Amaya's patience was well and truly spent.

She'd already known that before she'd arrived home to wait for her siblings to return from school, but it was proven clear shortly afterwards.

She had changed into a pair of shorts and a long-sleeved shirt, discarded her belongings into her room and settled down on her bed for a few minutes – time enough to retrieve that novel Yuta had got her her last week.

It was immediately after she'd opened it up to her current page that the door of the house practically slammed open with a resounding bang.

'BIG SISTER MEOW!' Samuel practically shouted across the room, sheer excitement dripping from his voice. 'WE'RE HOME! LETS GO! LETS GO NOW!'

'Wait-- Sammie!' Reiko's voice called out from outside. 'Why are we running?!'

'WE HAVE TO CATCH BIG SISTER MEOW BEFORE SHE RUNS AWAY! I WANT TO SEE THE BIRDIES!'

Amaya carefully tucked the torn piece of notebook paper back into place to mark her page, before she let it drop onto the covers of her bed.

She was fine with excited, enthusiastic children.

After all, children were supposed to be happy.

But this was excessive, and it happened all the time.

If she didn't sort this out today, she was likely to explode at the blond the next time he opened his mouth about something like this.

And she did not want that, at all.

'BIG SISTER MEOW!' Samuel called at her door as he opened the door with far more force than she was pleased with, bringing Amaya to turn her head to look at him. 'WE'RE HOME NOW SO LETS GO!'

Instead of responding to his exclamation, Amaya's gaze instead shifted straight to the boy's feet.

'What are you doing wearing shoes inside?' Amaya asked slowly,

'We're going anyway!' Samuel responded innocently.

'Go take off your shoes at the door!'

'B-but--'

'Samuel!' Came Yuta's voice all of a sudden, before the blond was grabbed by the elbow and dragged away quickly. 'Take off your shoes! I keep telling you shoes aren't allowed on inside the house!'

'But that's not fair! We're going to see the birdies soon and I don't want to take them off if we're going soon!'

'We're not going right now! So calm down and take your shoes off!'

'WHAT?!'

As the disagreeing voices of her brothers died down slightly, Amaya buried her face in her hands and let out a low sigh.

Yes, this was going to be sorted out.

And she had a feeling none of her siblings were going to be happy with the assignment of "Rules and Chores" beyond taking shoes off at the door.

Amaya let out a breath as she picked herself up off her bed after a few moments, stashing the novel into her messenger bag before she headed back into the rest of the house.

There was no sign of her siblings anywhere in the living area of the house, however, she could hear footsteps upstairs, and Yuta's familiar nagging.

Even though Amaya knew how bad Yuta could get with his nagging at times, she found it more of a relief to hear it now.

It meant he was starting to get comfortable after his forced relocation earlier in the year.

But since Yuta could keep nagging for hours if he was agitated enough, Amaya decided it would be best to intervene now while she had an opportunity.

'I want the three of you to get dressed in casual clothes before we go!' Amaya called up towards the ceiling, her moment's pause allowing her to hear that Yuta had suddenly gone silent. 'You've got ten minutes to get down here organized. Any longer, and we will not be going!'

'Okay!' Reiko called loudly, combined with Samuel's excited squeal.

Though, in spite of every wish that Amaya had for them to take longer to validate her excuse to cancel, Reiko and Samuel were very prompt - Within a minute, they'd come running down the stairs pulling Yuta along by the wrists.

'Damnit...' Amaya muttered as the energetic duo beamed up at her.

'We're ready! Let's go, Amay!' Reiko practically sung, drawing a small frown across Yuta's face as he tugged his wrists free.

Well, there was no use in standing on ceremony.

So Amaya turned and lead the way out of the house, with both Reiko and Samuel skipping out ahead of her.

With every passing minute, Samuel's excitement only seemed to grow, to the point that by the time they'd disembarked off the train at their stop, he was legitimately skipping and singing a repetitive tune over and over again in the sunset-hued streets.

'Birdies! Birdies! We're going to see the birdies!' Samuel sung as he hopped and wove through the people in the city, much to Amaya's chagrin. Reiko kept equal pace with him, beaming almost as much as the blond was, while Yuta hung back several paces in line with Amaya.

