Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mary stared at the book in her hands. A boy and girl were on the cover.

Kido had confined her boy’s love manga the day before. Mary begged to have it returned, but Kido didn’t budge. She only kept saying “You’ve been reading too many!’’ time and time again. She pouted. Romance manga is romance! Whether between two boys or a boy and a girl didn’t matter!

Konoha only asked her what she was reading! That he ended up asking the boys about it wasn’t her fault!

The medusa was about to go into a fit of rage, but Seto had calmed her down. Told her that Kido was just embarrassed. Kano chimed in that he would love to re-enact some of her manga and laughed at the blushing Seto and Shintaro. Momo also stepped up to defend her. She mentioned that her ‘idiotic brother’ should’ve been the one to deal with Konoha. Shintaro replied by dishing out some insults. Hibiya quietly sat himself down in a corner of the room. Mary didn’t catch all he was muttering, but she did hear a ‘stupid old people’ coming from him. (Why did he never smile? she wondered.)

It was always lively in the secret base of the Blindfold Gang. They had started with four members and they expanded rapidly. She loved all of her friends dearly.

She had heard a girl with a red scarf had been the founder, but she never had a chance to meet her. Mary had wondered where she was, but it was a sensitive topic. Thus she only observed. Concluded on her own.

The white-haired girl pursed her lips and softly opened the book. The sound of rustling paper was calming and enjoyable. However, the plot of this manga was quite boring. It was a typical ‘girl meets boy and they fall in love’ plotline. Boring and predictable. She had hoped Kido had better taste in manga.

“We have an age gap of 10 years!” Mary read aloud. The first ‘hurdle’ in the plot, but why was it a hurdle in the first place?

Age, why was it that it held such an importance for humans? Being part-Medusa Mary never truly understood the meaning. She had been around for 300 years. Yet she looked 16. Did that make her a monster? Was she one after all…?

“I’ll always be an old hag!” Interesting, the female protagonist sounded like Hibiya.

But, what did that make Mary? Three hundred years was a lot older than an average human. She didn’t even remember her own birthday! Her looks and real age, was that going to be a problem?

Age is just a number.

That was what she always thought. It was what her mom said sometimes too. Mother also told her that the numbers increasing to show the time passed was nothing to fret about. But, could she really not worry? Humans emphasize those numbers all the time. How could she ignore that?

“Then… I’ll become an old hag too!” And, that was too cheesy for her taste. It was impossible to manipulate age like that.

Mary shut the book.

Yet…

The thought of seeing everyone growing old while remaining so young-looking herself terrified her.

Chapter Text

They finally did it! She had to reset time and time and time again, but her Medusa powers finally weren’t needed anymore. Together, they all defeated the Snake of Clearing eyes! She never had to see her friends suffer ever again. No more murder. A happy ending, right?

A voice in the back of her mind whispered that everyone she loved would die of old age in the end. Nothing could stop that. The only thing she could do was watch.

“Are you okay, Mary?”

Mary looked up and met Seto’s worried gaze. The other members had also stopped their conversations; curious gazes were aimed at her. Everyone was too kind…

“Y-yeah! I’m fine,” she shrieked.“N-nothing is wrong at all!” What was she thinking? Silly her.

Chapter Text

‘Everything feels so strange,’ Mary thought while gazing out of the window. For a moment it felt like she was back at the start of this all. Back in her little cottage, all alone.

The group had split up. Momo and Shintaro had returned to their mother, Hibiya went back to the countryside and Takane and Haruka rented an apartment together. After supposedly being dead for years they couldn’t face their family again. The only factor that remained the same was that Kido, Kano and Seto stayed together with her in the base.

For some reason their summer memories had begun to fade. But why? Mary clutched her dress. Why? It had only been 3 years. Why won’t they meet up?

She kept asking Seto, but he always said the same. He kept saying that they were trying. That it had been a while since they last saw each other indeed, but everyone was busy. Every time he ended it with a ‘We will meet again’ and smiled.

Mary gritted her teeth. Tears filled her vision. Been a while? What exactly was a while? What was time in the end? Just a number, right? Then, why did she worry so much?

