After finishing documenting and getting hand-written papers finished, Hiroshi left the station with Julia in tow, alongside questioning his decision on going with her choice.

  And while trying to settle with concept of living with her, his worry skyrocketed as he realized he left Nata fully free into the city.

  'Oh no, hopefully she hasn't gotten into trouble' he worried, as he looked around in hopes to spot her or where she could have gone, and before he could worry more about the trouble than losing 20 euros, he noticed approaching clouding.

  He gave a sigh of relieve seeing she was fine, as he gave some pats to her as she happily offered snack bar and caramel bar for both of them. "I got these while waiting, didn't know where to spend rest." as she handed the change back to him.

  "Thanks" he noted, as he pocketed the leftover money, feeling grateful no trouble came of his shortsighted decision.

  "So, any news?" Nata asked with curious mind.

  "Yeah, meet your new foster-mate." He noted, as he presented Olivia, happily waving, herself already excited and lightly worrying at prospect how it would go.

  "WHAAAAT!?" a shout that could be heard for multiple blocks came from Nata, trying to think through what that would mean in full.

  "yeah, that's what everyone said when Edith went with Olivia's decision." he muttered out, still feeling unsure why she did so.

  "B-but she can't do that, she has to go through a process!"

  "Was in foster-care before coming to Finland, so she was given special case for recovery."

  "Single foster parent can only foster one monster!"

  "Edith nullified the limit with me being a Tamer."

  Nata was trying her best attempts to find excuse how it is wrong, but her thoughts slowly lost to the arguments he already brought up, before finally coming to last standing ground where she would feel advantageous against the new woman with him.

  "Well... since she isn't an wild monster, she likely isn't older than me, my birthday is on winter solstice after all." she said with light smugness, as Hiroshi and Olivia shared a awkward stare between each other before he dispelled her statement. "She's 19, right between both of us."

  Hearing the news, she froze up like a statue, leaving Hiroshi and Olivia looking at her awkwardly.

  After a minute of awkward silence, Hiroshi cleared his throat in hopes to move attention away from Nata's worrying, as he spoke up. "Anyways, we need to go shopping for groceries, and some clothes for Olivia." which seemed to awaken Nata from her Icy prison. "Y-yeah, sure." she awkwardly agreed.

  Taking the walk, Hiroshi felt a looming feeling, unsure what it is from in full, but it wasn't comfortable on him, as he kept eye on the two monsters, happily following Hiroshi, Olivia having her own silent worries and Nata keeping her eye out on her.

  Soon arriving at a familiar clothing store, this time around the picking was much more harder. Olivia's tastes were way different from Hiroshi's and Nata's, but it was quickly gone through process of elimination, before finally arriving where she specialized, sundresses.

  With plenty for picking, as she especially loved yellow one with black polka dots, and as she was showing it off, Hiroshi had hard time looking away in curiousity, before getting nudged by Nata.

  Hiroshi questioned for a moment what Nata wanted, but as she only gave a grumpy look, he silently nodded his head to show her to look, and to her disgust, they finally saw her wings in proper.

  Looking like crumpled hairy paper balls sticking out of her back, Nata couldn't help but get goosebumps from just imagining how they would feel.

  Both felt uncomfortable from seeing it, but knowing they couldn't do much against it, and the entire reason for her stay was to heal them, they tried their best not to comment on it as she turned around to ask their opinions on it.

  As they were about to move to shoes, Hiroshi made just in case check without neither of them noticing, and to his relieve, her hair was long enough to hide the tattoo on her neck, but just barely. 'Man, it will be expensive to get those removed' he thought to himself, considering it would be first thing they would do once the conflict with the Chuvaki was over.

  Thankfully for shoes, she was more pleased with mixed choices, so he made sure to get at least casual shoes and running shoes for her.

  And with this again, Hiroshi was about to meet his nemesis once again.

  Lingerie store, the mightiest foe against single men.

  But to his delight, seems the two girls were in agreement. "Just wait around, and we will get this over with." Nata muttered, leaving him by the counter before dragging Olivia off to dressing rooms.

  As Nata gave Olivia modest undergarments to try on, and while Olivia was shyly doing it, Nata couldn't help but take couple glances at her size.

  Taking note not only was she adult, feeling like she is some competition, but also being larger than her, and easily so.

