A/N: I'm so sorry for not replying to reviews! I'm trying but I forget things easily… I will definitely get to them all once I'm finished with this story though! I'm sorry… um, um, thank you to um..! New paragraph ;;

Okay, okay wow help me I'm going to cry: Alice39, KidTantei, FluffyMcPuff, Fox of Spades, Kazashi-4, MinaBlahBlahBlahAnimeFan, I Tried To Judge But Failed, Ai shadow-chan, Dajare, C2H6Ethane, Hunter In The TARDIS, GoLdensummertime, Are all the names used, Myn47, Icy Cubes, LifeLongOcean, PinkHugsandKisses143, shin-shin-to, Dr-J33, Hkari Ai, Errinenrungun, Kokoro7489, ChocolatoAlliance, Miyagino 'Mikura' Asagura and all the guests, thank you from the bottom of my heart (and sternum)! ;o; Drown in my tears- I MEAN NO. DON'T.

Just.. I'm just going to stop talking now.

"Good morning, boys and girls! You all look great! Let's have another good day today, shall we?" Ayaka mimed using her spoon as a microphone as she stood on a chair to address their little group – and Shintaro could see exactly where Ayano got her weird-ass traits from.

Not that he loved her any less but he didn't let his thoughts dwell on it any longer. He assured himself he could fill his thoughts with something other than Ayano; a feat that was somewhat difficult nowadays and he didn't want to think why.

What? A man's got his pride, and he doesn't want to admit that the one weakness of the all powerful Shintaro was that gunner of a girl.

Kenjirou kind of just grumbled from behind his wife, and groggily shuffled off to get more food. It seemed Mr. Tateyama was not a morning person, and Shintaro couldn't help but feel a temporary kinship with the man for sharing his non-morning-person-ness.

Ayano saluted her mother like the little soldier she was, "It's our duty to have a good day!"

When no-one replied, she made Shintaro salute himself before skipping off to pile pastries onto her plate. God, she was so cute.

Okay, so just going right past the earlier early morning events (Shintaro didn't think he could look Ayano in the eye for another month after that but here they were, an hour later sharing waffles), the pair soon found themselves eating breakfast across from an energetic Ayaka and a talkative Kenjirou.

Haruka and Takane were… somewhere, and Shintaro suspected they had simply gone to find a bigger table to satisfy Haruka's immense eating necessities. That boy's stomach defied the laws of every biological theory out there, and Shintaro had stopped questioning it after the last time they dared Haruka to eat out an entire restaurant.

Because he did. Every single thing.

"So how close were you two last night?" Prodded Kenjirou, while waving a fork dangerously close to Shintaro's face. "50cm? 20cm? Give me an estimate."

Ayano laughed, and continued nibbling on her half of the croissant, apparently leaving Shintaro to answer the question. Dammit, Ayano, control your father.

Shintaro was stupidly slow to reply, hoping he didn't sound too suspicious. He was very good at sounding suspicious, actually. He was a naturally very suspicious person and he suspected his mother brought him and Momo up in suspiciousland.

"Uh… like. A … metre." He managed, avoiding eye contact with either of the parents. "Away. Far away."

Far away as in… not like right up next to each other, practically nose-to-nose, noooo. Even inner Shintaro had agreed this was not a subject to mess with – and kept quiet through the whole ordeal. That was a first, he breathed a sigh of relief, he was sure he'd start rambling about how nice Ayano smelled if they had given him the chance.

And he sure as hell did not want to be doing that.

"Oh, yes. I definitely believe you." Kenjirou chuckled darkly and even Ayaka grinned at this, as she whacked her husband on the shoulder declaring, "A metre, he says. A whole metre!"

"Ye… yeah…" Shintaro just wanted to hide in a hole. Goodbye world. Goodbye Shintaro. "A metre is correct. Right up to 100cm. That's exactly right."

Kenjirou readjusted his glasses. "You measured with your hands?"

"Uh, yeah…?"

"You touched my precious daughter with your hands-"

"That's not what I said!"

