Mirai peeked through the blinds and locked eyes with Ryosuke, who stood outside her door.

He pointed to the door to tell her to open it, and she shook her head from inside and walked away from her window, so he skipped to the window and knocked on the windowpanes.

She pursed her lips together and checked the time on her watch. She still had about a good two-and-a-half hours left before she needed to be at her destination. The knocking behind her persisted, and she feared that the window would break, so she stomped back to the window, pulled the blinds up, and glared at her friend. She said to him, “Go home. I’m busy!” She made sure to mouth it slowly enough for him to read and understand.

He pretended to not understand, tilting his head side to side and raising his brows and pouting. He even waved his hands around.

As she repeated her words, she couldn’t help but be amused by his humorous actions. She laughed in the middle of her sentence and gave up on trying to speak to him through the window. She pointed to the door and received a light-hearted smile from him. When she opened the door, she was about to reprimand him but instead, she got gently shoved back inside.

She gave him a good look, up and down. In all the times that she had seen him recently, he had been in his business attire, but today, he was in all casual.

He had on a dark blue cap; a short-sleeve, white and blue, buttoned-up, flannel shirt; and denim shorts. He seemed ready to go on a trip of some sort. He also looked up and down at her.

A white apron covered her outfit.

“What, you’re not ready?”

She blinked at him, confused. “For what?”

“My son’s Little League game.”

“You’re going?”

“Why would I miss my son’s match?” He pointed to her apron. “Why are you cooking at this time of the day? Lunch?” He grinned at her. “For us?”

“I know your Mom told you where it is, so go there yourself.” She walked away from him and headed to the kitchen. “I have no time for you.”

He chuckled. He had to make a joke about what she had said. “It’s fine.” He followed her to the kitchen. “I rather take your time at night.”

She quickly turned around and almost bumped into him. She eyed the door. “Go.”

“But you’re here,” he whispered and flashed an irresistible smile to her. He casually pulled her into an embrace, and she tried to resist as usual. “Let’s go together.” He rubbed his face against hers, annoying her, and whined, “I didn’t bring food, so who’ll feed me?”

“You have time to buy something now.”

“I want to eat with you.” He pouted and then squeezed her tighter. “And I want to eat you.” He then moved his head to her neck and nibbled around.

It tickled her, and she laughed while trying to pull away. “Baka, stop!”

He laughed along with her, not stopping. “Yadda.” He momentarily looked up. “Not until you agree to go with me.”

The more he nibbled and the longer he did it, her legs became weak and she could feel herself lowering, and she knew if they both get onto the ground, other kinds of “business” would begin. She pulled away and exclaimed in between laughs, “Fine! We can go together!”

He pretended to not hear and continued his teasing.

“We can go together!” She repeated in between laughs. She freed herself from his ticklish grasp and tried to make a run for it, but he swiftly pulled her back into a backhug and resumed his nibbling around her nape. “Stop it! Now!”

What finally stopped them was the sizzling sound from behind them. The friends paused and curiously looked behind and saw gray smoke rising from a black, smoldering pan.

“The eggs!” She shoved his hands around her and ran to the stove to turn the fire off while blowing away the smoke. She exclaimed to him, “Oi, make sure the fire alarm doesn’t go off!”

He looked up at the ceiling. “Where?”

“In the hallway!”

He ran to the hallway and saw it. He took off his cap and flapped it back and forth directly under the smoke detector. The situation continued for a good two to three minutes until she gave him the O.K. He returned to the kitchen, and before he could apologize, he received a look that forbade him to come any closer, so he signed to her that he’d patiently wait in the kitchen for her to finish.

*

Kei, sitting in the passenger seat as he watched his friend discuss the delivery of his luggage to the countryside with a delivery man outside the car, drifted his eyes to the side, and the sun-rays beamed through the passenger window, flashing his eyes and reminding him of one person.

Natsu.

And the image of Natsu reminded him of the situation he couldn’t believe had been drastically escalated. He had feared, since a while back, that this day might happen, but he had been very sure that it wouldn’t.

