Chapter Text
A week had passed since Reo visited 1nm8’s house. She had been texting with Rokuta every day since then, and they talked about all sorts of things. Their groups, animals, how they spent their days…But it wasn’t the same. She still really wanted to see him again.
She stirred her glass of juice with her straw as she sat at Bar 4/7’s counter while Shiki was watering the plants. Ryu was playing tug of war with Kuro Buchi and some other cats on the floor.
“Hey, Shiki?”
“Hmm?”
“How’d you figure out that you liked Nayuta?”
“Eh?!” Shiki’s cheeks turned pink, nearly dropping her spray bottle. “U-Um… it’s not really something I ‘figured out.’ It was a feeling that kind of snuck up on me after Nayuta-kun came back…And it was mutual, so everything just happened naturally.”
“Hmm…”
“Do you like someone, Reo-chan?”
“…I think I do.” Reo winced at herself for admitting it. “I haven’t known them for long, but all the time I’ve spent with them has felt really special. They’re so sweet and honest and cute, and the way they treat me and what we’ve done together has just been making me feel a lot of new things.”
Shiki smiled a tiny bit. “May I guess who it is?”
“Uh, I guess but it’s not very obvious—”
“Rokuta-kun.”
“UWAH!” Reo nearly fell out of her stool. “How’d you guess?!”
“Just from how you described him, and he talked about you a lot when he came by the other day.”
“…He did?”
“Mhm. He kept saying he wants to see you again.”
Reo didn’t know what to say. She looked down at the bar counter, feeling her face get hot.
Ryu scampered over, sniffing her. “Ooooooooh Reo-Reo is love buggin,” he said, a bit muffled with a cat toy in his mouth. “Just like Shikki’s always love buggin about Nayu-Nayu!”
Well. That was something to think about.
Reo realized that this all snuck up on her too. But it wasn’t the same as Shiki and Nayuta, who knew each other for years. Reo had only known Rokuta for a few weeks, and yet these feelings for him had lifted her up in a whirlwind of one surprise after another.
As she walked home from the bar, her phone buzzed with a text.
Rokuta: Lookie! We finally went clothes shopping!
In came a whole bunch of photos of Rokuta and his fellow 1nm8 members, trying on a lot of different clothes of many styles and colors. A lot of the pictures were a bit blurry, but they all got the point across. The clearest picture was of the three of them lined up wearing dresses that matched their image colors.
Reo smiled at it. Rokuta looked really happy in the picture, probably just excited to try something new. Meanwhile Itsuki seemed mildly bemused at best. And Kei had something of a deer in headlights look on his face; the dress he wore particularly suited him well, at least Reo would say so. But she didn’t dwell on that much; she was here for Rokuta.
Reo: Wow!! You all look great! Did you buy anything?
Rokuta: Yeah! We all bought stuff! Kei-chan got the most stuff which surprised me a lot!
Rokuta: Hey Reo hey reo I was wondering something
Reo: What is it what is it?
Rokuta: I wanna go on another walk with you! Tonight! (๑ > ᴗ < ๑)
Reo: Tonight??
Rokuta: Yeah! Can I come to your house and pick you up?
Reo: Uh sure! You can! I can send you my address :3
Rokuta: I’ll be at your house after midnight!
Reo: Ah can you wait by the gates right outside the house? I’ll come meet you there
Rokuta: Okay! I’ll text you when I’m there! ૮₍ > ᴥ < ₎ა
Reo: Okay! ₍^ >ヮ<^₎ .ᐟ.ᐟ
It wasn’t until after she hit send on that last text that she realized the gravity of what she agreed to.
It was on her mind for the rest of the day, until she found herself lying on her futon waiting for the text to come in. She was excited, but also nervous. Not because of Rokuta, but because what would Iori do if he saw her sneaking out?
Well…Aniki’s never gotten mad at the three of us; he makes Zen-nii do it for him. And I can usually convince Zen-nii to let me off pretty easy. So it’ll be fine regardless, right? Besides, they’re both already be at CANDY, so they definitely won’t catch me for sure! As long as I don’t come back super, super late…
At a little after 12:30AM, the text finally came.
