The sun has set, leaving the sky dark. Hiroshi couldn't help but get awakened by his gashing hollowness, at best having gotten a short nap, if only it didn't take multiple hours to get.

  Feeling his throat dry, he got some clothes on and silently went to get glass of water from the kitchen, making sure to proceed as silently as possible.

  Out of curiosity, he peaked to check on the girls, and seems he got fortunate. Olivia had cuddled up with Nata, so even if she tried to slip and break the rules, the cuddle kept her in check.

  After finishing his glass of water, he started to feel weirdly restless, so in only way he knew, he put some socks on, running shoes on, and headed outside for a midnight jog.

  Taking in the streetlamps enlightening his path forwards, seeing passersby as nothing more than blurs in the mist, and bitter cold of night bite his skin.

  Passing by buildings, crossing streets, he slowly started to build up an sweat, before shortly having to take a seat by an bench at the outskirts of the park.

  'Why am I like this?' he questioned to himself, looking at the night sky.

  thanks to the park being decently dark spot in the city, the faint starlight could be seen above him.

  "So, couldn't get sleep?" a familiar voice spoke, before he locked eyes with familiar crimson pupils. "I am not surprised." Sophia explained, as she sat down next to him, as he could note she was in her casual clothing.

  "What do you want?" Hiroshi said. He didn't mean it to sound mean, but his mood didn't much help on making it feel friendly.

  "Going to the store. I hate to do it while sun is up. Makes me feel disgustingly exhausted." She admitted with a chuckle.

  "I was surprised that you agreed to take Olivia with you."

  "It's what she wanted." He tried to explain, but seems it clearly wasn't sufficient for the her.

  "For a human, you are an odd case." she noted, "Not in a bad way, i meant."

  "How nice of you." Hiroshi muttered as he kept on his sulking, looking at the concrete floor underneath them.

  She went to look up at the stars, as she considered her words more carefully. "Usually humans are selfishly wary. That is why it is our dictation which says who gets what foster family, as otherwise no foster family would accept a monster unless it was someone perfect to them." she explained, before turning her gaze towards him

  "Yet you... you accepted it when you clearly didn't want it. You have every right to decline, and now look where it got you." she said, "Someone who clearly isn't fit to take two fosters, and so suddenly." As he heard her honesty, it left him speechless, unsure what to say.

  Thinking on words she said, he only came to realize his mistakes even further than he previously thought.

  "Then why did you? Why did you let me have her?" He questioned, his confidence starting to waver.

  Sophia gave a light sigh, as she tried to walk a narrow path with him.

  "Like I said, I was surprised you accepted it, alongside Kat. But Edith chose it." she said, but she gave a light scuff.

  "She always does something before thinking. I am surprised she can even be our head speaker at times, but she always knows what is best for us."

  As silence made their position difficult, Hiroshi's thought stuttered for a moment, before having to ask. "Does she now?"

  Sophia gave a light chuckle as she considered on it. "Honestly, you'd be surprised more than you realize."

  "Tamers as we are now started all because of her. Back when she was wishful teen, she cared for us monsters more than many others, and his brother was in tow, joining in the dream." Sophia rambled off, as while listening, Hiroshi joined watching the stars.

  "But of course as any dream, it is easier said than done. Of course, when I heard of it, I happily joined in, soon accompanied with Kat. We all shared the same dream as her, and I will be honest, there are regrets we all hope we could return to and fix." Sophia explained calmly, taking Hiroshi aback hearing it.

  "Monsters we hoped we could have saved, words we hoped we never said, and actions we wish never happened... But regrets... it is what makes us human." Sophia said with a smile. "So if you have regrets, Don't be shy telling them."

  Hiroshi was left speechless for a moment, before contemplating on her request.

  "I... I have more than I wish to admit to." Hiroshi muttered out loud. "You see... my family wasn't exactly... the best." he slowly rambled off himself, making sure to pick words carefully

  "My dad, he was a workaholic, too focused on his projects that he rarely even spoke to us... mother, I was lucky to see her around even once a week." Hiroshi explained, his voice rasping up from emotions he was trying to keep down.

  "Then for my sisters... It sounds absurd, but I have twelve of them. With parents not focusing much on us, as my eldest sister, Haruka, was forced to work to pay off for us to have a decent living, and me... well, as a sole man ever since I was a teen, I took care of them." His gaze slowly lowered back towards concrete, as he went on talking.

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  "It took a lot out of me. Making sure they were fine, and it took everything out of me, leaving me no chance to get proper friends or interaction outside of home. People started to talk about me behind my back, as I was left to do my best..."

  "And you regret you did this, than having your sisters help to keep everyone in the family well off?" Sophia tried to guess, but Hiroshi shook his head.

  "Weirdly, I don't... But after some... misfortune struck, I had to leave my home... I couldn't stay." Hiroshi explained. "Haruka helped me to do so, and I left all of them behind... And only one I have been able to talk to is Haruka..."

  Sophia calmly processed his situation, as he calmly continued. "And today... I called her, hoping she could help me..."

  "And she wasn't, I presume." to which Hiroshi nodded, making Sophia's guess hit right this time around.

  As passerby's walked past them, in silence, Sophia was slowly trying to puzzle how to best deal with him.

  "I see the problem..." Sophia calmly turned to look at Hiroshi, who looked at her expectantly, with such a claim.

  "You feel alone." Sophia said with confidence, which he quickly shook off.

  "Lonely? Are you kidding me? I am literally opposite of lonely." Hiroshi said, starting to get angry from the assertion, getting up and turning to look at her.

