Saturday morning, Ippei was preparing to go on a date with Sachiko, as they decided they'd go to an exotic petting zoo today.

Despite this, Ippei wasn't feeling all that great today. The mid-term exam which ended on Friday was better than he expected from his worries beforehand, but that was not the issue here.

The problem was when Ryoji went to Akira after it was finished, and he confessed that he won't be staying at Tsuchiura First High School after the summer break. That broke Akira, hard, and it broke Ippei as well. Just because he was there at the time and Akira was so upset about it.

There was some hope when Ryoji came back to class, but Ippei knew beforehand it wasn't right. Even if he had some time to prepare for the inevitable, once it was brought up again, the same feelings came back even if it's not as bad as before as he had time to process it.

Anyhow, Ippei didn't want to appear gloomy to Sachiko. After playing his Electone for a couple of hours, around 10 AM, Ippei got out of his bedroom, walked downstairs, and out the living room. His father was out in the PC shop workstation as always, playing games, Stardew Valley was the choice today apparently.

Ippei didn't pay much attention to his father, but he had his motorcycle helmet in hand and was dressed pretty nicely, so of course Mizuho noticed.

"Going somewhere today?" Mizuho turned his head and asked.

"Yeah." Ippei replied.

"Oh, need some petrol money?" Mizuho seemed to be more caring today.

"The moped got plenty of fuel." Ippei didn't even turn to look at his father to answer.

"You can use the money to buy gifts if you want."

Ippei didn't even respond to that, he just walked out of the shop in a hurry.

"What's wrong with the guy?" Mizuho couldn't help but say that to himself.

Mizuho noticed that Ippei had been down for quite a while now, and yet he didn't have a clue how to find out the reason if Ippei was not going to tell him.

Ippei pulled the Gorilla bike out from the storage space behind the house, he then put his Arai helmet on, turned on the fuel tap, and kick started it, which the bike did beautifully with only 2 kicks. The familiar sound of the 4-stroke 1-cylinder engine ticking away, ready to run.

Ippei rode the Gorilla to National Route 125, before turning left to head south towards Okazaki. He was now pretty familiar with the area that he didn't even need to think about directions, despite having rarely been around this part before this year.

The white Gorilla was running great as always before this point, but as Ippei was crossing the bridge over the Hanamuro river, he felt that the engine misfire slightly as the exhaust sputtered, and there was no acceleration for a moment, but it was gone once he twisted the throttle a bit more.

Then, at the intersection leading to Sachiko's house, he was sitting at a traffic light waiting for it to turn green, the Gorilla engine suddenly died. That made Ippei pretty shocked, as it has never happened before.

Ippei tried kick starting it, but even after 4-5 kicks, it still didn't do anything, luckily on the 6th kick it started back up as the light was turning green, so he quickly accelerated away turning right.

Immediately after, there was a pretty steep hill, and Ippei knew the Gorilla wasn't running properly as it had no power compared to before when he rode the same path. It was still climbing though, if clearly very labored with a lot of throttle needed.

Another intersection, the light was turning yellow and Ippei didn't want the bike to die again, so he just quickly turned left towards Sachiko's house. He had to lean quite a lot in order to make the turn as he didn't want to slow down and lose speed. Something was very wrong.

Ippei already had Sachiko's house in his vision when the Gorilla died again, it's only another 300 meters at most, so Ippei got off the Gorilla and tried kick starting it again to no avail. The engine tried to catch, but it didn't. The exhaust also smelt a lot of petrol compared to before. Ippei turned the fuel tap off, and decided he'd tow it to Sachiko's house, as it was so close.

Truth be told, Ippei was feeling like shit. Another curveball wasn't something he wanted to have in his life right now. He was quite pissed off and wondering why it had to go wrong today? But he didn't want to appear like that to Sachiko, so he had to calm himself down quite a bit by breathing in and out.

