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Touya returns Fuyumi’s blank stare until Keigo elbows him. “Hello. Can we come in or is dinner outside?”
Fuyumi blinks and moves out of the way. “Hi. It’s just a surprise to see Hawks.”
“His name is Keigo,” Touya says. “Birdie, put your shoes down neatly.”
Fuyumi watches Kumi huff and pick her shoes up. Birdie?
“Carry me,” Kumi says, holding her arms up in front of Keigo.
“Why?”
“Atsu says I’m a princess. Princesses deserve to be carried. Plus, you haven’t carried me in a whole week. That’s a crime.”
Keigo grins and picks Kumi up. “Well, I can’t argue with that logic.”
“We need to add another two place settings,” Fuyumi tells her mother as she leads the three of them to the table.
Enji and Shoto look very excited to see Kumi.
“Why is your hair long?” Touya blurts out, staring at Shoto.
“Why is your face purple?”
“Shoto!” Natsuo hisses.
Keigo snickers. He looks away when Touya turns to him. “I didn’t say anything.”
“Hey, niisan,” Natsuo says, “when are you ungrounding Tenko?”
Touya recoils. “He’s grounded for sneaking boys into my house so really it’s your fault.”
“You snuck in?” Enji asks.
“I didn’t sneak in!”
“You snuck in through Miko’s room two nights ago,” Keigo says. “You tripped over Kumi’s stuffed bear.”
Natsuo glares at Keigo. “That thing was half my height. It’s demonic.”
“Don’t call Kuma-san demonic! You’re ugly!”
Enji is suddenly very thirsty, trying to hide laughter behind a cup.
Fuyumi and Rei return with two more place settings and shove Natsuo closer to Shoto to put the three seats together.
“Oi, chicken.”
Keigo, who was making funny faces at Natsuo, looks up. “Hm?”
“You haven’t met my mother yet.”
“Oh. Hello.”
Rei smiles. “Please, have a seat.”
“Niisan,” Fuyumi says, “you could’ve told us you were bringing Kumi and H- Keigo over.”
Touya frowns. “Why wouldn’t I bring them? You said it was a family dinner.”
Everyone at the table stops and stares at the three of them.
Enji leans towards Fuyumi. “Better start buying baking ingredients.”
Kumi tugs on Keigo’s sleeve. “Papa, I want juice.”
“Ha!” Shoto shouts, nearly jumping up. “I told you! Cough up the wedding fund, old man!”
“Touya Papa’s family is weird,” Kumi tells Keigo.
“It’s okay, angel.”
Touya sighs loudly in the silence. “I know.”
“Wait,” Natsuo says slowly, “so Kumi is . . . yours?”
“Yeah? Who did you think she belonged to?”
“Twice.”
“Tenko,” Fuyumi says.
“Toga,” Rei says.
Touya glares at Shoto and Enji, who point to Keigo and Touya respectively.
“I don’t like you,” Kumi tells Enji, and it’s a little funny to watch the life leave Enji’s eyes. She turns to Rei. “You seem nice.”
Rei smiles. “Thank you, Kumi.”
Kumi gasps. “How do you know my name?”
“Natsu told us!” Fuyumi says. “Natsu talks about you a lot.”
“Oh. Well, that’s because Natsu loves me lots. Everyone loves me at least a little bit.”
“And why is that?” Rei asks, a little amused.
“Because I’m Hinotori Kumi and I’m the greatest ever!”
“Oi, greatest ever,” Touya says, “eat your food.”
Kumi scowls at Touya. “Feed me.”
“No.”
“Kei Papa, feed me, please?”
Keigo gives her a smile. “If you feed yourself, I’ll let you play video games a little later than normal with Shuichi and Tenko tomorrow night.”
“Fine.”
“Good girl.”
“Hino . . . tori?” Shoto asks, tilting his head slightly.
Kumi nods. “That’s my name!”
Shoto squints at Keigo. “I never knew your family name was Hinotori.”
“It wasn’t but it is now,” Kumi tells her plate. “Kei Papa says we chose it because it matches my quirk a little bit.”