Chapter Text

The girl clutched a pouch with money in her arms. She had decided to go out to buy flowers for her mom and grandmother. Mary had snuck out in order to not worry the others. It was a difficult time for everyone after all. They had all lost loved ones on August 15^th.

She also made sure to not go to the shop Seto worked at! Aside from that, she had also tied up her white hair and hid it in a large hat! She finished the look with sunglasses. It’d be awful if she got caught; secret mode on!

Mary opened the door softly. There were all kinds of beautiful flowers, she recognized a lot of them, but she already knew which to buy. It had become a yearly tradition to get her flowers here, after all.

She made her way to the white roses, but she bumped into someone else.

“I-I’m so so sorry!” she screeched and bowed multiple times.  She slowly looked up when the stranger only sighed. The sound reminded her of Shintaro.

“You better be,” the boy responded. He looked strangely familiar to her. The brown hair and eyes, a blue short-sleeved hoodie and a stern expression.

“Hibiya, long time no see!” Mary shouted with delight. She clasped her hands together in excitement. The boy had grown so much! He was surely just as tall as Seto! Maybe he was around 20 years? She wasn’t sure, but he looked a lot like it.

“Do I know you?” Hibiya replied with a slight annoyance in his voice.

Mary was only able to stare at him with her large pink eyes.

Chapter Text

Mary clutched the roses in her hands. She had gotten more than she needed in her panic. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. She had to gather up the courage.

She opened her eyes and made her way to the grave of mister and misters Tateyama. It was her time to pay her respects to them as well. The last few times she had been with Seto, Kano and Kido, but she had to do her own part as well. This time around they split up first and would meet up later instead of the other way around.

She wanted to thank their parents for taking them in. And to thank the girl whom taught them all to believe in themselves.

Mary knelt down and put down the three roses. The sun was setting and the light shone upon them. It looked beautiful.

The words of the Clearing Eyes from a long time ago echoed in her mind. Beautiful tragedy.

She shook her head. No! Bad thoughts! She had to focus on her task! She carefully took an incense stick from her pocket and lit it.

She put her hands together and closed her eyes.

“Thank you, mister and misters Tateyama. And miss Tateyama as well. Without all of you, my dear friends wouldn’t be here today,” she said. “I’m sorry I never got to meet you properly. I regret not befriending you when I had the chance in another timeline. I would’ve liked to know you better.”

She opened her eyes. That was all she was able to do. She should go back to-

“Mary, is that you?”

Mary turned around and noticed two people standing there. The woman whom had called out to her had short orange hair and her eyes were a bright brown. She was wearing a cute dress. Next to her stood a man with black hair in a small ponytail. His brown eyes were framed by glasses. He was wearing a suit, but he had his sleeves rolled up. A red scarf was tied around his wrist.

“Momo? Shintaro?” she managed to get out. Her throat felt tight.

“You look exactly the same,” Shintaro dryly commented. Momo playfully punched his side and he yelped. At least that aspect of them never changed.

“It’s been 10 years and that’s the first thing you tell her? Geez, what a lousy teacher you are!”

Mary clutched her dress. They aged so much… compared to her friends she saw every day the difference was more shocking.

Ten… ten years. That would mean that they are now around 26 and 28… almost 30.

…what a number.

Chapter Text

“I don’t think we can live here forever,” Kido had brought up one morning during breakfast.

Everyone had fallen quiet. No one objected. Seto smiled sadly and Kano looked the same as ever.

“What do you mean?” Mary asked. No way, they all agreed with her?

“I think we should split and get our own apartments,” she suggested. “This place, I dearly love it, is getting too small for us all.”

“Uhm! Isn’t there an option to move to a bigger apartment with all of us?” Mary rebutted.

“That’d be too expensive,” Seto explained. He put one hand on her shoulder.

“But, we could make it work!” Her shoulders were trembling.

“We can keep in contact with video calls,” Kano quipped.

“That is a given,” Kido agreed. “Does everyone agree?”

Kano and Seto ended up agreeing with her. Everyone, except Mary, had a stable job after all.

Mary was the only one who didn’t answer.

