Okay so first of all, to be honest, I wasn't planning on continuing this, but some of my followers messaged me and I decided I probably owed it to all of you to grant some closure. So I'd like to apologize for being shitty in terms of updating this. I'm guessing this'll have 20 chapters, maybe a bit less, by the time I'm done, so we'll see. I'm trying to finish this by the end of October, but we'll see. Also there aren't any lemons yet, but they're coming so bear with me.

Yoichi drove like a madman. He broke at least four traffic laws and took the speed limits as gentle suggestions rather than laws. Aoi clung to his free hand with a death grip and agitatedly continued to call the hospital for updates. Mikan's grandfather's condition wasn't stabilizing.

"She couldn't be in that many places," Yoichi says, trying to reassure his wife. She nodded halfheartedly and continued talking to the hospital receptionist. From the pitch of her voice, Yoichi could tell that the situation wasn't looking too hopeful at the moment. He shook his head free of thoughts and continued driving. Their biggest priority was to find Mikan.

Yoichi drove to Mikan's house to check if the girl was there. He recklessly swung into the driveway and dashed to the door, fumbling for the spare key that was hung with his car keys and house keys. The key slid into the lock and Yoichi stumbled in with all the grace of a well establish business man.

"Mikan?" he shouted. The name echoed back off the walls and Yoichi could taste dread.

He checked the rooms, not bothering to take off his shoes, and dashed back out just as quickly. Snatching the key from the lock, he hurried back to the car.

"She's not there."

Aoi nodded frantically and shushed him, pointing towards the phone at her ear.

"Yes, sorry, what were you saying?" she prompted the person on the other side of the line.

"He's going into shock? What does that mean?" she nearly yelled.

Yoichi shot her a pained look and restarted the car's engine. He pulled out of her driveway and started going towards the nursery. Although she didn't have work today at this hour, it was worth checking anyways.

"What are you going to do about it? You can't let him die. You can't."

Aoi was in tears. She had known the man well and he was like another grandfather to her. Yoichi gripped the steering wheel harder and willed the car to speed up.

"Shh, shh" he murmured as she ended the call. Aoi brought her hands up and covered her face, gently shaking from her sobs. Yoichi's heart twisted a little at this, and he used one hand to rub circles into her shoulder.

"It'll be okay. He's in the best hospital possible. They'll fix him and he'll be fine."

"What about Mikan?" she burst out, tears streaming from her face, "Mikan won't be fine!"

The last statement she yelled, almost looking furious. Yoichi wasn't sure who she was furious at, but almost immediately she quieted down.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you," she sniffled. He smiled reassuringly and nodded before continuing to the nursery. Where was lady luck now?

Nobara turned the lock of the nursery doors and sighed happily. Fridays were hard to manage sometimes because Mikan didn't come in, but the kids were fairly mellow and didn't stir up any trouble. She was glad, considering the good mood she was in. It would be a shame if it were spoiled by overly rambunctious children stirring up havoc. Smiling, she hummed to herself as she walked to her car, planning on enjoying the weekend with Persona. She enjoyed it when he stayed over. Perhaps more so than the sex, she enjoyed domestic life and just being affectionate. While both of them weren't all too keen on public displays of affection, they privately enjoyed tender moments.

Nobara hugged herself, feeling a touch childish, and rummaged through her purse for her phone and car keys. Strangely enough, her phone chimed its familiar ringtone and Nobara answered the call, wondering who was calling her on a Friday night.

"Nobara?'

"Persona?" she answered, curiosity evident in the inflection of his name.

"I need you to contact Sumire. The girl who's trying to help Mikan? The one who kinda looks like a cat?"

Persona sounded a bit strained, so Nobara stifled her giggle and nodded before realizing he couldn't actually see her.

"Yeah, I can do that. Why?"

Persona paused before answering, "I found some discrepancies in the bill data from the credit card company. Not only are the purchase contents strange, but the dates don't make sense. Can you get me Mikan's clocked times for the past month?"

She heard him shuffle some papers.

"Yeah, I'm still at the nursery so it'll only take a minute."

She strode back to the nursery and unlocked the doors, making her way to the main office. Finding he requested file, she took a photo and texted it to Persona.

"Is that good?" she inquired.

He responded and quickly re-asked her to get him in touch with Sumire. Before she could respond, he hung up.

"Strange… " Nobara noted, phone still held up against her ear. She shrugged and quickly reorganized the office before locking up once again. Just as she turned away from the nursery doors, a car swung into the parking lot, narrowly missing her own car. Who the fuck was that?

Hotaru forgot how much she hated airports. People were jostling to get out or return to their loved ones or retrieve their baggage. She wrinkled her nose in distaste, thinking that the entire place was a chaotic mess. Ruka was doing his best to fight other passengers at the baggage claim terminal. Although they hadn't traveled with a lot of luggage, it was still a struggle. Hotaru wiped the remainders of sleep from her purple eyes and smoothed down a few strands of her hair. It had grown just a touch longer than she would have liked, tickling the back of her neck and getting in her eyes while she worked. She'd be needing a trim soon, she mused. Perhaps she could invent something for that? It was such a waste going to the salon all the time… and perhaps she could still work while a machine cut her hair, thus saving time. Some sort of portable hair cutting machine then?

Hotaru absently tugged a lock of her hair while she thought, before stumbling when someone bumped into her from behind. She turned to throw them a glare, but froze when she noticed who it was.

"Sorry, sorry," the man apologized, bowing quickly.

"Class rep?" she asked quietly, shock barely perceptible in her voice.

He looked up at her and pushed his glasses up properly.

"Geez, why does everyone still call me that?" he pouted. Shaking his head, he offered her a smile.

"Didn't you see me on the plane?" he asked.

Hotaru paused and thought for a moment, but she couldn't recall anything in particular. She had slept for the large part of the flight and when the plane landed, disembarked from the flight as soon as possible. She must have overlooked him. Glancing at Tobita, she rationalized that it wasn't entirely odd, considering that he didn't call much attention to himself.

At that moment, Ruka arrived, rolling their luggage behind him. He brightened when he saw the pair.

"Ah Tobita, where are you heading to?" he asked, grinning happily. Hotaru's gaze softened a bit. Although she wouldn't ever tell anyone, she liked seeing Ruka's smile. He kissed her on the lips quickly before turning back to Tobita.

Tobita stood frozen in shock, startled by Hotaru's uncharacteristic affection, and flushed bright red.

"I-I'm back from law school for good. I got a job here at a firm, so I rented an apartment already," he stuttered out.

Ruka nodded thoughtfully for a moment, then grabbed his phone.

"Here, give me your number," he said, "Let's meet up sometime, okay?"

Tobita nodded in return and they made plans to catch up later that week. Tobita hurried off to catch a taxi and Ruka and Hotaru left to retrieve their car from the airport parking lot.

Ruka slid into the driver's seat after loading up the luggage and making sure Hotaru was sitting in the passenger's side. She had already dozed off again, feeling tired from the flight. An indescribable feeling of possessiveness swept over Ruka as he realized that this would be permanent. He and Hotaru would be permanent.

Pulling out of the airport parking lot, he couldn't suppress the giddily content feeling of being at home.