Persona 4 Golden: Yu and Yukiko's Full and Happy Life 10

The only sound in the room was Nanako's pleasant humming and the very faint almost unnoticeable sound of the similarly hard to notice woman swallowing deeply. But eventually, even Nanako stopped as the silence went on and on and on, beginning to wonder if perhaps there was something wrong after all. Everyone was waiting for one of the two to make the first move but it seemed like the both of them were waiting for the same thing. Eventually, Yu finally spoke up. "Mother. What are you doing here?" He tried to keep his tone as level as possible but some of his trepidation seeped into it regardless. Unfortunately for Mizui, he couldn't do the same with his eyes. His eyes told the full story: caution, doubt, anger, worry, sadness, and of course shock. These were the emotions her son felt towards her when he saw her and that thought was too much for the woman.

She slowly raised a hand to her mouth and the tears began to come unbidden to her eyes, but before she could begin to cry, her brother came to her rescue. "Dammit Yu, would you relax!? I've seen perps less tense than you!" He felt a little bad about yelling at his nephew but it was something that had to be done, he had already given his sister an earful and he knew Yu would be much easier to get through to. Immediately, Yu seemed to relax and looked almost apologetic and even his eyes seemed to grow calmer. It was in that instant that Mizui caught sight of something that hadn't quite been visible within the turmoil of emotions. It was most likely wishful thinking on her part, but she swore she could see a flicker of hope on his face among everything else. "S-sorry. Mother, what are you doing here?" This time when he asked his tone was inquisitive and genuinely curious no element of accusing suspicion evident at all, as if he had resolved not to let anything that happened in the past influence him.

"Is something wrong? You don't seem very happy big bro. Dad, what's going on?" Dojima could feel himself tense up, he had forgotten all about his daughter. How on earth was he going to explain this to her? Nanako felt a gentle tugging on her sleeve and turned to see her big sis looking interested in something. "Nanako, that garden outside is so beautiful. Have you been maintaining it all by yourself?" The girl slowly nodded her head, curious as to what Yukiko was getting at. "Could you give me a little tour? I just can't stop thinking about it."

"B-but aren't you hungry?" With a small smile, Yukiko pulled out her paper bag, "I came prepared." It was clear that Nanako really wanted to show off her pride and joy to her cool elegant big sis but she was still reluctant. Yukiko placed a soft hand on her shoulder, "they just have some catching up to do. They haven't seen each other in a long time, you understand right Nanako?"

The girl slowly nodded with a tiny frown but she looked like she accepted the situation. "Okay, I understand," but her smile returned to her face as she lead Yukiko out to the back porch. "I'll be right back big bro, so don't start without me," Dojima sent a silent look of thanks to Yukiko for her quick thinking and she gave a fierce nod. She gave one last look to her husband and with that, the two girls had left leaving only Yu, Dojima, and Mizui alone in the room together. Although Yukiko's look had been quick, it had been filled with a gentle kindness and understanding. "I know you'll do the right thing," it seemed to say, "even if you don't know what it is right now. And I'll support you no matter what it is."

"Yu, isn't that pot rather heavy? You should probably set it down." Yu had been too busy gazing longingly at the door where his wife had been standing and had zoned out a bit. "R-right, of course." With the stove being full with Nanako's hard work, he had no choice but to place it on the living room table. He took that brief moment of respite to collect his thoughts a little more, and when he turned around, he looked at her much more kindly. "I thought you and father were busy?" His mother sighed deeply. "We are, but this issue...that I have caused is interfering with my ability to do my duties. No no that's not what I mean to say, what I mean to say is I can't just let things stay as they are."

"If this is about the wedding..."

"No no no of course not. At least not mostly although it could be construed that way I suppose? I mean-"

"What your mother is trying to say," Dojima interrupted, "is that she has something she needs to tell you." He grabbed the two of them by their arms and sat them down somewhat roughly on opposite sides of the kitchen table. "I don't care how long it takes, nobody is leaving this room until everyone understands one another. Got it?" His words were harsh but his tone was gentle, it was clear he was trying his best.

Yu took a deep cleansing breath. "She came all the way out here to see me. whatever it is it's obviously important." With her head bowed and her fingers tracing an imaginary shape on the table, it was clear that for the first time in his life, Yu was the dominant party in an interaction with his parents. He could walk out the door right now and tell her he wasn't interested in what she had to say, and she'd probably never intrude in his life again. He could truly get back at her for every single time she had fed him bitter disappointment.

Mizui felt a gentle hand place itself over hers; it was enough to make her look up from her mumbling. She had been having trouble finding the right words but now she was completely speechless. "If you came all this way, I can at least listen to what you have to say. Take your time but not too long, the food will get cold." Her son actually had a smile on his face and she felt a little grin tugging at the corners of her own lips. "Your younger cousin would probably not be happy about that," Yu chuckled softly and Dojima could only sigh in relief. He should have known Yu wouldn't be indignant for any real length of time, that just wasn't his style. "I have no idea what made him grow up so fast, but whatever it was, it did a hell of a good job."

"I am truly sorry for surprising you like this but I worried I would be turned away from the inn if I showed up there while you were working, or at any time really." Yu nodded, it certainly made sense but it still left one question open. "I'm surprised you wanted to meet here though. Grabbing a coffee seems like something you'd be more comfortable with." She withdrew her hand and began to stroke her arm, looking away from her son. "Well...to be perfectly honest...I was terrified of how you'd react...your uncle was the one who finally put his foot down on the matter. If it was up to me, I would have dragged my feet forever I'm afraid."

Yu took stock of Dojima who was rubbing the back of his neck again. "I didn't really do that much, just took a page out of your book," but his sister would hear none of it. "There is no need to be falsely modest, Ryotaro. Terribly unattractive quality, yes not desirable at all." The usually unshakable man winced at that but had to chuckle. Even now she couldn't help scolding him, at least it meant she was back to normal though. Not the mess that she was just a few short days ago. Yu looked between them confused, clearly missing some context. "So what is it that you want me to understand?'

In that moment, he felt his hands squeezed very very tightly, so tightly that he almost lost all feeling in them, but he didn't pull away. His mother was looking straight into him and he could feel a slight trembling throughout her body. Right when she was about to lose her nerve, she took one last look at her son and gathered her resolve for the final time. "The thing that I want you to understand is that I am deeply truly sorry for not making one thing clear, neither through my words nor through my actions."

He could see a slight hint of tears brimming in the corners of her eyes and he could feel his own heart pounding in his ears in anticipation. "Yu...no, son. I love you deeply, very deeply, and I want to support you in whatever it is you choose to do. But I let that be diluted, yes diluted by selfishness, terrible cowardly selfishness that I let hurt you over and over again. And...that ends today, the contradiction I mean, of course." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I-it's quite alright if you can't forgive me. But all I want you to understand is I won't be undermining and damaging my own son any longer." Slowly, she opened her eyes. First a crack and then all the way, but the only thing that met her sight was a completely stunned Yu. He looked as though he was trying to reconcile their last interaction with this one in his head.

Dojima saw it too, and he honestly couldn't blame him. His sis had certainly done a lot of soul-searching.

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--Two Days Earlier--

Mizui Narukami stood apprehensively in front of the house where she had grown up. She honestly had never wanted to come back here if she could help it, the place held no value for her and all it did was drudge up painful memories. Before she had met Sorano, before she'd finally had a purpose she was just some robot who did her parent's taxes sometimes, causing them and herself no end of grief by her inability to just be normal. Ryotaro wasn't much better, constantly getting into trouble and getting into shouting matches with their father. So much shouting, there was always so much shouting, the day she had left for college had been one of the happiest days of her life.

But that's just how desperate she was. When she attempted to talk to her brother over the phone, she could barely keep her thoughts in order, everything tumbling out in a nearly incoherent mess. All her brother was able to make out was that something about Yu and that she was a complete failure. He had been expecting her to call and scold him about Yu getting the Amagi girl pregnant again but instead he was met with her spilling years worth of bottled up emotions onto him. "Woah woah sis, calm down, I'm still at the station. Now what's going on?"

"I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do. One wrong step, one tiny little slip up and I'll ruin everything. But everything might already be ruined. But I don't know! I think about my next step and I feel sick to my stomach, I can't sleep, I can't eat, I can't think straight, everything I've ever believed is crumbling before my eyes." Dojima had broken into a bit of a jog to get outside, His sister was doing the thing she did where her breathing got a little too frequent for comfort. It only happened when she was really and truly stuck and it would just get worse and worse until somebody snapped her out of it.

"Square root of *uh* 1156."

"W-what?"

"What's the square root of 1156?" Dojima asked more confidently this time. His sister thought for a moment and almost immediately she fired back. "34 but I don't see what that has to do with-"

"Why is *uh* a gain on a sale of land taken out of operating?" He was trying his best, stringing together things he barely remembered from his youth when he'd "helped" his sister study by letting her explain things to him like he was five. He could actually hear her puff air out of her nose in annoyance on the other end of the line. "Ryotaro, you don't listen to me at all do you? It's not taken out of operating, it's taken out of net income but only when you're reconciling it with cash flows. Now I'm going to explain this slowly so please do listen to me this time because it's really quite simple. So assuming your company is not one with a focus on buying and selling land-" despite her promise to explain things slowly, she inadvertently began to speed up through her short explanation until he had to beg her to slow down.

"This is stuff everyone should know Ryotaro. Financial Accounting 101 or well 201 but same thing really, yes? I suppose I could have skipped the direct and indirect distinctionbutit'sbettertobethoroughabout-"

"The important thing is that you calmed down, Mizui." That got her to clam up, but Dojima was just glad that old trick still worked. A long silence followed until his sister eventually sighed. "Why can't-why can't people just be simple?" Dojima swallowed deeply, whatever had happened must have truly gotten to her, with how small her voice got, it was just like what she would mumble at the family dinner table when she'd had another bad day at school.

"Is this about Yu?" He could almost feel her slowly nodding through the phone as she let out a quiet affirmation. Dojima sighed gently this time, "look, why don't we talk about this in person? I don't have to work late this week, maybe we could catch up?"

He had asked merely out of courtesy, just like all the times in the past she would refuse and say she was too busy but still he couldn't let go of that faint hope that one day she'd say yes and he'd get to see his sister again.

"Okay."

"Yeah I figure- what!?"

"Sorano said it would be better if I took the week off and...I just can't be alone right now. Every time I close my eyes all I see is..." she didn't even finish, leaving Dojima to fill in the blanks. "I...I need help. I don't know what to do," she repeated. "Why don't you ask that husband of yours? I mean he's your son right?" Another long pause soon followed. "Sorano...is thinking about disowning Yu. And I don't...I just can't..."

"What!?" Dojima almost yelled into the phone. He had heard it hadn't gone too well but he hadn't thought it had gone that terribly. It seemed that Yu was keeping secrets again, which Dojima just couldn't abide. "Alright that's it, you're coming here and you're filling me in on everything that's happened. And...I'll try to help you through it, okay sis?"

"Okay..." she responded almost in a whisper, the click of the phone hanging up was actually louder than she was.

The difficulties that came from getting to an out of the way town like Inaba on such a short notice were a blessing in disguise. They allowed Mizui to focus on the task at hand instead of what was to come, but eventually the only thing left to do was ring the doorbell. "Why am I doing this?" she thought to herself for probably the hundredth time on the way over. "All you're doing is foisting your problems onto someone else. Just burdening them with something they didn't ask for. He said he wanted to see me, but that's just out of respect for an older sibling. It would be better if I just left. Burdening others is the height of selfishness," yet when she'd said as much to her daughter in law, Yu had blown up at her. So maybe to understand her son, she'd have to go against that just this once.

