Chapter 16 - Friday Gathering

Kazama Family is currently having the gathering in the secret base. This is the tradition for them to make official reunions/gathering every Friday in the night.

Right now, there's only Yamato, Gakuto, Cookie, Momoyo, and Miyako inside the base, having conversation.

"... That's what just happened!" Yamato whined as he sat on one of the couches beside Gakuto.

He's currently telling the story about him having argument with Chris on what's right and wrong this afternoon.

As a man who love mind games, Yamato loves manipulate the information he got to deceive his enemies. Creating a vision and be flexible is a crucial skill for Tacticians, after all.

But for Chris who wants to be a knight who walks in justice and righteous way, she can't accept Yamato's way of life.

Thus why they're having an argument. It's simply a clash of ideal.

"Hahaha." Gakuto laughs as he crosses his legs, staring Yamato with a smirk on his face, "It's because you're using cheap tricks."

Miyako hummed while reading her book, "How righteous of her. Can't let slide a simple trick like that."

"Hm? If she gets mad at Yamato for using petty tricks like that..." Gakuto trails off for a second before he starts posing, "Would she fall for me since I'm the fair type who uses his body?"

"Impossible." Miyako shot the musclehead without hesitation.

Gakuto grumbles inaudibly before he sighs and sit down, "Well, I'm scared of her dad, too. Even my body can't deflect a bullet."

Momoyo on the other side starts chuckling in devilish manner, "It's gonna be fun to make such a serious girl mine. I want to make her fall hopelessly in love with me using my pretty girl powers."

"Pretty girl powers?" Yamato raised one of his eyebrows, "Don't you mean manly pow—Ow!"

Momoyo cuts him off by kicking his leg playfully, "Fufu, I guess I'll play around with the cocky Yamato."

When she pulls Yamato towards her, the man suddenly cast a spell to repel her.

"Nee-san, can you pay back the money I lent you?"

"Zzz." Momoyo suddenly fall asleep, conveniently ignoring Yamato's question.

"I understand wanting to pretend to be asleep, but please pay me back too." Miyako chimed in from the side.

Momoyo opens her eyes and reach for the popcorn on the table in front of her, "Well, I guess I'll eat popcorn."

"She ignored me..."

"I'm kidding. I have the money!" And with that, Momoyo jumps on Miyako and put the archer in her arms.

"Waa. Momo-senpai is ravaging me. Waa. Help me. Waa." Miyako said in a very monotone voice.

Yamato simply ignore the girls playing around as usual while drinking some tea. This place is really relaxing.

"Hm." Momoyo suddenly stops groping on Miyako as she and Miyako both look at the door with their eyes flashing in red and blue respectively, "These three strong and unique presences must be Wanko, Yuki, and Kokorin, the normal one is Mororo, and this incomprehensible presence is have to be Yōta."

"They're finally here." Miyako confirmed, feeling happy that Yōta finally arrived.

"They're around the second floor stairs now."

Momoyo can sense the area in a 2km radius easily and Miyako can sense the area around in 1.5km radius, so both of them would immediately know about it if an intruder comes into the building.

After Yōta and Kokoro were done with their shopping journey with Yukie, both of them meet with Koyuki, Kazuko and Takuya in the way to the base.

Therefore the reason why five of them are together now.

"We're here! We bought some drinks too!" Kazuko greeted the group cheerfully like always as she raises the plastic bag in her hand.

"Yaa." Yōta waves his free hand lazily to the group while his other is holding another plastic bag, "I bought some sweets too. Can't have gathering without sweets after all."

"Then I'll keep those." Cookie said as he takes the plastic bags from Kazuko and Yōta.

"Oh, everyone besides Capt is here." Takuya said as he walks on to the empty seat beside Gakuto.

"Yahalo, everyone~!" Koyuki waves her hand excitedly.

"Hyohoho, hello everyone, good evening to you all." Kokoro smiled in refined manner to the group as she bows her body gracefully.

