"What?" Alina asked, a tad bit incredulous.
"Let's say that only Greta owed you anything, and you already used that favour when you got her to give our address." He said, glancing at his wife, who nodded.
"Seriously?" Shōhei demanded. "I mean, Alina saved her from a wizard, an address is barely going to make up for it."
"She didn't save her from Richard, she saved her from us, by convincing Richard not to tell us. Anyway, what we're asking for does not concern you." Mrs Ishikawa said.
"Uh, these people here are Korū's friends -at least, I think they are?- and his friends are my friends and whatever happens to my friends concerns me," he said, doing the very cliche "everyone's my friend" thing.
"I feel so loved." Cayne mumbled.
"So what do you want?" Linda asked.
"What pack do you come from?" Mr Ishikawa asked.
"Korū comes from Bloodmoon. Linda and I come from Tranquil Bloodlust. Cayne comes from the Moonlight pack." Alina visibly cringed when she said Moonlight, causing Cayne to raise his eyebrow challengingly at her.
"We want you to let Greta join one of your packs."
"Why? Is she not happy here?" Alina frowned.
"She is. But she could be happier. We all love her, but we can't give her the training she wants. We can't run in the forest with her. We couldn't understand the pain she went through when she first shifted."
Kaguya ran back into the room, Chihaya and Korū close behind, just in time to hear that. "Someone tell me what happened," Korū growled. "Hands off my cat, bastard." Kaguya was just having fun.
Chihaya gave a chortle. "He didn't struggle when I brought him out, so."
"That idiot of a cat never struggles."
"That means there was nothing wrong, was there, Kaguya?"
"Mrr," Kaguya meowed indignantly.
Chihaya grunted and sat beside his parents.
"So?" he asked, "What's happening?"
"What were you talking about?" Korū lifted Kaguya onto the seat next to him and Shōhei. "I only caught the last part."
Linda sighed and filled them in on what they had talked about.
"I'm fine with that," Korū said, surprisingly. "But she'd have to deal with about a hundred or so idiots, one weird Alpha, and the fact that I agreed to this in the first place would probably make her pretty disliked." He eyed the people in the room. "As anyone can see, I'm not the most liked person in my pack."
"She could join mine if she liked." Cayne offered.
"Moonlight is a disgusting name." Alina said.
"That's irrelevant." Cayne retorted.
"What's happening?" Greta asked from the doorway.
"Do you wanna join one of our packs?" Alina asked.
Greta frowned. "Why?"
"Why not? You'll have people who can train you and can go hunting with you. Stuff like that. We're not asking you to disown us or anything." Katsurou said.
"Kinda sounds like you're disowning her, though," Korū pointed out. "Like, you're just giving her away to some random pack."
"We're not giving her away. You can come back to visit any time." Chihaya told Greta.
She was still frowning. 'I'm not sure."
"Consider it, Greta," her mother told her gently.
Greta nodded slowly, before stepping back into the room.
"Apparently you have a choice between a pack that has insane and not-so-normal tendencies, and one with a trashy name, according to Alina," Shōhei summarised.
"She can join ours too." Alina said, gesturing towards herself and Linda.
"Okay then…" Greta said, a tad bit hesitant.
"Hold it. The fuck do you mean 'not-so-normal tendencies'?" Korū snapped. Shōhei just grinned at him and shrugged. That guy was one of the only few who could get away with teasing Korū. Almost everyone else in the room was trying not to laugh.
"Back to the point of your visit." Chihaya said.
"We want to know how to get into the alcove so that we can have an audience with the main members of your family." Alina said.
"Oh no, we're not as important, are we?" Katsurou said jokingly.
"Well…" Linda said as jokingly, "Maybe."
Korū suddenly sat straight and exclaimed, "What the ever loving fuck?"
Shōhei glanced at him. "What?"
"Hikari's outside."
"Nani?"
"Not surprised." Alina muttered. Linda glanced at her.
"Why not?"
Alina shrugged. "Kumori's a dragon."
"Part dragon," Shōhei corrected. "Is anyone gonna let them in?"
Korū sighed. "Seriously, she should be resting and not running all around Japan."
"She's probably already well." Alina commented. "Jo works wonders. And I don't think you could stop her from coming even if you were there to try."
"Tch."
"Uh, is anyone gonna let them in?" Shōhei repeated.
"I'll do it." Greta stood and made her way out of the room again.
"Korū!" Hikari called a while later, tackling her brother off the couch. Greta was trailing behind her. "Hm? Oh, hi Shōhei!"
"Damn, Hikari," Korū grumbled. "Where's Kumori?"
"She went back."
"...Damn it."
"Why?" Linda asked him curiously.
"Because now I have to bear with her instead of letting Kumori deal with it." Hikari smacked him.
Linda sighed. "Sure."
"You're okay, right?" Korū questioned.
"Yep. Kumori's dead tired, though. Wonder why."
"Is it the wall's doing?" Alina asked.
"What wall?" Hikari narrowed her eyes. "Dang, I missed a lot, huh?"
"We can fill you in later. Anyway, this is Greta, Chihaya, Katsurou, and Mr and Mrs Ishikawa." Linda said.
Their hosts smiled, not at all disturbed that a new person had invaded their house. "Take a seat. We were just about to explain how to get into the Fujihana alcove."
Hikari casually took Korū's place on the couch, earning a pissed off glare from her brother.
"The thing is, technically, we have an entrance in this house." Mr Ishikawa said.
Korū glanced up from where he had made himself comfortable on the floor. "What?"
"Mhm. You guys can use it, I guess. But you'll most likely be meeting the stricter and more traditional people in the family, so I guess you could want some pointers?" Mrs Ishikawa said.
"Whatever pointers you're gonna give, Korū probably isn't gonna follow," Hikari proclaimed with a smirk.
"Shut up," Korū grumbled.
"We can hold onto the hope." Katsurou said.
Cayne snickered.
"There's no hope." Korū muttered.
"Bullshit. Go on with whatever the fuck you were gonna say, ignore this idiot over here."
"I wonder where 'respect your siblings and those older than you' went," Shōhei mused.
"That doesn't exist in my family." Korū notified him of a matter of factly.
"Moving on." Linda said loudly.
"Hold on, I have a question." Katsurou said. "Alina, how did you know that Greta was from the Fujihana family?"
"I used the name to beg them not to tell on me." Greta said, a blush creeping up her cheeks.
Katsurou blinked. "Ah, I see."
"Can we move in now?" Linda asked.
"Sure." Cayne replied. Their companions seemed to be forgetting that Night Stalker could contact them at any moment for them to rush back to help.
"There are a few things you need to take note of. Number one, please don't offend anyone. Don't pick fights or insult people if you want to live and possibly get answers."
Hikari snickered. Korū was going to die.
"Number two, did you bring the letter they sent with you?" Alina nodded. "Great, keep it with you. Also, us Fujihana and cunning, sly, and perhaps at least a little bit of a dirty player. Make sure to watch your words, or they could be used against you. Watch out for my sister, especially." Mrs Ishikawa warned.
"Your sister?" Hikari repeated.
"Identical twin."
"Ah. Why are there so many twins that we know?"
"Daniel has twin sons." Linda said.
Mr Ishikawa cleared his throat. "Okay, so you basically try not to die or make anyone mad."
"Cool. Korū, shut up while we're there."
"Shut up yourself."
"Will you show us the way?" Linda asked.
Mrs Ishikawa nodded and stood up. "If you make it out alive, we'll discuss how and when Greta can go to your packs to further detail."
"If, huh?" Korū sighed. "How reassuring."
"You're welcome. Let's go." She led them out of the room, and back to the living room.