Prologue

"Say Honey, I've never heard you talking about your family."

The statement made Kimihito Kurusu stumble, almost making him drop the pot filled with hot stew and burn his feet badly. Luckily, the young man gained his balance fast enough and prevented a major disaster. The hot stew didn't escape from the pot, and there was no damage done to anyone. Which wasn't exactly the most typical scene of the Kurusu household; usually these kinds of events lead to a Major disaster, and the 'm' there needs to be capitalized. How else would you describe the chaos that takes place in this house in a regular basis with only one word?

Despite the lack of physical injuries, the statement did seem to have a great effect in general. For one thing, Kimihito's eyes regained its shape and color. Instead of the blank, white eyes, in its place came a pair of clear, brown eyes. And they seemed rather concerned, as if that one statement, or rather, the one word 'family', brought up many thoughts and memories, both good and bad, happy and sad. It was hard to read the emotions within those eyes. Considering how much of a open book he is normally, this change was quite a remarkable one.

And the members gathered around the dinner table seemed to notice this, too. Everyone went into a halt; some even dropped their chopsticks in surprise. Although their facial expressions varied, from obvious worry to a weak sign of amusement, an element of surprise was the thing in common. In fact, they were much too surprised that even Papi didn't start talking.

"I'm sorry if I brought out a sensitive topic, Honey. I was just curious..."

The arachne's voice faded out towards the end of her sentence. Which was also very unusual, since she usually says whatever she wishes to say, and doesn't get apologetic often. But then again, she never saw her host lost in words, at least not this way. Perhaps that was why the other girls didn't jump when they heard the word 'sorry' from Rachnera's lips. Or maybe they were too concerned about Kimihito's state that they simply weren't caring too much to whatever Rachnera was talking about. Either way, the mood of the dinner plummeted straight down.

The host raised his head and faced the girls. He smiled, as if he was making an effort to comfort them. Then he switched into a slightly apologetic face himself.

"No, that's okay. There was nothing wrong with the question. It's just... I... Um... Well, I was kinda expecting this topic to come up someday, but I wasn't expecting today to be the day, and... Err..."

He gave out a quick sigh. Then he sat down on his chair. The girls could swear that they've never saw their host like this.

"I'll tell you guys about my family. I promise I will. Just not today."

After saying that, he scratched his head and gave them an uneasy smile. No one, even Papi or Suu, was dumb enough to believe that smile, believe that he was actually all over the melancholy things and was back in his blank-eye, happy state again.

"For now, let's just have dinner, alright? The food's gonna get cold. And I don't want to have dinner in a mood as bad as this. I mean, a dinner table filled with people and food should be merry, right?"

He then started to eat his dinner. Seeing that their host was in no mood to talk about the matter anymore, the girls returned to their food as well, after they exchanged glances. The mood of the dinner table was never so awkward.

Chapter 1

"Oh great. We ran out of water."

Kimihito sighed as he checked the food supplies. How could he even forget buying water, out of all things? It was one of the most basic needs in life or something, right? Well, there is a water purifier in the house, so it's not like everyone will have to suffer in thirst, but since he insisted in using mineral water when he cooked, it is quite a necessity. Especially when he has to cook for 8 people, or to be exact, 1 human and 7 extraspecies. That doesn't really give you a light cooking load.

"Darling, is there anything wrong?"

The lamia came up to him, or rather, slithered up to him, with obvious concern in her face. Ever since the incident in the dinner table, she was quite distressed. Ever since then, her darling looked quite concerned about something. Of course, Miia wasn't the only one that was concerned about this. It wasn't like the other girls didn't care; they just had different ways of expressing it. Papi remained silent throughout the whole meal and wasn't playing Wii tennis. Centorea's arms were crossed ever since suppertime ended, even forgetting about polishing her claymore. Meroune's anxiety was obvious in the pose of her webbed hands; they kept on squirming in a way that just screamed out anxiety. Suu couldn't erase the confused look in her face. Rachnera was playing with her webs with her hands, but something was obviously going wrong, for she wasn't coming up with any output even after 5 minutes. Which spoke a lot, since she is capable of making small dolls within seconds. Lala couldn't find her head and kept on wandering around the house, looking for it, when they were actually in her hands the whole time. They were all worried, but most of them thought that it would be better to let him stay alone for the time being. All of them, except for Miia. As soon as the question left her lips, 6 eyes stared back at her.

