5 | The Stranger

Gin-Dai's teacher called out her name and said her sister was here to pick her up; as Ayame and Yoshino approached Gin-Dai's class holding hands, Gin-Dai ran to fetch her bag and stopped immediately after.

Gin-Dai turned around and saw her sister with a strange man, with the most annoying smile on his face, which made her laugh inside and think he was an idiot. Gin-Dai, thinking to herself how stupid this man looked and seeing how her sister had the exact same strange yet stupid look on her face.

She walked up to her sister slowly and hid behind Ayame shyly; Ayame kneeled down next to Gin-Dai and introduced Yoshino to her, Gin-Dai, now knowing that she was being introduced to the man that Ayame and her mother were talking about yesterday, Gin-Dai walked up to Yoshino and pulled on his arm to kneel down so she could whisper in his ear. Gin-Dai said to Yoshino after covering his ear, while her mouth was near his it, "I know who you are, mommy and nene were talking about you yesterday and just so you know everyone is laughing at you because you look like the cartoon character from the storybook with that smile."

Yoshino's smile got shy after hearing those words as Gin-Dai moved away from him. Gin-Dai, Ayame and Yoshino were then off to the flower store, walking hand in hand between Yoshino and Ayame and skipping, Gin-Dai then heard Yoshino ask Ayame, "Were you and your mother talking about me yesterday?" Gin-Dai looked up at Ayame seeing how confused and surprised she looked and started laughing.

When they arrived at the flower shop Gin-Dai ran and gave her mother a hug and said, "Mama look it's Yoshino," Etsu looked up and saw both Ayame and Yoshino and said, "My dear boy, you returned?" Yoshino laughed shyly and said, "Yes Mrs Tachibana."

An hour later the four of them went out for dinner; they had the most wonderful evening together, enjoying laughs and stories about one another.

After dinner the four of them went back to the Tachibana residence, Etsu asked Yoshino, where he was staying and Yoshino replied with a smile saying, "At the hotel I was staying at a few months back," Etsu added, "You can't stay there forever, you need home-cooked meals made with love and staying in some hotel isn't healthy for a young man like yourself!" Yoshino laughed with embarrassment as Ayame hugged him, he looked down at her and said, "I know, but there's, nowhere else to go for now."

Out of nowhere, Gin-Dai said with excitement in her voice, "You have us and this is your home now besides it's going to be quiet again after you leave, so please don't go just yet."

Ayame and Etsu looked at each other after hearing those words come from such a small person, while Yoshino picked Gin-Dai up giving her a hug, due to the sight of seeing tears form in the little one's eyes, Yoshino said while hugging Gin-Dai, "OK!! I'll tell you what I'm going to stay here till you fall asleep and be back before you wake up tomorrow morning, Deal??"

Gin-Dai agreed then went to her room to get ready for bed. Ayame walked over to Yoshino and gave him a hug and said, "Goodnight Yoshino, it's my bedtime too."

Yoshino kissed Ayame on her forehead and let her go to bed. Etsu and Yoshino talked about living arrangements; afterwards, Yoshino went to Ayame's room to say "goodnight" to her and Gin-Dai, then kissed them both on their foreheads and said, "See you girls tomorrow," then left.

The next day when the girls woke up, they smelt breakfast and ran to the kitchen happily. The first thing both girls saw was Yoshino in a cooking apron, Ayame gave him a kiss and a hug from behind, then said, "Yoshino, you look cute in an apron,".

"If you ask me, Yoshino looks weird with it on," Gin-Dai commented from the side as Yoshino pulled her nose which hurt afterwards; everyone laughed and had breakfast, then got ready for a family fun day at Oho park.