Rokuta: Reeoooooo I’m outside your houseeeeee
Now or never. Reo tiptoed out of her room, as quiet as she could and shutting the door behind her. She put on her newest, cutest pair of sneakers before skittering through the garden, looking for Rokuta’s silhouette.
And there he was, illuminated by moonlight…or streetlights.
Reo ran straight to him without hesitating, throwing herself into his open arms and holding him tight, unbothered by how tight he held her in return.
“I missed you,” she said without thinking.
“I missed you too.” Rokuta smiled as he pulled away. “I wanna explore this part of the city with you. Can we go to a convenience store and compare how it’s different from the one near Kei-chan’s house?”
“Yeah! That’ll be fun.” Reo already knew that the differences between the stores would be minimal, but Rokuta seemed excited, so who was she to tell him that?
And it ended up being exciting for her too. Navigating the crowds, eating snacks and looking at trinkets at the convenience store, paying a visit to the street cats…They talked a lot too. Reo talked about her family, school, her friends, and her online shenanigans of teasing Kenta. And Rokuta would talk about Kei, Itsuki, Hachi, karaage, and his solo adventures. And no matter how much either one talked about one thing, it never seemed to get boring.
Through it all, Reo knew she could have done all of these things at any other time with any other person.
But doing it all at this hour made it all a little magical, somehow.
And besides, she was with Rokuta. And that alone made everything special.
Reo snuck out with Rokuta a couple nights later, despite having school that next day.
And then she did it again. And again. And again…
“Reo?”
Reo flinched at the table, stopping her from dozing off. “Wha…”
“Are you okay?” Hokusai asked. “You’ve been so sleepy lately.”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Reo smiled. “Just…I’m fine.”
“Say, Zen,” Iori said, adjusting himself in his cushion seat. “Did you happen to hear any noises the past few nights when we were settling into bed after work? Like little critter feet running near the garden.”
“Why, yes I have, Waka,” Zen said as he passed out the plates of food at the table. “They were too light of footsteps to be an intruder, but it is still concerning…”
“It sure is. Next time I outta get up and see who it is—”
“It’s a raccoon,” Satsuki spoke up.
“Oh? Did you see it, Satsuki-kun?” Zen asked.
“Yeah, I got up to see what was up when I heard it last night. It ran off as soon as it saw me.”
“Raccoons are cute,” Hokusai said. “We should leave some food out for it.”
“Y-Yeah, we should,” Reo nodded along with the conversation.
“Hmm, we’ll see about what to do with it,” Iori said, looking more at the food than at anyone else in the room. “Hopefully it’ll figure out on its own it’s meant to stay out of our turf.”
After the meal, everyone dispersed. But Reo stayed behind in the kitchen, where Satsuki was washing the dishes.
“Hey,” she said. “You knew it was me, didn’t you? Did you actually see me?”
“I didn’t need to see shit to know it was you.” Satsuki kept looking down at the sink. “You’re running around with that 1nm8 guy, aren’t ya?”
“…Is it really that obvious?”
“Yeah, it fuckin’ is. I dunno what to think of that kid. But I know what it’s like…to really, really like someone, so I’ll do you a solid here just this once.”
“You’re not just doing this so I can put in a good word with Anne-san for you, right?”
“WHA— NO. NO I’M…Just wanna help my sis out.”
“Hmm…Maybe I’ll pay you back for this one day.” Reo grinned, stepping over to hug Satsuki’s arm and kiss his cheek. “Thanks, Satsuki-chan~”
Satsuki looked away from her. “’s whatever…Just don’t keep sneakin’ every single night. Aniki’s gonna catch on sooner or later.”
Reo nodded. Hopefully it would be later…No, it would definitely be later.
With that in mind, she had no worries about sneaking out again that night.
Even though she crashed in bed right after she finished talking to Satsuki, missing an outing she was supposed to go on with the hostesses.
And she fell asleep during class, and she got scolded by the teacher for doing poorly on a quiz.
So what if all the other nights of sneaking out were slightly catching up with her? Everything was still fine.
She was certain of that as she ran into Rokuta’s arms, giggling as he lifted her up and spun her around. He was a few minutes later than usual, but that was fine.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said as he set her down. “When I was in the bath I kind of blanked out and ended up staying in longer than I usually do.”
