Fires And Family | Paradox Live

4

Himari heard the sounds of loud arguing as she closed the gate. How did those kids manage to get into a fight every single day? Didn't they ever run out of things to argue about?

Himari stepped into the foyer and took her shoes off. She turned the corner toward the living room when Reo and Satsuki came bounding out of the office and almost collided with her.

"Ah, Ane-san!" Reo said, grabbing her arm and rolling back and forth on the balls of his feet. "Aniki said we're going out tonight!"

"Hm, really? Why - ?"

"Ah, Himari?" Iori had just stepped out of the office and stood leaning against the wall. "Sorry about this. You went shopping for dinner, didn't you?"

"Yeah - "

"I know it's a bit sudden, but I thought it'd be a nice treat for them. I hope you don't mind?"

Himari studied Iori's face. As usual, he was all smiley and closed off. Himari sighed. "Well, now that they're this worked up I can't exactly say no, can I Iori-san?"

"Yay!" Reo leaped into the air. "Ane-san, I'll help with the groceries! Satsuki, you take the other bag."

"I don't need you to tell me that, idiot!"

With that, Reo and Satsuki grabbed the bags of shopping Himari had brought and raced off to put everything away. Himari smiled at how excited they were, at Zen and Hokusai and then followed the boys into the house saying, "Let me just grab something warm to wear. It's a bit chilly."

As Himari made her way to the bedroom, she was aware of Iori following along quietly behind her. She pulled a light sweater from the closet, put it on and turned to the mirror to see if anything needed adjusting. Iori caught her eye in the mirror from where he stood leaning against the open door of the room.

"Angry?" he asked.

"About this? No, why would I be. I hadn't started cooking yet, so it's no issue."

"Ah, but you are angry about something else?"

Himari finished toying with her sweater, having decided that just the top button done would look cutest. She then looked up at Iori's reflection with a slight pout. She turned around and walked over to him. When he didn't move out of the doorway, she laughed.

"Even if I was, would you tell me anything?"

This seemed to have not been the right thing to say. A sad, slightly pained look came over the usually cheerful face before her. Himari wanted to take her words back immediately, but this reaction alone had managed to pique her curiosity.

Iori was always secretive with her about his yakuza business. For as long as she had known him he'd kept her at a very calculated distance on most matters regarding the Suiseki group. His reaction just now suggested that perhaps he didn't really want to be doing that; that he would like to confide in her more.

What was stopping him then? It wasn't as if Himari had always been so accepting of the fact that Iori chose to not tell her anything. She had tried sweet talking, straightforward conversation and even full blown temper tantrums to try to get anything out of him and nothing had worked. Himari felt like she'd made it clear enough that she hoped Iori would one day trust her enough to feel he could speak to her.

"Well," Iori said, breaking Himari's train of thought. "Today's outing might help a little with that."

Iori held out his arm. Himari took it, a small flame of triumph licking at her heart.
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Himari stood by Zen and the boys as Iori greeted Yohei. She was looking around at the interior of Bar 4/7, this being her first time inside. When everyone started taking seats at the counter, Himari slid into one between Iori and Zen and flashed a smile at Yohei.