Ayaka patted her husband on the head. "Relax, relax. Shintaro is a good boy!"

Shintaro found himself grinning stiffly, and probably somewhat creepily as Kenjirou could only glare at him under the supervision of his bubbly wife. Ayano was having fun drowning her pancakes so she didn't seem to notice his struggles.

Kenjirou eyed him cautiously throughout the whole meal.

"So you're sure you were a metre away?"

He shrugged carelessly, "More or less."

"So you weren't a metre away?"

"It's not like I thought to measure…"

"What happened to 'exactly 100cm'?"

Shintaro screamed on the inside. How was he supposed to answer these questions anyway? His brain was pretty much broken after the shock of waking up beside her already. This interrogation scene was way too out of place for him to absorb anyway.

His mind simply kept chanting; Save me, Ayano.

The snow had piled up heavily during the night, and judging by the volume of his Pikachu-sneezes Shintaro felt a cold coming on. Why was he the one that always got sick? And why was his sneezing so embarrassing?

The first time he had sneezed in front of them, Ayano had full out rolled off her chair giggling and Takane just died of laughter while Haruka only attempted a sympathetic smile. He did not want to relive that ever, ever again.

Glancing over at Ayano running around in her skirt, long brown coat and boots combination and Takane and Haruka in casual outfits not unlike their winter school uniform, he sighed loudly (between another sneeze). They all had the good ignorant-of-weather anime genes, apparently.

"This sucks…"

No, it was not because he didn't spend enough time outdoors. He was a strong, healthy teenager that was just susceptible to common illnesses and that was that.

"What sucks? You being ungrateful over there, Kisaragi?" Came a sharp voice as he was pelted with a snowball. Takane twirled out of the way as he aimed a sloppy one straight back at her. "You got the friends. You got the girl. You got the funky sneezes. What more could you want?"

He ignored her and hit Haruka instead, an easier target with more surface area, the older boy wincing slightly from the impact.

"Wow, Shintaro, you packed a lot of power in that one." Haruka commented dryly but not unkindly, as he patted the snow off himself. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Fine." He muttered. Mate, control your girlfriend. Or non-girlfriend. Control your people. "Just fine."

The other shot him a smile, before hastily padding out of the way of one of Ayano's surprisingly fast snowballs. Ayano had apparently constructed a snowball pyramid while they were talking, and was currently the most armed of the four. Shintaro was quick to dodge them also, dropping to the ground as if guns were being fired.

Hey, they could've said there were. Ayano was practically a gun, right? Sort of? … no?

"Attack!" Seeing the boys flee from her, Ayano had taken to chasing Takane around with an armful of snowballs, scolding the girl for 'playing unfairly' and something about 'last night' and 'are you serious' and yeah, Shintaro was lost but it was funny so he didn't care.

Takane seemed adamant in fighting back though, even when Ayano had caught her straight in the face and even after Ayano had run Shintaro over trying to get to her (which hurt, by the way, if he wasn't too busy staring at her pretty, smiling face, goddamn he was so whipped).

But it was even more fun watching the peppy girl run her senior straight into Haruka and the boy then enveloping her in a big hug without hesitation. Takane lit up like a christmas light.

"Whoa!" Pressing his hands to Takane's face, Haruka called out to the other two. "Come feel! Takane's face is really hot! She's like a human heater!"

"I'll pass." Shintaro replied airily, finding more amusement in the girl's reddening face.

Takane bristled, pushing Haruka's hands away. "Can you not?!"

From the other side, Ayano ran up and pressed her palms to the older girl's cheeks. "Wah… they're so warm!"

Takane bumped her friend off gruffly, and started to walk away, her face still tinted red. "I'm gonna go get food! See you guys later."

"But we just ate?" Shintaro said; more a question than a statement. How much did an average person consume again? They had literally just finished breakfast? How was she already hungry?

Unfortunately, Shintaro was ignored. He would have to live with these unanswered questions forever.

Haruka seemed to practically glow with delight at the mention of food though, typical of the jubilant 18-year-old, and bounded after Takane. "I'm coming with you!"

