Why aren't you like him?

Eve was sitting in the living room with Victor, she has her clenched fists on her lap as she nervously listened to Victor sipping tea, but she relaxed instantly when she heard Chifuyu's voice as the door opened.

"Excuse me, is Mr. Clark here?" Chifuyu had a small paper in his hand.

"I'm here, Tsuguha." Victor waved his hand.

"Um, are you sure I should come to this event with you...?" Chifuyu had an invitation in his hand.

"Yes, you're going to be going as Charlotte's partner~!" Charlotte hugged his arm, jumping into sight at the doorway.

"What?!" Eve screamed in her head.

"I thought I told you I'm not a party person... Take Lucas with you," Chifuyu complained to Victor while Charlotte was nuzzling against his arm.

"Just this one time, Tsuguha, I really want you to be one of my honoured guests and attend one of my events." Victor gently begs with a smile, "I will have Evening as my partner, and you could be Miss Charlotte's." he added.

"Please, Chifuyu~?" Charlotte gave Chifuyu puppy eyes, and he sighed as his head slumped to show his surrender.

"Fine... I'll go..." he reluctantly agreed, "Just make sure to not eat any sweets before the event, okay?" he doesn't want to handle hyper Charlotte, telling her as he patted her head.

"Okay~" Charlotte agrees, "Eve, let's go shopping for the event~! Charlotte wants to see you enthral all the gentlemen there~!" she ran to Eve and held her hands.

"O-Okay," Eve agreed, overwhelmed by Charlotte's enthusiasm.

"Make sure to not make her too beautiful, Miss Charlotte. I wouldn't want other gentlemen there to take Evening from me," Victor told Charlotte.

"Don't worry, Mister Victor. Leave it to Charlotte~!" Charlotte dragged Eve out of the room, leaving Chifuyu and Victor alone.

"Tsuguha,"

"Hm?" Chifuyu turned to Victor with a confused look.

"I noticed Evening is important to you from the case about Simon Dills, I also noticed you're fairly close to her and she is more comfortable and open around you." Victor placed down his tea cup on the table with a smile on his face, "What are you to her? Or should I ask, what is she to you?" he gave his sharp smile to Chifuyu.

"I don't know what she thinks of me, but she's like family to me. Eve reminds me of my younger sister," Chifuyu responded with a straight face, then his mischievous smile rose on his face a second later. "Don't worry, sir, I'm not affectionate to her the same way you do." He smirked.

"I see, your answers are always amusing." Victor's smile turned into a pleased one.

"Look, Eve. Don't you think you'll look really good in this?" Charlotte showed Eve a blue gown, at the clothing shop.

"Um, I can wear a gown I already have, Charlotte. You can shop for yourself," Eve told her.

"What...? Come on, Charlotte wants to treat you for once." Charlotte puffed her cheeks.

"You say that every week I visit you, Charlotte..." Eve sighed, hopeless.

"Eve, do you know what colour Chifuyu likes?" Charlotte asked Eve, looking through the gowns displayed.

"I never really thought to ask him about that... Maybe white?" Eve guessed, judging by Chifuyu's Alabaster appearance. "He rarely talks about himself, sometimes he even dodges the question." She shrugged.

"Ah bon? Chifuyu is very mysterious, isn't he?" Charlotte smiled, "Should Charlotte buy him a gift? A chain earring perhaps? He seems to like chain earrings," she asked.

"Wouldn't it be funny if Chifuyu-kun actually has a chain earring collection at his house," Eve had her own imaginations, "I never seen him wear a different one though, he told me he really liked that one." She remembered.

"Okay, Charlotte will get him a chain earring." Charlotte went to the display of earrings, while Eve was dazed at excited Charlotte.

"Does Charlotte... like Chifuyu-kun...?" was the question in her head.

"Charlotte and Eve are back~!" Charlotte opened the door of the living room, revealing Chifuyu chewing macarons Victor had brought earlier that day.

"That was quick," Chifuyu was leaning his back on the backrest of the sofa in the living room, he was one of those people who believes girls take forever to finish shopping.

"Accueillir à la Maison," Victor welcomed them with a smile.