Was there a way to rewind the numbers?

Chapter Text

Mary looked out of the window. The streets were filled with people.

She now lived in a small apartment with Seto, but it felt so empty. Seto was out for work most of the time. Kano and Kido both had full-time jobs as well. Thus it was getting more and more difficult to have video calls with them; let alone meet up face to face. The one time they did meet up Mary wasn’t allowed in the bar they went to. She didn’t know how long ago that had been.

“I want to go back,” she whispered. She clenched her fists. Going back in time wasn’t an option; yet she couldn’t rid herself of the thought. Her vision began to blur and she furiously wiped the tears away with her sleeve.

As if possessed she jumped up and ran out of the front door. She needed out.

Mary kept running and running and running and running and running. People’s gasps, yelling, cars honking; she registered none of that. She just kept going.

Suddenly, she was yanked back. Her world momentarily stilled. As if in slow motion she fell back and was held against a body.

“Mary, are you okay?” a gentle voice spoke. It seemed familiar yet so much more mature.

She was turned around, but the grip on her wrist sustained. She looked up at the tall man.

He had long light brown hair in a ponytail. His eyes were black, but they had a gentle spark in them. Surprisingly, a mark with 3 circles was on his cheek. His smile lit up his face; it calmed Mary.

“Haruka,” she whispered. Her voice had a tone of wonder in them.

“Yeah, that’s me,” he responded. With his free hand he scratched his neck. His cheeks were a bit flushed. “Let’s go to a quieter place before we continue talking, okay?”

Mary only managed to nod.

The walk was spent in comfortable silence. She followed Haruka’s lead. He never let go of her wrist; as if afraid she was going to disappear again.

They ended up in front of a house. Haruka took out a pair of keys and unlocked the door. He wordlessly began to lead her to the living room. Mary looked around. Lots of pictures were there. Most were of him and a woman. She also spotted a picture taken before they split up. Everyone looked so young there.

Mary sat down on the couch and put her hands in her lap.

“Don’t be a stranger okay? Give me a moment to inform-” Haruka began, but he was interrupted by someone coming down the stairs.

“Haruka, help me out, she is crying and I don’t know how you do it, but I swear please help,” the woman sighed. “I love her, I love you and I know you wanted to focus on painting today, but I can’t go record-”

She halted midway her rambling. Mary stared at her with big pink eyes. She didn’t get why she hadn’t realized from the pictures alone. The woman with short black hair and brown eyes underlined with eye bags was hard to dismiss.

Two shouts erupted at the same time. “Mary!” and “Takane!” filled the room.

“Haruka?” Haruka sheepishly added. Both girls glared at him and he chuckled.

“It has been so many years, hasn’t it? Yet, I still recognized you right away!” Takane started while she made her way to the couch. “And you recognized me too! Do you watch my Youtube?”

“You-what?” Mary responded and tilted her head.

The years being mentioned again. Why was everyone so fixed on the years, those numbers?

“It’s a site where you upload videos and an audience watches them. I have quite a fan base,” she explained while she sat down next to her. “Once you have enough viewers you’re able to earn money with it in combination with sponsorships.”

“I’m not good with websites…”

“Don’t worry Mary, I’m not good with all the social media stuff either,” Haruka chimed in. Mary didn’t know when, but he had joined them on her other side.

“You really should set up an account, jeez. Your art is too good to not be shared!” Takane huffed. She paused and directed her attention to Mary again. The girl was wiping her eyes. “Mary?”

She didn’t know when she had started crying, but her vision was all blurry. Everything felt so nostalgic yet she felt like she had no place left. She opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out.

Warm arms embraced her.

“Don’t worry, you can let it all out,” Haruka whispered. “You can tell us what’s wrong later.”

Mary lost it.

Chapter Text

Mary didn’t know how long it had been, but after a while her tears finally stopped.

Haruka had pulled back and gave her a smile. “Feeling better?”

At the same time, Takane leant forward. “I’m not so good at this, b-but hold still,” she stammered. She was holding a handkerchief. The woman leant forward and gently dabbed Mary’s face. Her hand was so shaky; Mary couldn’t hold back a smile. She looked so different yet remained unchanged personality-wise. She only had calmed down a lot more compared to the shrieking Takane, and Ene, from years before.

