The morning after Philip came back, Akiko found herself waking up early. Somehow, she managed to disentangle herself from Ryu without waking him up - a feat she was quite proud of achieving, as he was a light sleeper. Stepping over and around passed out party guests - they'd had a "Welcome Back From Abroad, Philip!" party last night - she made her way over to the kitchen.

The smell of brewing coffee and cooking eggs lured a few party guests - and Ryu - out of their individual slumbers, and she happily served them all breakfast and coffee to their liking. After grabbing a few bites to eat herself, she cooked up breakfast for Shotaro and Philip (and she had to strain her brain a little to remember how Philip liked his breakfast cooked...it had been so long) and balanced the plates and cups of coffee on a large tray, making her way over to Shotaro's room.

Philip hadn't slept in his usual spot, the bed in the nook. The reason he gave for this is that he didn't want Queen and Elizabeth sleeping in the living room (again). The real reason was something that none of the party guests understood or even could really guess at - but something that Akiko and Ryu knew, without even having to be told. Smiling to herself when she remembered how overjoyed they had both looked at being suddenly reunited, she balanced the tray on one arm, and knocked on Shotaro's door. Hearing nothing, she tried again, to no avail. She put the tray of food and coffee down on the nearest available flat surface, which just so happened to be a chair a few feet away, and returned the the door.

"Shotaro-kun? Philip-kun?" she called. Still hearing nothing, she found herself both worried and curious, and couldn't help grabbing the handle of the door and pulling it open just a little to peer inside. Predictably enough, they were both still asleep. Philip was cuddled up against Shotaro, half-draped over his partner with his head resting just below Shotaro's chin. Shotaro had one of his arms wrapped tightly around Philip's shoulders. And they both had the most ridiculously happy smiles on their faces. Akiko also noted that they were probably naked, if the clothing haphazardly strewn about the room was of any indication, but just chose not to think about the fact and instead closed the door.

"Are they still asleep?" she heard from behind her, and turned to find Ryu balancing the tray on one hand while glaring sternly down at Mikku, who was gnawing on some presumably stolen bacon.

"Yeah," she replied.

"And you're not going to wake them up?" he asked, baffled. She shook her head, and couldn't help the grin that formed.

"They look so happy that I don't want to disturb them," she answered. Ryuu just smiled, handing her the tray when she prompted him and patting her lightly on the head, trailing along behind her as she headed back for the kitchen. The food would still be there, and so would the guests, whenever the two of them woke up.