The Gorilla was really small and light, so towing it 300 meters was not an issue, Ippei had been to Sachiko's house before once, but didn't get in as they were then going elsewhere, this time he may have to. It's an old, single floor house on a pretty large area, but the building itself was smaller in area than his own.

Sachiko was preparing her Little Cub on the driveway out front, when she saw Ippei towing the Gorilla into the area, it made her dropped everything and run up to him with great concern.

"What's wrong? Did it stop?" Sachiko asked.

"Yeah... just down the road." Ippei replied, clearly quite miffed.

"Huh? That's weird. Let me see."

Sachiko was very quick to try the diagnostic step, she immediately looked for the fuel tap, and somehow knew where it was despite it not being her bike, noticed it was turned off so she turned it on again, and kick started it, to no avail.

"It's got good compression..." Sachiko mused, turning the fuel tap off again.

"I'm sorry it has to be this day." Ippei apologized, but Sachiko turned to him and smiled to reassure him.

"Don't worry about it. We can fix this for sure. These Honda engines are indestructible." Sachiko replied.

Ippei was more optimistic now, even if there's still doubts in his mind.

Sachiko crouched to look for the spark plug, she noticed it was old, so she got up and turned to Ippei.

"Give me a sec, okay?"

Sachiko told Ippei, before quickly running into the house, leaving him wondering what she was planning to do.

The little shed behind the house had its door opened, and inside there were at least 4 Honda bikes parked inside. Big and small, old and new. There were also huge amounts of parts stashed there from what Ippei could see. Right beside the shed, Ippei saw a battered looking, very old, much older than his dad's Probox, green Honda Stepwgn.

After a few seconds, the door opened again, but it was not Sachiko who walked out of that door. It was an old man, much older than his father, looking near retiring age. He was pretty stout despite the age, and in Ippei's head right now had quite a scary, stern looking face. Ippei knew who this person was and was quite nervous to see him.

"UWWWOOOHHHH! A Gorilla!!!" The old man shouted pretty loud and excitedly immediately as soon as he saw the bike, like a man with no indoor voice. Ippei was even more nervous.

"Good morning, Kinoshita-san." Ippei quickly bowed to say hello to Sachiko's father, Daizo.

"A White Special at that! Amazing! I've not seen one for decades!"

Daizo immediately was all over Ippei's bike, almost ignoring him right now.

"You must be Ippei Noda-kun then, nice bike, is this really yours?" Daizo continued, a very cheerful guy despite the scary face.

As he was saying that, Sachiko appeared from behind, seeing Ippei already frozen from shock, she walked and pulled her dad's sleeve which made him turn to look.

"Dad, it's fine. I can handle this." Sachiko said, but her dad was persistent.

"Remember the basics, right? Air, fuel, spark." Daizo instructed his daughter with the same enthusiasm as before.

"Yes, dad. Thank you." Sachiko replied with a little awkward smile.

Ippei was still in shock and didn't know what to say, he could only watch as Daizo kept standing around watching them, like a proper dad, but not like he was nervous about the guy dating his daughter, just was really interested in the bike.

Sachiko crouched down again, with a spanner in her hand, she removed the spark plug lead again and started removing the plug from the cylinder head. Ippei saw and thought she was extremely adept at this considering how quickly everything went.

At the same time, Daizo was beside him, wanting to talk to him.

"Did you buy this bike from someone? You're way too young." Daizo asked, Ippei was less shocked than before but was still pretty wary.

"It was my father's bike..." Ippei answered.

"Did he have it from new? It looks to be in amazing condition for its age. Did you know the Gorilla White Special was a one year only edition for 1988? It's extremely rare now." Daizo rattled off Honda facts quickly like no others.

"Ehhh..."

"I sold these when they were new, actually."

Ippei remembered that Sachiko told him the exact same thing before, when she first saw the bike. Right now Sachiko was putting the spark plug back in the high tension lead again.

