"Oof, that's really bright."

  "You think so too, Rin?"

  "Yeah, let's just turn the outdoor lights on."

  The strong illumination of the flood lights in the house still under construction was only momentary in exchange of the light fixtures of the house itself bringing a softer light in the dark.

  In the middle of the cold night, Gin and Rin layered up with scarfs and all, and walked a short stroll into the middle of the spacious yard of their new family house that is soon to be bedded with soil and grass.

  From the excesses of the construction, Gin picked similar sized stones and arrange them in a circle while Rin brought out wood from inside the unfinished house.

  With Gin's ability to start a fire manually in a matter of seconds, the two of them were then soothed by the heat of the flame upon sitting on foldable chairs in front of it.

  ※ Starting a bonfire in Orio is legal within the delimitations of the fire not exceeding an area of a 0.25 square meter in a standard residential lot, with a fire extinguisher available at the household.

  "Ahh… that's warm…"

  "How much time do we have left, Potato?"

  "Let's see… An hour and ten."

  "That's plenty," said Rin, as she brought her hand into a plastic bag beside her and pulled out a can of beer from it.

  "Cold, cold…"

  "Sometimes I can never get used to you taking out the booze first out of every one of us."

  "I feel like you're about to start a bit about me being an alcoholic again. You know most that I start the drinks but usually tap out the fastest not because I'm a lightweight but because of principle."

  "Sure, sure," and so, two cans popped and fizzed.

  "Kanpai?"

  "Kanpai."

  The next thing that came out of a plastic bag was a package of supermarket thin cuts of meat, and a large grill with a cast iron skillet was put on top of a fire.

  In this midnight of the last day of the year, the two of them had an early dinner just for this moment.

  "Hahh… I wish Yuki can join us tonight."

  "Aunt Rion said she's out cold in the base. Looks like they also had their share of celebrations underground."

  "Pff… I actually have a picture of her when she's with me here."

  What lit up in the phone of Rin was a picture of Yukihime with a striking resemblance to a cocoon as she tightly wraps herself in her own comforter.

  "Huh, that's cute.

  Right, the underground base is deep enough that the temperature is not affected by seasonal changes."

  "We only visit in occasions, but we really should frequent the base more in summer."

  "How is our time away from work in the coming months, though? Hiro and Sis are still probably going to take more time off most of 2025 to take care of Mahiru, so I'm a bit busier in the kitchen."

  "I still have the same schedule, and I don't think I can really take a lot of leaves until Claude's fiscal year ends in June."

  "And I'm still juggling construction here while Jean and Chef Yuzu takes over when I'm not around. With my Capy work, I basically have control of my time as long as it's not on embargo."

  "We've really gotten busy, especially you with the absence of Hiro-nii."

  "With the service hours cut, it's a bit easier but still challenging. I'm just glad Hiro and Sean drilled into my head what I need to do in management."

  "I'm more impressed that you only had to study up on that for a year when I constantly have to take that for three years at CCI."

  "Honestly… let's just cut the work talk… I don't want a depressing new year."

  "Touché."

  The sizzling sound then started together with the release of the aroma of seared beef, to which the two of them incessantly partook until the pack has been emptied ten minutes before the clock hits 12.

  "Main event~ Main event~"

  Excited, Rin urged Gin to bring out the sparklers that they have brought with them while she takes out water from a pail that still has remains of hardened cement.

  Even with the continuous feeding of wood to the fire, it has significantly gone down at a controlled height where it would still bring them warmth and enough light for the house lights to be turned off.

  Thus, Rin had lit up the first firework of the night, illuminating her face as seen in the frame of a camera viewfinder.

  *click*

  "Ohh, that came out nice."

  "Can that even see me?"

  "I've always taken pointers from Shiro. Turns out the sensor is quite good at nighttime too."

  "Taking pictures of stars sounds fun."

