●・○・●・○・●
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR,
distance

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༇ SAKIKO is fuming as she slams the door to Kuina, Ann, and Aguni's door open. "You left Papa to die!" She yells, tears streaming down her face. "And now he's sad, and—"

"LC!" Shirabi follows her inside. He kneels down yet again. "I already told you about the situation."

"Don't say he deserved it," the girl snarls. "Kaede knocked him out and then nobody helped him! Hana ran off with Kaede. You all ran off!"

Ann sets down the damp cloth she'd been holding against Baya's forehead. Kuina also crouches down. "Listen. We didn't leave him to die. We weren't ignoring him. We just—" she glances at Ann, searching for backup.

"Your mama collapsed, Sakiko. Not long after Daishin wheeled her away, she started throwing up. Couldn't even sit upright. We thought she might not make it."

Sakiko's hiccups turn into silence. She stares at Ann. "Mama...?"

"She couldn't even breathe properly. We had to keep her alive. We were too busy taking care of her."

"No! You could've done both! You could've saved Mama and helped Papa. You just didn't want to help him!"

"He wasn't dying in that moment. He was hurt, yes. But your mother was choking on her own vomit. She couldn't even call for help. We had to choose."

Kuina wiped the girl's wet cheeks with her thumb. "She's burning up with fever now. She's in pain we can't soothe. We didn't abandon your papa. We just couldn't let your mama die right in front of us. Then everything your father did would be for nothing."

"But Papa was sad," she whispers. "I saw his face after. He was so sad. And lonely. You don't know how lonely he looked."

"LC, your papa always looks lonely. Even when he's not."

Kuina ignores that. "We failed both of them in different ways. Your father was left bleeding, and your mother is still suffering. But we're trying. Do you understand? We're not giving up on either of them."

Sakiko looks down at the floor, then peeks at the bed. "Mama's really that sick?"

Kuina strokes her hair. "Yes. She's very sick. But she's alive because of us watching her. That's the only reason we didn't go after your papa right away. We couldn't do both."

"Why is she sick?" The girl then asks. "Is the new heart bad?"

"It's just how her body is reacting to all the medication she got. And her body has to adjust to the new heart. She'll be okay."

Slowly, Sakiko nods. "Then I'm sorry, I guess." She shrugs.

"You don't have to apologize. You were just worried about him."

Sakiko frowns. "I just... it feels like nobody ever picks him. Papa always has to stand alone. Even when he saves people, nobody says thank you. They just yell at him more."

"He makes choices that hurt people. That doesn't erase the things he's done right, but it means people don't trust him easy."

Sakiko lifts her chin stubbornly. "I'll trust him enough for everyone. If people can't see the good things, then they don't deserve him." She shuffles closer to the bed, peering at her mother's pale. "She looks really bad."

"Her body is working very hard. But don't worry. She's strong. She'll be okay."

"Even stronger than Papa?"

"They're strong in different ways. Your mama helps people with her heart. Your papa helps them with his mind."

"But what if this new heart doesn't want to help?" She mumbles. "Please don't leave me, Mama."

Kuina places her hand on the girl's back. "She's not leaving. Can you show me where your father is? I want to check on him."

Sakiko nods. "Let's go!"

●・○・●・○・●

"Seven hundred thirty-five," Kaoru decides.

Elikai's eyes seem to wide and fill with tears at the same time. "That many?"

"Well, yes. Considering most young adults from Tokyo got transported to the Borderlands, you'd think the games would be cleared very fast, but when you remember people can have visas up to one hundred days, or maybe even more, and a lot of players have died, you realize most players only play one or two games every three months. We barely see other players, so it's likely that they're all dead. That leaves about seven hundred thirty-five games. Do you want me to go into detail on how I calculated it?"

"No, thank you," she says, horrified. "I'll believe your word."

Suzume snickers as she drops a packaged toothbrushes into their shopping cart. "I'm going to check the baby products, okay? Keep searching for food."

