The entire house had finally fallen asleep.
Izumi slept like some kind of enlightened deity.Takeru slept like a soldier on standby.Mei slept like a tiny sweet bun.
And Harumi… well… Harumi slept like she'd been run over by a moving futon.
Blanket on the floor.Pillow abandoned.One sock missing.Hair looking like it had fought a power outlet — and lost.
Everything was peaceful.Until—
tap… tap… tap…
"Haaaruu…?"
Harumi opened one eye. Then the other.She looked like an old computer booting up after twenty years.
"Hmmm…?"
Mei stood beside the bed, eyes watery.
"K-Kuma-chan…"
Harumi blinked. And blinked. And blinked again.
"K–Kuma…chan?"
"My little monkey…" Mei sniffled. "He stayed outside…"
Harumi shot up so fast the futon tried to murder her by grabbing her foot.
"WHAT?! THE MONKEY IS OUTSIDE IN THE COLD AT THIS HOUR?! THAT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL!"
Izumi opened one eye.
"Harumi… it's two in the morning…"
"EXACTLY THE TIME A PLUSH MONKEY SUFFERS THE MOST!" Harumi declared dramatically, pushing her hair back like a tragic heroine.
Izumi rolled to the other side.
"Good luck… midnight vigilante…"
Harumi grabbed the first clothes she could find.The hoodie ended up backwards.The pants were Izumi's.And, for some reason… she put on an apron.
Yes. An apron.
Mei returned wearing fluffy slippers, and before they could leave, Takeru appeared in the hallway.
"Where are you going?" he asked, looking like a grumpy miniature samurai.
"To rescue Kuma-chan!" Harumi announced like she was starting a military operation.
Takeru sighed deeply.
"I know where he is."
Harumi froze.
"WHAT?!"
"At Grandpa's house."
Her eyes widened.
Grandpa's house…?Wait…So they have a house?Does that mean…THEY RAN AWAY FROM HOME?!
Harumi swallowed her panic.
"H-How… how so? Grandpa's house…?"
Takeru simply put on his coat.
"Let's go."
And off they went at 2:30 a.m.:A clumsy adult, a little girl starving for affection, and a boy who looked like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.
But nothing could prepare Harumi for what she would learn in the next chapter.