  "Maybe we should go camping or something. Only that we have to look for a place where we can see a lot of them because we can't really see any here."

  "How about we go to Hitoretsu, then?"

  "At the north beach?"

  "We didn't really get to see them when we were last there, but Sora (Aobana) told me that the beach is a really good spot to see some stars.

  Maybe I should get in touch with them if we're going to visit."

  "Not that I'm a fan of the beach, but I'm down for it. The wind would be awesome there."

  "Sounds like we have a plan, then."

  With the sparkler on Rin's hand going off, she moved her chair and pressed closer to Gin's shoulder as she watched the light on his hand.

  "Yesterday was hectic for you, wasn't it?"

  "It was stressful but in a different way. Still, it feels like a weight has been off my back.

  I can just focus on helping out on this house for now, carry around normal at Giotto's from now on, enjoy drawing while chatting with people, and even make plans of going on vacations with you without having to worry about things much."

  "You've influenced me too much that I can't think that we're really out of our problems, but I hope that we never find ourselves in ones as big as the things we've been dealt with these past few years."

  "Took the words out of my mouth.

  Can you just live with me already when my family moves out to here? We'll have the house to ourselves by that time."

  "No, you daft sod. You're the one who keeps telling me not to until the vows."

  "I just got a bit excited. Pay that no mind."

  He says, with his heart racing, being giddy at the thought of their life together.

  "Ah, it's already 12."

  "Aaaalright, we saved the best for the last."

  In the midst of Gin setting up, his parents and Anna took a visit to the new house to find several fountain fireworks being placed in a row in the middle of the spacious carport.

  "An invite would have been nice, don't you think?" annoyed and feeling left out, Anna walked up while seeing the traces of food and sparklers that have been used up.

  "Hold on a sec, I'm bringing Shuu and Sumi out here to watch with us."

  And so, the Sakato and Akanami family gathered together in one place, wishing that they could have had Kei and Shiina, who they were sure were just at the comfort of their home, while Hiroomi and Yuna are perhaps asleep with their daughter, Mahiru, between them.

  Regardless, with the number of people they have, they lit all five of the fountains at the same time.

  At once, the house was enveloped by a bright shower of light as the fountains rose up to a daunting height. For some reasons, all of them sounded an applause until the sparks subsided and the house returned to the dark.

  Fleeting as fireworks may be, their new year had been welcomed with the sadness of the past behind them.

  ? ? ?

  "I can't believe this is finally happening…"

  Hands clasped, eyes nigh teary, Gin sat on top of his solar roof watching a truck in front of his wide-open garage gate offloading large packages into his home.

  Meanwhile, the ladder going up to the roof creaked as Yukihime joined him while fighting off the coldness of the February midday.

  "You know, it just never occurred to me but your master bedroom is comically large."

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  "And I hope that it does not correlate with the previous owner of the house being a Richard, from what little I know of him."

  "Should you really be saying the name of the past owner just like that?"

  An inaudible "huh" was instead expressed on Gin's face as he turned to look at his cousin who seemed to be clueless at what he was talking about.

  "Wait, you don't know the nickname for the name Richard?"

  "Was I supposed to know?"

  "Nevermind… You're better off not knowing."

  "Anyway, I guess I'm a little excited about this little project of yours," with her elbow, Yukihime nudged Gin with a smirk on her face as the latter tries to contain his excitement.

  But as the delivery below has been fulfilled, Gin jumped down to the yard and offered the delivery truck some refreshments before affixing his signature and seeing them off.

  What was a normal day all of a sudden became a great day for Gin, now that he is looking at the tatami mats imported from Japan that just arrived at his doorstep, evident with the humming he has been letting out in the midst of carrying them towards his room.

  "I wish we had a sakura tree right here… it would be nice to do hanami while sitting on a tatami next year."

  "You sure you don't need any help installing them, Gin?"

  "I can at least do this on my own, but I'll have to put this off for now since we still have lots of work to do.