Nodding, Kaoru takes Elikai back towards the food section, where they go through the racks again, desperate to find anything that isn't expired.

"This sounds really weird," Elikai says suddenly, "but Suzume is so... perfect for you. She's exactly who I imagined would be your girlfriend one day. Though back in high school, I couldn't even imagine you with a girlfriend."

Kaoru smiles. "Me, neither. I couldn't even imagine it before I met her."

"Tell her that," she says instantly. "That's a big compliment."

"Tell her?"

"Yes." Elikai nudges him with her elbow. "Obviously."

"I don't usually know what people like hearing," he admits. He studies a can of soup in his hands, frowns at the dent in its side, and sets it back down.

Elikai crouches to check the lowest shelf and pulls out a package of crackers. She tosses it to Kaoru. "Add it to the stash."

"Found some formula!" Suzume reappears. "Looks like no one else gave birth in the Borderlands. Lucky us."

Kaoru's face brightens just a little. "That's good." He takes the weight from her arms.

Suzume beams at him. "Speaking of the baby, I keep thinking about how she has no name. Should we come up with some? Just for fun?What would you name her, Kaoru?"

"I've never thought about naming a baby," he says, and he sounds almost afraid as he does so.

"Think now," Suzume teases. "First thing that comes to mind."

Kaoru's lips press into a line. "Um... Sogyu."

Elikai jumps in. "What about Thalia?"

"What else?"

"Yukiko," Elikai insists. "Clara or Kaia. I have a whole list in my notebook at home."

"Nere?" Kaoru makes it sound like a question.

"That's gorgeous," Elikai gulps. "We have to tell Mikasa."

His cheeks flush, so he busies himself with rearranging random things. Suzume pokes his side teasingly. "Let's go back. See if your parents have returned by now."

Kaoru walks between the two girls, holding the cart while they keep their weapons close just in case Hotoke tries to pull something again. They take the stairs and move all the way up to their hideout.

At first glance, everything looks the same, except for a strange smell of bleach and blood in the air. It's also suspiciously empty in the middle of the hallway, where the waiting room with dozens of couches is usually filled.

They knock on Mikasa's door. A muffled reply comes from inside. Suzume opens the door to let them in.

Inside, however, the sight of Kiyoshi, who has a very swollen face, meets them. He's holding the baby in his arms, softly pacing around the room.

Without hesitation, Elikai gently pulls the baby from his hands and Suzume holds her knife against his throat. "What are you doing here?! Why are you holding Mikasa's baby?"

Kaoru rushes to Mikasa's side. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you—"

"It's fine," she assures. She stands up from the bed and takes the baby from Elikai. Her eyes soften. "He's the father. He asked me if he could hold her and I figured it was only right to let him. It's okay, don't worry."

All three of them fall dead silent before Elikai sputters, "What? Kiyoshi is the father? Since when? Why is he even here? I thought—"

"Long story short," Mikasa sighs, "we were in a relationship before the Borderlands. I found out I was pregnant after our breakup. I was too scared to tell him and was eight months pregnant by the time the Borderlands came. I never had a husband who died in a game. I'm sorry for lying to you. It was for our own safety. The others already know."

Suzume has trouble hiding the way her jaw had dropped. "Wow. I expected anything but that." She blinks rapidly, turning to Kiyoshi. "Sorry."

"It's okay. Sorry for scaring you," he answers. 

"What happened to your face?"

"There comes the next part," Mikasa continues. "Aguni knocked Kiyoshi out. And... Kaede knocked Chishiya out. And, um, Chishiya has been working with Kiyoshi and made a deal with Hotoke behind our backs. Baya's heart was too weak after she got stabbed. They needed a replacement, but couldn't find a donated heart. Hotoke offered them a mechanical one if Chishiya would kill Kaede. Chishiya faked Kaede's death. Then he took Baya to Kiyoshi's bunker, but Baya refused. After all, he performed the surgery. So Baya is upset, which lead to Kaede getting upset, and then, yeah, that."

