As soon as Kenta ended his phone call with Johan, a notification for a group message popped up.

Aikawa: Do you still need me to drive you and your friends to the mall to shop for prom outfit tonight? I'm off work already but am stuck in a traffic jam and probably wouldn't make it on time. Would you guys mind waiting?

Akira: I'm not sure about the mall anymore. Kenta might not be in the mood for shopping judging by how distraught he looked just before he locked himself upstairs. Besides, I haven't been able to get hold of either of the Swenson brothers to confirm whether the plan is still in place. I know Baz wants to go but it won't be fun if it's just the two of us. Perhaps I should leave Ezie a text asking to cancel it.

Aikawa: Is your boyfriend the type to be unreachable every now and then?

Akira: No, this is the first time ever I've had him not responding to me for hours. He's usually super-fast at responding, like lightning fast. Do you think Kenta lied to me about phoning his therapist? Maybe he was talking to Ezie instead?

Aikawa: [skull emoji] Akira, I have bad news. We accidentally sent these messages to the family group instead of to each other...

Akira: Oh dear... Let's delete everything before Kenta sees everything!

Aikawa: I think he saw our conversation already. Hey son, in case you did, just know that you don't have to tell me whatever it was you spoke to Ezekiel about, but maybe tell your cousin. Unless it's something involving Aiden, of course. In that case I'd like you to tell me too. Send us an emoji if you receive this message and then I'll clear the chat history so that your mom, uncle, and aunt don't interrogate you. Please come to the living room, okay? I'll be home soon.

Kenta: [white rose emoji]

I've never been a good liar. I hope Otou-san is serious about not wanting to pry and wasn't only saying that to coax me downstairs. Regardless of whether he was coaxing or not, perhaps I should reassure him and Akira that I'm alright. Am I really, though? the teenage boy thought as he made his way to where his father had told him to meet.

"How is Ezie? Is Aiden giving him some trouble in the boarding school?" Akira asked him once he sat himself on the couch. Her voice was calm but her arms were crossed and she wasn't making eye contact. "The brat isn't expelled for breaking some rules or something, is he?"

"I wasn't talking to Aiden and Ezie. Honest to kami-sama."

"Ah. Then there's only one other possible reason for you to act agitated," the girl uncrossed her arms and sighed. "Did you confess to Johan and his parents overheard? That's indeed disast—"

"Worse."

"His grandparents overheard?!"

"No, no elderlies involved and no confession happened but we—" Kenta's hands dug deeper into his sweatshirt's pocket and formed tight fists. "He was emotionally where I was after the berries incident, just without actually swallowing berries. Just know that if I didn't check my email in time then we would have had to say goodbye to him. The forever kind of goodbye."

"Berries inci—" Akira's eyes widened. "You talked him off the metaphorical ledge all by yourself? Kenta, you could have let me help! Don't pretend to be tough!"

"What could you have done? What do you know about despai—"

"I know more than you think I do!" Akira barked, her eyes shining with indignation. "I've been hiding a lot more than you could ever hope to imagine. You're not the only one struggling to live, have you ever considered that for once?" she was shaking like a puppy left in the cold.

"That's right..." Kenta shifted his feet from side to side and stared at his own reflection on the TV screen. "I'm not the one with a dying mother. I'm the privileged dude who's too busy feeling sorry for himself and forgetting he's far from being the most unfortunate person in the whole galaxy. I should've known that Auntie Chiharu's situation makes you secretly super depressed."

"That's not my point! I just want you to be considerate and remember that we're cousins for a reason. We're both an only child, so if we can't depend on each other who can we depend on?"

"So you want me to be more trusting of you. But on the other hand..."

"On the other hand what?" Akira huffed.

"On the other hand you and my dad didn't trust that I'm mature enough to handle having the rest of our family discovers that 'accidental' group conversation without getting mad."

"Touché," the young girl shrugged. "It's true that openness needs to be a two-way thing."

