After getting out of school the three of you walk to Hana's house. Aimi walks up to Hana's front door and rings the doorbell. No one answers the door.
"Is she not home?" Eli asks, standing behind Aimi with his arms crossed. You shrug.
"Where would she go?" Aimi says looking back at Eli with an annoyed look on her face.
"I don't know..." Eli sighs looking away.
"I'll just call her." Aimi says pulling out her phone. The phone starts ringing but Hana doesn't answer. "Maybe she's asleep..." Aimi sighs putting her phone back into her bag.
"Are you guys looking for Hana?" A voice says from behind. You turn around to see Mika, Hana's little sister.
"Yes... Is she home?" Aimi asks. Mika nods.
"She should be home..." Mika answers. Mika unlocks the front door and walks in putting her bag down and taking off her shoes. Mika turns around to look back at the three of you. "Come on... come in." She motions. The three of you walk in and take off your shoes. Aimi turns towards Mika.
"We are going upstairs to Hana... okay?" Aimi says walking up the stairs. You and Eli follow behind Aimi. Aimi opens a door to a room. She walks in and you follow in behind her. You look around the room to see a bunch of posters on the wall. Aimi sits down beside the lump under the blanket on the bed.
"Hana." She calmly says shaking the lump.
"mmm-" Hana groans, turning over and pulling away from Aimi.
"Come on... we came here to see you... can you please-" Aimi starts.
"We?" Hana pokes her head out from under the blanket. Hana looks up directly at Aimi and then past Aimi and at you. "Yuki?" She gawked. You smile at her.
"Hi." Hana coos, slowly sitting up. She smiles widely at you, then her smile disappears when she looks behind you. "What is he doing here?" She questions, relaxing her eyes and glaring at Eli.
"..." Eli stares back at Hana.
"uh- Aimi..." A voice says from behind Eli. Everyone turns to face the door. Mika stands still and wide-eyed staring back at everyone.
"Yeah?"
"Your brother is... here... He said he forgot his keys at home and that no one is home to let him in." Mika slowly says.
"What?" Aimi furrows her eyebrows looking at Mika.
Everyone is sitting in the living room. Aimi is sitting down on the couch on the right of you and Hana is laying down on the left of you, laying her head down on your lap. Touya, Aimi's brother is sitting on the floor in front of a low legged table and Mika is sitting across from him, doing her homework. Eli is sitting on the floor leaning against the couch next to Aimi.
"Dad said he won't be home until later?" Aimi asks her brother.
"Yeah..." he replies.
"Now thinking about it... it's been a long time since I've seen baby Touya... Last time I saw him, he was always carrying that nasty beaten up stuffed bunny." Eli says smiling at Touya.
"He still has it... Our dad tried to take it away cause its so worn out... but Touya fight's him over it each time saying he needs it to sleep." Aimi chuckles.
"Ew... For real...? Awww... I guess baby Touya is still a baby." Eli teases. Touya quickly turns towards Eli, glaring at him. Mika looks down at her paper trying to hold in her laugh. Touya notices and looks at Mika.
"What's funny?" He asks trying to look at her face.
"Nothing." She giggles. Touya squints his eyes at Mika. He leans over the table to look at her homework.
"You know you got all of those wrong..." He sighs.
"What?" She looks blankly at her paper in confusion.
"Yeah... that one is supposed to be 9, that one is 12... the answer to that one is supposed to be equal to 0..." He comments. Mika sits stiff, staring down at her paper. "Did you do any of your answers right?" He asks glancing at all of her work.
"Hey... Stop shit talking my sister..." Hana says with a stern voice.
"I'm not-"
"He's not... He's right... I got these wrong." Mika sighs erasing her paper. "Ugh... I was thinking about going to cram school..." She says flipping through her workbook.
"Are you struggling with school?" Touya asks. Mika nods.
"Why didn't you tell me any of that... I could have helped you." Hana implies. Mika looks at Hana and sighs.
"Why would I go to someone who's barely passed any of her classes for the past 10 years..." Mika replies. Hana lifts her head up from off your leg and glares at Mika. "Hey... I'm just saying." Mika says throwing up her hands.
"Pft... My sister is the same way..." Touya snickers. Mika smiles at him and he smiles back. Aimi and Hana are staring at them with a blank expression on their face. Eli laughs and leans back a bit.