In fact, on the twentieth repetition of Samuel's song this very street, the bespectacled boy turned his head to cast a glance up at Amaya's silent form.

'Karma-san lied when he told Samuel you gave in, didn't he?' He eventually asked, with a particularly sour expression across his face.

'Oh trust me, if he didn't meddle and plant this idea in Samuel's head, we wouldn't even be here right now.' Amaya muttered bitterly.

She did not care one iota for what the reason was behind Karma causing this, but she was going to make it clear to him that she wasn't happy.

That was if he wasn't already aware of it.

Realistically, Amaya should be wondering about how their little plan on ambushing the true culprit of the underwear theft was going, but right now she honestly didn't give a damn.

They would be fine, and her presence there made no difference to the success of whatever plan they cooked up.

All of their plans worked fine without her anyway.

It wasn't like she was ever a factor in their plans to begin with.

'Oh! THERE'S BIRDS HERE!' Samuel suddenly squealed, snapping Amaya's scowling gaze from the sea of people around them, to the boy sprinting to the window of a blue-signed store. 'BIG SISTER MEOW! BIG BROTHER GLASSES! HURRY UP!'

Amaya glared at the exclamation, with her gaze shifting to the store as there was a sudden cry of bird-like noises from inside.

'Samuel, come here.'

'BUT THE BIRDS ARE HERE!' Samuel exclaimed defiantly.

However, after noticing the look across Amaya's face, Reiko adopted a hesitant expression and grabbed Samuel by the arm.

'Come on, Sammie, Amay's not playing around.' She said as she tugged Samuel along, who struggled and wriggled in an attempt at getting himself free.

'THE BIRDIES--'

'If you do not listen, Samuel, I will take you straight home.' Amaya cut in, silencing the boy immediately.

It was here, at the dangerous tone to Amaya's voice that he pouted and tears began to well up, though he reluctantly did as he was told – He came to a stop just in front of Amaya, with Reiko looking more and more uncomfortable with Amaya's dangerous mood.

'I have three rules for while we are inside, and if anyone breaks them even once, this whole bird-afternoon is canceled.' Amaya began seriously as she crossed her arms, her gaze fixed upon Samuel in particular. 'One, you will not raise your voices above the volume that I am speaking in right now. Two, there will be no sudden movements, and you will not be leaving your seats unless you need the bathroom, or we are finished with our time inside. And three, there will be no tantrums or demands made of anyone. Do you all understand?'

'You're not being fair, Big Sister Meow...' Samuel grumbled.

'I'm not being fair because you do not scream and carry on around animals.' Amaya seethed, earning a rather tearful grimace from Samuel in response. 'They do not like loud noises and sudden movements -They will panic and injure themselves. So at the first sign that anyone is going to scare them, I will drag the lot of you out of there and take you straight home.'

'But Big Sister Meow ... I thought you liked birds...'

'She does.' Reiko responded quietly.

'Then why--'

'Do we understand each other?' Amaya cut the sulking boy off, her gaze darkening further. 'If you do not like the rules, then we can go straight home right now.'

There was no answer from Samuel, though Reiko and Yuta both gave quick nods.

'Samuel, I want an answer.'

However, all Samuel did was turn his head away defiantly.

'Sammie, Amay's not playing around--'

'Okay...' Samuel muttered petulantly.

Amaya wasn't unaware of the building tantrum lying beneath the surface, though she paid it no mind right at this second as she then stepped around the sulking boy to head towards the door of the bird cafe.

The interior of the store was painted in pastel colours – an earthen cream with natural wood furnishings. And among that, the highlight colours happened to be teal and green, which appeared to be the employee uniform, Amaya saw as she located a woman in her early twenties standing at the front counter, wearing a name-tag reading "Setsuna".

'Good afternoon, and welcome,' The cashier presumably called Setsuna greeted kindly, though her expression faltered slightly as she noticed the sulking Samuel in tow. 'How can I help you today?'

'Snacks with Para--' Samuel had begun to exclaim in response, however he quickly silenced himself at the warning glare Amaya shot at him as startled cries escaped what appeared to be two cockatoos over a few meters behind the cashier. 'Oops...'