"Yahalo." Miyako waves her hand back and greet the new group.

"Kokorin~" Momoyo jumps on Kokoro and hugs the twin-tailed girl, "Your outfits are so cute!"

Kokoro blushes a bit before laughing bashfully in Momoyo's arms, "Hyohoho, thank you. You look as cool as always, Momo-senpai."

"Oh you, come here!"

Momoyo looks delighted at the comment as she picks Kokoro off the ground and bring the twin-tailed girl to her laps.

"He should be here soon." Gakuto answered Takuya as he takes the chip and eat it, "What were you doing, Moro?"

Takuya sits down beside Gakuto, "Yonpachi said his computer for image gathering is slow, so I went to take a look. There were so many programs installed, it's no wonder it was slow. So, instead of adding more memory, I wanted to free up the resources. I deleted unneeded files and registries using programs, then defragged it..."

"There goes Moro's computer talk." Miyako commented from the side as she drags Yōta to sit down beside her while locking the man's arm.

Koyuki takes Yōta's other side while Kazuko found herself on his laps, comfortably resting her head on Yōta's manly chest.

"Just like you when you talk about your book." Yōta chimed in while playfully flicking Miyako's nose, making the archer to blush in embarrassment.

"Hey, someone keep him company." Momoyo said as she hugs Kokoro from behind, "Gakuto, you brought it up, so you go."

"Moro's still the same, I see." Kokoro hummed.

She's currently having the time of her life in Momoyo's arms, the Goddess of War's body is surprisingly very soft and supple, it feels so nice.

Gakuto huffs in annoyance, "How bothersome. And we have a hermit crab otaku too."

Yamato stops what he's doing when he heard that, he can't let that statement slide, wouldn't he?

"You don't understand how great hermit crab are? Then let me tell you. They're so cute when they move. They climb rocks and go under the sand. In this age when everyone's so busy, their relaxing manners are..."

"Geh, now there are two of them..."

"Stop them already."

On the right side, the computer geek is talking non-stop about computer, and on the other side the hermit crab geek is also talking about the greatness of the said animal.

It's so chaotic.

""Ouch!"" Both geeks stops their rambling when they feel something hit their heads.

Yōta flicked a ball of paper at both of them, "Stop it you two. The last one's here."

"Hm...?"

The group then hear the sound of a scooter from outside.

"That must be Capt."

"Yeah, I'm sure of it." Momoyo nods her head, "This is an optimistic presence."

"Yo!!" Shōichi greeted the group with a big smile on his face as he kicks the shit out of the door in front of him.

Kazuko and Koyuki enthusiastically charges forward as Kazuko sways her ponytail, both are looking at their leader in expectation.

"Oh, you two must really like me to come running over."

Kazuko giggles while swaying her body side-to-side, "I was waiting for you, DINNER!"

"Yay, DINNER~" Koyuki raises her hands high beside Kazuko.

Shōichi gives both a flat stare before he sighs, "Oh, that. I guess everyone's here, so let's start. Here! These are the leftover from today. There's a lot. Fufun."

He puts down the wrapped cloth he's carrying on the table. When they opened the takeaway boxes, there are lots of sushi inside, the leftover from his work.

"This is a lot! There are also zaru-packs!"

"We had a lot of leftovers today, so eat up."

"We have a lot of sushi, so this should last a while."

"You're too optimistic, Gakuto."

"Kokorin, you use chopsticks, right?"

"I am."

"Yōta. Here's some soy sauce."

"Thanks, Miyako-san. And here the chopsticks for you, Yuki-san."

"Plop, plop~"

"Are you trying to be a fish...?"

"Haha, all right, let's eat!"

Everyone reaches out their chopsticks, some reach out with their hands, at Shōichi's command.

Kazuko starts to laugh as she eats the sushi, "Ahaha! Delicious, delicious~! It's free sushi~"

Momoyo hummed while biting the nigiri sushi, "Fried chicken was good, but sushi's good too."

