Chapter 6.5: Reunion Part 1.5

After a few minutes of walking, Akira and Sakura arrived at a small house in a quiet neighborhood. Akira walked up to the door, took a quick breath, and knocked, not like he needed to. He knew his parents saw him through the peephole of the old wooden door.

“Well hello there son.” An elderly asian man says as he slowly opens the door, “I see you brought a girl with you. Is she your girlfriend?” he promptly and quickly asks.

“No dad, she’s not-” Akira thought for a second. He couldn’t really tell his parents the truth, that she was a maid from another world who had some sort of magical super powers. “Yes, this is my g-girlfriend, Sakura.”

“Nice to meet you Mr. Kasshoku! I’m Sakura.” she introduced, surprised that Akira said she was his girlfriend, but understanding the situation he was in.

“Oh, you finally got a girlfriend? I never thought I’d see the day.” teased a Caucasian woman from the living room.

“Mom, cut it out!” Akira complains, turning redder than a ripe tomato.

The pair walked inside and sat down on the couch in the living room. A calico cat came walking over and sniffed Sakura before jumping onto the couch and laying down next to Akira.

“Hi there kitty. Did you miss me?”

The cat meowed and pushed its head into Akira’s hand wanting to be pet.

“So, how long have you two been dating?” asked Akira’s father.

“Oh,” Akira answers trailing off, “...a few months.”

“And you never bothered to tell us?” Akira’s mom questioned, acting as though she was offended.

“I didn’t think it was that important. “Anyway,” Akira utters, quickly changing the subject “how are things here?”

“Oh, you know. The old family business is getting slower.” his father replied.

“Dad, why don’t you and mom just close up the shop and retire somewhere nice?”

“We can’t figure out where we want to go yet. Hehe, maybe we’ll move to Japan and live with you.”

“No, dad, please don’t. I’ve already got enough to worry about.”

“Oh, that’s right, you do have another mouth to feed don’t you?” his mom interjected.

“More like seven.” Akira muttered under his breath.

“Why don’t you stay a while? Your mother made curry, and there’s plenty to go around.”

“Sure, why not.”

“Thank you so much Mr. and Mrs. Kasshoku!”

“Of course sweetheart. Here’s some tea. Now, Akira, why are you back in town if you have a girlfriend? You didn’t come just to show her off did you?” his mom asked.

“No, actually I have a club reunion tonight. We sort of left last minute, but we had some things back home to take care of.”

He couldn’t explain the maid situation to them, let alone having to hunt down a missing slime with bunny ears for one of them.

“Oh, a club reunion huh? Is anyone actually going to show up? Hasn’t everyone grown up and stopped watching anime and gotten jobs and married and all that good stuff?”

“Hey, plenty of adults watch anime. There are anime that even kids can’t watch!”

“Oh, you mean those anime girls with the big boobs that you like watching?”

“Mom!” Akira shouted.

Sakura took a sip of tea and slowly turned her gaze towards Akira.

“Don’t look at me like that.” he whispered.

“So, what time is your reunion”

“In a few hours. I wonder how many people are going to be there.”

“Who set up the reunion?” his mom asked.

“Mei. She sent me a letter telling me about it a few weeks ago.”

“She sent you a letter? How’d she find your address?” asked Akira’s dad.

“I wish I knew that too.”

“This tea is really good Mrs. Kasshoku.” said Sakura

“Oh, thank you dear.”

“Ah, I almost forgot, is the curry ready yet?” asked Akira’s dad, pushing up his round glasses and setting down his newspaper.

“Yes honey, it’s done. You kids should come eat too.”

Akira and Sakura got up and went to the kitchen counter where they sat and ate curry.

“Wow, this curry is so good!” Sakura exclaimed.

“Hehe, it’s my family recipe from Japan.” Akira’s dad said with a chuckle.

“You’re from Japan Mr. Kasshoku?” asked Sakura.

“Sakura, I have a Japanese last name and I’m half Japanese. Is that really a question you need to ask?” Akira said in a monotone voice.

“Now Akira, no need to be rude. Yes, I am Japanese. Oh, and you can call me Hideaki.”

“Ok then! This is a great recipe, Mr. Hideaki. Who taught this to you?”

“That would be my mother, who was also taught by her mother. This curry recipe has been in the family for generations.” Hideaki said smiling.

“Wait, if you’re Japanese, why did you move here?” asked Sakura.

“Dad, you don’t have to answ-” Akira started before getting cut off.

“Ah, that old story. My grandparents ran a small yet successful curry restaurant. While my old man was at work, my mother and I would watch my grandmother make curry. When my old man’s work asked him to deliver their newest arcade unit to the U.S. in the early 80’s, he was excited by the country. He eventually quit his job there and we moved. I was still pretty young then, but I’ve lived here ever since. I eventually met my lovely wife Eva in high school, and the rest is history.”

“Oh wow, that’s quite the story.”

“Yeah, and he tells it to everybody he meets. I still can’t believe my grandpa worked for my favorite video game company and then quit. Do you know how much street credit that would have given me in school?”

“Oh, don’t complain. You know your grandpa still has connections to the company.” said Hideaki.

“Dad, he sent you trading cards when you were twenty. You didn’t even collect them.”

