Mitsuru and Daitaro walked towards the condo with the grocery bags. Daitaro, who had left in a good mood, had returned with a complicated expression on his face. Mitsuru only looked tired while carrying the bags, since the plastic had become thinner and he feared that it would rip at any moment.

The blond didn't have to see his brother to know that he felt uncomfortable, and well, he preferred not to say anything and ignore him until it was inevitable to have to interact with him.

The children climbed the stairs to the third floor where they followed the hallway to the apartment where they lived. At the sound of the flow of water falling against wet earth, the blond looked towards the apartment next door: the neighbor was right now watering the flowers that decorated the exterior of her window.

“Oh,” Mitsuru blurted out in reaction to suddenly seeing someone he knew. The neighbor soon looked at them and immediately kindly smiled.

“Hello kids! Good morning, how are you?”

“…” Mitsuru did not want to talk, however, upon seeing Daitaro looking away from her and pretending that he did not see her, he understood that he would have to be the one to greet her. "Very well, thank you"

“I see you went to the supermarket, are you just going to have breakfast, Daitaro?” The woman looked at the silent redhead in a friendly manner.

Faced with the question specifically directed at him, Daitaro turned to look at her. Usually he would return the expression out of politeness, but he didn't even feel like forcing a smile at her.

“Yes,” he responded in a way that was obviously cutting to Mitsuru, although the lady didn't seem to care. The blond looked at him out of the corner of his eye and made a gesture asking him to behave. Mitsuru really wouldn't care, but Mrs. Abigail had known them for years and often gave them homemade dishes. That is to say, no matter how indifferent he wanted to be towards her, Mitsuru knew that it was not in their best interest to treat her badly.

"I see! And what do you plan to cook?”

When asked, Daitaro just stared at the woman without much reaction. He didn't seem to have the intention of answering, and in fact... Mitsuru was almost sure that his brother was thinking 'What does she care?'.

“We don't know, Masaru wanted to cook something so we went to the supermarket for ingredients” Mitsuru answered. At the answer, Daitaro looked at his brother out of the corner of his eye and gave him a brief expression of dissatisfaction. Mitsuru sighed wearily. Why was his brother forcing him to engage in a conversation he normally wouldn't have? Sure, get your antisocial brother to talk to the neighbor for you, he thought.

“Oh? So Masaru and your cute twin went to the supermarket? Did they arrive earlier? "I don't remember seeing them pass."

Daitaro frowned at the mention of Masaru and the 'cute twin' comment.

“No, they stayed behind but they shouldn't take long,” Mitsuru answered, wanting to choke Daitaro for not contributing anything to the conversation.

“I see… Well, I plan to bake cookies later, in case you want some,” the lady offered. “And if you want more or want to come eat at my apartment, you are welcome to do so,” she added.

“I appreciate the invitation, but no thanks,” Daitaro answered this time, “We'll be eating pancakes so it's too much sugar for Masaru.” He added with a subtle emphasis on 'too much sugar'. Mitsuru looked at his brother in disbelief. Did he perhaps want to earn the woman’s anger? …Is it that today life was showing him how uncomfortable it was when one of them was rude when answering? Ah... No, he didn't want to think about that, he didn't want to save the conversation, he wasn't interested in any of this and yet he was forced to do it.

"Thank you so much! A few should be fine, but my brother has too much energy and if he eats a lot of sugar he won't be able to sit still.” Mitsuru explained with an excessively cordial and unnatural tone for him.

“Oh, it's a shame..., well, I'll have them in the afternoon so if you want you can ring my bell and I'll give you all the cookies you want,” she explained.

"Yes, thank you very much! So, we need to go since we bought ice cream and it will melt if we don't put it in the freezer” Mitsuru explained unnecessarily. The woman nodded at the explanation and said goodbye to them.

Mitsuru said goodbye to her with excessive kindness, while Daitaro just proceeded to open the apartment door and immediately enter without looking back. The blond hurried through and quickly locked the door.

Daitaro entered the kitchen, left Hachi on the floor and proceeded to put the ice cream in the freezer. Mitsuru followed him and proceeded to look at him with annoyance.

“…” after putting the dessert in the freezer, he looked at his brother without saying anything.

