After searching for a few minutes, Masaru realized that Mitsuru was right.

"Wow... There's really nothing but this and some bottles of water."

"Yeah, it's the stuff our uncle bought for us to eat this month, remember?" said Daitaro, who had entered the kitchen along with the other two.

"Although he also left us money..., how about we go eat something with that?” Mitsuru commented with a big smile.

"Hmm, I don't think so," Daitaro replied flatly. At his brother's disappointed expression, he couldn't help but smile kindly at him. "It's just that you always want to eat out... If we do that the money will run out soon and we have to make sure it lasts the whole month."

"Maybe, though... Daitaro, I don't think there's anything wrong with going out for breakfast this time" Daiki said. Mitsuru nodded strongly.

“We ate out last week... I like going out too, but, we can't just keep eating out without thinking about the money... What are we going to eat if we keep this up?" 

"Well the tasteless food there is, I guess" Mitsuru replied as he shrugged.

"Eh... We're supposedly trying to avoid that..." Daitaro didn't know what was so different about that solution, since, doing that would only postpone the current problem.

“I got it!" Masaru exclaimed after coming up with an idea. The other three looked at him curiously. The black-haired boy smiled very confidently at his idea. "How about we cook something?"

At the suggestion, Daiki and Mitsuru exchanged glances for a moment while Daitaro looked interested in the proposal.

"Again with that? Masaru, no one here knows how to cook" said Mitsuru.

“Besides, that guy forbade us to do it" said Daiki "If he finds out he might kick us out..."

“Guy? Daiki, he's our uncle... You talk like he's a stranger” Daitaro remarked. Daiki nodded, completely certain he had said nothing wrong.

"Calling him uncle sounds like he's family, I don't consider him to be family. It's true that we have food and shelter thanks to him, but... He doesn't feel close to us" Daiki stated as he crossed his arms. "So I'll call him whatever I please."

"Daiki..." Daitaro looked a bit dismayed, but he couldn't blame him for that... Not when he was right and maybe the strange one was him for calling him uncle; however... How could he not? He was the only relative who could 'take care' of them in any way.

Noticing his downcast brother, Daiki frowned slightly.

"I'm sorry, Daitaro, but I don't want to call him that. If you want to do it I won't say anything."

"Well... That's not the important thing here, we were talking about cooking, remember?” Masaru said not wanting to get involved in what was mentioned. Mostly because having an opinion was taking one side or the other, and while he didn't mind pissing Daiki off as such, he didn't feel like talking about it at this very moment.

"Masaru, you've suggested the idea before and the answer is still the same," Daiki said.

"But... I don't think it's right for us to just live off based on what he buys us...” Masaru said. "Besides if we don't do that, we’ll just eat out, what's wrong with us cooking?"

"The thing is, there's nothing wrong with it, but if that man comes when we're in the middle of it...” Daiki said before being interrupted by Mitsuru.

"Masaru, isn't it obvious that Daiki is scared of him?” Mitsuru asked as he arched an eyebrow expressing disbelief. "He's not going to answer something different."

"What?! It's not fear, it's not that I'm scared... It's just that if that man knows, he could chase us out of here..."

"I think that man just thinks that kids are dumb and if we try to cook we'll end up destroying the apartment one way or another" Mitsuru suggested.

"But it doesn't mean it has to be like this..." Masaru replied in frustration. "How long have we been like this? We could have cooked something all those times we didn't because we thought he would come."

"True, though… Isn’t it better to just go out to eat? We could make an exception today... Surely we can live on instant soups tomorrow?” Mitsuru proposed. Masaru looked at him with irritation, while Daitaro gave him an expression of complete disbelief.

"You really don't care if we cook or not, do you...” Daitaro said. It was very like Mitsuru to not give a damn about anything but on what really interested him and he didn't seem to even want to dissimulate.

"What, of course it matters to me! Not for Daiki's silly reason, but no one here knows how to cook, I don't feel like eating something that turned out wrong to then be stuck in the bathroom for days” Mitsuru explained.