"Out of the three of you, Yuki seems to be the only one taking her shit seriously." Eli laughs. Aimi grabs a pillow from off the couch and smacks Eli in the back of his head.
"Hey... You know... If you need help with homework, then I can help you. We are in the same grade after all... We can study together... if you want..." Touya suggest, smiling at Mika. Mika smiles back and nods.
"Are they flirting?" Hana whispers to Aimi.
"I don't know..." Aimi replies, shrugging.
"Oh by the way... Yuki- " Eli starts, looking at you. "You talked to Ren...right?" Eli asks. You slowly nod. Aimi and Hana look at you.
"Did you tell Yuki?" Aimi asks looking at Eli. Eli looks at Aimi in confusion.
"Tell me what?" You ask.
"About why Eli told those Toman guys..." Aimi replies.
"What do you mean?" You ask looking at Eli.
"Oh... That..." Eli sighs.
"What? Oh that what?" Hana questions.
"You don't know what they are talking about?" You ask, puzzled to Hana's response.
"No... I have no idea what they are talking about..." Hana replies looking into your eyes.
"I didn't want to say anything because... I didn't want you guys to hate him again..." Eli sighs.
"What do you mean?" Hana asks.
"The day... when Hana left her phone on the steps... Ren told me to go out and distract them. He also told me to tell them about V. Then the day when Mikey went to Ren's house to get Yuki... Ren was the reason why Mikey found out." Eli states.
"Yeah... that's why Ren left that day at the cafe... that's also why I was at Ren's house... We were arguing with each other about the situation... and after you went home, and he came back from the shrine we got into a bigger argument over you" Aimi adds.
"Why didn't you tell us this?" Hana asks.
"Because I didn't understand what Ren was doing." Aimi sighs. "He always seems so innocent or good... but he was doing something petty the entire time... It was like he was setting us up..." Aimi continues.
"He was... and for his own pleasure too..." Eli sighs.
"Why tell me this now? I went to the school to apologize to Ren... I thought I was the one who messed up..." You say slightly frowning.
"Honestly... I thought it was all Eli's fault. I was hoping that Toman guy would beat the shit out of him..." Hana comments. Eli furrows his eyes at Hana.
"Wait... I'm confused... So, you're saying... Ren started all of this?" You slowly ask, looking up at Eli. Eli nods.
"Yeah... Ren told me he wanted to use you to weigh Mikey down." Eli replies.
"What does that mean?" Hana asks.
"I don't know... but he had cut me off the other day. It's like he has some sort of obsession with Yuki... Like a sadistic obsession... He wants to see her suffer." Eli states.
"What the fuck?" Hana says with a confused look on her face.
"He wants to see her suffer? Why?" Aimi asks.
"Who knows... but he's always had that obsession with her... since he met her."
"So... Since we were 10?" Aimi questions. Eli nods.
"I knew there was something wrong with him..." Hana says. "Every time I was around him my stomach hurt..." She sighs.
"You stomach probably hurt because of how much you eat..." Mika comments.
"Aren't you supposed to be doing your homework?" queried Hana. Mika looks back at her homework. You sit quietly thinking about what they told you. Touya stands up holding his phone.
"Dad said he's home... and that he wants you to come home." Touya says looking at Aimi.
"Tell him no." Aimi responds.
"I already did but he said he doesn't care... He needs to talk to you about something urgent... And you have no choice but to come home. That or he will call the police on you." Touya states. Aimi groans and stands up.
"Welp..." She sighs walking to the front door, putting her shoes on.
"Bye Aimi." Mika says waving at Aimi. Aimi waves back. "Bye Touya..." Mika smiles, waving at Touya. Touya smiles back.
"Text me... Okay?" He says, looking at Mika. She slowly nods. He walks out the door behind Aimi.
"I want to kill that jerk..." Hana states.
"Who?" Mika and Eli reply back to Hana's statement.
"Ren... He's a fucking asshole... He's always had a problem with Yuki... I bet he's doing this because of his weird ass obsession for that ugly big titty bitch..." Hana groans standing up and walking towards the kitchen.
"I don't think it's because of his obsession for Ayame..." Eli replies. Hana looks at Eli from the kitchen.
"Then what is it?" Hana asks.
"Ayame is jealous of Yuki... so she tells him things and he listens to her. But he's also jealous of Yuki... but not in the same way..." Eli comments.