  That aside… how long do you think it will take us to build the porch once all the materials arrive?"

  "I'd say a week at most. It's not something I usually do and I'm still researching about it, but I think we can make it faster if we try hard enough.

  I'm kinda keen to work on it, but we still have a lot on our plate, yeah?"

  "Gotcha."

  With the two of them geared and safe, the cousins put on their white masks and hard hats as they exited the lot of Gin's house towards their new house that is starting to look a lot like a home more and more.

  At the end of the first week of January, the roof and all the partitions have all been insulated. The ceilings have been installed, and the water lines across the house have been finalized in preparation for the final phase of the construction.

  As it stood, the status of the house was still bare with the gray concrete wall exposed but sealed. The tiles have been set in the bathrooms and most of the work that is needed is the floor finish, furnishing of the kitchen and the individual rooms, as well as painting the walls which was deemed to be a challenge due to the winter.

  But come February, and it has been made clear that the brunt of the work has truly been attributed into the entirety of building the structure of the house from the foundations up to the roof as evidence that significant progress has been made into the interior and exterior of the house, now that the work has transitioned beyond its fundamental aspects.

  "Aaaaalright, time for me to actually evaluate how you'll do, dear cousin of mine."

  "Brings me back, but it's no janky work this time, huh."

  While it was by no means a failure, Gin had realized upon Yukihime's scrutiny that so much things could have been improved on the polished concrete floor that he himself did on his own house. And as per the entire family's request, they wanted to have the same floor finish as they would not have to worry about tiles getting compromised by any elements.

  "Wait, you guys are really just going to make me do this on my own?"

  "Yup. We better not see any imperfections on your pour, okay? I'm going to work upstairs while you're at it~"

  "I swear, you turn into a different person when it comes to your work…"

  Feeling defeated, Gin nevertheless started mixing the solution of the flooring base while looking at the floor area that he had to work on.

  On the other hand, Yukihime then ascended the staircase and entered of the bedrooms to see one hardworking lady taping up the floors and the ceiling cornices.

  "Nice to see that we got more ladies at the job. And I really can't get enough of your hair when it's tied."

  With the last corner of the ceiling taped, Rin climbed down the ladder turning with a rather tepid look directed at Yukihime.

  "Just admit that you have a thing with hair too, Yuki."

  "What, no? It's just not everyday that I see hair like yours. Black on the outside, white on the inside. It's cool that you see the contrast when you tie it like that."

  "More than half a year of rooming with you, and you finally show your true colors."

  "Like I said…"

  Not feeling to continue the cheeky argument, Yukihime grabbed a roll of painter tape and several sheets of newspaper as she covers the opposite wall that Rin is masking.

  "I didn't think you were actually serious when you said you wanted to help out."

  "Hey now. I can at least paint some walls, you know. I only needed pointers on when to apply layers and I was good to go.

  Besides, I'm probably never going to experience the novelty of it anytime soon."

  "Novelty?"

  "The novelty… or maybe the fantasy of finishing the house you just acquired after the important you-know-what."

  "You say that, but that doesn't normally happen, you know. I may be oblivious to the world, but even I know that usually just happens in a scene of a movie with a minute of montage at most where the couple happily bonds over making their new home."

  "Girl, you don't seem oblivious to it at all. Too specific even, if I have to say. I don't take you to be the jealous type."

  "I'm not. I was just saying is all. You and Gin could just do that if ever you decide to do an overhaul in your house. Actually, does it feel weird to say that Gin's house is yours now too?"

  "What do you mean 'now?' I would have said give it a few more years but I'll just get conceited and say once the family moves in here that I'll consider it my home too."

  "As if that wasn't the case yet all these years, from what I've heard."

  "Look, that just happened because it's literally one window away to our house. You can't blame me that it's so convenient."

  "Well, I guess it's nice to see that Gin isn't the only one feeling very chipper these past few months."

