Takumi woke up before she did. He left, returned a few hours later, and knocked on her door.
“Snowflake, are you awake?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you decent?”
“Since when do you care? Even if I said no, you'd still come in.”
“Hey, cut me some slack.”
“I would, but that's impossible. And the answer to your question depends on what your definition of decent is. Knowing you, I'm sure it's minimal clothing.”
“No, it's not.”
“Relax. I'm fully clothed, so you can come in.”
He came in. “I was asking because someone came to see you.” Next to him was a girl. She looked like the female version of him except shorter, with dark hair like Toshiro and her eyes were a darker shade of grey. “This is my sister, Sora.”
She stared Twilight up and down for a while and her lips curled into a huge smile. She turned to Takumi.
“She's so small it's adorable. You found yourself a cute one, that's for sure. Hi, I'm Sora.”
“I'm...”
“Twilight, yes I know. Toshi was the only one who cared enough to tell me about you. It breaks my heart to know that you don't tell me about these things, Takumi, it really does.” She clutched her chest dramatically.
“Are you sure you didn't pressure him into telling you?”
She stuck her tongue out at him playfully. Then she pulled Twilight to the side, out of earshot from Takumi.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being my little bro's first girlfriend.”
Twilight stared at her blankly.
“Between you and me, I thought he was gay. Since, you know, he wasn't interested in any girls. Even the ones I set him up with on blind dates and they were pretty too. But I wouldn't have minded if he went for a girl with personality instead of looks. Either way, I'm so happy that he has you.”
Twilight was speechless and just stared at her as if she was the most insane person in the world, which she probably was.
“But I'd still be happy even if he was gay because he's my little bro and I'll support him no matter what his sexuality is.”
“Sorry to disappoint you but your brother and I aren't dating.”
“Aww, that sucks. Are you sure you don't want to? He's a good guy. Plus, he's tall, handsome and... “
“OK, that's enough, sis. Don't get ahead of yourself.”
“What, I'm just trying to get you in her good books.”
“Yeah, but coercing her would make it meaningless.”
“Alright alright, if you don't want my help, then fine.” When he left, Sora nudged Twilight's arm. “Just give it a shot. Who knows, it might lead to something more.” She winked. “So, how long are you staying?”
“Until the end of the week.”
“Aw, too bad. I wanted you to stay a little longer.”
“I'd love to, but I still wanna spend Christmas and New Year's with my dad.”
“In that case, I totally get it. At least we'll get to spend some time together before you leave. I already have a few things in mind. Like going to the mall, I heard there are new collections in stock, maybe a movie too. Oh, I was also thinking of lunch and stopping for snacks in between.”
“I'm not so sure...”
“Great, let's go.” She grabbed Twilight's hand and dragged her along with her. “Takumi! I'm taking my potential sis-in-law out for a girl's day out. See you later. Bye.” She practically ran out the door, dragging Twilight with her.
Later…
During dinner, Twilight sat on Takumi's lap the entire time and fed him. Mrs Rengoku cleared her throat.
“Is there something wrong, Mrs Rengoku?” She asked innocently.
“I don't like you.” She stated bluntly.
“Nah, I think you're just jealous because I'm the one who's breastfeeding your son and not you. Or maybe it's also because I'm giving him baths.”
Takumi almost choked on his food. His dad and sister, on the other hand, were trying to contain their laughter. She got up and excused herself.
Later that night, Takumi was lying on Twilight's lap while she was playing with his hair.
“Was that the plan you were talking about?” He asked.
“No, it was a small part of it, but I’ll be honest with you. No offence, but your mom's attitude is seriously getting on my nerves. I've been as patient as I possibly could be, but I had to say something or one of us wasn't going to live to see tomorrow. And bet your ass it wasn't going to be me.”
“I don't even want to know what your actual plan is.”
There was a knock on the door. She opened the door and Sora was there.
“Twilight, we might have a problem.”
“And now the fun begins.”
“Please don't give my mom a heart attack.”
“I promised that no one would get hurt. You don't have to wait up for me.”
“Sora, what's up?”
“My mom wants to see you and, from the look of things, she's really mad.”
“You don't have to worry about me, I'll be fine.”
“Yeah but...”
“I know that I might not look the part, but I'm capable of sorting out most of my problems.”
“Ok, good luck then.”
Twilight didn't hesitate to go in.
“You wanted to see me, Mrs Rengoku?” She closed the door behind her, mentally preparing a few insults. You know, just in case.
“Yes, I'd like to have a little talk with you.” The coldness of her tone was loud and clear.
“If you're going to be insulting and throw rude comments my way, I might as well leave because I'm not interested.” She folded her arms.
“You're not going anywhere until I'm done speaking to you. You ought to learn some respect, a little bit of it goes a long way.”
“Then you ought to learn how to be a person I can respect. How do you expect me to respect you if you keep acting like a bratty sixteen-year-old?” She remarked.
“Look, little girl, you and I are far from being equals.”
“Good to know that you're smart enough to realise that you're emotionally weaker than me. Being a protective mother and a controlling one are two very different things.”
“I'm just going to get straight to the point. Stay away from my son.”
“Staying away would be pointless because even if I did, he'd still come after me. It’s not a flex. Just facts.”
“I don't care what you say. Just stay away from him because I don't need someone like you ruining his innocence.”
“I'm ruining his innocence? I think it's time someone told you the cold, hard truth. In that pretty little head of yours, you think that your son's a perfect little angel who'd never do anything wrong. But the truth is that you have no idea how much of a horny fucker he really is and what type of things he's done to me. If anything, he's ruining my innocence, with my consent of course. I know you won't believe me so you can go ahead and ask him.” She turned to leave. “And another thing. Remember when you called a few months ago and he sounded weird? He lied when he said that he had stubbed his toe. You called during our 'play' time.” She left and closed the door behind her.
She found Takumi lying on the bed and he sat up when she came in.
“So, what did she say?” He put his hands on her waist and pulled her in close.
“Basically, I'm not your type and I should stay away from you because apparently, I'm ruining your innocence.”
“I'm afraid to ask what you said.”
“I might have exposed you a little bit, as in what we've done after hours. But I didn't provide any details. All I said was that you're a horny fucker and you've done some things to me.”
“Did you have to say that? I'm so screwed.”
“I did mention my consent. To be honest, I don't think she believed me. I doubt any mother would believe such things about her child. And if she asks, just deny everything, I'm sure she'll take your word over mine.”
“You truly are a handful.” He kissed her neck.
“She had it coming.”
“Are you seriously going to do this?”
“I don’t see why not.”
“Do you want me to add to what I told your mom?”
“As you said, if she asks, just deny everything and you never complained the other times. And you do realise that after all the crazy things you said and did tonight, everyone's going to think that you're my girlfriend, right?”
“I guess I didn't think things through.”