IN THE SUMMER BREAK OF THEIR FIFTH YEAR, SITTING JUST EIGHT MONTHS IN THE AFTERMATH OF THEIR INITIAL GATHERING AND MEETING, the two girls who sat on the jungle gym wrestling one another while Baji, sitting in the corner attempting to read a children's book to no avail, despite it being far under his grade level.

Mitsuya, trying to help his fellow friend, struggled to keep the veil of his sanity while Mikey and Draken teased.

"Emma no way!" Anari held the girl back as she made her attempts to touch Anari's cheeks.

"Why not! Edward and Mikey have one, and so does Draken!" In the midst of their ten minute argument that soon turned out into a brawl, Emma was persuading Anari to take upon a new alias of a foreign name, matching along with her, Baji, who went by Edward, her brother, who went by Mikey, and Draken who had made a name for himself.

"You're not naming me after that stupid American movie!"

In reality, Emma had made the cruel nickname for Anari after growing just a tinge of a flame of jealousy after Emma watched Anari tie Draken's hair in a bun this morning.

Idiotically stupid, yes, but also young, so it was every bit valid.

"It's not stupid, right Mikey?!" Emma snapped her head to the blonde for help, in which he only shrugged.

"That movie was based off of a real girl, and she's as crazy as you are!" Anari threw her off of the cubical jungle gym, only for Emma to drag her down along as well. Of course, if this was real fighting, neither of the two would hurt each other with major injuries .. maybe.

It all depended on their moods.

"Oi, both of you shut your yapping so I can read! I'll knock you the fuck out!"

Both girls turned their heads toward Baji, "I'm your childhood friend!"

"I do your homework!"

Anari and Emma both had vibrant eye colors, whether to say it was a blessing or a curse was for naught. But eventually, Draken and Mikey pulled them apart. Emma whining and babbling and Anari close to throwing dirt right into her eye. "You know she's never going to let you sit still unless you accept it." Draken reminded.

"But I already gave Rin a nickname!" Mikey drawled.

"But it's not cool enough!" Emma deemed, Draken merely gave a half hearted snicker. Mitsuya smelled another petty argument arising, curling up a fist and nonchalantly knocking the four of them over the head, making sure it didn't sound hollow.

Mitsuya and Anari were the only ones that didn't have a foreign name-- but with the abundance of nicknames given to him. Shit-kun was one of them, considering Mitsuya's first name was Takashi. Mikey had taken full advantage of it. While Anari preferred to stick to Yaya.

"But doesn't Alice and Emma sound cool?" Emma pouted-- just like Mikey did.

"Whatever." Mikey rolled his eyes. The argument had come to a stop with Anari's terms with the nickname, spewing a mouthful of colorful words while Emma poked at her cheek. The six of them made their way to the diner that Pah-chin agreed to meet them at.

It had a colorful welcoming neon light sign that alit their faces with its flickering dashes. Even with such a light, it was the only thing that lit up the obsidian oblivion in Mikey's gaze.

Anari lagged behind the group-- not because she was entirely that unathletic, but rather she had received a missed call from her brother, and when trying to call back, it had gone straight to voicemail.

Mikey waited behind as he always did, waiting for the girl who always lagged behind as if she were standing by to admire the roadside flowers-- almost like she was one herself. A flower who could blossom itself, and left on the side of the road only for others to pass by. But that itself didn't seem quite right.

It was like .. Anari was trying to make herself a roadside flower .. when in actuality, she was like an amaryllis. She had many people willing to offer her a hand of help-- as she did the same. But she towered above the rest on a propped emerald green stem, too high for the hands of help to reach, and a fall all too fatal to corrode her luck.

She tried to blend in .. while sticking out like a sore thumb, at least in the hollow eyes of a bright boy.

The higher you were, the deeper your fall.

A descent with a bottomless pit to swallow you whole.

It had started off with a kindred of an interest, and enveloped into a keen predicament like the rolling of a dice.

At first their proposed bet was just one made of a joke .. but with the way things were going .. Mikey was sure he'd take it a little serious soon, one glass of milk at a time.

Finally, Anari looked up from her small little flip phone with a dangling plastic star charm on it, realizing their was a gaze fixated upon her as well as waiting for her with a hand offered. Anari placed her hand's fate into his own as they jogged to catch up with everyone else.

"Pah-chin!" The male was busy drying dishes when he grumbled. "The hell do you all want? I'm at work!" His cousin owned the small diner, allowing Pah-chin to make some small money to help support his funds to buy a bike in the near future.

Maybe it was stress, or because Pah-chin was rarely seen smiling, but he always looked older than the rest of them. Older than Draken despite Pah's shorter stature.

"I want a flag on mine!" Mikey was the first to voice out his order in an instant, startling everyone else who nearly jumped. Pah-chin scribbled down his request, almost causing the paper to rip entirely. Baji grinned, "what's with the look Pah? Almost as if you want to settle this by squaring~" Baji was always in the mood for a fight.

It was at least a twice a week occasion for him and Mikey to have a spar-- and for Baji's face to be planted in the dirt with his eyes rolled to the back of his head after.

Sometimes Anari was sure, Mikey's spars were the reason why Baji had an below average IQ and he was .. basically illiterate.

"Kazutora's been MIA for a while .. where's he been?" Draken was the first to ask both Baji and Mikey who were the closest affiliates for the male. Mikey himself had no idea, and Baji merely kept quiet. "It's probably a home thing again .." Baji began to mutter.

Everyone grew quiet.

They knew of Kazutora's issues within his family, forced to pick between his mother and father in a case of domestic violence. As per Kazutora's wishes, they didn't get involved.

Pah-chin had come in at the perfect time, nearly stumbling over his feet carrying two trays on his shoulders, slamming them onto the table. "Enjoy your meal." Mikey's eyes glistened.

Not at the flag on his meal, but rather the umbrella in Anari's drink. "Whoa!~"

"I want a umbrella on my drink too!" Mikey raised his hand to call over Pah-chin, but he only sniggered, "Anari took the last one."

Mikey frowned. "You've been drinking your drinks without one, just bear with it this time!" They were quick to jump in and console Mikey before his tantrum of puffing his cheeks and giving everyone the silent treatment began.

Anari's brows furrowed. "I'll trade you, your flag for my umbrella."

Thinking about it, Mikey already had a long line collection of the kid's meal flags .. yet he had none of the umbrellas yet .. and he needed one to start his collection. It would be okay to give up one .. right?

In the blink of an eye, the umbrella was gone from Anari's hands and instead it was replaced with a flag.

They all breathed a sigh of relief. Mikey looked brighter as he munched on his meal along with everyone else discussing the topic of the matter.

"Now my umbrella matches!" Mikey gleefully shouted. Anari looked at him with a raised brow, "what do you mean matching? I thought you've never had a paper umbrella before?"

Anari looked to Emma, in which the girl also shook her head.

"The umbrella you gave me."

Draken's eyes flew to Anari. "Hey you were there when I gave it to him!"

"Isn't it your uncle's?" Anari nodded her head. On the night her aunt and uncle decided that they couldn't raise both Hiro and his younger sister, they had bought out a small run down home they were planning to renovate .. but instead, handed the property to Hiro.

Anari's uncle carried her in his arms that day underneath the clear umbrella. From her head resting on his shoulders, she could see the small droplets slide off of the plastic cover underneath the street lit lamps.

It was the final thing her uncle had given them before slipping into his car along with her aunt as they drove down the street, never to be seen again.