'I want bright, bright pink! Like flowers and fairy floss!'

Oh dear, he really wasn't kidding about his favorite colour back then.

'How about we decide it at the shop later...'

'Okay!' Samuel sung out as he released her, flinging himself back towards the window.

Amaya hoped his energy would deplete soon – It was nice that he was this happy, but she didn't know how she'd be able to deal with him if he was like this all the time. She guessed she could put him to work, since he'd gone and inhaled countless sweets just a few hours earlier, no thanks to Koro-sensei's visit.

Amaya cast a glance at the other two doors on the floor, deciding that since they were probably bedrooms, Yuta and Reiko could have those.

Which meant, she should buy paint to get those two rooms sorted before they got back to Tokyo. Yuta would probably appreciate one with a larger wall-space on one side, since he collected so many god damn books...

She'd decide which would be which once she was ready to paint.

'Hey, Karma?' Amaya called out as she made her way back downstairs, only to find that he wasn't there anymore.

The door was closed, no sign of his shoes or anything within the main room. However, she saw the tiniest glimpse of red past the pine-tree, heading out the gate through the window next to the door.

She let out a small breath, her gaze falling downcast as she guessed he really was in a bad mood today, though leaving without a word wasn't out of his usual behavior, either.

She guessed she might as well take advantage of his absence and get some things done.

'Samuel, we're going downtown!' She called up the stairs.

'OKAAAAY!' She received in enthusiastic response.

And so, after emptying her bag and gathering only the necessary items for the afternoon, getting things done was what they did. Coloured fabric was bought in several colours to suit all of the rooms in the new house, with Samuel insisting on a mouse-print for his room. Several tins of paint were bought in green, orange, yellow and a few other items that were, apparently needed. Several large tins of varnish, a particularly huge stack of sandpaper for the floors, plus all the other items needed for house maintenance.

And, after Samuel had complained about being hungry less than an hour into their afternoon of household shopping, Amaya had no choice but to buy some consumable shopping while they were at it. Along with that, was a couple of towels and products, those of which she found herself a little bemused when Samuel insisted he wanted the pink ones with pretty flowers on them. The towel he picked was a hot pink that at that point, brought a sigh from Amaya instead of confused her.

It was part-way through the expensive afternoon that Amaya learned just how dangerous Samuel could be.

Not in the sense of stranger-danger or any of the usual dangers that existed.

No, in Samuel's case, it was every person he wanted something from who were actually in danger.

When it came to the revelation that he was going to have to help Amaya carry some of the purchases all the way back to the house, he'd instead gone bounding up to the nearest sales clerk in the hardware store. After giving the middle-aged woman an alarmingly sweet and innocent smile as he asked if they could use the trolley in other shops, she'd ended up crumbling into a gushing, cooing mess and practically told him he could keep it.

Amaya was utterly horrified, even moreso as she realized that he would have likely picked up such a manipulative skill from Karma that morning Mrs Akabane kicked them both out of the apartment for an hour.

Needless to say, Amaya apologized profusely to the sales clerk and promised that she would be bringing the trolley straight back the very next morning at the absolute latest.

There were quite a few other instances that Samuel's power of cuteness had landed Amaya in a moment of utter horror. The mouse-print fabric had been discounted to match the cheaper fabrics Amaya had picked, the small can of pink paint ended up being free along with flower stencils, and an anpan was tossed in for free at the store.

It was all because Samuel was apparently utterly adorable for an eight year old boy, and after a little bit of sweet-talking he had all the adults wrapped around his little finger – Men and women alike.

And because of that, Amaya had a few issues she had to bring up with Karma when he eventually turned up.

The return to the house was just before sunset, with the trolley stacked packed with the items purchased, and Amaya had trouble even seeing over the top of the many items.

Samuel was clambered onto the front of the trolley so he could watch and let Amaya know when she was about to steer into anything.

She'd felt someone staring at her as they made their way past the most extravagant house in the street, though she didn't dare stop or look over.

She already knew who exactly was there, and she did not want to invite any possibility of the Student Council President wandering over to interrogate her.

Definitely not now - She was liable to try and run him over with the trolley if he did.

She worked at cleaning, painting and detailing, to the point that the completed rooms were near unrecognizable. Samuel helped wherever his abilities would allow, otherwise he chattered constantly throughout the time, watching with enthusiasm as Amaya turned the three upstairs room as well as the landing into freshly coloured, vibrant dwellings for her siblings. The three rooms had been painted that very first night, the floors, exposed beams and skirting boards next.

