Chapter Text
Gather ‘round everyone, as I regale you with a tale. A tale about a young boy by the name of Sunny Suzuki who will spend Christmas with his family at the esteemed Suzuki Mansion.
… What was that? Am I aware that Christmas has long since passed and I’m four months late to the party? Uhh… anyway.
The youngest of the Suzuki/Musōka family was rather excited at the prospect. The idea of spending three days and two nights with all of his cousins and family members sounded so much fun to the young lad.
“Arf!”
Paired with the fact that he can bring his beagle puppy Onion along, AND his friends are coming as well?! It sounded like a dream come true!
There’s just one problem.
“Why do I have to wear this suit?” The cloth prison that constricted Sunny was slowly getting on his nerves.
“I already told you Sunny.” Halley Suzuki, having finished up applying her cosmetics she gave her son her full attention. “Your Grandma hosts these Christmas Parties every year. You know how she is with her dress codes.”
“Because she wanted to do ou… outree…”
“Outreach, Sunny.” Yamaha Suzuki corrected.
“Outreach.”
“Good.” He smiled, the signs of Sunny’s mental progression made him proud. “Anyway, outreach is important, Sunny. Especially when you’re an adult.”
“But why?”
Yamaha pondered how to go from here. While Sunny is a smart cookie for his age, he’s still only four years old. “So… you know how you work at Sweet Heart’s every Saturday?” Sunny nodded, “Well how did you get that job?”
“... By talking to Ms. Hart?”
“Exactly. What you did was a form of outreach. Outreaching is a way to get people to know who you are so you can get a job.”
“Ohh…” Everything started clicking for Sunny. “So what is Grandma outreaching for?”
“Well you know what the Suzukis are known for right?”
“Music stuff.”
“Right. The reason why we have so much money is because your Grandma works so hard to get jobs so we can make money. Without that then we wouldn’t have the fancy mansion.”
While Yamaha’s explanation was mostly in layman's terms, the explanation caused Sunny’s world view to radically expand. He knew how important money was, he wouldn’t be working ten million jobs if he didn’t. But to think it went much deeper than just having it… “Man, that sounds boring.” Mari meanwhile, didn’t care as much. Having been staring out the window and half paying attention the whole time.
“Hahaha.” But Yamaha just chuckled at his daughter's blunt comment, “I thought so too when I was your age, but you’ll understand the importance of it when you’re older.”
“Being older sounds boring.”
“Hah!” Now it’s Halley’s turn to let out a laugh, “You don’t know the half of it, Mari.”
“You two just enjoy being kids while we adults do adult things. Speaking of…” Yamaha pulled up to a massive gate, the Suzuki Family Insignia is on the center of it. “Hey, it’s Yamaha. I’m here with my family.”
“Of course sir, I assume you recall where the parking space is correct?”
“Yeah I remember, thanks again Charles.” Wait… this place has its own Parking Lot? Rich people I swear…
“Of course, also there’s a chance it’ll snow late at night so we will place snow covers over your car at the earliest convenience.” AND complimentary snow covers?! Rich people I swear…
Ahem… sorry I lost myself there for a second. Anyway Yamaha pulled the family Sedan into the complimentary rich folk parking. “Okay Sunny you get Onion into the house while we deal with all the presents.”
“Wha– Why does he get to get out of carrying the presents?”
“He’s not.” Halley said before handing Sunny a small little baggie, “He’s carrying a Ms. Holly’s present inside too.”
Mari has officially started hating the injustices of being a smol baby child as she unbuckled her seat belt to carry the vast amount of presents they got for their cousins. Sunny meanwhile carried Onion and all of her stuff along with the present for Ms. Holly into the house–
“Aah Young Sunny.” Only to be stopped by a middle aged man in a suit.
“Oh, hi Mr. Chauncey.” Sunny greeted–
“Arf!” Sorry… Sunny AND Onion greeted.
“The Mistress has forewarned me about you bringing your dog with you. I’m sure Lady will like her.”
“I’m sure she will too. Oh and I potty trained her already, so you don’t have to worry about that.”
“I’m pleased to hear that, now please enjoy the festivities Young Sunny.” Sunny didn’t need to be told twice as he carried the Onion Box™ into the main living room before setting it down gently.
