Chapter 24:

Back Home... Not

Game Gyaru


“Phew, you really got me there.” Toukou sighed after they had woken him up from his knock out. Thankfully, there was no lasting damage to his brain from the hit Shiuka sent his way. She only got him on the back because she didn’t have it in her to aim for the head. “That’s one way to get rid of jet lag.”

“I can’t believe this.” Hakuta said as he tended to his father. The man was holding his with a bag of ice for the tumble he took. That was the only spot he took damage there. Other than that, his back ached from the swing of Shiuka’s bat. “How’d you guys get back?”

“Ahh, that’s a long story.” His father brushed it off. “By the way, Kankichi’s daughter should try out for the baseball team.” Despite have been whacked hard by her. He held no ill feelings towards the girl, and if anything, he was impressed with her strength.

“Though I suppose our arrival here should be explained.” Said Hankichi. Hakuta was thankful at least one adult was sane around here. “That loud bang probably woke the two of you up.”

“You know it papa.” Said Shiuka. “I was so scared. I thought monsters were popping up.”

“Monsters?” Toukou looked at her confused. Now he wondered if he really did take brain damage.

“It’s just because of my game.” Hakuta showed them what had her so on edge lately.

“Anyway, that bang was my fault.” Said Kankichi once that was explained. “You see, we lost the keys to the front door on our way back.” That was a surprise to either of the teens. It was more shocking they had anything on them at all. “We must’ve left them at the airport.” He eyed over at Toukou as if to signify it was that man’s fault. Honestly, knowing them, it probably was. “So we had to break in through the window.”

“What?” He looked over to the kitchen, where there was glass strewn about on the floor. No wonder the two of them woke up to it. “I can’t believe you didn’t just call us.”

“Yeah, how come you didn’t give us a call?” She asked. “You promised to.”

“Heheh, about that.” Her dad gave off a nervous laugh as he explained what happened to their important phone. As it turned out, right after they had hung up the last time they chatted. A giant bird came up and stole their phone. After a night of chasing after it, that bird ended up destroying their only form of communication to civilization.

“But on the bright side, we found the pilot in the nest of that bird.” Toukou didn’t seemed concerned about the problem, instead he found the silver lining to their situation. “Then we did some things, and eventually got off that island.” The way he summed it up made it sound like it was easy. The more accurate story involved tons of death defying stunts, a battle to save the world, and also mysterious creatures awakened by their actions.

“Anyway, what matters more is this.” On the coffee table, Kankichi showcased to them the near priceless treasures they had been able to collect and come back with. “Most of the things we collected have already been sent to their proper channels.”

“Yeah, we really hit the jackpot there.” Toukou was excited to brag to his son. For once, he didn’t have to appear like a deadbeat dad to his own child. “My cut from this is going to be enough to buy the two of us a house again.”

“Really?” Hakuta jumped up in equal excitement. This was some of the best news he had ever received in his life. “I bet with the money left over, I might be able to recoup all the games I lost too.”

“That and much, much more.” His dad patted him on the back. “Looks like I’ll have to hit the web and check for house listings.”

“What’s this?” Shiuka asked them about one of the treasures they brought back. It seemed to be an old rustic chest with some skulls on the sides. “Looks pretty ancient.”

“Well, we were hoping to have it opened before getting her, but that thing just won’t budge.” Her dad answered. “Honestly, I don’t know how much anything in there is worth.”

“Ooh, that bat.” Now that they were talking about it, Hakuta’s dad got an idea to try and get it to open up. Though the more accurate term would be to destroy the shell to get into what would hopefully be the good bits.

“Wait, we should-” Kankichi tried to stop him. The chest itself could also be valuable, so they should try to save it as well. However, it was too late and the man gave a big swing onto the object. Thankfully, it didn’t break it into pieces. Instead, the goal of getting it open seemed to work. The lid popped up and the contents finally came into view.

