"There, there... It's okay..." Kei murmured, holding the bottle to Ichika's lips. The infant girl refused to drink, crying and squirming in her father's arms.

Kei sighed, bouncing his daughter on his knee and making shushing noises, but to no avail. The girl had been fussing and refusing her bottle for the past twenty minutes. He was exhausted, but his little girl had no mercy.

"Come on, sweetie, don't you wanna drink your milk?" he asked, his voice soft and gentle. "Please drink up, honey. For me?"

Still Ichika cried, her little face scrunching up. She had her father's glossy hair, her eyes the same shade of green. Kei hadn't truly understood love until the day he'd held his daughter in his arms for the first time. Ichika had been the result of a drunken one-night stand with a stranger, and the mother had just showed up one day with the months-old infant. She'd said she couldn't afford to keep the chіld, left the baby in his hands with nothing but a tiny bag and a few essentials, and disappeared.

Terrified, Kei had immediately gone to the other members of his dance group Prism, who'd immediately offered what support they could. Even the typically standoffish Yuuto had helped, connecting Kei with a lawyer who'd sorted out custody of Ichika. They all took turns looking after her during rehearsals and had agreed to pitch in for whatever the baby needed—but one person had been his rock in the maelstrom.

As soon as Prism's manager walked in, Ichika stopped crying and reached out her tiny arms toward her favorite person, smiling.

"All right, all right, you win," Kei said to his daughter, gently passing her over to his manager. Ichika giggled, grabbing her father's finger as he handed her off. "Oh, now you want your dad, do you, little rascal?"

Kei couldn't help a smile as his daughter cooed and laughed, finally accepting her bottle.

"I swear she likes you more than she likes me," he said softly, rubbing his tired eyes. "Seriously, though, thank you for all the help. I... I have no idea what I'm doing."