“Alright, come out Onion.” Sunny reached into the big box and pulled out his loyal puppy companion.
“Arf!” Onion immediately scanned the living room, taking in her surroundings. “Arf! Arf arf!” It’s clear the beagle puppy was eager to explore the massive mansion.
“Arf?” But not before an adult American Cocker Spaniel gave Onion an ocular pat down.
“Hi Lady.” Sunny greeted, giving the dog of the Suzuki family her required scritches, “This is Onion, she’s my puppy. Onion this is Lady, she’s my grandma’s dog.”
The two canines glanced at each other, as if silently communicating. “Arf.” Before Lady nudged her head towards the kitchen, as if beckoning Onion to follow.
“Arf!” Onion responded by excitedly wagging her little tail before following close behind, leaving her owner behind in the living room.
“Lady will show her where the doggie doors are. I should take out Onion’s things.” After vocalizing his next steps, Sunny dug into the box and pulled out the supplies to ensure Onion is able to live comfortably in the Suzuki Mansion for the coming days
Her bed, her toys, some of her favorite treats that Sunny miiiight have smuggled inside, and most important of all… Onion’s favorite blanket. Which, fun fact, used to be Sunny’s old blanket. But the minute Onion came home from her adoption she promptly stole it and refused to let it out of her sight because it smelled just like her owner. Puppy Tax™, it gets us all.
Now all that’s left is to fish out Onion’s food and water bowls and it’s all se– wait. What’s the envelope looking thing that’s sitting in the bowl? Oh God no… no I was looking forward to a normal Christmas story here…
“Sunny! Are ya done yet? Hurry up and help us here!” Mari exclaimed, causing Sunny to scramble and shove the letter into his back pocket.
“C-Coming Mari!”
Oh Lord have mercy this is not gonna end well for me…
…
After helping Mari and his family unload the presents onto the… bizarrely barren plastic Christmas Tree, Mari was… kinda upset. She entered her ‘don’t talk to me I’m angy’ mode, and was ignoring Sunny for leaving her with present duty. Oh seven year olds…
Well at least Mari found a girl to latch onto for their stay. A girl who… bizarrely enough looked exactly like her. The only difference is that her hair is slightly more frazzled and unkempt. Oh well, genetics are weird.
Anyway now that Sunny is alone and no one was watching him, he had ample time to read that mysterious letter. It’s probably nothing importa–
Dear Sunny Suzuki,
I have been watching you…
…
…
Well that’s not creepy at all.
And I believe you are the right person for the job to save Christmas.
… I’m sorry what?
If you didn’t already notice, your tree is currently barren. Devoid of any and all decorations. That is because they were stolen.
Sunny’s eyes widened as he glanced up at the barren Christmas Tree, devoid of any joy and color.
If you wish to regain all of the lost decorations before Christmas Day, then you must heed my instructions. First, you must find the illuminated flora.
‘The i– iliu– ill-u-mi-na-ted. Illuminated. The illuminated flora.’ He got there eventually.
I know you can accomplish your mission. Stay strong, and trust your allies.
Signed–
Before Sunny could see who sent this mysterious letter, it burst into golden flames before promptly disintegrating… not even leaving a trail of ash behind.
…
…
But bah who cares? This is all… this all a load of horseradish. There is no way Sunny is going to believe thi–
“I’m going to save Christmas.”
…
…
Son of a… uuuuugh! Fiiiiine. Guess I gotta cancel my vacation to Cancún for this.
While we’re here we might as well bring that old gem back. Ahem.
Main Quest: How the Sunny Saved Christmas.
START!!
Now that Sunny has unintentionally robbed me of my vacation to Cancún, it’s time for Sunny to save Christmas. Now what could that riddle possibly be referring to? Illuminated Flora–
“That’s it.” Sunny pointed to the lone Christmas wreath that was hung in between two sconces. Yeeeup that’ll do it.
Eager to get his quest underway, Sunny leaped up and rushed to the wreath. He grabbed the bottom of it and–
“What are you doing?”
“Geep!” After Sunny was unexpectedly jumpscared by a girl his age…
*Rustle* *Click* *Whirrr*
He pulled the wreath down, causing it to open up a panel on the wall above it. Revealing another letter with two large walkie talkies sitting right beside it. Sunny quickly grabbed the letter.