“Thank you both,” Mary said. She fell quiet.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Haruka suggested. Takane nodded in agreement. In that moment, they reminded her of the times her own mother would ask her the same thing. She felt like she wanted to tell them everything.

“It… it is silly,” Mary started and looked at the ground. The carpet looked fluffy. “Everyone keeps growing older, moving on… yet here I am. Still looking and being the same as ever. The years keep coming by and it feels like I am the only one bothered by the number of years growing larger each year.”

She hiccupped. She wanted to cry, but she had nothing left after all that.

“That must’ve been so difficult to tell us. Please look at me and listen.”

Mary looked up, surprisingly it was Takane whom spoke. Her eyes looked sad; recalling a memory.

“It’s not silly at all. I felt the exact same way when I was stuck as Ene,” she continued. “But, I couldn’t show anyone. No one recognized me. A-ack, don’t look away! I don’t want to start a pity party in here! I just meant to say that your feelings aren’t silly! And that we could’ve tried harder to keep in contact! To set up a reunion! That’s the least we can do after all you’ve suffered!”

 “Suffered?” Mary asked. “I wouldn’t call it suffering…”

“Graaah! I misspoke- I, uh, heard of your time powers from Shintaro,” she explained. “We didn’t want to bring up painful memories for you so we never went to you about it.”

“Oh.”

A silence fell.

It was broken when a tiny girl holding a sketchbook sprinted into the room.

“Moooooooom, daaaaaaaad!” she wailed. “Mom, you said you were getting dad! Oh-!”  

She skidded to a halt in front of Mary. Curious bright brown eyes stared at her. Her short brown hair framed her face.

“Who is this princess?” the girl asked. Her eyes were sparkling. For a moment, Mary thought they flickered red. But, that would be impossible.

“Sunshine, this is Mary,” Haruka explained. “She is a very dear friend of us.”

“O-oh! Nice to meet you!” she exclaimed; almost dropping her sketchbook. Mary was too distracted by everything happening at once and didn’t catch her name. The child was silently staring at her again.

“Nice to meet you too,” Mary timidly responded. They already had a child…

“So! Mommy and daddy made you cry!” the girl scolded. “I am going to fix this!”

She put down her sketchbook and climbed into Mary’s lap.

“Princess Mary! Tell me!”

Mary giggled. “I’m fine again.”

“Nuh-uh!” the girl poked her nose. “Wrong answer!”

She looked at the feisty little girl on her lap. For some reason she reminded her of a girl with a red scarf in another timeline whom had looked at her the same way… But this little girl wasn’t hostile at all; just passionate.

“I… I miss all my friends. It has been a very long time since I saw them,” she admitted.

“Then! We have to fix it! Dad, hand over the phone!”

“Alright, sweetheart.” Haruka handed her the phone.

“Really? We’re doing this?”

“Okay! Give me the names of those friends!” She fiddled around with the screen and opened up something that looked like the chatrooms Seto had shown her once. They had tried keeping in contact there, but no one ever send messages anymore…

“Momo, Shintaro, Kido, Kano, Takane, Haruka and Hibiya. Seto as well, even though I live with him.”

“I can’t find any Haruka’s on this, but I did find the others! And even yours, Princess Mary!” She tapped wildly on the screen. “And done!”

Takane had pulled out her own phone and was staring at her screen. “Princess Mary misses everyone; come over to this address tonight…! I command you all! In the name of justice!” she recited in a monotone voice.

“That sounds good to me,” Haruka added.

“But dad, why don’t you have Haruka in your phone?” she said when she handed his phone back to her father.

“It’s a secret.”

“Daaaaaaaaad! Meany!” She jumped up from Mary’s lap and went to grab her sketchbook. “I don’t even want to draw with you anymore!” she exclaimed while running back upstairs.

“So, do you want to stay with us for the reunion party?” Haruka suggested.

