Heart of a Fool pt. 2

Yuna pushed through the gates of the Serizawa residence and closed them behind her, locking them in the process. She ambled down the cobblestone path towards a Japanese-style house, a very unprecedented sight in Ravencroft. The house itself was made up of four sections which all came together to form a perimeter the enclosed an inner courtyard. Two sections of the house were single-story while the other two sections were two-story. The house itself has become a landmark in part to how unique it looks but also impart due to Yuna’s grandfather, who thought it would be a brilliant idea to bring a piece of his home country to Ravencroft when he decided to start his video game development company here.

Yuna removed her shoes after entering the front door and began heading toward her room-

SMACK!

“WREHE WERZE YOU?” Yuna’s mother staggered back; Yuna rubbed her red cheek.

“Visiting, Arthur in the hospital. I told dad that—”

“I dont' cazre what you told dadq. I said ki awtedn you home right after schlool.” Yuna’s mother dropped her beer can and fell to her knees. “Ther'es a kellir oubt thbere. Doo you wtna to dkie?”

“I made it back before it got dark and I stayed where it was well lit. I’m fine, mom.”

“Whow his Arter doing?”

Yuna let out a sigh. She was used to her mother’s temperament shifts but it was still annoying. Ultimately she decided to just give her mother a simple answer to avoid provoking her. “He’s fine.”

“G’ood. Biecause imma goinrg to beat the hell uto obf the bastyard for tempting mty daughter!” Yuna’s felt a sharp pain in her wrist as her mother started dragging her down the hall.

“Hey! Let go!”

“No! You need hto abe punished-”

Yuna’s hand was released and Yuna’s father pulled his wife away from their daughter. “It’s ok honey. I’ll punish Yuna. I need you to go see go make the bed. I just finished washing the sheets… again…”

“Orke…”

Yuna’s father started guiding his wife down the hall, making sure to keep himself between his wife and Yuna. He turned back to Yuna and mouthed, “Go upstairs.”

Yuna nodded and quickly made herself scarce.

As soon as she got to her room she removed off her school uniform and shivered. She then realized the window was open. She quickly closed it and shut the blinds, though she couldn’t remember opening it in the first place.

Knock. Knock Knock.

“Just a minute.” Yuna slipped on her green pajamas and tossed her uniform in the hamper. “Come in.”

Yuna’s father, Kota Serizawa, slipped quietly into the dim bedroom with two pork belly and rice bowls and chopsticks, and set it down on Yuna’s kotatsu, a low table with a heated quilt around the edge. Kota sat down on his floor cushion and Yuna joined him on the other side. The two said nothing and began to eat their dinner. The wind picked up outside, rustling the leaves in the maple trees on the property.

“I got a call from school today. Something about a girl claiming you are spreading rumors. Care to give me your defense?”

Yuna picked at her food. “It is kinda hard to explain…”

“Try me.” Kota set his chopsticks down.

“There is this guy on the basketball team, Zach. He is… was… dating this girl Annie. Well…he cheated on Annie with my friend Alana. So Alana was afraid the truth would get out and wanted to cover her tracks. So she asked me to help her. I talked to Annie who said she was already having relationship struggles. So I decided to put those struggles to the test and-”

Kota’s face shifted to one of shock and disappointment.

“Hey! I didn’t DO anything with him. I just… may have flirted with him causing him to make advances toward me. I secretly recorded those advances and threatened to show the recording to Annie unless he broke up with her. Well… he did. Guess he cared more about his image than her.”

Kota folded his hands and placed them against his forehead. “I get that you were trying to help a friend, but have you ever considered how it makes Annie feel?”

“She made the mistake of dating a sleazeball. It’s not my fault.” Unfortunately, that is the same sleaze ball Alana wants to make another pass at. “If anything she should be thanking me for getting him to break up with her.”

“That is one way to look at it, but Annie doesn’t know the truth and you are protecting one of the people involved.”

“You aren’t going to blow the whistle, are you? I haven’t actually done anything. I just threatened to expose Zach —”

“By manipulating him.”

“So what? He’s a jerk.”

“There were better ways to handle this. If anything, you should have just stayed out of it. You never use to cause drama before. Do you think messing with people’s emotions is some kind of game?”

Yuna looked away.

“Well?” Kota said.

“At least at school I have some control of my life-”

There was a crash from downstairs. “Oh no…” Kota said. He picked up the dishes and made his way to the door. “If you keep being manipulative like that soon you won’t have any friends left.”

That’s not true. I will still have Arthur-

“What does Arthur think of all this?” Kota asked.

“I-I didn’t tell him.”

Kota just shook his head and closed the door behind him. There was another crash from downstairs.

Arthur. Yuna smiled to herself thinking about him.

“Oh crap! I forgot to text Arthur that I made it home!”