“Can I know what's wrong with you? You became strange since we separated from them and now you forced me to unnecessarily socialize.”

“Yes, and I don’t understand why you did it,” the redhead answered with a smile. “Usually I insist that you be friendlier but this time there was no reason.”

"What do you mean by that…? She is the neighbor, that is reason enough” he explained.

“Did you see how she wanted Masaru to go eat cookies at her place?”

“...She didn't mention Masaru specifically.”

“He's the one who goes to her house to eat cookies so you know what I meant.”

“Well, yes, I know, but what does that matter?” the blue-eyed one questioned. “Do you dislike Masaru eating too many cookies that much?”

“Only when he eats them in her apartment”

“And to think that for a moment I did believe you when you said it was too much sugar for him…”

“That part is true, it's already hard for him to sit still and we're also going to eat pancakes, he doesn't need to eat cookies on top of that,” Daitaro explained. “But I know he loves them and he'll go get them anyway when I’m not looking,” he sighed. “What habit do you all have of doing things behind my back? Really, I do not understand"

“Don't change the subject. What did the neighbor even do? “All the teachers love you so I thought it was natural that it would be like that with all the adults.”

“And I don't doubt that the neighbor likes me, since I'm a twin and apparently she finds that adorable,” Daitaro said, making a disgusted face. “It made me want to look for Daiki and get him into the apartment before she saw him.”

“Look, I don't love being called cute, pretty or things like that, but people her age are usually like that.”

Daitaro smiled mockingly at that.

“That sounds like you get along well with women her age, when did that happen?”

“NPCs in video games usually have dialogues like this, of course, when developers take the trouble to give dialogues to the neighbors”

“Hm, well, I guess it makes sense if you look at it that way…, but what I'm saying is that that woman doesn't care how I talk to her because I'm just a 'cute twin', and she probably doesn’t even hear what I actually say”

Mitsuru looked away as he considered what he said.

“Well, I guess I would also be uncomfortable talking to someone who only sees me as a 'cute thing' and it's true that he calls you and Daiki 'cute twin' when one of you is not there at the moment..., but, aren’t you overthinking it? She knows what your name is."

“And I'm Masaru's brother, surely if she speaks well to me it's because she wants Masaru to continue going to eat at her apartment” Daitaro explained.

Mitsuru frowned, not quite understanding his brother.

“…” Daitaro fell silent before sighing and looking away. “I know I sound crazy, but I don't need you to understand it. It's not something easy to explain."

“I don't really care, but could you not make me cover for you like that again? Nobody says you have to like her but at least follow your own advice and behave. She lives next door so you shouldn't want her to be against us."

“...Yeah, I guess I'll try it next time.”

“You will try…? No, you better behave or I will make sure to eat any cake I see in this apartment for the rest of your days” Mitsuru threatened as he moved his hand as if he were cutting his own neck and then ended with a thumbs down. At the threat, Daitaro looked at him with puppy eyes.

“Would you really be so cruel…? You don't even like cake that much."

“You're going to find out if you make me talk like that again,” the blond added with annoyance.

Daitaro sighed again when he saw his brother displeased with him.

“Okay… I figure that if I answer her politely then she won't think about kidnapping Masaru when he goes to eat cookies at her apartment.”

“I think I now get what Daiki meant when he asked me not to say unpleasant things…” Mitsuru commented in reference to what happened in the store.

“I know how much you dislike small talk-”

“And being forced to speak when I don't want to,”

“Yeah and that…, I'll make sure it doesn't happen again but don't eat my cakes, okay?”

“...Hmph, only if it doesn't happen again” Mitsuru said as he looked away. The blond knew that his brother was being a good person right now, since Daitaro didn't even have to beg him. The cakes were something so sacred to him that Mitsuru wouldn't dare touch them unless he wanted to see Daitaro doing an imitation of Daiki but with a more intimidating, devilish and murderous vibe.

When was the last time he had eaten a cake just to annoy him? …He knew it had happened but had no memory of it. Getting him really angry was an entertaining idea, but he believed that just angering him in an average manner was enough to have fun at his expense.