"Have fun!" Ayano cheered, balancing on a random log she had found. Shintaro had the sneaking suspicion she had knocked a tree down while he wasn't looking – but that may have just been his overactive imagination. God, he was high when he was sick.

"Hey, Shintaro! Watch this!"

He nodded, yes, he was watching. The antics of humans were so strange.

"Wait, don't watch yet! Uhh, er, turn around for like five seconds!"

He obeyed, with a meek shrug. His own human was very strange. Wait, what even were his thoughts – if he had a train of thought, it had probably crashed and wiggled on its own at the end of the track. He was way too tired to be outside at the moment.

Then again, if he had the choice, he usually didn't leave his bed until at least 1 in the afternoon so he really couldn't argue.

When he returned his line of focus to her, she grinned, waving at him. "Okay, okay! I'm going to—ah…!"

"Ayano!"

Ayano slipped suddenly, arms flailing, and Shintaro practically had a heart attack. He knew even his superb reflexes (oh sorry, what superb reflexes, excuse me) couldn't catch her in time. She had been too far away from him, and upon losing balance, she had fallen straight into the icy river behind her.

"Oh my god Ayano, are you okay?"

He would've laughed at her throwing him a peace sign when she resurfaced, if he wasn't so damn scared for her safety. She could've died. In the… water. In the cold water.

Yeah, he was officially high and officially freaking out.

It took all his effort to stay out of the river, and wait for her to swim to shore. Thank god she could swim, because he knew he was terrible at it.

"Ehehe… whoops." Ayano coughed daintily as she rose from the water, dripping wet. Practically tripping over his own shoes in panic, Shintaro climbed over the log to help her up.

"Are you okay? Are you breathing? Are you alive?"

Her teeth were chattering, but other than that, Ayano seemed relatively unfazed. "Sh-shintaro, c-calm down-"

"Do you need water? A fire? Food?"

"Sh-shintaro, I'm f-fine-"

"Do you need any-" Shintaro brushed some of her wet hair out of her face, "Shit. You're cold."

She nodded quickly, "Y-yes, well, I just fell into the r-river-"

"You're way too cold. Here, take my jacket."

"But Shintaro!"

"Take yours off first, no, hang on. We're going back inside."

"Shintaro, it's fine!"

"What body temperature is indicative of hypothermia?"

"Shintaro, it's just water!"

"What is mmph-" He was cut off by Ayano pressing her lips swiftly to his. Shintaro cursed when he felt himself blush fiercely – they were already together for goodness' sake, why was he such an embarrassment?

Quickly, his eyes darted around for signs of Kenjirou. Good, they were still clear.

"Calm down." She demanded sternly when they broke apart, face flushed. Then her expression eased, "Let's start heading back."

Shintaro sighed, breathing deeply and moving to take off his coat saying: "… at least take my jacket."

Ayano smiled at him gratefully and wrapped it around herself, letting him reprimand her for her recklessness the whole way back to the inn. And to think, around a year ago he'd probably have left her to drown.

Well, that was a bit of an exaggeration but the point was still clear.

"Thank you, Shintaro…"

"Are you even listening to me, you idiot? You could've died."

"Yes, yes…"

People really did change.

She had never anticipated the amount of care Shintaro had inside him either – she had seen it from the start but it was more immense than she had ever imagined – he simply didn't place enough value on it or on the world as a whole.

Because even Ayano didn't expect him to then help her dry off and warm up to this extent. He had silently gathered towels to wipe her down with, intent on making sure she was okay. He had helped her blow-dry her hair after she showered and ordered (read: aggressively requested over the hotel phone) hot chocolate for her, and was just the most strong yet vulnerable Shintaro she had ever had the chance to witness.

She was touched, so much, that he was being so sweet that she could have burst into tears right then and there.

"You okay?" He asked softly, distant. His face was as red as her scarf hanging up on the towel rack behind him, and Ayano thought it was precious.