And all the while, even though she hadn't seen Karma, there was no doubt that he'd turned up at least twice – There were a few instances here or there that she guessed she'd worked herself to passing out for a couple of hours at a time, and during one of those moments, the housekey she'd been given had multiplied when she came-to.

Instead of one sitting there next to the sewing scissors and the massive pile of fabric, there were four, and undoubtedly a fifth had been procured at the same time.

She'd sat there staring at them for several long minutes before she just shrugged the sight from her thoughts.

It wasn't like she hadn't known that was going to happen, anyway. Though it would be nice if Karma actually hung around long enough for her to actually catch glimpse of him.

She guessed he was still out-of-sorts for some reason.

However, it was on the fourth day, just as she was sweeping up the sanded floors now that the rooms were all painted that she was jostled out of her thoughts. The city was dark outside, some time in the morning before sunrise was all that she knew – She'd been too busy to pay attention to the time, though Samuel had been asleep in his ro om for a while.

She'd been gradually making her way backwards to the front door with every sweep of the broom, when she'd actually ended up backing into something.

That uncomfortable, blood-chilling sense of deja vu overcame her as she realized there was somebody standing there.

'What are you doing, Amay?' She heard Karma speak, his words measured and his tone that uncomfortable form of innocent he spoke in when he really wasn't happy with something.

The supply of complaints and issues she had been building up over the past few days vanished as she failed to completely stifle the gasp of fright that ripped from her throat. She sprung forward a couple paces, whirling around to face the redhead who'd snuck up on her.

An innocent smile was written across his face, bright enough to send chills tearing down her spine.

'Wh-when did you get here?' She forced herself to ask, inwardly a little fearful of what he was going to say.

She noticed he had a duffel bag with him, full by the looks of it, and his appearance otherwise showed he'd been awake for a while – He looked a little tired, though she couldn't really understand why that was.

'Just now.' He remarked simply, for the first time actually deeming to answer her question – Which wasn't a good thing. 'Now, mind explaining what you're doing up?

Her brow furrowed slightly at the question.

It felt like she was in a lot of trouble.

'Cleaning, what else?'

'At this hour?'

'Why does that-- Owww!' She'd let out a pained gasp as he dragged her into another pinching-grab. 'What the--'

'People are supposed to be asleep at three in the morning!' He seethed, pinching a lot harder than usual.

'S-speak for yourself!'

The pinching grip tightened enough for her to drop the broom.

'Oww! L-let go!' She squeaked out, trying her best to pry his hands from her face as best she could, though his grip only tightened. 'I said stop!'

'No, I don't think so.'

' That actually hurts, you jerk!'

'Then stop giving me reasons to torture you.' He remarked sharply, his irritation beginning to show rather noticeably. 'You'd be surprised at how much I actually don't like having to do this.'

She blinked through the watering of her eyes, fixing him with as disbelieving a look as she could manage right now.

He loved torturing people – Even though he sounded serious, she honestly didn't believe him.

After a few seconds, she received a rather heavy sigh as he released her face all of a sudden, though his mood didn't lessen in the sour edge in any form. The look he still fixed her with made his increasing annoyance clear with little confusion as he muttered a particularly bitter 'stupid cat' beneath his breath.

She rubbed the already reddening sides of her face gingerly as she leaned over to pick the broom up – Or at least, she tried to.

The moment it looked like she was making an immediate move to return to her prior task, Karma not only swore beneath his breath, but he grabbed her by the back of the shirt and proceeded to drag her towards the small hallway that lead to the front-most bedroom of the two on the ground floor.

'Sleep.' He ordered has he practically shoved her into the room, fixing her with a severe look as she tried to argue. 'Or I will be making sure to drown you in all those things you hate. And yes, I did bring them.'

At those seethed words, Amaya could no longer overlook the presence of that duffel bag – In fact, she half wondered if that was all that was really in there.

'Can't you let me finish sweeping, at least?'

'Would you like me to stuff you with Caramel?' He responded within a heartbeat.

There was venom in his words just now, enough to convince her that there was no use in even trying to reason with him.

So she did as she was told, more or less – He wasn't giving her an opportunity to do anything else.

He left her alone when it was clear she wasn't going to argue, closing the door and leaving her in the darkness of the room.

And yet, like every night since waking up in Karma's room that first night she and Samuel were staying there, no matter how much she may have tried, she couldn't bring herself to sleep. Every time she'd get close, to falling asleep, the thoughts and memories she'd been trying her best to ignore resurfaced, haunting her in the small moment of lucid consciousness.

