Ain't nobody messin' with Mama Muffin

End of the meeting...?

"But then Andreas comes in. He has a bag with him. He sees me and freezes. At that moment I knew."

Emma chuckled.

"And I ask him what's going on. And he says, he accidentally baked two hundred cupcakes. Accidentally baked two hundred fifty cupcakes because he was sleepy and it felt right."

Your sister was emphasizing way too much to your liking. She wasn't lying, but you didn't quite appreciate the way it was told.

You had you pride.

That day, that moment, there was something important and so you had to make the muffins. It was as simple as that. Plus it felt normal on the instant.

"So yeah, in the end we left eighteen muffins at home and brought the rest to school. That day we made maaany friends."

Pouting slightly at the weird experience, you raised your head to defend yourself.

"I was still dreaming! I don't remember exactly what it was about, it happened a year ago, but there was a party going on or something, I'm not sure." 

And then it hit you. August 30th was a birthday. Emma seemed to have remembered the same thing, "It's a birthday.", she said for your defense.

"Izana's birthday!", you realized.

The satisfying feeling of having a valid argument against whatever conclusion your sister could get out of the story quickly disappeared upon seeing at Emma's shocked facial expressions.

"I mean- Izana-san right? His birthday is on August 30th, right? I- I just remembered that, suddenly..."

Emma quickly changed her surprised expression to a reassuring smile, "You are right.", she then hesitated, as if she wanted to ask you something but wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do.

"Yes?", you asked her, trying to give her the most encouraging look you could pull off.

"So, hum, how much do you remember about Izana?"

"Oh. Well I- I know he is your brother, and, well since a while ago, I know his birthday... And maybe his face? I'm not sure.", and that was pretty much what you could confidently reveal without arising suspicions.

Emma's expression seemed to sadden a little, apparently it was hard to accept that you couldn't recall anything you lived with them.

Meanwhile Yuhuza made a sign for the waiter to bring the check, letting Taiju put the plates together. The tall  man slightly retracted his hand as he noticed your almost full plate, "Have you finished?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm not hungry today. I think I'll ask whether I can bring it home with me.", you replied, to which Taiju responded with an 'Alright' and  went for your sister's plate instead.

As attempt to resume the conversation, you asked Emma if Izana-san was her only brother.

"No, we are four siblings." 

'Four?', you tried acting slightly taken aback.

"Yes, three older brother."

"Three? Must be rough to have three older siblings, I have one and it's more than enough.", you jokingly commented, while internally asking yourself where the heck the confidence to do it was coming from.

You automatically lowered your head, slightly smirking, to avoid a flick in the forehead from the mentioned older sibling seating on your left.

Asta let it pass with a sigh and went on with her conversation with the recently arrived waitress.

Emma's smile brightened, (maybe because she was glad you felt relaxed enough to make jokes?), and answered that in fact she was the one who gave orders, plus one of them had already left the house. 

That one was probably Shinichiro. You hoped he was doing well but what worried you more was the fact that Izana and Mikey were cohabiting in the same house.

You noticed Yuhuza pondering a thought for a short while before hesitantly reaching out to you, "Andreas-san?"

A "Yes, darling?" automatically came out of your mouth. You paled as you realized the endearing term you, too boldly (at least for you) used, "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to"-

"It's okay." Taiju interrupted you, looking straight into your eyes, "You used to say that a lot."

You blinked a few times, "So it's alright with you all if I use it?"

"It's alright with us.", smiled Yuhuza before pursuing with the thing she wanted to ask you, "So, how do you remember things? Does it suddenly appear in you mind?"

You shook your head, "It needs a trigger. Sometimes I don't even remember but I feel familiarity or a secure feeling coming from a certain thing or place. But what does happen, is that if I fall asleep near someone or something familiar, I might dream with a memory, hum, involving the, the trigger. Do you understand? Or do you want me to explain more?"

You starred at all of them, Emma was slowly nodding as she assimilated the new information.

"It's, it's understandable." replied Taiju, deeply thinking about it, "So we'll have to meet each other more for you to regain your memories."

You frowned your eyebrows, tried to answer but couldn't. This thought never crossed your mind. 

"Yes? Apparently... ?", boy did that sound like you were taking advantage of them. Hell nah you had to protect the babies, not enjoy the babies. Damn that felt wrong  again.

"So, do you guys want to go to our house now or something, to continue our conversation?", asked Asta, getting up, ready to leave the restaurant.

"Well we have no plans for the evening," replied Yuhuza checking with Taiju (who nodded) then asking Emma, "how about you?"

"Neither I actually, I made sure early to not have plans today, just in case, so it's alright for me too."

Everyone stood up, internally satisfied with how the events had turned out, and walked to the entrance as you all planned on how to go there.