"Mhm. Thank you, thank you so much…" She crawled into bed, seeing as he wouldn't be letting her go outside again anytime soon. She probably needed the extra sleep anyway – she had barely slept at all last night after she woke up once and realised she was cuddling her boyfriend. Mostly because she couldn't escape the hold, too.

The trade-off was seeing his sleeping face though, which was of course, very adorable and very worth it.

"N-no problem." His reply was gruff, but she could see the relief in his eyes when he pulled the blanket over her and sat on the edge of the bed.

Not having any of that, Ayano pulled him towards her and under the blankets with her – despite his feeble protests – and lay her head on his shoulder while he fumbled hopelessly.

"Thank you, Shintaro."

"Stop thanking me, I didn't do that much."

"Thank you."

"Stop that."

"Thank you."

He pressed her face into the pillow. "Stop it." But his voice was full of shy affection, and well-disguised relief.

Ayano then wondered if he truly, for a second, thought that she had died.

And she briefly wondered what he would do if she did.

She snuggled into his chest, feeling the intense heat radiating off of him. Now was not the time for such thoughts.

"Thank you…"

"Takane?" Haruka's voice rang out behind her as they trekked back out into the snow, armed with bread rolls and baguettes. The waiting staff had apparently taken a liking to Haruka and were completely fine with the duo hauling out bags and bags of bread – much to Takane's chagrin.

To help dampen her mood even further, there was one waitress that spent around 10 minutes flirting with the dense Haruka which she was forced to stand by and watch because her classmate was too friendly for his own good.

Well, she couldn't just leave him there to get chatted up, of course. So she endured.

That, and Takane was just generally in a bad mood that day (she didn't bother questioning it, the answer was obvious with the searing pain in her gut and her injured foot) and tried to brighten up but failed and now her mood was even worse than before.

Hey, 20 points for trying, right?

She was quick to reply. "Shut up."

"No, but…" Haruka continued through a mouthful of bread, oblivious to her irritable state. "But Takane, I think we're-"

"Shut up."

"Takane, are we lost?"

The girl in question grumbled, avoiding his eyes. "No. We're not lost. We're just a little ways off the main map."

"So we're lost?"

"We're not lost!"

Haruka stayed quiet, waiting. As expected, it only took a few moments for Takane to groan loudly, hanging her head in defeat. "Yeah, okay, we're lost."

Sensing her sudden escalation of stress, Haruka used his free hand to guide her face to look at him.

"Don't worry, Takane! We'll be fine!"

She tried to smile at him, "Haruka…"

"And it also just so happens that there is a shelter over there." He pointed out, waving a baguette in the general direction of a wooden shack. "We can think up a plan in there, in case the weather gets bad."

Takane nodded mutely, and freeing herself from him, she walked briskly over to the building and peered in: "I wonder why this is here…"

"For people like us?"

She rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Yeah. Idiots like us."

Once they had entered and placed their bags down, they moved to sit on the wooden benches beside each other. They didn't speak for a while, simply gathering their thoughts and enjoying the other's company, but after finishing another roll, Haruka spoke up,

"Can I hug you, Takane?"

She blinked slowly, "What?" You're asking for permission now? You've done it countless times this week, and you never asked first. Huh, weird.

"A hug. You know, when people-"

"I know what a hug is!" Takane huffed, pigtails flying comically. "But why?"

Haruka's smile widened and he spoke as if the answer was obvious. "When a penguin is cold, they hug, right?"

"… are you a penguin?"

"Yes." He affirmed with a grin, "So can I hug you?"

"Do I look like a penguin to you, Mr. Penguin?" She deadpanned at his reply, but after he stared at her with those wide, innocent eyes she knew she was completely screwed over. "… fine. Come here."

Immediately inching closer, Haruka pulled Takane into his open coat, which he then closed around her so she was completely within his jacket. She would've turned to object, but his face was right there and she didn't want to take that risk.

"See, this isn't bad, is it Takane?"

"I guess not… but it's not because it's you, okay?"

Yes it was, you massive adorable dork.

