The Golden Pear [YA - Featured]

♫~Notes 22~♫

 The rustling of papers filled the room with his brother's whispers. One design after another passed around them, and before Rigaku knew it, he had fallen asleep. No fever dream interrupted his rest. Only a figure with hair made of fall leaves and emerald eyes danced with the wind under the full moon in a garden.

"I like these ten," Aiyoku whispered as he showed his paper where he took down numbers of designs he enjoyed. His eyes trailed to Rigaku, and he gestured to the others.

Kagetsu grinned. "Well, I still had a rope ready just in case."

They giggled and picked all the stuff to move to Kagetsu's suite. Upon entering, the youngest brother dashed inside, treasure hunting for any obvious mess and underwear. Aiyoku sighed, and Freya enjoyed herself.

'How strange to be with people my age.' She stole a glance at the middle triplet, who came into the flat. 'How long has it been?'

"It's all clear," he announced, earning a blowing raspberry from his youngest brother.

'What?' Freya puckered, spurting in laughter. Kagetsu looked like a delinquent from the old cartoons, yet he acted like a small kid here.

She went into the apartment, seeing the blond sibling giving his smaller brother a neck-lock. 'It must be nice to have siblings.'

After this, they talked and gestured what ideas should move to the Top Ten. The girl covered her mouth, yawning as tiredness washed over her.

"Sorry, I'll take you home," Kagetsu suggested, glancing at the clock. "It's after midnight?"

Aiyoku had to check the time too. "No way. No wonder I feel dead tired."

Freya stood up, ready to go back.

"Wait!" The black-haired sibling stopped her. "Before you would arrive there, the school would start. You can stay in my room."

The girl shook her head, trying to gesture she would be fine.

"Sorry, I'm too dumb to get what no means." He winked at her. "I'll lend you my pajama." He dashed to his built-in closet. "And no worry! It's clean and washed!" He peeked from behind the open wardrobe before diving inside. "Here it is." He closed it.

His older brother burst into laughing, the sleepiness withdrawing. "Carrots! Seriously?"

Kagetsu puckered his lips. "So what? I like them." He put next to the girl a pajama set with big, smiling carrots and swirls.

'So cute,' Freya thought, watching the brothers teasing each other.

"Here is my card. Just flash it in front of the lock, and it closes or opens. The dot turns red or green, respectively."

The girl nodded, taking it.

The not so delinquent brother dashed into the bathroom. "I'll get you clean toothbrush and towels, and..." His voice died out as he dived inside. When everything was ready, he added, "And with this, I'm crashing on your bed, bro." Kagetsu sent Aiyoku a playful smile, who needed a second to realize the truth.

"No way! You take the couch!" The blond brother followed outside, and nothing about them was serious. They both had fun teasing each other.

Freya rubbed her temples, getting up to get ready to sleep. Twenty minutes later, she crawled into the bed. 'So soft...' And she had fallen asleep within a minute. Three tiny figures ran around her, with sun and moon high in the sky.

\\_(''>_<'')_//

In the last apartment, Kagetsu headed to the bathroom to change into his pajama.

"Seriously?" Aiyoku asked, in the middle of changing, when his sibling entered the room. "Are you a girl?"

"Zip it!" he barked with a tint of red on his face and plopped onto the bed.

There, he faced away from his brother, who took the other half. Sharing the blanket, they had stared into the walls.

'I think we used to love to snuggle into one bed when we were kids,' Kagetsu thought before falling asleep. 'When did we grow so distant?'

\\_(''>_<'')_//

The red-haired girl turned to her left side, snuggling in the blanket with a small smile. 'I don't want to wake up.' The rest lasted for a few more seconds as she jolted, sitting up. 'The school!'

She pushed the cover, leaving the bed. Her legs tangled up, ending up on the floor with a bang. She rubbed her forehead, and the minute of silence in her brain cleared it.

'Where?' She looked around, needing a moment to remember she was in Kagetsu's room. She let out a big breath and freed her limbs. The wave of panic dissipated for terror taking its place.

'I'm late!' Her throat tried to scream as her eyes found out the school started an hour ago. She sprinted toward the door, but she glimpsed her college uniform hanging on a rack. 'I didn't...'

Curiosity and confusion calmed her as she approached it. There was a big paper pinned to the bag. 'Kagetsu-san?'

"Hi, sorry for checking on you when you were sleeping, but we didn't want to wake you up after what you had to go through yesterday. We had your clothes cleaned and..."

A picture of sweat drops and a blushing smile followed.

"... I, Kagetsu, have brought you some... underwear."

Freya's eyes ventured down under the rack where a pack of at least five sat.

"I don't know what size you have, so I took a few. Sorry. Don't hurry to school. We'll get you notes, so take a rest, and beat Rigaku if he tries to peek out of his place :-D You can use my card to access his room too.

Kagetsu and Aiyoku"

Freya smiled as her body turned a bit wobbly. 'I guess a day off would do good for me.' Her stomach rumbled. She hugged it. 'Did I eat dinner yesterday?' It roared once more. 'No, I skipped it.' The sheepish smile lasted on her face for a while. 'But it was so much fun.'

She changed her clothes, putting the pajama into a small bag. 'I should wash it later.'

She used the card to get out and headed to Rigaku's one to check on him. Before the door frame, she listened for any sounds. Nothing appeared, so she peeked inside to find Rigaku laying in his bed.

'No runaway this time.'

"Freya-san?" He pushed glasses on his nose.

She bit her tongue, as her classmate wasn't sleeping. She came into the room, giving him a small wave.