However, the woman let out a small chuckle as she pulled out a couple of pieces of laminated paper from beneath the counter top.

'I guess that's the parrot room, miss?' She offered as she set the pieces of laminated paper onto the counter top so that Amaya could see properly. 'We also have Owls, along with our cockatoos, caiques and conures. Standard time is an hour sessions, with a surcharge applied for each fifteen minute interval afterwards.'

Amaya frowned slightly as she looked down at the display pages shown over the front counter.

It looked like they had two main rooms – A basement for owls, and the other for louder birds matching Samuel's current fancy.

'We will only be here for an hour, at most.' Amaya eventually responded as she looked up from the laminated papers, earning a disheartened groan from Samuel. 'The parrots will be fine... They won't get as upset about noise as the owls, right?'

And they would be kinder on Amaya's sensitive nose than owls.

'It's advised that all patrons all keep their voices quiet so as to not startle our birds. All sudden movements are ill-advised as well.' Setsuna responded kindly, though she did fix Amaya with a sympathetic smile.

'See? Amay already said that.' Reiko whispered to a sulking Samuel.

'Very well, if you'll come with me, I will get each of you a poncho to wear for the duration of your stay.' The woman stepped out from behind her counter, and began to lead the four in to the next room.

After a short few minutes of explanations, poncho's being donned and hands being sanitized, they were lead into a room just as big as the ground floor of Amaya's own house, filled with various tables and chairs surrounding indoor trees, wooden logs and various bird-related trees.

And inside this room were a vast array of many colourful birds, ranging from bright golds, to deep reds and dusty greens, all free-moving within the room.

It was here that Samuel, who had been on the verge of letting out an excited shriek, had been yanked back by Yuta while Reiko slapped her hands over the blond's mouth to silence him.

Thankfully the birds hadn't scattered or let out displeased squawks at the sudden movement from the twins, though the two did appear to get the message, as they hung their heads slightly at Amaya's obvious frown.

This was going to be a very long hour.

'Come on, sit your asses down, already.' Amaya instructed as she wandered over to the closest table, her feet dragging along the floor to make sure she didn't accidentally step on any birds that just so happened to walk in front of her at the wrong moment. 'I'm not paying for the extended session just because you're standing there for too long.'

There was no verbal response beyond a muffled hum of agreement from Samuel, though the trio did make their way along after Amaya, who had taken up her seat already.

It was almost as soon as the three had sat down that the faint ruffling of feathers echoed overhead as a low-flying orange bird swept past Reiko's head, earning an awed gasp from a beaming Samuel.

'Don't think this is just going to be a fun afternoon.' Amaya spoke up as she pulled out her copy of The Count of Monte Cristo from her bag beneath her nylon poncho. 'We're going to be having a serious talk while we're here. So you'd all better pay attention.'

'What? B-but we're here to play with the birds!' Samuel whimpered.

The stern look Amaya fixed him with did nothing more than make him pout again.

Somewhere else to have a serious discussion would be better, but this was probably the only time she would have to sort this out seriously, without Karma here to derail her at every turn.

In a stupid way, Karma's sudden decision to go elsewhere this afternoon was more beneficial for her right now.

'Is this about allowances...?' Yuta brought up after a couple of seconds, a hesitant edge to his tone as he looked up at Amaya.

'That's part of it.' Amaya agreed, drawing a groan from Reiko as she hung her head slightly. 'There are going to be changes made, and new rules you will all have to follow, no matter what. I will be enforcing all rules, so don't think I won't be watching you all like a hawk from now on.'

In spite of what Amaya had expected, Yuta didn't appear the least bit upset or even surprised by this, though Reiko and Samuel looked a little crestfallen.

Though that was short lived, making way for surprise as a green and white parrot swooped down to land atop Samuel's head.

'IT'S A BIRD!' Samuel squeaked out in glee, frightening the parrot away with a sudden flurry of feathers and a startled cry. 'Wh-what? But--'

'You were warned not to scare the birds.' Amaya seethed, earning a frightened squeak from the blond as he turned his head to look back at her. 'Do that once more, and I will drag you out of here, and I won't ever bring you back.'

'B-but I was just--'

'Just sit there and talk normally, and they will come over. You do not scream at them just because you're excited.'

