Chapter 85: Chapter 84 - The Family That Made No Sense

Minami Asakura was starting to feel like Kuro Kurogane was put on this earth just to contradict her assumptions.

Every time she thought she had a handle on him, reality would show up with a baseball bat and show her otherwise.

Today’s lesson happened to be exceptionally painful.

It was fairly straightforward how Minami ended up at Kuro’s house

The school festival committee required several urgent and essential documents to be signed.

Somehow, the documents ended up with Kuro.

Of course, this happened because the universe seemed intent on forcing her to cross paths with Kuro as many times as possible.

After hesitating for a few moments, she pushed the doorbell.

Within seconds of her pressing the doorbell, the front door swung open.

Chaos welcomed her as soon as she entered.

"Kuro!"

A blur of blonde hair came flying down the hallway, and just as Minami began to grasp exactly what was going on, Akari crashed right into Kuro, who had appeared behind the door.

"Good morning to you also."

Kuro sounded completely unfazed, so there was no question this happened continually.

Way too often.

Akari grinned, then instantly wrapped her arms around Kuro’s, "You are late."

"Kuro shrieked and exclaimed that he arrived three minutes ago!"

"Exactly!" 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Minami was absolutely horrified at her lack of public and personal space boundaries.

A new person entered the enclosure.

Aoi.

She had a low-key entrance; just walked down the hallway.

Afternoon sunlight bathed her blue hair in a warm glow.

Calm and collected as always.

"Forgot your umbrella."

She handed it to Kuro.

"Oh!"

"You probably would have forgotten it again tomorrow," Aoi stated.

"Probably," Kuro replied.

The interactions that took place felt like they belonged in their own little bubble.

It felt as though they had known each other their whole lives.

Just then, all three became aware of the teacher, Minami.

Silence.

"Uh, Teacher?"

Kuro was startled.

"What are you doing here?"

Minami was suddenly reminded of what she had come to do.

A feat of excellence given the circumstances.

"I brought the festival prophecies."

"Oh, okay."

Before the discussion could continue, there was an additional woman in the room.

Shizuka Tachibana.

Minami recognized her immediately.

Sophisticated.

Pretty.

Bright disposition.

The kind of woman that puts everyone at ease.

"Oh My."

Shizuka smiled.

"You are Asakura-sensei."

Minami bowed.

"Thank you."

"You are welcome."

Shizuka invited her into the house without any hesitation.

"Please come in."

Ten minutes later, Minami sat in the living room with a cup of tea.

And puzzled about life circumstances.

Because everything was a total mess.

Akari was right next to Kuro.

Seemingly glued to Kuro.

Aoi quietly prepared snacks for everyone.

As it turned out, almost half of them found their way to Kuro.

Shizuka obviously liked all three teens.

Kuro appeared significantly more relaxed than she had seen him before.

This was not the responsible student from school.

Or the mysterious boy she was investigating.

This was just a son at home.

Almost happily she realized that.

Disaster struck.

"’Sensei,’ Akari asked leaning in."

This was a bad sign.

"’Do you like Kuro?’"

Tea almost went down Minami’s wind pipe.

"’WHAT?’"

Kuro covered his face with his hands.

Aoi sighed.

Shizuka looked amused.

Akari did not look amused.

"You’re staring at him," said Akari.

Minami quickly defended herself

"No, I’m not."

"Yes."

"I am his teacher."

"That doesn’t deny it."

Minami wanted to quit.

Immediately.

Kuro looked so exhausted.

"’Please ignore her.’"

"’No,’ I say."

Akari smiled.

Shizuka also smiled, and that was worse.

"’Ara,’ she says, smiling coyly.

"’Asakura-sensei and Kuro are very close...’"

"’No.’ "

Minami’s response was alarmingly straightforward.

She said ’no’ too quickly...

Akari recognized this right away.

"’Oh,’ she said."

All Minami wanted to do was not exist.

Thank god for Aoi.

"Aka-"

"’No.’"

Akari’s smile fell.

"Okay..."

Then Akari whispered to herself:

"For Now."

No one was safe.

They talked and talked until...

Well, actually, Minami tried desperately to change topics.

But then she stumbled upon something else.

Something truly surprising.

Something mind-blowing.

Something which shattered all her previous notions about this family.

This is what Shizuka said:

"To be honest, I still worry about my children."

Minami managed a polite smile.

Until she froze.

Wait.

Children?

She turned to Akari.

To Aoi.

To Kuro.

Her brain started working.

Very, very painfully.

"Children?"

Shizuka just nodded.

"Well, yes."

Then pointed.

