Mio was staring at the front of her house. It had been four days since she was last here. “Have I ever been away from home for this long? For some reason I'm really nervous.” She opened the door to her house and yelled I’m home. Kagami came running around the corner and immediately gave her a hug. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you to mom.”

Kagami pulled away from her and held her by her shoulders. She examined Mio closely. “I’m so glad you are ok. I was worried.”

“I’ve called you every day, to let you know I was ok.”

“I know but I was still worried.”

“Come in and have some tea with me.”

Mio and Kagami went to the kitchen to make tea. “So, your father tells me you and Eizan met the deputy mayor.”

“Yeah, he tried to set me up with his son.”

“Yes, I heard. I also heard you and Eizan made your engagement official.”

“No, I wouldn’t say that. I kind of freaked out and told him I was taken. I definitely didn’t want any more marriage offers.”

Kagami turned and looked at her with a strange look on her face. “So, you haven’t decided anything yet?”

Mio sighed. “Not officially.”

Kagami finished making tea and they sat down at the table. “Has he been good to you?”

“He has been wonderful. It’s just…”

Kagami got a worried look on her face. “What’s wrong? If you need anything I’m here for you.”

“Thanks. I’m not sure how to put this but…” She paused for a few seconds. “I don’t know how to act around him right now.”

“Did something happen?”

“U-um, I guess you could say that.”

Kagami seemed even more worried. “Did he do something to you?”

Mio waved her hand in front of her face. “No, he’s been a perfect gentleman.”

“Mom, how did you know you wanted to marry dad?”

Kagami started to talk about their relationship. Jotaro and Kagami had an arranged marriage. Kagami actually didn’t really like Jotaro at first. He slowly grew on her as time passed and she eventually fell in love with him. She talked for a few minutes about various problems they had and good times they shared. Mio hung on her every word. She had never really thought to ask about their relationship before. While her mother was talking Mio noticed flowers sitting on the table. “Did dad buy you roses?” Kagami got a strange look on her face. “Actually, they’re from Towa.”

Mio was really surprised. She thought Towa would try to avoid her. “Why did he bring roses?”

“He’s been coming by here every evening trying to see you.”

“He’s been coming here every night!”

“He said something about wanting to apologize to you. Did you get in a fight?”

Mio looked down at the table and seemed lost in thought. “Something like that.” Mio spent the next half an hour telling her mother about everything that happened recently. Kagami looked surprised by everything she was telling her.

“So let me get this straight. Towa was claiming to be your boyfriend and actually got into a fight with Eizan, weeks ago.” Mio nodded. “And you interrupted the next fight and told Towa you didn’t love him in that way, ending their fight.” Kagami was shaking her head. “That’s really disappointing. I would have thought Towa would be better than that.” Kagami sighed. “Does he know your living with Eizan?”

“I don’t think he knows.”

“Well, it might be better if you don’t tell him.”

“The only people who know are Ren and Ome.”

“Who’s Ome?”

“Eizan’s best friend.”

“I see.” Kagami thought for a few seconds. “Not to change the subject and not to say you’re not welcome to come home any time. But why are you here exactly? I didn’t expect to see you so soon.”

Mio got a funny look on her face. “Well, I needed more clothes and I wanted to see you.”

“Is that the only reason?”

Mio sighed. “I’m having trouble facing him at the moment.”

“Oh, why’s that?”

“Um… I don’t know if I want to talk to my mom about it.”

“You haven’t gone overboard and done something you shouldn’t have, have you?”

Mio waved her hands in front of her face and turned red up to her ears. “No, no, nothing like that has occurred. It’s just I’m having problems, not being nervous around him. He’s really handsome and I just don’t know what to say.”

Kagami burst out laughing. “Weren’t you going over to his house every weekend and spending hours with him?”

Mio tilted her head and asked curiously. “Yeah, why?”

“Did he make you nervous then?”

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“Well, a little. But it’s gotten worse all of a sudden.”

“Oh, I see.” Kagami smiled brightly at her daughter. “It sounds like you’ve already made your decision.” Mio blushed. Kagami and Mio talked for a long time until she decided to go to her room and get her clothes. Mio was standing there in her room looking at all her stuff. She laid down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. “It’s feels weird being here. I was so used to laying here reading or watching the tv. But now for some reason it feels strange.” Her eyes slowly drifted closed. She was lost in thought. Three hours later she woke up suddenly. She sat up in her bed and looked around her room. “I can’t believe I fell asleep. I didn’t sleep well last night so I’m not surprised.” She looked over at her phone and picked it up. Her eyes widened. “I slept for that long. It’s already eight o’clock.” She then noticed 2 missed calls. They were both from Eizan. She smiled. “I bet he’s worried.” She called him immediately. The phone rang and few times before he picked up.

“Good evening sleepy head.”

“What? How did you know?”

“I got worried when you didn’t answer a little over an hour ago. So, I walked to your parent’s house.”

“Y-you’re here?”

“I’m sitting in your living room looking through your old pictures with your parents. You know you were cute in grade school.” She hung up the phone.

She immediately stood up and started to run down stares as fast as she could. Eizan, Kagami, and Jotaro were all three sitting in their family room conversating over tea. Eizan was sitting next to Kagami and she was pointing out Mio’s grade school photos. Mio, slid around the corner at high speed. “Don’t look at those!” She ran towards them and snatched the photo album away. “T-that’s embarrassing.”

Eizan laughed “Oh, that’s no fun.”