  "Ehehe…"

  Somehow, the brightening of Rin's face coupled with her pinkish cheeks and ear to ear smile annoyed Yukihime of all things.

  "Going to brag about the engaged life again?"

  "Heck no. I'm just thinking about how Gin's probably in the best mood in his entire life since the start of the year, now that you mentioned it."

  "Hmm? That's saying something. He really is living life now, huh."

  "Something he deserved to have done many years back. He's just finally taking back what was taken from him.

  Ah, please paint that side pure white, Yuki. The rest will be off-white."

  "Hm? First time I'm hearing about that?"

  "When Anna heard I'm going to help out, she requested me to make her a mural for her room here."

  "I see…

  Next time, tell us about that beforehand so the plans can adjust and we can account it, you hear?"

  "Sorry~ But don't worry about the additional expenses. Anna got it covered she says.

  Hahh… She's only a year younger but this is what it feels like to see your little sister grow, huh."

  "I see that the Sakato's really are tight-knit with your family."

  "Always has been," Rin said proudly, pointing the paint roller at Yukihime like a gun.

  "Hey…! The flooring just got done here upstairs! I'm going to make you paint all the walls if you make a mess here!"

  By lunch, Gin had progressed halfway into making the floor downstairs.

  ? ? ?

  Mid-March.

  An hour after the sunset, a house in Cerulean Street lit up in full, illuminating the pure white walls and the accents of stucco breaking up what would be a monolithic look that the house could have had. On the space outside, a strip of track lights situated at the roofed carport showed that the open space could at most accommodate two vehicles, with one of them roofed that can also serve as a patio.

  It was the scene that Amano sees, while her wife sets her sights on the ring of soil surrounding the walls of the entire lot, imagining the plants and the produce that she can finally have.

  It was an entirely different house, the entire Sakato family thought to themselves, now that the house has been finally turned over to them.

  Entirely different, yet still so similar. Once the head of the house opened the front door, the family was immediately welcomed with a living room to their left, a dining table a few steps forward, and a staircase to their right.

  "At least this part is 1:1…"

  With Amano's tendency to see to it that things be kept identical, the interior of the house felt as if they did not even move to a new house, with only the changes that instead of bedrooms further left of the living and dining room, they were replaced with windows, as only two bedrooms remained downstairs, and the wall dividing the kitchen and the dining space has now been omitted in favor of an open plan design giving the impression of a much spacious home, much like Gin's house.

  In the end, the family had decided to build a larger home with a fusion of their old house and Gin's, address the problem of the latter where adjustment to emerging technological solutions is sparse. But as per Gin's cautiousness, what has innovated must always come with a much simpler and traditional alternative as he refuses to commit to a fully electronic household.

  As the house was just fresh out of any and all construction, the cleaning was completed at midday, which means that it was still as bare as it could get.

  "This is seriously going to be my room…?!"

  In the second floor, two rooms are situated to the left of the stairs, with a bathroom sandwiched between them, while a door to a small veranda below the carport is found in the far right. In the farthest bedroom is where Rin's help had put its most focus as a spacious bedroom that could fit a double bed was adorned with a series of murals in one wall as representations of Anna's life and interests as per her request.

  "Dad… Mom… It's scary if I'm the only one rooming upstairs…"

  Thus, Anna begged her parents to use the bedroom on the same floor.

  All in all, the house was completed with a 4LDK layout. As to why there is now an extra bedroom in their new home…

  "I guess I kind of went overboard with helping on designing the first floor, huh…" Amano sighed.

  Due to the size of the ground floor, only having one bedroom would leave the upstairs with plenty of unused space. Alternatively, the floor area of the second floor could have been reduced and the remaining space could have been used as a large veranda. But in the end, while the other rooms may not yet have its uses, they family has deemed that they serve a purpose.

  "I guess we can always use one of the rooms below for storage or as a guest room," the mother suggested.