Dear Sunny Suzuki and Bianca Abernathy,
“Wait. Why does this note say my name?” The girl, Bianca Abernathy, was shocked that her name was on this note.
It seems you two have solved the riddle. Congratulations. Inside that cubby lies supplies that will help you two save Christmas.
“Save Christmas? Wha–”
“Let me read the note before you ask more questions.” Sunny commented before continuing to read the note.
Outside of this note there are two Universal Walkie Talkies. They will connect you two with each other regardless of wherever you are in the world.
Bianca wanted to ask how a ‘Universal Walkie Talkie’ that can ‘connect regardless of wherever you are in the world’ could possibly exist. But Sunny continued to read.
Now, another item that will be integral for your mission is a Skeleton Key.
Sunny reached deeper into the cubby and felt around for the key, once he felt something cold and metallic he grabbed it and pulled it out. Sure enough it’s a black key with a skull on the end.
That key will give you unrestricted access to the Suzuki Mansion, where all the Christmas Tree decorations are hidden. Find all of them before the clock strikes Midnight on December 24th, and you two will successfully save Christmas.
I wish both of you luck in this endeavor.
Signed–
*Poof*
Aaaand like clockwork, the letter burst into golden flames before Sunny could read off the sender of the letter. Leaving Sunny and his new ally Bianca with more questions than answers.
“What… is happening?” Bianca tried to process all the information she just heard while Sunny stood on his tippy-toes to try and see if there’s more supplies inside.
“... Nothing.” Sunny muttered with disappointment. Opting to grab the Universal Walkie Talkies before pushing the wreath back up to its original position.
*Click* *Whirrr*
The hidden panel closed perfectly into place, to the unaware it’s as if it’s just a normal wall. “Good. Now no one will know.”
“Okay that’s good and all. But what is even happening? What is that letter? How did it know my name? How did it know YOUR name? And what does it mean by ‘saving Christmas’?”
Sunny held his hand up, stopping Bianca’s flurry of questions. “You’re making my head hurt. I’ll tell you everything.” He said before looking at the pair of super comfy armchairs that sat in the middle of the living room. “Let’s go over there.”
“... Fine.”
…
“So… okay. Lemme get this straight.” Bianca muttered, fiddling with her walkie talkie to relieve her nervousness. “You’re telling me some mysterious guy was apparently watching you, which probably means he’s been watching me too. He then sent you a note telling you to save Christmas by finding the tree decorations. And to top it all off… he didn’t tell you what the next thing was after you found the second note?”
“Umm… yeah that’s pretty much it.”
To say this was unbelievable to Bianca would be an understatement. “Why can’t I have a normal Christmas?”
“Well? Are you going to help me?”
“Do I even have a choice? This person knows my full name! Did you even think about what would happen if we didn’t find all the decorations before Midnight tomorrow?”
“Nope.” Sunny shrugged, “But that’s not going to happen. We’ll find all the decorations before Midnight on the 24th.”
“But HOW?! We don’t even know where to start!”
“I know where to start.” Well that got Bianca’s attention. “We need a map of the Mansion.”
“Oh of course. How can I be so dumb? It’s that simple.” Bianca sarcastically remarked.
“It’s okay, I just thought of it myself.” And in typical Sunny fashion that burst of sarcasm flew over his little head.
“I was being– mmph!” The poor girl was very close to ripping her long brown hair out, before she took a deep breath, “Alright. Fine. Map. Got it. Where is it?”
“Probably in my Grandma’s office.”
“And how are we going to get in there? She probably has that place locked up tight.” Sunny responded by holding out the skeleton key the letter sender provided. Bianca let out a tired sigh, “If we get in trouble, I’m blaming you.”
“That’s fine with me. Here’s the plan.”
…
*Bzzt*
“I’m hating this plan more and more.” Bianca whispered into the walkie talkie, hating her role of… as Sunny eloquently called it, the distraction.
*Bzzt*
“If I want to slip into Grandma Yoko’s office without anyone seeing then I need you to make sure all the adults don’t come. I’ll go as fast as I can.”
The walkie talkie cut off, making Bianca regret every decision she’s ever made that led her up to this point. Which in retrospect isn’t many, but you know what she means. “We gave up a trip to Cancún for this?” Same sister… same.