Once again, tears began to well up as he was told off yet again, though this time he reluctantly nodded his head.

'Good.' Amaya set her book down on the table as she dragged her gaze away from the sulking blond in front of her. 'Ignoring last week's trouble in the supermarket, I am making permanent changes to allowance. You will now have to do housework to my standards to earn it, and theoretically, if you play your cards right, you two can get your allowances back earlier.'

Reiko lifted her head at that, thoroughly intrigued, yet all Yuta did was let out a small sigh as he glanced at the sulking Samuel.

'How does that work?' Reiko couldn't help but ask.

'Every day, you will have a compulsory chore each to complete. It will be something that I already have to do as regularly as that, so you will inadvertently be taking some of that work off of my shoulders.' Amaya explained as she crossed her arms and leaned back in the seat. 'I could cope with the apartment and looking after the two of you, but with this new house and Samuel now living with us, I can't handle everything on my own, along with the chaos you and Samuel inflict upon me every day.'

'Chaos? We don't--'

'The kitchen is littered with food left out every day by the time I come home, and I have to throw out all the things gone bad daily. I also do food shopping every second day because of this, and I really shouldn't. Clothes, sweets wrappers and papers are left lying around everywhere, the toys for the kittens are strewn throughout the house, and someone keeps trekking filthy shoes over the floors I sweep and mop nearly every day.' Amaya listed off, the severity of her tone increasing with every word. 'And that's not to mention the sheer volume of laundry I now have to do because of mischief you seem to get up to while I'm away. Do you want me to continue?'

'N-no ... that's okay.' Reiko responded meekly, hanging her head slightly as she avoided Amaya's gaze. 'I get the point...'

And yet all through this, Yuta just sat there quietly, not looking upset or bothered by any of this.

He just watched as a small pink and orange bird hopped its way across the floor towards them.

'Things need to change right now.' Amaya continued seriously, tapping her nails over the cover of her book lightly. 'Before summer break, ignoring Yuta's actions that lead to Shigure making changes, everything went comfortably, and I never had to tell you both what I expected done, or that changes were to be made. The new house would never have caused this kind of derailing from routine, and for the most part, Yuta hasn't strayed from that. The only true change that's come of this is Samuel's presence here.'

'It's not my fault...' Samuel whimpered as the waterworks began to rise.

And yet, all Amaya did was fix him with a stern look.

'Don't try the tantrums with me anymore. I humored you because first, I couldn't be bothered dealing with them at the time, and second, you just got out of the facilities, and I didn't want to hinder your recovery time.' Amaya explained seriously. 'But it's been two months. You have to start to grow up and accept the fact that you are living under a different house with different rules to the one you used to live in, and that I am the one who makes these rules. And if you refuse, then I'm sorry, but I'll have to ask Shigure-ojisan to figure out where you will be living from now on, because I can't keep coddling you. If he puts you back in England, or he just puts you in some other household in Tokyo, that's for him to decide. By that point, I will be beyond caring anymore.'

The horror and disbelief that shot across Reiko and Samuel's faces respectively were ignored by Amaya for the most part as she cast a glance at Yuta.

All she saw was a small wince across the bespectacled boy's face, though nothing more.

He didn't appear to be surprised or necessarily upset by the declaration – Just knowing after his spiel living with Shigure just before summer break.

'So, what chores will we all have to do every day?' Yuta eventually asked, as Samuel and Reiko sat there looking more and more upset and chastened with every passing second. 'Bringing your uncle into this is a last resort thing, it doesn't matter so long as things change, right?'

That's right.

But that last resort wasn't going to be very far away if things didn't change soon.

'The designated chore for the most part will be up to you, but it cannot be changed or white-washed at any point after today. Neglect your chore, you forfeit your allowance for that week. If you do more than your one daily chore, you will acquire more allowance on Sunday, and in the case for Reiko and Samuel, that also means you work off that debt owing to Shigure-ojisan faster by doing more chores.' Amaya explained before fixing her gaze back upon Yuta. 'The stipulations I have for who gets what chore is simple. Neither Reiko and Samuel will be touching the cooking, and you, Yuta, will not be in charge of dusting. Anything beyond that, is a choice left to you. I have seen the amount of dust over your books back at the apartment.'