“Well, I DID collect them, until you were born. I passed my collection on to you, remember?”

“Yeah, but they weren’t in the best condition. Do you know how much money I could have made off of those? I could have been rich, but instead I have to get rent from grandma every month.”

“Oh, speaking of mom, are you going to visit her?” asked Eva.

“Yeah, I’ll visit her when I’m done here.”

“Well, I’m sure she’d love to see you, and to meet your girlfriend. You should head over now.”

“Alright. Ready?” Akira asked.

“Yep. It was nice meeting you both!” Sakura responded.

“Pleasure meeting you too dear. Be good to her.” Hideaki said.

“I will, I promise. Later mom, later dad.”

“Call us sometime!” shouted Eva.

“Ok, I will!” shouted back Akira, who was already closing the door.

“Well, guess we’re gonna go visit my grandma now.”

“Where does she live?”

“Just around the corner.”

Akira and Sakura turned the corner and stopped at the door of an older looking house. Akira walked up to the door and knocked. There was no answer. Akira pressed the doorbell and saw the curtains in the window slide back a bit. The curtains opened more and an old woman waved at the pair. A few seconds later, the door opened.

“Hi grandma. I’m back in town for the day, so I thought I’d come visit.”

“Oh, well it’s nice seeing you again. Who’s this, your girlfriend?”

Akira knew he couldn’t tell her the truth, but he also didn’t want to lie to his grandma. He thought about it and decided to go with the lesser of the two evils.

“Yeah, this is my girlfriend, Sakura.” he said hesitantly.

“It’s nice to meet you.” said Sakura with a smile, happy to keep pretending to be Akira’s lover.

“Well it’s nice to meet you too. Come one in.”

The pair followed the woman inside and into a room with a diner booth and table, and a single rocking chair. Against the wall leading into the kitchen was a tall cabinet full of marbles of differing colors and patterns. Akira and Sakura sat in the booth, while his grandma sat in the rocking chair.

“So how’s life been treating you?” asked his grandma.

“It’s been good. Things have been pretty weird the past few weeks, but other than that it's really enjoyable. I made a bunch of really good friends and I finally got a job.”

“Ah, that’s good. How about you, girlfriend?”

“Oh, I’m good too. Life’s been so much more fun and interesting since meeting Akira.”

Sakura smiled brightly and Akira blushed in embarrassment.

“Aw, well that’s just sweet. Do you two want any chips or something to drink?”

“No thanks. My mom made us curry and tea. We just left there before coming over here.”

“Oh, ok. Well nothing new going on around here. It’s about the same stuff as always. The neighbors left for work this morning, I got my newspaper later again, and I didn’t get to sleep until about three in the morning.”

“Ah, so nothing’s really changed since I moved then.”

“Well, how about you sweetie? What’s your story?” Akira’s grandma asked Sakura.

“Oh, me? Well, I met Akira about a month ago and we’ve been dating ever since. I moved from my place to live with him and I’ve been helping to take care of the apartment. It was sort of a magical experience that brought us together.”

“Yeah, literally.” muttered Akira.

“Well isn’t that nice. I’m glad to hear you finally got yourself a cute girlfriend.”

“Yeah, she is pretty cute isn’t she?” Akira said blushing.

Sakura blushed in embarrassment and tried to hide herself.

“Well, we have about an hour before the reunion. We’d better be heading back so we can get ready.”

“Oh, you’re leaving already? Ok then, have fun you two. It was nice getting to see you again, and it was nice meeting you.”

“Nice meeting you too.”

“Bye grandma, see you some other time.”

Akira and Sakura made the long trip back to their hotel.

“Ugh, I really don’t wanna dress up for this. Oh shoot, we only have forty minutes left before the reunion starts. I still need to shower.” Akira complained.

“I need to shower too… Why don’t we just shower together?” Sakura asked.

“Nope, not happening. Not like I would mind, but we’re not actually dating. It would be really strange for us to shower together.”

“Well we both need to shower and we don’t have much time, right?”

“Yeah, but still. It’s not happening. Go shower. I can wait.”

“Fine, but you’re no fun. I’ll try to make it quick.”

Sakura went into the shower and about ten minutes later came back out.

“Woah, WOAH! Clothes!” Akira shouted.

“Calm down, I have a towel. Go shower and I’ll get dressed here.”

“Fine, but I’m getting dressed in there.”

Akira showered and got dressed up in his white button up shirt, black jeans, and black suit jacket. He walked out into the main room and saw Sakura wearing a beautiful black dress and heels. She had painted her nails black to match.

“Woah, you look beautiful.”

“Why thank you. This dress you helped pick out really suits me. I painted my nails too, see?” Sakura said, lifting her foot up to show Akira.

“Y-yep, I see that.” stuttered Akira.

“Welp, shall we get going then Master?”

“Yeah, but none of this ‘Master’ business while we’re there, ok?”

“Understood. Let’s go!”

Akira grabbed his room key and left with Sakura.

The pair arrived at the high school cafeteria and stood outside for a moment.

“Here, let me wrap my arm around you so they don’t think you’re a loser.” Sakura said with a chuckle.

“Alright, here, let’s go inside.”

Akira and Sakura walked inside and immediately Akira was surprised by what he saw.

“Oh no, it’s her.”