"Damn, this inarizushi is good." Gakuto said after he bit the nori together with the deep-fried tofu.

The Kawakami sisters and Gakuto are eating with their hands.

"Getting leftovers is a side benefit from having part-time jobs, I see. Oh, I'm taking negitoro." Yamato said as he picks the diced tuna with green onion on it with his chopsticks.

"So, did you find a part-time job you want, Yamato-san?" Yōta asked while taking the amaebi and nibble on it.

Yamato bites the diced tuna first before he answers Yōta, "I'm giving it a lot of thought. The service industry is tiring, so I'm gonna pass on that."

Shōichi hummed from the side, "I'm also done with delivering sushi. It was a short-term job, after all."

"Did you have interesting experiences like you wanted?" Takuya glances toward his leader.

Shōichi sighs in response, "Not really, since the work consisted of easy deliveries. But the manager loves fishing, and he said he'd take me to Amami-Oshima during summer vacation to go fishing. We're going to sleep inside the boat, and he said we'll have lots of big catches. I'm really looking forward to it." He breathed out before clicking the chopsticks agains each other, "And the deliveries were usually to old people, so they gave me lots of lottery tickets."

"Hyohoho, you're always living an interesting life, Capt." Kokoro giggled as she eats the oshiko maki in refined manner.

"Plop, plop~!" Koyuki on the other side stuffs her cheeks with the sushi and once again trying to imitate how fish would act.

"You're so silly, Koyuki." Miyako giggles from Koyuki's side as she shakes her head fondly.

"Where should I work next?" Shōichi asked to no one else.

"Make sure to work at a food-related place on Fridays." Kazuko answered while munching on the sushi.

"Sheesh, I know." Shōichi gives a flat stare to her, "You sure eat a lot."

Momoyo smiles gently in Kazuko's direction, "You even eat more than me, Wanko."

"Eh, really? Yes!"

The oldest Kawakami giggles before she reaches her hand out to Kazuko, "Here, there's a piece of rice on your cheek."

After Momoyo took the rice on her cheek, Kazuko sports a big smile on her face and puffs her chest out triumphantly, "I'm going to eat and train. I'm going to do my best so I can beat Onee-sama even in fighting."

"That's right! I'll make you stronger enough to kick Momo-senpai's big ass!" Yōta enthusiastically said as he pats Kazuko's head and sports the same big smile as the youngest Kawakami.

Both are having challenging look on their faces as they stare at Momoyo right now.

"Hahaha! I'm waiting for that." Momoyo laughs merrily in response to that, she can't really wait for that day to happen.

"But there's so much stuff in this place now." Takuya started as he leans his back to the sofa.

Miyako hummed while resting her head on Yōta's shoulder, "Everyone brought in a lot of things here..."

"Hyohoho, this base is like a second home to us, so it would be lonely if there's nothing here, after all." Kokoro voiced out her opinions as she traces the old red sofa she sat on right now with her manicure hand.

This is the first furniture she brought to this base. How nostalgic.

"I guess you're right." Yōta smiles gently.

"Ball-ball~!" Koyuki raised the kemari ball in her hands. This is one of the things that she brought to the base.

She plays a lot with Yōta with this ball.

Yamato sips the tea before he nods his head, "This place is better than the open field."

"I like open field. That was surely my space." Gakuto commented from the side.

Kazuko pursed her lips, "They didn't have to develop land that much."

Miyako giggles behind her book as she glances to Yōta, "That brings back memories. Yōta fell in love with me at first sight because I was so popular."

"What a masochistic fabrication of history." Yōta retorts cooly.

"You were treated like a vir—Ouch! Hey!" As Gakuto was about to say something insensitive, Yōta swiftly throws one of his chopsticks at him, and when he's looking at the glare that Yōta gave at him right now, the Shimazu raises both of his arms in defeat, "Fine, I'm sorry."

"That was insensitive of you, Gakuto." Takuya shakes his head in disapprovement.