"Ippei, can you try to kick start it for me?" Sachiko requested, which Ippei gladly obliged.

Ippei kick started the bike, but of course it would not fire as the spark plug was out of the bore. Sachiko was watching closely to see the spark as it tried to arc against the cylinder head. She thought it was weak, which was why she prepared a box of new spark plugs already. The old one looked like it was last replaced when Yoshiro Mori was still the prime minister, not that she was around then.

Sachiko put the spark plug back in the cylinder head, and put the HT lead back on. She reached to open the fuel tap again and got up to kick start it.

The Gorilla started, but ran like shit. The exhaust fume was dead rich still for some reason.

"Do you mind if I try to ride this thing around the corner?" Sachiko turned to ask Ippei.

"Ehhhh? Aren't you being a little hasty? Asking a man to ride his motorcycle?" Daizo asked, teasingly, which made Sachiko roll her eyes.

"Dad..." Sachiko was about to tell him Ippei's her boyfriend, but stopped herself and turned to Ippei again.

"I can't see why not." Ippei replied, if a bit wary, but he wasn't going to say no.

"Okay then."

Sachiko immediately got on the Gorilla, and was very excited as it's a cool bike, she revved the engine a bit which still didn't seem quite happy, but was getting better.

Ippei suddenly was very alarmed when Sachiko immediately put it in gear and rode away, without wearing the helmet! She was so quick he couldn't even stop her and she was already gone from view.

"It was your father's, huh? Is your father interested in motorbikes? Surely he got to be otherwise he wouldn't have such a cool bike." Daizo kept pestering about the Gorilla.

"I guess..." Ippei smiled sheepishly.

"I know you probably don't think it's that special because you're familiar with it, but trust me, that bike is way cool. I'd offer to buy it from you if it's not a family heirloom from what I'm guessing."

Family heirloom? Ippei thought it was an interesting way to describe a shitty bike...

Ippei always thought Sachiko was a little kooky, but maintained an image of a diligent, well read, cute and cheerful young girl which hid her actual interests which were absolutely out of the perceived character. She would fit right in a comfy anime so well. Her father Daizo, however, was a whole nother level of kooky, if just a few minutes was any indication.

Not long after, Sachiko rode back in, the bike was still running but was running rich as hell still.

"I think the carburetor needs to be rebuilt." Sachiko reported, which made Ippei nervous as he didn't know what a carburetor was, and it sounded complicated.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Hm, I think there might be a kit somewhere?" Daizo added, which made Sachiko's eyes widened.

"Do we have one?" Sachiko asked excitedly.

"I've owned a few Monkeys in my lifetime, young lady. Let me find it for you once you remove the carb from the bike." Daizo replied.

Then Daizo immediately disappeared back into the house again, leaving Ippei to stand there confused still, and Sachiko sighed but was ready to continue working on the Gorilla.

"Is this okay?" Ippei asked, a bit uncertain.

"What?" Sachiko was a bit confused as to why he asked that.

"We were supposed to go to the petting zoo, right?" Ippei explained, but Sachiko laughed and dismissed that immediately.

"Eh, whatever, it's not like they'll close up business tomorrow..." Sachiko replied.

"I guess you're right..."

Sachiko started removing bits from the Gorilla, which Ippei didn't really want to watch, but was equally intrigued by. There were so many steps that he wouldn't even know where to start.

Sachiko worked fast as well, it was clear she was extremely skilled at this sort of thing, taking things apart and putting it back together, because less than 10 minutes later the weird looking part of the bike was in her palm.

"Here we go, let's get inside, shall we?" Sachiko said, inviting Ippei to go into her house.

Ippei was pretty reluctant, but she invited him, so he could only walk through that front door nervously.

Inside the house, it was not like Ippei's imagination, as immediately he saw the living room was neat and tidy, with few Honda paraphernalias scattered around, some looking incredibly old, like a cool looking poster of the Honda Africa Twin that adorned the wall.