Could he even claim that his brother's annoyance when his cakes were eaten was genuine anger?... Well, maybe something like that but it was enough to give him an idea of how undesirable it would be if he got really angry.

“…” at the blond's silence, Daitaro had the feeling that he was thinking bad things about him. “I understand if you think I'm weird and that I’m exaggerating because of the neighbor..., I have my reasons and I may not be able to explain right now..., but I promise to tell you another time, okay?”

"Hey, you don't have to tell me, I told you I don't care,” Mitsuru responded without understanding why his brother still thought otherwise.

"You don’t?"

“No, I just didn't like that you made me talk to her. In any case, you don't have to tell me, you probably think she's capable of anything and you're probably afraid she'll do something to Masaru. It's a bit obvious from what you said just now"

“Oh…”

“I don't care what you think about her, just don't make me talk to her for you again.”

“Okay, I get it, haha…” Daitaro smiled a little more relaxed. “Could you at least not tell Daiki and Masaru?”

“The only one who could be bothered by your attitude is Masaru, hm, at least more than Daiki in this case.”

“Anyway, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell them.”

“Ehh… I don't know, what you did really annoyed me…” The blond looked at his brother who had his hands clasped together in supplication.

“Oh well… I guess I'll have to tell Masaru that you ate his cookies like two weeks ago… I thought you would apologize but you looked very satisfied that you got away with it” Daitaro suggested.

“Tch. Okay, I see that it's not hard for you to play dirty."

“Neither for you,” the redhead answered with a kind smile that actually hid evil within it, or at least that's how Mitsuru saw it.

“I wish Masaru had been there so he could talk to the neighbor, he makes conversation with whoever he runs into.”

“Yes, but it has its advantages, he usually gets free stuff because of it,” Daitaro said happily before looking at Hachi lying on the floor with a somewhat sad smile.

"Now what?"

“I just kept thinking about Masaru.”

“It's not because of the neighbor anymore, is it?” At the question, Daitaro simply shook his head. “So… are you worried that he won’t be back soon?”

"Just a little”

"Don't worry about that, Daiki stayed with him, his little patience helps in this case" the blond explained confidently.

“Yes, I trust that he will bring him back soon” At the unconvincing answer, Mitsuru grabbed Daitaro by the wrist and led him towards the living room to sit down.

“You better relax and distract yourself,” the blond said as he gave him the tv remote. Daitaro held it  but didn't seem to love the idea.

“Do you think it's wrong for me to worry?”

“No, you are right about this. Masaru doesn't have many limits when it comes to helping. Daiki was right to stay with him.”

The redhead just sat with his knees against his chest. Mitsuru sighed seeing him like that, he had to say that it was a little stressful that the other couldn't think about something else.

Without saying anything, the blond walked away from the living room and instead headed to the room they shared. What could help Daitaro stop thinking about whatever was troubling him?

“Hmmm…” Mitsuru squatted in front of Daitaro's things and searched carefully to then take out an album. He flipped through it, finding photos of them on the pages. Typical he thought.

As he continued turning the pages, he stopped at one where it showed a photo of his parents next to them. Mitsuru widened his eyes in surprise, not expecting it; However, he remained analyzing the photograph carefully. In it, they were sitting on a bench at the amusement park, 5-year-old Mitsuru lay sitting on his mother's legs while he held the string of a violet balloon, both wearing the same character hat that was shaped like a pastel blue and white ice cream with a smiling face. His mother, with her beautiful blonde hair and apple green eyes, looked at the camera as she made a peace sign with one hand and hugged her son with the other. Masaru was sitting to the right of him hugging a stuffed rabbit he had won at one of the attractions, while his black-haired, blue-eyed father was standing behind him, he had a hand on his son's hair in an affectionate gesture. The twins lay sitting to Mitsuru's left exchanging smiles, curiously, Uncle Julius was standing behind them, standing next to their father. Although well... looking at the two men in the photo, his red-haired brothers looked more like his uncle's children than his father's because they shared the same eye and hair color as him. It was an interesting thought but one that shouldn't be discussed with Daiki present. When he finished analyzing the photo, his eyes wandered over the face of his mother, and when he saw his father... He couldn't help but grimace, expressing irritation.