"That's right. You should understand that it's not nice to open someone wound like that." Kokoro covers her mouth with her normal fancy fan as she gives the Shimazu a disappointed look.

"Yeah, you don't want the same thing happened to you like those kids who killed Miyako's pets in front of her, don't you?" Yamato curiously asked as he raised his eyebrows at Gakuto.

A cold chills suddenly appeared all of Gakuto's body as his face getting pale and paler by a second now.

He just remembered something terrifying.

"Right, Yōta was seriously snapped back then. That was goddamn terrifying, I tell you. I'm sure he scarred all the boys, who's bullying Miyako, for life that time. He even destroyed half of the school in the process as well." Shōichi hums thoughtfully, "If not for Momo-senpai and the principal, the whole school would be gone without a trace back then."

"Yeah, this man even give the old man a permanent scar on his back and broke my both arms." Momoyo chuckles as she pats Yōta's head.

"Ah, right. It's a big scar too." Kazuko added.

"Don't swing your fist down at people if you're not ready to get punched." Yōta quoted as he's giving a comfort pats to Miyako and Koyuki, "They were deserved that beating with EVERY fibers of their beings for doing that stupid thing to Miyako-san, but I'm seriously feeling sorry and bad at Tesshin-jiisan for giving him that scar and for breaking your arms too, Momo-senpai. I am sorry."

"Fufu, it's fine. I had my fun too fighting against you that time."

They played together ever since they were small kids.

But when they were in middle school, in their second year exactly, Miyako had to transfer to a school in Shizuoka because her parents got divorced.

Miyako still made time to come play with the family from Shizuoka on Fridays and the weekends.

That's why they leave Fridays open, so they can gather at the secret base to hang out.

This is the 'Friday Gathering' they all value.

This tradition has continued on even after Miyako came back here as a dormitory student.

Everyone of them believed it was their daily lives to play around like this.

"That's enough talking about depressing things." Shōichi clapped his hands.

"He's right." Momoyo hummed before she smacks the table gently to gather the group's attention to her, "By the way, I just told you earlier, but I got paid today."

Miyako perks up at that, "The month is ending, so I thought it was about time to collect my money."

"Here, this is the money I earned working my butt off." Momoyo nods her head as she drops the money on the table, "Take the money I borrowed from you, money mongers."

"All right." Shōichi smiles while picking 4,500 yen from the table, "You managed to pay us back by the end of the month again."

"I'll take the money too. It was 7,000 yen." Miyako hummed as she takes the said amount of money.

"Me too. It's good that you pay us back, but..." Takuya takes 4,000 yen on the table.

"You shouldn't have to borrow the money in the first place, Senpai." Gakuto continued as he takes 4,000 yen as well from the table, "All right, I got my money back."

"I let her borrow 3,000 yen, so... Does anyone have 1,000 yen bills?" Kazuko asked as she looks at the group.

"Hyohoho, I have it here." Kokoro replied as she opens the bag she carried with her all this time, "I have change ready for these times. And I'll take my 10,000 yen from you, Momo-senpai."

"And I'll take mine." Yamato said while counting the money he's got, exactly 8,000 yen.

Yōta takes all the money on the table and count it carefully, there's around 9,140 yen left, he takes 2,140 yen and gives the remaining to confused Momoyo, "I'll take these. Here's what's left. We certainly did get our money back by the end of the month."

A reason why Koyuki didn't take the money like others, because Momoyo never borrow money from her.

The Goddess of War doesn't have the heart to borrow a money from a cute girl like Koyuki.

"What do you mean here's what's left...?" Momoyo squints her eyes in confused manner as she looks at the money in her hand, "Just in case you forget it, I owe you 9,300 yen."

Yōta sighs as he leans forward, resting his right elbow on the thigh, "I know. But if I take all the money, then there's nothing left for you, you know?" He gives his senior a wry smile, "Just like you said, you worked your butt off to get all this money, you deserve this money. I'm fine waiting for you to pay me back next month. It's not like I'm really short on cash right now."

