Sorry guys for the long wait. I was on Fall Break, but there's schoolwork that I definitely have not studied or done because of the passing of my grandpa. It was a rough patch two weeks ago and my family and I are still in the process of getting things ready for the funeral. For the next two weeks I will be extremely busy with school and preparing for the funeral (due to my family's culture the funeral will be held for three days). You have my thanks for being a patient reader and for your sympathies. Don't worry too much about my mental state because I'm handling it pretty well (we all knew it would come down to this because the cancer in his body kept spreading).

Once again, you're all amazing people for reading my stories. I'll be taking it easy for the time being now.

Let's Make a Bet - Ch. 2

"Umi-chan, let's go and have some fun~!" Honoka burst into the Disciplinary Committee room with a wide smile on her face.

"Honoka...didn't I just give you a lecture about doing your work an hour ago." Umi sat at her desk with her eyes closed, annoyed that she had been interrupted with her work.

"But I made sure to finish all of my work today! You can even ask Kotori-chan!" The ginger retorted.

"She's telling the truth Umi-chan." Kotori smiled at the bluenette.

All Umi could do was sigh at her two friends. "You guys go on without me. I still have more work to do, besides there are other things I need to do after I'm done with all of this paperwork."

"Oh...okay." It was clear that Honoka was not happy with the other's answer. Lately, it was almost as if Umi have been avoiding the two, but at the same time the ginger knew how busy her friend was.

"I'm sorry, maybe some over time." The navy haired girl apologized to them.

"It's okay Umi-chan." Kotori gave her a small smile. "We're sorry if we interrupted you."

After the pair left, a sigh escaped Umi's lips. As much as she wanted to spend time with her childhood friends, a part of her knew she would be just in the way.

Amber orbs scanned the empty room and the made their way to the clock hanging on the wall. Nozomi had volunteered to make rounds around campus with Rin.

Umi saw Nozomi as an older sister even though they were just cousins. Although she herself had siblings of her own, their relationship was never the best. The thought of an older sister made Umi frown.

"I guess I should go deal with that first before leaving." The bluenette packed her things together and prepared to leave.

xXx

"So. Why exactly are you two following me?" Nico asked the blonde and redhead who weren't really far behind from her.

"We just wanted to see what kind of trouble you were going to get into, that's all." Eli replied with a smile.

"More like see her epically make a fool of herself." Maki added, making herself and Eli chuckle.

"Shut up! Besides don't you two have better things to be doing instead of following me?"

"What are you guys doing?"

The sudden question had all three delinquents jumping out of their skin. Turning around, they met with Nozomi and Rin who somewhat had amused faces from the trio's reaction.

"T-Toujou! When did you get there?" Eli blinked at the purple haired girl.

"Just now when I noticed the three of you acting fairly suspicious." She replied blinking. "We just finished our rounds, but saw the school's three biggest troublemakers and decided to see what you were doing."

Just before Nico could remark how casually she was talking to them, a second-year student ran past them with tears in her eyes.

"Oh my." Nozomi commented. "Umi-chan must have turned down another girl."

"How can you be so sure that it was Umi-chan nya?"

"Because there are only two notorious heartbreakers at Otonokizaki. Elicchi and Umi-chan."

"Elicchi?" The quarter Russian repeated, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Yeah." Nozomi beamed. "I think it suits you. It's really cute."

Right before Eli could retort that she doesn't want to be called by the nickname, Umi arrived at the scene.

"What are you all doing here?" Amber orbs eyed the delinquents suspiciously.

"I could ask you the same thing Sonoda." Eli had a smug look on her face. "This place is well-known for couples to share...intimacy with each other."

Instead of getting a response from the navy haired girl, Eli's comments were ignored.

"Umi-chan that was the twelfth in the last two weeks. You sure are popular nya!" Rin grinned at the older girl.

"Twelve, wow, she beats you by a lot Eli." Maki elbowed the blonde earning a scowl from the said person.

"Nozomi, Rin, if you're both done with the rounds then we can head home now." Umi began to walk away.

"Hey! Who said we were done talking!" Eli yelled at the bluenette.

Sighing, Umi turned around and stared blankly at Eli. "I have other matters to attend to at the moment, so if you want to talk we can talk tomorrow then you make an appointment Ayase-sempai."

Dumbfounded by the answer, Eli didn't know how to reply back. Umi took that moment to leave the school grounds with Nozomi and Rin following after her.

"What's the matter Eli? Cat got your tongue?" Nico smirked at the taller girl who instantly turned red from embarrassment and anger.

"Sonoda Umi, I'm going to make you fall for me so hard that it will hurt." Eli grumbled.

"Hanayo-chan, there's someone here to come pick you up." The teacher smiled at the small brunette.

Lilac irises looked up from reading her book and tilted her head. At the doorway stood three people whom she knew fairly well.

"Kayo-chin, let's go nya!"

"Hanayo-chan, we came to pick you up."

"Hanayo, let's go home."

"Rin-chan, Nozomi-chan, Umi-chan!" She smiled brightly at the arrival of the three high schoolers and went to go grab her small onigiri book bag. Taking hold of Umi's hand she turned around and waved goodbye to her teacher.

xXx

"Why are we following them again?" The first-year raised an eyebrow at her two seniors.

"I," Nico stressed when speaking about herself. "was originally planning to mess with Toujou while she was walking home. The person next to me is just angry that Sonoda wrote her off like she could deal with Eli another day when she's less busy."

"That was pretty funny though." Maki added.

"You two do realize that I'm standing right here, right?" Eli grumbled in annoyance.

"Which makes things even funnier." The two busted out laughing at the blonde who was slowly getting irritated by her two so called friends.