"I have a deeply personal question and you don't have to answer right away but I'd like you to ponder this with me," Kenta shut his eyes and sank lower on the couch. "If today is your last day on this planet, what would you most want to be remembered as?"

"I—I'm not sure. I just know I wouldn't want people to think badly of me. You?"

"Same. I'd want people to remember only the nicest things possible about me. Now that I think harder about it..." Kenta massaged his temple. "Now I feel silly for ingesting those berries. If I were unlucky and the poison control man didn't save me, I think the good memories everyone had of me would be overshadowed by the horrifying sight of my dead body. It was selfish of me. And when I pictured Johan dead, I was--" he started hyperventilating and Akira promptly pulled him into a hug. "I was instantly transported back to the day that could very well be my very last."

"But you're not dead, he's not dead, and that's what matters."

"I wonder how Johan would have wanted to be—"

"To be remembered?" Akira finished the boy's sentence as he nodded weakly. "I bet he'd have wanted you to remember the happy time you shared with him and Nardhia and Nardho."

"Do you think I would be able to remember him that way if he had died?"

"I don't know. But Kenta, he's alive and you are too. Just focus on staying alive, please?"

"My next question is gonna sound weird but I need to know," Kenta sniffled. "If you knew from the moment our fate was sealed that we were destined to be cousins, would you have begged kami-sama to give you an entirely different cousin? Or perhaps no cousin at all?"

"I like having you as my one and only cousin."

"You do? You've never wished that I'm someone else?"

"Why would I, baka?" Akira playfully smacked the back of Kenta's head. "I wouldn't want to miss out on your amazing muffins, your kindness, your unfunny jokes, and your non-existing athleticism. My life would be so boring without the things that make you... you."

"Would you still say that if I didn't know how to bake muffins?"

"I love you, muffins or no muffins."

"I have another weird question but it's my last question for tonight, I promise. How different do you think our lives would have been if I were born to your parents and you to mine?"

"Other than us switching genders? Nothing, I suppose. Your parents are my parents practically. If Auntie Shiori was the one dying and not my mom, I would still be as sad. Is that why you were asking, because you were afraid I only care about my mom because she's, well, my mom?"

"Y-Yeah, to an extent, as egoistical as it sounds," Kenta stared at the floor. "You want me to be open with you, so here I go. I'm egoistic, believe it or not. When you told me earlier Auntie Chiharu's condition depresses you, I wish I could switch place with you just so that—"

"Just so that you have a real reason for not feeling your best."

"How come you knew what I wanted to say before I finished saying it, Akira?"

"You're readable. You suck at poker face. Anyway, you do have real reasons for not feeling your best. Yes, reasons, plural. You were trying to hide being gay, you were bullied, and—"

"Aiden bullied you too, though."

"Yeah, but I'm not gay. If I were and I had to hide it, I believe I would spiral like you did too."

"You wouldn't!" Kenta put his hands on Akira's shoulders, grabbing them a little too hard that the girl winced. "You're the strongest girl I've ever known in my life, don't discredit yourself."

"You said that as if you've known a bazillion of girls."

"Are you missing my point on purpose?" Kenta shoved her lightly. "But anyway, I mean it."

Akira was about to reply with a sarcastic remark before Miyuki dashed inside through the pet door and the click-clack of Aikawa's boots on the cobblestone path reverberated.

"Okaeri!" the man announced his arrival home once his niece unlocked the front door. "Sorry I'm late, the road was busier than normal. Are you hungry?" he shook a brown bag from which the smell of roasted seaweed and pickled ginger emanated. "Miyuki was meowing like there's no tomorrow when I walked into the yard carrying this. Yep, I brought grilled onigiri."

"With smoked tuna and salmon roe?" Kenta's eyes lit up. "No wonder the cat wants some."

"I don't think your mom would approve of me fattening her cat, would she?" Aikawa winked at Akira. "But is it just me or Miyuki is getting fatter? I swear I never let her overindulge."