He pulled her closer and Takane felt herself going redder by the second, she had never been held like this – and he was just so close, too close, but close in a good way. In a bad way though, because he could probably feel her insane heartbeat. Conflicting inner emotions! Takane tried to struggle but he only held on tighter.

She wondered if he was doing this on purpose – all of this on purpose – because she knew he was definitely not as dumb as he appeared (his test scores were always infinitely higher than hers even when he wasn't present in class).

He was still an idiot though, she mused, and unexpectedly he kissed her on the cheek to spur a reaction.

And a reaction he did get.

"W-what the hell are you doing?!" She covered her forehead with both hands, effectively hiding her face and practically screaming at him.

"Well, I just felt like kissing you." Haruka announced boldly, eyes shining with mirth. "But if I had done it properly, you would've hit me."

"Y-you-!"

"Oh, there you are. Haruka. Takane." Behind them, Kenjirou magically appeared, a stern shadow looming over them. Takane immediately shot out of Haruka's embrace, crossing her arms and leaning on the cabin wall with a tight frown.

"Hello Mr. Tateyama."

"Was I interrupting anything?"

"No." She snapped, and with a pointed look hushed Haruka before he could speak up.

Kenjirou raised an eyebrow, almost mockingly. It was shocking to think that anyone couldn't have read the atmosphere and known what was going on, but he prided himself in appearing at the worst of times.

If Takane wanted to make things difficult though, he wasn't going to push it. The girl was scary enough as it was. Now if only he could catch that suspicious kid Kisaragi with his precious angel Ayano…

"Is that so?"

Takane glared. "Nothing was going on."

The teacher struck a dramatic pose against the door, "I don't even get a 'thank you' for going to all the trouble to find you both?"

"You don't." Takane growled. "Maybe one day you'll be worthy of one, but not today."

"Takane, I'm hurt."

"Thank you, Mr. Tateyama!" Haruka finally chirped cheerfully. He had gathered all the bags of bread and resumed eating – typical Haruka.

"Bless you, Haruka." Kenjirou made his way outside, watching the two to make sure they followed. "At least someone notices my efforts."

"We'll notice your efforts when you actually put in effort…" Takane followed begrudgingly, hauling two of the bread bags with her. "Which is never."

Kenjirou grunted indignantly, taking a bag off Haruka to lighten his load. "I do try!"

Haruka only smiled weakly at them both, "Please stop arguing… we came to have fun together, didn't we?"

He was reaching his last straw himself – was this karma from playing off Takane's feelings for all those years? He just wanted to catch her, but she kept being moved.

Despite everything, he had trouble articulating the words though.

By force was definitely not an option.

This was the ultimate frustration he had ever had to face.

"I sure had fun last night." The teacher laughed, proudly marching forward and swinging his arms. Kenjirou seemed to fall in a daze after that, before he composed himself after a sudden realisation and started grumbling something along the lines of 'damn you Shintaro' and 'protect Ayano at all costs'.

Slowing so Haruka could catch up, Takane shot him an exasperated look and whispered, "I don't know how Ayano puts up with him."

Haruka shrugged. "They're a happy family, I guess?"

"Ugh, she's a godsend."

"Aha…" He laughed lightly, but ah. Again. He didn't want to be jealous of Ayano, but everyone was making it very hard. Takane was making everything really hard.

His urges to hold her, kiss her, love her were getting stronger and he didn't know how he was going to deal with them at this rate.

Maybe if he talked to Ayano about this, she would be able to help him.

Shintaro wouldn't be of any help, since he was just as enamoured by the red-scarf-wearing girl as Takane apparently was – only in the romantic sense. Which was cute, in all senses of the word, but unhelpful to Haruka's cause.

Envy was such an ugly feeling.

Ayaka was worried. Kenjirou had gone out in search for his two students around an hour ago, and Shintaro and Ayano hadn't emerged from their room since early afternoon when the boy had told her about her daughter falling into the river. She knew they were all capable of looking after themselves, but as a mother, she supposed, it was simply natural instinct to worry.

She knocked on the door to the pair's room lightly, and only seconds later, Shintaro opened it. When he saw it was her, he beckoned her in.