'But why can't I choose cooking?!' Reiko practically cried out.

'Because I don't trust you to not pour half a packet of sugar into the meals, or to put three boxes of strawberry pocky into the oden again.' Amaya responded seriously,

'But you trust Yuta to cook if he wants to?!'

'I trust Yuta enough to let him choose to cook because he doesn't have an insatiable sweet tooth unlike the two of you, nor is he excessively picky with his food.' Amaya responded with increasing severity. 'I do not intend to live the rest of my life caring for the three of you eating nothing but the equivalent of candied potatoes every meal.'

A pout appeared across Reiko's face, though she didn't argue further.

'That also reminds me, along with the designated chore, I will be stamping out the picky eating habits in this house, and I will be forcing modesty back into your attitudes. You will eat what is served up on your plates, and if you try to pick out everything you don't want to eat, I will take measures to ensure you have a hard time doing that.' Amaya listed off again, earning a sheepish look from Yuta. 'But right now is the chores, you will each choose one major chore to do every day, and this will begin as of tomorrow.'

A chastened silence overcame the three sitting before her, appearing distracted from the birds enough to have failed to notice their approaching presence.

In fact, Samuel didn't appear to notice as two red and green parakeets clambered their way up the side of the table to investigate the boy's hands.

'Laundry.' Yuta spoke up after a moment, surprising Amaya with little effort. 'I'll do the laundry.'

'Are you sure? That's one of the--'

'It's one of the chores that takes you hours to do all the time. I know.' Yuta responded seriously. 'I'll do the laundry. But I'll go about it a different way, as well.'

Amaya thought about that for a few seconds, before she gave a small shrug.

'Sure, I guess if you're that determined to do it just as long as I show you how the machine works.' She responded before fixing her gaze back upon Reiko and Samuel. 'The two of you have until we leave here to decide what you will do. If you can't, then I will decide for you.'

Horribly chastened, but otherwise with no will to argue against an already high-strung Amaya, Reiko and Samuel both nodded meekly.

It was here, as one of the red and green parakeets nipped Samuel's fingers, that the three finally noticed the birds now scattered over the table in front of them.

Samuel's mouth opened as he instinctively went to let out an excited squeal, however at the glare he saw across Amaya's face, he quickly clamped his mouth shut.

It looked like the severity of Amaya's mood had sunk in on the blond, at long last.

The coloured birds in varying shades and hues began to clamber all over her siblings, the odd one or two perching atop of Samuel's head, and the seed distributed over the tables were hand-fed to the more hand-interested birds on the tables.

And all the while, as minutes turned into close to half an hour, not a single one came within one foot of Amaya.

Just as she had already expected.

'Why are the birds not playing with Big Sister Meow?' Samuel had eventually asked, curious as he looked don at the two birds climbing down his arms towards the seed sitting in his hands.

'Birds just don't like Amay, even though she really likes them.' Reiko responded with a wry smile.

'Oh. I forgot, birds don't like cats.' Samuel then looked up at Amaya for a second. 'You're not allowed to eat them!'

Amaya did her best not to react to that, though she couldn't stop the frown from spreading across her face.

That didn't stop Reiko from giggling, however.

'That also reminds me,' Amaya began as she watched what she guessed to be a pink and gold "conure" waddle across the table to peck at Yuta's fingers. 'You're to drop the nicknames in their entirety, Samuel.'

'What?!' Samuel squeaked out, affronted.

Though thankfully his volume was quiet enough that the birds only looked up at him in surprise.

'Yuta, do you enjoy being referred to as "Big Brother Glasses"?' Amaya asked.

'Not in the least.' Yuta responded immediately. 'The sooner it goes, the better.'

'And Reiko?'

'Well ... I like Big Sister, but not "Big Sister Plushy".' Reiko hedged, casting an apologetic smile at a rather tearful Samuel. 'I like plush toys, but calling me one makes me feel like you're calling me fat.'

That sounded more than fair, in Amaya's opinion.

'And I can guess that Karma just ignores being called "Mister Bell Pepper", though he would probably rather being called by his actual name.' Amaya responded.