  Olivia could note some heat coming from Nata, but was unsure what is was for, as she went quickly picking the most fitting ones, before getting couple more just in case, and finishing the clothes shopping for the day.

  As Hiroshi proceeded to pay, he was slowly realizing the saving he has had for a while has been dwindling fast, with these girls, and realized he has to start cutting on extra purchases to make it past this month.

  'Damn it all,' he thought to himself, as with heavy heart, they were off to deal with groceries.

  As things proceeded normally, Hiroshi made sure to keep an eye on the purchases they dared to make, as he proceeded going through 'yes or no' game with Olivia to figure out what she could eat.

  'Jeez, how come have fruits gotten so expensive?' he questioned, as they seemed to discover Olivia's diet was vegetarian with high quantity of natural sugars.

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  'I bet she burns it all to keep her figure' Nata thought in her silent jealousy, as he grudge was brewing slowly deeper, as with new budget, she came to realize many of the things she liked got knocked out of the list, leaving her to say goodbye to things she enjoyed last week.

  With groceries bought, Hiroshi decided to carry them, having taken notice to the looming anger on Nata's face, and not wanting to trouble Olivia carrying, so taking the heavy load, they were off to home.

  Arriving at home, while Olivia was happily looking around at the new home she will be staying at, Nata was keeping close eye on what she was doing, as Hiroshi with great exhaustion went to unpack the groceries and prepare for dinner.

  With his mind was focused on cooking, he felt his calmness return to him from day of worries that have been piling up.

  He knew no matter what, cooking was always something that helped ease his mind.

  As he contemplated the trouble he has had today, he couldn't help but feel slightly nostalgic, be it for good or bad reasons, before finally remembering, 'huh, I wonder how sis is doing. Been months since I called' as last time he had called was when he arrived in Elmspring. and with his current stirring emotions, he felt it was for the better.

  But as he's mind was in peaceful contemplation, he knew he didn't have the courage for the call yet, only when he is alone from the prying ears.

  He had hands full on having to get used to new monster in his home anyways.

  As he had finished bowl of fruit soup and plate of some minced meat sauce with potatoes ready for the girls, he was pulled back to reality as he saw Olivia and Nata arguing over a TV remote, Olivia desperately wanting it, and Nata was about in mood to start barking.

  "GIRLS!" he shouted, quickly getting attention of them. Turning their gaze to him, both saw a fury in his face that left them frozen. "Stop the fight, or I will." he said sternly, making both girls quickly release the remote.

  "But I wanted to watch-" Nata was about to complain, but Hiroshi quickly reminded what was coming to the table right now. "Either you watch your show, or you eat your meal." which made Nata feel sad and unsure how to feel with today's events, before accepting it for now.

  As Olivia was quick to come to the dinner table, with some pep in her steps, Nata slowly joined alongside her at the dinner table, with apologies given, which eased Hiroshi's mood but the mood was heavy.

  Upon finishing their meals,"Alright." Hiroshi announced, making the girls wonder what he was planning to talk about.

  "Here will be some home rules. Nata, you should stop slipping to my bed, especially now that you have Olivia sharing the bed"

  Olivia got flustered hearing that Nata snuck in to sleep with him, and Nata shriveled further into her dismay with new form of punishment.

  "And that includes showering, you two will help each other. Nata's long hair is troublesome and Olivia's wings need delicate care."

  Adding to already existing fluster, and again for similar reasons.

  "Last rule. My room is prohibited area."

  Nata was about on her breaking point, as every thing he says seems to target her. As she was about to start complaining and questioning him, she is taken by surprise as Olivia proceeded with questioning before her.

  "Why?" she asked, taking Hiroshi aback lightly, and trying his best to consider how to word it..

  Before Nata could join in on the question as well, she could notice he seemed more tired than usual, as he gave a long sigh.

  "I... have my own problems. I need some space I can call private without troubling you two" he admitted, seeming to ease Olivia on the specific rule, but Nata couldn't but feel there was a lot left unsaid which she would want to hear.

  And as she thought about it, he doesn't seem to be doing it because of her, but Nata still had struggle with her feelings, wanting him to open up, but she doesn't want to push him to do so, especially as she cannot blame other than herself for how tired he looked.