“It’s okay,” Reo said, grabbing his hand to start walking. “I know that feeling, when it’s so relaxing that you wanna stay in forever, but you have to get out eventually or else you’ll end up looking like a raisin~”
“Mmmh…I guess it was something like that?”
The first stop of the night was the convenience store. There were a lot of tasty snacks on display. Reo grabbed a strawberry sandwich and some chocolates, smiling to herself knowing Zen would have a cow if he knew she was eating sweets.
“Oooh, look!” Rokuta picked up a sukiyaki onigiri. “I’ve never seen this kind of onigiri before. I can’t wait to try it!”
Reo blinked in confusion. “Uh, Rokuta…?”
“Hm?”
“You ate that when we came here the other day.”
“…I did? Hm.”
Once they had their snacks, they went to the spot where Luna and the other stray cats from the area gathered at night. They were all very docile and friendly. Even a mother cat was feeding her kittens out in the open, letting her head be pet.
“Uwah, the mama cat had her babies!” Rokuta crouched down to look at them. “They’re so tiny~”
“Um, the babies were born last week, remember?” Reo said. “They’re even a little bigger now.”
“…Oh. Oh, yeah.”
After that, the two of them just walked aimlessly along the path, hand in hand. It was rather quiet, with there being even fewer additional passerby than usual. The quiet was starting to feel a little unsettling, so she started up some conversation.
“Oh, oh, I have a new story about Shibaken,” she grinned. “I posted a selfie on Twitter the other day, and Shibaken had the nerve to comment on it all like, ‘imagine having the gall to show your face on this website with those tacky ass earrings.’ And it made me soooooo mad but I wasn’t gonna let him know that, right? And then I replied, ‘imagine saying this about someone you’re following but they don’t follow you back.’ And like, I would follow him back because I do like him and stuff but it’s just really funny to provoke him and make him say something all cocky and then fire back with ‘okay but you’re the one following me.’ So then he—”
“Reo?” Rokuta’s voice was soft.
“Yeah?”
“What’s a Shibaken?”
“…Y’know, Shibaken. That kid from Goku Luck. I’ve talked about him a few times before.”
“What’s Goku Luck?”
“Y’know…that team of prisoners and their guard. My family beat them a few weeks ago, and now you guys are gonna go up against them and those other two teams in the consolation match. Though, I dunno who’s idea it was to just throw all of you guys in one big match. Like, that's really unfair to all of you, right? They should've done a loser’s bracket or something.”
“Y…Yeah.” Rokuta looked down at the concrete, his steps slowing down.
Reo stopped. “H-Hey, are you okay? Do you wanna stop somewhere for a sec?”
Rokuta nodded silently.
They sat down together at the nearest bench, Reo pulling Rokuta over while he kept his eyes on the ground.
“What’s wrong, Rokuta?” she asked.
“I…” Rokuta’s voice came out even softer, and a bit shakier. “I’m sorry, Reo. I keep forgetting more and more stuff lately. It’s getting really bad now.”
“Hey, it’s okay! I know you can be forgetful at times. I can help you with remembering stuff better if you want.”
“It’s not just that I’m forgetful. It…it’s getting worse. Like, a lot worse…”
"What…do you mean?”
Rokuta took a deep breath. “Ever since we started doing this Paradox Live stuff,” he said, “my brain has been a little, uh…messed up. I mean, it always has, but it got worse…”
“Wait, since back then? Before we even met?”
“Eh? We hadn’t met before then?” Rokuta buried his head in his hands. “Unnhhh…I don’t like this…None of my memories seem right.”
Reo put a comforting hand on Rokuta’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Rokuta…that sounds really scary.”
“It is…and…” Rokuta sniffled. “A-And…I’m really scared. What if I forget something really important? Someone really important again?”
“Again?”
“Like Kei-chan…Kei-chan is my brother, by blood. But we got separated…Bad things happened to me, and I forgot him. Itsuki-nii was with me instead, so I thought of him as my big brother instead. Now the three of us are together. They both take care of me and are nice to me, but something in my head won’t let me see Kei-chan as my brother no matter what.”
Reo stayed quiet at that. The only blood relatives she ever had were her parents, and if she were to completely forget them one day, there wouldn't be much lost. But if she were to forget the family she had now…nothing sounded scarier than that. “Do you want to see him as your brother?”