Regardless, Bianca took a deep breath and entered the kitchen that the adults had conquered. Which mainly consist of the adults of the Suzuki Family, Sunny’s parents, and Bianca’s mother and father. “Do you need something Bianca?” Bianca’s mother asked.
“Y-Yeah.” She stuttered, before taking a deep breath, “I just, can I have a drink?”
Before her mother could question why her daughter was so shaky. “Of course, young miss.” One of the many Suzuki servants moved to grant her request, “Anything in particular?”
Bianca saw an opportunity to stall, “What do you have?”
“Water, various fruit juices, if you want something more seasonal we can make you some hot chocolate.”
Bianca nodded at that, “Yes. Hot chocolate, please.”
The servant woman nodded and began grabbing the supplies to make a splendid hot chocolate.
‘I bought you some time, Sunny. You better have found that map by now.’
…
“Where the heck is that map?” Yeeeeah he didn’t find it yet. After rifling through Yoko’s filing cabinets and searching through any drawer he could find, he came up with a whole lot of… nothing. “Maybe there isn’t a map and we need to just go through every ro–”
*Thunk* *THUD*
“Oww…” After facing defeat at the hands of gravity, Sunny looked back to harshly glare at whatever caused his tumble. “Wait… is that?” Only to be greeted by a small purple box. He curiously reached out to grab it…
*thud* *thud* *Thud* *Thud*
Only to hear footsteps, they were getting closer and closer. In a panic, Sunny locked the door leading to his Grandma’s office before snagging the box and ducking behind her desk.
*Thud* *Thud* *THUD* *Clicklick*
“Bizarre… I could have sworn I heard something fall in here.” A female voice Sunny recognized immediately spoke from the other side of the door.
*Clinklink* *CLICK* *Creeeeak*
“Hello? Anyone in here?” The woman turned on the lights, illuminating the office… and immediately found our terrible-at-hide-and-seek hero. “Sunny? What on Earth are you doing in here? This office is off limits.”
“H-Hello Mrs. Lydia.” Sunny nervously greeted, hiding the purple box behind him. “You uhh… you wouldn’t be willing to let this slide, would you?”
“I’ll consider it, if you are willing to tell me how you managed to enter this once locked office. Or what that parcel you’re hiding behind you contains.”
Sunny winced, he knows how smart Mrs. Lydia is. “I… I can’t.”
Mrs. Lydia stared at Sunny for a few more seconds, before shrugging. “Very well, I won’t press you on it.”
“Really?”
“But you are not allowed in here anymore. Understood?”
“Y-Yes Mrs. Lydia.” Sunny hoped he wouldn’t have to come in here anymore after getting this parcel.
“Good, now if you would please exit the office?” Sunny nodded before trudging out of the room, leaving Mrs. Lydia’s sight. Who gave a small smile as he watched him retreat away.
“That boy is growing up so fast…”
…
“Here you are.”
“Thanks ma’am.” Bianca grabbed her warm steaming mug of hot chocolate, her eyes occasionally darting to the kitchen entryway. ‘Where the heck are you, Sunny?’
“Hey Ms. Bethany.” Right on cue, Sunny entered the kitchen.
“Aaah little Sunny!” Ms. Bethany exclaimed, happy to see the youngest Suzuki as she pulled him into a hug.
Sunny smiled and returned the hug… only to feel something a bit off. “Why is your belly bigger?”
“Sunny.” Yamaha chastised the curious boy, but Ms. Bethany only giggled in response.
“Oh it’s not a bother, sir. I’m just… having a baby.”
“A baby?” Sunny then remembered his time working with Ms. Hart. “Oh you’re… umm… pageant. No, pomegranate. No, not that one either.”
“Pregnant, Sunny.” Ms. Bethany corrected, managing to hold in her giggle at the adorable display of child innocence.
“Yeah that word.” Sunny nodded, “One of my neighbors had a new baby brother, and one of my other neighbors is pregnant too. I got to name her baby.”
“Oh is that so? Maybe I should ask you for name advice.” She was joking, but leave it to Sunny to take it 100% seriously. He pulled away from her hug to stare at her little baby bump.
“Hmm… Hope.”