"Jealous of her?" Hana questions.
"Yeah... I think." Eli says, unsure if that's what it is.
"I doubt it..." Mika butts in.
"Huh?" Hana looks at Mika.
"Ren probably likes Yuki but Yuki is so dense that she doesn't notice... That's probably why the girl hates Yuki... she has a crush on Ren and notices Ren has feelings for Yuki..." Mika states. Eli and Hana stare at her. She looks up from her work and stares back at them. "It's just an assumption." she slowly says. Hana slowly nods.
"That actually sounds about right..." Hana replies.
"Eli..." You say slowly looking at him. He looks back at you. "I'm sorry..."
"For what?" He asks.
"For getting mad at you... I blamed it on you." You respond.
"Same... I'm sorry for cursing you." Hana speaks looking at Eli.
"Cursing me?" He questions looking at Hana confused.
"Yup... She was doing some weird ritual in the bathroom. It had Eli written all over it." Mika comments.
"WHAT?" Eli shouts.
"Eli... do you still have Baji's contact?" You ask.
"Yeah... why?" Eli questions.
"Who's Baji? Is he that cute angry guy we saw the other day?" Hana asks, you slowly nod to her question.
"I need to ask him a question." You say to Eli.
"What question?" Eli asks.
"Don't worry about it... I just need to ask him something... can I call him?" You ask. Eli nods and hands you, his phone. You take his phone and stare at Baji's contact for a bit. "Why do you have his number in your phone... Didn't you use Hana's old phone to contact him? Would he even answer your phone call?" Eli slowly nods. You nod back and call Baji. It went straight to voicemail.
"Uh... Did he really block me?" Eli questions leaning in towards the phone.
"Why would he block you?" Hana muffles stuffing her mouth with food.
"I had called him and yelled at him for being an asshole..." Eli states.
"..." You stare at Eli confused.
"...and I spam called him..." Eli adds.
"Why?" Hana questions.
"Because I was worried about Yuki... and that Jerk didn't give a shit." Eli answers.
"Of course... He doesn't even know Yuki." Hana replies. Eli sighs and leans back.
"Do you know where he lives?" You ask.
"Damn... you're so persistent." Eli comments.
"Can you tell me where he lives?" You ask. Eli turns to look at you and then sighs.
Once you get to the address that Eli gave you, you walk up the stairs until you reach the door. You stand at the door hesitant to knock. You slowly knock on the door. Your heart starts to race. A woman opens the door. She's pretty. She looks very similar to Baji. She has long black hair that goes down to her shoulders.
"May I help you?" She asks.
"Is Baji home?" You ask. She stares at you for a bit before nodding.
"Yes... why... has he done something? Oh no... don't tell me he's done something stupid again-"
"No... no... nothing like that..." You comforted. She looks at you confused.
"Oh... Then..." She looks you up and down and looks behind her. "Who are you?" She asks looking back at you. You stare at her a bit thinking about what to tell her. From what you remember Baji's mom is strict. You remember the conversation between Mika and Touya earlier and it gave you an idea.
"My name is Yuki Sato... I'm Baji's friend. He is behind in school, and the teacher asked me to study with him... but he has been avoiding me and my calls... so I decided to come visit him." You state. You start to feel nervous because you didn't want her to realize that you were lying.
"Oh... Okay... He's in his room." She says, holding open the door. "Yuki you said?" She asks. You nod. "He's gotten in trouble again... so he has to stay home for a few days. That's why he wasn't at school." She sighs and shakes her head. "He stresses me out..."
"If you need anything... Just let me know." She says. You nod and smile.
"Thank you, Ms. Baji." You say walking towards Baji's door. Your heart is pounding. You can't believe that worked. You lightly knock on his door waiting for his response.
"WHAT?" He yells out. You grab the doorknob and open the door. Baji looks up at you and furrows his eyebrows. "What are you doing here?" He huffs.
"SHE'S YOUR TUTOR!" His mom yells out from the living room. She walks over next to you. Baji squints his eyes at you.
"What?"
"She's here to tutor you..." She repeats.
"Why the hell-" He starts.
"Cause her any problems and we will have a problem." Baji's mom says in a stern voice. Baji stares at his mom before glaring at you.
"Yeah yeah... okay..." He sighs. She nods and walks away. You slowly walk into his room. "Close the door..." He tells you. You slowly nod and close the door.