“I do!” Rokuta exclaimed, looking at her with teary eyes. “I really, really do! And Kei-chan makes it seem so easy…he looks at me and Itsuki-nii and says ‘both of you are my brothers now’ like it's some instant thing. But I look at Kei-chan and can only see someone who happened to save us and treat us with kindness…Why can it go both ways?”
“You can’t force being a family, Rokuta,” Reo said. “It happens naturally. Maybe you’ll end up seeing him as a brother again one day! And if you don’t, that’s okay too! Your heart decides who your family is; nothing and no one else can chose for you. Especially not just blood. Just give it time and see.”
“…I don’t think I have that much time left, though,” Rokuta murmured.
Reo’s blood went cold. “What?”
Rokuta lifted his head, smiling at Reo like none of that conversation even just happened, though fresh tears still brimmed at the corners of his eyes. “Reo. Can I tell you something? Before I forget?”
“O-Okay…” As long as it’s not as scary as the rest of this.
“Even though I forget a lot of things all the time, I haven’t forgotten you even once. Maybe I forget some of the things we do together, but I never forget anything about you. Like, all the things I learn about you. Like how much you like cute clothes and shoes, and you play those games on your phone, and you like sweets, and your charm point is everything about you! And you love all your brothers and tell me all about them. Like the tall one is nice and likes cats and is friends with Ryu, and the orange one gets in fights with you a lot and you act like he just annoys you but you really love him. And your Zen-nii is all buff and takes good care of you all and it’s always easy for you to make him do what you want, and your Aniki is really cool and he’s someone you look up to!”
Reo smiled, a warm and fuzzy feeling taking over her heart. “Wow…you remembered all of that?”
“Mhm! It’s easy to remember stuff about you, because I’ve got a crush on you! And besides, your face is so pretty I don’t think I could ever forget it, ehe~”
Reo was frozen. She needed a moment to thaw out a bit before she could pick up her jaw off the ground.
Did…did he just say that he…
“Wait, so…you like me?” she asked.
Rokuta cocked his head to the side. “Hm? Of course I like you.”
“No, I mean like as in…like-like. Like you wanna be more than just friends.”
“Like…like…Can I add more likes to that? Like this: like-like-like-like-like-like-like!”
“If you want to!”
“Okay!” Rokuta fully faced Reo, taking her hands as he beamed at her. His rosy cheeks glowed under the streetlights. “I like-like-like-like-like-like-like you a lot, Reo!”
Reo smiled back, squeezing his hands as best as she could. “I like-like-like-like-like-like-like you too, Rokuta!”
Their gazes and smiles were locked on each other. But there was a sudden heavy silence that fell on them.
“Um…what do we do now?” Rokuta asked. “Do we kiss or something?”
“I mean…” Reo looked away a bit, suddenly aware of how warm her face felt now, “we could kiss, if you want.”
“I wanna…Can I try?”
“Mhm.”
Rokuta slowly leaned forward, his shutting as he pressed his lips to Reo’s.
Reo would never, ever admit to anyone that this was her first kiss, but…it was. And she wouldn’t want it any other way. It wasn’t perfect, of course; it was quite short, and Rokuta’s lips were a little chapped. But Reo didn’t care at all. In fact, as soon as he pulled away, she chased his lips with a kiss of her, though she mostly got the corner of his mouth than his lips.
They both giggled, leaning in to trade more clumsy kisses under the flickering streetlight.
Or maybe it was moonlight?
But after a while, Rokuta pulled away, a pensive look on his face. “Hey, Reo? I think I need to take you home soon.”
“Hm? How late has it gotten?” Reo went to grab her phone out of her pocket to check the time…
4AM, on the dot.
“Oh no…Aniki and Zen-nii are definitely home from work by now…”
“Yeah, and uh…” Rokuta swayed a bit in his seat, his gaze unfocused. “I…I’ll need to go home soon too.”
“Are you okay? You don’t look well.”
“I- I’m fine! I just need to get you home, and then go home myself…”
“Y-Yeah, let’s go.” Reo hopped off the bench, grabbing Rokuta’s hands and pulling him up onto his feet.
Though it wasn’t that far of a walk, it felt like it took ages to get back to Reo’s house. It didn’t help that Rokuta kept almost tripping along the way. But it was fine…they were almost there, and everyone would still be asleep, so it wasn’t like anything would happen---
They both stopped in their tracks when they got to the house and saw three people standing at the porch, obviously waiting for the two of them.