"Mrs. Tateyama. What's up?" His voice was lowered as he spoke, and he gestured towards a clump of blankets on the bed. "If you're looking for Ayano, she's still asleep."

"I told you, you can call me Ayaka." She smiled, gently making her way over to the mound on the bed and seating herself beside it. "And thank you for looking after her for me, Shintaro."

The other nodded awkwardly, shuffling his feet as he closed the door. "Yeah."

Ayaka hummed and petted her daughter's head of brown hair sticking out of the blanket cocoon. She seemed to mull over her words for a moment, before she started to speak directly to Shintaro. "… you know, I was a little wary of you at first, to be honest."

"Wary?"

She laughed softly, "Not anymore, of course. Not as much as Kenjirou, either. It's just that… when Ayano talked about you at home, she seemed to think of you as the world but all of us thought you were a bit of a jerk, actually."

"…" He contemplated this for a brief moment, "Well, that's how I was. To put it lightly."

"No, we were wrong." Ayaka gave him a thoughtful look. "It's just that her emotions seemed so one-sided and hopeless, but even Shuuya and Tsubomi couldn't convince her to find someone else. Kousuke of course, was just happy whenever Ayano was."

Shintaro nodded, finding some sort of fascination with the wall as he stared at it. Why was she telling him this?

By the way, white was such an interesting colour, wasn't it? So blank and smooth and white… Well, he kind of preferred black, but red was rising on that list. His soda addiction coupled with the dumb red hero talk by Ayano wasn't helping.

Not that he didn't like it, but he'd be the last to say it. He wasn't going to add more fuel to that fire.

He was steering well away from any more embarrassment if he could; not that it was possible, being Shintaro Kisaragi but he could dream.

Ayaka continued to speak, completely comfortable with getting this all off her chest. Shintaro listened intently, though his expression remained apathetic.

"She was fixated on you and only you, and I can see why. I'm sorry we ever doubted you." Tucking her daughter further into bed, she continued, "You're good for her. She's such a kind girl… but she can be a little too kind. She needs someone like you to balance it out. Not to offend you or anything, it's a compliment."

"Ayaka, I…" Shintaro seemed genuinely stunted; he had not expected Mama Tateyama to speak to him much during the trip – and especially not give such information so openly. Or approve of their relationship, since clearly her husband didn't. He figured he at least owed her this. "It's fine. I was – I'm not. Much different than I was."

"I can beg to differ."

"No, I'm not really any better of a person," He sighed. "I can admit that much. If you asked me, it would've been Ayano that's helping me change. I've always hated people, and in the beginning, she was no different."

He stopped abruptly, and Ayaka indicated for him to continue. Shintaro wasn't sure if he should tell her, but her calming aura not unlike her daughter's had the words tumbling from his mouth.

"But she was… she… saw me as someone beyond perfect grades. She showed me the world was worth living in… and I…"

He choked slightly, and Ayaka stood, walking over towards him and placing a hand on his shoulder as a gesture of comfort. Shintaro bit his lip before continuing,

"I'm – I was – suffering from severe depression." His gaze fell to the floor. "Without Ayano, surely someday I would've just… killed myself-"

Shintaro was more than a little surprised by the woman suddenly wrapping her arms around him and squishing him tightly. "Oh, Shintaro… it's alright, she loves you and we as her family love you so don't ever say words like that again."

He looked away. "I'm… sorry."

"Don't be." Ayaka shook her head, "Don't be in any way. I'm glad you're not keeping it all inside. You're changing, even if you don't see it."

"I'm not-"

"Shintaro…!" Without warning, Ayano joined their hug, either having just awoken or maybe having been awake all along; manoeuvring around the bed and desk to reach the boy. She had teary eyes, but her gorgeous smile still graced her face. "I love you, I love you, I love you-"

He sputtered, frozen where he was. "W-what are you saying in front of your mother?!"

"I love you, I love you-"

"S-stop that!"