"And as a Joker, Hotoke can apparently see each player's status, so she knew Kaede wasn't dead. We have ten days to either kill Kaede, make Baya and Chishiya play a game, or bring Kaoru back to Hotoke," Kiyoshi adds.

"What?" Kaoru whispers to himself. His head snaps up. "Where is my mom now? Is she okay? And Dad?"

"Your dad's fine. He woke up not long after the fight. He's in his room. Your mom is in Kuina's room. Said she has a fever."

Kaoru sees Suzume giving him a nod just before he bolts out the door, into Kuina, Ann, and Aguni's shared room. "Mom?" He calls. 

She's lying on her back, eyes closed. Her face is impossibly pale. Dark bags rest below her eyes. Her brows are furrowed. "Kaoru?" She blinks a few times, visibly having trouble peeling her eyes open.

"Yes, it's me." He kneels by the bed and grabs her hand, as much as he hates the texture of the mattress. "How are you feeling? Will you be okay?"

"Mm," a hum slips from her lips. "I'll be fine. Just have to..." she winces. "...recover."

"I heard about everything that happened," he says quietly. "I'm on your side."

"I would've died had he not done what he did," Baya whispers weakly. "I think... that somewhere... I can be grateful that I didn't die. Don't misunderstand what he was trying to do."

"That still didn't give him the right." Kaoru sighs. "Don't just..." He trails off, searching for words. "Don't just forgive him immediately. You do that too often. Talk about it properly."

Baya's face twists. "I will. Eventually."

Like it was planned, Chishiya knocks on the wall. His fingers whiten around the doorframe: he clearly has trouble standing up. By now, someone else has patched him up better than Sakiko did, but it's still undeniable how swollen and wounded his face is. "Can we talk, Yuzuki?"

She stares at him. At a sight like this, her heart normally would've shattered, but the emotions in her chest just feel gone. Instead, goosebumps form on her skin and she is at a loss for words. "Sure," she murmurs.

Kaoru leaves the room in silence. After closing the door, Chishiya pulls a chair closer to the bed and sits down on it. "Are you in much pain?" Is the first thing he asks.

"Quite a lot." She nods, whispering. "And you?"

"Quite a lot," he responds, also whispering. He takes a tiny box out of his pocket and snaps two pills out of it, then hands her the bottle of water he'd been carrying. "Here. These will help."

Baya stares at the pills but doesn't take them. She shakes her head.

"Right." His nose scrunches as he looks at her body, believing she's not in the right state to take the pills herself. "I'll help. Just lift your head a little bit, and—"

"No," Baya says hoarsely. "I just don't want the pills. From you."

He stills completely. Only for a split second, but enough for her to notice. "Oh, okay." The pills disappear back in his pocket. He leaves the water bottle on the nightstand. "If you want, I can... find a donated heart somewhere. So you don't have to live with the mechanical one anymore. Maybe that would make things better. I misunderstood. I thought you just wanted to die. I didn't realize it was the setting that was the problem."

"That's no longer the problem. Now the problem is that I know you'd do something like that against my will for your own benefit." A tear slips from the corner of her eye. "You terrified me, Shuntarō."

"I know. But don't act like you wouldn't have done the same to me."

"Sorry?"

His gaze hardens. "If you knew I had hours left before I'd die, you'd also do anything to save me, even against my will."

She's silenced for a moment. "But I wouldn't have done it as harshly. I wouldn't have brought you somewhere without explanation and then be surprised at your refusal."

"I know. And I know I was wrong for that. But I couldn't handle the thought of losing you. Please, can we just make it up?"

Baya sniffles. "How much longer will you keep... keep handling things this way?"

"This is who you married." His jaw clenches. "I do my best to make good decisions, but you can't expect me to do everything your way, or the way everyone else wants. Don't ask me to stop being the person you fell in love with."