In truth, she had glimpsed the odd twitch or two in the redhead's expression whenever Samuel would call him that weird nickname.

'But ... but I like everyone's nicknames...'

'But everyone else hates them.' Yuta rebuked.

'This isn't going to turn into an argument or disagreement.' Amaya interjected, earning Yuta's immediate attention. 'The nicknames will stop, that is all I am going to say.'

'How, though?'

Regardless, Amaya shrugged as she looked back down at her book.

'We'll find out when it happens.' She dismissed as she buried herself into her book.

Even though it had been a week since Yuta had discretely left it in her room for her, and she had barely gotten four chapters in.

It was something she missed being able to do in the apartment – Everything was so chaotic now that she had next to no opportunity to read anything anymore.

'Awww.... Big Sister Meow, can we have a bird?' Samuel asked as the minutes ticked closer and closer to that hour time limit, earning him a scowl from the girl in mention.

'No.' Amaya responded as she looked back down at her book.

'B-but you like birds, and--'

'Samuel, don't!' Yuta was quick to cut the blond off, drawing a startled look in return.

'But they're so much fun! And the sign over there says we can buy them!'

'We haven't even had the two kittens for a month, yet!'

'Hey, Yuta, you're getting a bit mad about this ...' Reiko hedged, as the birds all began to pile onto her shoulders.

'We can't keep bringing animals home! Amaya told me that when she gave us the kittens!'

'What?'

'Indeed I did.' Amaya decided to cut in, earning the owlish attention of both Reiko and Samuel. 'I specifically said that no other animals were to be brought home, and that if the argument was pushed I will rehome those two kittens, as it will be very clear that you obviously don't appreciate having them as pets enough as it is. The kittens are the only pets I have allowed you to have, and will allow you to have. So there won't be any further chances.'

The shock at her declaration was obvious by the grim silence that had overcome Reiko, and Samuel's rather shocked expression said it all.

'S-so we can't have cute birds either...?' Samuel whimpered.

'S-Sammie, we've never had pets before...' Reiko hedged as she placed her attention back on the blond on the verge of waterworks for what was likely the tenth time that afternoon. 'I don't really want to make Amay mad enough to give them to someone else... I mean, Amay hates cats, but she's given us two.'

'B-but the pretty birds...'

Amaya decided to leave it at that.

There was no point pushing the matter further when Reiko was now fully aware of the possibility of the kittens being given away.

Amaya looked down at the display of her phone for a second, a small edge of relief showing across her face as she found that their hour here was up.

Not a minute too soon, if Amaya had anything to say about it.

'Come on, time to go.' Amaya announced as she put her book away, earning a horrified look from Samuel once again. 'Our hour's up.'

'BUT WE HAVE BIRDS ON US!' Samuel exclaimed.

And, as Amaya had expected, all the various birds that had made the blond into their perch let out startled cries and leaped into the air to flee.

'Not anymore, you don't.' Yuta remarked with a small sigh as he gently lowered his arms to persuade his few birds to leave.

'How many times do I have to tell you not to scream like that?!' Amaya hissed at the startled blond.

'B-but I didn't...'

'We're going home, without buying dinner.' Amaya snapped as she picked herself up out of her seat. 'You were warned again and aga--'

The sudden impact of something much like a scratchy ball slammed into the side of Amaya's head, cutting the girl off with a gasp as she froze in her tracks. She barely had enough reaction time to even look down, let alone manage to catch what had slammed into the side of her head.

On the floor was one of those brightly coloured conures, with pineapple yellow feathers speckled with peach and pink, appearing a lot more than just jostled as it tried to right itself on its tiny feet. Its feathers were splayed and it had one wing practically flapping limply.

'A BIRD CRASH--' Samuel had begun, however Yuta was very quick to slap a discrete hand over the boy's mouth to silence him.

'Yes, we can all see that.' Yuta sighed as he looked down at the bird currently sprawled at Amaya's feet. 'Is it alive...? You've got a hard head, Amaya...'

The glare Amaya shot towards the bespectacled boy went unnoticed as one of the cafe staff in a custom poncho came over at a fast walk, a thirty-something old, stout man with dark hair.