Every second after ringing the doorbell felt like it stretched on for an eternity. The door opened, and standing there was her brother who brought her in for a hug. "Good to see you sis." He could feel her tense up and immediately broke apart, "sorry, I forgot. It's just-it really is nice to see you again." Mizui looked away and towards the ground. "I'm sorry for imposing on you like this, truly I am. I want you to know that coming here was an absolute last resort and I wouldn't have come if I could see any other option." Her brother actually looked hurt for a second before she quickly clarified. "It's not that- I just mean I know you're very busy. We are adults, yes? I shouldn't burden you with my problems." The hurt look faded from her brother's face and he regained a gentle smile. "Yeah I should have known that's what you meant. But it's no problem at all." He took a moment to look his sister up and down; if he was being honest, she looked terrible. She'd always been rather...plain to put it bluntly but now the lines under her eyes were even darker and her usually well kept hair was sticking out every which way. "Ryo...you look good," Mizui said firmly. "Frankly, it looks like you were never in an accident at all."

"Ahahaha, well I've always been quick to bounce back. Still a little stiff in the shoulders though. Come in." He gestured towards the inside of his home and after a moment's hesitation, his sister followed. "Nanako is at a friend's house right now, so she won't be back for a bit. She really wants to meet you, you know." The woman nodded but said nothing, taking a moment to remind herself who Nanako actually was. "Should your...daughter be out so late?" she asked tentatively. "It's past seven already after all."

"She has her ladybug phone if anything goes wrong and she knows to be back before bedtime. Plus it is vacation." Dojima winced as soon as he said it, expecting another rant.

But Mizui did not give him one. Who was she to talk about proper parenting right now? Besides, if she said something to set her brother off as well, then she would truly be left with no one. Although if it were up to her, that little girl would almost assuredly be using her vacation time to get ahead of the other children. Dojima could only marvel at how off his sister seemed and invited her to take a seat. Carefully, he considered all the ways in which he could approach this but came up short eventually deciding that anything was better than the awkward silence that hung over them.

"So, sis...what's on your mind?" This turned out to not be the best way to ease into things as his sister gripped her head in her hands and started to shake her head. "My son hates me," she mumbled out.

"What!? Is that what he said!? That little punk!" His outburst made Mizui look up and seeing the tears on the edges of her ears, Dojima was filled with a strong desire to go rough up his nephew for making his sister cry. The woman bit her lip awkwardly. "Well no he didn't quite say it in so many words but the message got across loud and clear," Dojima felt himself deflate like a hot air balloon, feeling irritated with himself for jumping to conclusions and a bit indignant at his sister for doing the same. Yu would never say something like that, but he had obviously done something. "Maybe you're just overthinking it? I mean just because you had a fight doesn't mean he hates you. What did he say exactly?"

"He, Yu I mean, he told me that I was selfish, t-that I didn't really care about him and that I was only pretending to out of convenience."

"That doesn't sound like Yu," Dojima interjected as he made to pour some tea. He wasn't doubting what his sister was saying but the only time Yu had ever acted disrespectfully towards him was the night Nanako tearfully ran out. He had called his guardian a coward right to his face and Dojima had half a mind to strike him right there and then.

But he didn't. Instead he just laughed since his nephew was absolutely right and he'd done what needed to be done. Yu had been pretty angry though, Dojima had never seen him get even close to that angry at any other point, not even when he locked him in an interrogation room. Maybe Mizui had touched that same nerve somehow?

"I can assure you that was in fact what he said, at the time I was just as surprised as you are right now. I still can't believe it honestly, where did I go so wrong," she began to bite the nails on her fingers making Dojima wince but as a smoker he didn't have much room to talk. "What did you do to set him off like that? He's not an easy guy to rile up, I'll tell you that much." She paused in her attack on her fingernails to bring her fingers to her chin in thought. Mizui honestly couldn't quite remember what she'd been saying beforehand, just that something had set her son off.

"We were in the meeting room with the Amagi's discussing the wedding. Yes yes that's right." She mentally went through the event in her head remembering how upset the Amagi side of the room had been at her proposal, but that wasn't quite what had made Yu snap at her. "yes yes the Amagi girl, she said she- and then I- right right right." Dojima cleared his throat.

"All I said was Yu and his fiance could stand to be a little less childish about things and think about the future." She didn't like the way her brother was starting to glare at her a bit. He was starting to remember that this was the woman who hadn't called or even knew about the serial murders. "You're being kind of vague there, Mizui. Is that really all that happened?" Despite herself, she felt a flash of annoyance well up inside. "Are you implying that I would lie!? I simply spoke my mind based on prior information and Yu became furious with me. I don't understand what I did wrong or could have done differently and to imply otherwise is-"

"Fine, then tell me exactly what you said!"

"I told Yu he'd be happier if he was successful. That Amagi girl somehow got it into his head that it would be better to run the inn with her than live up to his potential. A-and I couldn't abide my son's future being squandered because of a teenage girl's selfishness."

"I'm going to stop you right there, that's what you said!?" Dojima placed his face in his own hands. "Oh Mizui. Oh my god." Now she was getting irritated. "What? What's so wrong with that? I was simply sharing my opinion on the subject, if they can't handle-"

"Sis, even I could tell you how much your son loves that girl. And she has a name you know," a horrified look appeared on Dojima's face. "Do you...not even know her name?" Mizui let out an awkward laugh. "O-of course I do! It's *uh* hrrm Yukina no that's the mother," Dojima let out a sigh but jumped when his sister clapped her hands together. "Yukiko! Her name is Yukiko." She actually looked a bit smug that she had gotten it correct but her smile faded when she saw how her brother was looking at her. "Congratulations. It only took two tries to remember the name of your son's bride. And I doubt his father even remembers the family name, probably left that to you am I right?" His anger was quelled some when she looked down at the table, "I don't understand why you're yelling at me, what was I s-supposed to do d-differently!? Could you please just tell me? I mean, what would you do if that daughter of yours refused to listen to you." Dojima never thought he could get this angry at his sister. He must have gotten more attached to Yu than even he thought. "He's not refusing to listen to you, you're refusing to listen to him. Your son wouldn't do something out of spite, and it pains me that you don't know that. So tell me sis, why do you think he would rather settle down at the inn with Yukiko?" She opened her mouth to speak but he cut her off.

"And 'she tricked him' is not an acceptable answer. Unless you're saying you have that little faith in your own son." Mizui took a long swig of her tea, trying to prolong her answer for as long as possible. "When we spoke...Yu and I, I mean...he made mention of the fact that he loved this town and he loved that girl...Yukiko. He said he wanted to spend his life here and build a family with her." Now Dojima was quite confused. "So wait, Yu told you what he wanted so what's the problem? I get that you might have had other plans for him but you're acting like this is some shocking revelation."

The woman clasped both her hands together and stared at them intently. "He sounded happy, happier and more lively than he's ever been. I told myself over and over again it was just because he finally had a goal to work towards. Something to provide for, you see? But do you know what he said Ryotaro? He said he had absolutely no interest in the plans Sorano and I had for him. Everything we've spent years focusing on a-and forcing him to do, and he hated it all this time. If that's true...if that's true then..." Dojima immediately understood. "You don't really believe all that stuff about his wife do you?"

"It gets easier to believe when I'm around Sorano but when I'm alone, I can't put it into reasonable words these cracks start to form and it just seems flimsy and desperate. But I had to Ryotaro. Because if I don't, then that means I truly don't know my own son." She actually gave him a small smile and seemed much calmer. "I came to you hoping you'd validate my delusion but it seems like the truth finally comes out." She chuckled darkly disturbing her brother greatly. "Sis..." he reached out a hand to place on her shoulder but she gently plucked it off with her fingers. "It's time I learned to face facts, that girl understands my own son far better than I ever could, just like Yu said."

"Did he say that?" Mizui nodded wordlessly.

"He's right, and it's clear that the best course of action for me would be to remove myself from his life entirely. Even if it does break my heart."

"You don't really mean that." At once, the facade she was putting up broke down. "No, no I don't!" And slowly she began to sob, tear drops gently falling into her lap. "B-but I don't know what else to do. I knew this would happen...I knew this would happen." She was biting her nail hard enough that Dojima was worried she was going to draw blood. "I don't think he really meant what he said either." Mizui looked up, blinking her teary eyes rapidly at him. "I think in the heat of the moment, he said something he didn't mean. Remember how often I'd call dad 'the worst'?" His sister couldn't help but look utterly confused. "I-I confess I always thought you did believe that. Besides, as I've recently found out, my son doesn't say things he doesn't mean. What makes you so certain, Ryotaro?" The man wished he'd brought a white board to lay this all out for her but he'd have to try his best to communicate it. "Let's just say I haven't exactly been father of the year. Besides, Yu seemed really happy that you two were finally talking, and I certainly didn't have to hold a gun to his head to get him to stay in contact with you."

"H-he did?"

"Yeah he really did. He told me you had a nice chat with Yukiko and man you should have seen the look on his face. He was so happy you two were getting along. Shame that-"

"I had to ruin it, I know." She placed her head down on the table and her arms over it, seeming quite defeated. When Dojima gave her shoulder a shake this time, she didn't resist. "Hey, hey, I wasn't going to say that. Just it's a shame that...you two are fighting right now. And...you insulted his wife."

"That's just using fancy verbiage to dance around the issue, Ryotaro," she mumbled from under her arm fort. But something he had said piqued her curiosity and made her come out of her shell a bit. "You said...you haven't been the best father either, yes? What happened?"

"Ah geez where do I even begin? Well I guess it started with Chisato's...Chisato's death."

"Ryo, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"No, you need to hear this, besides I'm done running from it." He took a moment to clear his throat. "Nanako just...she looks so much like her mother, every day she looked a little more like her. I...I started using work as an excuse to avoid her, telling myself she'd be fine with it and that it was better this way because I'd just screw up and hurt her more if I got more involved. But that was just me being a coward," even now he couldn't stop himself from hitting the table with his fist. "I hurt her so badly, she even said I wasn't her real father and that she must not matter to me at all. She *uh* she actually tried to run away from home." He laughed a bit. "You know that Yukiko girl actually came to help look for her? And those other two, that's why they'll always be welcome in this house even if they are messy watermelon eaters hahaha!"

His sister didn't seem to find humor in the situation but she certainly seemed to be enraptured by his tale so he continued. "Your son was the one who helped us patch things up, if it wasn't for him...I don't even want to think about it. I'll tell you though, he really inherited that sharp tongue of yours. He didn't hold back when it came to calling me out about that, that's for sure." No, Yu certainly didn't let him forget. It wasn't just the night where Nanako had run off, Dojima was impressed time and time again by the balls on his nephew to repeatedly remind him not to let something like that happen again. For a pretty "live and let live" type of guy, it really stood out. The shocked look on his sister's face was starting to get to him though. "What? Hey, I told you I wasn't father of the year didn't I? And things are much better around here now, Nanako let me read her a bedtime story last night actually."

"No, no it's not that, it's just...did that really happen?"

"Haha now it sounds like you're the one calling me a liar. No, your boy was a real hero that day." His confirmation that everything did indeed happen exactly as he said seemed to be the final straw for Mizui. She slumped in her chair and placed a hand over her forehead. "Sis? You okay? You need some water," but she shook her head no.

"Ryotaro, I believe...all the pieces have come together in my head. And I do mean all the pieces. Of course of course but I never thought such a small thing could have such a large impact." Her nails returned to her mouth but this time Dojima slapped them away. "Mizui, what happened? What do you know?" She rubbed the front of her throat awkwardly and clicked her tongue a bit, "well let's just say that we're much more similar than I thought we were on these matters. This might be a problem, this might be a very big problem."

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---Ten Years Earlier---

"As you can see, this payment went to a pet store of all things, of course undisclosed, it's very suspicious, yes?"

"Not by itself no, but in addition to everything else you've given me...at an exorbitant acquisition fees as well, Mizui my dear, I do believe we have a fraud scheme on our hands." Sorano's joy was not matched by his wife who met his enthusiasm with a simple nod. "It does look that way, yes." But he was in far too good of a mood to care, besides she was the one who had scoured through nearly twenty years worth of documents and statements to find the information he was looking for. "Technically speaking, it began in the 1980s but that part is mere speculation on my end. The information you're after begins in 1991 with this 2.1 billion dollar loss." Of course, that loss wasn't in an easy to see spot but Mizui had compiled everything that made it up in a nice format for him to understand. Not that he was stupid, but there was just far too much data for a department head to sift through.