She asked him to marry her? What is she pulling this time? Kei exhaled through his nose and shook his head slightly. Does she know what she’s getting herself into? His brother’s here and knows of her return, but she’ll marry the brother of the guy she likes instead? Everyone knows they like each other, and—

The door to the driver seat opened, and Kota hopped into the seat. He caught his friend’s fearful expression, and he inquisitively asked, “What’s wrong?”

Kei lied, “N-nothing.”

“Thanks for always helping.” Kota inserted his key into the ignition and started the car. “Do you have any plans to do before I leave for the summer?” He quickly glanced at the time on his car’s dashboard. “We won’t make it to Natsu’s game, so I have texted Mirai to bring him after.”

“About her, do you have your answer?”

Kota froze in his spot.

“I’m sure she’ll like an answer soon.”

Kota forced a smile at his friend to drop the conversation and drove away, and the two friends stayed silent throughout the ride, both thinking about the same problem.

*

“Kamenashi-san,” said Mirai, spotting him sitting on the bleachers with open seats around him. As she walked to him, Ryosuke pulled her back. “What?” she asked.

He expressed his dislike and answered, “Can’t you choose another place to sit?”

“We always sit together.”

“Always? Why?”

“Because we’re here to support Natsu.”

“He’s using Natsu as an excuse, don’t you know?”

“For what?” She flung her arm away from his. “If you’re overthinking our relationship, sit somewhere else.” She sneakily stuck out her tongue at him before leaving him to join Kazuya, so Ryosuke had no choice but to follow. When she got to where Kazuya was sitting, she looked around. “Where’s Mana?”

Kazuya uncomfortably tensed up. “Sorry, she can’t make it today.”

“Oh, how come?” She sat down and placed her bags beside her and took notice of an annoyed Ryosuke, standing beside her, so she gestured him to take a seat next to her, which slightly raised his happiness. To Kazuya, she added, “I made the dishes she liked from last time.”

“Thank you,” he said. “You’re always watching out for us. If I didn’t have you, I wouldn’t know how to raise my daughter.”

Ryosuke turned away and rolled his eyes. Everything Kazuya said sounded like a pool of false flattery, and because he had once been that guy, he knew the older man was saying anything to get in her pants.

“But from now on,” Kazuya removed his attention on Mirai to the wide baseball field, “it’ll be me alone to come to watch Natsu.”

“Eh?” she uttered.

Ryosuke overheard, glanced back, and saw a pained expression on the man, and he recognized it. He knew it very well. It had anguish, languid, and hopelessness all mixed into one solemn and lifeless expression.

Kazuya lightly chuckled, but it wasn’t enough to hide the agony. “My ex-wife’s taking my little angel back.”

*

“You don’t have to worry,” said Kazuya to Ryosuke.

The two men were alone to themselves on the bleachers while Mirai was with Natsu to talk with the coach about the next game. The game was over, and many parents had gone to their child to support and encourage the team while other family members picked up the trash and cleaned up their spot before leaving.

“Worry about what?” Ryosuke asked.

“You think I like your sister-in-law, right?”

She’s not my sister-in-law, and she won’t be. Ryosuke kept quiet, however, not knowing how to answer.

“Your brother and I have met a couple of times before, and he knows of our relationship.” Kazuya stared at the ground. “Well, it didn’t start like that in the first place.”

Ryosuke gasped and looked back. “So, you guys—”

Kazuya promptly interrupted him before he could finish saying the impossible. “No, no. Sorry, what I mean is, at the time, we were both new parents.”

“New parents?”

“Well, I was actually a new parent, not her.” Kazuya looked at Natsu and Mirai, who were still with the Coach. “I moved here a while back, and on the day of my daughter’s enrollment into the same daycare center as her son, she helped me with a few problems that I, as a new father, had then. We became even closer friends when she helped me get along with my two-year-old daughter, who was afraid of me.”

“Afraid of you?”

