New Home

Asami comes out and crouches next to them. Shiori looks at her surprised.

Shiori "What do you mean?.."

Asami hesitates but answers.

Asami "You and your family have truly made life around here better in every way. Things have been… lonely since Hikigaya's father left us. But when you, your family came into our lives, everything just became so bright. Like a fog was cleared from my soul. I don't want to lose that. Especially knowing that I can do something about it."

Hikigaya "Mom, what do you mean?"

Asami "Sweetie, what do you think I do for a living?"

Hikigaya "You write books, don't you?"

Asami "Yes, but that is more of a hobby. The truth is, when your father left, he was so distraught about leaving. He truly didn't want to go but we both knew he had to. He was… a strange man but he had his responsibilities straight. He left us with a lot of money to say the least. Enough to last us all three lifetimes comfortably in fact. I didn't want to tell you this because I didn't want our wealth to go to your head so I kept it a secret."

Ace "I kinda figured it out years ago."

Ace steps out and leans against the sliding door frame. Hikigaya looks at her then back at his mother with wide eyes.

Hikigaya "So we're like… filthy rich?"

Asami gives an awkward side smile.

Asami "Yes I suppose we are. But this changes nothing. Our lifestyle will stay the same, understand?"

Hikigaya "Of course! I'm happy the way we are but it's just… a lot to hear… I didn't know my father at all so…"

Hikigaya looks down, unsure of how to react. Asami places her hand on his cheek and gives him reassuring eyes.

Asami "Your father was a great man. He took care of us and gave me you. If he had a choice, I know he would've stayed."

Hikigaya nods slightly. Shiori stares, still kind of confused by what she means. Asami stands and looks at her.

Asami "Shiori, if you would have me, I would like for you and your family to come live with us. I will find us a new place where we could all stay together, right here in this same town, in this same life. Would you be okay with that?"

Shiori looks up at her as her eye shines. Tears begin to form again as she begins to cry. She nods as she wipes at her tears.

Shiori "Yes… I would like that…"

She cries for a bit longer as we watch them on the balcony under the moonlight.

Hamasaki/Takanou "WHAAAAT!?"

Asami closes her eyes and smiles a bit after the loud scream of Shiori's parents. She told them of her proposition.

Hamasaki "Are you serious?!"

Takanou "You'd really do that for us?!"

Asami "Yes, yes to all of it. It really isn't a big thing. I'm honestly getting the better end of the deal here."

They hold her hands and cry in cartoony fashion.

Takanou/Hamasaki "Oh, thank you, thank you!"

Asami smiles widely.

Asami "Well, first thing's first. We need to figure out where we're going."

The parents head out while the kids are away at school. They head to an agency to help them locate a new home.

Realtor "So, you three are looking for a new home?"

They nod.

Realtor "And it says here you have… 4 kids amongst the 3 of you?"

They nod again, sweating a bit now.

Realtor "Well, that certainly is the number of rooms needed. I assume six rooms?"

Takanou "Is that going to be a problem?"

Realtor "Well, if your goal is to stay as close to here as possible, it may be…"

They look down for a moment as Takanou rubs the back of his head. Hamasaki looks at them for a moment before looking up at the Realtor.

Hamasaki "No, five rooms will do."

The others look at her, surprised.

Asami "Hamasaki, are you sure?"

Hamasaki "You're helping us out so much. The least we can do is make it easier."

She smiles at her.

Realtor "Well, if it's five rooms you want, I can definitely do that. There's a few properties around here. Let me give you guys a tour."

He smiles as he gets up. They head to the first place.

Realtor "How about this one?"

They look at it with looks of slight disgust. The house is built in a way that looks totally off and uncomfortable.

Asami "It's definitely… unique…"

Takanou "You wouldn't happen to have one more… normal?"

Realtor "I do." - "How about this one?"

At the next house. It looks much nicer. They smile at it.

Hamasaki "It looks great!"

Takanou "Can we take a look inside?"

Realtor "Of course!"

He smiles at them and they take a step forward before stopping. The neighbor comes out dragging a large black bag over his shoulder. He tosses it down on his lawn and grabs a shovel that was leaning against his rails. He begins digging. They sweat as they stare. The neighbor stops and looks at them for a moment.

Neighbor "Mornin'."

He continues digging.

Asami "Is he..?"

Takanou "We should go…"

Realtor "Yeah I agree.."

They turn and quickly head back to the van as the Realtor calls someone. They move onto the next place.

Realtor "How about this one?.."

They look at it from the outside. They are pleased.

Takanou "It looks great."

Hamasaki "And the neighbors seem.. Normal."

Asami "Yeah. Is there anything wrong with the place?"

Realtor "Let me check."

He pulls out his tablet and checks the details of the property.