  "Well, Shiina and I are taking dibs on the last room, then," Kei announced. "Not that we have plans of moving in, but it's nice that we can stay here too whenever we want."

  "Just like we discussed, yes."

  "As for me…" Anna hesitated, "I'm probably never leaving this house."

  Needless to say, the parents and the eldest were left in confusion with Anna's sudden declaration.

  "Uh, did something happen between you and Akira recently? Maybe we can help if you talk about it?"

  More than anything, it also left Anna confused with an oblivious, "Um, no?" while Gin could only facepalm at the response.

  "You're going to have some explaining to do, Akira…"

  What was supposed to be a house that is mainly for the purpose of utility has then evolved into one that accommodated every one of the family's indulgence. With Amano and Senna's insistence on keeping parts of their old house as much as they can, the memories of the old home they worked hard for could still live on, even if it is now in new land. For years, or perhaps many decades, their family would not have to suffer from the floods that took pain to deal with, leaving them with anxiety and worry of their lives and future.

  "Work here is almost done, I suppose…"

  Gin stretched as he reflected on the past months where he was a part of building this very house, and now envisioning how this place will appear to be once it finally turns into a home.

  "What's next will be moving furniture and stuff… we'll probably have to still borrow a small truck for that…

  And I'm probably going to be a bit busy in the base again."

  Suddenly, Gin's face brightened as he was overcome with a thought of a new project that has surfaced in his mind.

  "Of course, I can't let this house always relying on the grid, can I?"

  "Oh… so you mean the solar cells. You're going to help even with that, Nii?"

  "I wasn't able to help as much as I wanted to when they were making the panels for my house, but since then I've racked up experience with construction and metal work, and I just really don't want to stop learning new things."

  At a quick pace, Senna dove onto Gin with a tight embrace, and her audible sobs reverberated around the empty house.

  "I'm sorry… I just couldn't help but see how you used to be before we mistakenly let go of you…"

  Nearly twenty years have passed since Amano and Senna waved their second child a momentary farewell from what they did not know what would eventually take the son they knew away from them.

  Nearly twenty years was the time it took before they get to see once again the whimsy in Gin's eyes that has now been restored from the darkness of the world that occupied him.

  "I'm also sorry that I couldn't remember how I was back then anymore. When I look at those pictures as a kid before I became a Medical Child… it still felt like I was looking at a different person.

  But you know what, while on the topic of pictures, I'm going to grab my camera and tripod for a moment. Be sure you're all lined up when I get back!"

  And so, the click of the shutters sounded in the house, and what was captured in the picture was what may be an end of a story for some, and the dawn of a new era.

  "Who should we invite for the housewarming, then?"

  "I feel like that's going to be a lot of people."

  "For one, I'm going to give Engineer Yuma a heads up, and I'll go invite Yohan. He's the reason why we managed to build this house, after all."

  "Guess I'll go call Sora-chan and the others from high school! Maybe I could have them for a sleepover too."

  "We've barely even put anything in this house and you're already thinking about that? Chill, Anna."

  "You have no say about this, Yuka? It's not like your husband has a lot of friends anyway right, Ane Shii?"

  "Ahaha… go easy on each other, you two."

  "Can we leave the menu of the food to you then, Gin?"

  "I'm already taking mental notes…

  But I'm going to need some more food to get my brain pumping."

  "Dude, we just ate dinner an hour ago."

  ? ? ?

  One March weekend.

  As Rin randomly crawled into Gin's room from his window, she found a new addition on Gin's desk. Taking a closer look, she took the picture frame and ended up bursting out laughing.

  "I could hear you from downstairs, you know."

  "You… You're never going to grow out of sucking at getting taken a picture, are you?!"

  "Ah, you saw that, huh. Let's just call it a talent."

  In the family picture that Gin and his family took at their new house, all of the shots they've taken had his face blurry either really bad or ever so slightly.

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