Jotaro and Kagami were both stifling laughs. Mio looked at her father strangely and thought. “When was the last time I’ve seen him laugh?” Mio frowned “How much did you see?”

Kagami laughed “Not that much. We just started looking at them.”

Mio ran off and with the photo book back to her room. Eizan, Kagami, and Jotaro all looked at each other. “You think I should go after her?”

Kagami laughed “It’s up the stairs and second door on your left.” Eizan nodded and headed towards her room.

Mio was currently laying on her bed holding the photo album. Knock, knock, knock, the door cracked open “Can I come in?”

Mio looked up “S-sure.”

Eizan opened the door. He slowly walked in and sat on the ground. Currently, he was looking around her room in somewhat of a daze. This was the first time he had ever been in a girl’s room, besides his sisters. “It smells like her. Everything is so cute in here.” Her room had pink everywhere and Eizan was a little surprised. His sister had a much more reserved style compared to Mio. Mio had stuffed animals and cute things all over her room.

Mio was staring at him “P-please don’t look around too much it’s embarrassing.”

Eizan smiled “Actually it’s very interesting to me. I feel like I know you a little better now.” She tilted her head to the side. “You’re basically living at my apartment. Even though were basically living together, I feel like there’s a lot I don’t know about you yet. I always thought you liked girly things but I never knew how much.”

She threw a pillow at him. “I told you not to look.”

“You know that’s impossible right?”

“Idiot.” She threw herself on to her bed and buried her face into a pillow.

Eizan laughed “You know, you really are cute.”

She sat up and threw another pillow at him “And you really are a wolf.”

“Guilty as charged.” He howled like a wolf.

She burst out laughing.

Eizan smiled softly “It was nice, you know. Getting to talk with both your parents. I was nervous at first, but they’re both really nice.”

Mio smiled “Yeah. I’m pretty lucky.”

Eizan looked around the room again and noticed a picture of her and Murata when they were kids sitting on her bookshelf. She saw where his gaze went and froze. Eizan looked at her and smiled “You really are good friends with him aren’t you.”

“U-um yeah. We have played together since we were little.”

“I see.” He sighed and looked a little sad. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have a guy like him instead of a weird guy like me?”

“What? How could you even say that?”

He was currently looking down at the floor. “I mean, I’m a weird freak, my family is crazy, and I have a horrible reputation. I wouldn’t be surprised if all that drove you away. I kind of have a lot of baggage. Murata’s kind of an asshole, but you grew up together. It would make a lot of sense for you to choose him over me.” Mio was sitting there in shock. Here she had been worried the whole time about whether she was good enough for him. Now, sitting here in her room was her crush basically worrying about the same things. Eizan was still looking down at the floor. In a low voice he spoke “This afternoon when you left, I was really worried you wouldn’t come back. Then when you didn’t answer my calls I uh… was worried you were never going to speak to me again.” Her trepidations seemed to disappear. She leapt off the bed and started hugging him. He was startled for a moment. “I’m not going anywhere. I had no clue you where so worried about that kind of thing.”

“Of course, I’m worried. How could I not be?”

Mio replied “I-I thought I was the only one.”

He hugged her back. “Of course, we would both be worried. Did you know I’m really kind of a slob?”

She separated from him for a second, she’s basically sitting in his lap at the moment. “I’ve never seen you be messy.”

“T-that’s because I was so worried you would think I was a messy pig, I started to clean my apartment regularly. The first time you came over I was lucky. I had deep cleaned the day before. Normally, it’s a total mess.”

Mio eyes were wide open. “N-now that you mention it, I’ve noticed your apartment is a little dusty.”

Eizan laughed slightly in embarrassment “Y-yeah, I’m horrible at that kind of thing. I was worried you would find something off all week.”

She giggled. “I’ve been so worried all week that I didn’t even notice. I mean, I am basically living at your apartment. I’ve been nervous the whole time.”

“Y-yeah, me too. I can’t say it hasn’t been nerve wracking having you living with me. I’ve barely slept the last few days. I’ve been so worried that I would snore or do something weird in my sleep.”

Mio giggled “You do snore.”

Eizan’s eyes widened “I do?”

“Y-yea it’s kind of cute though.”

Eizan put a palm on his forehead “Damnit, I really hoped I didn’t.” She giggled and hugged him again. Eizan hugged her back.

From the doorway “Could you two do that somewhere else.”

“They both turned to see Benjiro standing in her door.” They quickly separated themselves.

“W-we weren’t doing anything wrong.”

Benjiro just shook his head and wondered off towards his room. They were both sitting there blushing awkwardly. They looked at each other and started to giggle. “You know, your brothers a little strange.”

Mio giggle “Yeah. He is. But he’s a good brother.”

Eizan smiled “That’s good to hear.”

Mio began packing some of her clothes in a bag. Eizan sat there idly watching her pack. She looked at him strangely for a second “C-could you please turn around for a second?”

“U-um sure.”

He slowly turned around. She was currently packing her underwear and didn’t want him to see. “Ok, you can turn back around now.” He gave her a curios look but decided not to say anything. She finished packing a few things while he sat there. “Ok, I’m ready when you are.”

Eizan stood up and extended his hand. “Let me carry that for you.”

“You don’t have to. I can carry it.”

Eizan shook his head. “Please let me carry it. It’s kind of a guy thing.”

She giggled a little and handed him the bag. “Just don’t peek inside.” Eizan looked at the bag curiously. “Don’t you dare peek.”

He straightened his back. “I won’t.”