“Goodbye schedule,” Takane added with a smile. “Hold on a moment while I’ll inform our little girl. She can handle herself for a bit. After that, let’s go shopping for some snacks together.”

Mary nodded; a smile making way on her face as well.

Chapter Text

[You created a new groups chat called ‘Come tonight! >:))))’. ]

[You added Momo, Shintaro, Kido, Kano, ♡ Takane ♡ , Mary and Hibiya to the chat.]

[You changed the description.]

You: Princess Mary misses everyone! Come over to this address tonight…!

You: (In description!!)

You: I command you all! In the name of justice!

Kano: huh, Haruka u finally learnt how to use this?

♡Takane♡: That was our daughter…

Shintaro: …not sure if impressed or disappointed

♡Takane♡: Oh shut up, NEET

Shintaro: hey! im a teacher now! so its Mister Ex-NEET for you!

♡Takane♡:  What do ya teach? Laziness? Lmao

Shintaro: f u

Kido: I live close to you two; I never knew that. I’ll come. :)

Kido: I’ll go back to work now. See you all later. :)

Seto: Princess Mary??? Is Mary okay?  (´Д｀。)

Seto: She didn’t pick up her phone.  ヽ(´□｀。)ﾉ

Seto: Is she with you guys??? (´；д；`)

Seto: How did she end up there?? If yes?? If no, where is she??? ・(/Д`)・

Seto: But sure! I’ll come!! (・∀・)

Seto: If… Mary is okay, of course. Otherwise I have to look for her! ・(/Д`)・

Kano: Seto plz stop worrying

Kano: she is older than all of us combined lololol

Kano: and Mary totally looks like a princess, doesn’t she?

Kano: but…. yeah is she with you two?

[You sent a picture in the chat.]

Seto: Thank goodness. ヽ(；▽；)ノ♡

Momo: OMG! That’s so cute!! Also!! Love the hair Takane!! And Mary your dress is so ADORB!

Momo: You’re all grocery shopping??? Next time we should do it with EVERYONE!

Momo: Therebetterbeanothertime

Momo: I was SO surprised when I saw this chat! :0000

Momo: But hell yeah, I’m in!!

Shintaro: LANGUAGE MOMO

Momo: You yell worse shit at your games, bro!

Shintaro: aijfaoidfjadfjads

Kano: get rekt mate

Hibiya: Ugh, all of you oldies. Trying to sound hip.

[Hibiya sent a GIF in the chat.]

Hibiya: That is all of you guys right now.

Kano: how do ya do fellow kids? *tips fedora*

Hibiya: STOP THAT!

[Kano sent a sticker in the chat.]

Hibiya: I wanted to put in the effort to be able to come, but I changed my mind.

[Hibiya sent a sticker in the chat.]

Momo: Oh, come on Hibiya! You attend college here now! Plus, you are literally sitting next to me.

[Momo sent a picture in the chat.]

Hibiya: Don’t expose me like that, Momo!

Kano: momo? (   ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Hibiya: That’s it, I’m out.

[Hibiya left the chat.]

Momo: Kano PLZ!

Momo: You’re being just like my brother!

Kano: shit, gotta change that

Kano: opposite… opposite… ah!

Kano: tsubomi? (   ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Momo: KANO! You shouldn’t even know that!

Shintaro: know what

Shintaro: what should he not know

Kano: seeeeeeecreeeeeett~~~

Shintaro: wtf

Shintaro: ….

Shintaro: wait that pic

Shintaro: hibiya is at our house?

Shintaro: ?????

Shintaro: momo…?

Shintaro: guys…?

[Shintaro sent a sticker in the chat.]

Shintaro: that’s it!! Im coming tonight and will lecture all of you!! you dont wanna see teacher Shintaro mad!!

Kano: oooooo, scaryyy!

They had just finished up their groceries trip and were on the way back to the house. Haruka’s and Takane’s house… it was still difficult for Mary to wrap her mind around. Haruka had been holding his phone and snapping pictures of them she had noticed. He just put away his phone with a chuckle.

“Haruka, what are you giggling about?” Takane asked.

“Nothing,” he chirped. “Hibiya left the chat and I re-added him just now.”