One thing that caught Ippei's eyes, however, was a poster of a car, it was unusual as it was the only one being of a car. An old looking, boxy 2-door car with LEOPARD written underneath. Ippei tried to recall why this car reminded him of something, and then he realized that it was the car from Dangerous Detective, and it made him shudder.

Ippei then followed Sachiko to another room, where Daizo was. That room had A LOT of boxes, all labeled Honda. There was a decent size table with tools on it in one corner. Daizo was already standing there waiting for Sachiko to put the carburetor on and inspect.

Ippei could only admit to himself, but he thought Sachiko's hands being dirty from the oil was pretty cool to see.

"It's just a normal Z50 carb, right?" Daizo asked, as he peered at the part on the table, Sachiko nodded.

"It might be, you can tell me." Sachiko replied, chuckling.

"It looks like it... You can take it apart while I fetch the thing." Daizo ordered Sachiko.

"It'll be just a moment." Sachiko turned and told Ippei, who was still staring at her like a deer in the headlights.

Daizo got up the small step, and picked up a big box in the room . He quickly peeked into it and saw what he needed. Sachiko had already started dismantling the carburetor. Ippei saw that there were a lot of tiny parts which were now scattered on the table, it was scary.

At that moment, a teenage boy, not much younger than either Sachiko or Ippei, came by and peeked into the room with curiosity.

"Onee-chan, who's this handsome guy in our house?" The young boy, little brother of Sachiko, said teasingly which annoyed Sachiko a bit.

"Oi! Soji!" Sachiko turned and shouted, "Good you're out of your room for once, go help mom prepare lunch!"

"Soji, your sister needs all her concentration power right now, she's rebuilding a Z50's carb." Daizo said, a bit jokingly.

"Ehhh? This handsome onii-chan ride a Monkey bike? That's so cool." Soji continued to joke with his sister.

"It's a Gorilla, actually." Sachiko corrected Soji, who was even more amazed.

"That's even cooler, onii-chan," Soji said to Ippei, who could only smile sheepishly from all of this, "I'm Soji Kinoshita, your girlfriend's brother."

As soon as Soji said that, Sachiko turned her neck so violently and stared at him like she was going to chokehold her brother right there and then. Her face was so red from embarrassment and rage that she probably could've been used as a warning light.

"I'm Ippei Noda, nice to meet you." Ippei replied a little bit shyly, as he was embarrassed about what he said as well.

"Hey, onee-chan," Soji called for Sachiko again, "when are you going to graduate to a bigger bike so I can have your Cub?"

"You don't even have a license yet, idiot." Sachiko retorted.

"I'll be getting one soon anyway, I'm about to turn 16, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You can have it for 400,000 yen."

"Ehhhhhh?! Isn't that like twice what you paid for it?" Soji was shocked.

"Yeah, but you can have it tomorrow if you want."

"I don't have that kind of money, and even if I did, I'd just buy a new Cub from dad, not the outdated Little Cub..."

Daizo couldn't help but laugh at all of this, while Ippei still stood there awkwardly.

"Hey, Soji, go tell mom that she needs to prepare lunch for an extra person." Daizo told Soji, and Ippei was a bit surprised, but he couldn't decline at the moment.

"Okay, dad." Soji said, before disappearing from the door frame.

"I'll leave you to it." Daizo said, patting on his daughter's shoulder once.

Sachiko sighed as soon as her father got out of the room.

"It's always a bit crazy in this house, sorry." Sachiko told Ippei, who didn't mind much, but was mostly confused.

"It's okay, I guess." Ippei replied quietly.

"I'll have this done very quickly, it's not that difficult."

"You've done it before?" Ippei asked, curious if Sachiko fixes bikes often.

"Not on a Gorilla engine, no, but it's the same as most Honda small engines and I've done one for an old Super Cub. I didn't mess up then, so I probably won't mess up now."