"Oh, Miia. Nothing really. I just realized that we ran out of mineral water, and I forgot to buy some at the supermarket today. I guess I'll have to go buy some at the nearby convenience store."

Before Miia could say anything about that, Centorea, who as very aware of the conversation, kicked in. Of course, her knightly instincts kicked in as well.

"Milord, if that is the case, please allow me to escort you on your way and back! It is a knight's duty to always protect their master!"

"Cerea, please, there is no need to. It's not like I'll be gone for long. It'll barely take me 10 minutes or something."

"But...Milord..."

"Besides, it's getting quite dark. Don't you have to polish your sword for this evening?"

"Yes...but..."

Centorea struggled to find a way to answer, with no results. Still, if she insisted, she would have followed him still, but she soon remembered the face he made during dinner, and decided that her master needed some time for himself. After all, it was rare to see him alone at home, since he is always accompanied by one of the 7 girls, including herself. She sighed and gave up.

"Boss! Papi wants to go too!"

"Master, can Suu follow Master?"

Of course, those two weren't as observant as Centorea. And it seemed like Papi forgot everything after a few steps, Suu most likely imitating her and her actions. A few sighs could be heard from the other girls, and some webs came flying over to the direction.

"Hey, Rachnee! Why would you tie me up?"

"Seriously, Papi, let Honey be alone for a chance."

Papi gave out a few complaints, only to be blocked by Rachnera's webs that this time tied around her mouth instead of her body. Mero didn't say a word as she was seated in her wheel chair. Lala, as always, somehow vanished somewhere, or at least, couldn't be found.

"No need to make such a fuss, girls. It'll just take 10 minutes. I'll be back soon!"

With those words, the host left the house. Those who were left in the house looked at each other.

"Geez, why can't darling tell me what's inside his head? I'll absolutely comfort him!"

"Your 'comforting' can end up in dislocating master's shoulder, you know..."

"Hey, that wasn't nice!"

"Rachnee, can you please let me down? Pretty please~?"

"No way if you're going to act like...Hey Suu! Stop that..."

"It seems like Miss Suu got dehydrated again, Miss Rachnera. Or maybe she's just anxious?"

"Errgh! anyway, just let me go..."

And the house lost its peacefulness. It didn't even take a minute. The peace was soon replaced by commotion and abuse, both physical and verbal, and maybe... in a way...sexual?

Ding-Dong

Every action in the house was halted at the sudden sound of the bell. The girls looked at each other with confused eyes.

"Who's that?"

"How on earth should I know?"

"That's strange. Master doesn't receive much guests."

"Especially in the evening, too."

"Papi's going to open the door!"

"Hey Papi, wait! We're not sure whether we should open the door to strangers!"

Before Centorea could catch Papi, the harpy dashed out and reached the doorknob. With an energetic vibe, she pulled it and looked outside with a smile.

"Hi, I'm Papi... Ahh!"

With just a small yelling sound, the harpy stood in place, lost for words as she looked at the unexpected visitor. Worried by Papi's sudden change of attitude, the other girls rushed towards the door to see who exactly was their visitor.

"AAAHHHHH!"

As soon as they saw who their visitor was, they screamed in harmony. Even Rachnera freaked out, too shocked by the sight. Despite the lack of light during the late evening, everyone could see enough.

On their doorstep was a person, a human whose clothes were totally soaked in blood and tattered. All kinds of cuts and bruises seemed to be covering up the skin that was revealed. Scabs and clusters of blood covered up the face, making it nearly impossible to identify. Occasionally a drop of blood would ooze out from one of the cuts and drop on the steps as it made a small dripping sound.