"The crux of the plan, I believe, is that goodwill would be amortized down to zero over time and they could sequester the rest of the losses in 'dummy entities'" Mizui watched him with great anticipation as he flipped through her report, twice, thrice, even four times, her husband's grin growing bigger and bigger with every read through. "Well considering it took you one year to find all of this for me, I would say it will be a good ten years before anyone else does." Mizui had to roll the statement over in her head before she realized he was complementing her. "O-oh well thank you dear. But do you think we should go to the authorities about this? Or an auditor at least?" The strange look he gave her made her instinctively shrink up. "N-not that I would object either way of course." Sorano waved his hand. "No no that's...quite alright. You do need to know our next course of action." After only a moment's consideration, he smirked to himself. "No I believe we'll be keeping this to ourselves. Scandals like this always have a way of working themselves out, there was an article in the news recently about this American company... ah never mind, you probably know more about that situation than I do. Let some other whistleblower be the hero, then he can take his moral superiority all the way to the bank. Oh wait, no he can't," and chuckled a bit at his joke. Mizui didn't think it was particularly funny, and she would be failing in her duties if she didn't point out that he would receive a large sum of money.

"Or...he might not," Sorano responded. "And in the interim he'll be a pariah and most likely fired. Besides, he'll be needing someone to take his old job. If what you're telling me is true, then this conspiracy runs deep and only someone at the executive level would be capable of blowing the lid on the whole thing. But it will happen, and that's all that matters."

"Because when things go south, someone will need to fill the ensuing vacuum and that someone will be me. Brought their through nothing but grit, not through 'connections' or being a member of their boys club. I won't have to attend a golf game ever again, much less drink with those fools." It had been a while since she'd seen him this ecstatic but as happy as that made her, something still wasn't sitting right. "I mean...would it really be so bad to at least tell someone?" A flash of annoyance crossed his features and she immediately regretted saying it. "You're starting to sound like that brother of yours, the one in, what was that town's name?"

"Inaba."

"Yes that's right, Inaba. But people like us don't have the luxury to pat ourselves on the back over our supposed moral fortitude, we have a branch to look after, and Yu of course." Mizui nodded diligently to what he was saying, when he put it that way it made perfect sense. "Well it's not just that though. I was subtle of course, but there's always the possibility someone knows what I was doing..."

"It's not a problem. After all, how could one employee possibly piece together something so vast?" She blushed again when she realized she was yet again being complimented. "We'll just say you had suspicions but didn't have the time to confirm such things after looking at both the breadth and depth of our company's paper trail. Not that I believe they'll check, they probably think they have everything perfectly under control. HA!" His normally dull grey eyes gained a shine to them that matched the perfectly white teeth in his beaming grin. "Of course, being a mere branch director, there was no way I'd be privy to such important information. And not even our incompetent government would be willing to let our company go under, who wants to explain to children that their diseases can't be diagnosed because of a shortage of optics? Leaving the chairman seat nice and open for the taking."

"All it takes is time, and the more I disassociate myself from those shortsighted greedy fools, the more likely I am to be chosen. I believe this couldn't have worked out better." His climb up the corporate ladder might be slowed in the interim but if his predictions were right, being the chairman of one of Japan's largest corporations in his forties would be far too sweet a prize. And it would all be on his own abilities and common sense in avoiding dirty dealings. Already he'd chosen to focus his talents in the foreign branches of the corporation, allowing himself to demonstrate his abilities while avoiding having to kowtow and lick the boots of, clearly, unfit executives; now though, he'd be setting himself up for a promotion he hadn't even dreamed of a mere year ago.

And it was all possible thanks to one mousy woman.

"Well we mustn't let thoughts of the future interfere with our duties in the present. We can discuss this more later say...over dinner?" Mizui nearly dropped her clipboard. He really was in a good mood! But regardless of that, he was absolutely right in that they still had work to do. Still though, she couldn't help but take a moment to admire him while he worked. How many people would even dare to hope they'd become the president of a multi-million dollar corporation? And here her husband was so confident and calculated, it was like he had the job already.

"Let's go over the human resource reports so we don't waste valuable work time on it." That brought her back to the many many tasks at hand and before long it was like they were back in the office. Working on Saturday was not at all unusual for either of them but working in their shared office at home was a bit more so. Their was no shortage of movement and papers changing hands, but it never seemed chaotic. It was like watching a machine in motion, no wasted movements just a complex system of many moving parts perfectly in tune with each other.

Of course, working from home gave rise to unique problems of its own.

"Father!"

His entrance was so quiet, the two honestly hadn't heard their son come in until he had announced his presence. Of course, Sorano had also been in the middle of a phone call until the instant Yu had called for him. Sorano narrowed his eyes, the boy had obviously been waiting there for him to get off the phone so he couldn't just turn him away immediately with that excuse, but regardless he was still very busy and had given strict instructions to Yu's tutor not to let him up here right now. A few seconds passed before a very disheveled looking man came rushing into view, panting and sweating from exertion. He grabbed Yu by the arm and began to apologize profusely. "I-I am so so terribly sorry sir, I suspected he was playing hooky but I thought he'd be in his room or in the garden, I didn't think he would come up here." At the word "hooky" the boy seemed to get a little indignant. "I wasn't playing hooky because I already finished all my revision. And you probably shouldn't have come up here..." His teacher didn't quite understand what his young charge meant until he turned back towards the room and found his boss standing right in front of him, having stood up from his desk while he was distracted. "Are you really giving him such simple material that he's able to finish early? No wonder he came up here. You'll take the rest of the day off to revise your curriculum, unpaid of course." The man could only nod, knowing that if he objected, he would be left flat. As he made his way out, he had half a mind to glare at the young boy but when he looked back, little Yu was sending him quite an apologetic look and he decided to just let it go. Besides, his father was probably about to lay in to the poor kid more than he ever could.

"I didn't want him to get in trouble. I'll slip him some of my allowance tomorrow!" Yu thought to himself.

But that could wait, for now he'd accomplished his goal and couldn't hide a little smile. His mother meeting his eyes ever so briefly before pretending like she hadn't seen him and busying herself with paper work did dampen his enthusiasm a bit, but he was quite used to it by now. "She's not upset with me, she's just busy," Yu thought, remembering what his mother had told him the last time he had asked why she was mad at him. His father was looking at him with a modicum of interest which was always a nice surprise, making Yu rock back and forth on his heels a bit.

"I can understand finding the Japanese school curriculum unreasonably boring, believe me son, but I hope you didn't disobey my orders for no reason." Yu winced a bit at his tone, but the smile didn't leave his face. Digging into his book bag, he pulled out a heavily filled portfolio and proudly displayed it to his dad. "Yep, I finished the project." He wanted to add how difficult it had been, but he decided to hold his tongue on the matter for now. What if he got all the answers wrong? Sorano raised his eyebrows and inspected the folder, taking a minute to thumb through it, very pleased with the amount of scratch paper and clear amount of effort that went into it; of course he didn't let that show on his face. The company acquiring small start up businesses to hide their investment losses did have one other purpose. To remind Sorano that valuing a small business was the perfect project to give to his young son, from the perspective of an insider and an outside investor of course, quite pleased to see that both seemed to be included.

"I see, I'll look over this later." Yu hadn't been expecting a pat on the head or anything like that, but he couldn't help but be a little insulted when his father threw his big project so casually on to his desk. Quickly turning, he caught his mother beaming happily at him before she once again caught his stare and averted her eyes.

"By the way, you're grounded. For one week." Yu made a small noise, like a complaint that he had bit back at the last second before he made things worse. "This could have waited until later, and I expressly told you not to bother me right now. If this doesn't teach you that biding your time and not rushing into things is the way for a young man to behave, I don't know what will." Was he being a little hard on his son? Absolutely not, in fact if he had interrupted him for any other reason than completing his assignment, it would have been three weeks. Yu looked a bit hurt, but he bit his tongue and nodded his head, he had expected something like this after all. "Okay, I understand. But...after I'm not grounded...could we see a movie?"

"Most likely not. I'll be quite busy then." Yu didn't even bother to ask how he knew that already since the last time he did that, he'd gotten a thorough lecture about a fiscal year dripping with annoyance and condescension that made him feel like an idiot for asking. "It doesn't have to be a movie!" Yu blurted out suddenly, surprising Sorano quite a bit. "W-we could go to the park o-or w-we could go on a fishing trip, it's the perfect season for it."

"Don't stutter. It's unbecoming. And I really have to get back to work son, we'll do something later," he said dismissively. Honestly, he'd just taken him to a function not three weeks ago, a function he noted where many of his colleagues had chosen not to bring their kids, saying it was "not time to worry about that kind of stuff yet." Spoiling your children was just a way to pretend you cared about them without actually putting in the effort to make them successful. He could hire his gardener right now to take him to a baseball game or buy him toys, but only he had the means to give Yu what he needed to succeed. He was sorely tempted to give his business valuation project a glance, but as always, work came before personal matters.

"When?"

"What was that?"

Yu almost lost heart right then and there but he mustered his courage and continued. "When is 'later'? It's always 'later later later' but later never comes! When is later?!" Yu realized his voice was shaking far too much and was far too loud for his liking. "Sorry, I'm sorry." But the damage was already done.

"Later is whenever I say it is. Is that understood?" Yu couldn't meet his father's eyes as he approached him and looked to the floor. "And-look at me-that tone of yours is absolutely unacceptable. I'm terribly sorry that my working to provide for you has gotten in the way of your fun, but that's just how the real world is sometimes."

"It doesn't have to be fun," Yu mumbled at his shoes, "we could just talk about microscopes or something." His father's scoffing made his face feel hot, like he couldn't stop embarrassing himself. "'Microscopes or something' see that right there is exactly why I can't do that. It would be a waste of my time to have to explain every single minute little detail that you should be learning in your self study and for you it would just be a backdrop. You'd be too busy trying to talk about what happened in the latest episode of some cartoon or whatever it is you spend your free time thinking about. Such things can be discussed over dinner."

"Yeah if you even show up," Yu mumbled again. Immediately, he felt his face being grabbed and jerked towards his father's face, and he did not look pleased. "Listen to me very carefully, I am not interested in what you think I should be doing, I am not interested in what 'valuable talks' you think you can have with me, I am not interested in what you think you're missing out on. You will do what I say, when I say it, and you won't complain anymore like a petulant four year old. Is that understood?"

Showing a surprising amount of strength for a child, Yu tore himself from his father's grip, hot tears welling up in his eyes.

He ran out into the hall outside the room before his father could react. "I-If I'm so stupid and boring, maybe I'll just leave then! Maybe then we can all be happy!"

"Yu. Go to your room. Now."

His son gained a troublemaking smirk that couldn't hide the tears still streaming down his face. "Later! D-don't worry father, you won't have to spend a-anymore *sniff* time with me ever again!"

And with that, he was gone. One hand covering his face and the other clutching his book bag. Right at that moment, the phone in the office rang and Sorano let out an annoyed sigh. "Go get him please. I don't trust the help to find an eight year old honestly." Mizui jumped in her seat but before she could ask if he really meant for her to go and do it, he had picked up the phone. "No no of course you're not inconveniencing me right now, it's always a pleasure when you call, to what do I owe the honor?" he said through grit teeth, the phone making worrying cracking noises from the strength of his grip. If Sorano was counting on her, then she really had no other choice.

"This is a problem, this is really a problem," she murmured as she moved throughout the hallways. If Sorano made their son that upset, she couldn't even imagine how badly she'd hurt him in the next few minutes. She'd been sorely tempted to jump in a few times in that conversation but she held her tongue. What did she know about being a parent after all? If she was in charge of raising Yu, he would no doubt be nowhere near as promising as he was now. Maybe he was being a bit too hard on the boy, but who was she really to tell him that? She didn't know the first thing about raising a child, every time Yu would speak to her or would look in her direction she could feel her heart beat just that little bit faster, knowing that she'd say or do something that would ruin all of Sorano's hard work and worse would damage their son irreparably.

She found her son sitting down on the grass in front of the gate that led to the rest of the neighborhood. His head was buried in his knees and he was gently sobbing to himself. He looked a bit scuffed up too, like he'd attempted to climb the wall but had fallen down partway through.

