On the other hand, Daiki and Mitsuru were in the kitchen in front of the sink. The blond looked defeated.

"I can't believe Masaru was right in that it was only a matter of time..."

"He said that?"

"Daitaro told me that when I came to him for help..." Mitsuru replied with exaggerated sadness. "Had I known, I wouldn't have ran away in the first place..."

"You'd rather have washed the dishes then?"

"No! But we're here anyway! We're just wasting our time by running like this! If I had known... if I had known, I..." the blond hid his face with one arm and begged heaven for mercy for the wasted minutes of his existence.

“How dramatic can you be... It's true that it was in vain to run to the park in that sense, but, at least we helped someone."

"Since when do you care about that...? First Masaru falls asleep watching the cooking channel and now you talk about feeling satisfaction from helping your fellow man. What's next, will I say that playing is a waste of time and not finish my game? Will Daitaro get the highest score in a video game?"

"Gaming is a waste of time. Not that it's bad, but it's still wasted time. And Daitaro getting the highest score is not weird, he's the best of us playing the racing videogame. Even you haven't been able to beat him."

"Shh, even if it's wasted time, it's still recreational" Mitsuru replied as he stuck his tongue out at him. "And yes, I guess he's already accomplished that..., though it doesn't count, he gets very competitive and does everything to win."

"It's a racing game, Mitsuru, it's normal to do anything to win."

"But it's not normal the way he sets traps or throws shells with such precision!"

"Again you're being a sore loser..., if it bothers you so much then learn to play better!"

"It doesn't bother me! But when he gets rid of the competition, he enjoys it too much, like a cold-blooded killer. It's annoying when someone gets rid of you and also enjoy it so much, it even seems that winning is not what he likes..., I think that even if he doesn't win, if he managed to get rid of most of the competition it's victory enough for him."

"...Okay, stop it, I know you are procrastinating, but what you are saying is ridiculous."

"What thing is ridiculous? It's true he enjoys it too much!"

"Mitsuru, everyone in that game enjoys getting rid of each other, even you have made fun of us when we die."

"...Yeah, I guess you're right" at the reply, Daiki held his forehead asking for patience. "But I still think he enjoys it, he even gets this wicked smile..."

“Just shut up and do the dishes."

"Okay, okay..., so...," the blond looked at the pile of dishes with annoyance,he then looked at Daiki with supposed innocence. "How about showing me how it's done? Surely my older brother knows how to wash dishes better than I do?"

"Are you really such an idiot that you don't even know how to wash dishes?" the redhead took a plate and then turned on the faucet. "There's no science to it, you just run the dishes through the water and that's it."

"Right..., then let's do that and get it over with" Mitsuru sighed with resignation. With that said, Daiki set about rinsing the dishes and then passing them to Mitsuru to dry.

After a while, the boys finally finished and headed to where their brother was sleeping. Daitaro looked puzzled - had they really done the dishes?

"We're done!" they both exclaimed in unison. At the shout, Masaru snapped awake and looked at his brothers momentarily panicked.

"Ah... It's you guys" replied the black haired as soon as he calmed down "I decided I wouldn't cook anything until you washed the dishes, so..."

"We already washed them” Mitsuru replied. Masaru arched an eyebrow. What kind of obvious lie was that?

"Sure...” Masaru muttered without believing a word of it.

"Then come and see, if you don't believe us you'll at least have to believe it if you see it" said Daiki. Masaru and Daitaro stood up curiously. They walked to the kitchen, where they indeed noticed that the dishes were clean as well as the plates.

"I can't believe this..." said Masaru as he and Daitaro examined the dishes.

"We didn't want to wash, but Daiki finally had a change of heart and..."

"They're not clean," Masaru said as he interrupted Mitsuru. Mitsuru was silent as he listened to him. What did he mean they weren't clean?

"What, what do you mean they're not?!” Daiki exclaimed to his green eyed brother.

“I’m not lying, look” Masaru said as he showed them the plates with leftover food, not very visible but it was there nonetheless. Daitaro just stood silently and watched the scene.

"So, what does it matter? The water stream took most of it away" said Daiki.

"Yes! It took most of it away!” Mitsuru repeated. Daiki looked at Mitsuru reluctantly and just sighed. Masaru looked at them in disgust. What had they said?

"The water stream...? Hey, didn't you use soap?” Masaru questioned. The other two were silent. "There's a sponge for washing the dishes with soap… You didn't use it?"

"I expected it from Mitsuru, Daiki... but you...” Masaru said as he covered his face and continued to laugh. "I didn't think you could be so stupid."

"Huh...?” Daiki muttered as he felt his face heat up from embarrassment. 

