"And what's this?"

Hiyori leaned over to see the page Yukine had held out to her. "A pangolin, I think."

"It's weird looking." Yukine said, peering at the diagram.

"There'll be a reason it looks like that."

Yukine perked up, the textbook didn't have much in it about its appearance, only its diet and habitat and such. "What?"

Hiyori frowned. "I'm not sure." Even if the book was from her own collection she was far from an expert on exotic animals. "Sorry."

Yukine turned back to the pangolin's page. Of all of the schoolbooks and second hand jotters Hiyori had lent to him to read in place of proper lessons, this was one of the more interesting ones. Each page had a large picture of the animal, usually eating or climbing a tree, doing things an animal would be expected to do, and a chunk of text describing its habits and home. Although the description was basic and aimed towards children much younger than he was Yukine liked the feeling of the book's paper in his hands, it was soft and slightly rounded at the corners like many others he knew were Hiyori's personal favourites from her own childhood.

They felt loved and well-read.

The room returned to silence, a rarity in the Kofuku household but one he and Hiyori were more than grateful for, even if it often did not last very long.

He began to turn the page but a second hand landed hard on the book before he could; pinning the page down with a soft thump.

"What is that?" Yato asked, his voice sounding high pitched and disturbed behind Yukine's ear.

Yukine answered, "A pan-ling."

"Pangolin." Hiyori corrected him from across the table, not looking up from her own books.

"Pangolin." Yukine echoed.

Yato sat himself beside Yukine, his eyes still locked on the pangolin page. "Is this the homework Hiyori gave you?"

"No, I asked for this book last week. I've already done all the work she asked me to do today." Yukine said, turning the page to one describing the African lion. He smiled; the lion had always been his favourite.

"Hmm." Yato kept his eyes on the book and rubbed his neck. "So have you two finished up?"

"I still have some stuff to do for tomorrow." Hiyori said, still focused on her assortment of jotters and notepads.

"I'm busy too." Yukine said. He had found the page on golden eagles.

Yato groaned and leaned back. He had spent the whole day answering calls around town on his own. Alone. Not even with Yukine. All alone. He wanted to stress that.

"But I'm lonely…"

"Go entertain yourself then." Yukine said.

"And bored…" Yato trailed off, stretching over the floor and under the table.

No one answered.

He scowled and hoisted himself back upright. On his right Yukine was noting something down on a notepad by the book which had been left open at the eagles' page. Humming quietly, Yato slid the book over to himself and lifted the pages back to the pangolins.

Yukine turned back from his notebook and started. "Hey!" He cried, reaching out to pull the book back over to himself.

"I want to read it too." Yato said, keeping a firm grip on the book.

"Don't fight, guys." Hiyori said, unmoving.

Yukine glared at Yato who was beginning to liven up at the sudden activity. "He's taking the book."

Hiyori took a deep breath. She knew the peace and quiet wouldn't have lasted long, although she had hoped. Shame.

"Yato, give him the book back."

Yato whinged as Yukine grinned triumphantly, pressing the returned book back in its place on the table before him.

"But I'm so bored. Can't you just do this stuff later?"

"This stuff?" Hiyori raised a brow and gestured to the jotters laid out in front of her.

"Yeah."

"This stuff I have to get done for tomorrow?"

Yato didn't answer but stared back at her expectantly.

"Yato I'm behind enough work at school already because of you lot, this is me trying to catch up." She felt a small pang of guilt at the tone she was using, however true it may be. "If you want me to join you, you'll have to wait first."

Hiyori returned to her own work and pushed the look on Yato's face out of her mind. No amount of puppy eyes would slow her down, even if she felt painfully bad about it.

Yato rubbed his eyes and flopped down onto the floor, rolling over until he was under the table entirely, only his feet sticking out one end and his head resting on his upturned palms. He pouted, out of view and arm's length of Hiyori, not wanting to bother her any more than he already had.

Recently, he had found himself being not much more than a distraction or nuisance, or at least as far as he could tell. Maybe he wasn't too good at reading the situation. Or maybe Hiyori and Yukine just had more work on their hands. Either way, he was being left alone much more frequently and subsequently had more time on his hands to worry about these kinds of things.

Don't worry about it. You're just not very good at people, remember? Let them be and mind your own business.

He shut his eyes. The air under the table may have been stuffy and stagnant but the warmth was now beginning to make him sleepy, the darkness provided by the table's top only lulling him further away from his previous train of thought.

What was it I was thinking about again?

