The door opens to reveal a beaming Touma and a calm, yet seemingly pleased Asahi. Touma instantly darts to your side. His hands grasp one of your own, the beaming smile growing even stronger. You resist the urge to shake him off, the mental image of the hurt look he might wear pushing away the wariness you've yet to rid yourself of.

"Hi-chan!" he greets. "You look so cute, Hi-chan!"

Asahi, in a much more relaxed manner, crosses to where you stand as well. His eyes sweep over you-- a look that fills you with a different sort of warmth than Touma gives. He then meets your gaze, a small smile playing across his lips.

"It's charming," he says.

You are rather certain it's Asahi's preference that Kyouya catered your clothing towards. You drop your eyes, relieved that your embarrassment isn't hot enough to fill your cheeks.

"Thank-you," you respond. "Kyouya-san picked it out."

Asahi gives Kyouya an approving nod, the latter's lips forming a stiff line. Perhaps he disliked you drawing attention to him? Whatever the reason, your attention is drawn away as Touma tugs on your hand.

"Hi-chan," he chirps. "Aniki said I can show you around! Since you forgot everything I thought it'd be a good idea. I don't want you to get lost or anything."

"Although, I heard you've already taken it upon yourself to explore," Asahi adds, his tone somehow a mixture of disapproval and amusement. "Kouta provided the details."

Now your face burns.

"Th-that's..." you sputter.

"It's okay, Hi-chan!" Touma reassures you. "Itsuki was so embarrassed he slammed the door in Aniki's face, so you're not alone!"

You aren't at certain how that's supposed to be comforting. If anything, it adds guilt to your list of overflowing emotions. Still, you give Touma a sheepish smile.

"Thanks, Touma-san."

He pouts, clutching your hand tighter. "That's no fair, Hi-chan! You can't just call me that. It's Tou-ma. Touma!"

You find yourself giggling at how put out he looks. Really, there must be another reason for the bruises. A kid like this... how could he hurt anyone?

"Okay, Touma," you agree.

"What about me, Himari?"

You go stiff, heat flooding your cheeks. At some point in your conversation Asahi must have moved-- because when you turn your face towards his voice you find him to be directly beside you, his fingers picking up the free end of your hair ribbon. Whatever you might have said back catches in your throat as you give him your best, 'what are you even doing?' look.

"I wanted to ensure that Kyouya put your bandage on correctly," he says, dropping the ribbon, the ends of his lips quirked up by the tiniest degree. "More importantly, what is your answer?"

"Oh. U-um..." you sputter, putting a small bit of space between the two of you, Touma still clinging to your hand. "I... um... A.... Asahi...kun..."

He laughs, amusement coloring every part of his expression. Asahi is good looking normally... but this expression only seems to make his face more potent.

"That will do... for now," he muses.

"Hi-chan," Touma says, tugging your hand as he steps towards the door. "C'mon, let's go!"

Seeing no reason to protest, you allow yourself to be pulled away. Glancing back at Asahi, however, you find the heat in your cheeks unable to fade, as he's giving you a smile that says that this discussion over how you address him is in no way over. You aren't quite sure how you feel about that and turn your attention back to Touma.

The moment he has you out of the room Touma starts chattering about the house. The rooms he initially takes you by are the rooms you discovered earlier-- most of which are exactly what you assumed them to be. The office you glanced into belongs to Asahi and thankfully it appears that Asahi has no rules against people going into it as long as they don't disturb him during meetings or when he's working on something for the hospital-- which Touma informs you their family owns.

You... try not to be shocked by that fact.

Touma skips the hall where you ran into Kouta, saying the only thing of importance there happens to be Itsuki's room. You don't protest when he decides not to disturb his twin. Not seeming to notice how your face flushes, Touma drags you from one hall to the next, only pausing to drag you into his room-- which is about as bright colored and full of childish toys as you might expect-- and to point out the rooms of Asahi, Kouta, and Kyouya as you pass. It isn't until he's basically shown you every nook and crannie of the house that he finally comes to a stop in front of a room that's only a half-dozen steps and a staircase away from your bedroom.

