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It was 7:30, Akito was walking back home from practice. They had to pause practice for today due to the fact that An had suddenly lost her voice and wasn’t able to sing, meaning they couldn’t practice as a group.
The sky was almost dark and it looked like it was gonna rain soon. Akito mentally sighed since that meant that he would have to hurry home otherwise he’d get drenched.
It was now 7:45, and it was dark outside. Akito was standing outside the Shinonome residence ready to go inside, but something inside him screamed not to. As he twisted the door knob, he heard faint yelling coming from inside the house.
“You don’t get to decide that!”
“I’m just trying to help you!”
As he was listening he slowly walked over to the source of the sound. There he was, standing behind a wall so he wasn’t seen, watching his sister and his father fighting.
“HELP ME?! YOU’VE BEEN DEGRADING MY ART MY WHOLE LIFE!”
“I’M KEEPING YOU FROM GETTING HURT IS WHAT I’M DOING!”
“OH SHUT UP YOU-“
Akito’s eyes widen suddenly. It takes a moment for everything to register.
Their dad had hit his sister.
Never, not once, has he ever set a finger on them in any harmful way. No matter the situation, whether he was mad about Akito coming home late or upset about Ena not taking his ‘advice’, he’d never once hit them.
Ena just starred at the wall where her head was set after being hit, her eyes wide with shock and a red mark on her face that was definitely going to leave a mark. Her mind was still registering what the fuck just happened, and suddenly she felt small tears form in her eyes.
Akito quickly rushes over to his sisters side and grabs her hand. As he tries to leave he suddenly feels a strong hand wrap around his arm not letting him move, it continues to get stronger and at this point he’s sure it would leave a bruise. After a while of trying to get his fathers hand off his arm he finally does and they both run out of the house, not paying attention to their father yelling at the to come back.
He didn’t know where they were going, or what they were going to do. All he knew at the time was that he had to get them both out.
——— 30 minutes later ———
It was 30 minutes after the whole thing went down, and they were still walking. Akito gripped on to Ena’s hand and would occasionally look over at her to see if she was alright.
Her face was still clouded with sadness and anger towards their father and she continued to look at the ground. Now that he’s taking a closer look at her however, he starts realizing how messy her hair is, how dark the bags under her eyes are, how she looked like she’s not taken a shower for days.
While that was all happening his arm was still throbbing with pain. He didn’t dare look at it in fear of there actually being a bruise, but he knew he probably should at some point.
Akito mentally sighs realizing he’s gonna have to figure something out for them both soon. Just as he starts thinking about what’s gonna happen next, rain starts pouring.
Akito looks up towards the sky and then around to see if they could find anywhere where they wouldn’t get drenched.
“Shit.” He says as he looks around.
Just then, he feels a slight tug on his hand only to then be dragged by Ena towards an ally way that has a bit of covering.
Akito looks around at their surroundings as Ena sits down, after a moment Akito does the same.
“How are you feeling…?” Akito says attempting not to sound awkward.
“Like shit” Ena replies with a slight giggle which puts a smile on Akito’s face.
Noticing that Ena clearly doesn’t want to talk, he doesn’t push forward with the conversation. Instead he just leans back and waits for the rain to stop.
“How’s your arm…” she asks with her head hanging
“It’s alright.” He lies, but he doesn’t want to worry her right now.
That’s when he realizes.
‘Shoot’
Thats when he realizes he has no clue where they are. He wasn’t really thinking he was just walking. He would ask Ena but her answer would be the exact same given that she doesn’t really go outside unless they go to a mall or a nearby cafe.
He decides on not telling her as to not put more stress on her, so now he’s left with the task of figuring out where the fuck they are.
Before he gets up to look around, he looks over at Ena.
‘She’s finally sleeping’ he thinks
It’s clearly been a while since she’s gotten any sleep so he didn’t want to wake her and tell her he was going, plus he wasn’t going that far so It’d be ok.
He slowly gets up suddenly feeling a rush of shivers crawl up due to him sitting in wet clothes for a while now.
Now that he thinks about it, how long have they been out here? He took out his phone and it read 8:50 PM. God they’ve been out here for a while. That’s when he realized his phone was at 1%. ‘Today couldn’t get anymore worse could it’ he thought as he mentally sighed.
As he walks out of the covered area, he realizes that the rain has died down a little bit. He walks around for a bit looking everywhere to see if there was anything or anyone who could help. Suddenly, he sees a man in a white shirt that looked kinda dirty wearing black pant and a cap on his head.