"My daughters."

Akari and Aoi waved.

Then...

"And my son."

Kuro.

Minami shut down.

Not literally – everything around kept moving.

Everything except for her brain.

"...Son?"

Again, Shizuka nodded.

"My stepson."

Silence.

Total silence.

All those months...

MONTHS.

All those months of research and observations.

All those crazy theories...

Shattered by one single phrase.

Minami just stared.

"Are you siblings?"

"Yes."

Akari shrugged.

"Didn’t you notice?"

Minami wanted to sink into the floor.

Now she understood everything.

Everything fell into place.

Why they always walked home together.

Why they spent so much time with each other.

Why they behaved so familiarly.

Their secret was out.

But, unfortunately,

Another one remained.

Because Akari obviously liked Kuro.

Incredibly.

Horrifically.

As did Aoi.

Minami looked at her siblings.

Then at Kuro.

Then at her siblings again.

Confusion doubled.

Triplicated.

Multiplicated.

They seemed perfectly ordinary siblings.

But also somehow not.

Minami couldn’t understand how to comprehend this information.

"Teacher?"

Kuro looked concerned.

"You alright?"

"No."

The answer came right away.

Everyone laughed.

Well, except for Minami – she was having an existential crisis.

Some hours later, finally, the preparations for the festival were completed.

The sun was about to go down.

Minami got ready to leave.

Then Shizuka spoke.

"Kuro..."

"Yes?"

"Could you please see Asakura-sensei off to the station?"

Minami was ready to immediately say no.

But, unfortunately,

"I would love to."

Kuro agreed right away.

Betrayal.

Just some minutes later,

They stood next to each other, walking home.

Neither of them started talking right away.

The sky was painted orange.

Street lights started turning on.

Minami glanced at him.

Kuro calmly walked beside her.

Unchanging.

But everything felt new.

She had one more view of him.

Him as a child.

Him as a sibling.

Him as part of their family.

He was more than just a student.

She felt happiness infused in her body by this discovery.

She became alarmed about that.

Dangerous.

Extremely dangerous.

"What’s up with you?"

Kuro’s voice startled Minami out of her reverie.

"Thinking."

"Thinking about what?"

She sighed.

"How I thought your family was something it wasn’t."

"That certainly explains a lot."

Kuro watched her, his face expressing nothing.

"What does that mean?"

Kuro thought for a moment.

Then he smiled softly before answering.

"Nothing."

But that was a lie.

And she glared at him for that.

Suddenly a smile appeared, despite Minami’s best efforts to keep from smiling.

Eventually they reached the station.

This walk together was near an end; Minami was sad.

That worried her a great deal.

As they had almost reached the doors, Minami adjusted her glasses as she always did.

"Thanks for bringing me here, Kuro."

"You’re welcome," he replied casually with no hesitation.

Just like always.

She looked down the sidewalk as he walked home.

The cool wind from the evening air flowing on her purple strands of hair.

For a few moments she stood there.

Thinking

The investigation had changed.

At some point, she learned that Kuro was not only a person she wanted to understand but now someone that she enjoys being friends with.

All this was new information to Minami—it felt new to her heart when it came to rest there.

Her brother.

Her son.

Her family member.

Not just the student .

That moment of realization is what made her happy in a strange way.

That same moment of realization caused her alarm.

What a dangerous thought.

What a very dangerous thought.

"Kuro, you’ve been quiet."

Kuro’s voice interjected into her mind.

"Thinking."

"Thinking about what?"

"I spent months getting your family all wrong."

"That explains a lot."

She looked at Kuro.

"What do you mean?"

Kuro thought for a moment.

Then smiled a little.

"Nothing."

Sure. Nothing means something.

Minami frowned.

But despite herself— she couldn’t help but smile just a little.

When the station came into view.

That meant our walk was almost over.

For some strange reason, Minami was disappointed.

That was a troubling realization.

Very troubling.

When they stopped by the entrance, she adjusted her glasses.

She did that all the time.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For walking me here."

Kuro shrugged.

"No problem."

That answer was... simple.

As always.

Minami watched him continue home.

The cool evening breeze moved Minami’s purple hair gently.

She stayed in that same spot for some time.

To think.

The investigation was different now.

At some point in time, Kuro went from just being a student whose family she had wanted to understand,

To someone she truly enjoyed being with.

The realization settled very quietly in her heart.

Small.

Warm.

New.

No, not yet.

Nevertheless, however...

Something, she never expected to find when he first entered her database under: Student Monitoring System.

As a result of this realization, it was Minami’s good fortune to have left home with a large smile.