Momoyo's eyes widened at that before a gentle smile slowly forming on her face, "You're just the best, you know that?" She then reaches her hand out to Yōta before she brings the man to her, hugging him from behind.

"H-Hey, what are you doing!?" Flabbergasted Yōta asked as he tries to thrash in her arms, but stop himself after he feels the hold on him tightened.

Momoyo buries her red face on his shoulder, "Let me stay like this for a minute..." She whispers softly.

Yōta glances at the oldest Kawakami for a second before he pats her head in gentle manner, ignoring the look that the group are giving to them right now.

Shōichi clears his throat to gather the attention of the group, "Ignoring those two, let's get on with today's agenda."

The group nod their heads in agreement. While looking at the blushing Goddess of War is interesting by itself, they still know how to read the atmosphere.

"Where are we going to play tomorrow~?" Koyuki asked in sing-song manner as she raises her arm.

Shōichi chuckles at that, "Playing is important too, but... It's about the transfer student, Chris."

"Hm?" Kazuko curiously tilts her head, "What about Kri?"

"The discussion came up about if we should invite her into our group, right?"

"I just heard about it!" Miyako said as she slightly agitated by that. She doesn't like the thought of adding stranger to their group.

Koyuki tilts her head curiously, but her expression slightly agitated as well, if the frown on her face is any indication.

"Yeah, me too." Takuya nods his head as he shifts on his seat uncomfortably.

"So, I think it's all right." Shōichi said with a shrug.

"Are you sure about this, Capt?" Kokoro chimed in as she covers her small scowl behind the fan in her hand.

"Yeah, how did you arrive at that conclusion anyway?" Yamato asked in confused manner.

Their leader once again shrugs his shoulders, "Because Ume-sensei asked us too."

"She did tell us to take care of her."

"It's natural to make friends with her as a classmate, but..." Takuya averted his eyes as he trails off for a second, "Inviting her to the Friday Gathering is on a totally different matter."

"I know that." Shōichi nods his head understandingly but then he smiles widely at the group, "But Chris is a gem. She's strong-minded as the girls here, and she's funny! I like her. I want to play with her!"

"Oi, that sounds so wrong! Mind your words, you naïve bandana!" Yōta retorts from the background as he still in Momoyo's arms.

"Could be that love? Is it love?" Takuya curiously asked as he leans forward.

Shōichi tilts his head confusedly at Yōta before he shakes his head, denying Takuya's accusation, "Nope, that's totally off." He then points his finger to the group, "So, adding a new member for the first time in a long time. What do you guys think?"

"Why don't you ask everyone in turn?" Yamato suggested.

He's already giving up regarding this matter, even if everyone doesn't agree with Capt, he bets their leader will still gonna try to add Chris to the group in the end.

That's just how he is. So free and unpredictable.

"All right." Shōichi nods his head excitedly before he points a finger to Momoyo, who's comfortably resting her chin on Yōta's shoulder right now. "Then let's start with Momo-senpai, the leader of the criminals."

"I'm in favor of it." She smiles amicably, "I want Chris, in many ways."

"That was a quick reply."

Momoyo's smile suddenly turns into a devilish smirk, "If she joins, I can tease her, in many ways."

""I'm not surprised." Yōta and Yamato said at the same time.

When Shōichi turns his head to Yōta, the Nagakura sighs and casually waves his hand, "My word is my bond, remember?"

Shōichi's smile getting bigger when he heard the word. It's the first word that Yōta said to him when he joins the group.

An unbreakable promise between both of them.

Gakuto grins and starts posing beside Takuya, "I'm in favor as well. It's simple reason for me. She's cute, and she has spirit."

"Kri isn't needed... But..." Kazuko slightly feeling complicated at first before she shakes her head and smiles, "I like having more people who I can challenge at any time. But I don't know if she'll like this kind of a thing."

"Okay." Shōichi nods his head understandingly at that, "So you want to wait and see?"

