“I’ll have him dropped off by the end of this week once preparations are done,” said Kota, standing outside the door as Mirai and Ryosuke stood beside him. He had to leave to meet up with a friend, and the teens would stay by themselves in their newly bought house.

Mirai smiled and nodded.

“By the way,” continued Kota as he pulled out something from his back pocket, “here you go.” It was a black iPhone. He handed it to her, and she accepted.

Ryosuke questioned her, “Why do you need another one?”

She pursed her lips. “I threw my old one away. I don’t want to have anything to do with them anymore. Besides, that phone was so they could keep tabs on me.”

Kota also handed a familiar item to her—a white envelope.

She accepted it with a curious frown because it had a familiar size and weight. “You’re returning my money?”

“Take the phone as a ‘thank you’ from me.’

“I should be thankful, not you.”

Ryosuke nodded, agreeing with her and looking at his brother. “Yeah, why are you helping us so much?”

Kota became flustered. “Let’s just say I’m thanking you for being a responsible adult.”

“For the last time, that brat ain’t mine.”

Kota winced with a smile and walked to his car, and after the teens watched him drive away, they closed the door, turned around, and felt reality hit them

*

After passing a few stops, Kota made a stop at a curb, reached for his phone, and pressed some numbers.

“Grace Hospital,” said a lady on the line. “How can I help you?”

“Uhh, yes, this is Kota Yamada. May I speak with Dr. Kei Inoo? Tell him it’s regarding Natsu.”

“I’ll connect you to him.”

As Kota waited, he glanced at the thesaurus-sized book in his bag.

Then, the phone line connected again.

“Kei speaking.”

“Hey, it’s Kota.”

“What’s up?”

Kota paused before mustering the courage to ask, “What have you gotten so far?”

“I did what you’ve asked me to do, and, yeah, he’s in the records. But, Kota, there’s something I need to tell you.” Some shuffling noises accompanied him as he spoke. “This baby… He was taken out of the hospital a few hours after birth. And it wasn’t by the mother.”

Kota shifted in his seat with concern.

“She died after giving birth.”

Kota sunk into his seat. He felt weak.

“I’m sorry…for your loss.”

Kota took deep breaths as his eyes moved to look at the book.

“But, Kota.”

Kota averted his attention to the front.

“She died because…”

*

Ryosuke and Mirai had been in their respective rooms ever since Kota left. Neither didn’t know exactly what to say to each other, so they could only think of using the excuse of cleaning their new space to keep themselves busy.

Since he was done with his room, he went downstairs and saw the kitchen lights on, so he followed it. To his surprise, in the kitchen was Mirai, sitting at the dining table.

“What you doing?” he asked, walking to the counter to pour himself a cup of water.

“Thinking,” she softly answered while eyeing something on the table.

It was the blank family registration form Kota had left behind for them. The teens had been given until the end of the week to decide.

“He said we don’t have to do it, but no matter how much I think about it, it’s the best and safest for us.”

There was a long pause. Both teens knew that signing the form came with protection but also with risks and consequences.

She flinched when he sat beside her and slid the paper closer to them and then clasped his hand in hers. She locked eyes with him, searching for a visual answer and an explanation of what he planned to do next.

“Then, what more do we need to think about?” he asked with a confident smile, and she sat straight. “I’m going to be here for you. You’re going to be here for me.” He picked up the paper and looked at it. “And we’re gonna be there…for our little one.” He squeezed her hands.

*

“So, how’s the place?” asked Juri to Ryosuke as he walked over to him to sit in the seat in front of Ryosuke’s desk during lunch break.

Ryosuke perked up at the question.

“Think we can come over and throw a house-warming party?”

“I’ll ask man-girl. It’s not just my house.”

“That sounds like you two are a married couple.”

“Don’t kid me. We’ll never be like that.”

“Fine. I’ll wait ‘til she and Haruka come back from the bathroom.”

Shintaro came to them after returning a book to the library, and Juri said that there was a party at Ryosuke and Mirai’s new place.

Ryosuke made a face at Juri for disregarding what he had said. “I told you I gotta ask her first.”

“Dude, it’s Mirai,” said Juri. “She’s gonna let,” He grabbed Ryosuke’s pencil and scribbled on Ryosuke’s worksheet. “Speaking of her, didn’t you go after her during your bachelor days?”

“I never went after her, and I’m still a bachelor.”

Shintaro nodded, thinking to himself. “I remember something like that. Wasn’t she the only girl who didn’t respond to your cheesy pickup lines?”

Ryosuke looked at Shintaro. “Why are you going along with his story? I can accept flirting with her but definitely not liking her.” He smirked, laid back into his chair, and crossed his arms over his chest. “Girls make me sin.”

