A worried and hesitant Kota stood outside of the room Ryosuke, Mirai, and their friends were in.

After the astonishing confession Kota thought Mirai would never know, Kei promptly interrupted the scene and pulled everyone’s confusion back to the real problem at hand and then escorted Kota into another room to prepare for the blood transfusion to Natsu. During their walk, Kota asked Kei if he had already known that Mirai had been knowing about his real relationship with Natsu, and Kei told him to come back if he was willing to confront his fears. But Kota had never thought he’d have to face his fears—all at once—and to many people at a time. If possible, he had wanted to properly confess to Mirai and then to Ryosuke, but not to both at the same time.

Still outside the door, Kota heard nothing from inside. It was dead quiet.

That was until Kei said that it was past the time Kota should’ve been finished with his transfusion.

With this, Kota hastily opened the door and courageously stepped inside. As before, all eyes looked at him, and he could feel the prickles on his skin. Avoiding such stares, he closed the door behind him and took a few steps forward. He had no bravery to look anyone in the eyes.

Especially at Mirai.

Kei calmly looked around the room and cleared his throat, preparing to continue from Mirai’s confession earlier, but what interrupted the anticipated discussion was Ryosuke’s merciless punch across Kota’s face.

“That’s for Natsu!” exclaimed Ryosuke, his tone resilient. His face was red with anger, and his popping blue veins were evidence of his wrath. He would’ve gone for another round had it not been for the nearby Juri and Takeru grabbing and pulling him away from his fallen brother, who Shintaro helped to stand up.

Kei, at his spot, quickly stopped Mirai from stepping in between the two brothers, and she understood why he had stopped her, so she didn’t take a step further.

“Let me give him another taste of my fist!” Ryosuke shouted, still being held back by the two young men. “Let me go! I still have two more! One for Mirai, and one for me!”

Meanwhile, Juri showed to have problems with keeping a pushing-and-shoving Ryosuke from behind while Takeru was just fine.

“Inoo-san said to wait for your explanation,” continued Ryosuke, shouting at the top of his lungs. Since he couldn’t swing his arms at his brother, he threw kicks instead. “But there’s no need for any!” His glazing eyes never parted from his brother, who had moved to sit on the couch and was getting his wound cleaned up by Haruka and Mayu. “You had five years—five years to tell the truth, and you waited until this happens?!”

“Ryo—” Mirai was stopped by Kei again, who shook his head.

“If anything happens to Natsu,” said Ryosuke, “I’ll kill you with my own hands, and even that won’t be enough to satisfy me!”

A tired but trying hard Juri hopelessly tried to persuade his friend to cease his anger, saying that Kota might have a good reason for keeping the truth about Natsu being his biological son.

“Good reason?” Ryosuke scoffed at his friend’s attempt to defend his older brother. He backed away with dissatisfaction and anger, and Juri and Takeru silently hoped that Ryosuke wouldn’t pull another move at Kota, even though Kota was currently at a good reach away. Ryosuke balled his fists. “What good reason could he have other than that he didn’t want to take responsibility for his son? He has had countless opportunities to tell us the truth, but instead, he wanted to give Natsu away, and the person who was perfect for him was Mirai! His selfishness caused her life to turn out this way, and he ruined our relationship!” The more he spoke up against his brother, the more rage built within him, and he was tempted to throw another fist.

But before a second attack could happen, Kei finally stepped into the field. He stood in the middle in front of both groups, glanced at the door he was standing at earlier, and then glanced at his audience.

Only Mirai was standing behind Kei.

“Although I completely agree with Ryosuke,” said Kei, “I do want to say that Kota does have a good reason for supposedly throwing Natsu away to her.” He reached for something inside his chest pocket under his white lab coat.

It was a picture.

Kota knew exactly what this picture showed, so he stiffened.

As Kei showcased the picture for the audience to see, the group focused attentively on an unfamiliar person standing between Kei and Kota.

“M-Minami…nee-chan?” It was Takeru.

All eyes refocused on the first words spoken by Takeru, and they then questioned the possibility of Takeru knowing who the girl was and of their relationship.

Takeru had been quiet the entire time because he had his own thoughts to process. After Mirai had blurted out a confession that explicitly hinted that Natsu wasn’t her son but Kota’s, he had been wondering why the friends were shocked to hear such a thing. He hadn’t expected her friends to be almost as confused as he was when he was the one who had been out of her life for almost the last decade. Unlike the friends, he had believed in her “real” relationship with Natsu and Kota despite still having some doubts and curiosity.

