Passing her first set of exams put a pep in her step; something about not having the threat of failure looming over her head felt great.

Shin sweat dropped watching her state of bliss, she'd been riding cloud nine for the past week.

She was sitting at the kitchen table with a fiction book, but he knew she wasn't reading; she only started absentmindedly with a stupid smile on her face.

"Hey, we don't have any onions... Could you go get some?" He asked, sitting through the fridge. "I'll make us something to eat."

"No, no, don't do that. We should hang out at Nana's place instead!" She said immediately. They always had something good to eat and the idea of going down seven flights of stairs was too daunting.

"We haven't cooked anything in a week."

"I left money for takeout, didn't I?" She asked quickly, she made sure he never went hungry, at least. He sighed and grabbed a can from the fridge sitting across from her.

"You eat like shit, look at how skinny you are now. I need to cook more regularly."

She sweatdropped, just who was the adult in this situation?

"I'm thinking of getting my diploma."

His announcement was like thunder.

She stood up to grab his hands, and excitement shone in her brown eyes. "You wanna go back to school?"

"Hold it. I'm not going back to school just yet. I just wanna get the diploma. I'll study at home and do the exam."

She clapped her hands in delight. "That's marvellous! I can teach you anything you don't remember! I used to be a tutor, you know."

He raised a brow, "you? A tutor? Why? I thought your parents could afford anything."

"Haha.." she laughed nervously, "Well, I wanted to go to Bora Bora with my friends for a bit so I earned some extra cash for that."

"Bora Bora?" She said it so casually, though he was born in Switzerland, he couldn't remember ever going on holiday, much like to Bora Bora. "Whatever, if you still want to leech off Hachi, we need to go now, we'll be playing Mah-Jong with Trapnest anyway."

Trap nest?

She remembered the group she met at that party and her face lit up. "Oh, I know them! We should go over then."

. 

Shin was a surprisingly good Mah-Jong player; Nanami didn't know how to play so he could only teach her patiently. She kept forgetting his words because she was paying him no attention at all. Her eyes were following the long-haired member; why was he so handsome? She had to keep remembering she was in a relationship because anytime he smiled at her, she nearly fainted. Was this the power of beauty? 

"You're not listening are you?" Shin asked after explaining the game. 

"No." She said with a dreamy sigh. He could only roll his eyes and pick up a cigarette. Only after seeing him do that did she go into mom mode and slap it away from his hands. 

He wanted to retort but seeing her glare was enough for him to just back up. He wasn't going to risk his life for a cigarette. 

Hachi was always very happy to see the eye candy walking around; he actually walked towards her and they were getting along quite well. Nanami looked quite happy. Nanami wondered if they would hook up, at least she planned to ask Hachi about it later. 

Ding Dong.

It was the door. "I'll get it!" Nanami said getting up; she wasn't paying any attention to the game anyway. 

"Ah, it's probably Yasu!" Nobu said, making her stiffen. Shin noticed; she kept walking but this time a bit more slowly. She cursed her luck, maybe the demon lord really had it out for her. 

She opened the door to see him—tall, cool, and handsome. She wished he would at least stop wearing suits so he could stop looking so damn attractive. 

"Oh, it's you."

What kind of greeting was that?

"Yo," he finished. 

She didn't know what was worse—his nonchalance or his lack of satisfactory sentences. 

They all sat around the table for dinner, and Nanami listened to all of them. She was more or less an outsider; they all knew each other already. 

"We were in the same high school; we weren't friends, though." Yasu explained it to them. "I didn't feel like being friends with them."

Takumi took that as an insult, and Ren laughed. He was part of Blast before he joined Trapnest, and currently he and Nana were an item. Hearing their stories made her feel quite excited; her life, by comparison, was too boring. What had she done? Boarding school? That's it? She felt too embarrassed to even talk about it. She finished her third beer and opened another. 

"You were always fooling around doing stupid things." Yasu said with a sigh, referring to Takumi, who took it in stride. 

"I can't believe two of my favourite bands grew up in the same hometown, I need to see this place." Nanami said jokingly.

"That place is shit. Don't go." Nana said curtly, making Nanami laugh. 

"Still, for it to produce such gems, there's probably something special about it." Nanami said, looking at her glass. 

"I didn't think of it like that; I guess so." Ren said with a laugh. Was it a coincidence that so many musicians were from a small town by the sea? 

Maybe. 

"Nanami-chan, you know it's strange. You have no background in music, why are you so good at singing?" 

"You're Eloise, right? I dig your songs." Takumi said with a drink of his beer. Nanami felt like blushing. 

"Ah no, it's nothing; I grew up in church, so I sang a lot." 

"Really? I didn't know you were religious." Nobu said. 

She wasn't religious. 

"I need to make a call; I'll be back in a sec." She said standing up and leaving. The change was sudden. The table was silent for a moment. 

