Lesson Learned

But I can't ignore it either

Gakushuu grimaced. "A fair point."

She laughed. "Yeah, you're probably right." She squeezed his shoulder. "But still, think about it."

Nagisa nodded, smiling faintly. "Thanks." He looked over his shoulder when he heard a car beep. "Uh, that'll be her."

Her brother was already trying to drag her back inside. "We'll just go ahead and leave you to it then..." he said, staring at the car warily. "Thank you for coming."

Nagisa seemed to find it funny and waved goodbye as he headed to the car.

Mitsuko watched him hesitantly until he disappeared inside the car before she headed back inside with her brother.

Gakushuu stretched his arms. "Well, at least she didn't come inside for tea."

She snorted. "True. That would have been a whole horror show."

They both headed back to the dining room where Karma was lounging on some cushions and texting on his phone while the half-eaten birthday cake was still on the floor near him.

Her brother looked annoyed when he saw the hot pots were still out. "You said you'd finish tidying up where the others left off."

The furniture had been mostly put back, with the plates and cutlery cleared away. The decorations had been taken off the ball, but there were still the cushions shoved to one corner and the empty hot pots on the floor.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I will," Karma replied, shrugging. "I just saw this trailer online I wanted to watch first."

Gakushuu pinched the bridge of his nose. "For goodness sake."

"There's no rush, we have all night," Mitsuko replied with a shrug, going over to her pile of opened presents. "It was nice having everyone over."

Her brother hummed and placed the stuffed beetle on his pile which mainly consisted of books, films, and some gadgets. "It was entertaining."

"You're welcome by the way," Karma said, looking up from his phone.

Gakushuu glared at him. "We were having a perfectly good time without your intervention!"

"Oh, yeah, the trivia game really went wild when Koyama introduced that timer," Karma replied dryly, earning a glare. "I'm surprised your parents didn't come over and shut us down when that happened."

Her brother hurled a heap of cushions at him. "Get off your lazy ass and help clean-up!"

Karma rolled his eyes, sweeping the cushions away as he stood up. "Yeah, yeah, calm down, drama queen."

Mitsuko laughed, picking up one of the empty pots. "Come and help me wash up, Karma, while Gakushuu cleans up the balloons."

"Sure." Karma picked up the second pot while Gakushuu grumbled and started popping some of the balloons.

"Please, try to be nice to him for the next few days," she said as they entered the kitchen.

Karma smiled slyly. "I thought I already was?"

Mitsuko sighed and shook her head. "You're unbelievable."

"I am pretty amazing."

She snorted, taking the first pot out of the main container, keeping the plug away from the sink. "Well, anyway, even if Gakushuu won't admit it, you did liven things up." She smiled. "It's been nice having you here..."

Karma's eyes widened a fraction and she could have sworn his cheeks heated up, but he looked away too fast. "Yeah, well, home was boring anyway. It's more fun here." He flashed her grin. "Your dad's fun to mess with." Then his grin twisted. "And your brother's a fun toy to play with!"

Mitsuko raised an eyebrow. "Okay, kind of creepy, but whatever." She shrugged scrubbing the pot. "Anyway, you being here kind of helped distract us from...well, everything else, I guess. Which is probably why mom was so happy about it..."

He hummed, helping her dry the pot when she finished rinsing it. "So, have they talked about the divorce much?"

"No." Mitsuko sighed, feeling some dread return. "But we all know it's coming—they're just waiting to talk about it after the holidays. That's how it tends to go anyway."

"...It won't be that bad," Karma shifted uncomfortably. "You're better off living with your mom anyway." Then he frowned. "Unless you want to live with your dad?"

She gave a strained laugh. "We're not crazy." She smiled grimly. "I'd be fine with split custody, but that's it. Dad may have changed but leaving us with him full time would be..." The grimness in her smile spread. "...Not the best idea. He's still learning how to be a good dad and mom may not be the most stable person but at least I don't have to worry about her hitting me or trying to drug me."

"Yeah, good point." He shrugged, placing the pot to the side as she washed the second one. "Nothing you can do until they talk about it, though."

No, they couldn't, but the conversation would be coming soon, and the thought of it made her feel sick. The winter break may have had its bad points, but at least her family had actually acted like a family again.

No matter what the outcome of March, this was the last time all four of them would be celebrating the holiday together as one family. That much was certain.  

She swallowed a lump in her throat, feeling her eyes sting a little. "Yeah...but I can't ignore it either." Mitsuko sighed softly, thinking of her parents and then Koro-sensei. "Just because I don't think about it doesn't mean it isn't a problem." She looked out of the window at the broken moon. "March is three months away..."

Karma stopped drying the cutlery and paused, narrowing his eyes at a spot on the counter. "Yeah, it is."