'I am so sorry, the bird didn't scratch you when he crashed into you, did he?' The man asked as he crouched down to check on the bird.

'No, I don't believe so.' Amaya responded as she looked back down at the dazed bird. 'Is it alright? It looks a lot more, well ... ragged than I'm used to seeing birds.'

'For this bird, he's just--' The man had begun, however, the moment he reached out a hand to gently pick the bird up, it suddenly sprung to movement.

Limbs flailed with a sudden rush of movement, and the bird was back on its feet, letting out a vicious mix of screeching and hissing as it tried to bite the cafe-worker. Its feathers however, in spite of the fluffing up that was happening, were still painfully skewed and ruffled, giving it a rather deranged look.

'He's just fine.' The worker responded with a weary sigh as he retracted his hand and leaned back to watch the bird. 'Fell out of his nest a few times as a hatchling, so he's unfortunately a little brain-damaged. He doesn't like anyone, bird, customer or staff. He just attacks everyone.'

And yet, here the bird was beginning to run laps around Amaya's ankles now that the staff member had gotten out of its personal bubble.

The only bird in the world that didn't try to flee from Amaya out of some stupid fear was running laps around her, and it was apparently "brain damaged" from falling out of the nest.

It was a blessing that Karma was definitely not here right now.

'Wait, Miss, you wouldn't happen to have birds at home, would you?' The cafe worker asked as the bird's behavior tugged at his curiosity.

'No, birds really do hate Amay.' Reiko giggled from next to Yuta and Samuel.

'Dislike would have been kinder.' Amaya shot back at Reiko, who merely giggled again.

'But I'm surprised...' He responded as he looked back up at Amaya from the brain-scrambled bird. 'He actually seems to like you... Would you be interested in adopti--'

'Sorry, no.' Amaya cut him off quickly, lifting her hands in a show of defense. 'I've just finished telling my siblings that our house will not be turning into a zoo, be it stray or purchased pets.'

And besides, Amaya was fairly sure these birds were way out of her price range, even if she wanted to buy one.

'But, I'm not sure when a person this bird doesn't automatically hate will come into the cafe, and you'll be doing us a huge favor by adopting him. We'll even give--'

'I'm sorry, but I've already said no.' Amaya reaffirmed, lowering her hands as she cast a glance back down at the bird now sitting on the floor right between her feet. 'I wish you luck in finding a home for him.'

Looking thoroughly disappointed, the cafe worker merely said 'Thank you.' as Amaya carefully managed to step out of the way to head towards the door.

The sudden flapping of wings and a chaos of screeching hisses echoed a few seconds later, before Amaya left the parrot-room with Reiko and Yuta tugging a dejected Samuel along behind her.

After poncho's were returned, Amaya paid the total fee at the counter, ignoring the sulking Samuel as he mumbled about how they nearly had a pet bird, too.

She was so tired of all the havoc today, as soon as they got home, she was going to go hide up in the attic and not come down.

No school tomorrow, or even the day after.

Skipping until she wasn't so annoyed at everything felt like the right thing to do.

'So, if we're not getting dinner on the way home, then what are we having, Amay?' Reiko questioned as she tugged Samuel along, while Yuta walked on Amaya's other side.

'Don't know.' Amaya responded honestly.

'But we've got to eat dinner. I mean, you skip when you're in a bad mod, so Karma-san usually tortures you, but--'

'Reiko, that's enough.' Yuta spoke up with a rather exasperated sigh. 'We can make sandwiches or something. It doesn't matter.'

More than exasperated, Amaya guessed.

In fact, he sounded almost as fed up with the day as she was.

However, it was as they got half-way to the station that Amaya picked up on something that felt horribly wrong to her.

She caught a whiff of what she immediately recognized to be sulphur, a telltale sign of Koro-sensei's presence, and yet there was something off about it that it screamed all kinds of trouble to her.

There was a heavy feel to the air that reminded her horribly of the events recently passed that she tried her hardest to push to the back of her mind.

And it had her freeze dead in her tracks.

'Go back to the bird-cafe.' Amaya commanded, earning startled looks from both Reiko and Yuta. 'Ask them to call the police to take you home.'

'Wait-- what's wrong Ama--'

'NOW!' Amaya snapped, just as the sudden shift of movement on the other side of the street caught her gaze.