"What's up with her?" Nobu asked. 

"Akira probably had a show." Hachi said. 

"Akira? From Dark Siren?" 

The conversation picked up naturally. 

It was quite chilly outside, so she went to grab a leather jacket before heading down; she needed fresh air. She stared at her phone for a moment.

She wanted to call Akira, but it was the middle of the night, she didn't want to be clingy. She called him; it rang for a bit, but just as she was expecting it to go to voicemail, he picked up. 

It was hard to hear what he was saying, it was too loud. She tried to speak but it was a struggle, so she gave up, ending the call and sending a message. 

[It was noisy, hope your gig went well, I'll call you later <3]

[Miss you, you're going to the library tomorrow, right? I'll see you.]

She smiled at his texts; but she still didn't feel quite right. 

"I can't believe we lost to that brat." 

The sounds of men talking startled her, she quickly moved, hiding behind the building. It was Ren and Takumi. She felt her anxiety settle but now it was too awkward for her to come out of hiding. 

"You're hitting it off with Nana, she's your type."

"Yeah, she's cute and clueless. She's the one you dragged me here to see, wasn't she?"

She listened to their conversation with a guilty conscience. 

"What do you think of the girl, Nanami?"

"Eh, a bit too chubby for my taste. Besides, I'm not that kind of home wrecker."

"Then what kind of homewrecker are you?"

"The type that consoles beautiful, lonely women." 

The two laughed before heading back upstairs. 

Her heart dropped; why was she even eavesdropping? 

She waited it out until she couldn't hear their voices before coming out of hiding. She looked up at the doors to the apartment complex, and for some reason, she didn't want to go back.

She stood there for a while before picking up the phone to call Shin.

"Hey shin, I'm heading to the shops after all; do you need anything?"

"Really? Um... Onions."

"Is that all?"

"Um... Want me to make some pasta? Just get the ingredients."

"Ok."

She cut the call and stared at her phone for a moment before stalking off from the old apartment building.

She zoned out, the walk to the grocery store passed by quickly. She tried to preoccupy her mind. The guy at the convenience store was nice; actually, everyone was really nice. But somehow, she felt so out of place with everyone.

She stared absentmindedly at the river. The journey back stop abruptly as she stopped to think. She felt stuffy, her grocery bag sat next to her on the grass. The cold night air helped her feel less overwhelmed.

She didn't want to go back. She didn't know who to go to either. Akira must be working now; did it make sense to burden him with her issues? What issues? She didn't have any real problems, she just liked to complain about nothing.

She expected she could start a new life here with a new persona. But maybe it was impossible to change.

"Here you are; I thought you were kidnapped or something."

It was Shin. He sat next to her as she stared off at the dark river. He noted the groceries on the floor. "At least you got the groceries, so what's keeping you here."

What was keeping her here? If she knew, she would have changed it. "I.. I don't know."

He sighed. "Is it Yasu?"

Yasu?

Yasu wasn't even on her mind.

"Don't pay attention to him, he's just confused, he doesn't know what he wants." Shin said with a scoff, as if he were unimpressed with the lawyer.

"It's not Yasu."

"Then Akira?"

She shook her head again. It wasn't anyone, it was her.

"You know shin, I went to boarding school when I was younger."

"Checks out."

She snickered at his prompt reaction. "You brat. What's that meant to mean."

"You are literally sitting on a $200 skirt; there is no way you expect anyone to be shocked." He said as a matter of fact.

She burst out laughing. "Alright, alright, let's go back."

He was the first to stand up, grabbing her bags. She lingered, as if she didn't want to leave quite yet. "By the way, are you free this Sunday? We're performing."

She thought about it for a while before shaking her head. "Not this Sunday." She needed to get her fix. It has been a while. "I need to get my hair done." 

"Suite yourself." He said he was stretching out his hand for her to take.

She smiled and took it, her family away from home was Shin; at the very least, she never felt out of place with him. 

She needed to put on her big girl pants and ask Yasu about getting him some formal identity. At least he needed to be emancipated. The idea of talking about it was exhausting already. 

"Shin, you know it would be great if you did really well in school and got into university. You would do great as a trained musician." 

"Easy to say, university fees are way too expensive; I won't be able to focus on the band by then." 

Did he plan on staying with Blast forever? It was noble, but she felt it was naive. Blast was good, but was that enough to support him for the rest of his life? If anything happened to him and he couldn't play bass guitar, what happened then?

"Stop it."

"Stop what?" She asked defensively. 

"Overthinking; there's no point; life is full of questions; you don't always need an answer." 

"Why do you sound so wise? It creeps me out." 

"What's that supposed to mean!?" 

"Also, if I ever see you with a cigarette, I will actually kill you." 

"... Why do you sound so serious?" 

Nanami laughed at his fear; she wondered in another life if she would have a child like Shin. She would've made a great mother.