  "How dare you say something so absurd." He declared, and as he was about to storm out, Sophia calmly spoke up.

  "I know, but could you calm down. Nothing will change if you go back now."

  The words rung heavy on his mind, and as he paced back and forth, and as he was about to leave, he let out a deep sigh and turned to look at Sophia.

  "It is a lot to take in, especially when so vulnerable, but I am trying to help you. Come sit with me, and I will explain."

  Hiroshi, trying to calm his nerves, returned onto the bench.

  "When we get new monsters, there three things we take note, when trying to civilize them. Values, education, and support." Sophia proceeded to explain.

  "Values we all know, what is right or wrong, why neighbors matter more than random people and son on, education is also noted as we have to have knowledge to function in modern world." Sophia quickly explained the two things that didn't matter for now, as she aimed for the third one.

  "But support, is one of the most important things a person can have. Knowing if you fall, there will be someone to catch you. It is what has helped with nearly all crisis all across the world." Sophia made clear, before moving to most important part.

  "And knowing if you have support or not, is as important as if you had in actuality or not. Let's consider Nata. How do you feel about her." which took Hiroshi by surprise, leaving him stammering for a second.

  "uhh... well... how would I say this..." Hiroshi considered hard, before settling on. "She is troubled, yet caring. Wanting to do her best, yet she can be handful to deal with."

  Sophia gave a gentle nod, before continuing "And that's all?" which took Hiroshi out of it, questioning what she was meaning.

  She gave a light sigh on him picking up on it slowly. "Caring, and trying to do her best... Isn't that someone you should see as something to support yourself."

  "But she-" Hiroshi tried to answer, but he got glared down by her, which he was still unsure on why.

  "I know we put heavy emphasis on us helping fosters, but that is half of the story. These fosters are also here to help us." she made clear.

  "You already know there is special occasions where people can get fosters without being a family, that is because sometimes, when people are honest and kind, sometimes they just need someone to be the outlet, that gives that same treatment back." Sophia explained in full detail, which made Hiroshi finally realize.

  "So... I should..." Hiroshi tried to put things together, but Sophia didn't want to play around anymore, especially when he was so close. "Let her treat you. It may be uncomfortable, but that is also part of fostering. Letting them show their humanity, their regrets by doing what they couldn't do to others, onto you."

  As she finished explaining it, he was left silent, it felt absurd to him on the spot, but even as his mind tried to rebut her logic, he couldn't make something that could stick

  With each second of silence, Sophia's smile widened, before finally Hiroshi gave a defeated sigh. "I...I guess you are right."

  "See, it wasn't that hard to admit." Sophia calmly said, as Hiroshi was still processing things.

  "now how about you go get some sleep, and we can discuss things tomorrow." Sophia offered, which surprised Hiroshi.

  "Discuss tomorrow?" to which Sophia gave a small nod.

  "I was planning with Kat and Edith to go do some summer shopping, and it is nice to have an outsider's opinion on some stuff... and you can bring Nata and Olivia along. I promise to pay for their part."

  Hiroshi thought for a moment, before finally deciding something, that he doubted he would regret. "Sure, why not. I'd presume the girls would like to have fun around town than being stuck home tomorrow as well."

  "Then it's decided." Sophia calmly said, as she stood up from the bench. "It was nice chatting."

  "Y-yeah... same, and thank you." He muttered, as she headed off, leaving him be.

  Hiroshi was dragging his feet in exhaustion, as after long distance of walking, he finally arrived back at home.

  Being as silent as he could, he headed towards his bedroom, but on the way, he curiously checked on the girls.

  'They care for you', thoughts rang through his head as he saw them calmly sleeping as he stayed by the door, which didn't help him as his face turned red.

  Closing the door gently, he tried to shake the fluster out of him, but it was difficult with prospect of doing what Sophia adviced.

  'They need an outlet' he reminded himself, to which he remembered of thinking back when Nata joined him, but that drowned in his worries.

  With light disgruntle, he went to bed, and trying to suppress all of the thoughts going on currently.

  'I guess I don't need to be only responsible one...' he thought, which eased his mood, before getting knocked into sleep.

  Night went by fast, and as morning came, he could sigh a relieve. With no Nata troubling him, he dressed up with modest feeling.

  Taking step out of his bedroom, and making his way to the kitchen, he was surprised to see Olivia and Nata happily up and eating their breakfast... and not too far way from them, a breakfast already prepared for him with coffee waiting alongside it as well, and by color the right amount of milk as well.

  "I hope you like your breakfast. Olivia helped plenty with coffee machine." Nata declared, with tail wagging hard, while Olivia nodded in agreement, munching on a green apple.

  "ah... Thank you." he said with light fluster, he wasn't expecting this suddenly, but he didn't deny it being nice as well.

  Taking bite of the usual sandwich, he could note it wasn't the usually messy stuffing Nata used to make, it was much more carefully prepared. There was clear thought put behind it, and same clearly with coffee, as he didn't even need to taste it to know it.

  'I guess she was right' Hiroshi thought, as he enjoyed the meal with the girls, as he returned to his thoughts.

  Nata was silently inspecting him, as Olivia watched from the sideline, as Nata had entire day routine planned for him, with plenty of entertainment to watch, massages and snuggles, but her day dreams were quickly ruined.

  "So, today we will be going out to the city. I got an invitation from Sophia to some business." Both of the girls got surprised, and Olivia could tell Nata's dreams partly crushed to hear it, but putting their trust on him, they agreed without complaint.