"I just... I mean, I know." Baya exhales, long and deep. "I know you're trying your best and that you're trying to make good decisions. Most of the time, you are. But then you do something so insane that it just overtops everything good you've done. Ignoring how I didn't consent, making Kaede crawl after he got stabbed, making a deal with Kaoru's rapist— these things are horrible."

"Did I consent when you pushed a needle in my body and made a deal with those who literally killed your family? Did you do that to save my life?"

"That was years ago—"

"And so were some of my mistakes. I admitted what I did to Kaede and I apologized. I haven't purposely humiliated or hurt him after that. I've made up for some of my mistakes, haven't I? So... can we understand and acknowledge both sides of this problem, and then we'll be okay again? I fully admit that I'm wrong for what I did."

"We can understand and acknowledge it, yes," she says. "But..."

"But what?"

"I still need a... a, um," she clears her throat as if it's difficult to say, "a break. I need a break from us. We've been together for so meant years, waking up next to each other every morning, spending so many days together— and that alongside all these problems just really piles up. I think it's better if we take some distance from each other for a while. So things are healthier when it goes back to normal. Otherwise, we'll stay pressured and stressed."

"A break," he repeats.

"Yes. Just some distance. For both of us."

"How long?"

"I don't know." She folds the blanket tighter around her frail body. "As long as it takes."

"Do I move out of our bedroom room? Do I ignore you? Do I sleep on the couch?" He asks. "What does a break look like? I've never taken a break. I don't know how to do that." He sits forward, elbows on his knees. "Without you, I don't have anyone."

"You have your children."

"They are everything. But you're my wife. You're the one I tell everything to. I wake up because you're next to me. I go to sleep because you're next to me. I can spend every day in this hellhole because I know you're next to me. If I don't have that... what do I do?"

Baya squeezes her eyes shut. "That's why we need the break. You're clinging to me so tightly that you don't see yourself anymore. You're more than just my husband, Shuntarō. You're you. But you keep forgetting that."

"But what am I supposed to do?"

"You wait."

"No. But what do I do?"

"Just... give me space for a while."

"What. Do. I. Do," he repeats slowly. "I can't work and I can't see you. There's nothing I can do."

"You can read. You can talk to others. You can journal. I don't know."

"But that makes no sense." He almost looks like he's about to pout.

"You read all the time. It does make sense."

"But there's nothing to read about."

"Because you're not seeing me, there's nothing to read about? Shuntarō, we're in a hospital that has a library."

"But I read for you. You ask me for a fact about something. I realize I don't know that many facts about that something. So I read a book about it. Then I can tell you all the facts. Or when your stomach hurts, I don't always know the cause, so I read books. I'm only a cardiovascular surgeon. I'm not supposed to know about the rest," he says, tone so sad that it makes Baya's heart ache, except it can't actually ache anymore, so instead she just bites the inside of her cheek. "But I know because of you. So what do I read when you're not there to tell me?"

She's speechless. A part of her wants to attack him with the tightest hug and forgive him for everything. The other part wants to kick him in the groin. "You can talk to the kids. To Kuina, Ann, and Aguni. You can check on Arisu. He should almost wake up by now, right?"

He stands. The chair scrapes against the floor. His movements are slow and stiff. He takes a step back, but his eyes linger on her weak figure in the bed. "You terrify me too, Yuzuki," he says softly. "Because without you, I'd be..." he doesn't finish and just turns towards the door. His hand lingers on the handle. He doesn't open it right away. He stands there, as if waiting for her to call him back.

But she doesn't. So he leaves.

Once the door clicks shut behind him, Chishiya leans against it, pressing the heel of his hand to his eyes. "Check on Arisu," he decides. Because Arisu is the only one who might not despise him at the moment.

Chishiya walks into the room where Arisu is resting, snorting faintly. He sits down next to the bed, waiting. Baya was right; it shouldn't take long before Arisu wakes up.

After all, Chishiya has nearly fallen asleep on his chair when Arisu's body finally moves. He groans.

Chishiya doesn't move from his chair. "Arisu," he says. "Don't move too much."