"And this," he announces. "Is your special room, Hi-chan!"

With that flashy announcement, Touma pulls open the door to reveal what you instantly recognize to be a surprisingly plain drawing room. There are a few, overly-stuffed recliners in the center of the room and an eye-drawing, grand piano settled to the far back. The walls are decorated with different sorts of paintings, an easel standing in front of the large, wall-length window. Part of the window appears to be a sliding-door, which exits into the magnificent garden you'd caught sight of several times throughout the tour. It would appear that the tidbit you'd seen this morning extended around the entire building.

The final, intriguing detail is that to your right lays yet another bookshelf. This one, unlike the others, seems to only hold a few books, the rest of it covered in titles that appear to be related to music, drawing, and painting.

If you are completely honest with yourself, this room looks fantastic.

"Mine?" you question, turning your gaze back to Touma.

He nods, tugging you towards the painting closest to you. "Uh-huh! You spend most of your time in here. You painted this for us when you first agreed to move and we were designing the room!" He lets you give the ordinary, fruit-bowl painting a glance before tugging you to the next. "This one you painted for us a bit later~!"

The indicated painting sends a small chill down your spine. It's a landscape of ordinary quality-- obviously you were no Picasso-- that portrays the what appears to be the woods. It's only a small stretch to imagine that if this was something you made, then it might be of the woods you could see standing at the edge of the garden. What bothers you is the the absolute darkness that lies in the painting. This isn't a pretty, sun-light picture. Instead, dark trees stretch up between all consuming, black shadows. The only light in the painting is a small lantern held by a misshapen, black silhouette standing alone in the trees.

"It's... nice," you venture.

"It's beautiful," Touma declares. "You're an amazing painter, Hi-chan!"

It suddenly occurs to you that Touma might be quite biased when it comes to your skills. This painting is in no way amazing unless you count the way the picture sets you on edge. This in mind, you wonder if Touma's earlier declaration that you "sing like an angel" might have also been a bit biased. Then... what of your ability to play the piano you noticed?

You wonder if your body still remembers these skills-- if you'd still be able to read the music and produce a picture like the one on the wall. As if wondering the same thing, the moment Touma realizes he's lost your attention he pulls you to the piano and has you sit on the stool. Then, without a word, he drops himself next to you and places his hands over the keys.

"Do you remember this song, Hi-chan?" he asks.

His fingers slip over the keys, releasing a hauntingly beautiful refrain into the air. You watch, awed, as he easily plays around you, his fingers never once hesitating. The song begins slow. Each key sound appears to be falling over the other.

"A... waltz," you realize a minute into the piece.

Touma nods, his fingers playing without pause. "Farewell Waltz."

That clicks in your mind, and after a moment you manage to pull the details from the depths of your lost thoughts.

"By Chopin," you murmur.

Touma seems to light up. His fingers play the final note only seconds after your words and he drops his hands to his lap.

"You taught me how to play it," he says. "We used to play together quite often. You would come over to take lessons when your parents weren't home and my parents would let me join as long as I didn't get in the way. I would memorize what Sensei taught you, then play it once both of you left. I can still remember when you caught me. I was... six, and you'd come back in because you forgot your music book. I didn't hear you come in, but the moment I'd finished playing you called my name. I turned to look and there you were, almost crying, and your cheeks puffed up like this," Touma pauses so he can demonstrate, prompting a small laugh on your end, "Right after, you stomped out of the room and to 'tousan's office... the one Asahi uses.

"You informed him that if he didn't let me join lessons you wouldn't ever play again. 'Tousan laughed. He didn't do that often. I guess he found your face as funny as I did." You aren't sure whether to be amused or insulted, so you just shake your head at the teasing grin Touma wears. "But, he let me join you after that. Sensei said we were his best students, but I'm pretty sure we were his only ones."

"What about Itsuki?" you find yourself asking. "You two are twins, right? He didn't join us?"

Touma frowns, returning his hands to the piano as he begins to play another song, this one louder and with a quicker pace. You lean back to ensure you won't get in his way.