"You two seem to be getting along," Eve never seen Chifuyu and Victor in the same room alone before.

"This guy just won't let me leave," Chifuyu rolled his eyes, and Victor just chuckled.

"Chifuyu, look! Charlotte got a gift for you," Charlotte ran and sat next to Chifuyu, who turned his attention to the small box in Charlotte's hands. "It's a chain earring," Charlotte opened the box to present it to Chifuyu, revealing a silver chain earring with a silver cross charm in the box.

"Wow, it's cool." Chifuyu appeared mildly fascinated, "I can't take this, it must be expensive..." he was hesitant, knowing how expensive it was from the appearance of the earring.

"Please, take it. It's not that expensive, I promise." Charlotte insisted with a smile, then handed the box to Chifuyu.

"Thank you very much, Charlotte. I'll treasure this," Chifuyu thanked her with a smile, giving her a pat on her head as Eve sat down not far from Victor.

"Do you want some, Evening?" Victor moved the box of macarons closer to Eve.

"Sure, thank you." Eve nodded with an awkward smile, taking a blue macaron to start eating it. "Victor isn't expecting a gift or anything, right?!" she thought nervously, when she remembered the thought of getting Victor a gift didn't cross her head until they returned.

"Evening, are you okay?" Victor broke her daze, making her flinch.

"I-I'm okay!" Eve responded quickly, before looking back down to her lap and kept herself busy with her macaron, leaving Victor confused. Eve quietly glanced up to see Chifuyu and Charlotte chatting and getting along really well, sharing chuckles that made Eve's eyes look back down to her lap. "Why are you so laidback now...? Even around girls you just met..." Eve was deep in her own thoughts, remembering he was just as laidback when he was chatting with her since he visited her window.

When night fell, Eve threw herself onto her bed face down in her night gown, hugging her pillow to bury her face in it as she swayed her feet up and down. She was tossing and turning in hopes she could fall asleep, but her thoughts of Chifuyu kept her awake. She walked out of her room and downstairs to Chifuyu's room in the house, he was staying over that night, and she opened the room door to see Chifuyu sitting on his bed.

"Eve...?" Chifuyu was half-awake, Eve sat on his bed and rested her forehead behind his left shoulder, making him confused. Chifuyu averted his eyes with a drowsy expression on his face, before falling to his pillow and left Eve sitting down next to him. "Can't sleep?" he reached to pat her head, closing his eyes as he laid down on the bed.

"Yeah..." Eve responded as her cheeks blushed, turning her hand to hold his back. "Am I bothering you?" she asked with a gentle voice, not wanting to draw away his sleepiness.

"Not at all," Chifuyu sat back down, starting at her with his eyes half open and a dozy expression before placing her hand under her bangs and on her forehead. "Are you sick...?" he asked her with a tired tone.

"N-No, I'm feeling okay." Eve doesn't know where his question came from.

"You're really quiet today, is it because of Charlotte's overwhelming excitement or is it Mister Clark?" Chifuyu continued to ask her as he lowered his hand, he could no longer keep his eyes open and was talking with his eyes closed.

"Not really..." Eve doesn't know what to say as she looked down, actually wasn't expecting him to notice.

"Did I make you mad somehow?"

"W-What? No, I'm not mad..." Eve stopped before she could finish, "Actually, I am mad at you." She decided to tease him and pouted, she was expecting Chifuyu to ask her reasons, but he placed his hand on her head to pat her head instead.

"I'm sorry..."

"H-Huh? Is he too sleepy to register or something?" Eve was expecting a different reaction from him, "Do you even know what you're apologizing for?" she asked him, lightly poking his cheek.

"Not really..." Chifuyu was not in the state to think, making Eve know he would agree to anything when he's heavily sleepy.

"Just go to sleep already, I'll go back to my room." Eve patted his chest, and he fell back onto his pillow to sleep.

"You can stay if you want, just don't be too noisy..." Chifuyu's voice was slowly fading into silence, then fell asleep with Eve sitting next to him.

"Is this how he always treats his sister? He really loved his sister, huh?" Eve thought as she played with his hair without waking him, "Why aren't you like him, Nii-san...? Why would you disappear like that?"

***