Realtor "It says here that it's got five bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, comes with washer and dryer. Etc… Everything looks great. The previous owners left this place in great condition! Oh. They did leave a note here at the bottom, it says, 'Great home for large families, all devices included but no matter what, don't go into the basement despite the noises…'"

Takanou "I didn't know this place had a basement."

Realtor "It doesn't…"

They make a scared face and leave. They sluggishly approach the final house he has available.

Realtor "Welp, this is it. If this one doesn't suit you then I've got nothing."

They look at it for a moment. It is a fairly normal house. Two floors with each bedroom having a window out. Takanou and Hamasaki like it but Asami gets a concerned look.

Asami "What's the catch this time?"

Realtor "It doesn't say anything out of the ordinary here. Although, apparently the smaller house next to it is going to have new tenants very soon too."

Asami "Cool, new to the neighborhood buddies."

They step inside and explore for a bit. Hamasaki likes the kitchen while Asami is excited about the extra large living room. They head to the rooms and see that the master bedroom is quite large. They point out that one of the bedrooms has a small patio attached to it over one of the rooms below. After the tour, they meet out front.

Realtor "So, what do you think?"

Hamasaki "Well, the only thing is that the backyard area is kind of small.."

Asami "Yeah but we come from an apartment anyway. Any yard is a good one."

She playfully elbows her in the arm.

Hamasaki "True."

She smiles back.

Takanou "I think this is the one for us."

The realtor smiles and nods then clicks a check next to the house on his tablet.

Once the weekend rolls around, everyone is home helping pack and get ready for the move.

Hikigaya "Thanks for coming over you guys. The help is greatly appreciated."

The group is all there.

Chizuru "Don't worry about it! Moving is so exciting!"

Haru "Yeah, and I wanna see the new place. I bet it's huge!"

Lucy "If all of them are gonna be there, it better be."

They laugh as they get to work. Chizuru, Lucy and Ryuji help Shiori in her apartment while Sugawara and Haru help Hikigaya in his. As Sugawara packs the books and other things from a shelf in the living room, he stumbles across a photo album. He gets curious and opens it up. He blushes a bit as he smiles wide.

Sugawara "Oh my goodness! Look at them!"

He looks at an old picture of Hikigaya and Haru at his birthday party when they were only 9 years old.

Sugawara "They're so small and cute!"

Hikigaya comes out of the room holding a box and sees Sugawara sitting on the floor with the book in his lap.

Hikigaya "Hey, what do you got there?"

Sugawara quickly closes the book.

Sugawara "Nothing! Nothing at all!"

He responds nervously. Hikigaya lifts an eyebrow but continues out the door. Sugawara waits for him to leave before opening the book again and giggling to himself. He snaps a couple pics.

Sugawara "Oh you are coming with me."

He giggles mischievously as Haru sweats and watches. Over in Shiori's apartment, Chizuru is in her room helping her while Lucy and Ryuji help in the kitchen. Shiori works on her closet while Chizuru puts away her desk. While doing so she sees a few journals. She tries to hold back her curiosity but can't resist.

Chizuru 'She wouldn't mind if I read some of her stories, right?'

She picks up the journal on top and opens it more towards the middle.

Chizuru 'Huh. It's dated. February 20th. She must've written this idea then.'

She continues to read.

Chizuru ''I still can't believe I did that. Making chocolates for him. I mean what was I thinking? It's not like someone like him would ever like someone like me. He's so cute, so smart, and so popular. And I'm just… me.' Ooh a Valentine's romance! 'I should just quit liking him. It's never gonna work. But I like him so much, I want to keep trying! But I couldn't even give them to him! It just felt so awkward and I didn't want to mess up their tradition.'

Chizuru starts to get a more confused look on her face the more she reads.

Chizuru 'This all seems… familiar? 'Whatever. There's no point in dwelling on it now. I'll keep trying and hopefully one day he'll like me too. Oh Ryuji, could someone like you ever like me? Shiori's Diary Log 92 - Signing off…''

She gets a look of surprise as her eyes grow wide. Shiori closes off the box she finished filling and turns to begin taking them out when she sees Chizuru's face in her diary. She quickly recognizes it and freaks out.

Shiori "Chizuru! What are you doing?!"

She lowers the book and looks at her with excited eyes.

Chizuru "You like Ryuji?!"

Shiori blushes and quickly crawls to her and snatches the diary out of her hands.

Shiori "Why were you reading my diary?!"

Chizuru "I didn't know! I thought it was one of your story journals! You really should label them.."

Shiori "That's besides the point! Ugh!"

She falls onto her face slowly, defeated that Chizuru knows her secret. She giggles.

Chizuru "It's okay Shiori! What are you so ashamed of?"

Shiori "I'm not ashamed. I'm embarrassed… The last thing I want is for you guys to know I like Ryuji…"

Chizuru "Well it's not totally uncommon. I mean, most new school years there's always a few people who confess to him."

Shiori "What??"

She shoots her head up.

Chizuru "Yeah, I mean he is the most attractive person in our group. He always turns them down though. I don't know why."

