"Aoi..."

"Why did you stay behind?! My parents already went ahead!" exclaimed the girl with obvious annoyance. Eita smiled nervously at the complaint.

"I'm sorry, it's just that I heard a chick chirping and..."

"Don't give me your nonsensical excuses! Because of you we'll be late and who knows if we'll even manage to get a popsicle!"

The brothers looked at the exchange not knowing what to say; however, Daitaro approached with the intent to help.

"Forgive me for butting in, but it's true that he was helping a chick back to its nest" Daitaro explained calmly. "My brothers were helping him."

“Hey..." Daiki didn't understand the need for him to give them credit when he had been the one to put the baby bird in the nest.

Aoi turned to look at Daitaro before looking at Daiki and realizing that they were identical.

"..." Noticing the girl's blank stare, Daiki frowned and folded his arms angrily.

"Yes, we're twins, is there a problem?" At the defensive question, the girl changed her expression to a grimace denoting displeasure. She looked away from Daiki and soon looked at Daitaro looking embarrassed.

"It's the first time I've seen two identical boys..."

"Don't worry, it's normal for people to stare at us" Daitaro replied after laughing for a moment.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude..." 

"Woof!" at the bark, the girl stared at the puppy and smiled sweetly at him.

"Can I pet him?"

"Sure, he really likes to be petted."

"Nice to meet you, cute little thing, my name is Aoi" the girl said as she introduced herself to the puppy, of course, as she did this, she realized that she had not introduced herself to the others. 

"Hachi is our dog too, if you want to pet him you have to ask us for permission" Daiki said as he looked at the girl with a look of suspicion. Aoi ignored the aggressive part of his comment to focus on what had mattered to her.

"Your name is Hachi? What a cute name!" she said shortly before looking at Eita again. “Oh! I was supposed to come here to get you!"

The boys watched her curiously, of course, with the exception of Daiki who just wanted her to leave.

"We're going to be late, let's go!" she said as she grabbed Eita by the wrist.

"Wait, Aoi..." Eita looked at the others. "My cousin is kind of weird but she's a good person, I think."

"What do you mean by that?!"

"Yeah..., anyway, we're leaving now, haha" Eita said while looking at Daiki with amusement. "See you later, Daiki!"

The siblings watched Eita walk away as he was pulled by the wrist by Aoi while he vigorously waved goodbye. The boys returned the gesture for a few seconds before looking at Daiki mockingly.

"So..., new friend?"

"Mitsuru..."

"Boyfriend?"

"Enough" The red-haired boy sighed with weariness. He looked at Daitaro and shook his head slightly.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he watched Daiki walk away. Daitaro and Mitsuru quickened their pace to stay walking beside him.

"You can't be jumping like that."

"But..."

"It's not okay for you to do that without someone supervising you" 

"I hadn't jumped in a while..., it was just for this one time."

"Daitaro, don't lie, you can only jump like that because you've been practicing" Daiki didn't know how to explain his feelings, but he at least knew that the thought of his brother getting hurt made him angry.

"You're just envious of him, it's great that he jumps like that. We wish we could do that."

"Envy?... Mitsuru, I understand you're dumb, but don't exaggerate" the red-eyed boy said with a lot of irritation. "Daitaro doesn't have an instructor who knows about these things, he doesn't know if he is doing things properly, he could easily get hurt or even die in one of those jumps just by a wrong landing..."

"...I know you don't like me doing this, but... Daiki, I've always found useful to know how to do this."

"And I'm not telling you to not do it, I just want someone to be able to teach you before you keep doing that."

“You just told him not to jump like that anymore, thus you asked him to stop, the idiot here is you” Mitsuru replied while pouting.

"You know what I meant!" exclaimed Daiki with much frustration. 

"Daiki...” Daitaro muttered sadly. "I understand that, but... I highly doubt our uncle would want to pay for a parkour class..."

"I know, and I don't expect you to ask that guy for a favor, so for the time being don't jump like that anymore."

"Hmm..." Daitaro kept thinking about this. "If I were to get someone to teach me then you won't worry anymore?"

"...I'll at least agree to let you continue,"

"Alright, I promise not to jump like that anymore until I find someone..., but, if I find myself needing to jump then I will, are we cool with that?"

"Whatever" Daiki closed his eyes and nodded, not too happy. Daitaro smiled in satisfaction before offering him his hand.

