'Ubs, help me locate the kids. Pull off that 1 minute trick if necessary.'

Now that Gojima had gotten his composure back, he decided to at least locate the kids so he could run to them the moment the storm was over. But...

I refuse.

'Why?'

It is risky, that is why. The map I have is mainly based on this town. Hypothetically, if the kids are out of the town then you will only be wasting your APs. Not to mention the penalties...

'...So they are out of town?'

I shall neither confirm nor deny that statement.

'Why else would you be telling me that?'

Like I said, I shall neither co—

'At least tell me whether they are safe.'

Are you sure? It might cost you a lot.

'Just do it.'

Fine, then. Both the kids are safe at this moment. –9.7 AP.

'Wow, that's a lo—'

Gojima lost his consciousness on his bed before he could say anything.

"Umm..."

Ruri slowly opened her eyes due to the sunlight hitting her eyes. Was it already morning? Was the storm over?

The first thing she noticed was... spiky buzzcut hair?

It belonged to Takeshi, who was sleeping soundly while hugging her tightly.

Her first instinct was to almost push him away and then slap him in the face, but then she remembered what happened yesterday and sighed. To be honest, it was she who initiated it.

If she had been the Ruri of even three days ago, she would have been extremely scared and worried about getting pregnant from all the hugging. Her innocent ignorance was completely shattered by the lectures given by Sayuri and Okada.

Ruri noticed Takeshi's eyelids shake a little. She guessed he would also wake up due to the sunlight hitting him.

She decided to stay in the same position just so she could tease the boy a little.

As the sorroundings got brighter over time, it became harder for Takeshi to sleep soundly. He slowly opened her eyes to see... cloths?

"Good morning, Takeshi kun. How long are you going to hug me like this?"

Hearing the familiar voice, he looked above his head to look at a familiar face looking down at her.

"...Ruri?"

"Uh-hm?"

It took Takeshi a few seconds to realize what position he was in. As soon as he came to his senses, he screamed and rolled away.

"R-R-R-R-Ruri! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to—"

"To do what?"

"To-to-to...I'm sorry!" The boy slapped his head on the wooden floor of the shrine.

"Wow! You're going to just say sorry after you held me tightly like that and kept snuggling?" Ruri continued—even though she felt a little guilty for mixing in some lies, "look, you even got drool on my shirt and ruined it."

"I'm sorry!" The boy only yelled in reply while in a dogeza.

"Aah~ what if I get pregnant~"

"No!" The boy raised his head from his position and said, "you won't get a baby from just that so don't worry! It's too early to explain to you but trust me! Everything will be fine!"

Ruri stared at the boy blankly. She expected the boy to get a little freaked out so he could tease him a little more—and maybe get him to say 'I'll take responsibility!' or something, but it seemed the boy was already informed. She remembered Miki saying something about her mother 'punishing' her father and her brother getting red from 'fever' because he saw 'everything' and was 'scared'.

'Was this guy always knowledgeable about these kinds of stuff?' Ruri screamed inside her head, 'and was she really that oblivious to such things?! And now, I made it seem like I don't know anything! He definitely thinks that I'm childish, while I thought that I was acting like an adult! Aaaargh!'

She hid her face in embarrassment, making Takeshi feel even more guilty. Well, it was not like he was not embarrassed at all. This was the first time he had ever hugged a girl like that! His mother did not count!

The first time he had ever—

Then he remembered.

Ara Ara~

He was also hugged by that extremely pretty onee san in that cafe during the school festival. He could still remember her hand caressing his hair, her kind motherly voice, her sweet fragrance, and her soft bouncy breasts—

"You are completely different from that maid Onee-san," he blurted out loud.

The whole world stopped for a moment.

Ruri slowly raised her head and looked at Takeshi.

Her eyes were so chillingly cold that the boy felt his spine almost freezing.

"Kobayashi Takeshi kun."

"Y-Yes?!"

The girl smiled at him, but the boy found no warmth in it.

In a nearby tree, some birds were resting on the tree branches. There was a sudden loud noise, and they all flew away.

"Hmph!"

"Ughhhh..."

Takeshi held the handle of his bike as he walked behind Ruri, the girl stomping away angrily in front of him and not willing to look at him at all. His other hand massaged his cheek, which had a faint red mark—a result of the slap he received from the angry girl.

"I'm a failure..."

"Damn right you are, hmph!"

"I should've kept my eyes open..."

"Yes you should've—what?"

For a moment Ruri looked back at the boy due to his unexpected remark, but then she soon went back to not looking at him.

"Shishou told me to not flinch and close my eyes if someone approaches my face. I... couldn't do it. I closed my eyes back then when you slapped me."

"That's what you're worried about?! There should be more important things you should think of such as apologizing to me!"

