"Be careful." Levi said as Ace slowly cut the ingredients. The jockey just nodded in response, carefully holding the knife as he cut the vegetables, slowly dropping them in the pot.

"Just like that! You're doing a great job." Levi smiled. Ace just nodded his cheeks pink at the praise.

"Heh, I have never cooked this good before." the jockey chuckled.

"And you look good with the apron too." Levi smiled. Ace whacked him with the stirring spoon. The brunet let out a quiet noise of surprise, but he let out a little laugh. Ace just rolled his eyes, annoyed. Well, half annoyed. After all, there was a smile on his face.

"Mmmmm, it smells delicious... Are you guys cooking glory here?" Eden let out as she, Charles and J entered the kitchen, her mouth watering. Levi chuckled.

"Hahah, no, we're making vegetable stew for dinner." the personal stylist chuckled as he heated up the pot.

"Vegetable stew... That sounds nice." Charles commented. The others nodded.

"Will be ready in a few minutes." Ace informed as he started cutting the vegetables a bit faster to keep up the pace "Is Teruko back yet?" he asked. Charles shook his head.

"Neither her or Mary are back, and I don't know if that's relieving or not." the chemist sighed, playing with one of the pens inside his pockets.

"She'll be fine. Teruko is strong." J shrugged, not too worried for the brunette. After all, Teruko did pull a knife up to the effect's artist throat once. And she may or may not be still salty about it.

"Still-"

"Welcome back, sister!" they heard Katy exclaim. Which meant the two had arrived from their scavenge hunt.

"Well, talk about the devil." Ace joked as he finished cutting up vegetables. Teruko slowly entered the kitchen.

"Jeez- You look like a mess!" J exclaimed. The brunette's hair was messy, she was sweating a lot as well.

"Take a fucking shower, you stink!" Ace exclaimed, covering his nose in annoyance. Teruko huffed.

"What's with you and bad smells?" she asked.

"You smell bad, you don't get food, that was the rule in my house." Ace told her, waving the spoon that he was using to stir the stew in the air. Teruko frowned.

"Get in the god damn shower!!"

"Alright, alright, jeez!"

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Teruko cleaned her hair with the towel as she entered the kitchen, fully clothed. Levi was serving the stew after the table was set. "Ace, can I talk with you?" she asked as she finished drying her hair with the towel. Ace looked up from his food, the others did as well.

"Sure? What's up?" he asked.

"In private." the brunette added. Levi raised a brow. Ace hesitated for a moment. Was it important? Did Teruko find something related to him? If so, what?

"Is it necessary, Teruko?" Levi asked. Teruko nodded in response. Ace sighed.

"Alright. I'll be right back." the jockey said as he got up, walking over to the brunette. Levi frowned, watching the two exit the kitchen.

"Do you think Teruko found something that's related to Ace?" Eden asked.

"Probably? I dunno." J shrugged. Levi quietly sighed, deciding to not ask about it after the two finish talking.

_______________________________________

"What did you wanna talk about?" Ace asked. Teruko sighed, folding her arms  below her chest.

"There's no way to sugarcoat this. We found what was your house. It was burnt." she told him. Ace blinked in surprise, not knowing how to react to that. His house? His old house? Where he lived with his siblings? How did it get burned? Who burned it? Why would they burn it?

"...What was there?" he asked.

"Well, other that random rats that like to jump at your face-" Ace huffed out a laugh at that "but we found two dead bodies in one of the rooms. Mary and I assumed they were your... parents. Or any siblings..." Teruko continued, handing Ace the ID. He grabbed it, staring at it.

"...This is my mother's." he whispered, trying to take all the information in.

"I... I'm sorry that... I had to tell you." Teruko said. Ace raised his head to look at her, frowning.

"The hell are you apologizing for?" he asked. Teruko let out a noise of confusion.

"What?"

"You don't gotta fucking apologize for finding the bodies. It's fine." Ace shrugged, putting the ID in his pocket. Teruko just stared at him. He was taking him differently than she thought he would.

"What? Something else?" he asked.

"Oh- Uh- No." she stammered out, surprised. Ace just nodded, watching Teruko walk out of the room. Once she did, he took out the ID, ripping it into shreds, anger boiling.

"They're fucking dead. They're fucking dead." he whispered, leaning against the wall, covering his face with his hand as he slid down.

How the hell was he supposed to react?!

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"Remember that house that burnt down? The one where your 10 cousins lived?" a girl with long, dark blue hair and gray eyes with a dim yellow fade asked Jeanne as she brushed her hair.

Diana Chiem
25 years old

"You mean my evil aunt's house? Charlotte?" Jeanne asked, raising a brow.

Jeanne Markey
26 years old

"Yes, the one who was incredibly controlling of your cousins and was projecting to hell and back on them. Do you think the Monokumas burnt it down?" Diana asked, curious. She was already theorizing what could have happened as she grabbed the scissors. Jeanne shrugged.

"To be honest, I don't give two shits what really happened to those abusive assholes." she admitted "But I am worried for the others. We only have Vlad here. 1 out of 9. 8 without counting Ace." she explained, Diana carefully cutting the other's hair.

"I'm sure that Ace will be okay. He's strong and he has his friends by his side." Diana assured her, pressing her lips against the back of Jeanne's head. The black haired girl smiled, her cheeks pink.

"Thank you, Dia."

"No problem. How short do you want it?"

"Right above my shoulders. It won't get in the way if its that short."

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