"Do I go to him to comfort him? Does he want to be alone? Is a hug too much? Would the fact that it's me instead of Sorano be an insult?" Her thoughts were going a mile an hour but eventually she decided that anything was better than watching her little boy cry his heart out. "Yu," she called out softly. Slowly, he lifted his head up like he couldn't believe what he was hearing, still sniffling a bit but his crying had stopped for the most part. "Mom? Why are you here?"

"Your father sent me to come get you." The immediate look of hurt on his face made her scream inwardly, he had obviously wanted her to say something else but she'd fumbled and made things worse. "Why are you sitting on the grass?" An embarrassed blush dusted his face, "I couldn't climb the wall and when I tried to climb the fence I slipped and fell. I can't even climb a stupid fence! Father's right..." And with that he buried his face into his lap yet again. "No wonder you guys hate me."

That was certainly a shock to Mizui's system. Hate? He thought they hated him? When that was the furthest thing from the truth? She knelt down on the grass with him, surprising the boy and getting him to lift up his head for good this time. Awkwardly, she placed a hand on his shoulder hoping nothing bad would happen, and while he did look surprised, he didn't pull away or get more upset or anything that she feared. "Oh dear, we could never hate you. your father cares about you very much, but he just...gets frustrated sometimes that you're not quite where he'd like you to be." She winced as that actually did seem to upset Yu more.

"Y-you're making fantastic progress and we couldn't be more proud!" It had just blurted out suddenly, and it seemed to surprise Yu quite a bit. "Really? It doesn't seem like it though...you don't have to lie just to make me feel better."

"Your father and I would never lie to make you feel better." Yu winced at that but nodded, that was certainly something he understood very well at least. "But dad never says so...why?" His mother opened her mouth to speak but came up short. She honestly didn't know the answer to that, "I'm sure he has his reasons, but you shouldn't worry about those right now. Right now, you should just focus on doing what he tells you to do, okay? Things will make sense when you're older." And with that she stood up to leave, clearly glad that Yu had calmed down a bit and the conversation seemed to be over. "W-wait mother, I didn't mean to! Please stay a little longer!"

"Sorry dear, but today is quite a busy day." But one thing he said piqued her interest. "What do you mean you 'didn't mean to?'" Yu had stood up at this point and rubbed the last of the tears out of his eyes. He scuffed the ground with his foot and started mumbling again despite his father's directions. "I don't know, whatever makes you not want to be around me I guess."

"Yu, I've told you many times that I'm very busy-"

"That's not true!" Seeing the shocked expression on his mother's face he quickly made to explain himself not wanting to make her dislike him any more than she already did. "Whenever I look at you, you look away! You never talk to me even at dinner, and even father's the one who gives me homework assignments and he's busy too! Sometimes I go weeks without seeing you even when you and father are home. S-sometimes it seems like you get up and leave as soon as I enter the room." The waterworks were starting to come back and Mizui was at a complete loss. The only reason she'd been avoiding him was because she loved him so much...

It wasn't even like she was intentionally doing it either, anything to stay out of mind, anything to stay out of sight, that way the fact that she didn't have an active presence in his life wouldn't be on the forefront of his thoughts. "It's better this way," she repeated aloud almost like a mantra. "You'll understand when you're older,"

"Understand what!? Why do you hate me? Why!? Why!? Why!?" With every why, Yu became more illegible until Mizui could scarcely tell it wasn't just indistinguishable blubbering. For the first time in her life though, she moved without thinking and hugged Yu close to her body. At once he stopped and he tentatively seemed to return the hug, only strongly pressing into her at the last second when he was certain she wouldn't pull away.

Mizui's heart was racing and she tried to. "He's so delicate and small, one wrong move and he'll just crumble apart. He....seems to be liking it. That's good. That's good." She was worried he'd inherited her dislike of hugging but that didn't seem to be the case fortunately. The woman wondered if maybe she should stroke along his back before deciding that was probably too much and instead settled on a pat. And as soon as Yu started to get into it, it was over and she was looking him directly in the eyes.

"Yu dear, I do care about you. Very much so. I just...I have trouble showing it."

"But...why?"

"Well take today, you overreacted to something your father said and ran off, yes? Sometimes I'm just not sure how you'll react to things and that terrifies me." Yu looked a little upset but he didn't look like he was about to cry anymore which was good. "I don't think I overreacted that much, father doesn't ever seem like he likes me. It really hurts sometimes." This was it, her son was calm and he seemed willing to listen, all she had to was explain what she and Sorano had discussed many times in regards to Yu's incessant need for attention.

"Yu, don't you think you're being a little selfish?"

Her son looked absolutely astonished, like the idea that he was the problem was utterly foreign to him. "I hope I get this right, Sorano," she thought to herself.

"Your father and I work very hard to give you everything you need and do you give us appreciation for every single thing we've ever done for you?" Yu looked a bit sheepish thinking about it. "I try to..."

"And that's excellent but we would still do it anyway. Because that's what being an adult is all about, doing what's expected of you regardless of if you get praise or not. Do you think your father is going to kick you out of the house now that you've made him very cross?"

"W-well no...I guess not."

"Don't you think it's a little unreasonable to greet your father after a long day of providing for you with a tantrum? Especially running out like that, I can't imagine you would enjoy it too much if your father decided to leave whenever you upset him." Yu rubbed his arm in shame, feeling immense guilt weighing down on him. "If we didn't care about you, would we work so hard for you?"

"No..."

"That's right, and Yu I'm sorry to say but acting like this after everything your father has done for you is the height of selfishness. Do you suppose adults get everything that they want?"

"No..."

"Good. And do you suppose they get to be happy all the time?"

"No..."

"One last question, do you think that maybe the reason your father is angry with you is because you appear to be ungrateful?" Yu seemed to get a little miffed at that, "father was being kind of ungrateful, he threw my project on the desk like a piece of trash." But his mother would have none of it, fixing him in a stern gaze. "A project he built for you, for your future, to help you learn, yes? If he didn't care for you, he wouldn't have made it at all." This seemed to calm Yu down...maybe his mother was right? Maybe he was being a brat.

"I just...I want to be someone who can make you happy."

"Oh Yu, you make us very happy. Just...not when you act poorly. So...are you ready to head back inside?" Slowly, he nodded his head. "Okay, I won't be selfish anymore. I won't cause any more problems for you and father." His mother smiled gently at him and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "That's all we ask." As they returned to the house, Mizui tried her best to put on a calm front but her fingernails still found their way to her lips. "I hope I didn't mangle any of that too badly." Her son seemed to be in higher spirits at least, not the sobbing wreck she'd found him as. "Now that he understands, at least somewhat, perhaps it's not too far-fetched to think I'll be more comfortable around him as he grows older." To Yu's complete lack of surprise, his punishment did not come immediately. Instead, he was instructed to wait in his room while his parents finished up work. He technically had the day to do what he wanted but he found himself unable to enjoy any of it due to the looming sense of dread of what his father might do. "I deserve it though, whatever it is. I didn't mean to make him angry, but that's what happened. Adults don't have time to be kids...I should have thought of that..." When his father eventually did come into the room with his mother staying close behind, he almost tripped over himself in his rush to apologize.

"I don't want to hear it. Your apology will be never behaving like this again. Oh and you're grounded for one month." Yu solemnly accepted his punishment with a nod of understanding. Sorano made to leave before tilting his head up like he had just remembered something. "Yu...about that project of yours..." Yu allowed himself to smile broadly in anticipation, "I have another one for you. You can get the full details in the morning, for now here's the 'answer key' to this one. Evaluate yourself and prepare your evaluation on your performance by tomorrow."

Yu only let the disappointment show on his face for half a second before wiping it off. His father had worked hard on this for him and already had another project lined up. "Don't be selfish," Yu repeated to himself. "Okay, I will," he said aloud. For a half second, he saw his father smile and Yu felt just a little bit better about it all.

"I was very impressed with you today, dear." Sorano spoke to his wife as they walked through the halls. "You saved me the trouble of finding our son and lecturing him. I didn't know you had it in you."

"I confess, I plagiarized quite a bit but he seems to be happy now at least."

"And more importantly, behaved." The way he said that rubbed Mizui the wrong way but it's not like she had any room to talk considering without his help their son would probably still be bawling out on the front lawn. "You worry too much about what our son thinks of you, Mizui. But I suppose that comes from being his mother."

"You don't?"

"I don't care if he hates me or not, as long as he's successful that's all that matters. That's what true love is, giving a person everything they need to succeed regardless of how they feel about you." Mizui felt a pang of fear at that but quickly calmed herself. "No, Yu seemed happier. And even if Sorano's right, our son won't hate us. He'll see that we have his best interests in mind and understand." But that did remind her of something.

"Dear, are you proud of Yu?" she asked as she grabbed her coat. He scoffed like it was the dumbest question he had ever heard. "Of course. I certainly wasn't valuing companies when I was eight. Nor had I mastered three languages. No, his progress is astounding, he just has some attitude adjustments that need to be made but as we've learned today, so do people ten times his age."

"Then...why didn't you tell him?" He looked at her thoughtfully a moment, realizing that she was the last person who would know the answer to that.

"Mizui, the reason I tell you exactly how well you did or didn't perform is because as my wife and assistant that is your role. My son's role is to surpass me, so I do not wish for him to do things solely for my approval. If he does things solely to please me, then what motivation will he have truly? He'll be a puppy looking for a pat on the head. Not a leader. The sooner he learns to do tasks for the reason that they need to be done rather than because daddy told him to, the better off he'll be." His wife dutifully nodded, but couldn't help but feel a twinge of doubt in his words for the first time in a long while. "If he wants our son to not seek his approval, then why does he specifically oversee this very narrow aspect of his education? Why does he show no interest in the exceptional cooking or Yu's other studies?" But as always she held her tongue, surely her husband had thought of these things already and bringing them up now would serve only to annoy him. And some questions were better left unanswered. At least her son was finally happy and understanding about everything

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"Wow," was all Dojima could even think to say. "Yes," his sister responded, "that's how things often were in our house up until that point, but after that Yu changed almost over night. He never complained again, and anytime I would ask him how he was doing, he'd put on a smile and say he was doing fine."

"Well of course he'd tell you he was fine, Mizui! God I never thought things were this bad, you weren't like this when he was a baby! What the hell happened?!" His sister bit her lip and drummed her fingers on the table a bit, "When children are babies, there's not much you can do to really make a mess of things, and even still...I dropped Yu on his head once when he was a baby. I can't even manage to take care of him properly as an infant. Every day as he got older and older I kept thinking, what if the dropping didn't stop? What if I said or did something that would damage him more than a little bump on the head? He'd ask me questions I didn't know how to answer properly or he'd suddenly start crying and I wouldn't know why a-and Sorano kept insisting that I would be more useful by his side than at home, and that there were people who could provide him with what I couldn't...how could I say no to that?" Her breathing started to come in heavier again as all the anxiety Yu's growing from a baby to a toddler with thoughts and feelings came back to her. Dojima could only sigh, he knew he shouldn't yell at his sister too much especially since she was already wracked with guilt about the whole thing. "I never liked that husband of yours you know, always scowling whenever he'd come down here, it's like he wanted to be miserable and to make everyone else with him."

"He can be...callous sometimes but you haven't seen his good side, Ryotaro. He's decisive and-" he cut her off then. "You've given me this speech before, let's just agree to disagree." If Chisato was here, she'd probably be cursing the man up and down the halls, but Dojima could reign himself in

"God, no wonder he blew up at me. For years he's had to tell himself 'it's for my own good' or 'I'll understand it all when I'm older' just to keep himself from falling apart. Then he learned all at once that's just a crock of shit adults tell their kids cuz it's easier than actually spending time with them." He let out a scoff. "What a couple of winners we are, right sis?" But she didn't respond back, instead she dug her nails into her lap and stared at it hard enough to burn a hole through it.