"Sometimes I wonder whether you two completely hate each other or secretly hide the fact that you like each other." The blonde rolled her at the pair.

"Ha, as if." Nico scoffed.

"She's right. Who would ever like an imp like Nico-chan?" Maki snickered.

Ignoring the rest of their argument, Eli turned her attention back to the trio of the Disciplinary Committee. It puzzled her why they would take an unusual route home instead of their usual one. Of course, it's not like she knew their usual route home or anything.

"Shut up you two, I see them." Eli spoke as she continued to peak from around the corner they were hiding behind. The pair shut their mouths and did the same as the blonde. To their surprise, they saw all three girls walking home together...but with a child around the age of five.

"The hell?" Nico blurted out.

"Who's the kid?" Eli asked.

"Maybe a sibling?" Maki answered.

"From what I know, Toujou and Hoshizora don't have any siblings, and Sonoda only has a half-sister her age." Nico added.

"Don't tell me...one of them had a kid..." Eli mumbled.

"I highly doubt that Eli. I thought you were cleverer than that?" The redhead arched her eyebrow at the blonde. "Or are you jealous that Sonoda might have already had someone who got in her pants first?"

"W-what's that supposed to mean?! As if I would care about something like that!" A blush became present on the older girl's face as her two friends grinned at each other.

"If you're not careful Eli, you might just lose your bet." Nico teased.

"Shut up Nico, unlike you, I don't have a completely rocky relationship with my target." Eli retorted. The two glared at each other, knowing full well what the blonde had meant.

"I know you two love looking at each other so lovingly, but I think we have better things to do." Maki intervened.

"Like what?!" The two third-years broke their silent war and simultaneously questioned Maki in annoyance.

"Like figuring out where they went." The redhead jerked her thumb to point behind her, before bluntly replying back. "We lost them."

Eli and Nico glared back at each other. "This is your fault!" The two gave each other heated looks as the first-year shrugged her shoulders and sighed at them.

~Later that Night~

"Hanayo, go get ready for a bath. I'll be there once I'm done with the dishes, okay?"

"Okay."

The five-year-old smiled at the bluenette and walked into the room they shared. Umi's lips twitched upward at the cute response and returned to doing her chores.

Once she was done, they took a bath together. Hanayo was a very sweet child, so she wasn't the type to make a big mess while taking a bath. After they were done she asked Umi for permission to watch TV for a little bit, though it wasn't long before she started nodding off.

The sight of the tired child put another rare smile on Umi's face. The older girl carried Hanayo to their bed and tucked her in nicely before turning off the lights and going into the room next door. They lived in a two roomed apartment. One where they slept in and the other where Umi used as a study room.

The bluenette sat at her desk and studied the papers spread around her. She furrowed her eyebrows in frustration as she read each one. She was so deep in thought that when her phone when off she jumped in her seat. Amber orbs glared at the caller ID.

"Ara, Umi-chan, did I startle you?"

Umi was sure the person on the other side of the line was smiling like a madman.

"Nozomi, do you need something, because if not, I'm going to hang up on you." Umi grumbled.

"You're so mean Umi-chan." Her cousin playfully teased. "I was just wondering how Hanayo-chan is doing."

"She's doing fine, a lot better than we both lived in the main house."

There was a silent pause before the conversation continued.

"Are you glad to that you were able to leave?" Nozomi tried her best to word the question.

"...I grew up there and I know Grandfather and Grandmother didn't want me to move out, but this is for Hanayo's sake." The reply that Umi gave was monotonous.

"That's not what I was asking. Umi-chan, I want to know how you feel out being out of that house."

"I know what you meant, I just wanted to avoid answering that's all." Umi sighed before answering Nozomi's question. "In all honesty, it's my home. I miss Grandfather and Grandmother, and I know they feel the same. Besides that, that place is filled of nothing but bad memories and a hellhole when I'm around them."

"I see." Nozomi knew who exactly Umi was talking about when the other had stressed on the word 'them', so there was no need to push it any further. "Onto another topic, I hope you're not pushing yourself too much now that you have more responsibilities. Remember, Hanayo-chan is my little agent who will tell me if you start overworking yourself."

Umi chuckled at Nozomi's statement and could imagine the face she was making while giving her the lecture (which was funny to Umi because it was usually the other way around). "I know."

"Then I'll see you tomorrow, goodnight Umi-chan."

"Goodnight Nozomi."

When Umi hung up, her eyes trailed off to the framed photograph on her desk. It pained her to look at it. Two smiling individuals of a girl with dark blue hair around her teenage years hugging a smaller version of herself pulled Umi back into the past.

"Umi-chan..."

The calling of her name made her turn around in her chair and met with a five-year-old who had tears streaming down her face.

"What's wrong Hanayo?" The older girl walks up to the child and kneeled down on one knee to wipe away the other's tears.

"I had a bad dream...can you come and sleep with me?" A small sniffle came out. Umi nodded in response and walked them back to the bedroom.

When they laid down in bed together, the small brunette snuggled into the older's arms, making herself comfortable. Umi gently caressed Hanayo's head and hummed a melody as a lullaby to sooth the child to sleep. It wasn't long afterwards before Umi became tired too, but right before sleep invaded her mind, she thought about the person in the picture.

I hope you're watching over her Onee-chan.

So finally our precious rice baby turned up. Originally, I was going to have her be part of the Student Council, but then realized that she would forever be the third-wheel. So after scrapping ideas more than once, I came up with this one.

As of right now, I have completely no idea where to take this story next so it will not be updating any time soon (of course same goes to my other stories). The next chapter for Bound (for those who read it) will most likely be complete soon so I hope you will all be able to wait patiently for that.

Until Next Time Readers…