Sachiko started to compare the parts from the box of the new rebuild kit her father provided, and the old parts that were scattered on the table. It was the right kit as everything matched. Genuine Honda parts as well so quality was to be assured.

She then methodically put everything back together, with the tools which were neatly organized around the table. Ippei couldn't help but observe in awe. Sachiko didn't say much while doing this, as she had to try to remember how to put it back, and Ippei wasn't going to distract her.

Ippei was so immersed by watching Sachiko rebuilding that carburetor, and she was ready to screw back in the last bits, he didn't notice Daizo was back in the room, and had been watching for a while.

"UWAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Ippei shouted as soon as he saw what Daizo was holding in his hand, looking completely nonchalant about it.

"It's a Glock," Daizo said, as he pulled back the slide on the Glock 17 in his hand, "it's cool, right?"

Obviously, it was an airsoft gun, not a real Glock, but Ippei didn't know that so he was absolutely terrified by the sight of Daizo Kinoshita holding a gun. Sachiko was equally shocked, but for a completely different reason.

"Dad..." Sachiko exclaimed, pretty tired of her dad's bullshit.

"I have a lot of airsofts, Noda-kun. AK-47, SPAS-12, and a few others." Daizo was showing off his airsoft gun to Ippei who was still terrified, despite knowing now it's airsoft.

"They... are... cool... Kinoshita-san." Ippei was stuttering, which somehow made Sachiko chuckle pretty hard from his reaction.

"It's a fun hobby, actually..." Daizo continued, he was already happy to see Ippei's reaction, "Oh I have to go help mom."

Daizo then disappeared out of the room as quickly as he appeared. Ippei turned back to Sachiko, looking like a lost dog, almost as if he's asking her if her dad was for real, Sachiko could only shrug with a bemused smile on her face.

Soon after, the carburetor was done, and ready to be reinstalled to the Gorilla, so Sachiko and Ippei went back out of the house to do so.

After only maybe 10 minutes, Sachiko buttoned up the HT lead back on the spark plug again, and seemed chuffed with her work.

"Phew," Sachiko exhaled from slight tiredness, "I'll still have to set it up, but it needs to warm up first."

"So it should run now?" Ippei asked, hoping for a good result.

"It should..."

Sachiko turned the key on, and the fuel tap, then kick started the Gorilla engine, which ran beautifully immediately with only 2 kicks.

"Can I go around the block again?" Sachiko turned to Ippei and asked, he just nodded gently to tell her yes.

Sachiko jumped on the Gorilla, and set off again in the exact same manner. Ippei could only wait in anticipation, and she was back after a few minutes.

Sachiko dismounted, and was crouching beside the bike again, the engine cover was not installed, and she had a screwdriver. Sachiko went and adjusted the carburetor slowly, listening to the sound and occasionally went to smell the exhaust. It's not going to be exactly right, but it should be close enough.

Sachiko then put the screwdriver down, mounted the bike again, and set off once more. This time it was only a few seconds before she returned.

She did this same test ride and readjust for an extra 3 times, before she seemed satisfied.

"Now you should go and try it," Sachiko said, now crouching down again with the engine cover in her hand, "after I put this cover back on."

The Gorilla did sound a lot better, and the exhaust fume was nearly imperceptible compared to the distinct smell of petrol from before. Sachiko turned the cover screw tight, and stood up with her hand waved to let Ippei get on it.

Ippei got on it, and the Gorilla felt smoother than before just by sitting on it. Weird. Can all this work really make it better?

"Go on, try it. Full throttle if you wish." Sachiko instructed, with a thumbs up and a bright smile.

Ippei finally was ready to try, he twisted the throttle and rode out of the house eagerly. The effect was immediately felt from the start. The Gorilla picked up speed so much quicker than before, and the engine sounded sweet as hell. It was running like clockwork.

Ippei was so chuffed when he returned to Sachiko, who was eager to learn what he thought.

"It's amazing, Sachiko!" Ippei gladly announced, "It's so much better!"