"Heh?" Arisu asks sheepishly. He rubs his eyes, blinking. His head turns. "Ohh!"

Chishiya raises an eyebrow.

"The hospital," he whispers, pupils wide open. "We're back home. I woke up from my coma, right? Is she waiting somewhere? With Miyu and Souta?"

In that moment, Chishiya considers drugging him again.

"No," he says. "We're still in the Borderlands."

Arisu squints his eyes. "Who are you? Why is your face so swollen? Are you... are you LB? His face was so swollen."

"Who?"

"The bald guy," Arisu whispers, inspired. "No, no. We're having a session, right? You're Mira! Are you my psychiatrist?"

"I'm Chishiya."

"Oh." He retreats. "Why is your face swollen, Chishiya?"

"Your son got the best of me."

"Which one, Chishiya?"

"Kaede."

"Ah. Why did he get the best of you, Chishiya?"

"Because I had it coming."

"Why did you have it coming, Chishiya?"

"Can you stop saying my name?"

"Sorry, Chishiya. Why did you have it coming?"

"Because I've... made mistakes," he says. "Arisu, you're still half affected by the drugs I gave you."

"Drugs? I've always wanted to try drugs... wait, I have. Remember when we were in the bathroom, talking? We had drugs then. Heiya brought them."

"Arisu."

"Yes, Chishiya?"

"Stop talking. Like I said, you're still influenced and you're plainly just... insane. Are you hearing voices?"

"Oh, yes. So many voices. They're like 'Thank you, Arisu' and 'Sorry, Arisu' and 'Live for me, Arisu'," he mimics. "I feel bad for the Arisu guy. Lots of people relying on him."

"You're Arisu."

"I am? Wow. Crazy. And who are you again? LB, right?"

"I'm Chishiya."

"Ohh, oh. Baya's husband."

"Yes."

"Where's my wife? I'm back from my coma, right? We're in the hospital. Is she waiting with Miyu and Souta?"

Wisely, Chishiya squirts a drug into the IV bag and watches Arisu fade away again. When he turns around, he almost flinches at the sight of Kaede towering over him.

However, as always, Kaede's soft voice ruins the whole intimating image. "Hi," he murmurs. "Can we talk?"

Chishiya simply nods. "Go on."

"Here?"

"Where else? Do you want to take a bath together?"

Kaede laughs and scowls at once. "I just... wanted to apologize, Chishiya. I didn't want to go as far as knocking you out. I just got uncontrollably angry and couldn't stop thinking of all those times you, um, hurt me. I didn't mean to hurt you that bad, I know I did, but it wasn't... planned. I'm not like you. I can't calculate everything before I do it. I just... my head was full, and my chest felt like it was going to explode."

Chishiya studies him, unreadable as ever. "So you admit it wasn't about this moment. It was about everything before. You were waiting for a reason."

"Yeah. I guess so."

"You want forgiveness?"

"I want you to know I didn't... I didn't enjoy it. I don't want to become the kind of person who does that just to feel better. I want to apologize. Just... don't hate me more than you already do."

"You give yourself too much credit. If I hated you, you'd be dead by now."

Kaede shifts on his feet, unsure whether to stay or go.

"I don't hate you," Chishiya adds after a pause. "I'm... wary of you. Because you've learned to bite back. And because you're not stupid. And because you're dating my daughter and might make me related to this guy," he motions at Arisu, "one day."

"I don't want to be dangerous. I just want to be someone useful. So, I'm sorry for knocking you out, Chishiya."

Chishiya tilts his head. "What happened to 'Shush'?"

"Oh, I figured it's time I call you something mature. Now that we've... sorted things out. Why?"

"Just wondering." He crosses his arms.

Kaede blinks a few times. "Do you like it when I call you that?" He asks unsurely.

"Don't get greedy," Chishiya spits. "I'd be a fool to like it. I simply got used to it."

"You like it when Baya calls you by your first name. And you loved it when she accidentally called you 'Shun'," Kaede realizes. "You secretly love nicknames, don't you?"