She'd jerk awake, gasping for air as she found herself confronted with the memories of blood. She gravitated to the corner of the room, just like the one Karma found her in regularly since her return to Japan.

The only sleep she could manage was when she'd pass out at the table, far too exhausted for even her memories to have an effect on her.

And even though he was in a terrible mood whenever he checked on her to find her huddled in the corner, Karma didn't seem surprised, either.

In fact, with every repetition leading up to the 25th of August, he seemed less surprised every time.

The house was mostly finished by that morning, the only things needing maintenance being the exterior of the rather odd building. The moody teenager she called her best friend happened to spend most of his time within glaring distance of her, almost as if he was keeping a close eye on her.

At least, until it was time to leave for the Tokyo station, where Yuta and Reiko were supposed to be disembarking from their rather long trip.

As Amaya had finished telling Samuel to stay at the house, the redhead had vanished – almost as if completely into thin air.

She could tell he wasn't in the house, and he was nowhere within sight when she'd locked up.

So the only recourse she had was to just go and do the things she needed to – There was no point in trying to track him down if he'd decided to go and do something.

Amaya walked the long way, if only to avoid walking past the Asano household. The skies were beginning to colour from their usual blue to a warm, pale yellow, a sign that it was reaching late afternoon.

Their arrival was at 5.48pm, apparently, and she had an hour or so to get there – She made a mental note to pick up a replacement phone and number during the spare time she had waiting for the train to come in.

Amaya let out a sigh as she boarded the train from Kunugigaoka station, hoping that the twins wouldn't be affronted by the lack of furniture in the house. She made a mental note to take them to pick their items in the morning along with Samuel. And undoubtedly, like when it came to outfitting the apartment, Reiko would likely insist that she get to have her say about the colour of the couches.

Samuel was very vocal about what he wanted in terms of aesthetic appearances, too.

The boy with the mouse-print curtains would be heartbroken to know he might have missed out on an opportunity to try and sweet-talk Amaya into buying pink furniture.

The skies had darkened to the start of orange as Amaya arrived at Tokyo Station, though she paid them no mind as she scanned the many faces throughout the area. A sinking feeling had begun to set in on her as she found no sign of them at their designated stop.

In fact, even though it was crowded, she could see that there was no sign of them around at all.

She asked a few people here and there if they'd seen a pair of eleven year old twins fitting their description, and while most couldn't claim either which way if they had or hadn't, there was one security guard who had.

He remarked that the twins were carrying a lot of luggage, two suitcases almost just as big as them, and apparently they'd headed towards the west out of the station to try and make a phone call – Apparently, one of the other security guards had mentioned it.

Amaya's nerves bristled with discomfort at that remark, though she thanked him and took off in the direction he'd mentioned.

She recalled there was water a couple blocks away, and she had a feeling it was in that direction.

She dashed as quickly as she could, tossing her small purchase into her bag as she moved. Given the space of time it had been since she'd last seen her siblings, she didn't really like leaving them standing around in the middle of the city on their own for too long.

A sudden yelp of a high-toned voice rung through the air as Amaya reached what looked like T junction ending at the side of the canal, her gaze immediately shifting to what looked like a bridge about 50 meters away.

The sight she caught had her eyes widen in horror.

Leaping into the canal was none other than Reiko, with a startled Yuta making a desperate attempt at catching her arm.

Her heart felt like it had caught in her lungs, her breath had stopped completely as she found all she could do was tear across the road to the canal railing as Yuta threw himself in after Reiko.

What if they couldn't swim?!

What could she do to help them!?

She couldn't drag them out – Hell, she couldn't even swim, let alone even stop herself from crumbling to a broken mess of emotions as she stared at the two swimming through the canal.

What looked to be a mostly empty garbage bag was frantically snatched up by Reiko, with Yuta grabbing her by the back of the t-shirt as he proceeded to drag her towards the nearest bit of climbable land – Coincidentally, that just so happened to be a few meters down from where Amaya was standing. She kept the bag held high above her head, almost desperately for no reason Amaya could even hope to comprehend.

It was as Yuta had pulled them both to the edge of the canal that he'd actually noticed her.

His glasses were skewed on his nose, his eyes widening as he stared up at her in what looked almost like a mix between fright, alarm, and the same horror that she was feeling.

Except after a few seconds, a guilt-ridden look began to appear as he tore his gaze away from her in preference for pulling both himself and Reiko onto the rocky wall.

