𝗢𝗢𝗚𝗢𝗘 𝗗𝗜𝗔𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗗────── k. aren x original character

𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤

other than kuniharu's boisterous voice bragging about the new, on the rise mangaka that he had taken under his care, dinner was pretty quiet.

it was one of those nights. the family of four was enjoying a warm dinner and it felt like everything was particular in peace—not perfect, but peaceful.

kotoe knew about nights like these well, she is familiar with the word "normal", you see. but again, the reason why she was fiddling with the cloth of her nightgown was because she had always been the one to ruin perfectly normal nights.

imagine that she was "yin"—the rest of her family was "yang", ruining perfect days with their absurdity.

"will you be practicing at school or at the club tomorrow, ko-chan?" her mother's voice broke the enjoyable silence and kotoe nearly leaped out of her seat. she could feel kusou's deathly stare drilling holes into the back of her head.

he knew about the group project (well of course he does, he's in the same class and he's able to read kuboyasu's mind albeit not hers).

"uhm—" she started, between her long fingers were the wooden chopstick that she used to continuously poke on her fried mackerel. "well, i don't think i have practice tomorrow?"

she informed her coach about the little tweak in her schedule. kotoe had a tournament coming up soon, but she promised her coach that after kuboyasu went home she would practice hitting against a wall on her own.

"heeh—" her father seemed interested and kotoe cursed inside of her mind. "how come?"

she took a startled breath.

she could do this.

it wasn't like kuboyasu was a new boyfriend or something.

and she's had significant others before.

her mother was never one to make a big deal of such trivial matter (kotoe and kusuo were teenagers, after all, it isn't strange for them to start taking interest romantically in other people), and while kusuo tends to be a little worrisome for her well-being, he never took things too far. he trusted her.

so, everything would be okay, right? everyone was understanding, despite sometimes being too protective for her.

wrong.

oh, you are dead wrong.

the problem presented on the table?

her father. and kuusuke. mostly kuusuke, but he wasn't here right now, so saiki kuniharu was her main focus for the night.

"well," kotoe scratched her cheek, shifting from one leg to the other under the dining table. "i have a really important group project for tomorrow—it's worth a huge percent of my social studies grade, i think—and a friend is coming over to do the project. . . basically!"

kotoe tried to sound enthusiastic, and while she fooled her father, her mother's expression fell into one of concern.

"that's nice," his father finally commented. "kusuo's doing the same project too, then?"

kusuo blinked—everyone in the family understood that it was his way of saying "yes".

kotoe released a small breath of air, glad that he didn't ask any further about who her groupmate was. if she could get kuboyasu out of the house before her father arrives home, it would already be good.

another silence fell over them, when kuniharu decided to break it.

"who's—"

oh no.

"—coming over tomorrow?"

kusuo's mouth suddenly turn very straight, and so did kotoe's. they hid their lips inside of their mouth as their cheeks puffed out, looking at the other way to avoid answering the question.

"could it be kokomi-chan?" her father asked again, and kotoe thought about how of course kokomi would be the only friend i have that he remembers.

"or chiyo-chan?"

oh, nevermind then.

"oh, well. . ." kotoe and kusuo glanced at each other for a moment. ". . .you've never met this one before."

"tell me her name anyways," kuniharu urged, placing another piece of food in his mouth. she almost gasped.

"uh—" kotoe stood up, her mackerel half-eaten and her ricebowl half empty. "their name is kuboyasu—nevermind that, though! i'm sleepy, going to go to sleep, good night! i'm going to sleep right now!"

the table, at her sudden outburst, could only stay inside their bubble of peace.

kotoe swore she wouldn't be the one to disrupt that bubble tonight.

"good night," she said again, turning on her heels to the stairs, trying to convince herself that she was indeed sleeping. "i'm off to bed now!"

sound of footsteps could be heard, and then a slam of the door that seemed a lite out of character for kotoe.

kusuo purses his lips, finishing his portion of the food as if that didn't just happen.

"kuboyasu?"

a strange switch flicked inside of their father's mind, kusuo looked up, eyes wide at how fast kuniharu made the connection.

"isn't that the guy kotoe talked to yesterday—your friend, kusuo?"

maybe he isn't as stupid as he seemed to be—at least when it comes to his daughter.