“U-uhm sir? Me and my sister a a bit lost and I was wondering if you could help us.”
He didn’t know why, but something told him that he shouldn’t be talking to this man.
“Ahh you and your sister ay? Ya sure. I’ll help you out. Follow me now.” The man says as he lifts his head and turns around to walk.
Akito takes a deep breath and follows the man. He knows he shouldn’t be talking to strangers but this is for his sisters sake, and even if he doesn’t show it, he cares for her a lot.
Suddenly, Akito felt something jab him in the stomach.
The guy fucking punched him
Just as he was recovering from the first hit, two other guys came in and started to join in and beat him up. That’s when he realized they were probably trying to rob him after he passed out.
“Hey! Get away from him now!” Said a mysterious voice.
Akita tried to look up only to see the three people who were beating him up all backing away. He looked over to where he heard the voice and there he saw, all of Vivid BAD SQUAD and Ken.
“Wha-“ he tried to say but he was almost immediately interrupted.
“Akito! Are you ok?!” Toya asked as he ran over to Akito.
He’s never seen Toya look worried, let alone this worried.
“Ya I’m fine… wait Ena!” He quickly said as he remembered he just left his sister there.
For all he knows those three people could’ve gone after his older sister when those four had saved him.
As he runs he doesn’t notice the others running right after him but he doesn’t care in all honesty. His only thought was his sister.
“Ena!” He says as he gets to the covered area they were in.
“Akito! Where are you!!!” He hears a familiar voice call.
He runs into the covered area only then to see his sister was the one calling, and she didn’t look to be hurt which was a relief.
“I’m right here, you not hurt are you?” He says as he walks up to give her a hug, which she surprisingly doesn’t resist.
“No I’m not, but why are you bleeding?! Did somebody hurt you! I’m gonna beat their a-“ she said until she interrupted by small giggles
“I’m alright don’t worry about it” Akito says while laughing a bit.
Ena blushes in embarrassment and as she’s about to say something she’s embraced with another hug by her younger brother, she was taken by surprise this time as she’d not expected it to happen 2 times in the span of less then 5 minutes.
That’s when Akito remembered everyone else.
“I- sorry haha… kinda forgot you were there” he says with an awkward smile on his face as he turns to the rest of the group.
“It’s fine Akito, but what are you both doing out here?” Ken asks the boy.
He doesn’t know how to reply, he doesn’t like making people worry but at the same time they do need help.
“Never mind, let’s get you both to the car and we can talk about it at the cafe” Ken says as he starts walking.
Everyone else follows in silence, not exactly knowing what to say. Ena holds Akito’s hand knowing he’s slightly anxious about talking about what’s happening, but she wants him to feel safe, or at least, as safe as she couldn’t make him feel.
Suddenly she’s snapped out of her thoughts when she hears a car beeping.
“Alright kids, get in!” Ken says as he walks to the drivers seat.
All the kids get in and she won’t lie, it does feel rather squished, but it’s not like she can do anything about it.
“Hey Shinonome-Chan, come sit at the front since your the oldest ok? That ways there can be a bit more space.” Ken says almost as if he can read her mind.
She slightly hesitates as that would mean she wasn’t with Akito at the moment, but he seemed fine, or at least, better.
After she buckles in the car starts and they drive. The whole ride is silent but for the most parts it’s not an uncomfortable silence. After a while of the silence she hears slight radio music playing.
‘Ken-san must have put it on.’ She thinks as she continues to stair outside the window.
As she stairs into the nothings that lays outside, she thinks about all that happened today. She thinks about what may have happened if her brother weren’t there, would he not have gotten hurt? Would she be able to protect him from the people who hurt him and their father? Would he end up fighting with their dad anyways? She didn’t know, and now she was starting to get a headache. That’s when she feels her eyes growing tired and closing as her head rests on her hand.
Akito looks out the window thinking about how he would explain the situation their in, he looks over at Ena to find her sleeping once again.
‘She really does love to sleep huh’ he thought while mentally laughing.
He was glad that they got to hang out together for a bit, even if it was in the worst possible condition and situation they would’ve been in, it was nice being able to help her.
——— 15 minutes later ———
“Alright kiddos, we’re here” Ken said as he got off the car.
Akito was snapped out of his daydreaming by this and got out of the car to go wake Ena up. He opens the car door and she nearly falls down since her arm was resting on the door.
“Uwh- AH-“ she screams as she ‘falls’
In all actuality, she didn’t fall, Akito caught her and put her back in the seat.
“Your alright, I caught you” Akito says as he sighs in relief.
