Chapter 28

Synopsis
The Morinomiya estate is visited by a trespasser who is having problems at home.

Long Summary
At the Nezu household, Kichi becomes upset and runs away from home. At the Morinomiya estate, Ryuuichi is hanging the laundry up and tells Kotaro not to wander off too far. Kotaro goes into the bushes and comes back to call his brother over. Kotaro grabs onto his leg and pulls him into the bushes. Ryuu thinks Kotaro has spotted another kitten, but when they arrive, they see a boy stuck in the bushes. Ryuu identifies him as Chuukichi's brother, but does not know which brother he is. After seeing the boy struggle to free himself, Ryuu offers to pull him out, but the boy slaps his hand away. Kotaro becomes distressed when he sees that his brother has been hurt, but Ryuu dismisses the slap, as it was only a small scratch. The boy cries out that he can help himself and that he cannot return home. Ryuu asks if something happened at home, but the boy remains silent. Ryuu decides to continue doing the laundry and informs the boy that if he is ready to be pulled out of the bush, he can call him over. The boy asks why he has to do the laundry since he lives in such a rich person's house; Ryuu says that he still has to do laundry, and when he sees that the boy has fallen silent, he decides to call Chuukichi. He does not have Chuukichi nor Inomata's phone numbers, so he decides to call someone else.

The boy tells Kotaro to run away, and Yagi appears behind them and squishes Kotaro's cheeks. Inomata comes up behind him and orders him to stop before she calls the police. Ryuu says that Inomata and Yagi must be very close, but Inomata denies this; Yagi says that he met Inomata on his way here and that Chuukichi is at work. Inomata wonders how he is able to be second place in academics despite being busy with work. The boy starts praising his brother for working hard and doing housework. Yagi pats his head and asks if he is Suekichi or Kichi, to which the boy replies that he is Kichi. Inomata threatens Yagi to stop patting his head and calls Kichi out for being willful by running away from home, saying that he is causing trouble for his family. Just then, Kichi starts to cry and complains that because he was born into his family, he can only dream of buying games and other expensive items. Inomata thinks that the reason he ran away was for a game and calls it stupid. Ryuu sympathizes with Kichi and reasons that there must be some other reason that he ran away. Suddenly, Suekichi bursts through the bush and exclaims that kids have many troubles. He also calls Yagi a jerk for touching his brother. He explains that adults see it as only a game, but Kichi is the only one in his class without one and, thus, feels alienated. Kichi says that he likes his family but hates being poor.

Yagi starts to chuckle, which angers Inomata, but he starts to explain that Chuukichi experienced the same thing when the two were little. Chuukichi was the only one without the game, so Yagi offered him his game to try. However, Chuukichi rejected the offer, saying that if he really wanted a game, he would make his own. He explains to Yagi that his family cannot afford games, so he has decided to make his own things. Yagi remembers that moment as the first time he thought that someone was cool. He tells Kichi that the reason why Chuukichi was so cool was because of his family circumstances. Kichi thinks about the hard work his brother does and extends his arms out so that Ryuu can pull him out of the bush. Kichi holds his brother's hand and announces that they will be going home. He turns to Inomata and tells her that he will study hard so he can make games.

At the entrance of the estate, Chuukichi offers steamed buns to Ryuu and Inomata for troubling them. Kichi apologizes for making his brother worry, and Chuukichi replies that it is alright as long as he learned something. He then gives his brother a bag with the game that he desired. He immediately asks him if he made it, which makes Chuukichi wonder what Yagi told them. Chuukichi says that he bought it at a cheaper price at his workplace using money that their father gave him. He reminds the brothers to thank their father and to share the game amongst his siblings. In return, Kichi agrees to do housework.

As Ryuu and Kotaro eat the steamed buns, Saikawa serves them tea and informs them that he saw two butts sticking out from the bushes, a very peculiar sight to see.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Kichi Nezu
 * Suekichi Nezu
 * Kyouko Nezu (briefly)
 * Ryuuichi Kashima
 * Kotaro Kashima
 * Yagi Tomoya
 * Inomata Maria
 * Chuukichi Nezu
 * Saikawa Keigo (briefly)