…
…
“Umm… shouldn’t you give a boy name too?” Bianca asked, but Sunny shook his head.
“Don’t need to, it’s going to be a girl.” Even Ms. Bethany was shocked at Sunny’s certainty about the baby’s gender. She was too early into her pregnancy to get an ultrasound to know the gender.
Yet for some reason… she believed him, “Hope does sound like a nice name.” Sunny responded to that with a small smile, but the happiness that shined in his eyes told the whole story. “Anyway, would you like a mug of hot chocolate, Sunny?”
“Yes please.” Ms. Bethany nodded and began fixing Sunny a mug of hot chocolate, which led to him sitting down next to Bianca.
“So… did you find it?” She whispered softly to the boy.
“Yes I did, let’s meet up in the living room.”
“Here you are, Little Sunny.”
“Thanks Ms. Bethany.” Sunny blew into his steaming mug of hot chocolate before taking a chaste sip. “Blegh… hot.”
Looks like that meeting is gonna take a while. Hot Chocolate Time™ waits for nothing.
…
Eventually our pair of intrepid heroes managed to finish their hot chocolate break and met up in the living room. Where Sunny dug out the purple box he got from Yoko’s office from under the tree. “No one would question a random colored box if it’s under the tree.” Genius thinking by the young Suzuki.
“Yeah yeah, now what’s in it?” Bianca asked, causing Sunny to open the box. Revealing a notebook and a rolled up piece of paper. “Is that the map?”
To answer her question, Sunny picked up the rolled up paper and unrolled it. Revealing detailed schematics of the Suzuki Mansion. The first floor, second floor, and attic were given icons. “Look. A lot of the rooms have drawings on them.”
Bianca looked at the map more closely, “Yeah… a bunch have ornaments, some have lights, this big room has tinsel I think?”
“Looks like we have to enter these rooms to find the decorations.”
“Hmm…” Bianca peered into the box, “And what’s that notebook?”
Sunny was wondering about it too, so he set the map aside to pick up the notebook–
*Fwip* *Plap*
Only for another letter to fall out. Sunny picked it up and inspected it, “This one seems… different from the other ones.” Regardless, he opened it to read it.
Dear Wonder Children,
“Looks like it is different from the other one.” Bianca commented.
It seems you two have found my secret cache. It’ll help you both with your quest to ‘Save Christmas’. But acknowledge that this doesn’t come for free.
“Great…”
You may have noticed that large notebook that was lying in the box. Inside that notebook contains a variety of tasks that I would like you two to accomplish before say… Midnight on the 24th.
“That’s when we need to find the other decorations.” Sunny inferred, causing Bianca to squint at the letter.
“Yeah… maybe these two are working together?”
“Possibly…” Sunny decided to hold off on theory crafting until he finishes reading the letter.
But of course, it wouldn’t be right to have you two do these tasks without some sort of incentive. Manage to complete all the tasks and I will reward both of you handsomely.
Hearing the word ‘reward’ got the attention of both Sunny and Bianca. At first they were doing this to save Christmas. One might say they were doing it ‘for the love of the game’. But to hear that they’ll be rewarded for completing these tasks... and HANDSOMELY no less?! It made them want to fulfill their mission more and more.
You can accomplish the tasks in any order you deem fit, as long as you accomplish them before the deadline. Don’t dilly dally. 36 Hours isn’t as much time as you think it is.
Sincerely yours, Mr Q–
*Fwooosh*
You know we really should expect every letter they find to burst into flames. At least with this one instead of it being golden flames they were bright purple.
“... What time is it?” Bianca asked, causing Sunny to glance up at one of the fancy ornate wall clocks.
“It’s almost 5 o'clock.”
“That leaves us with… umm…” Hold on, she’s pulling out the fingers. “10… 11… Midnight. Subtract sleeping… That leaves us with… 23 hours to do this.”
“We should be able to do it… but I need your help. Are you in?”
Bianca couldn’t help but scoff, “Seriously? Asking me now after I’ve been helping you all this time?”
Sunny chuckled at that, “Guess that means yes?”
“Yeah, duh.” A soft spoken doer and a snarky know-it-all. Talk about a match made in heaven… anyway you know the drill. Cue the snare drum and horns.