“Uh.. thanks” Ena says refusing to show the awkward smile she has on her face.
Everyone starts to head inside the weekend garage and what’s inside surprises Ena.
“You guys?! What are you doing here?” Ena says as she point to the rest of N25.
“Surprise…!” Kanade says quietly.
“Ena! Where were you! You had us worried sick you know!!” Mizuki says as they run out of their seat and hug her.
Ena was taken aback but then hugs her friend back as everyone else sits down with the rest of the group. After a moment the other two join in.
“Ok now for some explanations.” Ken said.
Akito still didn’t know how to explain anything and neither did Ena.
“Are either of you hurt?” Were the words that came out of Kens mouth.
Akito and Ena looked at eachother each knowing they would no doubt answer the exact same thing.
“No we’re fine now, no need to worry anymore” Akito stated trying to reduce the tension in the room.
An stands up out of her seat almost immediately and yells “bullshit!”
“An-chan! Please don’t yell..!” Kohane says trying to calm her down.
An takes a deep breath and sits back down, realizing she wouldn’t be able to no yell at them she resisted the urge to stand up or talk again.
“You guys are definitely hurt, especially you Akito. We literally saw you getting beat up.” Toya says as he looks at the ginger.
Akito had a slightly defeated look on his face while his sister turned to him and gave him a sort of look that said, ‘we’re talking about this later’. Knowing he’d have to deal with that later he didn’t bother to think any further on that topic.
“Ya ya, but it’s alright ok? Not that big of a deal” Akito says with a sigh.
He looks over at Ena and she still looks frustrated, that’s when she grabs his arm and rolls up his sleeve without a second though. Akito tries his best to immediately roll it back up but at this point everyone’s seen it.
“Shinonome-kun your bruised!” Kohane says in a worried tone.
He looks over at Ena one more time and gives her a ‘you son of a bitch’ type look, to which Ena responds with a proud face.
“Eh.. ya, but it’s feeling fine I promise” he says with a reassuring tone.
He stops talking but then has a question appears in his mind.
“Answer my question and then I’ll answer yours, deal?” He asks the rest.
The nod, not really knowing what he would ask, but at the same time they didn’t really care.
“How did you guys find us? I know that all of Ena’s friends didn’t come out but I know that after practice An, Kohane, and Toya all left along with myself. So how did you guys know that we were out there?” He asked.
“Your dad called the police saying you were missing” Toya said.
Akito and Ena, we’re obviously, very surprised. When? How did they all know still? They had many questions. Knowing this, An continues to answer.
“After your dad called they all came to the weekend garage. Apparently your dad told them that Akito comes here often so they thought you’d be here.” She said
“Afterwards An-chan called me and Toya to come and we all started trying to think of places you might’ve gone.” Kohane continues
After that there was a short silence, until Mizuki continues.
“After that, Shiraishi called me up to tell me about it and asked if I could help. I then called Mafuyu and Kanade to come help as well cause well, more people to help might be better?” Mizuki said not really knowing what to end off with.
“After that Kanade, Mizuki, and myself all arrived and were told what had happened. We tried giving some input on where Ena might have gone but since she doesn’t really go anywhere besides cafe’s and the mall, it wasn’t much. All of us were really worried at that point!” Mafuyu said with her usual fake voice.
Ena slightly cringed at that, knowing that she probably didn’t really mean a lot of those things.
“Afterwards we told Yoisaki-Chan, Asahina-Chan, and Akiyama-Kun to stay here since if we wanted to fit both of you in, we couldn’t have that many people to go. And also since Akiyama-Kun and Yoisaki-Chan don’t really look like they’d be able to withstand er… searching for long in the rain. We offered to bring Asahina-Chan with us but she declined saying she wouldn’t be much help.” Ken finished, trying to sound as polite as he possibly could.
Non of the three really seemed to mind tho, cause they already knew that it was quite literally, the truth. They honestly wanted to help but Mizuki was hopeless at spots, Kanade would’ve passed out before being able to actually do anything, and Mafuyu wanted to stay with Kanade as she did everything Kanade did.
Ena and Akito were mostly satisfied with the answer they got, but Akito still has one more question.
“How did you find us tho? You said you though of places Ena or I go often but neither of us have ever actually been there. You couldn’t have just guessed that we’d be there right?” Akito said.
Kohane then spoke up to answer the question.