"Really?! Hooray!" Sachiko exclaimed happily.

"Do you still want to go to the petting zoo?" Ippei was now much happier as well, so he reminded her of what they wanted to do before all of this.

"Eh..." Sachiko looked down and knew she was sweaty from the work, "I'll have to take a shower first. After lunch, maybe?"

"Sure!" Ippei understood her concern, then realized something, "Wait, lunch with your family?"

"Yeah, my mom probably already prepared some extra just for you, if Soji did tell her..."

Ippei was slightly wary still, as he felt he might be quite a burden to them, but he decided that he was worried too much and should gladly accept the hospitality.

So, Ippei just turned off the Gorilla, dismounted it, while Sachiko packed the tools away, and walked back together into the house.

"You can go help mom cook lunch, actually, while I take a shower." Sachiko motioned her hand towards the kitchen.

"Eh?" Of course Ippei was a bit scared to not have her around to be a mediator to people he just met, so he looked a bit scared.

"It will be fine, trust me! Just wait a moment."

Ippei reluctantly walked to the kitchen in the house, where Sachiko's mother was preparing lunch. He was hesitating to go in, as her father was in there as well, talking to her mother. Ippei didn't hear the whole conversation, but it did make him pause.

"...He's a nice young boy, actually. I quite like him." Daizo said.

"But don't you like any guys with a motorcycle?" Sachiko's mother pointed out and laughed.

"Maybe, but you should be the one who knows the best that most bikers are weird."

What Daizo was saying made Sachiko's mother, Kimi, quite bemused.

"If you say he's nice, then he's nice in my opinion." Kimi replied.

At that moment, Ippei had a moment of happiness, hearing what Sachiko's parents apparently had to say about him. But then, he had a slight pang of sadness that suddenly came up for some reason. The wholesome interaction between Daizo and Kimi was not something he was familiar with, because in his own house, it was not something that existed anymore.

Anyhow, it was only for a moment, and with that reassuring thought, Ippei felt he was welcome to join in.

Sachiko's mother was not that talkative, unlike her father, she was more like Sachiko herself as expected, but she was just as kind as her father was.

The cooking was a mess though, like the kitchen was, which was weird because the rest of the house was tidier. There was not much rhyme or reason as to why Kimi did things Ippei wouldn't do if he cooked himself, but he was not in the position to contradict her, only help what was required.

The food then was as expected from what Ippei was seeing, once it was done, the whole family, including Ippei, gathered to have this lunch. If one were to take it objectively, it's home cooked food from an experienced person, so why was Ippei so happy to be here?

Being with a family he didn't know all that well.

Somehow it felt right.

It felt so right that Ippei had to stop a thought that came up.

Ippei could only wish that his own family could be this warm and fuzzy.

Eventually, Ippei and Sachiko did go to the exotic animal petting zoo later, with Ippei on the newly refreshed Gorilla bike, and Sachiko on her Little Cub, riding in a convoy.

Despite the day starting off crappily, Ippei was quite cheerful by the end, as he said goodbye to Sachiko and they both went home.

—

Sachiko was just relaxing on the living room sofa that night, she was chatting via LINE with Ippei still with a grin on her face. That made Soji who was playing on the Switch in the same room pretty curious once he had some time to think.

"Hey, onee-chan." Soji called Sachiko out, which made her look up from the phone screen.

"What is it, Soji?" Sachiko replied.

"This new boyfriend of yours, Ippei-san, right? He's not like your previous guy, right?"

That observation from Soji made Sachiko's face red from embarrassment, and she was pretty defensive about it still.

"Hey, you! What do you want from saying that?" Sachiko was fumbling her words right now.

"I mean... the previous guy I thought was almost a yanki in appearance. I thought you like brooding bad boys, not this clean cut square ass dude." Soji explained, which didn't really make Sachiko any less annoyed.

