Together

Chapter 5

Yotsuba felt her heart break upon hearing how badly her best friend was hurting.

"But you know what?" He continued, "One day, I remembered that I had made a promise not only to Stars but to that voice in my head that I heard the day your mom died. I wasn't going to let the downfalls of life take control of me. I was going to devote myself to becoming the best version of myself that I could possibly be. A version that everyone can count on. A version that everyone can look to for inspiration. A version that everyone can appreciate. My own family may not appreciate me, but I'll be damn sure that I make sure everyone else can. I'll do whatever I can to help others, and I'll do whatever I can to help you girls with your studies."

Y/N gave her his million dollar smile, something she returned with a warm smile of her own.

Yotsuba: "I know you will, if you're anything like me, you're the kind of person who would go out of their way to help a friend, correct?"

Y/N: "Indeed I am. Now, I take it you're still curious about what happened last night?"

Yotsuba's eyes widened slightly. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot!"

Y/N sweatdropped. 'But...you just asked like only a couple minutes ago...'

He shrugged internally and figured he might as well just come out with it. "Well... we talked about a couple things, but the biggest thing of the night was probably her asking me about my relationship with Nino."

Yotsuba fidgeted uncomfortably. "Oh...so she DID end up asking you about it...?"

Y/N: "Yup, and I take it you were aware of this and that's why you asked me to "help her with the dishes"?"

Yotsuba: "Yeah it is...Itsuki is...well...not very good when it comes to expressing her emotions. The negative ones anyway. She tends to bottle it all up, as if she doesn't want to bring anyone else down with her...It was clear that the way Nino was acting around you was bugging her, but she never would have told anyone in a million years that it was, especially you. I love Nino to death but when she wants something, she'll stop at nothing to get it."

Y/N: "Well...that sounds like an issue I'm going to have to deal with some time in the future but for now, on the bright side, I think I managed to get through to Stars, at least somewhat. Probably just nothing more than a band-aid on a deep wound, though"

Yotsuba: "How do you figure?"

Y/N: "I'm not dumb, Yoba. I'm assuming the reason why you asked how I handled you girls moving away is because she didn't handle it well? I'm guessing a lot has happened over the last 5 years."

Yotsuba looked down and clenched her hands. "Yeah...it has...and no...she didn't... I mean don't get me wrong, none of us really handled it well but we eventually learned to cope with the loss and move on. Itsuki, however...she was the closest out of the 5 of us to mother...to you...And she lost both within 24-hours. She didn't know how to handle it well so she...well..."

Y/N: "She...what...?"

Yotsuba looked around with a worried expression on her face, as if to see if anyone was in earshot of what she was about to say. "Well... you know how she was known for being a glutton? Even when we were kids?"

Y/N had a feeling he knew where this was going. "Yeaaahh...." he said slowly. "Are you telling me she..."

Yotsuba nodded sadly. "Yeah...she kind of used eating as a coping mechanism. And with the new income that our stepdad was now providing for us, she was able to get all the food she wanted whenever she wanted...."

Y/N: "Oh wow...how bad was it?"

Yotsuba: "Bad...like really bad... like she would put Monkey D Luffy to shame."