"Suki's a jerk," he complains. "He didn't join us. He just got mad that now both of us were busy and wouldn't play with him. He even tore one of my music books."

That fit the personality you'd seen displayed by Itsuki so far.

"You two don't get along very well," you comment after a few moments. 

Even with Touma's playing the silence that had decended felt awkward.

He hesitates, fingers pausing for a split second before continuing. Some part of you recognizes that the pause was not part of the music. It's strange, but similar to how how some part of you recognizes the piece as a section of the Moonlight Sonata.

"No."

"Why?"

Touma purses his lips, his fingers flying across the piano as he launches into the most intense part of the piece. For numerous minutes he doesn't say, simply focus on the song. You find your own attention waning, drawn to the almost angry feeling the piece displays. It's as if he's packed his feelings towards his sibling into the music, each note coming out more harsh, and beautiful, than the last.

He finishes, hands falling down once again. You note that he's breathing slightly harder than when the song begun. After another minute has passed he begins to speak.

"Suki is cold. He thinks differently than I do. Than Aniki does. You and Suki got along, but he and I never did. I tried... but I couldn't go outside much when we were little, so there weren't many chances. I got sick too easy and Suki never wanted to play inside, he always dragged you out into the gardens where you, him, and Kouta would play. I didn't like that, and I'd tell Suki... but he never listened."

Kouta? He lived here when you were young, too?

Wait, that wasn't the important part of what you'd just learned. So, Itsuki and Kouta were friends, but the twins had never gotten along. It was a bit strange, but understandable from the way Touma told it. Still, you find it hard to imagine that even someone as prickly as Itsuki couldn't get along with the ever-friendly Touma.

"It got worse as we grew up," Touma adds with a shrug. "Suki got mad easy no matter what I did. He grew less interested in playing and holed himself up in his room all the time. After 'tousan died, he quit talking to Aniki and I completely. 'Course, I stopped trying to be friendly with him long before then," he pauses, glancing at you then giving a small laugh, "You hated that part of me. Always yelled at us that we were family and family shouldn't act like this."

"You shouldn't," you find yourself saying, then freeze, putting your fingers to your lips. "Sorry, I mean... it's not my place... but..."

Touma laughs, that cheery smile of his returning.

"It's okay, Hi-chan, because it is your place! You always did that. Aniki, too. He still does. He gets super angry when Suki and I fight."

You suddenly find yourself grateful that it was Touma who chose to give you the tour. Something about this conversation, about the openness with which he's telling you these personal details... it helps you relax. It's as if the last bit of your suspicion from the morning is falling away. At least, any that you felt towards Touma.

It's nice to feel that there's at least one person in this place that you can trust.

"C'mon, Hi-chan," Touma urges, dropping his attention back to the piano. He raises his hands to the keys. "Let's play! Who knows, maybe it'll help you remember some stuff! Here, I'll start the one we always played together."

Touma prompts you hover your own hands above the keys then begins to play yet another Mozart piece. At first you simply listen, then you begin to pick up on where there are certain missing notes.

Oh, those are the duet parts...

Hesitantly, you drop your own hands in. At first, it comes out clumsy. You almost instinctively move your fingers from key to key, but are almost always off by at least a few beats, if not several. The music is far from the beautiful sound that Touma released before. Actually, it sounds pretty awful. Touma laughs, however, and knocks shoulders with you when you start to pull your hands away. Still hesitant, you continue to play.

After he's coerced you into trying the song two, three, then four times you begin to catch onto the rhythm.

By the time that Asahi fetches the two of you for supper, your fingers are flying across the keys in sync. 

A/N: Hope you enjoyed bonding with Touma! What do you think think of everyone so far? What about Touma and Itsuki's relationship? Anyone you'd like to see more of? 

Also, in case you're curious, this is actually scientifically based. There are records of musicians who forget everything, but can still play magnificantly. Also, when she says that her painting is ordinary, think... high-schooler who can paint well, but isn't going to get anywhere with their paintings. It's recognizable for what it is, but not something that would hang in an art gallery. 

Finally, I wonder if any of you (with the exclusion of Maria~) can guess when this story takes place?