"Guys, come on!"

Ichimatsu was bouncing up and down. He was excited. He knew it was too late to be up, as he was only seven years old,  but he didn't care. It was a Saturday. It was about three in the morning. He'd woken up to get water, but when he'd seen the stars outside the window? He knew he wanted to go outside. His younger brothers, Jyushimatsu and Todomatsu, were woken from their sleep as Ichimatsu shook them awake.

Todomatsu sat up, rubbing his eye with one hand and clutching his stuffed rabbit Honeyears in his other arm. "Why? Mommy and Daddy will kill us if they find out we're awake at this hour." Todomatsu said, yawning. "Maybe Ichimatsu nii-san wants to show us something!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed, keeping his normally loud voice at a whisper. Todomatsu glanced at Ichimatsu.

"Yes, that's it!" he said, his eyes wide. "Okay, fine." Todomatsu murmured, standing up, keeping Honeyears close to his chest. Jyushimatsu also stood up, grabbing his tattered stuffed dog. Ichimatsu let the wide grin on his face lessen into a small smile before turning, beckoning for his little brothers to follow him. The two youngest brothers of the sextuplets exchanged glances before going after Ichimatsu.

Both of the brothers were surprised when Ichimatsu climbed through the window and onto the roof. They didn't question their older brother as they climbed onto the roof alongside him. Both of them were awestruck by the sky. Stars shone everywhere, painting the sky in glittery light. The moon was hidden by clouds, the light joining the sparkling show by the stars.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Ichimatsu asked, shattering the silence that had settled onto them. "I-It is..." Todomatsu gasped, holding Honeyears even tighter. "It's so cool!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed, trying to keep his voice soft. The three youngest sextuplets sat in silence, admiring the night sky. Ichimatsu stifled a sneeze. The cold air wrapped itself around the seven year old boys, chilling them to their bones.

Meanwhile, Choromatsu was just waking up from a dream. He didn't know why he'd suddenly woken, but it didn't take him long to notice that his three younger brothers were missing from bed. Part of him considered waking up Osomatsu and Karamatsu, but why should he force them to wake up? He could handle this by himself.

Carefully making his way out of the futon, he stood up. He noticed right away that the screen door that separated the living room from the hallway was wide open. The light of the moon revealed the fact. Had they gone out? The only reason Choromatsu could think of for that was Ichimatsu had dragged Todomatsu and Jyushimatsu out to feed cats. That was odd, because usually Todomatsu would never agree to go with Ichimatsu to feed cats.

Besides, Choromatsu had noticed that the cabinet where his mother and father kept the cat treats in, which was a low cabinet because the sextuplets weren't that tall for their age and Ichimatsu couldn't reach the higher cabinets, wasn't wide open, which is how Ichimatsu tended to leave it, since he was always eager to feed the stray animals.

Besides, it was about three thirty in the morning. The boys weren't allowed outside after eleven, since they were young. So there was no chance they'd be outside. Their parents would punish them. Curious, Choromatsu walked out into the hallway, going through the open screen doors. He looked down the hallway, and noticed little strands of hair leaving a trail down the hall. At first, Choromatsu was confused. Why was there hair? Then he realized. The hair wasn't hair at all, it was fur from a stuffed animal. More to the point, Jyushimatsu's special plush dog Sunny.

Sunny was a golden brown stuffed dog that had been given to Jyushimatsu at birth, making the dog his special plush. The sextuplets' parents had once said that Jyushimatsu had used the dog to teeth for the first few months of the brothers' lives, and the only way that their parents had stopped Jyushimatsu was putting a nontoxic, foul spray on the dog. It had stopped the fifth brother from chewing on the dog for the rest of the brothers' first year of life.

Because of that, Sunny was tattered, and fur often fell off the plush. That was one of the ways that the brothers could find Jyushimatsu if he was ever lost and had the dog with him. Choromatsu rubbed his eyes and followed the trail of stuffed animal fur, hoping it would lead him to the rambunctious fifth brother, and Todomatsu and Ichimatsu if they were with him.

He followed the fur to an open window. The window to the roof. There was fur leading out the window. Choromatsu's heart did a swan dive into his stomach. Was his brother outside? He peeked out the roof. He could see the faint silhouettes of his three little brothers, sitting on the roof. Todomatsu had Honeyears, like always. Jyushimatsu was clutching something, probably Sunny. Ichimatsu was sitting cross-legged, his hands in the fold of his legs.

Choromatsu's breath was stolen from his lungs as he looked up. The night sky was beautiful. The stars were splashed this way and that, painting Tokyo in their light. The moon joined in with a serenade of bright light, complimenting the starlight. It was truly a sight to behold. But, Choromatsu knew that his parents would punish the younger trio, and the excuse of beauty wouldn't save them.

"What are you guys doing out here?" Choromatsu whispered. His brothers jumped a foot before turning to face him. "I-I-I-" Ichimatsu stammered, obviously embarrassed and nervous. "We were... looking at the sky... because Ichimatsu nii-san wanted to show us..." Todomatsu said, shaking. Jyushimatsu, uncharacteristically silent, nodded.

"Well, you better come inside before Mom and Dad catch us. They'd kill us if they knew you were outside at three thirty at night." Choromatsu whispered, standing back. Without hesitation, the younger brothers went through the window and back inside the house. They walked back to the futon in the living room, their heads hung in shame.

Choromatsu took one more look at the night sky above them. He closed the window, and began to walk to the bathroom. He didn't know why, but the beauty of the night sky made him need to go.

When the sun climbed high in the Tokyo sky, all six brothers were waking up. Well, everybody but Choromatsu. He hadn't slept for the remainder of the night and had just fallen asleep a half hour prior to sunrise. As usual, Osomatsu was the first to rise.

Ichimatsu was sitting up, sneezing like crazy. Todomatsu was still laying down with Honeyears clutched close to him, sniffling. Jyushimatsu was already awake, sitting on the futon like a dog. He occasionally let out a cough. Osomatsu looked at them. "You guys sick or something?" he asked. Ichimatsu nodded. He must be. He'd been feeling nauseous all night after that. He wanted to blame it on the three-in-the-morning air, but saying that would give away what had happened.

"Well, you better not get us sick. It'd be heck if we all got sick, and one of us wasn't!" Osomatsu said, absentmindedly rubbing his nose with his finger.

The younger trio ignored him. They'd made Choromatsu promise never to tell their parents, and they were paying the price for it. The last thing they needed was Osomatsu sneering at them.

They'd never go outside on the roof again.