The smallest glimpse of black tentacles, a human form and red-tainted, yellow eyes was all Amaya caught before destruction ensued.

The store a mere few meters ahead of them exploded almost as soon as the windows had smashed inwards, sending bricks, mortar and glass shooting out into the street in all directions.

Amaya had barely managed to throw herself in the way to shield her siblings from the bulk of raining debris as a dark shadow shot out of what used to be a cellular telephone store, disappearing into the dark city streets.

'A-Amaya, what just happened?' Yuta gasped out as he peeked out from behind Amaya's motionless form.

She couldn't say it.

Not only did she not know what really was going on, she couldn't even say what she did know.

She knew almost out of instinct who that was she had seen, and that alone was more terrifying than the fact that the store had just practically exploded.

It struck fear into her, strong enough to bring trembling to her hands as she tried to maintain her composure.

'I-I told you to go back...' Amaya spoke, her tone rather brittle against the reeling night air as sirens began to sound in the area.

'But Big Sister Meow--'

'I SAID GO!" Amaya shouted as she pushed Yuta back towards the bird cafe several blocks away. 'LOCK YOURSELVES IN THE HOUSE AND DON'T OPEN THE DOOR FOR ANYONE!'

'Amaya, what's going--' Yuta had begun, however he was quickly cut off.

Without a word, Reiko had snatched up both Samuel and Yuta's wrists and begun to pull them at a run back down the street.

Leaving Amaya standing there on the street as police sirens and fire trucks grew louder in their approach.

This wasn't good, in any sense of the word.

Amaya uttered a sizable string of curses as she shook herself out of her paralyzed state in the street and took off in the direction that shadow had taken, praying more than anything that it was only paranoia.

The only human with tentacles that Amaya even knew of was Itona.

She had seen his tentacles turn pitch black when consumed with fury and outrage.

If he was here, then that meant Shiro was, too.

She should be running in completely the opposite direction, praying that Itona hadn't noticed her. Praying that Shiro wasn't in contact with Toji anymore, and that nothing would come of this.

She should, but here she was trying to track down a rampaging tentacle-host.

And it was far too late for her to wonder if there was something horribly wrong with her state of rational thought.

Buildings one by one blew up in the distances, their prior contents indistinguishable to Amaya by the time she got close enough to glimpse it. She didn't know if she was even closing in on the rampaging boy, only that she certainly wasn't losing ground on him, at least.

The air was rocked with the sounds of fire trucks and police sirens, and before long there were news crews circling the area for their reports.

And as Amaya slowed for a second to take in her surroundings, she found herself realizing that she may have lost her grasp of where Itona had gone to.

There was too great a gap between the last explosion and now – It was as if Itona had either calmed down, or stopped.

She couldn't detect sulphur anymore, from all the smoke that now polluted the air.

Which way could he have gone?!

And where the heck was Koro-sensei?!

There was no way this couldn't have anything to do with their octopus teacher – Even Shiro and Itona's presence in Berlin was entirely to do with their knowledge that Koro-sensei would come to save her from Toji.

Struggling to make heads or tails of what she should be doing, Amaya threw herself into a dash towards the closest tree, using it's height as a ladder to the top of the building next to it.

With the extra height, Amaya could see three smoke-stacks still billowing in the area, with a further two died down with the intervention of the fire brigade in town.

There were no others, as far as she could tell.

Everything was so chocked full of smoke that she couldn't make heads or tails of anything.

At least, that was until she heard a sudden crash from three blocks over towards her right.

White gas rose into the air with great force from what looked like an empty building, with one open-tray truck speeding off down the street.

Amaya caught no glimpse of any friendly form, nor any sign of a rampaging Itona.

All she saw was the glimpse of several forms clad in white armed with guns, and a bound form tangled in what looked to be a fishing net being road-hauled behind.

---=[Authors Notes]=---

Here's the next chapter, lol. Hope you all enjoyed Amaya's imminent agitation.

Translation notes are as follows:

Arekuruu - Translates roughly as rage in this instance, which if I'm not mistaken, would be written as 荒れ狂う in Japanese.

All the best~!

<3 Loki-Roki