THIS WASNT SUPPOSED TO

Edit: So uh
Since I decided not to add this to the official fanfic, imma post it here

A month had passed since Karamatsu's departure. Unsurprisingly, no significant changes have settled in the Matsunos' lives. They were, after all, never extremely fond of Karamatsu in the first place, and simply trusted that he would eventually return anyway. It felt strange, however, especially to Ichimatsu, for one of the Matsuno sextuplets to leave the house for the first time in a long while.

Underneath their futon, Ichimatsu laid on his side, seemingly comfortable. His eyes were shut, and his still yet slowly-breathing figure indicated he was asleep. At the sight of this, one of his brothers approached him and bent down beside him. "Wake up, Ichimatsu-niisan!" the yellow-clad man smiled. "It's almost noon already!"

Quietly grunting, Ichimatsu sat up as he rubbed his eyes with his fist. He turned to face his brother, nothing but awake drowsiness all over Ichimatsu's face. "Morning, Jyushimatsu," he sleepily greeted him as an inaudible yawn escaped his mouth. "What do you want?"

Jyushimatsu grinned. "Wanna go hang out in the park today?" he eagerly asked. "I wanna play around there today!"

Ichimatsu pondered to himself for a moment, wondering whether or not he'd like to at all. He wasn't quite in the mood, but then again, it sounded like a good way to clear his mind and drowsiness. He then replied with a gradual nod. "Sure," he murmured. "You can go on ahead while I'm getting ready."

At the welcoming sound of those words, Jyushimatsu smiled wider and immediately leaped back up into a joyfully standing pose. "Hooray!" he cheered, sending his booming voice across the room. "See you soon, then!" Exchanging a simple nod, Ichimatsu silently watched as the yellow-clad man exited the bedroom.

"Ichimatsu-niisan! Look at me!" Jyushimatsu screeched excitedly. He was wildly spinning in circles on a swing, rapidly to the point of being blurry to the naked eye. "I'm a spiral!"

Ichimatsu and Jyushimatsu, along with their youngest brother Todomatsu, were spending time together in one of their town's local parks. Fresh white snow covered the entirety of the flat surface, cleanly stretching across the area. Amongst the surrounding playground equipment and children running about, there sat a set of swings the three brothers were seated in. Todomatsu shuffled his feet uncomfortably as he watched the blurry spiral next to him spin about to no end.

"Jyushimatsu-niisan, you'll get dizzy if you keep that up," Todomatsu pointed out, judgmental concern coated around his words and expression.

"I know!" Jyushimatsu bursted aloud in reply as he continued to spin in endless series of roundabouts. "Don't worry, it's no big deal at all~!"

Ichimatsu slightly stood up from where he sat and shot a glance at the youngest brother. "You know," he began with a normal matter-of-factly tone, "it'll be your fault for not moving if Jyushimatsu ends up hitting you. Not his."

Todomatsu's visage immediately scrunched up to an insulted expression, struck with fake horror. "That's not what I was worried about!" he whined in protest. Ichimatsu didn't reply, but only re-averted his attention to the yellow-clad man as Jyushimatsu soon slowed down to a stop. Clumps of kicked-up snow lay at Jyushimatsu's feet as he stood up with decision.

"..hey, wanna play some baseball next?" he suggested, turning to Ichimatsu. The purple-clad man's body stiffened at those words; normally, he would agree to Jyushimatsu's baseball antics, but this time, he wasn't in much of a mood for the sport.

"No thanks," Ichimatsu calmly replied, averting his eyes to somewhere else. He attempted to avoid hinting his unusual hesitance; he didn't want to seem as though he didn't want to play with Jyushimatsu. He murmured "I'd rather go home."

Jyushimatsu's eyes widened as he stretched his mouth in bewilderment. "Eh?! For real?!" he exclaimed in confusion, possibly disappointed. "But we just got here!"

"Well, it's been an hour after all," Todomatsu shrugged with understanding, "We may be dressed in winter clothes, but that doesn't mean we wouldn't get bored of the outdoors at one point. Besides," he readjusted his pink boots, frowning as he did so, "the snow you threw at my back earlier managed to fall in my boots, so I don't think I'd want to move around here much longer."

Jyushimatsu only blinked with incomprehension, unable to understand his younger brother's main reason for wanting to go home. "So... the snow made your feet cold?" he questioned, mainly for uncertain confirmation. "How did that happen anyway?"

Instead of answering properly, Todomatsu stood up from his swing and turned so that Jyushimatsu could look at his side. "It hit here... then it fell like this," the younger brother explained, using hand gestures to point from his sleek coat's back to the small openings in his glossy boots' backsides.

"Ah, I see!" Jyushimatsu nodded in understanding. "So your feet are still wet now, right?"

Todomatsu nodded, though with an expression that showed that what Jyushimatsu said wasn't quite it. "Basically," he confirmed with a mild shrug. "Even Painfulmatsu wouldn't be able to hit me hard enough to that point."

Ichimatsu suddenly felt something strike through his chest. He instinctively jolted at the unexpected impact of the pain, and began to slightly quiver as it continued to burn his heart. Almost immediately after, Jyushimatsu and Todomatsu turned their heads around in curiosity. "What's wrong?" Todomatsu asked, his dark eyes blinking in obliviousness.

Ichimatsu felt a sweat drop slide down his cheek as he forced himself to look in his brothers' eyes. "No no, it's nothing," he muffled out of his stiff breath. He quickly waved his gloved hands in reassurance, hoping to detach their attention from him. "It's really nothing."

Todomatsu only raised a cynical eyebrow, then slowly nodded in acceptance of the suspicious answer. "Alright," he muttered. "So, where was I?"

Ugh, that was close... Internally groaning to himself, Ichimatsu wiped the sweat off of his face as he continued to watch Jyushimatsu and Todomatsu settle on the decision to return home. His stiff breath relaxed as Ichimatsu saw how Jyushimatsu and Todomatsu were talking about their previous topic again, as though their older brother didn't quiver in pain just seconds ago. It would've been bad if they found out...

"Ready to go home, Ichimatsu-niisan?" Jyushimatsu's voice suddenly perked up. Snapping out of his brief thought process, the mentioned brother turned to face Jyushimatsu with confusion. "Eh? We're going home now?" he inquired.

"Yeah!" Jyushimatsu nodded, locking eyes with Ichimatsu. He smiled without any hints of hesitation clouding his mind. "We can just play something later anyway, like checkers!" he pointed out.

"Ah, good choice," Ichimatsu agreed, slightly smiling in approval. He sat up from his swing and, turning his heel, nodded. "Let's get going, then."