"Yes, that'll be my vote." She starts lifting weights again on Yōta's laps as the said man's finally being released by Momoyo, and he's currently petting her head.

"Then next is..." Shōichi turns his head in Miyako's direction with a wry expression on his face, "The one who's making a sulk face there. Miyako."

"I'm against it."

"... Yeah, I thought so."

Miyako narrows her eyes before she faces away from her leader, "We don't need strangers. I don't want it. I like being with the ten of us."

"Fufu, I love how she's so gloomy." Momoyo commented from the side.

"Oi, glasses. Persuade this damp mushroom." Gakuto shoots a look to Yōta who's having the time of his life with Kazuko on his laps.

"NO."

"Why you..."

"I know Miyako-san too well that no matter what I said, she won't change her decision regarding this matter." Yōta fixes his glasses with his free hand, "Just like Capt said earlier, all women in this group are very head-strong. And do you think it'll be easy to persuade these type of people?"

Gakuto grumbles and back off.

"Yeah, Yōta is right. You can't really change Miyako's decision when she's already deciding something." Yamato added with a shake of the head.

"What about you, Moro?" Shōichi asked the next person.

"Hmm..." Takuya hummed thoughtfully before he lightly smiles, "I'm against it like Miyako. It'll be bother to add a new member now."

"Well said, Moro." Miyako approvingly bobs her head once before she pats the empty seat beside her, "You can come to the mushroom zone. Let's spread our spores and brainwash everyone."

"This incident will later be known as 'The Rise of the Gloomy People'."

"You there! Stop making weird narration! There's no such incident!"

Shōichi finally turns his head to the guest members, "What about you two?"

Koyuki tilts her head first before she stands up and join the Gloomy group as she shakes her head frantically at Shōichi, clearly saying she's against it as well.

She doesn't like strangers.

Kokoro hummed thoughtfully as she fanning her face with the fancy fan in her hand, "Hm, I think I'll wait and see as well. I'm not very familiar with the transfer student, so I can't really say anything regarding this matter."

"Wow, we agree. Friends, friends." Kazuko gives Kokoro a high-five and the Fushikawa returns it with a giggle.

"So, right now, we have 4 in favor of, 3 against, and 2 wait and see." Shōichi crosses his arms over his chest as he looks at everyone before his gaze falls into the tactician, "Yamato. Your opinion is important. Let me hear it."

"Let's wait and see." Yamato said with a shrug, "I'm sure it's lonely for her to be alone in a foreign country... I was angry at her, but there's no point in dragging that out. But I don't know if she'll like it here."

"Yes." Miyako nods her head with serious face, "That's what I'm most worried about. This is my... our secret base. If a stranger complains, I'll get rid of her with all of my might."

"Yes~ I'll kick her to the Mars if stranger complains about our home~!" Koyuki said as she excitedly showing her kick in front of the group, each kicks send a small gust of wind, showing how serious she is.

"C-Calm down, you two... Relax." Kazuko commented from the side with a sweat rolling down on her cheek.

"She's right. We don't want you both to destroy this whole building after all." Kokoro added.

If these two are getting serious, then there's no chance for Kri to leave this place in one piece.

With Miyako's Bodhisattva and Koyuki's Capala Dance, they both could destroy the half of this city with ease.

That's how crazy these two are if they're getting serious.

"So, you have no problem inviting her?" Shōichi asked Yamato, conveniently ignoring the two crazy women in the background.

"No." Yamato shakes his head in response, "You like her, anyway. But of course, if Miyako and Koyuki get in fight with Chris, I'll take those two side."

"Of course. That doesn't even need to be said." The leader nods his head understandingly, "... All right, it's decided! Then we'll invite Chris. To sum it up, Miyako and Koyuki aren't happy about it... So we'll cut both of them off if it seems like the atmosphere would get worse."

'He's using harsh words for Miyako-san and Yuki-san's sake...' Yōta thought as he stares at the figure of his leader.