Mary flinched at the mention of the teen. Luckily, they didn’t seem to notice. They were too busy talking to each other.

Everything was coming together now… she can’t be the one messing everything up. Not again.

Mary vowed to confront the younger boy later on. It must’ve been a misunderstanding. She had to make sure it was.

“Mary?” a voice interrupted her line of thoughts.

“E-eh?”

“I asked if you wanted to help cook later,” Haruka repeated.

She turned to him with sparkling eyes. “Yes, please!”

Worrying had to wait. Mary had no time to waste with her friends. Every second counted. Time didn’t wait.

Chapter Text

Time did wait when it wanted to, Mary concluded. She stared at the clock on the wall. Every second felt like it lasted ages. She had nothing left to do anymore!

Mary had joined Haruka in the kitchen, but when she managed to burn the rice in the rice cooker he had gently ushered her out. It wasn’t her fault the instructions were confusing! She huffed. Technology was strange.

Her phone buzzed at the same time the doorbell rang.

“Can you please get the door, Mary?” Haruka called from the kitchen.

Mary began to nod, before realizing he couldn’t see her, and instead responded with a: “Sure!”

She pitter-pattered her way to the front door. She opened the door and froze.

Momo and Hibiya were standing there. They both looked the exact same as she had seen them last time.

Hibiya raised an eyebrow at her ‘deer in the headlights’ (as Seto would say) look, but Momo crushed her into a hug before he could say something.

“Mary! It is SO GOOD SEEING YOU AGAIN!” she shouted and then continued with a sheepish tone. “Last time was pretty awkward with that brother of mine… we should catch up for real tonight.”

Mary meekly nodded; unable to do, or say, anything else.

“Momo, volume,” Hibiya sighed. He walked past the two, but he gave Mary’s shoulder a light pat. As if saying hello in his own way. Mary gave him a puzzled glance. “You’re crushing her, just saying.”

“Oh!” Momo gasped and immediately let go of Mary. “Are you okay?”

“Yes…” Mary trailed off. Why was Hibiya acting as if he never met her that day at the store? Did he forget? She… really had to ask him when she could get him alone.

“You sure?” Momo repeated.

That snapped Mary out of her trance. She flushed; she had been staring, hadn’t she? Both Hibiya and Momo were giving her concerned looks now. (At least she thought Hibiya’s look meant that too. She couldn’t read him anymore. She was never close to him in the first place though… despite both having experienced time loops.)

“Yes!” she squeaked and gestured inside towards the living room. “Y-you can wait there!”

Luckily, neither pressed her on it.

Quietly, Mary followed both of them into the room and sat on the opposite couch. There was a silence.

She had time to figure out a plan to get to talk to Hibiya. Can’t time wait for a little? Those numbers kept getting more and more confusing. Everyone’s numbers varied so much. Memories began to fade among the numbers increasing. Age was strange.

Her thoughts were forcibly interrupted. “Mary!”

“Eeeep! Yes?”

“Want to listen to a story?”      

And just like that, time suddenly stopped waiting once more. Minutes flew by fast due to Momo’s chatter. Maybe even an hour. Either way time passed too fast.

Momo’s voice filled the room and Mary hung on every word. She was an amazing story-teller and had a lot of stories to share from what she had been up to. Mary felt a little envious.

Before she knew it, the doorbell rang once more. “I’ll get it!” she shouted and scurried to the door.

She opened the door and witnessed an interesting scene. It felt nostalgic. A soft smile made its way on her face.

Shintaro was bickering with both Kano and Kido; who had teamed up during whatever argument they were having. Seto stood in the middle; trying to calm them down.

“And that is! Why! Jin is the best vocaloid producer!” Shintaro loudly declared. “You two aren’t smart enough to understand his intricate storytelling!”

Kano and Kido both were about to retort, but Seto interrupted. “Hey, Mary!”

All attention was on her and a silence fell.

They stared at her.

Mary stared back at them.

Shintaro still looked the same as when she saw him back at the graveyard, but he was wearing a casual t-shirt instead of a suit this time. (He still had the scarf around his wrist.) Kano’s hair was longer and he looked a bit taller, but he was wearing higher platform boots than before. His height surely was the same.  Kido had cut her hair short and she had bags underneath her eyes. Both weren’t wearing their hoodies anymore.