Unfortunately, they soon realized that they wouldn’t like what was trapped inside. At first, smoke bellowed out from the box, followed by a glow of green light. Then, as sudden as he hit it, a ton of insects began to swarm out of it to try and attack them.

“Ahhh!” Shiuka was most afraid of bugs. So she was the first to react with a blood-curdling scream. These crawly critters attempted to chase after them, presumably to make a meal out of the four as they rushed outside and slammed the door shut.

“I think you’ll need to hire some fumigators.” Toukou commented as they all sat around the front door, out-of-breath.

“I think we’ll need more than that.” Kankichi responded. However, despite nearly being killed for the dozenth time in the past week. The pair were not at all distressed about the situation. “Oh well, I’m sure we can get this fixed in a couple of days.”

“Not really how I wanted to spend my weekend.” Said Hakuta. “What are we supposed to do?” He was most worried about how they were going to spend the next couple of days while that got sorted out. The worst part about this situation for him was that his Toystation was trapped in that house. So wherever they went, he wasn’t going to be able to use that to pass the time. “Those bugs better not eat my console.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll just find us some hotels to stay at for the time being.” With their recent adventure. The man was not at all concerned about cash. So he was able to find a nice place for them to hang around quite quickly despite it being late at night. “Thankfully, we hadn’t brought in our luggage from the trip.” He pointed over to their suitcases filled with clothes. Though most of it was torn up and the children didn’t know why they bothered keep them at all.

“Yeah, then we can go shopping and buy you some clothes for the next couple of days.” Toukou continued on. “With all the cash I just got, I can pay for the both of you.”

“You should at least try to be more frugal.” Said Hakuta. That man’s spending habits were why they got into this situation in the first place. “I can definitely live off of thrift stores if it’s only a couple of days.”

“Great.” Said Kankichi. “Let’s stop by our hotel and rest until the morning.” He already got them a place booked and led them there on foot. Unfortunately, with it being late there weren’t any taxis around to drive them there. Finally, after a long walk, they were able to reach their destination. Very much welcomed to all of them, especially the two men. It had been forever since either of them had been able to enjoy the comforts of a proper bed. “I got us two rooms, so I think we know how this will be set up.”

The way he said it made it sound entirely obvious. At least it seemed to be the case in all their heads. Shiuka walked closer to her dad, since she believed she was going to share with her own father. However, Toukou also walked towards Kankichi. And it seemed that her dad also gave her a key instead of the man.

“Uh…” This left Hakuta standing alone for a moment, confused to what he was seeing unfold before him. “What’s going on?”

“Well, we thought after you spent so much time together over the past month. That you’d want to share a room.” Said Toukou. Apparently, the adults here thought the best arrangement were them in one room, and their kids taking another. “Besides, you two teens probably have more relatable things to talk about among yourselves.”

“Have you kind of forgotten, uh I don’t know, that she’s a girl?” He argued with his dad. This was a repeat of when he was left at Shiuka’s house. However, the difference was his father actually wasn’t leaving to go on some weird trip. So why should they do it again?

“Can you please let us do this one time?” The man clasped his hands together to beg his son. “We’ve been stuck on an island for a month. We want to have guests over.”

“This really is just for you.” As it turned out, their stated reason was only just so they could have an excuse to do things they would never do in front of their kids. “What do you think, Shiuka?”

“Well… I guess I can share a room with you.” She shyly admitted to them.

“Fine…” He sighed. “Guess I’m the only one with a problem with this.” Being outnumbered three-to-one, Hakuta surrendered to them. At least this was only going to be for the weekend. He would only have to bear being with this girl until the house got rid of those insects…

Actually, given the new circumstances. His dad was mostly likely going to find a new home for them by the end of the week. So this was probably going to be their last weekend together.

An interesting feeling. He was finally about to get what he had been waiting for since coming to live with her. Yet somehow, that thought didn’t fill him with joy.

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