“Well, we tried to go to every place and searched for a long time to see if we could find you both, but unfortunately we couldn’t. So afterwards An-Chan called Akiyama-San to tell them that we hadn’t found you both and we were thinking of something to do. Eventually we decided to just drive around as see if we could find you. Eventually we got the the alleyway and found Shinonome-Kun, and everything else you both already know.” She said.
After that, neither of the siblings really had any questions left. Everyone else seemed to understand that with the lack of talking so they knew it was their turn to ask questions.
“Ok first, explain what happened and why you guys were outside” An said.
Both the siblings just looked at eachother waiting for the other to respond since neither really knew what to say. The just sat looking at one another making weird facial expressions which everyone was confused by.
“We’re not getting anywhere huh, so how about rather then you guys making weird expressions to eachother, you let us pick who talks!” Mizuki suggested.
Everyone else seemed to agree and the siblings also went along with it.
“How about you go first Akiyama-Kun” Toya suggested.
Mizuki nods and smiles. Ena cheers in her mind since she knows that Mizuki would never betray her and pick her, so the obvious choice was that they’d pick Akito to talk and so she’d be free from answering the question!
“Hmm ok…. I pick… Ena-Chan!” Mizuki said as they pointed their finger at Ena.
“Eh?! Mizuki! How could you!” Ena said in disbelief.
‘Eh whatever, might as well get this over with..” she thought in disbelief.
“Uh well… y’know, dad and stuff..” Ena said hoping at least nightcord would be able to understand.
All of nightcord was hit with realization, Mafuyu looked unfazed (while actually for once being a bit worried), Mizuki looked slightly scared for their friends, and Kanade looked worried.
Vivid bad squad and Ken on the other hand had absolutely no clue what she meant.
Quickly, Kanade whispered into Mizuki’s ear, and Mizuki seemed to have nodded in response.
“Hey! Lil bro, Enanan, wanna go try this cute new drink I saw while looking around in Ken-san’s kitchen?” Mizuki said with excitement.
Akito looked over at a slightly confused Ken, where he just nodded telling them to go ahead.
In all honesty, Ken had literally no clue what was happening. He just hoped these kids know what they’re doing.
Mizuki, Ena, and Akito all got up and Mizuki lead the way over to the kitchen fridge which was near the back of the kitchen.
‘K, I hope you know what your doing…’
——— with N25 + VBS + Ken ———
“What happened” Kohane asked the two girls on the other side of the table.
“Well I have a feeling I know what’s going on and plus… it’s not like we’re getting anywhere with those two. Especially if Shinonome-Kun is like his sister.” Kanade answered in a sweet bit worried tone.
“But we were getting somewhere!” An fired back, not exactly sure why she was angry.
“Well… probably not… Shinonome-San is a lot like Akito, no matter how hard we’ve tried in the past to get him to open up or anything even when we thought we were getting somewhere it’s never worked…” Toya says back.
It really pained him to see his best friend and partner like this, so hurt.
“Anyways… what did you two think? Since you said you might have an idea.” Ken said trying to switch the topic.
“Uhm well… in the past Ena and her dad have had uh… issues. Sometimes when we’re on call, ‘we’re’ meaning me, Mizuki, Mafuyu, and Ena, we’d hear some yelling. One time Mafuyu had asked who those were after Ena went to check it out and she replied with…”
——— flashback ———
“What is it to you?! Why do you care so goddam much about what I do with my fucking life!”
“I’m simply trying to protect you! It’s not like your going to be able to reach your goal anyways.”
“And how the hell would you know that?!”
“Being able to sing like that requires talent, both you and your sister won’t be able to achieve your goals and dreams. You, unlike her, have an art talent. And she, unlike you, has a singing talent. If neither of you want to switch then you best just give up now!”
‘Ugh what is up with this yelling’ Ena thought to herself while she tried to concentrate on her work.
“Enanan. Please remember to keep your microphone off.” A cold voice said.
Ena quickly looked up from her tablet to her monitor.
“Oh! Sorry you guys, I got distracted while K was talking and forgot to turn of my mic..” Ena said while frantically trying to apologize.
“Ehe.. don’t worry Enanan, just make sure to not forget again” Kanade said while giggling a bit.
Ena nodded and laughed in embarrassment before her attention was directed else where.
“Hey Enanana, who were those people yelling..? They seem like they’re still at it.” Mizuki asked.
Ena replied saying shed go check it out even though she clearly knew who it was since there were only two other people in the house, since her mom was out of town for the year.
After a minute of waiting while working, everyone else shot their heads up in surprise.
‘What the hell!”
“Ena!”
“I’m already told you both, stop this now!”