“A-Aniki…Zen-nii…”
“Kei-chan…”
“Well, hello there, kiddos!” Iori said, plastering on a smile that most people would assume was perfectly jovial. But the Suiseki-gumi knew that smile as the very one that always appeared right before Iori took someone’s life.
“We’re going home, Rokuta,” Kei said, a quiver in his voice that betrayed his usual demeanor.
“I’ll drive you two.” Zen walked forward, ushering the two away.
Rokuta followed, only giving a nervous glance to Reo as a goodbye.
There was not much choice but to follow Iori into the house. She felt like she shrank a bit with every step she took. She knew all too well she had upset him. Disappointed him.
“A-Aniki, I—”
“Don’t.” Iori held up a hand, not turning to look at her. “Get your ass in bed, right now. We’ll talk at mealtime.”
“But…But I just wanna explain—”
He swiftly turned around, a hellish glare flashing like lightning in his eyes, his voice booming like thunder. “I SAID NOW!”
Reo ran to her room as fast as her legs would carry her, throwing herself onto her futon as tears seared down her cheeks.
She was only able to sleep after she tired herself out from crying.
Reo never had such a heavy sleep in a long time.
She slowly sat up, checking the time on her phone. It was already 2:30PM.
Since it’s so late, maybe I missed the time when I have to talk to Aniki.
Or so she thought, until she got to the table and found Iori sitting there. A hot plate of food was placed at her usual spot.
“Sit down,” Iori said. “Eat, and then we’ll talk.”
Reo nodded slight as she made her way to sit down on the cushion. She ate her meal slowly, keeping her head down the whole time. She felt Iori’s gaze burning into her the whole time, and she couldn’t bear to look into it. Still, the warm food gave her some comfort in this difficult moment. She pushed the plate forward once she ate her fill.
“You all done?” Iori asked. “Don’t need anything else?”
Reo shook her head, finally looking at him. “I’m fine, Aniki.”
“Alright. Now, let’s talk.” Iori took a deep breath. “I’m so, so sorry I snapped at you. That must have been scary, huh?”
“Yeah…”
“I knew I needed to cool down before we had this conversation. Cuz you know, I got up to all sorts of trouble when I was a kid. I did even crazier shit than what you've been doin’. And the old man…Well, he wasn’t exactly gentle about teaching me a lesson after the fact.”
Reo blinked. “But…the old man loved you, didn’t he? He loved all of us.”
“Of course he did. But people like him…people like me…from how we were raised, love and fear and anger make a bad combo, and it comes out in a not-so-good way. That’s why I usually let Zen take care of disciplining you three. I don’t want to end up hurting you.”
“You didn’t hurt me, Aniki. You were upset because…I hurt you.”
“…That you did.” Iori nodded. “Let’s talk about that. Why did you keep sneaking out?”
“I thought it was fun…Rokuta does it almost every night, and going with him was really special.”
“But you knew I wouldn’t want you to do it, specially not every night to the point that you’re losin’ sleep.”
“I know.”
“And it’s not just because I think somethin’s off about these 1nm8 kids. I just…” Iori exhaled shakily. “God, Reo…So many things could happen to you while you’re by yourself at night…What if you snuck out one night and didn’t come back? What if something happened to you?”
Reo looked down at the table. In the lines etched into the wood, she pictured her family waking up at daylight and finding that she was gone, fearing that they had lost yet another member. “I…I dunno…I guess I wasn’t thinking of that. But I should have.”
“Yeah, you should’ve. And it’s a damn miracle nothing happened. Like, if you just talked to me about this at all before, it’d be a different story. I tried to give you an out to just tell me, but you let Satsuki cover for you. I gave you a chance to be honest with me and you didn’t take it.”
“Satsuki isn’t in trouble too, is he?”
“Don’t worry about that. This isn’t about either of you being in trouble. This is about getting you to understand why I don’t want you to keeping secrets like this. And I know I’m not always super honest with y’all. But if I keep somethin’ from you, it’s to protect you. But in this case, you bein’ honest with me is what would have protected you.”
“I understand…I’m really sorry, Aniki.”
