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“Impressive, huh?” Kuroba said. “Ma managed to get a permit to build a house and has been working tirelessly on it. Only finished it recently, so we’re still in the process of moving in. You came at the right time.”
Kuroba guided Clover to the entrance before stopping at the top of the steps to the porch. They turned around and extended a hand.
“Welcome home, Clover.”
Clover took a moment to look at the house. It really did look like the old manor from the Underground. Martlet must’ve tried to recreate it, much like the new Saloon that they were just at. Clover took a few steps up the stairs.
SPLAT
And fell right on their face.
Kuroba turned to hide their snickering face.
“Snrk. Pft. You... managed to get here... just fine... And then... at the front step...!”
(Don’t laugh, don’t laugh, Ka-san will kill you if you laugh,) they thought.
Clover just laid there sprawled out for a moment.
“Kuroba…” they said, voice slightly muffled through the wood.
“Snrk. Y-Yeah?” Kuroba was still trying to stifle their laughter.
Clover got up slowly with their eyes closed. They breathed in… and out… pausing before saying, “I’m telling Ceroba.”
Clover immediately ran past Kuroba inside the house, hearing them say “Duh-Clover, WAIT!” as they passed by.
The inside was not at all what Clover was expecting.
Instead of a perhaps slightly traditional Japanese style like Chujin had done, it felt more Western. There was still a kotatsu, but it was next to a big green corner couch. Across the way from it was a TV hung up on a partition wall. Behind the couch directly ahead of Clover was a glass wall that Clover suspected had sliding doors.
“Look, I’m sorry I laughed, ok?” Kuroba said, running up behind Clover. “Can you just at least wait until after I give you a tour to tell Ka-san? Please?” (So that you can try and get Clover to completely forget.)
Clover turned to look at Kuroba with an unamused face.
“Wh-Why are you looking at me like that? I didn’t even say anything.”
An eyebrow raised.
“O-OK! ANYWAYS! UM!” Kuroba cleared their throat. “If you would follow me, I shall take you on a tour of the new Ketsukane home. First stop: The living room. I’m sure you’ve already gotten a good look from here, so I don’t really need to go into good detail. Just know that this TV is so much better than that old CRT. I’ve enjoyed just lounging around to watch it, a luxury granted by not having strict as hell parents.
“To your right, you will find our little kitchenette. I gotta say, it took me sooooo long to finally get it outta my head that I needed to make dinner every night back at the manor. Ka-san would maybe get a bit frustrated any time I tried to. My skills may be a tad bit rusty, but I do still cook on occasion.”
Kuroba guided Clover over to the right end of the living room.
“Juuuust past the kitchenette is the dining room. It’s more like a dining hallway if you ask me. Especially since the stairs are just past it. At the very least, it was strategically placed so that we can’t leave the house in the morning without getting breakfast. Unless we jumped out a window from the second floor. I can see Kan doing that.”
Instead of heading upstairs, Kuroba turned around to bring Clover to an off-shoot hallway.
“Over here are the guest rooms and downstairs bathroom. Ma made six different rooms, one for each member of the Five plus Dalv. Uncle Star’s is fitted with those sound-proofing pads. I’m sure the Four would appreciate not having to hear him snore so loudly every night. One of the two things that made me lose sleep. The other was depression.
“In order going down the hall from left to right, we got: Uncle Dalv, Ed, Ace, the bathroom, Mooch, Moray, and Uncle Star. Granted you’ll probably mostly come down this way for the bathroom. Your room will be upstairs.”
Kuroba brought Clover to the long window to bring them outside.
“Honestly, real lucky of us that we can see glass. Ma’s a bird so she automatically can’t, but Ka-san also can’t for some reason. So thank Uncle Star for your ability to not slam into—”
Kuroba walked into the window while talking.
“...windows. Ok, it works when you’re actually looking at them. Now, onto the backyard and tell me if anything catches your eye.”
Clover started scanning, noting what they saw from right to left. First there was the way the back porch was built, being more in-line with Japanese-style houses and their yards/porches. Then they noticed the small little pond. Probably not good for swimming or drinking, but good for splashing themself in the summer heat. Finally they noticed—
“Yyyyyuuuup,” Kuroba said. “The tree. Ma thought it’d be a nice way to remember you to just sorta… take the whole tree from New Home and plop it in the new backyard. I… kinda had some objections, what with it being sorta like my grave and all, but I couldn’t really voice them without giving myself away, so… Now we have a reminder of our death in the backyard. Can’t exactly do anything about that now, since it took a bunch of effort to relocate it in the first place. Honestly, I feel bad for you because it’s… right in the way of one of your windows. At least for the room I assume you’ll end up taking.”
On that note, Kuroba guided Clover to the second floor to continue the tour.
“This hallway is a little bit barren for now, with only a closet and upstairs bathroom, but we’re still moving in so that can be excused. Now, once we turn this corner we will find the family bedrooms. Going down the hallway once again, we got Kan’s room, my room, what will most likely be your room, and then Ma and Ka-san’ room.
“Now, I know what you might be wondering: ‘Why is there conveniently an open room for you on the second floor?’ And to that, I say it’s a little bit of a funny story. You see, for some weird reason, Ma had originally designed the Master Bedroom to be just for Ka-san, so she had built that extra room to be her own. As soon as Ka-san found out, however, she forced Ma to stay in the Master Bedroom with her, since they’re married and all. So that left an open and spare bedroom just waiting for you. You wanna see inside?”
Clover gave a quick nod and was brought to their new room. It was a relatively good size with a bed in the far left corner and a closet on the wall to the left of the door. At the foot of the bed were a couple empty bookcases, and a nightstand besides the bed.
“Go ahead and check the bed, it’s really comfy. Nice and springy, but not too springy that you can actually hear the springs. Just the right amount of springy. At least, in summary. Could be a good foley.” (Why did Kuroba pronounce it like “folly”?) “Winter. Plus, the room as a whole is really clean, too. Granted that’s because no one’s lived in it yet.”
Clover turned to Kuroba.
“How does your room look?” they asked.
“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Almost identical. Just. A bit of a mess. Y-You don’t need to see. I… may have become a bit of a slob without all that constant nagging to have a clean room… But at least it’s not literally falling apart! Haha…”
Clover just stared at Kuroba with a bored look on their face.
“Haha… … I… uh… yeah, I’m gonna need you to nag me to keep my room clean. Honestly, might be the one part of those two that I even miss. Everything else about them, though, can go die in a hole.”
Clover nodded in agreement.
“IN ANY CASE!” Kuroba changed the topic back to the tour. “Really all that’s left is Ma and Ka-san’s room, since Kan’s is basically this but mirrored, but I think they might be in there right now unpacking so that may have to wait for later. Uh, if you want I can leave you to just take all this in. And maybe, uh, clean my room, haha. God, I really need the nagging.
“Uh, I hope you enjoy living with us. I’ll do my best to help you get used to, well, everything about you. Although, you haven’t fallen over before or after the porch… How long’ve you been back and just in the Underground? I assume that’s probably where you’d been.”
Clover looked down and started counting on their fingers. “14 days,” they said once finished.
“Oh really? Two whole weeks. So that means… oh, hey, you came back on our old birthday. How funny. Anyways, I should go clean and unpack my room. See ya, Clover.”
Clover went to lie down on their new bed as Kuroba left. They weren’t lying, it really was nice and springy. Clover felt like they could just close their eyes and get some really good sleep. They had felt rather tired almost all day, considering a lot had happened.
They closed their eyes to fall asleep.
…
(You’re still going to tell Ceroba.)