After lunch, Makoto returned to his desk at Clitify, staring at a bug report for the "Tsundere" archetype.

  Bug #402: Bot insults user too effectively. Retention is dropping by 12%.

  User feedback: "It feels too real!! She called me a disappointment and I cried and she cried too."

  "Too real," Makoto muttered, rubbing his eyes. "Tell me about it."

  He gnced at his phone, still no messages. The group chat, once a hive of memes and threats, was empty. He missed the noise and the chaos. He missed Ayane's selfie, Mika's teasing, or Yuna's message calling him a pig.

  Makoto packed up his bag at 6:00 PM sharp. "I'm leaving, Tokuya-san."

  Tokuya looked up from his despair hole. "Leaving when the sun's still up? That's bold, rookie."

  "Family emergency," Makoto lied. He caught the earlier train, squeezed between a student reading manga and a woman who smelled like weed. He closed his eyes and let the rhythm of the tracks lull him into a stupor.

  ===

  When Makoto unlocked the front door, the apartment was strangely warm. The air conditioning was off. "I'm home," he called out, his voice echoing slightly.

  No answer.

  He walked into the kitchen. The sink was piled high with dishes, an unusual sight. A pot was boiling on the stove, the lid rattling ominously.

  "Mafuyu-nee?" He turned the corner and froze.

  Mafuyu was on the floor. She was slumped against the refrigerator, her legs sprawled out at awkward angles. Her eyes were closed, her face pale and sheened with sweat. A mop y on the floor near her hand.

  "MAFUYU-NEE!" Makoto screamed.

  Mafuyu looked small, her dark hair spyed across the white tiles. She was deathly pale, her breathing shallow and ragged.

  "No, no, no…" Makoto gasped, dropping to his knees beside her. He lifted her head into his p, his hands shaking. "Mafuyu-nee! Wake up! Please, wake up!"

  Makoto fumbled for his phone, his fingers slick with sweat. He was about to dial the emergency number when Mafuyu's eyelids flickered.

  Mafuyu let out a soft, pained groan, her brow furrowing. "Makoto-kun…?" she whispered, her eyes slowly opening, unfocused and gssy.

  "I'm here. I'm here, Mafuyu-nee. Don't move! You fainted." Makoto said softly

  "The… the pork," she breathed, trying to sit up. "I have to… the floor is still wet…"

  "Forget the pork! Forget the floor!" Makoto shouted, his voice thick with a mixture of terror and self-loathing. He pulled her against his chest, holding her tight. "God, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

  He sat there on the kitchen floor, rocking her gently. He felt the fragility of her, the way she had been carrying the weight of the entire household while he was pying at being a serious professional.

  Then the front door opened.

  "Why is the door unlocked, Makoto? Geez, are you forgetting stuff again..." Yuna stopped in the kitchen doorway, still wearing her backpack.

  "Mafuyu-nee!" Yuna shrieked, dropping her bag and sprinting over. Behind her, Ayane and Mika appeared, their expressions shifting from curiosity to sharp horror.

  "What happened?" Ayane asked, her face turning pale.

  "She fainted," Makoto answered and looked up at them, his eyes red-rimmed. "She's been doing everything. The cleaning, the cooking, dealing with our bullshit… and I just ignored it."

  Mika walked over, her movements calm but her eyes wide with fear. She knelt beside them, her hand going to Mafuyu's pulse. "Her heart rate is elevated, but her breaths are stabilizing," Mika murmured and looked at Makoto. "Help her to the couch. Now."

  Makoto lifted Mafuyu, carrying her to the living room with desperate care. He y her down on the sofa, tucking a bnket around her. Yuna sat on the edge of the cushions, grabbing Mafuyu's hand and holding it to her cheek, her small frame trembling.

  "You're a moron, Mafuyu-nee," Yuna whispered, her voice cracking. "You should have told us or yelled at us."

  "I didn't want… to be a bother," Mafuyu rasped, her voice returning. She looked at all of them, her eyes filled with guilt. "I'm sorry I ruined the afternoon."

  "Ruined the...?" Ayane choked out a sob, kneeling on the floor. "Mafuyu, we thought you were dead! Don't you dare apologize!"

  "Stop apologizing, Mafuyu-nee," Yuna said, sniffing and taking Mafuyu's hand, whose color was slowly returning. "You scared the crap out of me."

  Mika stood up. She looked at the group, her expression grim. "We've dumped everything on one person," she announced.

  Everyone looked at her.

  "Mafuyu-san has been cooking, cleaning, and managing the daily life for five people. While also…" She gnced at Mafuyu's stomach, then stopped herself. "While also dealing with her health issues."

  She looked at Makoto. "You are the breadwinner, Makoto. But you are not present. You come home, you eat and work, then you sleep. You do not see her workload."

  She looked at Yuna and Ayane. "And we are freeloaders. We eat the food she cooked, wear clean clothes she washed, and receive Mafuyu's emotional support without contributing to the house."

  Mika walked over to the calendar on the wall. It was filled with Makoto's work schedule, Yuna's gaming events, and Ayane's shifts. Mafuyu's name wasn't on it, her bor was invisible. "We almost broke her," Mika said.

  The silence was deafening.

  Mafuyu was trying to sit up, looking guilty. "No, Mika-chan, it's not like that," She protested weakly. "I like doing it, it's my only contribution. I'm so sorry... I will get back to it after I recover."

  "You're pushing yourself too much, Mafuyu-nee," Makoto said as he felt a wave of shame so potent it nearly choked him.

  He remembered the warm bento, the ironed shirts, the quiet welcome home. He had taken it all for granted. He had been so focused on proving he could support them financially that he had let them, let her, colpse.

  "Mika's right," he said. "I've been so selfish."

  "We all have," Ayane and Yuna muttered, looking at their feet.

  Makoto stood up, looking at the three women he had been neglecting. "Don't apologize anymore, Mafuyu-nee. I'm the one who should be apologizing to all of you."

  He looked at Yuna, who was still gring at the floor, then at Ayane, who was wiping her eyes. Finally, he turned to Mika, who was staring at him with an unreadable expression.

  "I've been an asshole to you, Yuna," Makoto stated bluntly. "I got this job, and I thought that meant I was the man. I thought providing meant bringing home a paycheck and telling everyone to get out of my way."

  "But Mika was right. I was just acting like a coward. I was hiding in that office because I was scared of the responsibility of actually being here with you all. The job matters because of you," he said, turning to them. "I'm an intern on probation. But you three and Mafuyu-nee… you aren't on probation, you're my very life."

  He knelt in front of Mafuyu, taking her other hand. "No more cleaning or cooking today, Mafuyu-nee. From now on, we're a team again. If the house is messy, it stays messy. If we eat cup ramen, we eat it together."

  "I'm not letting you break yourselves to make our lives easier." He kissed Mafuyu's hand.

  Yuna looked up at him, her eyes searching his face. The coldness was gone, repced by a flickering, uncertain hope. "You really mean that, fat pig?"

  "I mean it," Makoto said, managing a small, sad smile. "And keep calling me pig, Yuna, I deserve it. No, I missed it."

  Ayane leaned her head against his shoulder. "Hey, you haven't said sorry to me yet, boss. If you snap at me in a parking lot again, I'm keying your car."

  "Fair enough, sorry, Ayane." Makoto ughed, making a shaky, relieved sound.

  Makoto took a deep breath. "I'm taking the day off tomorrow."

  "But your work…" Mafuyu started.

  "Screw the work. My family needs me more." He pulled out his phone and texted Kenta. "Family emergency. Will take a day off tomorrow, sorry boss."