As Takeru silently conjured mental answers to his questions, Ryosuke’s verbal outburst of anger at Kota indirectly helped answered Takeru’s questions, making it clear to Takeru that Mirai wasn’t Natsu’s biological mother; Kota was Natsu’s biological father; and as Haruma had told him, the four of them did have a prior relationship with each other, and it was most definitely during the time of Natsu’s birth. Lastly, Takeru had one unresolved question he hadn’t expected: why was a person he was related to, all of a sudden, involved in this familial mess?

“That’s Minami, isn’t it?” asked Takeru, not believing what his eyes were seeing. He left Ryosuke’s side and walked to Kei. “When—how come—why do you have—”

“She’s Natsu’s real mother,” said Kei.

As soon as the name had slipped out from Takeru’s lips, Mirai took a few steps to the back of the room as she kept her eyes on him because of the horrifying conclusion about the relationship between Natsu’s real mother and Takeru. His cousin. She couldn’t wrap her mind over the realization she had made. When she had tutored Takeru, Haruma, and their friends, Takeru was a young boy of few words unless he talked about his dearly beloved cousin.

And her name was Minami.

Mirai had never seen her but knew he respected and admired her because the only girl whose name he would ever say was, “Minami,” and Mirai knew Minami was his world. His most respected person. Someone he’d die for.

Haruka took the picture from Kei’s hands and stared at it. After thoroughly analyzing the young lady in the picture, she believed there was no doubt of Natsu’s relationship with the lady. She could see both Natsu and the lady having the same sweet smile where they only showed the front teeth. Even the slight curvature of their brows was the same.

Shintaro looked at the picture with his girlfriend and then looked at Kei. “Not to be rude, but if I remember correctly, Kota-san had once told us that Natsu’s mother’s no longer here with us.”

Juri quickly recalled that specific information and added his two cents, clarifying that it was when Mirai was admitted to the hospital.

“Yeah, nee-chan isn’t alive,” Takeru flatly confirmed as his hands balled into tight fists and his toes curled from inside his shoes. He was trying to keep calm, but only one thought played in his mind. “Kota-san…” He had yet to turn around to face the older man. If what he was thinking was true, he wouldn’t allow anyone to stop him like how he had stopped Ryosuke. He hoped that his friend of six years, whom he had come to view as an older brother he had never had, wouldn’t be the guy he had vowed to spill blood.

“You’re not…that man, are you?” Takeru wanted to calmly ask to hide his anger, but his gritted teeth helped do the opposite. “Natsu…isn’t Yuki too…right?” He did a quick process of math in his mind, trying to find a fault in Natsu’s age with his cousin’s death anniversary. . Natsu’s seven years old. Minami died seven years ago. Natsu’s a summer child. Minami’s death’s in the summer too. ! ! !

Kota quietly thanked Mayu for cleaning up his wound before standing up to answer Takeru, knowing Takeru also deserved a proper answer. “The man you’ve vowed your existence to ensure of his brutal death in revenge for the loss of your beloved cousin… That man…is…me.”

Kei stepped in again, this time, much faster than before to avoid another altercation. “Before further questions are asked and bigger misunderstandings ensue, I’d like to confess three things.”

Everyone, but Kota, moved their attention back to Kei again, including Mirai, who halted her thoughts about Takeru and Minami.

“My first one starts seven years ago. Kota and I had just gotten accepted into our respective programs for our majors and were already tasked with multiple reports, forcing us to spend our entire year holed up in our dorms, so when a mutual friend invited us to hang out, I wanted to change routine. But I didn’t want to go alone, so I persuaded him. Well, in all fairness, we dragged him along.” Kei let out a small laugh as he reminisced such a memorable moment. He was grabbing onto Kota’s legs, and his friends were grabbing onto Kota’s upper body. They kidnapped him and forced him into the back of the car and used a toy handcuff one of the friends had bought online—for his personal use—to keep Kota from escaping.

“We wanted to go clubbing,” continued Kei, “but when a senpai said that his crush was at a karaoke bar not far from where we were, we changed destinations. There, we met six beautiful ladies. And…yes, one of them was Minami. She too had been forced to attend with her friends, so she sat quietly at the end of the table. While we had fun doing our own thing, Kota and Minami didn’t bother to do much at all. They just drank one after another, but I do remember them engaging in small talk, but nothing more.

“Halfway through the night, they were in their own world. She was his junior in the law field and was learning a lot of things from him. He too never had someone he could speak comfortably with, especially when he used big words no one understands in normal conversations. I was happy for him.” Kei glanced at his friend and saw him tightly clasping his hands together and knew he was still not mentally or emotionally prepared to have his personal history laid out. He continued regardless.

He had to.

“At the end of the night, we took a group picture to commemorate such a fun night. It was here where history was made. She told Kota her name and asked for his…” Kei then paused, leaving the audience hanging.