"I'd tell myself every day that Yu was content with his situation, that his waning enthusiasm for life was just him growing up. But that first phone call...it was like a slap in the face. He sounded just like he did back then even though he's more mature than ever. He has so many friends, his grades are better than they have been in years a-and he just sounds so alive. And I told him all that was just delusion, every time we talked I tried to make him think that wasn't real just to preserve my own damn feelings!" Dojima was worried she was digging in her nails deep enough to draw blood. It was odd to see his sister like this, the woman who helped him fix his school uniform in the morning, the woman who seemed to know the answer to every homework assignment he'd ever had, the woman who ran an entire student council campaign by herself while the actual president ran around chasing skirts, it was disconcerting. Especially since there was one crucial detail she had missed that even he had picked up on.

"And despite all of that, he still invited you to his wedding," this seemed to briefly snap her out of her funk before she bit her lip. "Well yes...but that was before..."

"Before he gave you a taste of your own medicine?" She seemed to get a bit annoyed at the phrasing. "Well you don't have to put it like that, but...yes I suppose that is what happened, isn't it? But...it's far too late for such things now."

"Then why hasn't he taken away your invite?"

"H-how did you know that? I never mentioned anything about that." Dojima gave his sister a smug smirk. "Actually, I didn't know until you told me just now, I just had a feeling that was the case. Call it a hunch I guess." Truthfully, Mizui had just assumed she was uninvited but thinking about it, her son had never explicitly said she couldn't come. "H-he must have just forgotten..."

"You're making excuses again sis, there's only one way you'll know for sure." She nodded knowing her brother was absolutely right. "But Ryo, if...after everything he truly does hate me...I don't...I don't think I'd be able to go on." She expected Dojima to lay into her again for being weak but instead he nodded sympathetically. "Yeah but at least then you'll know where you stand. Better than the indecisive hell you create for yourself." At that very instant, her brother seemed to resolve something to himself. "Your son dragged me out of my indecision, I think it's only fair I help his mother do the same. Yu's coming over this weekend and you're coming too." Her mouth gaped open and closed in astonishment. "R-Ryotaro, I'm not quite sure I'm ready to...I haven't even prepared a speech o-or..."

"I'll help you think of what you're going to say. But I'm not gonna lie to you sis, you'll have to do most of the heavy lifting yourself." Her deer in the headlights expression spoke volumes. "*Sigh* look, don't think about what you did in the past, it's done, you can't change it alright? Just think about what you can do going forward." Mizui gave off a deep tired sigh. "I'm sorry Ryotaro. This must be incredibly frustrating for you, the course I must take is so obvious and yet I'm stumbling around even now." To her secret joy he only smiled gently and gripped her upper arm. "It's pretty easy when you're on the outside looking in. And hey...I can tell you're really trying here and I think Yu will see that too."

"I still...I just...can it really all be swept under the rug like that Ryotaro? I told him to keep everything all bottled up inside just so I wouldn't have to deal with the fallout."

"Yeah and now you're helping his father disown him and telling him you'd rather be out of his life entirely than apologize to him." She opened her mouth to protest but Dojima cut her off. "That's what you're saying until you do something about it, I've done all I can to help, now it comes down to what you want to do." His sister seemed to grow contemplative for a moment. "Since when did you become so mature, brother? Did marriage and fatherhood really change you so much?" He chuckled at the bluntness of her statement. "Partially, but it's mostly from not having you or dad around to clean up my messes anymore."

Right at that instant, the door flung itself open and a small voice called out. "Dad, I'm home." Mizui could feel her heart drop in terror as the sound of shoes slipping off tiny feet filled her ears. "Nanako, you're home early. What's the matter, you get bored?" The girl let out a sigh that was audible from the kitchen while she fiddled with something in the entry hall. "Kinda, Takase and Yuuta both picked me flowers which was nice but they kept arguing over who's was better. It was really stupid so I just left!" Dojima's laugh carried all throughout the house. "You think they're still fighting about it?"

"Probably, they're really dumb sometimes." As Nanako turned the corner, she caught sight of her father's guest. "Oh hello, are you one of dad's friends from work? My name's Nanako, I'm his daughter." Dojima looked into his sister's eyes pleading with him to just say she was a coworker. "This is your Aunt Mizui, Yu's mom. She came down for a visit and she's going to be joining us for dinner Sunday night."

"W-well I'm not quite sure about that just yet, I mean surely there must be a better way to-"

"Oh yeah I forgot. Hey Nanako, could you remember to tell Yu that his mother stopped by if she can't make dinner? I'll fill him in on the details."

"Okay dad, I'll remember."

Mizui couldn't believe what she had just heard. "That's a dirty trick, Ryotaro," she harshly whispered to him. The look in his eyes told her that he didn't care, before she had time to stew in that, she felt a gentle tug on her skirt. The little girl was wearing a somewhat embarrassed yet happy smile. "*Um* hi."

"Hello."

"My name's Nanako."

"You said that already dear. And we've spoken over the phone before." Nanako was starting to remember what talking to her aunt was like, it was like she was a school teacher or a librarian or something, no wonder big bro was so smart! "Are you really staying for till Sunday?" Nanako let out a "hooray" the instant Mizui nodded her head. "Dad, let's all go to Junes tomorrow! Can we pleaaase?" If Ryotaro hadn't told her that just a few months ago, this girl had ran away from home and told her father she hated him, Mizui wouldn't have believed it. Here she was bouncing around enough to give the woman a headache happily chattering with her dad about something or other. Something about a teddy? Wasn't she a little old for teddy bears? Regardless, she couldn't risk running into Yu prematurely. If that ended up happening she'd probably go running for the hills out of instinct as soon as she was spotted. Luckily her brother was on hand to explain things.

"Well you see, your aunt's visit was supposed to be a surprise. And you know how Yu does the shopping for the inn sometimes." Nanako nodded her head in understanding. "Yeah I get it. We can have lots of fun here too like *um* oh! Do you like game shows? I watch them all the time."

"Too much television atrophies your mind. You really shouldn't be watching it for more than an hour when you're young." The young girl stepped back a bit and she could feel her brother staring at her.

"Oh..." The girl seemed exceptionally sheepish but she couldn't contain her curiosity. "What does 'atroppy' mean?"

"It means something has gotten rusty from disuse. For example, my interpersonal skills have atrophied so sometimes I say things without thinking about how it makes people feel. It's a terrible habit of mine." Dojima's jaw could have hit the floor at that moment. Did his sister just make a joke at her own expense? Nanako seemed much less shocked and simply giggled. "It's okay. I'll help you get your social skills back Aunt Mizui, but *yawn* I'm going to go take a bath now."

"Would you like a bedtime story?" her father asked and Nanako excitedly nodded her head. "Yeah! It's been really hard not to peak ahead," she complained good-naturedly with her father unable to resist shaking her on the shoulder. Nanako ran upstairs and Dojima turned one last time to his sister. "You should probably get some rest too, I think you'll sleep well tonight. You can have Yu's old room." Mizui allowed a tiny smile to creep onto her face. "I'd like that I think. And Ryotaro, thank you...for everything today. I don't know how I can ever repay you."

"Yes you do." And with one last gentle smile tossed her way, he left her to unpack her things.

The room was empty of course with the only trace it was lived in being the assorted furniture. It was somewhat amusing that it had been so long, Ryotaro seemed to have forgotten this had once been her room. Did Yu get a lot of use out of her old desk or was he someone who preferred to work at the kitchen table like her brother? Were there comic books hidden under the bed like when he was younger or perhaps something a bit more raunchy as he 'matured'? What did he use those shelves for? He had told her over the phone he had taken up model building but was there anything else? "You're getting ahead of yourself Mizui," but despite all her fear there was now a tiny spark of hope there as well.

All because of one small girl.

After getting settled in, the woman delicately stepped through the halls of the old house until she reached the open doorway of Nanako's room. She peaked into the crack and saw the young girl cradled against her father's chest, trying her best to stay awake to spend as much time as possible with her beloved papa. After everything Ryotaro had done to her, despite everything that had happened, there she was just happy that she had him with her now. Her brother murmured gently knowing his daughter was getting close to dozing off, yet still continuing to read even knowing he'd mostly have to repeat most of it in the next session. At some point, he caught sight of Mizui and gave her a content smile that almost felt like he was inviting her to join him. Not in the room, but as a parent. And for the first time all evening, Mizui was able to nod back at him, if not confidently certainly with resolve.

That night she lay back on her futon, not tossing and turning in distress but still kept up by her late night musings. "What can I do for my son now? What is his 'bed time story'?" She allowed all their recent conversations to flow through her mind and was able to recall one specific incident. When she heard him and his wife playfully flirting with each other over the phone and dismissed it as mere puppy love or the desire to put on a show for onlookers. Well now that she was done belittling and downplaying her son's emotions and feelings, she could examine it in a more honest light. "What does Yu want?" She thought of when he'd prepared a lavish meal for her and his father, how he'd never stopped even after Sorano quit paying for his lessons. How he'd won over his wife's family so easily, how he'd helped her brother with his troubles and apparently everyone else in town too. And instantly it became clear why working in some office in the financial branch of a medical corporation could never appeal to him. He'd rather be the doctor, the one on the ground.

"Ever since he was a little boy, all he's ever wanted was to make everyone happy. It's so simple and yet I couldn't see it, well if that's what he wants to do then as his mother I'll support him every step of the way. Like I should have been doing since the beginning...even if he hates me, I'll still do it. Because Sorano was right, true love is wanting someone to succeed no matter what they think of you."

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What had started as a simple way to remove Nanako from any family drama quickly turned into a fun bonding activity for the two girls. Nanako happily chattered about her crops and how fun it was to be in charge of a project all by herself. "*Um* don't tell big bro but...it got kind of boring only growing corn and melons all the time. Now I can grow whatever I want!" Yukiko was silent but she looked at Nanako's offerings, nothing too complex, standard seeds you could get from any supermarket. But it was quite impressive that a little girl had her own patch of cabbage and tomatoes. It hit Yukiko then that the reason it looked so much livelier was because the girl had expanded it a bit on her own, when she commented on this it made Nanako happily chirp.

"Yep! I did it all by myself too! One day I'm gonna make the whole back yard a big beautiful garden, but first dad said I have to take care of this garden for a whole year." She said it not as a complaint but as a statement of fact, it reminded Yukiko a lot of her big bro the way her eyes seemed to sparkle at the challenge. Nanako began to regale the older girl with tales of all the plants she was going to grow and Yukiko was quite surprised by how many she seemed to know. A lot of the ones she was rattling off were quite expensive and would have to be imported, some of them were seasonal and others required dedicated care far beyond just planting them in her backyard. But Yukiko wasn't about to stifle her creativity, in fact she was going to help her passion for gardening grow, giggling a bit at her own wonderful pun.

"Oh my, all that sounds lovely but some of those can get pricey..." Nanako proudly put her hands on her hips like she honestly thought Yukiko was doubting her "yeah but I'll save up all my allowance and do lots of chores. Hard work doesn't scare me!" Yukiko just couldn't help herself, the girl was just too precious for words sometimes and she fell into a fit of joyful giggling.

Watching Nanako's face morph into a cute pout made it even worse. "I-I'm *hahahaha* I'm sorry Nanako *ahahaha* I-I think it's a wonderful project *heehee* excuse me, it's just...you don't have to do it all on your own." Nanako was perplexed now, her big big sis didn't exactly have the kind of body meant for long hours tending to the garden having to huff and puff all the way down here from her house in the mountains. In fact, even now she was sitting on her knees in the grass, not wanting to smudge up her knees before dinner and her attempt at squatting down firmly reminding her why she didn't do that anymore. "No, you need to relax," Nanako said with authority, giving her big sis' belly a proper pat. "Gardening is tough big sis and you shouldn't be doing tough things right now." Yukiko was touched by the girl's concern but allowed herself a gentle smile. "I know full well how tough gardening can be, after all I've had to take care of the one at our inn quite a bit. It's certainly not easy, but once you see everything in full bloom it makes it all feel worth it." Nanako's little eyes went wide in awe and her mouth hung open a bit. She'd been to the inn before of course but it had been late at night and she'd had to leave early the next morning. "You have a garden!"