Apparently his lover had no shame in declaring her everlasting love for him at any given time. Shintaro felt his face once again, heat up, and he was beginning to see why love was called a sickness. At this rate, his face would go permanently red – and honour Ayano's hero legacy, he supposed – but that was not healthy at all.

"Oh, Ayano." Ayaka only laughed, her expression relaxing. "I guess I'll just be waiting for the day you marry into our family, huh Shintaro?"

"W-WHAT?"

"Shintaro Tateyama!" The Tateyama pair cheered, while Shintaro pointed at them both accusingly.

"Excuse me, I'm not taking your surname!"

Ayaka winked. "But you're getting married? When's the wedding?"

"That's not what I said!"

Ayano seemed a little delirious after her nap, and began singing some incoherent song while her mother joined in.

Shintaro only facepalmed to hide the appreciative smile blooming on his face. One day, one day…

Dinner was extravagant. Not one of them knew what they were going to have, but once all assembled back in the lobby, Kenjirou had announced that it would be spectacular. Ayaka had shared a knowing look with him and they had both struck a ridiculous pose at the front of the restaurant.

Ayano applauded them happily though, prompting Haruka and Takane to do the same, but Shintaro was reluctant to even lift his hands. Ayano did the clapping for him as they walked in, despite Kenjirou's darkening look at their clasped hands, and they all sat around a long table with multiple embedded stoves.

"We ordered beforehand." Ayaka explained. "So just kick back and wait."

"This is way too much…" Takane mumbled, looking around the restaurant in awe. It was more like a banquet hall than a restaurant, but it was possible that they had reserved this room especially for their group. "I didn't come on this trip to be spoiled like this..."

Haruka tapped at the table. "This is so cool though! Makes me feel important."

"You are important!" Ayano chimed in enthusiastically. "Everyone's important."

"You in particular, are very important." Shintaro cut in smoothly, intercepting a whack from Ayano. Kenjirou's glare was enough of a threat after that.

The food arrived promptly in the form of large, boiling pots as the staff poured soup and various ingredients into the pots. They arranged an assortment of dishes alongside those, which Haruka started digging through, as well as Ayaka feeding a disgruntled Kenjirou, and Takane subtly moving away from the groovy looking mushrooms.

"How much did you order?"

Shintaro eyed all the food in disbelief, with Haruka or not, how were they going to finish all of this? Each individual person was given an entire fish on a plate, with some form of traditional side dish beside it and Shintaro thought even that was probably enough.

"A good amount." Ayaka smiled. "Eat up, all this stuff is good for you."

"What even is this?" Between her chopsticks, Takane held a blob of white covered in sauce.

"Squid and cuttlefish." Kenjirou answered through Ayaka stuffing one in his mouth. "The oval one is pretty much rice flour though."

Takane pulled a face, but bit into it anyway, colour rushing into her pale face as the heat surprised her.

Haruka seemed to have gone to another universe entirely, and sat eating slowly with stars in his eyes. Shintaro thought he saw the boy's soul leave his body, as he devoured the meal delicately, and graciously accepting any offerings Takane decided to add to his collection.

Ayano was having trouble with the rice, but she refused help, determined to serve it no matter what.

Shintaro inspected the odd noodle on his plate, before deeming it edible and eating it. It's not like random noodles didn't appear on occasion. It wasn't bad either.

He found himself sincerely smiling for once; everything felt so right. He hoped no-one noticed, because it was probably a terrible look – he was never fond of his own smiles (and his grinning looked even worse).

"Ah…! Whoops…"

Ayano was now blushing cutely by the stove, having accidentally spooned rice into a pot of noodles and now her parents were laughing at her.

"Good job, Ayano." Kenjirou chortled. "Getting creative, aren't you?"

Ayaka pet her daughter on the head. "You did well, young one."

Haruka, ever the optimist, piped up, "If you wanted to, you could turn that into porridge."

"Noodle porridge isn't on the menu, though." Takane commented bluntly, prodding at the drowning rice and hiding it under the froth. "If the staff come in, you eat it, okay?"