“It’s okay, honey.” Iori reached his arm out to pull Reo into a tight hug.
She squeezed him tightly, pressing her forehead against his shoulder. “And…please don’t hate Rokuta for any of this. It was my idea to sneak, not his. He’s really honest…and sweet, and strong, and…I just really like him so much."
“Really honest, sweet, strong…Hm. Sounds familiar somehow. Specially the strong part.” Iori smiled a little, bringing his hand to pet Reo’s hair. “But I don’t doubt what you say about him. Out of the three of ‘em, your little friend seems the most trustworthy. As long as he keeps treating you well, I see no reason to stop you from seeing him. But you two need to find something better than sneaking out after midnight all the time.”
“I know. I’ll talk to him about it.”
“And you can talk to him about it…as soon as you’re not grounded.”
Reo’s eyes went wide. “Ehh?! Grounded?!”
“That’s right, little lady. For one week. No sneakin’ out, no goin’ out with the girls, no texting other than for emergencies, and definitely none of that gotcha phone thing. And you’re goin’ to bed right after you finish your homework.”
“Hmmph…Okay. I’ll miss getting to talk to Rokuta.”
“I know you will. But hey, 1nm8’s gonna be in the consolation round in a few days, right? Give ‘im some space to get ready for that, then you can cheer him on at the show.”
“Oh, yeah…Can I come to show to see him?”
“Of course! Everyone else is gonna be there. Grounded or not, Suiseki-gumi’s very own princess should be there too~”
Reo grinned, bouncing a bit in her seat and nuzzling more against Iori. “I can’t wait, I can’t wait!”
To say that Reo was stunned by Rokuta’s performance at consolation was an understatement.
She was mesmerized. Enchanted.
She had already been under his spell. It seemed a video of him and Kei playing piano went viral a few days before the show; Satsuki secretly showed it to her since she couldn’t use her phone. Not getting to see or talk to him before then already made her desperate, and this was just the cherry on top.
Rokuta’s verses in 1nm8’s new song were full of the wonder and energy that she knew him for. He seemed completely rejuvenated from when she last saw him. It was absolutely perfect.
Kenta’s team was cool too, Reo supposed. But not that cool; it wasn't like they were gonna win or anything. Regardless, her focus was all over Rokuta.
She looked everywhere for him as soon as the show was over. But she didn’t have to look for long.
“Reeeeoooooooo!!!~” He was running at top speed towards her with his arms wide open.
“Rokutaaaaaa!!~” She jumped into his arms, letting him lift her and spin her around rapidly. She kissed his cheek as he started to slow down. “You did great!~”
“Ehe, thanks~” Rokuta giggled. He pressed his forehead against hers before setting her down. “I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too. I really want to spend time with you again.”
“Me too. Can you come back with us? A lot happened since last time, and there’s so much I wanna tell you about.”
Reo froze up. She turned around and looked at her family. They were all standing there, as protective as ever. Satsuki was still glaring daggers at Rokuta.
“Um…Aniki…” Reo shifted in place. “Could I maybe…?”
Iori huffed out a breath before exhaling. “Alright.”
“Eh? Waka, isn’t she still grounded?” Zen asked.
“Ehhhh a week’s too long anyway. She’s learned her lesson.” Iori’s geta clacked on the floor as he stepped up to the two of them, pointing a finger at Rokuta. “If you take her out, have her inside no later than 2:30. I'll be in touch with your leader; if he tells me you were even a minute late, I’m lockin’ her in a tower. Got it?”
“Okay, Reo’s Aniki!” Rokuta said. “Ah, I’ll write it down in a sec just in case.”
Iori reached to pat Reo’s head. “Be safe, okay? Call me if anything happens.”
“Okay,” Reo nodded.
She took a moment to hug all of her family goodbye before watching them leave the venue together. She intended to listen to Iori’s wishes and be considerate of his worries. He only wanted to protect her, after all. Even without the losses they all suffered, that’s just the way he was, and she loved him for that.
“Let’s go, Reo!” Rokuta said, taking her hand and pulling her with him towards Kei and Itsuki (and Hachi, whom Itsuki brought with them for some reason).
Reo smiled, keeping up the pace with him. She was so excited for everything she’d get to do during her time with him.
Especially after midnight.