Kazuya bit his lower lip. “Actually, she’s not my real daughter. My ex-girlfriend—the biological mother—left her in my care to chase after another guy who didn’t want the child. For safety precautions for the daughter, we filled out a marriage form and then got divorced a year later so that she and her boyfriend can get married.”

“You took in a child that isn’t yours and raised her?” Ryosuke calmly asked. For some reason, he didn’t find that appalling, but rather, very touched. It was too similar to a situation he knew very well.

“I’m dumb, I know.” Kazuya finally laughed out loud. “Back then, there were nights when I saw my daughter sleeping, and I questioned myself why I stupidly kept her when I had no clue how to raise a two-year-old. I wonder why I had to take the duties and responsibilities of someone else’s. It wasn’t until I knew that she was a single mother, and it bothered me to no end about why she’d be happy about being one.”

Because she loves kids. She loves Natsu. Ryosuke mentally clarified. He then shifted his attention to his friend and the little boy.

“She told me that it’s because she loves the man who gave her the sun of her life.”

Ryosuke believed he’d heard wrong and abruptly turned back to face Kazuya. “H-huh?”

“At first, I didn’t understand why she had run away from the man she still loved, but she said something about how her sun would brighten her days but would darken his. And that’s why she ran away and live a life without him. That’s how she came to find your brother, and they started a relationship together.” Kazuya sighed with a small smile. “I was a bit worried about whether or not your brother would come to adore Natsu as much as Mirai, but time proved that he does, although there had been a few awkward moments between them.”

Ryosuke turned sour now that he was reminded of his own problem. He subtly asked, “Do you think a parent can love a child that’s not theirs as much as the real parent?”

“I can’t say it for everyone, but I know I do.” He reached inside his pocket and took out his cell phone and showed Ryosuke his wallpaper, which was a picture of his smiling daughter holding a melting vanilla ice cream. “She’s the only angel I’ll die for.”

“Uncle! Uncle!” It was a red-face Natsu, shouting from the fields to them.

Both men looked down at the field and saw the little boy waved to them as he led his mother behind him. A few minutes later, the little boy reached the men and the men smiled at him.

Mirai grabbed the lunch bags and handed one bag that hadn’t been opened to Kazuya. “As always, I made this for you and—” She was about to say Kazuya’s daughter’s name but stopped herself when she was reminded of the predicament Kazuya was in. “Ah, gomen.”

Natsu tapped Kazuya. “Where’s Mana-chan? She’s been sad lately, and I want her to have fun today.”

“She’s sad?” Kazuya asked Natsu.

“Yeah. She hasn’t been smiling.” He looked away first and then back at the older man. “Is it because I showed her a roly-poly?”

Mirai smiled to lighten the atmosphere. “Natsu, Uncle Kazuya’s very busy, so he’ll be leaving first.”

Kazuya sent Mirai a thankful look for helping him escape the innocent questions that could unintentionally harm an adult’s mentality. He bade the gang goodbye and left with the packed food Mirai had made for him and his daughter.

“Mom,” Natsu then turned his attention to his mom and Ryosuke. “Are we going home with Uncle again?”

Ryosuke took notice of the jubilant tone in the little boy’s voice, and he couldn’t help but be satisfied. He asked him, “You like riding with me?”

“Yeah, I do!” admitted Natsu. “Dad and Mom hardly ride together, so when I ride with you, it’s like I’m riding with them because you kind of look like Dad.”

The adults’ faces turned blank as the little boy’s innocent confession inadvertently made them feel guilty.

Again, Mirai changed the subject. “Let’s get going, shall we? People are leaving already.”

In the car, Mirai and Ryosuke stayed silent while Natsu bade the people he knew outside goodbye through the window from the backseat. Ryosuke watched the little boy through the rearview mirror, and the confession of how the little boy had never seen his “parents” in the same car tugged his heart. And this time, it wasn’t because his brother and Mirai would be in the same car together but because they weren’t a true couple like the innocent boy had believed.

An idea came to him, and he beamed a smile. He undid his belt, which gained Mirai’s attention, and turned his upper body around to look at Natsu. “What do you want to do?”

Mirai put he