The morning after.

Unsurprisingly, Leonardo woke up first and at a very early hour. It was 5:30 am, so three and a half hours of sleep for him. It was enough, but they wouldn’t be for the two girls with him on his futon. He wanted to stay there a little longer, relishing on the softness of their naked bodies against his, but with more people in the house, there was more to do. Breakfast and lunches for seven people, though eight this time counting Reiko.

It said something about how tired they were that, when Leo got up, the girls barely stirred. He felt bad for them. They wouldn’t have a very nice day. After Kaede had spent a good chunk of the other night watching TV and had little sleep, Leo had read that eggs in the morning helped with sleep deprivation, and green tea was a bit better than coffee. Mmm. There was an idea.

He took a shower and got changed into his uniform even as Angela and Reiko still slept. He went to the kitchen and got to work. He’d make tamagoyaki for breakfast. He had made it yesterday and tried not to make it every day, lest they all grew sick of it, but he could make an exception today. He also chopped some pickled plumes into a fine paste and mixed it with the rice. There was some salmon left, too, so it’d be nice to have that grilled. That sounded like an energizing breakfast. As for lunch, on top of the usual dishes, he filled a thermos with hot green tea to either drink like that or pour on the rice and thus make ochazuke. That’d make for a light and energizing midday meal, he hoped.

At 6:40 am, he decided it was time for them to wake up. Went back to his room, and sure enough, the two were still fast asleep. He shook them lightly by the shoulders to wake them up. Well, that woke Angela up. Reiko was a bit of a heavy sleeper, apparently, so he had to shake her a bit harder.

“Wha!? What!?” she asked, hastily sitting up.

“6:40, girls. Time to rise.”

Angela groaned loudly. “God, how I envy you…” she told him as she moved the covers and got up, still in her naked glory. “I wish I could get by with a couple of hours of sleep…”

Reiko looked around in a daze, but after seemingly remembering where she was, she went back to bed, curling into a ball as she pleaded for “five more minutes…”

Leo ruthlessly snatched away the covers from her, leaving the poor and naked girl exposed. “Last warning before I bring a glass of water.”

She looked at him with lazy skepticism. “You wouldn’t do that.”

“Be back in a second,” Leo said, turning to leave the room.

“I’m up! I’m up!” And thus, Reiko was up in a second.

He greeted the girls good morning with a quick kiss and left them to take a shower and get dressed as he went back to the kitchen. The next one to come in was Mrs. Wisler, who greeted him politely as always before she sat down to watch TV. The next one was Valerie, fully dressed in her uniform but still rubbing the sleepiness out of her eyes. Kaede and Seina came in at around the same time, with Angela and Reiko closely behind. They all sat around the table, waiting for Leo to ask any of them to help with the plates. The last one to arrive was Lucia, and her presence alone silenced the room. The mature blonde glanced at them all, but her eyes fell on Kaede.

“Chiteki-san, could you come with me for a moment, please?”

“!!!” Kaede stiffened. She clearly didn’t want to go. In a panic, she turned to look at him for help, but deciding to believe in Lucia, Leo gave Kaede a smile and a nod. The frightened girl almost looked betrayed and turned to Reiko. His girlfriend smiled sheepishly and nodded towards the door as well. And like a convict who knew the **** sentence in inevitable, Kaede stood up with slumped shoulders and followed Lucia.

Leo grabbed a rag, cleaned his hands and turned to the table. “Angela, Valerie, take the food to the table, please.” Without waiting for a response, Leo left the dining room as well, hearing Mrs. Wisler chuckle behind him. He wanted to believe in Lucia, but he didn’t believe THAT much.

He leaned against the wall, on an outside corner on the hallway, away from their eyes, as he heard the two women talk.

“I need to apologize for what I said yesterday,” Lucia said. Her voice didn’t sound as distant as usual. “It was uncalled for and out of line. My mother personally invited you here, so whatever your reasons, you have a right to stay. Again, I apologize.”

“N-No, it’s fi-” Leo couldn’t see them, but heard her cutting off her own sentence. “Yes… I accept your apology,” she said. It was in a low and meek voice, but it made Leo feel proud of her. It may not seem like much, but she could tell and accept that Lucia was in the wrong, not her. The fact that she could say that despite how much the older woman intimidated her spoke volumes of her desire for growth.

“I do want to make one thing clear,” Lucia continued. “You probably think I’m apologizing because Leonardo asked me to, and you wouldn’t be wrong. But that’s not all there is to it.” She took a deep breath. “I’ve been paying attention to everyone in this house, and to be honest, you’re the one who interests me the most.”

“Eh?”

“For a long time, I’ve know that people are, by nature, selfish creatures driven by their own desires. You don’t interest me because you’re different, but because you’re just realizing that getting what you want is fine. It’s true that I had my reasons to say what I did, and that if you weren’t here perhaps I’d have more of Leonardo’s… time to myself. But if we’re going to be living together, I’d like to see you grow, Chiteki-san. Take advantage of your Gift and everything you have and grasp what you want. You’ll find that life will be a little less dull if you do.”

“Um… I… I’ll try…?”

He didn’t know how, but once more, Leo felt like the air around them had grown less tense. He guessed it was impossible for Lucia to become a different person overnight, perhaps she never would. But if her strong personality was aimed to things like encouraging a shy girl, even if it was in her own arrogant way, perhaps it wasn’t all that bad.