“What about girls?” asked Haruka from behind Juri, and behind her was Mirai. Haruka strutted to her boyfriend, passing by Juri and purposely stepping on his feet and ruffling Ryosuke’s hair.

Mirai laughed and went to sit on the empty desk beside Ryosuke. To him, she said, “If you’re talking smack about me, you’re cooking tonight.”

“Let the couple fight begin,” teased Juri.

Ryosuke and Mirai glared at him. “We’re not a couple,” they said in the same deadpan voice.

Ryosuke nudged Mirai. “He said that when we met, I liked you and went after you. I so didn’t, didn’t I? I mean, seriously, me? Liking you? You’re so not in my league.”

An invisible vein popped from her forehead. “No, he’s right.” It was a lie. She wasn’t going to take the insult, so she changed what he could remember, making him gasp with disbelief. She added, “But I never responded to your pursuit because I’m not interested in little boys.” She stuck out her tongue at him. “Even years later, you’re still the same little boy that hasn’t grown up.”

Haruka laughed along with her friend until a certain detail caught her attention. “Hey, he kinda did grow up. For, what, the last two, three years, he hasn’t gone after anyone. I think it was sometime after Shintaro and I started dating.”

Juri jumped up with excitement and looked back and forth between Ryosuke and Mirai. “So, our little guy has had a crush on Mi-chan since then!”

Ryosuke and Mirai squirmed and pushed Juri to the side.

“Eww, no!” exclaimed Ryosuke.

“That’s my line!” Mirai immediately added, slapping a backhand to Ryosuke’s chest.

“It’s impossible. I met her in sixth grade, and, I, for sure, know I didn’t like the ugliest girl in the world.” Ryosuke made a straight face. “And I still don’t.”

Mirai nodded once. “The feeling’s mutual.”

They shook hands.

Haruka gasped. “Mi-chan! At least defend yourself. He called you ugly.”

Mirai swatted the air, tiredly. ‘Ehh, that’s his problem. Who cares?”

Ryosuke smiled and put an arm over Mirai’s shoulders as he looked at Haruka. “Don’t worry, Haruka. She’s ugly, but she’s got a special place in my heart.” He then pinched Mirai’s nose, and a small fight ensued between them.

Shintaro sighed and shook his head. “This is why I’m glad she doesn’t think much when he says such things.”

Haruka made a face. “True that. If I were her, ooh, that boy wouldn’t live this long.”

Ryosuke heard them, looked at them, and pulled Mirai in close. “That’s ‘cause we’ll never misunderstand each other.”

*

“Haruka,” Ryosuke called out to his friend.

It was after school, and the gang was sitting at a round table in the library, waiting for Mirai to finish her after-school duties.

“I was wondering,” continued Ryosuke, “how much you know about Mi-chan’s family and the babysitting problem.”

Shintaro looked up from his homework, and Juri looked up from the game on his phone—he even paused it.

“Oh, I know them really well,” hummed Haruka. “So well that all the exaggerations I’ve made won’t even measure up to it.”

Juri laughed and pointed at her. “Well, duh. You’re the Queen of exaggeration.”

Haruka ignored Juri and answered Ryosuke’s question, “Wanna know why any of you couldn’t be mentioned to her family or be known to them at all?”

The boys nodded. For as long as they had been friends with Mirai, she had always forbidden them like crazy to not be together if she had a feeling her parents were picking her up from school.

“She’s never had a problem making friends,” continued Haruka, “but, one day, from what she had told me, she overheard her parents arguing about enrolling her into an all-girls private school or something like that to be far from the wolves.”

“Wolves?” the boys asked innocently.

“‘Boys,’” she clarified. “That argument changed her life. She didn’t want to move and make new friends, so she decided to cut ties with all her guy friends.”

“But why would they do that to her?” asked Juri, turning off his phone and placing it down in front of him.

“They thought she’d be like her siblings. You know, getting married so early and all that. They thought monitoring her was the best, but it slowly ate her, you know. It got to where her siblings started assigning her to babysit their kids, so their parents said nothing because they knew she wouldn’t be anywhere but within arms’ reach.”

Shintaro raised his brows with a subtle nod. “So, that explains why she was so distant from us back then.”

Juri looked at Shintaro. “I thought she didn’t like us ‘cause you were dating her friend and Ryosuke was harassing her.”

“It’s also the reason why our girlfriends left her,” said Haruka. “They thought she was using the excuse of babysitting to not spend time with us.” She looked away and pouted. “I, too, had committed the same crime.”

“What did you do?” asked Shintaro to his girlfriend.

“This isn’t justification for what I did, but hearing the same excuse from her over and over again, I’ve once ditched her because I thought so too.”

“Whoa,” said Juri, excitedly. “When did this happen?”

Shintaro and Haruka gave him a look.

