Round 2 (Brothers Conflict)

"Family? What is a 'family' like?"

Akayuki Suminako had never truly understood the concept of "family." For most of her life, it had been a word, an ideal whispered in stories, something others seemed to have but always stayed out of her reach. When she arrived at the Sunrise Residence, she thought-perhaps hoped-she'd finally found a place to belong.

Asahina Miwa welcomed her warmly, offering not just a home but a semblance of stability, a place she could return to. Yet the warmth stopped at Miwa. The Asahina brothers were as icy as they were indifferent, treating her presence as an intrusion rather than an addition. They looked at her, but never saw her; spoke to her, but never listened. She was a ghost within their walls, and each day, that invisible barrier hardened around her.

Meanwhile, Ema glowed with the love and camaraderie of the family Akayuki desperately longed for. Watching Ema, feeling her joy and warmth, became a bittersweet routine. It wasn't jealousy-not quite-but a kind of yearning that twisted deep inside her, making her feel small, inadequate. She wanted to be seen, to be wanted, even if just once.

In quiet moments, she'd catch herself imagining if things could change. What would it take to make them see her as more than a stranger, as someone who could matter to them? If just one of them could look her way and acknowledge her, would it change her world?

But as days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, the dream she harbored grew heavier, harder to shake. How would her life shift if one of the Asahina brothers turned their back to look her way? And as she wondered, she couldn't help but hope that one day, she might become more than just an outsider-and maybe, just maybe, find her own sense of family within the walls of the Sunrise Residence.

Note: Story takes place in the second season which is exactly three years later after Ema became part of the Asahina family.