A small exchange of words were shared between the twins, before Yuta threw himself into as quick a climb as he could manage of the canal wall, and dashed back towards the bridge where their luggage was, though not without sparing another glance back at Amaya's motionless form.

Wordlessly, almost as if he knew what had happened.

However Reiko hadn't moved from the edge of the canal wall - She was silent at first, seeming intent on investigating that garbage bag she'd fished out of the canal.

Blissfully unaware of her surroundings, Amaya was certain.

She couldn't bring herself to speak – It was as if her voice had completely vanished on her.

But at least ... they were both okay...

'Reiko!' Yuta called out as he came running back with their belongings, his gaze now averted well away from Amaya even as he slowed to stop just a couple paces away from her.

At that second, Reiko turned her head, though horror was quick to appear at the sight of Amaya's motionless form.

'A-Amay?!' She gasped out, utterly shocked and bewildered.

However Yuta turned his head away all the more, that guilt still clearly written across his face.

Well ... it looked like she'd joined the pieces of Toji's rambling together in just the right way.

'You weren't waiting at the platform when I got there.' Amaya forced her voice to speak, her gaze shifting towards Reiko once again. 'So I came looking.'

'Y-yeah ... the train got here early...' Reiko responded, though she picked herself up as she clutched the contents of the bag to her sodden chest. 'Karma-san said he didn't know where you were.'

Amaya didn't say anything to that, though she helped the sodden girl back over the railing of the canal wall.

'Are they alright?' Yuta questioned her.

It was that moment that Amaya's gaze shifted down to what Reiko was holding desperately in her hands.

The tiniest whisps of colour showed past her small fingers, the colour sodden with just the same water that both the twins were.

Reiko nodded her head in answer as she turned her eyes upon Amaya.

'Amay ... I know you probably won't say yes ... but can we keep them?'

'Reiko, don't--' Yuta had begun, however Reiko shook her head defiantly as she quickly approached Amaya to fix her with what was undoubtedly, one of the best puppy-eyed looks she had ever managed.

Keep ... them?

It was here that Amaya had managed to drag herself out of her frozen state of mind enough to hear the strangest, high-pitched tones.

Almost like ... squeaking?

Oh god, those things in Reiko's arms were alive, weren't they?

'Please Amay! Please!?' Reiko practically begged, her arms clutching the two fragile creatures to her chest. 'I-I know you don't like animals, but we couldn't just leave them there!'

Animals? No, Amaya had no problem with them, in all honesty. She just wasn't a fan of cats and a lot of dogs.

Yuta remained silent at his twin's side, his gaze kept furtively away from Amaya's motionless form.

This, was a predicament.

Even at the apartment building, she could say yes without even having to think about it. The superintendent didn't have a ban on animals at all, and some of the other people on their floor had pet birds, a dog, and one even had six cats.

She just never told the twins this, otherwise they'd be begging her for a pet each every minute of every day.

Where they were now ... while it was a larger living space and everything, that didn't mean she could just automatically give the okay.

She had no control over it.

But... Shigure had never said anything about not taking in an animal or two.

She decided she could chance it, but she had to go about it in a way that implied that this was entirely on her own decision.

She could maintain some control over the situation, that way.

'Hand them over.' Amaya eventually spoke, her tone devoid of any emotion.

Mutely, Reiko did as she was told, though her expression began to fall more and more as she gazed up at Amaya's expressionless face. The girl was clearly certain that her sister was going to do nothing and say no – A sniffle escaped her as the waterworks began to start.

Though Amaya wasn't going to correct her just yet.

She didn't want the girl to start thinking she could use the waterworks and gain pardon for any tiny animal she'd bring home.

Within a month, they would have a zoo on their hands if Reiko got her way.

The balls of fur were trembling from the cold, far too young to be away from their mother – Amaya could tell without even having to know a lot about animals. She set one in the crook of her left elbow as she gently maneuvered the other to inspect its condition. Both were grey and black respectively.

It was then that she discovered that they were kittens, much to her exasperation.

Her least favorite animal.

Karma was going to mock her for weeks over this...

No malformed or broken bones, from as far as she could tell, though they were particularly slender. Somewhat starved, she guessed, and considering that they were in a garbage bag tossed into the canal, then they probably weren't strays. They were probably kittens a careless owner just wanted to get rid of.

Amaya had heard of people drowning cats in the river before, though she'd never seen it.

If she had, she probably would have thrown the bastards into the river to go fetch the bag, even with or without a broken arm she would give them in the process.