Haruka pursed her lips. “It was about two months after Shintaro and I started dating.” She paused. “I thought maybe she was jealous that I had gotten a boyfriend before she did, but, of course, it was nothing like that. Then, one night, when I…ran away from home, I saw her at some store, babysitting, like I had heard her say earlier that day.” Her tears fell to the table, and she wiped the tears streaming down her cheeks. “The diligent thirteen-year-old Mi-chan was multi-tasking with five freakin’ wild monkeys and had a grocery list as long as a meter stick.” She began to sob, and Shintaro got up to comfort her. She spoke through the hug. “She handled everything well though. She stayed cool when one of the monkeys tried to get into someone’s cart. The other monkeys ran around about, and even I was losing my temper just from watching. That was when I realized she’d been telling the truth all along. I told her about it the next day, and we’ve been better friends since then.”

“Poor Mi-chan.” Juri frowned and placed his arms over each other on the table and propped his chin on them. “She’s been a mommy a long time ago.”

Haruka pulled away from the hug and scoffed. “It’s thanks to those fast-producing siblings of hers!”

Juri sat straight again. “Honestly, I don’t see how keeping him will help with her baby-loving problem. It’s back to square one except it doesn’t belong to any of her siblings.”

Ryosuke, who had been quiet throughout the entire time, finally spoke. “‘Natsu,’ not ‘it.’”

“I thought she would be the only one who’d get worked up over that. Why you too?”

“Because he’s ours now.”

“Ours?” the friends repeated, surprised.

Ryosuke was surprised too but acted like he wasn’t. He ignored their question and said to Haruka, “Don’t worry, Haruka. Back then, it was her handling five brats. Now, she’s got me in the mix.”

Haruka frowned. “I honestly don’t know if I should feel relieved or worried.”

The friends laughed.

*

Mirai grouped with her friends, and the gang walked out of the school building.

“Wanna know the best part of today?” asked an overly excited Haruka as she walked backward, facing her friends, and Shintaro was worried for her and had his hands out ready to catch her. “This girl ain’t babysittin’ no more!” shouted Haruka, celebrating by throwing her hands in the air and then running to hug and squeeze Mirai.

“Umm, Haruka.” It was from Juri. He leaned close to the girls and whispered, “You spoke too soon.”

“Why?”

He pointed to in front of them.

She shifted her attention. “Oh.” She rolled her eyes.

It was Mariko. “Hey, Mirai.” She was standing by the school gate.

Ryosuke immediately held Mirai’s hand and whispered to her, “Don’t worry. You have a new home now.”

Mariko walked to the group with a timid smile. “We found out that you’re back at school, so I came to get you, and it’s not to babysit.” She laughed nervously. “Just to go home. Everyone wants to talk to you.”

Mirai thought to herself. She didn’t want to step foot there again, but if she went, she’d be getting closure.

“She’ll go if I can go,” offered Ryosuke, surprising everyone.

Mirai blinked at her friend and wondered why he’d say such a thing.

His answer came in the form of him squeezing her hand, telling her that she’d be fine because she had him with her.

*

The friends arrived at Mirai’s parents’ house, and they seated themselves near the door. Ryosuke motioned for Haruka to scoot over so that he could sit beside Mirai, and Haruka obeyed. When he sat down, Mirai looked at him and thanked him for his support from earlier, and he sent her a smile in return.

Mr. Shida coughed, deliberately demanding for his daughter’s attention on him. “They want to speak with you, not me.” He drew a line so that she wouldn’t misunderstand.

“Yeah, I know,” said Mirai. “But I didn’t come to talk about anything. I come to talk about Natsu.”

“Natsu?” the family said in sync.

“That’s its name?” asked Keiko, the middle daughter.

“I have a baby, not an ‘it,’” said Mirai. “I’ve always referred to your children by their names, so as adults, I expect you to do the same for my child too.” As she spoke, she trembled with fear.

Ryosuke nodded. He believed only he should have the special right to name-call the brat.

The family looked away with embarrassment.

Mariko started the conversation. “Mirai, we want you to have an honest discussion with us. About everything. Especially about how we have treated you.”

“I will because we all deserve that.” Mirai took a quiet deep breath and curled her fingers on her knees to gather her strength. “But, honestly, you guys should have nothing to say to me.”

“What do you mean?” asked Becky, the daughter who had eloped with her boyfriend-now-husband and was the mother of three obnoxious and violent boys.

“I caused everything, not anyone else. Not even Natsu.” She pursed her lips. “I bottled my feelings and never spoke of them.” She gave her family a firm look. “But I don’t and won’t regret this decision. He’s my miracle, my blessing.”

Mrs. Shida placed her hands over her chest. “Mirai, please. You’re so young. Give him up for adoption, and come back—”

“Is that what everyone wants me to come here and listen to? I’ve said it before on the day I walked out. I’m not coming back. Nothing will make me.”

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