“What is your quirk?” Enji asks.
“I can breathe fire. It gets big and super hot — I think. It doesn’t feel hot to me but Touya Papa says it’s very hot. And then, when I stop, the fire flies away like a little birdie.”
“Can you sh-”
“No,” Touya says, staring at Enji.
There is no hatred in his gaze, just a firmness that says it won't be possible to change his mind. The air around the table gets thicker and seems to weigh down on them all.
Keigo reaches behind Kumi to take Touya’s hand.
Kumi, who seemed to have gone unaffected by the sudden change in mood, looks up from her plate and stares at Enji. “Touya Papa doesn’t trust you. I don’t want to show you my quirk.”
Touya pats her head. “Eat your food, birdie.”
“Okay.” Kumi turns to Rei. “It’s very tasty.”
Rei clears her throat and puts on a smile for Kumi. “Oh, I just helped. Fuyumi cooked most of the food.”
Kumi stares at Fuyumi. “Yumi can cook?! Yumi’s awesome. Better than Touya Papa.”
Touya’s mouth falls open. Fuyumi grins.
“I love Yumi’s food.”
“Wow,” Touya drawls. “Thanks for stealing my kid, Yumi.”
Maybe it’s the ease with which he accuses Fuyumi of stealing Kumi, like he’s aware that he’s kidding around. Or maybe it’s the nickname that he gave her when it was just the two of them. Something makes Fuyumi tear up as she smiles.
Kumi punches Touya’s leg. “You made Yumi cry! Apologise! Shuichi says making people cry is bad!”
“I’ll skin that fucking lizard,” Touya mutters under his breath.
“Swear jar!” Kumi shouts.
“Angel, we don’t actually have a swear jar.”
“We should get one. And when it’s full, me and Shuichi get to spend it because Shuichi doesn’t swear and I’m the baby.” Kumi leans forward to look at Natsuo. “Do you have a swear jar?”
“I don’t swear.”
“Bullshit,” Touya says. “I can hear you in Tenko’s room, you know.”
Fuyumi gasps and Enji pales like he’s seen a ghost.
“Not like that!” Natsuo cries. “Why do you have to say it like that?! We were playing Mario Kart and I was losing! God, you’re horrible!”
“Don’t call my papa horrible,” Kumi snaps. “Only me and Kei Papa are allowed to. And Tenko sometimes.”
“Yeah? Well I’m your papa’s little brother so that means I have rights.”
Kumi stares at Natsuo with wide eyes. “You’re Papa’s brother?”
“Birdie, what did you think I meant when I said you’re going to meet your grandparents today?”
“I didn’t know what grandparents meant!”
Keigo stifles a snort and looks away from Kumi, only to see Enji and Rei staring at Kumi with adoration and tears in their eyes.
“Wait,” Shoto says after a moment, “so who wins the bet? Me or the old man?”
“Bet?” Keigo asks. “What bet?”
“Oh, we had a bet on whose kid Kumi is,” Natsuo says. “We tried to exclude the old man for saying it was Touya-nii.”
“They also tried to ignore me for saying it was you,” Shoto tells Keigo.
“Ouch,” Keigo says.
“Anyway, answer the question. My wedding budget depends on the answer.”
“What?” Touya says. “She’s ours. Mine and his.”
“Did you lay an egg?” Natsuo asks Keigo after a moment of silence.
“No!”
“Miko says there was a quirk accident one day and I fell into Kei Papa’s arms.”
“Actually, you kind of just appeared on the floor.”
“I like Miko’s version better.”
“She wasn’t even there.”
“I still like it better.”
“Wait,” Shoto says. “If Kumi was a quirk accident, then does that mean we both win?”
“I guess,” Fuyumi says.
“Wait, back up,” Touya says. “You’re getting married? Aren’t you, like, sixteen?”
Shoto’s mouth falls open. “I turned twenty-three in January, you ass!”
“Huh? Wait, how old am I?”
“Thirty-one, baby.”
Touya cringes. “I’m in my thirties?”
Kumi pats Touya’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Papa. I always knew you were just an old guy.”
