The morning alarm rang in the room and slowly woke up everyone except Gabriel. The teenager still slept like a baby, seemingly undisturbed by the noise. In the eyes of the three girls, Misha also seemed adamant about leaving dreamland. However, he was only pretending to be asleep, regulating his breathing and keeping his eyes shut.

“Hn,” Gabriel eventually muttered after Masha pushed his shoulders. Then he buried his face in the pillow and grunted something akin to: “Five more minutes.”

Masha responded by letting out a helpless sigh, a little amused by this unexpected side of the teenager. Gabriel maintained a serious and mature image all day long, no matter where he was. But surprisingly, he was not a morning person, acting like a child when the time to wake up came. The contrast made Masha’s heart soften a little.

Unlike his sister, Misha wasn’t touched by the “moe gap” and felt his blood boil instead.  ‘Don’t laugh! Seriously, don’t! Waking up that jerk has always been an ordeal, ya’ know?!’ Misha complained in his heart, almost shedding a few tears at the thought.

He was reminded of all those times he had to wake up Gabriel. Occasionally, even screaming directly into his ears did not work out, and jumping on his stomach resulted in the teenager turning around and slapping him off like one would with a fly. Sure, Misha was small, but not that small.

Goodness, waking up someone should be an easy task, not torture!

On the bright side, it had always been an excellent excuse to pour a bucket of cold water on Gabriel’s face—although that little prank had also always earned him a good scolding. Even if the couch was old and made of leather, it wasn’t a reason to drench it! Masha wanted to keep it in an acceptable condition as long as possible since money was scarce, and water wasn’t exactly its best friend. If the little devil felt like pouring water on her boyfriend’s face, he should do it when the guy was sleeping on a wooden chair or the floor, not on the couch!

Thankfully, it seemed like Gabriel’s lousy habit wasn’t too bad for the time being, and the alarm clock was enough to disturb his sleep in the long run. No need for a bucket of cold water.

Discreetly, Misha couldn’t help but smirk. There was now something he was looking forward to, and instead of using cold water, a bucket of icy water seemed more appropriate. If his memories served him well, Gabriel should spend most of his summer with his family, meaning that it’d give Misha a few occasions to snatch him from his dreams. And he planned to do so in the most horrible ways possible.

In the end, his brain wasn’t completely useless, and that idea was practicable at last. Honestly, he couldn’t wait to put it into practice! He could already imagine Gabriel’s shocked face, and anticipation was building up in his stomach. Just you wait! Hehe.

While Misha’s mind was distracted, his mother walked up to the bed with soundless footsteps. When her cold hand gently touched his forehead, Misha flinched. His heartbeat increased tenfold until he heard her gentle voice and realized whose hand it was. It was just his mother’s, nothing to make a fuss over.

“It seems like his fever went down.”

Masha heaved a sigh of relief at these words and murmured, “Thank God! He gave me a real scare yesterday.”

“With the hot temperature from the past few days, it’s not surprising that his body couldn’t hold up,” Camille commented. “Your little diva not complaining and obediently following us around is a lot more surprising.”

“Who are you calling a diva?!”

“Your brother, of course! Who else?”

“I’m the only one who can call him a diva, hmph.”

“Yes, yes, your highness.” Camille paused slightly before adding, “But you must admit that your brother hasn’t been himself since yesterday. There was no hint of his usual bossy attitude; he didn’t ask for anything, even when we were in Chinatown and passed so many stores, didn’t cling to you like a leech, didn’t try to shoo me away...! I almost mistook him for an angel!”

On the bed, the not-really-asleep Misha inwardly grunted, ‘Come on! I wasn’t that bad when I was a brat. Just a bit rowdy and pampered.’

“…” Masha didn’t immediately answer as if she was reflecting on her childhood friend’s words. “You’re right. I should have realized sooner that something was wrong with him.”

Misha sulked, ‘Sis’, why aren’t you defending your cute little brother?!’

“Hey! I’m not blaming you. Don’t make that face. No matter what, your brother is undoubtedly cute. Even when he acts like a young master, I just want to pinch his cheeks and ruffle his hair. Anyway, I’m only a little worried. I’m not used to such a calm Misha, and I’m afraid of his next prank. Last time, I found a bunch of worms in my purse, you know?”

‘Who’s gonna pinch whose cheeks?! Huh?!’ Misha’s mouth twitched under the blanket, and then he furrowed his brows. ‘...Why did I put worms in her purse again?’ He thought hard about it but couldn’t remember. It was more than fifteen years ago for him, and many of his childhood memories were blurry. At any rate, the reason was probably not important, surely something stupid, so he tossed the thought aside.