"Uh-huh. One that's big enough to take a stroll through. It's meant to evoke a feeling of going back in time but I can't help but see it like stepping into another world, especially when its just Yu and I. Of course, you can always take a little piece of it back with you and maybe take it and grow something else." Slowly, Nanako began to understand what she meant. "You'd really give me the seeds? Your parents won't be mad?"

"Not at all. I know my grandfather at least would love to meet someone who loves his garden. Nanako-chan, would you like to come by our garden sometime?" She nodded her head so hard, Yukiko worried it might snap off. "Uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh!"

Suddenly, Yukiko began to look around conspiratorially making sure no one was around to hear. "Nanako, what do you think of peaches?" A bright smile appeared on the child's face. "I love peaches! But I don't get to eat them too often cuz dad thinks they're too sweet." Nanako dared to hope Yukiko was going where she thought she was going with this. "Do you have a peach tree big sis!?"

The heiress tittered lightly. "Yes, Chie and I used to sit under it and eat them when we were kids but I still eat them sometimes. They're always so...plump...and juicy mmmmm." Yukiko reached into her meat bun bag suddenly overcome by a craving for something filling and round. She closed her eyes and held the meat bun in one hand, biting into it like it was a peach with one big bite. A slight trail of juice ran down from her lips and she regained awareness right before it could get seriously messy, wiping the trails away quickly with a finger. It was certainly a close call but it made her realize if she was going to be eating like this all the time, then she'd need to be prepared. Looks like she'd need to take a napkin with her everywhere she went from now on!

"Sorry it's just my *mmph* mmmm cravings. Don't worry sweetie, mama will feed you all the peaches you want when we get back home. But for now..." she polished off the rest of her meat bun and stifled a belch in her closed fist. Nowhere near full enough to lean all the way back she instead started her belly rubbing. "Wow...you were really hungry!"

"Oh no, the little one is the one who's hungry, I'm just along for the ride! And what a ride it's been," she said giving her belly a pleasant pat. Something about the way she was so happy and matter of fact about it made her seem really mature to the younger girl, the fact she'd came prepared with a bag only added to it. It made her seem like an expert. Like a real big sister.

"Now where was I? Oh that's right, peaches! Nanako, how would you like to have your very own peach tree?" If Nanako had been impressed by her big sis before, it was nothing compared to how she felt now. Visions flashed through her head of the tree growing from a delicate sapling to a sturdy wood that she could lean against, relaxing under its shade. She could hand out the peaches to passing neighbors and maybe even sell them. "Would I!?"

"Would you?" Yukiko laughed to herself again seeing Nanako's confusion. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. But feel free to come by the inn anytime and I'll help you get started. I'm not an expert but-" before she could finish, the girl had wrapped her in a deep hug. "I love you big sis! Thank you thank you thank you, I'll make it the best peach tree ever!" Yukiko allowed herself to stroke the girl's head gently, "I bet you will, and I can't wait to taste them myself."

But Nanako didn't let go immediately. In fact, she didn't let go for quite a bit. She just couldn't stop shifting her arms and face around while Yukiko tried to stifle giggles. Yukiko wasn't big enough to envelop the girl in soft blubber but it was a lot like a pliable memory foam mattress. A kick from the baby snapped her out of it, and she removed herself from the older girl with a smile. "You're really fun to hug big sis. It's like your whole body is trying to hug me back!" She stated it with the simple honesty only a child could provide and that made it all the sweeter. "Your big bro seems to think so too, I'm glad I'm so fun to cuddle apparently!" At the mention of her big bro, Nanako seemed to frown a bit. "Yukiko-chan? No never mind it's nothing."

"What is it sweetie? You can ask me anything." She was a tad worried she might ask her where babies came from but Yukiko was even willing to answer that if need be. Nanako thought for a minute before continuing. "What's really happening inside? I know there's something that happened."

>>18628390
"Everyone thinks I can't tell that there's something wrong but I can. Are Yu and his mom fighting?" That was certainly the last thing Yukiko had been expecting to hear. Nanako was staring at her intently, just waiting for her to speak. "This really isn't any of my business, but it's not like I can just lie to her." Even her father seemed to want her to keep her out of the drama with Yu's mother so even though Yukiko did want to tell her the truth it wasn't her place as an outsider to do so. It wouldn't be right.

"You're not really an outsider though are you, my beautiful darling wife? Don't tell me you forgot that ring I put on your finger already? Huh, 'big sis'?" her inner hubby seemed to almost sing out. It was a little hard to remember sometimes but she was just as much Yukiko Narukami as he was Yu Amagi now. And as the wife of one of the two parties involved, didn't she have the right?

"Well...I wouldn't say they're fighting exactly. It's more they disagreed about something before and now they're working it out." Seeing Nanako's continuing curiosity, Yukiko decided to let her in a bit more. "They disagreed on whether or not Yu should continue working at our inn. She didn't think it suited him is all." Explaining it like that, it became even easier to have faith this would all be over quickly. Even she didn't know the full extent of Yu's upbringing but even she knew whatever it was her husband was perfectly willing to put it behind him. The only reason he had lost his temper was because his mother had insulted her, the thought was enough to make her swoon. But as the days went on, Yukiko found her heart being moved more and more towards the woman. At the end of the day, she was just trying to protect her baby boy in a different way.

This seemed to please Nanako and she went right back to her usual bubbly self. "Oh I was worried it was something bad, I guess big bro was just surprised but they're both really smart and I helped Aunt Mizui practice"

"Practice?"

"Yeah, she talked to me all the time cause her *um* talking skills 'atrophied'. But I think she got a lot better. So now there's no problem! Aunt Mizui probably just said something she didn't mean right?" Yukiko nodded, that was certainly one way to put it and she hoped that was the case. It would be a shame for her mother-in-law to think she was holding her son back. She frowned when she saw Nanako looking pensive. "What's wrong Nanako?"

"Well...I just wanted to ask you something. Are you keeping big bro busy up at the inn? Does he have enough to do?" Yukiko was perplexed. Where had that come from all of a sudden. "Was his mother worried that he might be bored? That is a concern she raised before..." they'd just have to make it clear that Yu's stance on the matter hadn't changed a bit. But to her surprise, Nanako shook her head. "No, she didn't say anything about that. I just want to know if big bro is happy...if he doesn't have anything to do, he gets a bit *um* crazy. And that's no good."

That was a surprising revelation. "Is that really true?" Nanako firmly nodded her head. "He was always so busy for the whole year but before he moved in with you, he had a lot more free time. He even watched TV with me and it was fun!...But he kept looking for things to do, he cleaned the entire house twice! One day, I told big bro that I wanted to go fishing and he jumped right off the couch! Our house was full of origami and he started trying to learn *um* Spanish, I think. So please give big bro lots to do, okay?"

"Oh mother gives him plenty to do, I think he might actually be doing more work than me now," she assured Nanako which seemed to please her. She knew her husband disliked being idle but she didn't know he hated it to that extent. And yet he was perfectly content to stay cuddled up with her for hours on end. The thought made her blush automatically.

She was enough to keep him satisfied, it was like he was complimenting her when he wasn't even here. She'd never seen him even appear to be bored once after he started working there. But that got her thinking, if doing things for the people he loved made him happy and he was always looking for something to do for them, wasn't it her duty as his wife to give him plenty of children to look after? "Oh my," she whispered softly to herself bringing her hands to her cheeks. The idea that she could provide even more happiness to her husband was an intoxicating one, but she knew she was getting ahead of herself. "Although...the only reason I can think of as to why we wouldn't have another baby is if we prove to be bad parents, so does that mean hoping for another baby is actually the right thing to do?" Yukiko gained a naughty grin when she thought of it like that, nobody could fault her for wanting to be a good mother after all. Yu and Nanako and even herself had all been lonely as kids, but she could ensure her own son never became lonely and all she had to do was be a good mama.

"Does that rubbing feel good?" As soon as Nanako asked, she joined in Yukiko's unconscious two handed belly rubbing without asking but the mother of course didn't mind one bit, though she was a bit startled that she'd apparently drifted off without realizing it. "Oh yes, it feels very nice."

"Why?"

"Well...it lets the baby know I'm here for him and it makes him move around more. It helps me bond." Nanako let out a soft coo and pressed her hands in a bit more, "wow he must be ready to come out soon! He's as big as a watermelon!" Yukiko felt the blood rush into her cheeks in that instant, "*Um* actually he's only about the size of a cabbage right now." Nanako looked between one of the cabbages and her big sis' big big belly. "Nuh-uh, that's way bigger than a cabbage! Look, see. You could fit...one, two, three, four...four cabbages!"

"Oh I'm certain I could fit more than that in here," she said with a high spirited laugh patting her belly with an experienced ease. "Yeah you're right...maybe a whole pumpkin!" This caused Yukiko to rub her tummy self consciously, "w-well maybe not that big quite yet." It was weird, she was fine with being a chunky mama but the way Nanako seemed to not realize just how much of her was pliable pudge made her feel like she was almost falsely advertising in a way, it wasn't just a baby in there after all, and if she revealed to Nanako that she'd have to sink a bit deeper to really feel where the baby was, the small girl might be disappointed.

"'Yet?' Wow! You're going to get even bigger big sis?" The girl poked a finger into Yukiko's pudgy gut laughing as it was swallowed up to the first knuckle of her finger. She just couldn't help herself, big sis Yukiko had a really fun belly to play with, especially when the baby would kick and say hello. "Oh yes, very big. I might not be able to come down here much any more." That disappointed Nanako a little, but she understood, carrying a big pumpkin all the way down here would be really hard! "Okay! I'll visit you then. You shouldn't have to over *um* overeggcert yourself." It seemed it was a family practice to dote over and pamper soon to be mamas, if Yukiko had moved in with the Dojima's she probably would have a pumpkin sized belly by now.

Yukiko eventually felt her legs fall asleep in her position on her knees, and the feeling of her big flabby butt oozing over her shoes like hot butter wasn't a comfortable one. But it wasn't like she could shift to a cobbler pose with a sun dress on so she maintained her position. She'd sat like this for hours before, and Nanako's rubbing certainly helped. Still if this took too much longer she might have to get up and stretch a bit, she hoped the girl could help her to her feet without straining herself.

"On second thought, I should use the wall of the house."

But that could wait; right now she just wanted to let Nanako enjoy her gentle rubbing. The girl rubbed in large circles like her big bro but it was lacking the control her cousin possessed and her hands were so small she could easily use both. Occasionally, she would play out a little rhythm on the belly and smile a bit, growing even happier when Yukiko would smile gently back. Her curiosity was just as active as her hands and she couldn't help but ask the many questions that were on her mind.

"Why do you sit straight up? Is it to give the baby more room?"

"Well yes but it's also to stretch out my pelvis to make the birth easier and it feels nice on my back."

"Oh. *Um* why does stretching out the...pelvis make it easier."

"Well...it gives the baby more room to come out. He needs to leave my belly somehow you know!" Nanako nodded in understanding, expecting at any minute for Yukiko to get annoyed with all her questions but it never happened. Not even when she asked the question the older girl had been dreading.

"Big sis? How do you make a baby?" Yukiko took a deep breath which made Nanako's heart race, this must be a big important secret, this was confirmed in the girl's mind when the young mother gripped her shoulders firmly and looked around to make sure no one was listening. "Do you promise not to tell anyone? We're not supposed to tell children." Nanako fervently nodded her head. "My lips are zipped! I won't tell anybody."

"Very well. I shall confer this honor upon you Nanako Dojima." The girl could hardly sit still and Yukiko was gritting her teeth to keep from laughing. "You need both a man and a woman or else it doesn't work, hmm where to begin..." the girl tapped her chin in thought as Nanako waited eagerly. "Basically, it's a lot like gardening. The love between two people makes a seed that dad plants in the mom's belly to help it grow into a baby and then when the baby is nice and ripe, a doctor helps to take it out."

She'd have to have a talk with Dojima later, but for now that explanation would suffice and the gravitas with which she delivered it seemed to convince the young girl that it was the full story. It made sense to her, a plant seed grew from the ground so a person seed would grow from a person! "So that's why your belly is so big! It's like a garden!"

