MY PHONE, WHICH HAD BEEN CHARGING NEARBY, BUZZED. Before she went up to bed, Mrs. Riri had allowed me to borrow her charger, seeing as my phone's battery had bitten the dust hours ago. Part of me hoped it'd be a text message from Asahi, who finally decided to notify me that I could head home.

I should've known better.

I kept a throwaway email on my blog, just in case people or companies wanted to reach out to me, but this was the first email in a long while. Surely, my inactivity as of late had become a cause for concern.

'Killer x Lover,' she said? I kept track of each and every new release—to an unhealthy degree, actually. The fact that I hadn't heard of it until now was an abnormality. I'd been so preoccupied participating my own real-life otome game that I hadn't kept track of my dear fictional ones in ages.

Hastily, I scrolled through my phone. Apparently, it was announced three months ago, and finally hit stores last Friday. The love interests—the most important detail, I'd argue—were devilishly handsome. I loved the art style, which wasn't a surprise considering I absolutely adored this artist. USA☆MI drew characters that could play with heart strings like it was nothing, and was a well-respected name in the otoge community.

I was such a disgrace as an otoge blogger. This was all Creeper's fault. I could have been out there, minding my business and playing my otome games in peace, but instead, here I was, waist-deep in reality and trapped at my childhood bully's house. If I hadn't gotten caught up with Takumi again after all these years, I wouldn't have to feel this complicated, let alone irritated.

What was his issue? Why did he go and wage that stupid bet to get me to stay at his house?

I didn't understand him.

I thought I did, but maybe, I didn't at all.

"Ann! Here you are!"

Naoya poked his head into the living room. His red hair was damp—his bangs curled up and covering his eyebrows. With his soft brown eyes and wide grin, he was the mere image of content. Likely, he'd just hopped out of the bath.

When he got a better look at my situation—specifically, my many layers and Takumi's dog curled up on my lap—he burst out laughing.

"You and Runa look so comfortable together. I'm jealous."

"Runa?" I asked as her tail happily whipped back and forth. "Is that her name?"

"Ren. Riri. Runa. For the record, Ren's dad's name is Ryuya. This family really loves the letter 'R.'"

As he ran his fingers along Runa's soft fur, his mouth peeled back into a wide grin, which truly resembled a beam of sunlight. He and Takumi had been tied by the hip for as long as I could remember. They were complete opposites, though.

If Takumi was studious and thoughtful, Naoya was careless and spontaneous. He'd been a class clown his whole life. Plus, unlike Takumi, Naoya never went out of his way to put me in harm's way. He didn't have it in him.

"My family is no different," I eventually responded to fill the silence. "My parents deliberately gave me and my older brothers names that started with the letter 'A.' My parents' names start with the letter 'A' too. It confused a ton of people growing up, so they'd mix us up all the time."

"Really? A family of 'A's'. . . You and Ren have more in common than I thought."

Please don't say that again.

Naoya slumped into the plush cotton couch next to me. "Mrs. Riri's real nice, though, isn't she? You made the funniest face when she dragged you inside."

"That was. . ." I thinned my lips, suddenly bashful. "It caught me off guard, is all. She didn't ask any questions—just got the bath ready and tossed me expensive shampoos, conditioners, and body washes to use. It didn't matter to her what I was doing out in the rain in the first place."

"I'm sure she could tell you weren't up to talking about it. She's considerate like that. Trust me, if it was my mom you were dealing with, she'd have stormed up to your brother and yelled his ear right off."

That would've been funny in its own way.

"So, what's the plan? Will you spend the night?"

"You're delusional. I'll only be here until the storm dies down."

He scooped up the remote and turned on the 50 inch TV mounted to the wall. The news channel was immediately displayed—a reporter out in the middle of Tokyo, her raincoat fluttering in the unforgiving winds.

"—It's looking like this storm is never going to die down, folks! Flights have been cancelled. Stores haves closed early. Find shelter, and stay warm. If you were expecting to travel in or around the city, I'm sorry to report your plans will have to be cancelled. Please avoid stepping outside unless it's an absolute emergency. Fortunately, this storm is expected to pass sometime tomorrow morning—"

Naoya looked at me.

I chewed my lip. "I said what I said. I'm leaving once it's safe."

"But, Ren's house is super nice."

"That's not why I'm leaving."

"He has extra rooms. Guest rooms for the both of us. Come on, let's make popcorn and stay up watching movies! That sounds fun, right? What kind of movies do you like, Ann?"

"I'm not spending the night."

"For the record, I love mysteries. It's so satisfying when the hero discovers that the true villain has been right under their nose the whole time!"

Okay, he could be a bit annoying.