"For that, I'll need both of your power, Yōta, Momo-senpai." Shōichi finished while looking at Yōta and Momoyo respectively, "Only you and Momo-senpai could stop these two if they're getting serious, after all."

"Understood." Yōta nods his head cooly as he's positioning the glasses on his face.

"Sure." Momoyo simply waves her hand casually in response.

"Yes, please do." Miyako said as she looks Yōta with serious face.

"Hehe~" Koyuki who beside Miyako is giggling with innocent smile on her face.

"But I'm sure that it's going to get more fun." Shōichi continued as he smacks the table with excited smile growing on his face, "This is the first time in a few years that I mentioned adding a new member after Kokoro, right? That's how interesting Chris is."

"You're so definitive as always." Takuya chimed in offhandedly.

"Yeah, leave it to me. Trust me like always."

"Of course. Isn't things always been like that?" Yōta hummed while leaning his back on the couch, bringing Kazuko with him as the girl giggles when she can feels Yōta's breath tickling her scalp.

When their leader wants to do something, the family will follow him through the end of it without hesitating.

That's just how Kazama Family works.

"Okay. The most important thing is what Chris wants, after all." Yamato finished the discussion as he leans his back on the couch as well.

"Thanks for your work, everyone." Cookie comes in as he wheels his way to the table with a tray on his robotic hands, "Do you want something to drink?"

"I want peach juice." Momoyo hummed.

Miyako raises her hand, "I want God Habanero Kaiser Drink."

"Marshmallow juice~~!" Koyuki waves her hands high in the air excitedly.

"Meat Juice for this awesome me." Gakuto flexed his muscles.

"Hyohoho, can I have Tropical Blend Italian Soda, Cookie?" Kokoro brazenly asked while covering her expectation face with the fan.

"You all are really assertive" Cookie chuckles, "Well, I saw this coming, so I have them prepared."

Gakuto picks up the glass with meat juice inside and starts drinking it without hesitation, "Kah! Yeah, I love this taste of blood."

"Happy, happy~ Happiness~!" Koyuki sings happily while twirling around as she drinks the marshmallow juice. The best juice ever!

"Hyohoho, as always I love these 'shuwa-shuwa' feeling~" Kokoro giggles from her seat as she happily sips her fancy drinks.

"Ugh!" Kazuko scrunches her nose when she saw Miyako's favorite drink, "Your drink is too red as always."

"Do you want some?" Miyako tilts her head while giving an innocent smile to Kazuko, "I'll give you a bit of it."

"N-No. I don't want any. Really!" The youngest Kawakami turns her head from Miyako and hugs Yōta tightly.

"Don't tease Kazuko-chan, Miyako-san." Yōta said before he tends Kazuko in his arms by patting the girl's head in comfort manner, "Yosh, yosh..."

"Eh, but it's so red? It's her favorite color." Miyako retorts back.

"She doesn't eat red things, Miyako." Yamato reminded the archer from the side.

Just because her favorite color is red, doesn't mean she has to love red foods and red drinks as well.

"Both of you want coke, right, Master, Yōta?"

"Normal iced coke, please." Yōta nods his head as he takes the drink that Cookie gives to him.

He then take two straws and put it inside the glass before pushing it to Kazuko.

Without hesitation, Kazuko takes the straw with her mouth and drinks the coke together with Yōta.

"Yup." Shōichi pops the word, "Give me iced coke and a glass! Put in one fine-quality Alaskan ice, then pour the coke in... and I'll drink it!" He dictated exactly what Cookie just did to prepare the drink for him before he picks the glass and drinks it enthusiastically, "Phew! Coke is the best! It's the energy to live!"

"You even have cold storage inside you. You're so useful." Momoyo commented while drinking her peach juice.

"You can only fit one bottle, though." Yamato added.

"And he uses so much electricity to recharge." Shōichi sighs out loud from the side.

Cookie's robotic eyes glints in red flashes, "It's because my speciality is to make popcorn. It's beautiful and delicious."

This robot indeed can make popcorn inside of his body, you only have to put the ingredients inside the part of his middle body, and you'll get your popcorn in mere seconds.