"Exactly! It's true that we don't know how to cook, we might end up exploding something” Daiki remarked.

"But even if we don't know, I think it's a good idea, because if we never try we won't learn," said Daitaro as he looked at the little puppy in his arms, who had let out a short bark as if supporting his owner's words. "There are plenty of unused frying pans and cooking utensils, it wouldn't hurt to use them."

"No, Daitaro, you know he's going to be mad if we burn down the kitchen" 

"Hmm... It's true what Daiki says. He'd probably kick us out of the apartment if something ends up exploding. I still don't care but I'm just saying that's true" added Mitsuru. Masaru listened to them for a moment. He was tired of this always coming up when they debated the idea.

"Look... I'm tempted to drop the subject again because of how annoying it is to talk about this, but... I really want to try cooking something, and you guys bringing that up as an excuse for not doing it, every time, is really annoying" Masaru said as he then looked at Daiki with a lot of frustration. "I know it's scary to think that he might kick us out of here for troubling him, I know that if we destroyed the apartment we'd probably be out in the street. He's told us that many times and keeps telling us that when we see him, but... We're over 10 years old! We're old enough now to still be afraid of that!"

"..." The three were silent until Daitaro spoke.

"Yes, you're right about that..., though..." Daitaro looked at Daiki not knowing what to say. He was completely supportive of Masaru, but he didn't want to make his twin feel bad, since... He was aware, from things his brother had told him, that he was the one who was most afraid of them being separated. It wasn't an exaggeration to assume that what Daiki feared most was that they could end up in an orphanage to then be adopted by different families.

Daiki would rather live in an environment controlled by his uncle than dare do what could cause his family to break apart. Plus, he didn't want to live blaming himself for that. Whether it was to support the idea or to not stop them, Daiki was tied to that fear that had been instilled in him by his uncle since he was younger.

Daitaro wanted to support the idea every time Masaru suggested it, but... How could he do that to Daiki? His loyalty to him immobilized him, and though he knew he shouldn't let that happen, it wasn't easy to decide against his brother's wishes.

“Ra-Daitaro! I know you want to support my idea! You said it just now, if we don’t cook, we'll either run out of money or keep eating the same stuff!"

Finally noticing Masaru's slip of the tongue, Daiki frowned in response; however, since they were talking about something else at the time, he forced himself to let it go.

"Well, it's not like you minded eating from the energy bars before...” Mitsuru stated.

"I could still eat that, yes, but I don't like being told I can't do something, let alone assume I'm going to end up blowing up the kitchen" said Masaru "Of course no one wants to end up making a mess, but that's why we just have to be careful."

"But-"

“Stop, I've had enough!” Masaru exclaimed as he then walked towards the entrance and pulled Daitaro with him, who looked confused but still allowed himself to be led away from the kitchen just the same.

"Huh? What?...” Daiki muttered as he found himself unable to say much as his twin was whisked away at the drop of a hat.

"I'll go with Daitaro to buy ingredients for cooking! Stay in the apartment if you want!” Masaru shouted from his room as he had gone to change his clothes before leaving.

"..."

"Wow, so this time he opted to just leave... Hm, yeah, I think I would have done the same" Mitsuru nodded in agreement with his black-haired brother's actions.

At the redhead's prolonged silence, Mitsuru couldn't help but tease him.

“Your twin was just taken away, are you just going to sit idly by?” Mitsuru asked. Daiki looked at him with mild annoyance. "What, you're always together, I'd find it strange if you didn't mind Masaru taking him away."

"That's not what's bothering me right now..."

"Daiki, you're 12, don't you think it's pitiful that your 11-year-old brother has more character than you?"

"Says the one who's 10..."

"And even though I'm the youngest I'm less childish than you, heh" Mitsuru smirked. Without saying anything, Daiki gave him a smack on the head expressing his irritation.