Everyone was still silent; waiting for her to say something first.

She gulped, but she caught Seto’s eyes before she could panic. Seto’s smile made her feel safe. Right, she could do this.

“Welcome! Momo and Hibiya have already arrived a while ago and this is Takane and Haruka’s place…” she trailed off.

Shintaro perked up at the mention of his sister; his eyes were full of fire for a reason Mary could not understand. He marched inside right away after a quick ‘hi’.

“Ooooh! I gotta see this!” Kano whistled. “It is nice to see you again, Mary.” He ruffled her hair and quickly followed the determined Shintaro.

“…I’ll make sure they won’t destroy the house,” Kido sighed, but she followed with a smile. “Mary, I’m glad to see you’re doing well.”

Mary nodded. The ex-Dan leader stepped inside and walked past. Mary was about to follow her when Seto pulled her into a hug without any warning. He didn’t say anything.

“Seto?” she whispered.

“I’m so glad you’re okay, Mary,” he began softly. “I was so worried when I came back to an empty home.”

She felt her face heat up. His voice sounded raspy; had he been crying earlier? “I’m sorry, Seto.”

He pulled away, but he kept his hands on her shoulders. He looked her right in the eyes. “Don’t be.” He smiled at her; a fond look in his eyes. “We can talk about what’s been bothering you when you’re ready, okay?”

Mary nodded and glanced down in shame. Of course Seto had noticed her behavior. And instead of coming to him when she couldn’t take it anymore she just… had ran away. From everything.

 Seto interrupted her train of thoughts with a fond bonk on top of her head. “Come on, let’s have fun at the party.”

She stared at him. She wouldn’t need to worry anymore… at the very least she had Seto with her. And everyone else was there… in one room again.

Just like the old days. (The numbers alongside the time will keep piling up and up though...)

“Yes!” she agreed and bounced up and down. She could do this!

Full with re-found determination she walked back to the living room with Seto in tow.

Mary stopped and stared. Again.

They had walked into a room full of chaos.

Shintaro had formed a barrier between Momo and Hibiya; facing Hibiya. He and Hibiya were discussing something. Whatever it was, was enough to fluster Hibiya. His face was turning redder the more they were talking loudly, no, it bordered on shouting. On the side Kano was watching the exchange with a gleeful expression. He injected his own opinion in between which earned him glares from one of the two depending on what he was saying. Kido was standing awkwardly to the side as well, but she was standing on Momo’s side. She, surprisingly, appeared to be trying to say something as well, but no one was paying her any attention. Only Momo said something to her. At that she flushed and started to stalk off to the kitchen. Maybe to get some help.

Arguing continued. Momo began pouting because of something Shintaro said. She was about to shout something at her brother after speaking relatively normally, but someone way louder interrupted. Help had arrived.

“WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU ALL DOING?!” Takane roared; descending from the stairs and going straight into the living room. “My daughter is asleep upstairs!”

 Everyone in the room froze as if Mary had used her eyes on them. The illusion was broken the moment after. Everyone slowly turned their head towards Takane. She had her hands on her hips and faced everyone with sharp eyes. The resulting silence felt stifling.

“I thought so,” she added.

“I’m sorry!” Momo gasped and started to bow. She glanced sideways and forced her brother in a bow as well. Shintaro didn’t protest; too startled to react. “Both of us are!”

“I don’t know what just happened, but,” Hibiya began and paused. He gulped at the glare directed his way. “I apologize,” he stiffly ended his sentence and looked away.

 Takane nodded satisfied, but suddenly stepped forward to intercept a certain man. Kano had begun to inch towards the kitchen in order to escape the situation. His smiling mask faltered for barely a second, but his eyes flashed red and it was back on. (He was still doing that?) He chuckled.

“Aaah, you caught me,” he purred.

“Cut the crap,” Takane stated. She was tapping one foot on the floor.