"It is important! He said that I needed to keep my eyes open and keep thinking until the very last moment! That is the key to everything!"

"Huh! I bet that Ogre said those profound garbage stuff to appear cool and all!"

"D-Don't call Shishou's wise words garbage! Take it back!"

"Why should I?! It should be you who should be taking back your words!"

"Why would I? It's not like I lied!"

Ruri stopped walking and slowly turned back and said with the same chilling voice, "...just what did you say?"

Unfortunately, this time Takeshi was a bit too heated to deal with her Tsundere routine.

"I said what I said! You look like a kid compared to her, and that is true! She is at least 4 to 5 years older than you! And even if I were wrong, I did not say anything bad enough to warrant you to slap me like that!"

"I—" Ruri faltered a little.

"Even my parents have never slapped me like that! What right do you have?!"

"..."

She was unable to say anything in reply. He was not wrong. What right did she have to hit him physically like that? They were neither lovers nor family—even then it would not have been right. The worst part was that she had done things like this before.

Since when did she start thinking that she was entitled to behaving anyway with him as if she owned him?

She felt tears filling her eyes, and immediately turned away. Was it guilt? Shame? She did not know.

For the rest of the road, they did not talk at all. They returned to their home at around noon, and found the Kobayashi's along with Gojima (who took a leave to look for the kids, and was not helped by Ubs at all) and Sayuri searching for them crazily. Sunohara was still down thanks to the drugs, not that anybody knew.

The Kobayashi couples' first instinct was to scold both of them harshly, but didn't after seeing them all sad and depressed. They must have been hungry, right?

Warning: Extremely disturbing content ahead.

Sunohara Masaya woke up after he heard someone walking around inside his apartment.

"...Uncle?" He heard Ruri's voice as she called his name after entering the home with a spare key.

Has she returned?

He jumped up from his bed, and soon found himself and his bed covered with semen. His head was still spinning—it seems the drug still had not worn off. He heard the sound of her footsteps approaching his room. He really wanted to ask her where she was the whole night and all, but he had to get rid of everything first!

"Ruri! You returned? Go take a bath now!" He locked the door, making her unable to enter.

"I already have with Mi-chan, but are you okay? Something smells really bad—"

"Some leftover pizza got rotten! I'm dealing with it so go rest in your room!"

"O-okay."

Sunohara grabbed a box of tissues and tried to wipe out all the stains and also used air-freshner to get rid of the smell. Now he just needed to dump everything in the litter bag—

"Huh? What is... that..."

He found a blood-smeared sanitary pad in the litter bag which was used by Ruri. He just dumbfoundedly stared at it for a few seconds.

"...When did she..."

So she was already at that age, huh?

"Why didn't she tell me—"

And she spent a whole night with that boy by herself, didn't she?

"No..."

The stoned man took a step back.

She must have felt really good while getting fucked by that moss-head, didn't she?

"N-No..."

She is a slut just like her mother, and soon she will leave me for that other boy, just like her.

"No!"

But not if I get rid of her right now—

He started to breath heavily. He needed to calm down!

He noticed a crunched paper inside the litter bag. He had previously used that paper to snort the drugs inside his nose.

He took the paper and sniffed it with all his strength, to get the remaining powders inside.

In a moment his head felt lighter and all of his worries vanished, except for one.

She got dirty, just like her whore mother. Get rid of her right now.

---

Ruri sighed as she lay down on her bed. She felt too guilty to say anything to Takeshi, but she needed to make up with him.

She did not wish for both of them to grow apart.

She finally mustered her courage, took her phone and sent a message to him.

Ruri: Hey.

...

...

The message was not even seen. She remembered that his phone got switched off because it had no charge.

"Damn it! Can't at least one thing go right today? What should I do right now? Ask Mi-chan?"

As she contemplated on how to break the ice between them, she heard footsteps approaching her room. She looked back and saw her uncle standing at the door.

"...Uncle? Is everything al... right..."

Her voice died down as she saw him stand silently. She wanted to ask what was going on, but... her instincts told her to run away. Why? Why was she feeling such a chill through her spine?

She discovered it soon as her uncle's eyes peeked out of his bangs. For the first time in a while, she managed to see his eyes—something she had been curious about for a long time.

They were filled with craziness and... bloodlust. Why?

"U-Uncle?"

Ding Dong!

Sayuri was lying on her bed as heard the doorbell ring. She inwardly cursed. She was tired as she looked around for the kids with the others the whole morning and now she wanted nothing but to rest.

The doorbell rang again and she had no choice but to get up.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Sayuri."

"Huh?"

She recognized that voice. Normally she would have been elated to hear it, but now—why was she feeling conflicted?

She opened the door regardless.

Her husband, Hanazono Satoshi had returned.