ɪ ʜᴀᴛᴇ ʙᴇʟʟ ᴘᴇᴘᴘᴇʀꜱ [𝓐𝓺𝓾𝓪 𝔁 𝓚𝓪𝓷𝓪] {𝒪𝓈𝒽𝒾 𝓃𝑜 𝒦𝑜}

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟛𝟜 ~ 𝔸𝕚𝔸𝕚𝔸𝕀

Ruby POV:

Everyone was sitting at the dining table eating dinner. Usually we all ate dinner seperately, but today Miyako had called a family meeting. MEM-cho and Kana included. 

It was so, so awkward. Neither of us were speaking to Aqua, and he just kept his head down and ate.

Miyako had put out the best dining ware, silver forks and knives laid out on fluffy snow-white napkins. She and Kana had also made dinner- boiled carrots, sweet corn, rice and pork ribs on a clean white platter. I had volunteered to do dinner, but Kana insisted upon helping Miyako, probably to avoid Aqua. 

I didn't know why Miyako had suddenly made tonight's dinner a family one, but at least the food was good for once. Usually I had takeout or ramen. 

Miyako took a long sip of her glass of orange juice before setting it down elegantly and took a deep breath. "Everyone, we have an important matter we need to discuss."

Everyone nodded solemnly. But inside I was reeling. Miyako sounded so formal and even a little funny, but I dared myself not to laugh. 

"You all know about... *ahem*.... Aqua's.. situation," Miyako said slowly, shifting about uncomfortably in her seat. "It's currently very awkward in this household, and B Komachi's performance is steadily declining because of this influence. I have decided we need to take a handle of this situation."

"What do you propose?" MEM-cho asked curiously. 

Miyako's expression turned deadly serious. "I propose we send Aqua away to a boarding school in America for a while. He got accepted to a very prestigous one, and it might do us all some good if he took some time away from Japan for a while." 

Kana's eyes lit up with something like both disappointment and overjoy. 

"B Komachi will contuine to live in this apartment until we can rent a studio just for them. Are you two happy to live here?" Miyako asked. 

"Of course," MEM-cho brightened. 

"I don't have anywhere else to go," Kana shrugged. "It'd be lovely if you would have me."

"Aqua's already fine with it," Miyako said slowly, shooting a wary glance at Aqua as if he might back out any second. "So is this alright with everyone?"

"Yes." We all chorused. 

"Lovely. Now, I just want to confirm that I'm not sending Aqua away because he's incompetent," Miyako sighed, "Neither that I want him to drop out of the school he's in now. But it's just that there's a better one out there and I don't want him to lose this opportunity."

"Of course. We understand." Kana nodded. 

"Great." Miyako smiled, clapping her hands. "Well, Aqua will move out shortly. Probably next month, he'll be off to America! Kana, you won't have to share a room with Ruby anymore. You can have Aqua's room, MEM will be in the guest room, and Ruby will have her room to herself." 

Yess. Freedom. 

"Thank you." Kana said gratefully. "Should I be... oh, I don't know, paying you rent or something?"

"Goodness, no," Miyako looked taken aback. "If anything, I'm the one paying you. You're doing all the work for me, with B Komachi. It's such a success now."

Kana smiled and nodded, the light back in her eyes. 

Aqua didn't say a word. He just stared down at his plate and shovelled spoonfuls of rice into his mouth. His eyes were bleak and dark. 

"Well. I'll try and arrange a place for Aqua to stay and get him to the school as soon as possible." Miyako clapped her hands, smiling. "I'll also get him the plane tickets. This is so very exciting!"

Two weeks later

"Bye, Aqua," I hugged my brother tightly. Even if he was a horrible person, he was still my brother. "Call me tonight, okay? You have to call me every week. Got it?"

"Yes." Aqua answered blankly and hugged me back, but quickly pulled away. Then, he nodded at Kana and MEM. 

They didn't smile. 

Yesterday, we had moved everything around. Kana got Aqua's bed, but otherwise most of his things were packed away in the two suitcases he would lug to America. 

"He's lucky he doesn't have a criminal record," Kana muttered to me, "Otherwise he wouldn't even be able to go."

I hid my laugh with a cough. 

Kana POV:

After Aqua's goodbye, Miyako had driven him to the airport and Ruby was downstairs making a start on dinner while MEM-cho read a book in her room.

I was busy finishing up my new room. Aqua's old room. It felt so strange to call it 'mine' now. Everything about it still felt like his. 

I had decorated my room with white, like my lightstick colour. My bedsheet was cream-coloured and I had laid out a fluffy circular-shaped white rug. On the walls hung posters of B Komachi's album covers and cute cats I liked. The closet was already full with my clothes, but there were still a little more things I needed to put away. 

I took out my rabbit plush, a pastel pink hand-knitted toy with buttons for eyes and a fluffy white tummy and tail. It was made by my mother when I was a kid, and it had always been my favourite. Though we didn't live together anymore, I still missed her a lot. 

Then, I arranged my books on Aqua's bookshelf. In a spare corner, I set up my microphone and headphones for a little private recording place.

"Can someone come down and help me with dinner?" Ruby called from downstairs. "This pasta is driving me crazy and the sauce burning isn't helping."

"Coming!" I yelled down, pulling my longish hair into a scrappy ponytail and bounding down the stairs. 

"Oh, phew," Ruby sighed. "I need help with that sauce. I think I turned the heat up too high."

"Got it." I threw on a black apron over my beige off-shoulder shirt and black dance-practice pants. "Is this bolognese sauce?" 

"Yeah. Homemade." Ruby grinned. "Miyako gave me her secret recipe to the perfect bolognese sauce. Maybe check if it needs some salt?"

I dipped a chopstick in the frizzling pan and tasted the sauce. "It needs more salt. Period."

"There's some Himilayan pink salt in the top drawer," Ruby said while mixing the boiling noodles. 

I grabbed the bottle of salt and scattered a few crystals onto the sauce, then turned the heat down and stirred. After taste-testing it again, I proclaimed it 'fine'. 

"Can you chop up some spam and spinach?" Ruby asked. 

"Sure." I took out the ingredients from the fridge and began slicing away. Cooking was so relaxing- the perfect ancedote to the bitter knot in my gut from Aqua's departure. 

By the time dinner was finally complete, Miyako had came back, her hair messy and looking frazzled. 

"Oh, thank you for making dinner," she gasped, setting her handbag on the table with a thump. "The airport is so busy tonight. It's lucky I got Aqua to the right place on time."

"MEM's upstairs reading. Can you call her down?" Ruby asked. 

"Of course." Miyako hurried upstairs while I took out the cutlery and place them neatly on the dining table, along with a few napkins. 

"I thought we might have a nice together dinner today," Ruby explained. "To celebrate Aqua's departure!"

I laughed, smoothing down the crinkles of the soft white napkin. Without him looming over me now, everything seemed so light-hearted and easy. But somehow, the disappointed, hurt feeling in my stomach still lingered at the back of my head. 

As everyone ate Ruby and I's pasta, laughter and chatter flying in the air, I tried to forget about it. 

I tried so, so hard.

A/N: Just a reminder that my Discord server is always available to everyone <3 If you would like, you can also personally DM me!