"She could be pregnant," Akira crouched down to pat the white feline's tummy. "Baz and I caught her fooling around with Sebby a while ago. I think they hit it off nicely."

"Love is in the air nowadays," Aikawa gave her a small nod while setting the onigiri tray on the living room table. "And I believe cute kittens will make Chiharu-san smile."

"Kitties are what we need to brighten this house," Kenta chimed in. "I mean, flowers alone can do that but flowers and kitties would be unstoppable. Hmm, I should try to see if there are rare animal-shaped flowers or animals with flower-like patterns on their fur."

"There's an orchid shaped like the face of a monkey," Aikawa said before taking a big bite of his onigiri. "But we digress," he turned his attention to Akira. "Do you think the kitties will be more like Miyuki or like Sebby, personality-wise? Perhaps some of them will have lazy disposition and the rest will have huge appetite. We will need to prepare an abundance of cat food."

Akira did not answer. Instead, she used her chopsticks to distractedly play with the pile of extra pickled ginger on her plate of onigiri until Kenta gave her a disapproving scowl.

"Yamete! The farmers didn't grow the gingers only for you not to eat them after piling them high," he reprimanded. "If you don't want them anymore, I'll compost them."

"Gomen," Akira apologized. "Here, take them for composting. I'm full."

"What's wrong?" Aikawa looked at her worriedly. "The ginger is still fresh, isn't it?" he picked up a few slices and popped them into his mouth. "Hm, the ginger isn't the problem."

"You and Kenta are both so dense."

"Excuse me?" the father son pair said simultaneously.

"N-never mind, forget I said anything. I'll wash the plates."

"No, if we offended you we wanted to hear how so," Aikawa stopped her. "Is it about making fun of Miyuki's habits? They're endearing habits, though, as annoying as she can be."

"Otou-san, I don't think you should use endearing and annoying in the same sentence," Kenta elbowed him. "Anyway, Akira, my dad was just teasing but you gotta admit Miyuki's love of foods and Sebby's laziness are peerless."

"You guys didn't offend me, no worries. It's just that..." Akira turned around after blinking away a couple drops of tears. "It's just that I got upset thinking that there's a chance my mom will not make it to see the newborn kittens. If that happens, then I'd get even more upset about not wanting to take care of the kittens just because they'd remind me of her too much."

"Then we'd take care of the kittens on your behalf," Aikawa said while glancing at Kenta, who nodded in affirmation while beckoning Miyuki to jump onto his lap. "But I don't think you'd ever resent innocent kittens. On the contrary, you'd love them because they would be one of the few things that connect you to your mom."

"Uncle Aikawa, may I present you a hypothetical scenario?"

"Sure. Is it about my Shiori?"

"Yeah. Hypothetically, if she passed away and her greenhouse is the only thing she left behind for you, would you grow to hate spending time in the greenhouse?"

"No. The greenhouse holds so much happy memories for both my wife and me. To hate the greenhouse is to deny the many hours of happiness we had together and I don't want to live in denial even if denying everything—trying in vain to forget literally everything—is easier."

"What's your favorite memory of her?" Akira replied and Kenta smiled encouragingly upon hearing her asking. "Wait, let me guess. The day you proposed to her?"

"That was a beautiful day, but no, that's my second favorite," Aikawa chuckled. "My absolute favorite was the day we found out Kenta is deaf. I was there in the pediatrician's office panicking about how the hell I was going to raise a deaf baby when I'm not deaf myself, but Shiori? Cool as a cucumber. She kept on saying that kami-sama made no mistake blessing us with our son."

"Is that why you married her?" Akira blurted out. "For her ability to be calm no matter what?"

"Hai," Aikawa sighed dreamily. "I married her because she makes me feel mentally tougher."

"I wonder if that's the same reason Uncle Lee married your mom," Kenta squeezed his cousin's hand. "Tell you what, let's ask him later when he and auntie comes back from the hospital."