Touya looks like he wants to cry.
“Give him a minute,” Keigo says. “He’s not used to the concept of aging. Last week, he realised that Kumi is turning seven in November and tried to ground everyone in the house.”
“Shut up, chicken.”
“I’m gonna be as old as Maki one day,” Kumi announces.
“And who is Maki?” Rei asks.
“Maki is my friend in Hiroshima. She lives with a nice lady named Hamasaki. She has a little brother who’s my age. Maki is suuuuuuuper pretty! She has cute pink hair and pretty brown eyes. She looks like a real princess.”
“Oh, for a second there, I wondered if you two had another child.”
Kumi’s eyes light up.
“No,” Touya tells her immediately.
“I didn’t even say anything!”
“You were a handful. I will cry if I have to go through putting a two-year-old to bed again.”
“Aw, it wasn’t that bad,” Keigo says.
“Are you delusional or are you losing memory already?”
“I can confirm,” Rei says, “two-year-olds are quite the nuisance. Touya, you refused to sleep in your own room and when I let you sleep with me, you’d kick your father in the face.”
“Oh, so that’s hereditary, then?” Touya asks, rubbing his nose as though he can still feel the sting of Kumi’s kicks.
Kumi frowns. “What’s hereditary?”
“Passed down,” Keigo says.
“Oh, like genes?”
“Mhm.”
“Hey, I never kicked you in the face!”
“Miko has a video of you doing it, birdie.”
“Oh. But it’s not fair that Maki has a little brother and you have a little brother. I want one too.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Wh- I’ll be a good big sister! Just like Maki and Yumi!”
“I’ll . . . think about it.”
Kumi beams. Fuyumi gives her an excited thumbs up.
“Well,” Rei says, “I think this has been my favourite family dinner since I got back. We should do this again.”
“Yeah!” Kumi cheers.
“Would you like some dessert, Kumi? We have chocolate ice cream.”
Kumi turns to Keigo. “Can I have chocolate ice cream?” she whispers.
Keigo nods and whispers back, “but we have to clean up first.”
“Okay.”
And to Rei’s great surprise, Kumi picks up her empty dishes and walks to the kitchen. “She . . . picks up after herself? Touya never did when he was that age.”
“Don’t embarrass me,” Touya grumbles.
“What are you laughing at?” Enji asks Natsuo. “You were worse.”
Natsuo shuts up instantly.
Dinner becomes dessert and Touya wants to crawl into a hole and die because Keigo and Rei seem to have a lot of fun sharing embarrassing stories about him. Eventually, Kumi tires herself out and Touya decides it’s time to leave.
“Thanks for not arresting my papas,” Kumi tells Shoto tiredly. “You’re a good hero.”
Shoto tries not to look too happy about that, but his little blush gives him away.
“Bye bye, everybody!” Kumi calls before curling into a ball and tucking her head under Keigo’s chin.
“She’s beautiful,” Rei tells Touya before he steps out of the house. “You did good.”
“You . . . you’re doing better. It’s nice. It’s a little late, but . . . it’s nice.”
Rei smiles. “Thank you for coming. Next time, bring your whole family. I’d like to meet them all.”
Touya nods. “I’ll think about it.”
“Papa!” Kumi calls. “Giri’s waiting!”
Touya lets Rei hug him before stepping outside, stopping in front of Enji.
“Sorry about the car. I didn’t think he’d go that far.”
Enji shrugs. “He had a point to make.”
“Did you get it?”
“I think so.”
“Then maybe I’ll stop grounding him.”
“Yes!” Natsuo whispers behind Fuyumi.
“I said maybe. You better stop sneaking into my house at ass o’clock in the morning first.”
“I just wanna play games,” Natsuo grumbles. “My shifts are only every second day. I get bored.”
“Then tell your ugly boyfriend to start sneaking out of my house.”
“We are not dating!”
“Papa!” Kumi whines. “It’s bedtime!”
Touya lets Rei hug him once more before he heads towards the portal, guiding Keigo through first.
As soon as the portal closes, Shoto turns to Enji. “You’re going to be bankrupt after the wedding.”