The moment I got to the restaurant to meet up with Rumi and her friends, she bombarded me with questions on why I was with two of the Saja boys.
"Rumi breathe!" I had my hands on my sister's shoulders to calm her down. "What are you talking about?"
"Abby and baby," Rumi said, her hands shaking a little. "Two of the Saja boys were talking to you!"
I sighed.
"Sis, I can handle two boys," I said to her. "You know me."
"I know you do that with guys, but- Akuma, they're demons," Rumi said while the other two were staring off.
"I know, and we're half demon." I countered. "And tell them to stop staring at my muscle mass."
The two snapped out of it and looked away. I sighed and looked at Rumi, she was clearly still upset about me talking to two saja boys. Can't blame her, but still.
"Rumi, I've been facing demons five years longer than you. I know how to handle them." I told her, giving her a pet on the head, I've done this a thousand times before when Rumi was stressed. "I'll be okay, I'll be coming back every time. It's my job as your older brother to come back for you. That won't change, no matter who gets in the way."
"I know," Rumi said, looking down, but was still on guard. "But still, it doesn't help that Saja boys were there and you spoke with two of them!"
I didn't say anything more. And just sighs, looking down at my sister, who I have been protecting since I was five, and she was just a newborn baby. We went into the restaurant, I got some dumplings and a side of mixed rice and veggies. The other three picked out whatever to eat, and I wasn't paying attention. We sat in silence, eating, well, the most we could; I mostly just pushed around the dumplings on my plate with my chopsticks. I knew Rumi would want to talk about the colab for a song. Rumi and I have been talking about it for months, but she didn't know how to bring it up with the other two before she showed them her patterns. So this situation should make it easier to make this colab happen between both of Rumi's groups. It would just be better if Rumi and I didn't just have a serious family-related conversation that also mentioned the saja boys. I love my sister, but she is often very over the top with work, and now the situation we're in. It involves a set of five demons, none of which I recognize, and sang this cheesy ass song about romance like soda. I may like my men singing, but not like that. The more I look over at my sister, the more I see her conflicted inside.
"So," I began, Rumi looked to me. "I guess we get to look forward to a colab sometime in the future."
"Yeah, I guess we do," Rumi said, trying to look as anxious as I know she is. "So, what do we do now?"
"We could start planning what song to perform," I said as we ate, and I took a bite out of my dumpling.
"We can, we both have been working on that one song," Rumi said.
"Darkness before the dawn, I know. We can figure out the details." I said, eating some rice and veggies. The two girls, Zoey and Mira, looked confused between us.
"Darkness before the dawn?" Mira asked.
"It's something she and I have been writing the last little while," I answered, never looking up from my meal.
"So, you two were working on a song?" Zoey asked.
"Yeah, it's almost done," Rumi said, and I eat another bit of rice and veggies. Rumi and the girls kept talking about details. Looking at the food, I remember back when I would make food for Rumi growing up. I never trusted Selene and would never let Selene take Rumi anywhere or make her anything. I made things at home and got good at it. At nineteen, I had enough of Selene and left. I promised Rumi I'd be there whenever she needs me. I would get calls almost daily from Rumi, complaining about how bland the food is now. I had a cook hired for Rumi's meals. Then the calls became less frequent for the years of Rumi becoming an idol. I wouldn't go there to see Rumi because Selene is there. Then, when she could move and come and go as she wanted, I got to see her, talk, and just have fun together. Even hunting demons, singing covers of songs we liked, everything we missed after I left.
"Wait, so it'll just be with you and Akuma?" Mira asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. I looked between the girls.
"Yeah, I've wanted to do this for a while, before Huntr/x was put together," Rumi answered, her hand was clenched, and she was shaking on the table. I placed my hand on hers, giving her a concerned look. She looked to me and gave a weak smile, but I saw what was going through her head. Selene's way of teaching is just how demons are, no black and white, no possible good. I will do everything I can to help her relearn and see new possibilities in life now.
"So, it'll be you two performing together," Zoey said, looking between us.
"Yeah, we will," I answered her, giving Rumi's hand a gentle squeeze as I looked at Zoey. My hand remained on Rumi's tight fist. Zoey glanced at Rumi, who just gave Zoey the same uneasy smile. Rumi was clearly still getting hold of how she feels about all this.
"Well," Mira said finally. "Guess we should get finished with our meals and head out soon."
I got back to my meal, and the other three got to finishing their meals. Once we had eaten up, I paid for the meal.