As Amaya looked back at the twins, she noticed that Reiko was already tearing up, distraught over the idea of the cute little animals being discarded.

Such an emotional girl she was.

'We're going.' Amaya spoke as she tucked the two balls of fur into the crook of her elbow, turning back towards the alley that lead the way back to the station as she grabbed the handles of their suitcases with her one free hand. 'Need to get some shopping before we head back, and you both need to take a bath or something.'

Sombrely, the twins followed along after her, Reiko still sniffling away.

Good, it seemed like they expected she was going to drop the kittens off at an animal shelter or something.

They walked, kittens tucked away safely as she glanced back every now and then to make sure the twins were following all the same. The shuddering balls of fur were starting to dry out just a little, thankfully the warm air would stop the children as well as the kittens from catching cold.

She glanced at their surroundings, wary of the possibility that Karma was going to turn up at any second.

He almost always did, after all.

Street after street they walked, passers by failing to ignore the sight of two eleven year olds soaked to the bone. Her ears felt like they were burning as the odd person here and there cast her scathing looks, incredibly accusing glances.

She kept her gaze ahead none the less.

'Amay... where are we going?' Reiko spoke softly in question, her footsteps quickening ever so slightly to close the distance between the two of them. 'Home is the other way, isn't it...?'

'We don't ... live there anymore...' Amaya responded honestly, a slightly hesitant edge to her words.

'Huh? What do you mean?!' Reiko exclaimed in fright.

'Reiko, don't ...' Yuta spoke hesitantly.

'But—'

'Leave it alone, alright...'

Amaya remained silent, maintaining her gaze ahead of them.

This was probably going to push her purchases beyond what she'd like on a normal day, and she had to treat what she had left carefully. In spite of his remark that she spend it on her own whims and wants outside of household day to day necessities, she didn't like the idea of spending it all so carelessly.

But, she felt like she wanted to do something nice for her three siblings, since they were all going to be living under the same roof for what might be the rest of their dependent lives.

Eventually, they reached the front of the veterinary center nearest the shopping stretch nearby Kunugigaoka Station, bringing Amaya to a halt as she used her free arm to pull out her purse from her pocket. The twins slowed to a halt next to her, both their gazes averted from Amaya herself – Reiko stared longingly at the two balls of fur, her eyes still filled with tears, while Yuta looked anywhere else but in Amaya's direction.

'Go pick whatever you both would like for dinner.' Amaya spoke as she managed to pull a sizable portion of her savings from her new purse, glancing down at Yuta's silent form for just a second. 'Enough for four, please.'

'Four...?' Reiko spoke slowly in confusion, looking up at Amaya. 'Is Karma-san eating with us today?'

Huh, well she hadn't heard anything like that since he took off all of a sudden.

But knowing him, he was probably already glaring at the new house again, so might as well cater to that.

Samuel would probably eat Karma's share if he didn't turn up, plus the various other items Amaya had managed to stock the fridge with as well.

'Actually, make that five.'

'F-five?!'

Even Yuta looked up at her in surprise at that.

'Just go and pick up what you want while I sort this out.' Amaya spoke without elaboration, handing the money to the stunned twins before nudging them towards the shopping street.

Reiko looked back constantly, though Yuta had reluctantly listened, grabbing his twin by the wrist and pulling her along.

Leaving Amaya to sort all this out before they got back.

So, that's what she did.

She ended up parting with quite a lot of money to buy the necessary items to keep the new creatures, as well as what she considered necessary items for their living later. Which was, citrus spray amongst other things.

She'd been so quick and thorough with what she had to do, that she had everything packed away in her own bag and she was already standing on the sidewalk before the twins had gotten back, kittens tucked safely out of the twin's immediate sight.

They were both just as silent and somber as they had been when they'd left, and Reiko kept her gaze glued on the pavement as she continued to sulk and cry.

Yuta however, seeming to have gotten at least a little over his silent mood was carrying a rather large bag of what seemed to give off the scent of ... garlic? Chinese, maybe? She didn't know for sure, but she did know it was something strong. He glanced at her arm she had tucked against her side, the two balls of fur hidden beneath the unbuttoned shirt she wore over her tank top.

The walk back to the house wasn't particularly long after that.

The sun had set just as they passed by the Asano residence, thankfully undetected as far as Amaya could tell.

The kittens were silent, though they were awake, she guessed – She could feel them pawing and wriggling against her side as she walked.

'I-is this ... where we are living now?' Reiko questioned meekly as Amaya kicked opened the ajar gate to the property, staring up at the huge pine tree with a look of disbelief written across her face.