“Well, you’ve seen worse,” Masha burst out laughing. “But, oh gosh, I’d have liked to see your face when you opened your purse, you who loves insects so much!”

“Sometimes, I wonder if that brother of yours didn’t learn that bad habit of tricking and pranking people from you,” Camille snorted.

Even though Misha couldn’t see Camille’s expression, he was fairly sure she glared at his sister, for Masha was indeed an expert at pulling pranks. Although she was much more well-behaved now, her best friend often suffered from his sister’s weird hobby in the past. On the bright side, her pranks were slightly more refined than Misha’s and didn’t involve dirty things like mud, bugs, and old chewing gums.

Now that Misha thought about it from a grown-up’s point of view, Camille’s patience with his sister was somewhat awe-inspiring. If he had been in her shoes, he’d have long retailed using the nastier tricks he knew.

“If you really want to find a guilty party for our bad habit,” Masha laughed, “I can give you one. You see, we inherited it from—”

Someone coughed, interrupting Masha from saying more, and Gulnas soon said afterward, “I’m still worried about Misha… I’m sorry, Masha, but I’d like to go to the clinic today. Do you mind if we postpone the amusement park?”

“Not at all. I was going to say the same thing. We have all summer anyway. We can always find the time to go another day, right?”

“Hm, sure,” Camille agreed.

Misha listened to their conversation while feeling conflicted. On the one hand, he felt happy about their worries; save for Dereck, and later his boss and Vanessa, no one paid attention to him for many years, leaving him alone in a dark, filthy, and lonesome world. All his other friends were bad acquaintances who only knew how to party and get into trouble. They wanted to have ‘fun’ and not think about serious stuff.

Now, Misha felt loved again, and a warm feeling spread in his chest.

On the other hand, he guessed that even if they were to bring him to the doctor, they wouldn’t find anything wrong with his body. Heat-stroke was probably the only logical answer they could come up with to explain his sudden fainting or something along those lines. It was surprising his mother hadn’t rushed to the hospital immediately, but he was grateful she hadn’t.

Misha had never been the brightest person in a group, but that didn’t mean he was utterly stupid. He had an idea as to why his body was suddenly so frail. Although the words of Santa Claus were a bit unclear in his mind since Misha wasn’t completely sober when they talked, and he also received a lot of information in one go, he still remembered some parts of their discussion. The main things that came to mind were the several drawbacks of going back into his younger body. Sure enough, the fatigue and the fever didn’t take their sweet time before plaguing him.

How could the doctor understand his present state? It’d never occur to him that his sudden bad health resulted from a fully grown man’s mind slipping into a kid’s brain.

Headache, tiredness, aching muscles; Misha could deal with it. The pain was nothing if it meant a second chance to be with his family. It was even well worth it.

But because it was useless to visit the clinic, Misha had to convince them that he felt fine. If what Camille said earlier was true, his brat self was worse than a diva. So, throwing a tantrum because he wanted to go to the amusement park shouldn’t surprise anyone, and maybe it would make them forget yesterday’s “calm” attitude.

Although Misha had long forgotten how to throw a temper like a kid, it shouldn’t be that difficult to mimic. Right…?

Just before he traveled back in time, Vanessa had told him how her daughter had been unreasonable lately. Whenever her temper flared up, her little girl would refuse to listen and take a firm stand, even puffing out her cheeks. Vanessa could only coax her with sweet words and chocolates until she calmed down, which could take up to a few hours.  

Thus, Misha had an example that he could follow.  Even if it was from a three-year-old child, it didn’t matter. ‘All kids are the same when they throw a tantrum, anyway.’ Misha comforted himself, mentally preparing to step on his ego.

In addition to a smart partner in crime, Misha also knew he needed to learn to act like a little rascal. Too many things to do and not enough time. He had a feeling it’d drive him crazy one of these days.

‘But for now, let’s concentrate on the task at hand.’

And so, it was time to become unreasonable.

Mini theater

MC: Ah! I could pour boiling water on Gabriel’s face instead of icy water! (ﾉ*0*)ﾉ

Author: If you do that, you’re going to disfigure him, you know? His handsome face is one of his rare good points.

MC: Oh… Yeah, you’re right.

ML: …Why do I feel like both the author and the MC despised me? It’s a little depressing. (╥﹏╥)