"Well, that yanki ass guy was more ass than yanki anyway..." Sachiko pouted.

"I hope dad didn't pull out his Glock again, at least."

"Er... he did."

"Huh?"

Soji could feel the second hand embarrassment from his sister just by looking at her. The exact same thing happened the last 2 times a guy dating Sachiko came here.

"I guess the batshit crazy act helped chase the timewasters away..." Soji said as a consolation.

"Ippei is not ghosting me though, so he didn't get too weirded out. He's different." Sachiko replied with a sigh.

"A guy like him definitely has actually crazy parents, I can bet all my savings on that."

"What do you know about a guy who you just met?"

"Have you seen him around mom and dad? The guy looked perplexed by them being lovey dovey. He also hovers around you constantly but only behind you. Cool bike or not, he's definitely a nerd guy with no friends, am I right?"

Sachiko stopped and considered what Soji said for a moment, and as annoyed as she was by his words, she had to agree with some of it. This boy had always been surprisingly perceptive despite appearing like nothing more than a perpetually online slacker.

"I'm not saying he's a bad guy though, this Ippei-san, otherwise you wouldn't invite him here anyway. He's chilled from what I'm seeing." Soji clarified.

"You may be right though, on a lot of accounts." Sachiko conceded.

"Eh, which bits?" Soji couldn't help but eagerly pry, because of the thought that he might be correct.

Sachiko picked up the big Hachiware plushie on the sofa and threw it right in Soji's face, too quickly for him to avoid it. Soji moved back and acted like he's got punched hard.

"Arrrrgghhhh." Soji jokingly exclaimed, before picking up Hachiware and threw it back, but Sachiko caught it and put it down again.

"How's it going with this girl you've met anyway, Yu-something?"

Soji knew his sister got him on this one, he could only smile sheepishly and shyly back at her.

"Still going nowhere then, I take." Sachiko mocked Soji with a smirk.

"Hey, I've only just met her recently, give me some time." Soji replied, sounding a bit glum.

"What's the matter right now? She said she likes you, didn't she?"

"Well, I don't know if she meant as a friend or..."

"So that's why it's not going anywhere." Sachiko was being straightforward, and it made Soji cry inside.

Soji was still cringing with embarrassment, even if he started it, but realized that if anyone would be able to answer his trouble, it's probably Sachiko.

"Hey, onee-chan, what made you like Ippei-san so much anyway?" Soji asked, and it made Sachiko a bit wary.

"Do you want to know more about my boyfriend, or do you want to know how to make girls like you?" Sachiko knew the hidden intention of Soji.

"If it's going to be both, then it's an efficient question."

That actually made Sachiko stop and actually think for a moment, to answer in a way that would also help improve her brother's chance. Then again, she wanted to be honest as well.

"He's not a creep, he's honest, and he's thoughtful. Trust me, that's more than enough..." Sachiko replied, then pointed to Soji's long messy hair, "Also it would help if you lose the crazy hair."

"Eh? Ippei-san had crazy hair as well, right? His hair is all wavy and crazy as well, right?" Soji threw Sachiko's word back at her, even if it wasn't the most important message she wanted to give.

"Ugh," Sachiko struggled to retort quickly, "it's his natural hair, actually."

"Ehhhh?! I thought he had it permed."

"Nope, it's just like that."

"Yeah I didn't think any guy would deliberately choose that hair..."

Sachiko turned and glared at Soji like she wanted to punch him, even if he was just joking and she knew it.

"What's his background like anyway? His parents? Have you ever met them?" Soji continued with a slight change in direction.

"No... Ippei's living with his father only." Sachiko replied.

"Divorcee? Widowed?"

"Divorce."

"That would explain some of it, what's his father's background?"

"Why are you asking this like you're going to interrogate my boyfriend later?"

"Hey, if a guy is dating my lovely onee-chan, I gotta make sure he's actually a nice guy, you know?"

"And why would you need to know what his father does for a living!!!"