"Mom from somewhere else...?"
Fran murmured quietly, glancing toward Liscia before looking back at me as though waiting for confirmation.
I gave her a small nod in response.
Her expression shifted slightly afterward.
"I can't feel her presence at all..." Egrathiel spoke softly, the faint glow surrounding her skin gradually dimming.
Her gaze drifted toward Anathasia before she swallowed quietly.
"She is... undeniably similar to The First..."
"...but at the same time, she's..."
Clap. Clap.
"Alright, alright," Anathasia smoothly cut in while clasping her hands together.
"That aside, Liscia here is going to be part of the family too."
She casually gestured toward the other woman.
"Think of her as an aunt who looks... eerily similar to me, basically."
Liscia immediately turned toward her, lips parting slightly before pausing mid-thought as she looked downward instead.
Everyone else stared at the two of them before slowly turning toward me, visible confusion flickering across their faces.
I simply shrugged in response before already turning toward the kitchen.
"I'll go wash the dishes real quick then-"
"I already did them earlier."
Lena suddenly cut in, her figure flickering briefly before reappearing beside me.
"But..." she hesitated slightly, "we still haven't eaten breakfast yet, so..."
I glanced toward Lena, her hair still slightly messy from sleep.
Then toward Fran and Egrathiel, who remained near the staircase while staring toward Liscia as Anathasia continued patting her back-
-or more accurately, smacking it until Liscia turned and pinched her cheek in retaliation.
My gaze shifted back toward Lena, a faint smile tugging at my lips.
"Mhm. Wanna make breakfast together then?"
At my words, Lena's eyes noticeably lit up.
A hair tie materialized into her palm as she bit onto it while gathering her hair into place.
"I'll handle the pancakes," she declared confidently while tying her hair into a high ponytail.
"Dad can make everything else."
"...So you picked the easiest part, basically?"
Lena merely shrugged before turning and walking into the kitchen.
A quiet sigh escaped me as I followed after her.
"She seriously takes after her mom..."
-
A little later.
Although I had originally expected breakfast to be peaceful-
"You're burning the eggs, idiot!"
"That gives it texture! You're just Americanized, you purple-eyed white rug!"
-Liscia and Anathasia, unsurprisingly, did not get along.
For her part, Lena simply guided Fran and Egrathiel back out of the kitchen while I continued flipping pancakes.
Or were they hotcakes?
Honestly, both looked the same.
"It's Asian style, you uncultured white ghost!" Anathasia argued while raising the frying pan away from Liscia, who was slightly shorter than her.
"I know that!"
"You're carbonizing the eggs, dollface!"
"Dollface isn't an insult!"
Another sigh escaped my lips as their argument continued in the background.
Without another word, I reached over to lower the stove heat beneath the pan holding the bacon before setting the finished pancakes beside the growing stack from earlier.
Then I moved toward Anathasia and grabbed the frying pan from her hands before she could react.
"Ah-hey!"
She turned toward me with a glare before abruptly falling silent.
My eyes slowly lowered toward the... thing inside the pan.
It definitely no longer resembled an egg.
If anything, it looked closer to charcoal.
"Wow..."
As I slowly looked back toward them, Liscia subtly pinched Anathasia's side while muttering beneath her breath:
"I told you it was burnt."
Anathasia immediately glared back.
"It was perfectly fine a second ago!"
"Both of you, get out."
I spoke flatly while already pointing toward the hallway door.
The two of them visibly flinched.
Anathasia tried raising a finger as though preparing to argue, only for me to raise a hand before she could start.
After a brief pause, both of them nodded.
"Got it..."
Then they quietly turned and left the kitchen-
-still bickering with each other on the way out.
A moment later, Lena walked back inside.
Her eyes followed the two of them briefly before turning toward me again.
"...how many eggs did Mom and... the other lady burn?"
Silence.
A tired sigh slipped from my lips as I glanced toward the cracked eggshells scattered across the counter.
"...Five."
Lena gently shook her head before letting out a quiet sigh of her own.
"Eggs are pretty expensive these days..."
"I know." My hand moved to rub against my temple before I bent down to pick up the eggshells scattered across the countertop.
"These alone are already around fifty to sixty pesos."
"...or about a dollar fifty."
Lena quietly nodded while stepping closer toward the stove, naturally taking over from there.