*Buh dududududududu* *Babadada dadada daaaaaaa*
*Bianca Joins the Party!*
“So, Team Leader. Where do we start?”
“Only one way to find out. Let’s look through the notebook and see what the tasks are.”
We’ll check in on our little heroes in a bit after they've skimmed through that mysterious notebook. For now let’s check in on our other esteemed guests at this party.
…
“So… your owner is Little Sunny?”
“Yeah yeah! He’s so good to me!”
The two doggos Onion and Lady were currently conversing in one of the bedrooms. “I’m sure he is. That boy was always a kind one.”
“You knew Master Sunny that long?”
“I’ve known him since he was a little baby. He was born right around when I was adopted.”
“Oooh I see…”
“Usually human babies are very loud, cry a lot, and are very rowdy… especially when they reach age two. Sunny wasn’t like that. No he was… more so a kid of action.”
“A kid of action?”
“Oh yeah, he was always a determined one. I remember when he was having his two year old birthday here. Everyone wasn’t paying that much attention to him so I was playing with him.” Lady cracked a small smile at the memory, “As I was trotting around him, he just stood up and started walking close behind me.”
“Wow…” Onion muttered in awe.
“He took to walking like a moth to a flame. Just following close behind me as I led him around the house. Everyone was watching with awe, I’m certain Halley took like 100 pictures.”
“Did he ever fall?”
“Only once, and that was because Mari screamed with excitement seeing him walk. The shock made him fall backwards, but instead of crying he just picked himself up and started walking again.”
“That sounds like Ms. Mari.”
Lady glanced up at one of the framed pictures of young Sunny and Mari, “That boy is gonna change the world… I just know it.”
“You think so too?” Onion asked, before her tail started to wag with excitement, “He’s going to do a lot of cool things, and I’m gonna help him.”
“Good… that’s all that I can ask for.” Lady said with a small smile.
“Well I’mma look for Ms. Mari. Bye Ms. Lady, it was nice talking to you!” With her boundless puppy energy, Onion trotted out of the room. Leaving Lady to lay on her bed and relax for the night.
‘It’s good you have a loyal companion Sunny, because while I might not be able to see you truly blossom… she will.’
…
Well this wasn’t going exactly how Mari imagined it.
Here she was, chilling in silence sitting beside a girl that looked… eerily like her. Genetics are weird and you’ve heard this joke about 2000 words ago. But while she is similar to Mari in appearance… outside of having more frizzy hair, she couldn’t be more different to the young girl.
For starters, she’s very very shy. Now, Mari is relatively proficient when it comes to handling the shy quiet types. I mean she has Sunny after all. But Hiyori Suzuki is what happens if you take Sunny, pull him out of a working environment, and crank his shyness to 1,000.
There’s also the fact that Sunny is her little brother. She knows what makes the little squirt tick, it’s her job to know that. But Hiyori? Outside of her name and a few little tidbits she knows next to nothing about her. Pair that with the fact that she’s less of a talker and more of a… ‘gesturer’ and learning more about her is gonna be a challenge.
“So… do you have hobbies?” But darn it she’s gonna try!
…
…
Hiyori just shrugged. Okay this is gonna be harder than she thought, but she’s not gonna give up!
Mari glanced around the room, trying to pick up anything that’ll help Hiyori open up in any way. Her eyes then drifted down to a plush of what looks to be a yellow… rat… thing? “What plush is that?”
…
…
“Pipa.”
Mari’s eyes shone. That’s a hit! She can work with this. “Pipa. That’s a cute name. What’s it from?”
…
…
“Dunno.”
Aaaaand back to square one. “You don’t know? I mean it’s a weird thing so it’s probably from something? Like a show or some video game?”
“Dunno.” Welp, that was a deadend. But that mini-conversation (If you can even call it that) did give Mari some insight into the inner-machinations of Hiyori’s mind. She seems to react and give responses to things she likes. Of course that loops back to the original issue of getting Hiyori to open up about what she likes.
But darn it Mari has come too close to give up now! She was going to make Hiyori her friend so help her Go–
“Arf!”
“Huh?” After Mari’s motivational inner thoughts were interrupted, Onion trotted inside and excitedly ran towards Mari. “Oh Onion!” She gave the pup her required scratches, the act of which got Hiyori’s attention. “Wanna pet her, Hiyori?”
