“Luce, this cabbage stinks! Didn’t you check and make sure what ya bought was harvested this decade?” Alfred grumbled as he impaled a piece of carrot with his chopsticks, nearly missing his target and sending it flying straight into Yuko’s eye.

“Sorry, I’ll be sure to find one that smells like a fresh meadow next time, maybe get some rice mixed with diamonds while I’m at it.” Lucy poked at her pile of rice, debating whether or not to drown it in soy sauce while her uncle continued to grumble to himself from across the table.

“We’ll get something nice to eat sometime next week, once we finish cleaning the house.” Yuko sighed, elbow digging into the table as she eyed her own barren, nearly colorless plate.

She was not used to this. Just how on earth did anyone dine this way? No fish, no meat, no color on her plate besides the smelly cabbage and brown soy sauce.

Her eyes traveled across her plate towards Lucy, her shoulders stiff and cheeks quivering.

「Lu-chan, you don’t have to sit seiza.」 Yuko giggled, further taking notice of the younger girl’s awkwardly arched back and wiggling hips.

“Oh, I gave up on that ten minutes ago.” Lucy blew a piece of hair off her nose as she repositioned herself. “I’m just not made for sitting on a hard floor for more than five minutes.”

“I see.” Yuko hummed as she managed to stomach a spoonful of stale rice. “But that doesn’t explain how quiet you’ve been all evening, you’ve barely said anything since you came back.”

“Ah.” Lucy scratched the back of her neck, chest tightening as Yuko rested her chin in her palms. “About that…when I was shopping I kind of-”

Yuko failed to stifle the sly gasp and “oooh’s” escaping her lips as her mind went wild. 「You met someone? You did! Look at you, you’re blushing!」 One hand shot across the table to slap at Lucy’s wrist.

“Oh, I met someone.” Lucy eyed her uncle, praying that he would call off his fiance’s interrogation.

“Well is he rich?” Alfred muffled with a piece of cabbage sticking out from his mouth. “How much you think he make?”

“Al!” Yuko whipped her head towards Alfred, both hands now locking around Lucy’s wrist. “That doesn’t matter.”

“Whaddaya mean it doesn’t matter!? I’m starving over here!”

“What matters is how he treats her!” Yuko turned back towards Lucy, eyes squinting and gleaming with coy curiosity. “But…did he look like he had money? What was he wearing?”

“See, it does matter!”

“Okay-” Lucy yanked her hands away from Yuko’s grip and balled them into her lap. “I can’t do this.” She shook her head as a tsunami swam its way up her throat.

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Now or never, I guess.

“So, I met a girl, and she spoke English, and I was lost, and she drew me a map, and I fell, and she fell, and I ruined her kimono, and now her and her servant or whatever are coming over tomorrow to use our Fels Naptha soap.” Lucy held her breath, hands now in the air and fingers pointing every which way as if to map out her convoluted story. As she expected, Alfred and Yuko were statuesque, eyes blown wide and mouths agape. “Oh, yeah, and if I can’t clean it, I’m probably gonna have to pay for it- where’s the soy sauce-?”

“Woah! Woah woah woah woah woah.” Just before Lucy’s fingers brushed against the glass bottle, Alfred swiped it off the table and cradled it to his chest as if it held liquid gold. “Pay for it!? With what, expired food and tears!?”

“What’s Fels Naptha?” Yuko’s voice turned sharp as she picked at the skin of her nail beds, eyes lidded and steely under her lashes as they bored into Lucy for an answer.

“It’s…it’s soap that can clean anything. Apparently…” Lucy ate her remaining explanation as Yuko’s brows became raised and her uncle’s head fell into his hands.

“Apparently?” Alfred groaned. “Great, you don’t even know-”

“At least I’m trying! If this happened to you I’d bet everything I have you wouldn’t have even apologized, let alone try to fix anything!”

“That’s a smart way for you to bet when you don’t own anything!”

“Hey.” Yuko raised her voice while her fingers snapped for Lucy and Alfred’s attention. “Can we have one evening where you two aren’t fighting? Hm?”

Her eyes were wide as her head swooped from one bickering family member to the next. “It’s already done, Lucy invited them. Let’s just pray that I don’t know them.”

Lucy’s heart jumped. How could she forget? Yuko wasn’t always living in a run-down house with squeaky floors and drafty windows-she was a chemist-turned-professor’s daughter, from a highly respected family with connections spanning across some of the area’s most influential circles.

“Yuko, I’m sorry I wasn’t thinking about-”

「No, I know you weren’t thinking.」 Two fingers massaged Yuko’s throbbing temple as she tried to keep her voice calm. 「But what's done is done. There's no way to get out of this now.」

"You and him could go out for the day." Lucy waved a hand towards her uncle, whose head had retreated behind his hands.

Yuko shook her head. "No, I need to be here in case something happens. If there's a misunderstanding."

Lucy couldn't help but laugh with a flimsy roll of her eyes. "I'll be fine-"

"She's not going out, I’m not going out, we're all going to be here." Both women froze as Alfred jumped from his seat, fork hanging from his mouth and his still-full plate gathered in his hands.

“Can’t let you outside without raising hell, you think we’re gonna let you be alone with two strangers in here?”

Lucy grit her teeth, taut smile fading and her blood pressure rising as her uncle scoffed and made his way into the kitchen across the hall.

Her gaze went towards Yuko yet again as a hand fell on top of her shaking arm. The usual warmth and tenderness that Lucy had grown so accustomed to had returned to Yuko’s eyes, and Lucy couldn’t help but take a swipe at her own as a tear caught on her eyelash.

“I didn’t mean to.” The words hurt coming up. She hadn’t expected apologizing for this incident, for offering to help someone, but it was wholly apparent that good deeds would never go unpunished in the eyes of her uncle so long as it somehow involved her.

Yuko steadied her grip on Lucy’s wrist, eyes fluttering shut as her other hand rubbed Lucy’s arm. “I know.”

Clang. Slam.

Both women flinched.