The remaining eggs sizzled softly as she began frying them properly this time.
"They really are expensive..." she murmured, briefly leaving the eggs to place the bacon onto a serving plate.
"But speaking of expensive..."
Lena glanced back toward me over her shoulder just as I turned after tossing the eggshells into the trash bin near the back door.
"Hm?"
"Aunt Hinami actually told me to pass along a message from Uncle Noah."
I stopped near the counter, raising an eyebrow.
"Noah?"
"What's he up to this time?"
Lena turned back toward the pans in front of her, continuing breakfast while flipping the remaining pancakes.
"Apparently..."
She paused briefly.
"...Uncle Noah misses you."
"And he said he's going to post *the photos* if you don't visit him in Japan soon."
I tilted my head slightly, eyes narrowing at her words before glancing toward the window.
"What photos...?"
"Does he mean these?"
Anathasia suddenly appeared behind me.
As I turned around, she was-
-as expected, wearing one of my shirts again, one side barely hanging from her shoulder.
A photograph rested loosely between her fingers.
Squinting slightly, my eyes instantly widened.
My hand immediately shot forward to grab the photo from her-
only for Anathasia to quickly pull it away.
"Woah there..."
"I saved this from twenty-one years ago. Don't ruin it."
She puffed out her cheeks while clutching the photograph tightly against her chest before stepping farther away from me.
"Delete that *right now* or else..."
Anathasia simply stuck out her tongue before disappearing.
Then a second later, she reappeared beside Lena as the two of them immediately huddled together.
"So this is what your dad looked like back then..."
My body froze for a second before I instantly turned toward them.
But it was already too late.
Lena had already seen the photo.
Her eyes widened.
The spatula slipped from her hand and clattered against the stove as she continued staring at the photograph Anathasia was holding.
"That's Dad...?"
Anathasia nodded proudly.
"Yup."
"Gorgeous, isn't he?"
I could already feel warmth creeping across my face as Lena slowly turned toward me, giving me a long once-over.
"...I mean..."
"...I can kinda imagine it..."
Beside her, Anathasia continued staring at the photo before pressing it dramatically against her chest.
"Really, he looked way too pretty for me not to take pictures twenty years ago~"
Then she shot me a quick glance, a small smile curving along her lips.
"Especially in that fitted Filipiniana gown you wore back then."
"Why do you even still have that??"
I groaned, dragging a hand through my hair while shaking my head.
"I never even saw that in our scrapbook-"
"Well, obviously." Anathasia smoothly cut in.
"You would've torn it to pieces."
Her free hand reached beside her as a small rip opened in space. Then she casually pulled out another photograph.
"Here's the one where you wore a bodycon dress during high school."
My eyes widened instantly.
My entire body stiffened for a second before I immediately lunged toward the photographs in her hands.
"Alright, that's it."
"You are seriously getting it later, Anathasia."
"Getting what," she casually flickered away again, reappearing beside Lena, "exactly?"
The small grin on her face slowly widened into a smirk-
-right before she bumped into someone standing behind her.
The photographs slipped from her fingers, fluttering through the air before slowly drifting toward another hand.
Liscia.
"What's this?"
Both Anathasia and I froze.
We watched as Liscia's expression paused.
Then slowly turned faintly red.
Before finally settling into complete deadpan as she turned the photographs toward us.
"Whose idea was it to make Kyle cross-dress?"
"Mine," Anathasia immediately replied while meeting Liscia's gaze directly.
The two of them stared at each other for a second. Then, for absolutely no reason whatsoever, they casually shook hands.
Liscia even gave her a thumbs up afterward.
"You have good taste."
"Obviously."
"You're both just weird," I cut in flatly while snatching the photographs from Liscia's hands.
Anathasia immediately turned toward me, quickly reaching out with an unusually panicked expression.
"No-!"
"I told you, no keeping those."
Anathasia abruptly fell silent.
Her hand remained hovering midair for a moment before she slowly pulled it back.
The photographs stayed between my fingers as I lowered my gaze toward them again, barely recognizing myself in the images.
"...Seriously..."
Shaking my head slightly, I casually slipped the photographs into my pocket before glancing back toward them.
"Come on."
"Let's just eat breakfast already."
The two of them exchanged a brief look before giving small nods.
Meanwhile, Lena quietly finished serving the last few pancakes onto the plates lined across the counter.