A peaceful ringtone interrupted us. Naoya dug into his pocket and surfaced his cell phone. He pressed it to his ear.

"Hi, Mom! What's up?"

"STUPID BRAT. WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?"

The ear-shattering scream jolted me. He hadn't put it on speaker, not to mention it was pressed up and against his ear. Undoubtedly, his "mom" on the other end was furious.

"YOU BETTER BE DEAD. OTHERWISE, I'M MURDERING YOU MYSELF. DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

Naoya's easy-breezy smile didn't flinch. "I'm doing just fine, Mom!" he heartily responded. "How are you? That storm is really scary, huh?"

. . .Either Naoya was accustomed to being shouted at, or it truly didn't faze him. Earlier, he mentioned his mom wasn't afraid to yell people's ears off. Still, he must've done something to have gotten his mom this mad.

As Naoya casually talked on, his mom's voice progressively lowered to the point where I could no longer keep track of the conversation. His nonchalant demeanour disappeared straightaway. Beads of sweat rolled down his temple. Soon, he ended the call.

"Sorry, Ann." He sweatdropped. "Can we take a rain check on our movie marathon? My mom's angry at me for disappearing and not letting her know where I've been. Because of the storm, she's stuck at work, and my younger siblings are home alone so she's worried sick about them."

"How old are they?"

"My youngest sister is eight. Then, my other two brothers are ten and twelve."

I could see why she'd be worried, then.

"Usually, they take care of each other," he explained. "They all go to the same elementary school so they walk home together. My mom leaves food in the fridge for them so all they have to do is warm it up." His lips upturn wryly. "My mom is a workaholic. Plus, I can't always be at home either. Sometimes, I'll hang out with Ren like today, or I'll be working at my part-time job after school."

"You have a part-time job?" The notion startled me. "This whole time, I thought you were a total rich kid like Takumi."

His jaw fell. "Me?" he demanded, paling at the thought. "Yeah, right. It's the opposite. It's better now but growing up, my mom seriously struggled financially. Being as young as I was, I couldn't exactly help her out either. I'm just glad I could help her out a lot more now with my job."

I had no idea. For some reason, him being tied by the hip to Takumi growing up clouded my judgement. But, it was weird for me to assume Naoya to be well off in the first place. He was the furthest from a rich boy, actually. Especially if you considered his personality. . .

As in on cue, a memory clicked to mind. "That explains all the weird stuff, then."

"Weird stuff?" he echoed.

"In elementary school," I said. "You'd go around, asking our classmates to trade these erasers you'd drawn cute faces on in order to get uneaten snacks or lunches. Or you'd pawn off whatever we made in arts and crafts class to random teachers for spare change. You technically ran a business at the age of eight."

Naoya snorted. His shoulders convulsed with laughter, until he could no longer hold it in.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm surprised you remember that, Ann," he sputtered between breaths. "That was way back in the third grade."

He sure cracked up a lot. "It's rarer for me to forget something," I responded. "I have great memory."

"Agh, how embarrassing," he complained, stifling further laughs. "I could've went the rest of my life without remembering that. But, yeah. I purposefully pretended I was doing it for a good laugh, but back then, I genuinely couldn't afford to bring a lunch to school every day. Admitting something like that was embarrassing though so I found ways around that. Plus, I didn't want people to think my mom was neglecting me and my siblings when she was working extremely hard—harder than the average person. If anything, it was all my dad's fault for walking out on us after my little sister was born."

Awkwardly laughing to clear the air, he hoisted himself to his feet.

"Anyway, I should head home and make sure they're doing okay. I don't live that far from here, and it is an emergency, so I should be fine. I hope another tree doesn't fall over and flatten me on the way. . ."

As I watched him grab his coat, umbrella, and backpack, I couldn't help it—I smiled.

"You're a good brother."

"Eh? You think? I'm just doing the bare minimum—" Possibly, once he saw my expression, he decided against it. "Er— Let Ren know that I left, okay? See you, Ann!"

I waved him off. Runa continued to snooze away on my lap.

"The 'bare minimum,' huh?" I ran my fingers across her fur again. Surely, my brothers would disagree. The "bare minimum" included insulting me and treating me like dirt, all in the name of family. The bar was in hell.

Naoya's devotion towards his family had to be an exception. Still, with our conversation, one thing had become crystal clear.

Naoya remembered me. He knew we went to school together since elementary school. Then, why. . . Why didn't. . .

"What happened? Did Nao leave?"

Takumi emerged from the hallway and into the threshold of the living room. His sudden entrance robbed me of the air from my lungs. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.

He was shirtless—essentially half-naked.

"Huh. . . ?"

My mind went blank.

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