"Yes but that's only part of it, you know how a tree changes and blossoms in the spring to bear fruit? Well that's somewhat like what's happening to my body, it's getting ready to bear fruit of its own," the young girl's eyes seemed to glimmer in admiration, Yukiko made it sound so beautiful and mystical, she was like a wise nature spirit to the child. Yukiko sent a silent thanks to her hubby, he had "planted" the metaphor in her head after all. "*Snrk* heeheehee 'planted' hahahaha"

Eventually though, Nanako seemed to get shy again but the admiration never left her eyes. "Thanks big sis."

"Oh? Whatever for?"

"For answering all my questions and being really nice to me. I'm glad big bro made a baby with you." Yukiko placed a hand on her heart and cooed."Me too."

"I hope you get to have another one someday."

Yukiko closed her eyes in thought for a moment, as if deeply considering something. Eventually she opened them and let her smile stretch across her face. "Me too." Nanako looked like she wanted to say something important, twiddling her thumbs and moving her lips a bit until Yukiko put a hand on her shoulder. "You can tell me anything that's on your mind, okay?"

"W-well it's just that Aunt Mizui is polite but when I talk to her, it's nothing like when I used to talk to my mom. I can't really explain it but that's how I feel."

"It might not be my place to comment about such things, but I sense that same distance. It's not a bad thing necessarily, though I do feel it." Nanako nodded in agreement and suddenly wore a sheepish smile.

"But when I talk with you...it's a lot like talking with mom."

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Yu was silent for a long while, if Mizui had to describe it she would say he was appraising her. Eventually though the silence had to be broken. "Honestly mother...I don't know what to say." Mizui pursed her lips in thought for a moment and the answer came to her. "You don't have to say anything if you do not wish to, I just wanted to make it clear to you where I will be standing on issues from now on. And...I'm truly sorry for putting your happiness second to my own comfort for all these years." Yu had to smile at that, for the first time he could honestly say the choice to be belligerent about things lay entirely on him and yet he still couldn't quite get rid of the small lingering feelings of resentment. All he had to do to make another bond was reach out and take it. He'd forgiven a delusional kidnapper who had nearly killed his beloved cousin, he had forgiven every one of his friends who had been too weak to face their shadows alone and put others in danger, he had just forgiven a deranged psychopath who had put his wife and child in danger twice; if he could do all of that, he should certainly forgive the woman who, while she hadn't always been there for him, raised him and truly cared about him in her own way.

He honestly had to scoff at himself. One minute he was preaching forgiveness and acceptance to people who had been wronged by the world far more than he had and the next he was hesitating when it came time for him to do the same. "Sho didn't get an apology from the world in a big red bow and yet I asked him to do what I'm whinging about now." He took a deep breath and just...let it go. She was coming to apologize, she wasn't putting his wife or her family down and she was sitting there not begging for his forgiveness but telling him she was sorry. There was no reason to be upset, there was no reason to hold on to resentment any longer. If she was sorry and she wished to try things again, who was he to deny her that chance?

>>18646107
"Well mother...I'm happy to hear that. And I believe and I forgive you. I'd be willing to see where things go from here." His mother leaned back in her chair in astonishment but Yu couldn't help but notice she looked almost...disappointed in a way. "What's wrong?"

"Well it's just...I'm not apologizing for missing a singular birthday or improper etiquette; Yu, for years I-I avoided you a-and neglected to pay any kind of attention to your thoughts and feelings. Don't you want to yell at me a little more? Surely, it would be therapeutic, yes?" Dojima opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off. "No please if you feel it's necessary you...don't need to hold back for my sake. If there's anything you'd like to say to me, please don't hesitate to say it." Yu shrugged nonchalantly, he knew she felt like she needed to be punished in some way but honestly he didn't have any desire to do so. "I already said everything I wanted to say the last time we met mother." She winced at the memory despite saying she could handle it. When he had railed into her for trying so desperately to convince Yu that what he really wanted was to follow in his parent's footsteps and what he desired was nothing more than a childish fixation. When he had told her he preferred his father's strident opposition to her wishy washy attempt to appease both sides while only taking into account her own feelings...for attempting to shame his wife into submission like she had done to him all those years ago. "Well that's not true, there was one thing I wanted to say."

"I'm sorry for my outburst mother, it was an immature way to handle such things. I should have told you my grievances in a calmer manner." He bowed his head but not for an overtly long time, a head bow of apology but not submission, acknowledging the way he said it was wrong but not what he said. Mizui had to admit that some still selfish part of her was hoping for both.

But...she could live with that. The guilt would be her punishment, and she wouldn't be allowed to brush it all away after he shouted at her a little and gave her a cooling hug. It would be a constant reminder to do better in the future. "That's quite alright dear, I too was out of line after all. Yes, I set a bad example so to speak." The two stared at each for what seemed like forever with Dojima looking between the two rapidly, slowly there serious expressions changed into pleasant smiles. "Geez, I thought I'd get to do more, I kind of feel bad considering how much you helped with me and Nanako."

"You supported my son in this from day one Ryotaro, I think that's more than enough." He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Ah it sounds pretty mushy when you put it that way," he turned to Yu hoping the boy would deflate some of his embarrassment, but Yu merely smiled at his uncle. "Thank you Dojima-san. You've been a great help."

"*Aggh* don't mention it. I'm just happy everything is working out and you and that girl are still all lovey dovey. I'd look pretty stupid right now if that wasn't the case." His mother gripped the table, trying to find the right words, muttering to herself a bit to make sure they sounded right. "Yes that is...true. I'm afraid I must confess I worried that this relationship too was a mere *er* dalliance. Yes a dalliance, after that meeting all such thoughts were crushed but well it is certainly lucky I suppose that unattractive personality traits didn't surface."

Yu chuckled a bit, looking almost smug in a way. It made the two adults in the room feel like he had more life experience than both of them combined. Unlike most people, he'd seen his wife's ugly side long before he'd ever learned how kind and sweet she could really be. Of course there was something else they didn't know that he thought it was high time to tell them, he wasn't quite as reckless as he had seemed.

"All I know is, the moment I thought about Yukiko rocking our baby in her arms, there was only one thing my body would let me do." He spoke with a passion that left the siblings stunned. Everyone had heard the story of a child conceived accidentally in a night of passion but neither of them could say they were expecting two teenagers to be so excited at the prospect of raising a child together they acted on instinct. "You make it sound quite serendipitous."

"That's just how we are I suppose. She was so nervous about it until we started talking about children and then...well...it's kind of a blur." Mizui had to stifle a sympathetic coo at the warm yet slightly embarrassed expression on her son's face. Honey glow or honey dew or something like that in his cheeks she'd heard it called before. It was quite the pleasant expression and she had to wonder just how many times Yukiko had made him feel this way.

"You know...we were on that couch right over there actually now that I think about it." This made Dojima grimace a bit. "Great, now I'm going to be thinking of that every time I sit down there. You didn't have to share that part you know." His mother didn't look too pleased either, mumbling something about it being in the family for two generations. But just as quickly as he had shifted into being goofy, he shifted right back. "Is father still adamant about his ultimatum?"

Mizui sighed deeply. "Unfortunately, I believe so. Some...things are happening in the company as of late, there's going to be major structural changes soon so he doesn't have any more time to waste *er* not waste, I'm sorry. I mean he won't have any time to try and convince you to return and he can't afford to get caught up in a scandal of his own right now."

Dojima scoffed. "I thought he was the kind of guy who's up to his neck in scandals," he sipped his coffee and was surprised to find both Yu and Mizui starring at him intently.

"Efficient and corrupt are two very different things, Ryotaro. I can assure you, he works far too hard to bother with such pointless things."

"Father may be abrasive to put it mildly but honestly I've never even seen him drink. I think he...revels in having a clean record." Dojima held out his hands defensively. "Alright, alright, fair enough. I guess I just don't like the guy. I mean disowning your own son, how low can you get." He realized his mistake when Mizui looked away in shame. "Sis, I'm sorry I didn't mean..."

"No it's...that's quite alright. It is the truth after all but I don't think I'll be able to change his mind." She reached out to replace her hand back on Yu's. "He's not...indecisive like I am oh but I suppose I don't need to tell you that. I just, I don't see how your views on this matter are compatible in the slightest. They can't...coexist so to speak." The guilt was evident on her face, as she spoke. "And yet...I love the two of you very deeply. Both of you. I know this must make me seem insincere but-"

"That's enough mother." The woman had to gasp, in that instant he had sounded just as firm and commanding as Sorano did. "I'm not asking you to choose between the two of us, that wouldn't be fair. Father's his own person and it also wouldn't be fair to him. If...he doesn't want to be part of my life then that's how things will be. I hope he'll reconsider but that's unlikely. Ultimately though, I refuse to be the one who deprives my son of a potential connection so I'll leave the door open...for both of you."

Mizui and Dojima looked at each other and then back at Yu and then back at each other while he cocked his head a bit. "Do you not agree?" Slowly, Dojima began to chuckle and then outright laugh. He was actually pounding the table by the end and even his mother was wearing a big beaming smile on her face. Even if she did screw up from now on, he was far too sturdy to break.

"It's nothing, you're just the best nephew I've ever had is all." With that, he stood up and walked over to the stove. "I think it might be time to grab the girls." Mizui whipped her head around and slight panic was visible on her face. "O-oh perhaps...but I'm not ready. I need some time to prepare what I'm going to say to her now! I didn't prepare it in advance you see and now..."

"Sorry mother but Yukiko's probably starving and those meat buns aren't going to last forever." Despite his mother's pleas for more time, Yu was far too focused to listen. When he opened the front door and turned around the corner, he saw Nanako being brought in for a hug by Yukiko. The little girl must have said something really sweet, it was enough to make Yu wait for his cousin to open her eyes and catch sight of him. "Ah! Big bro, are you done already?" She stood up and ran towards Yu taking his hand in her own. "Did you solve your problem?"

"Yeah, yeah I did. You two ready to come in?" Nanako vigorously nodded but he saw Yukiko slowly scooching herself over to the wall of the house. "Just *mmnh* give me a second. I'll be right there." Before she had the chance to overexert poor pampered breeder body, she felt herself hoisted to her feet quite easily. Cupping Yu's face in both hands, she whispered quietly in his ear. "My hero," and pulled him in for a kiss.

Eventually they broke apart and she began to drum her fingers on his chest. "So...how did things go hubby?"

"They went well. My mother wants to speak with you now though." Yukiko bit her lip and nodded like she was getting something ready in her own head, but did not hesitate to follow Yu inside, Nanako happily babbling about the dinner she had prepared all the while. In Nanako's mind, the fighting was over so they could all sit down and have a meal together.

"Dad! Yukiko says my garden is good!"

"Oh did she? Well don't forget you have to maintain it, don't get lazy."

"I know, I know! Geez."

If Yukiko wasn't specifically seeking out the woman, her eyes never would have been drawn to her sitting quietly at the kitchen table. When Yu's mom realized she was being stared at, she actually jumped a little in her seat. "Ah, Yukiko dear...how have you been? The pregnancy is progressing smoothly, yes? No new complications or problems? Comfortable?"

"Things are...fine. Hub-your son makes everything perfect." A silence fell over the room and all eyes were on the two women. There was a feeling of anticipation in the air yet strangely Yu nor Dojima could feel any tenseness, only the two trying to find the best way to speak to each other. And of course there was Mizui's shock at just how fat this girl had grown in the month since they'd seen each other. She'd been mildly chubby before but now she was looking almost obese. Both a kimono and a sundress were meant to downplay her stomach's swelling size but while in the kimono it had looked like an overindulged pot belly, now the girl looked to be in possession of a true gut. The way the softness underneath could be seen moving around with her belly rubbing told how much excess pork the girl had hanging off of her now. If her belly was a perfectly round ball instead of a flabby wide watermelon shape, Mizui would swear she was about to pop out a baby. The top of the dress which was supposed to downplay her chest, instead clung to it like a tank top and the top of her cleavage was visible. "You could lose a hand in there," Mizui mused to herself. What had once been hips reminiscent of a cello now brought to mind images of a bell or perhaps even a Christmas tree if one wanted to be cruel. Ample thighs that squashed against each other and rounded upper arms that were not visible before seemed to just be laden with blubber, even her face seemed a tad plumper than last time. She couldn't see the heiress' rear, but she was sure it was just as heavy and pumped full of excess as the rest of her.