'More or less.' Amaya responded without thought, though she hadn't had an opportunity to even try to open the door.

It swung open as she'd let go of the two suitcases to reveal a rather irritable looking Karma, who was quick to fix her with a frown.

She was rather surprised to find that she'd been right.

'Hi, Karma-san...' Reiko spoke up softly in greeting, earning Karma's attention almost immediately.

Though that was short-lived as an excited squeal escaped from the stairs.

'BIG SISTER MEOW'S BACK!' Samuel exclaimed as he hurled himself towards Amaya's motionless form, however, he'd slid to a halt as he noticed a stunned and rather bewildered looking Yuta and Reiko standing next to her.

'Wh-who is that?!' Reiko squeaked out in fright.

Amaya guessed she should have explained that beforehand, but she just hadn't thought about it – Too many things already occupied her mind.

Unlike how Samuel had paid little heed to Karma's presence upon first meeting him, Samuel hovered at the dining table, his eyes wide as he looked frantically between Reiko and Yuta, almost like he didn't even understand who the two were.

Though, Amaya decided to put it as bluntly as she could, because really, there was no way she could sugar-coat it without getting into a long-winded discussion about it.

And that wasn't what she wanted to have standing on the front doorstep like this.

'Samuel!' Amaya called out to the frozen boy over by the table, earning his immediate attention. 'Stop being rude and come say hi to your siblings.'

'S-Siblings?!' Yuta exclaimed, whirling around to gape at Amaya.

'That's what she said, isn't it?' Karma's exasperation was clear as he fixed a frown upon Yuta – He'd practically seethed his words at the spectacled boy.

Yuta turned his head away to stare down at the floor, earning Karma a surprisingly sharp glare from Amaya.

'H-Hello ...' Samuel meekly spoke from the dining table, drawing a gasp from Reiko.

She stared wordlessly at the boy for a few seconds, before she broke into a sprint inside.

Amaya watched as Reiko practically dragged the now shell-shocked blond into a hug as she let out an ecstatic squeal.

'YOU'RE SO CUTE! I LOVE YOU!' Reiko practically shrieked as she proceeded to drown Samuel in an endless torrent of squeals, near-suffocating hugs, and the unpleasant sensation of being dampened by water from the canal. 'YUTA COME AND SAY HELLO!!!'

'Do you have to shout like that?' Yuta mumbled beneath his breath, though he did as his youngest sister demanded and wandered inside to set the bags of takeaway on the table, leaving Amaya and Karma standing at the door.

The redhead was mostly silent, his gaze shifting downwards as he seemed to notice the rather peculiar way she was holding her arm against her side.

It didn't help that the faintest hints of squeaking escaped the two kittens hidden away, especially as a rather smug look appeared across Karma's face.

'I thought you hated cats?' Karma questioned, almost tauntingly.

'I do, and don't tell them they're here.' Amaya said as she dropped the two suitcases almost right on top of Karma's feet, fixing him with a frown as he snickered to himself.

She didn't bother trying to hush her voice – it would have been impossible for the twins to hear anyway with the way Reiko was carrying on right now.

'You know that's not going to last too long, Amay.' He remarked, deciding to humor her sour mood as he lifted the suitcases.

Undoubtedly, he'd already figured out the basic gist of what had happened – The twins still looked rather damp, after all.

With a small breath, Amaya wandered inside and shut the door, the tiniest hint of a pout written across her face as she disappeared towards the room that had basically become her own after all the times Karma had shoved her inside to make her sleep.

Well, it looked like everything was kind of sorting itself out.

She found herself feeling a little better about it.

It looked like everything was starting to get better, now.

---=[Authors Note]=---

Well, here we are, as mentioned the next chapter has been completed in far less time than the one beforehand :) And just as the last chapter, this one is a double-lengthed one. Hope y'all enjoyed, and found it enlightening.

As you have obviously noticed from the title of the submission, I've gone ahead and begun to change all the titles to reflect the Arcs better, as I brought up in the last Authors Note. Give me a few days to get them all changed over, if you wouldn't mind?

Anyways, thanks everyone for reading, and here are our notes:

Shin'en no Hate ni - This has been taken from the title of a song from the Final Fantasy X Soundtrack, which translates as Beyond the Darkness, written as 深淵の果てに in Japanese. I recommend giving it a listen to (Most definitely the Remastered version).

And also, here is a basic floor plan of the house, for you guys if you are confused (excuse the messy sketch and writing please)

All the best, guys~!

<3 Loki-Roki