  Then as dinner table went silent, before Hiroshi called it off, returning things to living room, where thanks to Nata's downtrodden feelings, and Olivia asked, gave her the control of the television for tonight

  Evening started to pass by as they were enjoying television, Hiroshi was much less active, while Olivia was trying to learn reading with subtitles, as Nata wasn't sure what she should do, leaving her awkwardly fidget by herself.

  "I am going to bed early today. Remember to wash yourself before bed." Hiroshi muttered, as he went off into his room, leaving the two girls alone.

  As the bedroom door was closed, Nata was left worrying for him, while Olivia could take note of her ears and tail wagging having stopped for a while now.

  "What is the issue?" she shyly asked, unsure what was going on.

  "I... I don't know." she said, trying to think through stuff what could be going on. Usually he happily would introduce new series, or play games with her.

  "He was way more expressive before you joined." she noted.

  Upon saying it, Olivia also thought about it, and it seemed so. on their walk to the station and in cafe, he seemed much more cheerful, even when getting reminded by an incident he didn't like.

  "You should help." Olivia admitted, but Nata was left questioning how. "He will be stuck in that room for the entire night, how am I supposed to help him?" Nata whined

  "Tomorrow, he has full day off. So treat him." Olivia stated with blush coming onto her face.

  Nata was left partly confused. "I mean, I tried that last week..." as her memory returned to last sunday, it turned out to be just mostly her laying around and sticking with him, making her feel even worse on unable to treat him right.

  "What you have for plan, then?" Nata asked with curiosity, and suspicions on what she could possibly have planned to help her.

  "I mean, men should love to be taken care of. Feeding, massaging, teasing, kissing, se-" Olivia went off from her head, before Nata was quick to shut her mouth with her hands.

  "First two is enough." she explained with face fully red. Nata had to realize Olivia was still getting used from hardship, so she should try to keep her much more delicate, even if she despised her in secret.

  Not to mention, she started to feel jealousy on her trying to lead the entire plan, so she started to decide on some possible pampering she could try on him, as Olivia returned to watching TV.

  Laying on bed, looking at the plain ceiling. 'What is my life coming to.' Hiroshi thought to himself. That hollow feeling still lingering on him.

  'First Nata, now Olivia. They are nice, but... why me?' he kept on thinking, turning onto his side, trying to find comfortable position to lay on.

  With silence haunting him, he decided to dig out his phone, and trying to think what to do, before his attention was brought to the contacts list.

  Taking a scroll through, he stared at it for a long while.

  'Haruka...' he read out the name in his mind... 'I need you, I really need you.'

  With the name pressed, and dial up made, the silence got broken as rhythmic buzzes came and went.

  It felt like forever, before finally it got picked up.

  "Kore wa daredesu ka?" a sleepy woman's response could be heard from other side. he forgot about timezones, and it was very early morning for her, but it didn't matter too much with her responding

  "Hiroshi." As he said his name, there was clear scrambling heard from the other side. no doubts hearing that her brother called must have been a real wake up call.

  "Hiroshi? How are you? Anything serious?"

  "ahh... ye-... no... nothing that serious like last time."

  "I see, so what do you have in mind?"

  "Unsure, but I guess I could call it nostalgia?"

  "That's pretty vague, even from you."

  "It's... it's hard to explain, a lot has happened in just a month. But to put it more clear, I have two girls living in my house."

  "Well, call me surprised. I doubt they are successful dates if you are calling me."

  "You could say that. But you do remember Aki?"

  "...I see..."

  "Before the trouble, you know."

  "Oh thank god. So, worrying you is that it might end up in trouble?"

  "Yeah, they are lovely, but I worry that I might have bitten more than I should have once again."

  "I am sorry, but I can't really help. I know I helped you out of home, but you put too much faith in me. Just find someone to trust and talk to."

  "Easier said than done."

  "I don't know what else to say. You are an adult now, so it is your responsibility now."

  "..."

  "Listen, I have some stuff with my boss tomorrow. Let's talk about some other day, if you really need to."

  "Sure, bye."

  "Bye."

  And as if the fishing like he cast in water was closing to a snag, the connection snapped close.

  Left to lay in bed, questioning his life choices. "Why did I agree?" he left the question to no one to hear.

  With everything going through his mind, he knew he had to get some sleep, before he could answer them.