She puts a finger on her chin thinking about it. Shiori deflates in defeat once again.

Shiori "Oh man… I definitely don't stand a chance then…"

Chizuru "Hey cheer up! We don't know how he feels about you yet! Maybe Ryuji likes you too!"

She says loudly while slapping her back. Shiori quickly shoots up and grabs her wrist.

Shiori "Shh! Stop hitting me and keep your voice down! I don't want Lucy finding out too! And you've gotta promise to keep this a secret. It's bad enough that Hikigaya knows too."

Chizuru "Hiki knows?"

Shiori nods her head reluctantly. Chizuru smiles.

Chizuru "That's great! We could work together!"

Shiori looks at Chizuru who is smiling widely. She kind of smiles back but sweats a bit not having high hopes. They finish packing up all their things and let the movers handle the rest. They all drive over to the new house. Riku stands in the middle of the large, empty living room with a look of awe on his face. Chizuru stands behind him doing the same.

Riku "Wooooah! This place is huge!"

Chizuru "He's right!"

They both run into the living room laughing and playing while the others step in and look around, admiring the nice home. Chizuru swings Riku around joyfully while the parents walk in.

Takanou "Go ahead and take your stuff inside guys. Your rooms are all laid out. Ace, you get the office turned bedroom. Riku will get the room on our side of the house upstairs. You two get the last two rooms."

Hikigaya and Shiori look at each other for a moment before heading upstairs to droop at the sight of their rooms being right next to each other. The upstairs rooms are mostly sectioned off by the way the hallway is designed. Shiori and Hikigaya's rooms are to the left of the stairs entrance upstairs while the other two bedrooms and the library are to the right with a bathroom and closets in between. Ace's room is on the first floor.

Shiori "You sure we don't get a say in our room locations..?"

Hamasaki "Be grateful sweetie."

She gives her a look and Shiori rolls her eye and heads into her room. As she steps in she notices there are no windows but a sliding door. She opens it and looks onto the small patio connected to her room.

Shiori "Huh. Cool."

She then turns and looks around her empty room.

Shiori "It's bigger than my old room."

She smiles a bit.

By the time night rolls around, the movers and the others have all gotten everything into the house. Shiori's desk, shelves, bed and such have all been put into her room. Now there's just a pile of boxes left to be sorted through. She sighs then gets to work. She sorts out her clothes into her slightly bigger closet. She puts her things back on the shelf. Gets her bedding all in order. The last thing she does is organize her desk with her journals, papers, writing tools and laptop. As she finishes putting her desk together, she notices one last smaller box by her desk. She looks at it confused as everything she owns is already put out. She opens the box to be met with some more sketch books, journals, folders and the like.

Shiori "I don't remember using any of these…"

She pulls one of the sketchbooks out to be met with different characters drawn up in fancy outfits. Some of them look out of an anime or game while others are more normal, everyday wear. She is surprised and impressed with the skill level of the art. It isn't anything superb but not bad art either. She looks at another one to see more characters. That's all these sketches seem to be, mostly people in outfits more than full scenes or comics. As she is admiring the works, Hikigaya comes into her open door.

Hikigaya "Hey Shiori, I'm missing a box. Have you seen one like- Hey!"

He catches her peeking at his missing box. She looks up and puts it down back into the box. He walks over to her and picks up the box.

Hikigaya "You know it's not polite to go through other people's things."

Shiori "I thought it was my box. I mean, I didn't know you even did stuff like that."

Hikigaya "Yeah well… I do, okay? Go ahead and laugh if you want."

Shiori "Why would I laugh? Your art is actually really good, at least for someone like you."

Hikigaya "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Shiori "You just don't seem like an artistic person."

Hikigaya blushes a bit and looks away.

Hikigaya "Well I'm not all that artistic. I just sketch up designs I want to see is all… Nothing crazy…"

He turns away more. Shiori stands up.

Shiori "Hikigaya, you don't need to be embarrassed. It's like you said… It makes perfect sense, right?"

He lifts his head a bit and slightly looks back at her.

Hikigaya "Yeah I guess so…"

She places a hand on his back gently. He gets a surprised look.

Shiori "I know I'm not the best at being open or supportive but… we're gonna be living together now so maybe we should… be more open about ourselves?"

He looks at her and she gives him a slightly embarrassed but honest look. He smiles a bit.

Hikigaya "Yeah, I guess we should."

She puts her hand down and he nods before carrying the box back to his room. Shiori stares for a moment then looks at her hand.

Shiori "What was that?.. This feeling…"

She brings it to her chest and holds her hand close before smiling ever so slightly. Hikigaya closes his door before leaning his back against it. He lets out a sigh of relief almost like he was holding his breath moments before. He blushes intensely as he slides down the door.

Hikigaya 'I'm going to be living with her!..'

He smiles as he holds his face in his hands.