“And what happened?” Haruka irritably asked, too engrossed in the dramatic story. “Why are you stopping there? He gave her his name, so what happened?”

Kei didn’t answer.

“He didn’t,” said Ryosuke.

Eyes quickly moved to look at him. Other than Mirai, Kei, and Kota, the rest silently asked how Ryosuke would know.

“He gave her my name.”

“Your name?” the friends, but Mirai, asked.

Juri, still standing nearby Ryosuke, gently brushed a hand against his arm. “Why would he do that?”

“Before we had entered the karaoke room,” Kei intercepted, “other than our Senpai, the rest of us had changed our names to something that sounded cool to win a bit of the girls’ hearts.” He bit his lower lip and shied away, embarrassed.

Haruka unintentionally scoffed and questioned that Kota thought “Ryosuke” was a cool name.

“But he chose it for a different reason,” clarified Kei, looking at Kota. “It wasn’t the name that sounded cool.” He looked at Ryosuke and added, “It was the person.” He could see Ryosuke’s slight change of expression from annoyance to confusion. “He’s always admired your cheerful and fearless personality, and he felt guilty that he was never by your side and was worried that you’d grow up to not have anyone to rely on. But you grew up just fine, and during his witnessing of your growth, he saw you as the perfected epitome of his flaws.”

Ryosuke didn’t allow such flattery, even if they were true, to affect his emotions. “So, what?” He snapped. “I was the better choice to raise his son? Even our Dad wouldn’t have made such a decision!”

Kei heaved a heavy sigh again. He had already expected the younger brother to not be easily moved, and he had no intentions to make Ryosuke forgive Kota at all. He just wanted everyone to know the truth. He ignored Ryosuke’s comment and continued, “Each couple went their separate ways that night, and I guess we all know where it led to.”

Takeru, however, wasn’t willing to accept the fact that his graceful cousin had had a one-night stand with Kota. He knew she had always dreamed of finding true love and committing herself to her future husband after marriage.

“You could blame it on the alcohol,” said Kei. “Or you could blame it on Kota, but I do want you to know that just because someone says they plan to do something, it’ll fall through. Our emotions get in the way, and it can affect our decisions.”

“What are you saying?” growled Takeru. He wouldn’t allow anyone to tarnish his cousin’s reputation and wouldn’t and couldn’t believe that she had succumbed to such inappropriate behavior. She was his angel, an angel that could never fall to the other side. The side that he had known.

Kei, being a doctor and having dealt with similar situations, knew that Takeru was in denial. “I know it’s hard to believe, but she was human and like all humans, her current state of emotion had influenced her actions.”

“Because she was drunk.”

“That too, but I don’t want you to think that this had happened because she was forced.”

“And how would you know that?”

Kei subtly smiled. “I think you can answer that yourself. You’ve been with Kota the past few years and have seen him. Do you think he’s that kind of person?”

Takeru’s elevated adrenaline gradually ceased when he recollected calm memories of his time with Kota. The older man never spoke crudely. Kota was always polite and occasionally clumsy, but he learned fast. He never got mad and was someone Takeru did respect and wanted to become since Takeru had no older brother to look up to.

While Kei let Takeru understand the complete picture, he then brought in the and got into the birth of Natsu. “Unfortunately, Kota never saw her again. After much investigation, we found out that she had abruptly moved back to live with her grandparents in the countryside, and Kota made a promise to propose to her once he had passed his exams, so a few months later, we were going to visit, but her friends told us about her situation. We were then reluctant to go in case we might cause further problems for her, so we decided to wait until the following semester. Of course, summer break arrived, and a bundle of joy stepped into our lives. As for Kota giving Natsu to Mirai, it’s not because he wanted to hand off his responsibilities to her. He needed someone to watch his child as he sought answers about her death—if she had really died due to birth complications or from her abusive father.”

Haruka and Mayu instantly covered their mouths in shock and horror; Juri gaped his mouth open in response; Shintaro furrowed his brows together; and Ryosuke momentarily shut his eyes closed with remorse. The friends simultaneously thought back to when Kota had told them of Natsu’s birth mother’s death. When they had discussed possibilities of how Natsu’s mother could’ve passed, nothing close to abuse was a probability.

Mirai lowered her head and looked down. Although it was the second time she had heard of the disheartening story, she couldn’t bear to ignore the sad truth, for she too had never thought Natsu’s mother’s ending could’ve been a horrible one.

“Was it because…she was pregnant?” Ryosuke had to ask despite how insensitive his question may be.

“We never got answers,” answered Kei. “Fate likes to play games, so after he gave