| Psithurisim |

| Chapter 3 |

"Daichi – I'm home!" I yell into the house, closing the door behind me with my foot.

I'm greeted by Mochi, who barks happily at the bag in my hand, "no sweets for you sweetie!"

"Daichi!" I call again, walking around the dog and through the dining room. I place the sweets on the counter in the kitchen, as far back as they'll go. Hopefully away from the curious nose of a certain Shiba. Then, I knock on his workshop door.

"Yo! I brought sweets."

The door flies open. Narrowly missing my nose. I glare at my brother. Soot clings to his face, aside from where his goggles were. He adjusts the googles on the top of his head, before brushing his hands on his work apron.

The black substance clings to his brown and green hair. His green bangs don't even look green anymore. Everything kind of just looks black.

"Sweets?"

"Yes Daichi, sweets." I give him another glance over, "but before you dirty them up, clean yourself off. No one wants poisoned mochi."

"yeah, yeah" he sighs, before heading to his room – across the house – to shower.

"Did something explode in there?"

"What do you think?" He yells from across the house.

I guess I'll take that as something did in fact explode. Once I hear the shower kick on in the still-silence of the house, I busy myself with unpacking the sweets.

I set the boxes on the counter and throw the empty bag in our pile of bags. Then I grab a spoon and plate for myself. Popping a slice of cheesecake on the plate, I then pack up the rest of the box and set it in the fridge for later. Then, I head to the counter island to eat my treat.

Daichi is out quickly, "so what did ya get me, and why?"

"Mochi" I say around some cheesecake, "and it's for your acceptance."

He rolls his eyes, "It's just set design. Oh, and a patent for that."

"Those are all accomplishments, moron."

"Oh! This one's a bunny! That's adorable" he all but squeals.

"Mmhm." I shrug, "I didn't know which ones you'd like the best so I had the lady pick."

He comes over to sit next to me and eat, "I like them all. They're great. They're amazing. You're amazing – the best little sister anyone could ever ask for."

"It wasn't a big deal. I mean I was already out with friends."

"Awwe – you're already making friends! That's great." I swear there's tears in his eyes. Maybe from the desert, or from his excitement. I don't quite know.

"Yeah, and I'm going to go to Okinawa with the class on a trip in three weeks I think, so there's that. You don't have anything planned for then, right? It's three days long."

He shrugs, "I can just reschedule, and continue my projects here. It's not really a big deal."

"Ok!"

"So, how's school been going? Any issues with anyone?"

I finish my cheesecake before answering, "It's actually been good. I mean aside from the constant drain of wondering if they secretly hate me. You know how it is."

"Those bitches really did do a number on you." Daichi sighs, "don't tell mom, but I'm kind of glad that that mysterious earthquake happened."

"Daichi!" I snap, "People could have been hurt."

He shrugs, "so, they probably all deserved it. Whole school was bitches, and you know it."

"Even still," I sigh, "that earthquake shouldn't have happened."

"I'm just. Just don't feel bad about it ok? It was mainly property damage anyways. No deaths atleast."

I take my dirty plate to the dishwasher, "that's still not comforting. But I get it. What you're trying to say. I just worry about the what if questions."

Patting Mochi on the head, I begin my trek to the second floor. Time to do homework, before bed.

When I hit the top of the stairs, there's a familiar set of wide green eyes. "Hi Kuro – you didn't eat my plants while I was gone, right?"

The void cat chirps in response, before 'leading' me to my bedroom and pawing at the door. Rolling my eyes I open the door for the poor boy. He sprints happily to my bed, before jumping up to lay down.

I inspect my plants, making sure that the cat did not break into my room – or worse that Daichi heard him crying and let him in. My desk plants look fine. It's the ones beside my bed that are looking a little worse for the wear. Probably because Kuro was left in with the munchies - again. Thankfully, none of the ones near his favorite spot are poisonous.

With a sigh, I head over to my bed, "Kuro, you're so mean to Cristofern and I don't think Brommy likes you either. You even took a chunk out of Van Grow! You're such a demon kitty."

Kuro chirps in response, rolling over to expose his belly. I roll my eyes at his behavior. Thinking being cute will exempt him from punishment.

Of course it will, but still.

I focus my attention on Christofern, the potted Boston Fern beside my bed. One deep breath. Extending my hand, I touch his eaten leaves. Slowly and surely they grow back. It's a little bit tiring, and I can already feel my mouth drying out, but I sure enough manage to grow all his leaves back to normal. I even spurt his overall growth, before heading to Brommy, who's seated on my windowsill. I repeat the process, my skin feeling dryer by the second. Then, I head to my spider plant. Vincent Van Grow is perhaps the worst off. Most of his leaves are chewed, and an entire sprout is missing – probably eaten by Kuro and Mochi. I restore his leaves, and as an apology help him to grow just a tad bit longer.

Taking care of the plants leaves my head spinning. I shuffle over to my desk and throw myself in the chair. After a bit of just sitting, my head feels a bit better, so I reach for the water bottle on the floor. It's a large, green reusable one, almost full of water. I press the button, releasing the straw, and begin drinking. Like a desperate castaway.

It isn't long before the whole thing is gone. I sit with the water bottle on my lap for a moment, before putting it down, and getting out my schoolwork.