Chishiya stares at him with a deadpan expression, even though he knows Kaede is right. 

"Oh, okay." A deep red blooms on his cheeks. "Um... I also got you these. For your forgiveness." He hands Chishiya a bag of cookies.

"You're doing too much," Chishiya says, even as he opens the package and begins chewing.

"Sorry."

"If I tell you the reason I'm wary of you is because you're so annoyingly kind, will you stop being kind?"

"That bruise on your face says a lot about the consequences of me not being kind."

"Don't act tough now. You don't hurt a fly. Literally. You cried when your 'pet fly' died but at the same time, you feed your reptiles flies and whatever else."

Kaede's face lights up. "I brought them here. Do you want to see them, Shush? I went back home and found them still alive, thank gosh. Did you know a snake can last half a year without food? My snake is called Mitsuki. She's my second snake. I used to have one called Anah."

"What does that stand for, then? Anal?"

"No, it spells 'Hana' backwards," Kaede says, offended.

"If I'm honest, Kaede, I didn't even know you had snakes. I thought Hana was just talking about stuffed animals. Never thought Arisu was a reptile kind of guy."

"Dad kind of likes my pets," Kaede points out. "He sometimes wants to hold them. Mom, too. I think you're just afraid."

"No. Show me your snake pet right now. I'll gladly pet her."

Kaede's face lights up. He almost bounces where he stands. "Really? You'll hold Mitsuki?"

Chishiya chews another bite of cookie. "Why not. If she kills me, at least Yuzuki will get what she wants."

Kaede snorts at that. The two of them walk to Kaede and Hana's bathroom, where a ventilated container waits.

Chishiya sits down, unimpressed or at least pretending to be. "That's a worm with an ego."

"She's a ball python! She's beautiful. Look at her pattern. Isn't she gorgeous?"

The python flicks her tongue against the glass. Chishiya quirks an eyebrow. "Probably smarter than you."

"Don't say that in front of her!" Kaede hisses, then glances down sheepishly at the snake, like she might actually take offense. "She's sensitive."

"Great," Chishiya mutters. "Now you're anthropomorphizing reptiles. No wonder you're related to Arisu, you both project feelings onto things that can't answer back."

Kaede ignores it. He slides one hand under the python's body, the other supporting her midsection, and lifts her carefully.

"You're trembling," Chishiya observes flatly.

"No, I'm not. This is excitement. Totally different."

"Mm." Chishiya extends a hand. "Let's get this over with."

Kaede moves closer until Mitsuki's smooth body slides into Chishiya's hand. She wraps loosely around his wrist.

"She likes you!" Kaede whispers excitedly. "Look, she's comfortable. If she didn't trust you, she'd be tight and stiff, but she's loose. That means she's curious about you."

Chishiya narrows his eyes at the snake. "Or she's waiting until I close my eyes so she can suffocate me."

"She wouldn't do that," Kaede protests. "Mitsuki is a sweetheart. Right, girl?" He strokes the python's back with a finger.

Mitsuki shifts her head toward Chishiya's sleeve, tasting the fabric with her tongue. "Wonderful," Chishiya says. "Now my clothes smell like rodent."

"It's so cute!"

Chishiya shoots him a look. "Don't get poetic, Kaede. I'm still the man you knocked unconscious."

The younger man winces. "Right. Sorry. Again."

"Stop apologizing every three minutes," Chishiya snaps, brushing imaginary dust from his sleeve once the snake is gone. "It makes you look pathetic. And if you want to date my daughter, pathetic won't do."

"You're... giving me advice?"

"I'm making sure Yuzuki doesn't kill me for letting Hana waste her time on you," Chishiya corrects. "Now take your reptile circus out of here."

He picks her back up. Even though Mitsuki is calmer in Kaede's arms, snakes have their own mind about where they want to go. Before Kaede can redirect her, she slides her way back toward Chishiya. She slithers across his shoulder, then up toward the curve of his neck.