That's why their base always has some popcorn casually sitting on the table.

"So, what should we do tomorrow? Hey? Hey?" Kazuko asked in energetic manner as always as she raises both of her arms.

"Hmm, let's see..."

Shōichi claps his hands and smile at the group, "I hear it'll be sunny tomorrow. It's Spring too, so do you guys want to go play by the river?"

"Fishing the fish-fish~! Plop~ plop~!" Koyuki jumps in her place while making a fish face.

"Yeah, I'm totally up for that!" Kazuko joins in with Koyuki. "We're going to run around the riverbed too, right!?"

"You two are so energetic." Kokoro shakes her head fondly at their childish antics.

"I'm fine with that." Miyako nods her head, "Actually, I don't care what we do as long as we're together."

Momoyo hummed at that, "We stayed indoors during Winter and did things like watch movies and pool, after all."

"I guess it's decided." Yōta commented from the side as he wipes the his glasses with clean cloth.

"Then let's meet at the riverbed at nine."

"Ehh?" Kazuko whined, "That's too late. We should meet at seven!"

"Wanko." Momoyo called out, "We should meet at 10 if we're to train in the morning, you'll come too, Yōta."

Yōta raises his eyebrows in response, but still nods his head, "Okay."

"Yay! Training with Yōkkun!" Kazuko cheered out while jumping on Yōta's back energetically.

Ignoring the lovebirds in the background, Takuya looks at the leader with curious expression, "So, what exactly are we doing?"

"Hide and seek!"

Gakuto snorts and sports a big grin on his face while looking at Takuya, "At the very end when Moro becomes 'it', everyone's going to stop hiding and go home, right?"

"The time you did that in elementary school was so awful! It was traumatizing!"

"As bullied children, we three had it tough." Miyako hummed with Koyuki nodded her head and give Takuya a thumb up.

"That hasn't been the case for Moro ever since I started protecting him." Gakuto replied back.

"Teased...?" Miyako's blushing at the word, "You mean physically?"

"No!" Takuya shouts in panic, "Why do you look at it that way!?"

Miyako covers her red cheeks with her hands as she's having a wild imagination running over inside her head, "Two men getting all over each other... That's acceptable."

"Is it?" Kazuko innocently asked, "What do you think, Onee-sama?"

"Well..." Momoyo hummed before starts chuckling, "They say you go to the same sex if the people of the opposite sex around you aren't good enough."

"That's your case, Momo-senpai!" Takuya retorted.

"Hey, I'm not lesbian." Momoyo purses her lips at that as she pats Yōta's head, "Didn't I say Yōta is alright for me back then? He's the only man who can excites me unlike you guys. You guys are so boring."

She suddenly brings Yōta into her arms, making the Nagakura muffled out some complains as his face is currently burying between Momoyo's big boobs.

"Fufu, look at how happy he is." Momoyo giggles before she tightened her hugs and you can hear a muffled scream of agony from the man.

"I don't know if I should be jealous of him or pity him..." Gakuto commented from the side.

"Why not both?" Yamato raised his eyebrows.

"I'll pity him. I don't want my back to break because of a hug, thank you very much." Takuya said as he backs away.

"These two are always entertaining when they're together." Shōichi chuckled at the sight.

"Hyohoho, yes they are. There won't be any dull moments when they are together." Kokoro nods her head in agreement.

"Momo-senpai really love teasing Yōta. Fufu, I can understand that well enough too though. Yōta is fun to tease just like you, after all." Miyako giggled while covering her mouth with the back of her hand when Kokoro starts sulking beside her.

"Waa! Move, move, move!!" Kazuko suddenly charges in and forces herself between Yōta and Momoyo. "This is heaven~!"

"Me too~ Huggy hug-hug~!" Koyuki also joins the group hug as she envelops the three of them with her limbs like a koala.

The room is brimming with laugh and happiness while they talking and bantering with each other like usual as night wears on...