Kano lifted one arm and bowed as if he was a butler. No, he was bowing even lower than that. He stayed like that for a few seconds. He then made a show out of slowly straightening his back again. “Sorry for not interfering~”

Takane narrowed her eyes. “You have been warned.” She moved into the kitchen to, likely, speak to Haruka and maybe Kido.

The moment she turned her back it felt as if time started moving again. Shintaro slumped back into the couch and just... sat there. Hibiya, not as subtle as he was thinking, moved over to the other couch. Momo joined him; pointedly ignoring the scandalized look of her brother. Kano looked between the kitchen and the living room.

Mary managed to suppress a yelp at the force on her back. She tried to turn her head to watch them, but it was just Seto. Seto, always ever so kind. Yet, sometimes he can be a little pushy. Such as right this instant. He gently pushed her further in the room. She stumbled forward. All attention in the room shifted to her.

The medusa felt her face redden rapidly. Uwaah... she hadn’t gotten better at this at all, huh? What was she supposed to say...? The silence was deafening.

She had to say something. Anything!

“N-Nice weather today, isn’t it?” she blurted out.

“It started raining 5 minutes ago,” Shintaro stated.

“Brother!” Momo shrieked before remembering she didn’t want to talk to him. He did look a little grumpy... Scary. The idol turned her head to face Mary. Her eyes felt like they looked right through the medusa. Which was silly, because Seto had the mind-reading eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing!”

Uwaaah, that was the scariest look Momo had ever given her. “Mary...”

Mary shifted in place. Scary scary scary. She had no escape here, had she? She... had to tell them. Haruka and Takane were really nice about it, but... this amount of people...! Yes, this was the Dan, but... she hadn’t spoken so many of them in ages yet she wanted to tell them...! No... Wasn’t she just being silly?

The medusa shook her head. “No, I’m just being... stupid. Silly. Don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t say that.” A shadow was looming over her.

Ah? When did...? Mary looked up and blinked. Shintaro was looking right at her. A pained look was in his eyes.

“You don’t have to tell us any shit, but don’t you call yourself stupid,” he repeated. The look in his eyes became quite... intense. Mary felt a shiver run up her spine. Sc...scary...

A warm hand was put on her shoulder. “Shintaro is right, Mary,” Seto stated. His tone was soft and warm. It helped to ground her for a little bit.

Yeah…. What was she saying? She shouldn’t be saying such things. “Sorr-”

“Don’t you dare say sorry,” Shintaro huffed. He put a hand on her head and ruffled her hair.

“Uwaah-! Sor-”

“Nope.” Another ruffle.

“So-”

“No.”

“S-Shintaro! Please!” she tried. Her hair was getting all messed up!

“Please what?”

“Please stop-!”

“Fine.” His hand was removed from her head right away.

“Eh?”

Shintaro took a step back and grinned. It looked strange, but it was sweet. Mary hadn’t seen that side of his in a long while. And certainly not directed at her. A warm feeling settled in her chest. It gave her courage. Mary smiled back at him.

Behind her, Seto chuckled. Shintaro directed a quick offended look his way. She couldn’t hold back a chuckle at that. It evolved into a big laugh. She hadn’t laughed like this in such a long time. And soon after, most of the room joined in on laughing.

“Thank you, Shintaro,” Mary managed to say between her laughter. The man flushed a little bit out of embarrassment and turned around. He began to walk back to his seat while pointedly ignoring all remarks and looks thrown his way.

“Geeez, brother is such a softie.”

“Woooooow,, and the plot thickens~”

“Ew, gross. Old Teacher being nice is creepy.”

Everything really felt like the old times again. Shintaro’s encouragement and Seto’s warmth... and the warm house of both Takane and Haruka... alongside all the other important people in here... it felt like she was really home again.

Mary swallowed and straightened her back. She looked inside the room. In the meantime, Takane, Haruka and Kido were sitting down in the living room again as well. Everyone was here. Mary knew she had to tell them now. She can do this. She could trust all of them. Even if it wouldn’t change anything, surely letting all of her very dear friends know how she felt would be a major relief.

The medusa increased her volume. “Everyone, I do have something to tell you.”

This time she won’t run away.