Shintaro made a note to compose a song about this moment that he could listen back to years later. Not the porridge part, just the happiness. All the happiness. He sneezed, his body seemingly having had enough of sentimental Shintaro to last a decade. He would agree.

Ayano was pressing a skewer at his mouth while he was in deep thought and when he noticed it, he jumped away, crashing into Haruka who crashed into the wall. Takane flipped out, crawling under the table to nurse the boy's throbbing head.

Haruka was really fine, but after successfully luring Takane to his side of the table, he kept a firm grip on her, making space for her to sit between him and Shintaro. Takane seemed flustered, and rightfully so, but Shintaro didn't pay enough attention to judge it since he was currently preoccupied.

"Oh, you don't want it?" Ayano seemed so sad, that he had to get back up instantly to reassure her it was okay.

"I do! You just uh, surprised me, is all."

"Now, now." Kenjirou spoke firmly, waving a finger at the two. "You're not feeding him, he can feed himself."

"Says you." Ayaka giggled, but steered clear of her husband's steely gaze, raising her hands in a gesture of surrender. "Hey now, I'm not going to take part in this argument."

Ayano was stubborn though, and opted for shoving a fish ball into Shintaro's mouth when her father wasn't looking instead. Unfortunately, Kenjirou caught her just as she put it in and she collected more fish balls to make a pyramid in her bowl. At both the males' expressions, she started laughing, carefully dropping one into her dad's bowl as well.

"Now everything is okay!" She declared, before she leaned over Shintaro to wave a big mushroom in Takane's face. The older girl shrieked, instantly clinging to Haruka, which sent them all into hysterics.

Kenjirou was left silently fuming, while Shintaro gave the man an uncertain smile, having swallowed the fish ball and was idly playing with the prawns on his plate.

"What can you do, you know?"

The teacher sighed, though it was more a show of melodramatic quality than actual disdain. "I still don't like you."

"That's awfully immature of you, Mr. Tateyama."

"You're not a bad kid though, Shintaro." He admitted, finally, though his posture was stiff and uneasy. "It's just that you're her first… and if I had it my way, she'd always be my little girl. Sometimes we have to accept these things though, isn't that right?"

"I understand." Shintaro nodded, no, he didn't understand. But he knew that one way or another, Kenjirou wasn't completely against their relationship – and that gave him hope. Wow, having these meaningful conversations with the Tateyamas really took a lot out of him. This family was intense.

"Still, I won't let you have her. She's not ready for a relationship yet. Not now, not ever."

Shintaro raised his eyebrows. "That just completely contradicts what you just-"

"Do not question me!" Kenjirou laughed loudly and humorously. Shintaro thought he resembled a witch for a split second, with his arms raised in the air like some superpowered anime character in those strange shows Momo liked to watch.

It was worth it though. Anything for Ayano was worth it.

Ayano seemed to sense the atmosphere as she sat back in place, watching Shintaro and her father with kind eyes, and eating her fish like no other would: simply picking it up whole and biting into it.

Haruka seemed to find enlightenment in her actions and talked animatedly, telling Ayano about the ways of the fish from the other side of the table. Somehow or another, Takane had ended up on his lap, also questioning Ayano's strange method of fish consumption.

Shintaro shrugged, and went on with his food. If she wanted to eat like that, then by all means, let the girl eat the way she wants. She was happy, he was happy. Everyone was happy.

There was a certain sense of peace and unity within them all as they ate together, chatting more as a family than just a group of people. It was nice. Different. He didn't think he'd ever had this experience with his own family - but then again, it was a little too late now.

Time seemed to slow for a single moment, before a soft thud against the floorboards was heard.

Immediately, everyone seemed to quieten and all their heads turned to the source; had she… fainted?

Shintaro felt an increasing sense of worry, as everyone dropped what they were doing to investigate, but hid it behind an indifferent face. He had to prepare himself to be the rational man, if there was any panic to foresee.

She lay there, unmoving, and her breathing was shallow and short. Her face was contorted in pain, and a sudden sense of fear overtook him.

"Ayaka…?"