Yato pulled his feet up until he was entirely under the shelter of the table and forgot.

Hiyori shut her textbook closed and stretched, reaching her arms up behind her head and twisting around in her spot until the stiffness faded away. She sighed with quiet satisfaction as she surveyed her completed work, finally done. Finally out of the way.

She began to sort her books away and pack her pencils into her bag when her foot met a solid object under the table. Assuming she had bumped into Yukine's leg she continued. But when closing up her bag her foot hit it again. She investigated.

With a tentative jab she found the gently snoring body under the table to be Yato.

She sighed and kicked him a little harder.

"Mmmrrgg." The sound he made was little more than a snort.

Hiyori put her full strength into this one.

"Wwwghhaaa!" Yato flinched back and rolled over with sudden speed, colliding with Yukine's legs and cracking his head on the solid wooden table leg. He moaned and held his head in his hands.

"What are you doing under there?" Hiyori asked, doubling over to peer under the table.

Yato looked hurt. "You didn't even notice me?"

"I was working."

He rubbed his eyes and propped himself up on one elbow, narrowly escaping knocking his head off of the table top. "I may have fallen asleep."

Yukine's head appeared from above the other side of the table, upside down and confused.

Yato turned to face him and waved.

Yukine's frown deepened as he looked to Hiyori for answers.

"He fell asleep under the table."

Yukine lit up and nodded. "Ah. Like a cat."

"Like a ca-?" Yato began his rebuttal but swiftly hit his head against the table top. He cradled his head in his hands once again, hissing in pain.

Hiyori held back a laugh. "Get out from under there before you injure yourself more."

Yato crawled out, rubbing the top of his head and yawning. Once he was clear of the table Hiyori grabbed his wrists and pulled him up to his feet, with enough sudden force to unbalance him for a short moment.

"Are you alright?" She asked, noting the general disorder of his clothes from the scuffle under the table although there was no particularly visible injury.

"Yeah." Yato said, tugging his shirt back over his stomach and pushing hair out of his eyes. "Just a bit sleepy."

He turned back to Hiyori and was startled to see her looking almost dejected in front of him.

He panicked.

"What's wrong? What did I do?"

Yukine joined in, stepping up next to Yato with burning eyes. "What did he do now?"

Hiyori snapped out of her thoughts and blinked. "Huh?"

Yato continued. "What is it, wha-!" He was stopped in his tracks by Hiyori holding up her hands and staring straight back into his eyes.

"Nothing's wrong. I was just thinking…" She spoke slowly in an attempt to calm their bizarre behaviour. "…thinking that I have a free day tomorrow. Rather than staying indoors we could head out for the day."

Yato's eyes lit up. "Really?"

Yukine grinned and hopped up onto his toes in anticipation. "Where? Where'll we go?"

"Uhh."Hiyori's eyes searched the room for inspiration. After a second she found the book Yukine had left open on the table. "The zoo."

The zoo? Why the zoo? There are dozens of places more exciting than the zoo.

Yukine looked like he was ready to explode.

"Is that alright?" Hiyori asked tentatively, keeping Yato in her peripheral vision.

Yukine nodded wordlessly, beaming a blinding smile. She could practically see tomorrow's day plan forming in his head.

Leaving him to it she turned back to Yato. "There." She said with a tired smile. She didn't bother to mention that she had finished her work a good few weeks in advance now; that would have just stirred them up even more and besides, all it meant to her was that she was now free to spend as much time with them as she wanted.

Yato wasn't smiling. He shuffled his feet and pushed his hands into his jacket pockets. "It's not a bother is it?"

Hiyori frowned, puzzled by the response. "Not at all. I was planning on spending a whole day with you at some point anyway; I've just been so busy lately it's been tricky. Why ask?"

Yato only stared back.

"You're not a burden to me or anything." Hiyori said, taking up Yato's hand and pressing it between hers. "I just want the time I spend with you two to be fun and memorable, not boring." After a moment's though she added, "Or lonely, I suppose."

Yato finally broke into a smile and nodded, reaching to pull Yukine into a hug along with a startled Hiyori.

"Hear that, Yukine?" He said, glancing down at Yukine who had turned a bright shade of red and tried burying himself into the folds of Hiyori's shirt to hide his face. "Us three! Having fun! Together and having fun!"

Hiyori laughed along, nodding and balancing herself between the other two with some difficulty. She wrestled an arm up around Yukine and the other over Yato's shoulder until the three were in a tight, albeit confused, huddle in the centre of the room.

"Yeah, that's right. Together."