Hiyori shyly nodded. Onion, noticing how shy the girl was, slowly and carefully puppy trotted towards her. Letting her get used to her presence before accepting her pets and scritches.
“Onion is a good girl. Sunny and I did a great job training her.” I mean… it was mainly Sunny doing the training but I ain’t gonna break the girl’s stride. “Sunny is my little brother by the way. Have you met him yet?”
“No.” Well okay that’s half true. Hiyori knows who Sunny is, she’s seen him occasionally for Birthdays and other Holidays. But while she knows who he is, Sunny probably doesn’t know she is.
“He’s the best little brother I’ve ever had. Such a hard worker.” She bragged, one of her favorite hobbies is gushing about her little brother.
Hiyori meanwhile listened to Mari talk about her little brother. Her mother always told her that being a good listener was one of her biggest talents. Hiyori didn’t know what that meant, she just couldn’t see listening as a ‘talent’. Regardless, she found Mari’s stories about Sunny very entertaining. One of them even got a giggle out of the shy girl, which to Mari was a massive victory.
“Wanna come meet him?”
“Huh?” Aaaaand Hiyori is brought back down to Earth.
“Come on, I’m sure you’ll love him.”
“W-Wait…” But Mari was determined, so she gently lifted Hiyori to her feet and dragged her along to introduce her to her baby brother personally. Hiyori, having already accepted her fate, just let herself be dragged along. Just meeting Sunny surely won’t be catastrophic.
… Right?
End of Chapter
...
Servant Database Entry #1: Mr. Chauncey and Mrs. Lydia
Wait? Why are we doing this again? -Bianca
It's a challenge in the notebook. They want us to make a detailed log of all of our maids and butlers. Something about 'giving the people more context'? I don't really know what that means, but it's a challenge so we have to do it. -Sunny
That list is getting weirder and weirder. But fine, I'm kinda curious about them too. -Bianca
Then let's start with the first ones. Mr. Chauncey and Mrs. Lydia. -Sunny
Speaking of, why do they have an entry together? -Bianca
Because they're married. -Sunny
Woah really? -Bianca
Yup. Married for over 20 years I think? Yeah, their 21st anniversary is the 2nd of August. -Sunny
Wow, that's a long time. -Bianca
Yeah, and they're really happy together. They've even had a few kids. -Sunny
Are we gonna meet them? -Bianca
Oh they're also butlers and maids. In fact you've already met one of their kids. -Sunny
... You don't mean? -Bianca
But that's for a future entry. Let's focus on Mr. Chauncey and Mrs. Lydia. They were the first ever maids and butlers hired by my Grandma. -Sunny
So they're basically the bosses of the other maids and butlers. -Bianca
Yeah. If something goes wrong, they're going to be the first ones to know about it. -Sunny
But if you have so many servants and they're the bosses then why don't they have other people handle it? -Bianca
They're very... VERY fickle on how things are run in here. If even one thing is out of place then they'll make whoever is tasked with it start over. It got to the point where they do most of the heavy duty things themselves. -Sunny
Wow... that sounds... intense. -Bianca
They probably got that from my Grandma. She was always a perfectionist. -Sunny
Well they seem pretty nice when they're not working. -Bianca
Oh they are! They sometimes tell me stories about when they were younger. Maybe they can tell us another one later. -Sunny
Maybe. For now let's focus on this. Any other tidbits you wanna add? -Bianca
Umm... oh! This is my favorite story they told me. When they were getting married, instead of rings they did necklaces. -Sunny
Really? -Bianca
Yeah! It's like... two half heart necklaces that can connect with each other. They showed me them during my fourth Birthday and I thought they were really cool. When I get married, I want necklaces like theirs. -Sunny
Married huh? How old are you again? -Bianca
I'm Four -Sunny
Pfft. You're such a little kid. -Bianca
Excuse me?! How old are you then? -Sunny
My birthday is in Feburary so I'm basically five. -Bianca
But you're still four too! -Sunny
Nu-uh! -Bianca
Yeah huh! -Sunny
Like I said, little kid. -Bianca
We're the same age!! -Sunny
Anyway I think this entry has gone on long enough -Bianca
... Fine. But you're still the same age as me. -Sunny
End of Entry #1