"Although..., if you're forcing him to quit, do you realize he might get hurt later by not continuing to practice?" Mitsuru asked as he watched Daiki hold Daitaro's hand.

"Don't worry, he's not asking for anything unreasonable, it's true that one can get hurt if they jump too frequently” Daitaro said.

"But if you never jump again..."

"I just have to find an instructor, right?" at the question, Daiki nodded. "See?"

"Uh..., well, if you say so..." Mitsuru brought his gaze to the ground and stared at the sidewalk as he walked, noticing some purple flowers he hadn’t seen before. They lay in spaces that made one wonder if it was really possible for something to grow from there. It's not like he thought about it that much, he didn't even usually pay attention to something like this, but... Somehow it had been impossible to ignore.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

The boys returned to the apartment. They walked to the living room and found Masaru sleeping on the couch. Daiki forgot his annoyance momentarily when he saw his sleeping brother. Why was this even important?

Well…

It's just that Masaru had the most energy among them and it was completely strange to see him asleep during the day.

"When was it that he fell asleep?" Daiki asked as he observed the black haired sleeping peacefully on the couch. Mitsuru walked over, sat down next to him and proceeded to peck his cheek with his index finger. It amused him to see Masaru make gestures of discomfort.

Daitaro approached him almost immediately and managed to get him to stop. Mitsuru pouted at him but agreed to this without much complaint.

"Well... at some point while we were watching the cooking channel," he explained.

“What? What were you guys doing watching that?..." Daiki asked as he frowned, expressing his confusion.

"Masaru mentioned that he was interested in learning about new recipes so he could make them later on."

"Wow...” Mitsuru uttered. "But didn't he say he wouldn't do anything until we washed the dishes?"

"I told him the same thing, but he said that it didn't mean he wasn't interested. He just wanted to know if there was more he could do."

"Ugh...” Masaru mumbled suddenly. The three of them turned to look at him curiously. "Hm? Mitsuru...?" 

"I can hardly believe you flipped on the cooking channel. I know you wanted to cook, but isn't that crossing the line? It's as if you told us you were watching the news," the blue-eyed boy said to the green-eyed one, who was still half asleep. 

“Huh...?"

"I mean you look like an old man falling asleep watching the cooking channel" Mitsuru replied contently. "So?"

"I don't remember anything you just said... I just woke up."

"I find your interest weird... Did something happen to you?" At his brother's nonsensical question, Masaru just looked at him tiredly..., although well, he was still sleepy.

"No" replied the green-eyed boy simply.

"Did someone threaten you?"

"No."

"Were you brainwashed?"

"No"

"Were you cloned?"

"Mitsuru..." Masaru frowned before curling into a ball and turning his back to him. "Forget it, I'll sleep some more."

“Huh…, how boring, is he sick?"

"No..., but I guess the cooking channel lulled him to sleep," Daitaro said, very amused. Daiki kept thinking about this.

"Could it be that he didn't sleep well because of the nightmare he had?" he suggested. Daitaro looked surprised at the mention.

"Ah..., that's true, he might be more tired today because of that"

"Well, just for that alone I'll let him be" said Mitsuru "Now, where did I leave my game..."

"No, you can do that later," said Daiki as he walked up to his brother and held him by the wrist. Mitsuru looked at him questioningly. "We have dishes to do."

"Huh? Are you going to tell me that you changed your mind and running to the park was for naught?" questioned the blond as he was pulled towards the kitchen.

"..."

"What's with the silence, did you have a guilty conscience?! Wait! No, no! I don't want to wash dishes, don't impose your guilt on me! I don't care if they wash them! Ahhh...!” Mitsuru shouted dramatically, as if the other was driving him to hell.

Daitaro watched the scene in silence.

"Woof!" At the bark, the redhead petted him a couple of times before finally setting him down on the floor to walk. Daitaro, who was behind the couch, jumped over and sat down next to Masaru. He turned on the television and watched the cooking channel again. 

"Hnngh..." Masaru opened his eyes slowly, finding Daitaro on one side of him. Daitaro eyed him curiously, this, before grabbing a cushion and putting it pressed against his legs. The red-haired boy patted it, thus indicating that he wanted the other to come closer.

Without much thought, Masaru moved closer and leaned back on the cushion.