“We aren’t going to listen to you! I’m done, I’m leaving. Let’s go Akito.”
“A-all right..”
*door opens*
“Here just… go get headphones or something and listen to your music or read a book or something…” Ena says to the shaken up boy next to her.
He quickly goes to his room which is right next to his sisters and gets some headphones and his phone. He then runs back to her room and sit down in the corner bean bag chair.
Ena sighs then goes back to her chair and sits down.
“Sorry about that everyone. It was my father and my brother… they were uh… fighting.” Ena says while looking down then taking a quick glance at her brother, who seemed distracted enough now.
“Oh uh.. well we heard it all so I’m not going to question anything but uh… are you ok?” Mizuki asked.
“Ya I’m fine I guess, but I can’t say the same for Akito.” She said as she slightly suggested them the location of her brother.
They talked about it for a few more minutes while Akito sat then eventually fell asleep. After that they continues to work, but that didn’t ease the tension everyone had.
——— flashback end ———
“And uh… that’s what happened I guess.”
Everyone besides the two girls were absolutely shocked.
“So you think their dad was doing whatever he was doing again and so they ended up running away and then, y’know, we found them and everything?!” An said surprised.
“We don’t know exactly, but yes that’s what we think right now…” Mafuyu answers.
Ken rests his chin in his hands and think to himself for a moment.
‘If this were true, why would he not run over here then? Is it because they were scared they’d be found? Or is it that they didn’t want questions…” he thought till he was snapped out of it by his one and only daughter.
“But why wouldn’t he just come here I mean, instead he ran away to some place nobody’s heard of?” An said seeming to be vocalizing her dads question.
“Well the answer for that is actually quite simple. Akito probably knew the police might come here since I’m pretty sure their dad knew about weekend garage, so he probably didn’t want to have a run in.” Mafuyu said while giving a slight but sad smile to everyone.
Everything then became silent. It was a lot to take in, the three younger teens and Ken were all still a bit shocked as Akito never really talked about home and they’ve rarely ever talked to Ena.
“Should we call those three back..?” Kohane asked.
Ken nodded then everyone else agreed, so they all got up and went over to call the three back.
——— with the three ———
“How do you like this shit Mizu..” Ena asked in disgust.
“Whaaa?! I was so sure that at least you would like it Enanan!” Mizuki said in disbelief.
“It’s a bit to bitter for me” Akito says while making a disgusted face just like his sister.
“Wahh! Not you too lil’ bro!” Mizuki whined.
“Huh… guess there’s no convincing you two, I found some cheesecake earlier in the fridge I can go get it…” Mizuki said in defeat.
To that, the siblings faces brightened up and they were excited for the taste of something sweet after drinking something bitter plus the long day.
As Mizuki was about to go and grab the cake tho, the others all walk in.
“Hey! You guys can come back now!” An said with a big smile.
Both the siblings faces then dropped and now they were looking at Mizuki.
“Uahh… can I bring some cheesecake…?” Mizuki said as if they were being held at gun point.
However, knowing the Shinonome twins, having them both facing towards you not smiling was nearly as deadly as being held at gun point.
“Uh sure, we can eat it while we sit and chat for a bit” Ken said knowing that Mizuki would probably die otherwise.
Both the siblings faces light up completely as they followed the others to the table.
After that, everyone just ate while talking about whatever. Everyone knew that they might not get the full story of what happened since the siblings are always so closed off, but as long as they knew they could help for a while at least, they were satisfied.
——— 2 hours later ———
“Hey, remember, if you ever need anywhere to go or stay, we’re always here ya?” Mizuki said as they got closer to the Shinonome house hold.
Everyone else all agreed with “ya!” And “definitely” and more.
Both the sibling nodded almost in unison.
“Hey! Stop copying me!” Ena yelled as she punched her brother in the shoulder.
“Huh?! I didn’t copy shit!” Akito fought back.
As the siblings continued to fight, everyone else just smiled and laughed.
‘It’s nice to see them smiling and happy again’ everyone seemed to think.
“Oh! Here, dad told me to give you this when you guys got home since well, he couldn’t walk you guys back” An said as she pulled something out of her bag.
Now, standing at the entrance of the Shinonome household, An held a cheesecake out to the siblings to take.
Both just started at it in awe before taking it.
—————————
Right after they both got inside the house, they quietly went to sit down at the dining table to eat the cake, Akito went and put the cake on the table while Ena got the two forks to share.
As they ate, they thought of all that happened today, and while neither of them show it, they were great full for each other.
——— end ———