Chishiya freezes. "Kaede."

"She likes high places," Kaede says, suppressing a laugh as Mitsuki begins to loop herself along the back of Chishiya's neck.

"Kaede," Chishiya repeats, almost commanding.

Part of Mitsuki's length presses against the side of Chishiya's throat. The sensation is enough to make his pulse spike. His hands twitch at his sides, resisting the instinct to grab her.

Kaede breaks into laughter. "You're so stiff!"

"Kaede." This time Chishiya doesn't disguise the alarm in his voice. He jerks his head away from the flickering tongue near his cheek. "Get her off. Now."

"Relax! She's just curious. She won't hurt you. Oh wow, you're actually scared of her!"

"I am not scared," Chishiya snaps. "I am— Kaede, take it off!"

Kaede is nearly wheezing now. "Okay, okay! Hold still, I'll get her." He manages to coax Mitsuki back into his own arms. "She wasn't even squeezing! You should've seen your face— Shush, you looked insane!"

Chishiya presses a hand to his chest. "That thing," he points at Mitsuki, "is never getting near me again."

"You survived surgery, torture, and God knows how many games, but my sweet Mitsuki is your breaking point?"

Chishiya glares daggers at him. "You value that snake too much. 'My sweet Mitsuki', wow."

"You're so dramatic."

Chishiya sinks back into the chair, shaking his head.

"Hey, sorry, Kaede." Suzume steps inside with a bag of supplies tucked under her arm. "We got the supplies and—" she barely gets three steps into the room before her gaze lands on the snake. She lets out a sharp scream. "What is that?!"

Before either man can react, Suzume drops the bag, bolts across the room, and launches herself onto the nearest safe surface, which happens to be Chishiya's lap. Her arms hook around his neck, her knees digging into his legs. "Keep it away from me!" she shrieks, burying her face into his shoulder. "Kill it, Kaoru, kill it! Kaede, what is wrong with you?!"

"She's— she's not dangerous!" Kaede manages between his laughter.

Suzume lifts her head just enough to glare at him. "You brought it in here?! What if it bites the baby?!"

Chishiya sits rigidly. His hands hover awkwardly in the air like he doesn't know where to place them. "Kaede. Remove. The animal. Now."

"Look, Mitsuki's super sweet, she wouldn't hurt anyone—"

"Kaede. If you don't take that creature out of here this instant, I will personally—"

Suzume tightens her grip around his neck. "Don't let it come closer, please! I swear, if it slithers this way, I'll—"

Kaede puts the snake back in the box. "Okay, okay. She's away. See? She's in her safe box now." He closes the lid.

Suzume cracks one eye open. "It's really gone?"

"Yes," Chishiya deadpans. "Get off me."

She reluctantly slides off his lap. She gives Kaede the fiercest glare she can muster. "You're insane. Completely insane. Who keeps a snake in this place?!"

"From all people, I thought you'd like her. You're so cool," Kaede murmurs. "Huh?"

"I hate snakes." Suzume shivers at the thought of them. "If that thing ever comes near me again, you'll find yourself in a cage beside it. I'll kill it!"

Kaede clutches the snake box protectively to his chest. "You wouldn't dare hurt Mitsuki!"

"Watch me."

Kaede bursts out laughing again. "Oh, I have to tell Hana about this. She's going to lose it when she hears how you both freaked out. At least she held Mitsuki without backing down."

●・○・●・○・●

🂱 A/N: Update, Shirabi's face claim got arrested and Kaoru's face claim cheated on his girlfriend (Hiroya Shimizu and Kentaro Sakaguchi)

Ryusei Yokohama you're my only hope

Ok also, I like how most people understand both Baya and Chishiya's side. Or at least, you're on one side but understand the other side

Lmk what you think about the recent events!! I'm curious

By now, I've planned who the linchpin is but I'm still curious about your theories on that as well!!

ALSO PREACH:

I love Shirabi but he has so many overlooked flaws

Anyway have a good day!!