"That's...!"Daiki shouted as he didn't know how to defend himself. Masaru took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself down. He waited a few seconds, but the moment he saw Daiki; he couldn't help but laugh loudly again.

"I can't... hah, stop it... hah, hah... My ribs hurt..." said Masaru as he was cackling. Daiki frowned in irritation and finally hit him in an attempt to shut him up.

"It's not funny, shut up already!" 

"Sorry, sorry, I couldn't control myself," Masaru said as he approached them again. "The dishes are washed by scrubbing them with the sponge and putting soap on it" the black haired explained as he demonstrated how he put some liquid soap in a bowl of water and washed one of the 'clean' dishes. “You then rinse it and that's it."

“Oh... That's what happens for not paying attention” Mitsuru commented. Masaru nodded. 

"So wash them again and I'll cook something for you guys later, I was looking at a lot of recipes when you weren’t here" said Masaru. Daiki was still feeling embarrassed and annoyed.

"No, you wash them, you dirtied them anyway" Masaru noticed the red head's anger and tried to apologize.

"Haha, sorry for teasing you like that, to be honest... I didn't know about the soap either until one day when I helped Daitaro wash" Masaru said "But it came off as such a silly thing that I thought you would know."

"..." Daiki murdered him with a glare. How dare he tease him like that?

"At least I'm glad you tried to wash the dishes" Masaru said as he shared a slight smirk with Daitaro "But well, if you don't think you're capable of washing them properly then I’ll do it"

"Ugh..." Daiki had heard that as an insult, he was basically calling him useless. "It's okay, I'll wash the dishes again... You won't have anything to complain about."

“You just rinsed them, you're really going to wash them this time" Masaru commented "I'll stay here to make sure you do."

Mitsuru and Daiki looked at Masaru in a silence shared by the four of them, this until Masaru smiled at them from ear to ear, an expression which Daiki observed without knowing what to say; he then sighed.

"Fine... whatever" Daiki said as he turned around determined to get down to washing the dishes as they were meant to be washed.

Masaru watched them as they washed the dishes, he was happy that they had listened to him. Mitsuru took advantage of Daiki washing the dishes to then turn to Daitaro.

"Why so quiet? You didn't even burst out laughing like Masaru."

"Well..., it's just that I understand that you didn't know since I had been washing what you guys used until now" Daitaro said. The other three looked at him confused.

"What, why hadn't you told us anything?" asked Daiki. Daitaro shrugged his shoulders.

"It was just few cutlery, glasses or cereal plates, it's not like our uncle buys us more things other than non-perishable food. Hm, yeah, come to think of it, the milk was a rare occurrence and we were going out to eat so there wasn't much to wash."

"But..." Daiki muttered as he felt conflicted again by what was said.

"If I didn't do it then the dirty dishes would pile up" Daitaro explained "But like I said, it wasn't much so I didn't make a big deal out of it."

"...Daitaro, sometimes you're too kind" replied Mitsuru "I thank you for doing that, but it's not like it's your obligation to clean up."

"Gee, I'd say something but since I haven't been helping much either, I don't think I have the right" said Masaru.

"Huh? What?" the long-haired one noticed the strange mood that had formed, so he tried to do something about it. "Hey..., don't exaggerate, I only washed the dishes, it's not like I cleaned the apartment or do laundry."

"Good thing that guy calls someone for that, but... Anyway, sorry" Daiki said.

"How to know we've never washed the dishes without saying we've never washed them? But hey, better late than never” Mitsuru said.

"Hey..., I didn't say it to make you feel bad, in fact I wasn't planning to say anything” Daitaro remarked as he sought Masaru's help with his eyes.

"Well..., I can't do anything about what I didn't wash anymore..., but I can promise to cook something tasty" Masaru said very confidently. "I'll cook something that Daitaro likes to thank him for everything he's done for us so far."

"Huh...? Masaru, that's not necessary..."

"Yes it is!” Masaru stated. "I'll go buy some more stuff to make something yummy to eat, so finish washing up.”

"What the…? Then why don't you guys go while we are washing the dishes?" asked Mitsuru.

"I can't leave, I have to make sure you wash them properly, after all... you didn't know soap was used for that" Masaru said teasingly, though hearing a slight grunt from Daiki, he decided not to continue. 

Once they finished washing the dishes and received approval from both Masaru and Daitaro, the two decided to leave.

"We won't be long.”

Mitsuru and Daiki watched the two walk towards the entrance to then leave. The blond looked at his brother analyzing his reaction. Daiki frowned as he felt the blue eyed one's gaze. He closed his eyes and sighed. Before Mitsuru could say anything, the red-eyed one interrupted him.

“You better not say anything."