Realizing she had been staring, Mizui quickly looked away so as not to make the situation any more uncomfortable. "You're looking...well." She forced out eventually. It's not that she was particularly bothered by the girl's new size, just stunned. If she wore that blue kimono in the picture Yu sent her, Yukiko would have jiggled it right open. "Thank you, I think so too," her possible daughter-in-law responded with a small smile. "Like a well fed princess right?" All Mizui could do was stammer a bit, the girl guessing exactly what she was thinking while Dojima scratched his head feeling like he was missing some context. Yu too, was confused. Despite the shocked expression on his mother's face, Yukiko hadn't sounded angry at all, more...contemplative if anything. "I know you were the one who called me in here, but I'd like to say something first if that's quite all right with you."

"Yes! Please...take the floor dear," Mizui almost shouted, letting out a hopefully unnoticeable breath of relief. Yukiko nodded and ran her fingers through her long luxurious hair, as if she was trying to emphasize the well cared for princess angle. "It's not untrue that your son tends to me so dutifully, probably more than necessary," she added with a teasing little smirk at Yu which he returned. "What you said at the inn...it was partially true. Yu does treat me like a princess, and I do love every second of it. You're right."

"But...that's only half the story Mrs. Narukami. What I want to tell you is that well...in the same way that I'm your son's princess, he's my prince." Nanako's eyes went wide as she let out a gasp and she was about to ask if they'd ever been ballroom dancing before when Dojima poked her in the back of the head. "Not now, Nanako," he hissed out. The girl pouted but she decided to keep quiet. The gears in his sister's head seemed to be turning, taken back by the somewhat odd comparison but working to understand Yukiko's framework.

Yukiko's eyes turned down to her belly while she let out a happy little hum. "I've been doing some thinking over the last few days, about a lot of things, but mainly what it means to be a good mother. One thing I realized is that only a truly inhuman monster would see their little miracle as nothing but a tool to use at their convenience." Her head titled up and she looked at Mizui very seriously. "And...well...you're not a monster, you're just a mom, like me. And that means you care about your son. So when I look at things that way I can understand why you'd have...apprehensions regarding me. So I just want you to know that Yu's happiness will come second only to our child's; I love your son so greatly that at times it's hard to bear because there isn't enough time in the day to express it. He's a wonderful man and a perfect husband and I just know he'll be a great father too, and a man such as that deserves to have a wife who works tirelessly to attend to his needs as well. Mrs. Narukami...I'm going to make your son the happiest man in all of the world." If Nanako wasn't there, Yu wouldn't have been able to hold himself back from pouncing on her then and there, instead he contented himself with stroking the charm around his neck with a big stupid grin on his face.

Mizui's last few interactions with Yukiko had given her the impression of a starstruck teenager living out her fantasy of being swept off her feet by her prince charming from the city. Most of that had just been Mizui seeing what she so desperately wanted to see, but she still couldn't quite figure out what her son had fallen so deeply in love with. Now though, with that fiery look pure determination in her eyes and the way she lovingly tended to her bump...she felt foolish for having not seen it sooner. This girl wasn't just happy to have a baby, the reason she was so happy was because she was carrying Yu's baby.

There was a certainty with every word, not a single decibel of doubt was audible in her little speech. It wasn't like she was asking for permission to wed either, it was more like she was telling her husband's mother how things would be in their household. "Well if I had any sort of doubts left, they would certainly be gone now. Yukiko-san...I must truly apologize, yes truly for my complete misevaluation of you. I-I don't know what to say, just that...I suppose what I mean to say is...thank you." Somehow all the stuttering and stumbling made the apology seem even more sincere to Yukiko. Instantly the heiress returned to her usual relaxed belly rubbing posture. "It's the least I could do, from one mom to another."

"Can we eat now? It's going to get cold and I worked hard," Nanako almost whined earning a joyous giggling from Yukiko and a chuckle from Yu. Dojima looked to his sister and after a moment's consideration, she nodded. "If you'll have me, I'd love to take part in this family dinner."

Nanako excitedly rushed off for plating and as soon as she left Dojima tapped Yukiko on the shoulder. "Hey, thanks for your quick thinking earlier, you really helped out."

"Well I did want to spent some time with Nanako anyway, so it all worked out for everyone! Your daughter is so precious Dojima-san, I honestly adore her." This made the man chuckle a bit. "Hey, I already like you. No need to butter me up even more," he joked. Yukiko let out a sigh of relief which he was unable to tell whether or not it was serious. "Hey are you okay with sitting on the floor? We could move over to the kitchen table if you would like." Yukiko regretfully bit her lip and nodded. "I'm sorry but my knees are still a bit sore from the ground outside and...it is the best way to sit when pregnant."

"Hey don't look so guilty. I've dealt with all of this before, remember? I's no trouble at all."

"Thanks Dojima-san," Yukiko said smiling up at him.

The moment Yukiko waddled herself over to the old wooden table, Yu seemingly materialized out of nowhere to pull her chair out for her. Before he was able to kiss her on the cheek, she preempted his kiss with one of her own, actually catching him off guard. Her laughter was interrupted by the loud strained creak that squealed out of the chair when she sat down. She knew everyone had heard that, Yu was giving her the same teasing smirk she had just been giving him and his mother seemed to be analyzing her.

"D-don't worry about it, it's an old chair," Dojima said taking a seat. And sure enough, as soon as he sat down it let out a loud creak. The same thing happened when Yu sat down but when it came time for his mother to take her seat, there was only silence. "I don't remember them being this noisy a year ago. Maybe something happened in between now and then." Yu gave her a little pinch under the table and she quickly sucked in breath, she gave him a little kick to his shin but she couldn't hide the smile on her face. A smile which only grew wider when she realized she very deliberately had to sit in the exact center of the chair to avoid seeping over the edge. As much as she knew it made Yu happy, and as much as she liked knowing she was growing softer and more beautiful by the day, it was still a bit surprising for a chair to yell out "you're fat!" to the whole table.

A plentiful bowl was placed gently on the table, so big that for a second Mizui thought it was meant for everyone to help themselves from. But then Nanako spoke up. "Big sis gets served first since she's having a baby! All the vegetables come from my garden cuz they have lots of vitamins and minerals." She looked to her big bro for confirmation which he gave with a nod. "I have no problem with that, let's eat!" But before he tucked in himself, he brought over his own pot and placed it next to his wife and out came an entire roast.

"I figured dinner would be something like this, so if the meat in the stew whet your appetite for more, you wouldn't be left wanting." Yukiko let out an excited little "ah" of understanding and her eyes lit up even more when Yu pulled up the bag of meat buns she thought she had forgotten outside. "Still two left, they'd be perfect for dipping in Nanako's stew." The thin film of grease collecting at the bottom of the bag made the snack look incredibly unappetizing to Mizui but she actually saw Yukiko lick her lips a little.

"Would you like me to rub your shoulders while you eat?"

"O-oh well I don't know...that might be too much." She didn't want to fall into an eating trance while company was present after all.

"Geez Yu, you're going to smother your wife if you don't let up on the doting. Right Mizui?" But to Dojima's surprise, his sister didn't seem all that surprised by how much Yu was tending to Yukiko. "Huh? Oh yes Yukiko dear, that's something you'll have to get used to if you're going to be marrying a Narukami apparently. Sorano was incredibly attentive during my pregnancy."

"He was?" Yu and Dojima both said incredulously. "Is it really so surprising? It was his duty as the father to make sure the birth went smoothly or at least that's what he said. I suppose thinking about it I felt a bit like a princess too. There were so many massages and pillows for my back and my neck and...well you get the idea, yes? " Yu just shrugged, that could be one more item to add to the very small list of things they had in common. "Yuuu, I'm trying to eat, " Yukiko fake whined as he covered her with kisses. "Can't. It's in my DNA. It's my duty."

"W-well there wasn't quite so much of the kissing and the...never mind," the woman trailed off. Dojima rubbed the back of his head, he certainly couldn't remember doting on Chisato all that much since she always claimed she could handle everything herself. "I would have...liked to though, maybe it is in the DNA?"

"Big sis! Big sis! Try mine first okay!" Not wanting to keep the little girl waiting, Yukiko got right to work. "*Mmm* hearty. Hearty and thick. I love it." She was almost tempted to ask for a bigger helping before remembering just how much food she had to get through. Yu had been absolutely right, while the meat in Nanako's stew was succulent and juicy, it was giving her a hankering for a thick full melt in your mouth fatty roast.

"This really is quite delicious dear. I haven't eaten anything this good in quite a while." Nanako was positively beaming from all the praise and when Yu and her father gave her their seals of approval she was bouncing in her seat. "You've been cooking for years but you've really been stepping up your game lately." Nanako rubbed the space under her nose and turned to her dad with a sage like expression on her face. "It's cuz I learned from the best."

"That's big bro," she whispered making Dojima grin wryly.

While the stew was good, it wasn't mouth watering or so good that all anyone wanted to do was eat. And that let Mizui observe while she idly chewed. Despite being so plump, this Yukiko continued to eat and eat and eat, by the time Mizui was half way done with her normal sized bowl, the girl had already chowed through her heaping helping of belly filling stew, even devouring the meat buns; now she was beginning to cut into her very own roast. But what really caught her attention was Yu. Every once in a while, his other hand would act on its own and begin to move towards his wife's rapidly filling gut before he'd correct himself and bring it back down into his lap. The other hand was hard at work softly stroking her side and occasionally he'd lean over for a peck on the cheek when she leaned in for another bite or after she let out a puff of breath from mild fullness. Every time he did, Mizui caught a hot blush appear on Yukiko's cheeks, and the next bite would come a little bit faster than the one just before.

And of course if she noticed it, there was no doubt in her mind that her brother noticed it as well. She looked over to him and was met with a confirmatory nod followed by a shrug. As long as he wasn't covering her belly or neck areas with kisses, it was fine with him. Of course, all potential conspiracies were set by the wayside when her fat gut gave off the strangest grumble any of them had ever heard. It was like a mixture between hunger and fullness, part of her belly gurgling in distress at the heavy load it was expected to handle while the other part was like a starved animal begging her to eat more, it wouldn't be satisfied until she completely cleaned her plate urging her to eat until she was well past full and all she could do for the rest of the night was sit and digest, unbeknownst to them was that Yu's soft side stroking was having the exact same effect and so she pushed herself to continue eating.

And yet despite all of that, she never lost her decorum in a desperate attempt to fill her belly as fast as possible. She delicately popped bite after bite into her plump pink lips, savoring the taste for every one. Never stopping her seemingly endless consumption, but taking the time it took to cut the meat in order to make pleasant conversation. Dojima even saw Nanako trying to mimic her actions when it came to eating, trying her hardest not to let the stew dribble down her chin like she had done in the past and holding her spoon with a lady like daintiness to match her big sis. She made stuffing yourself past the point of fullness seem like the natural thing for a young lady to do. Most girls would be mortified if their flat tummies let out even the smallest whimper but Yukiko's belly roaring didn't even seem to faze her. "I think you need an extra helping big sis! You sound really hungry," and before anybody could react another bowl of stew was placed in front of the fat mama.

"Nanako, you shouldn't pressure your guests like...that." Before he could even finish scolding, Yukiko had already begun to tuck into her next course. He noticed the slight beads of sweat collecting on her forehead and saw her hand go under the table to give herself a soothing rub. "Hey, if you don't feel like you can eat anymore you don't have to. Don't force yourself for our sake."

"Oh *phew* you're...you're too kind Dojima-san. B-but *wooh* I would never do that. I just need to eat until the baby gets everything he needs." And with that she returned to her eating with a fire in her eyes. "Do you...normally eat this much dear?" Mizui asked cautiously.

"No, *mmph* no of course not. My appetite has just been out of control today! Like I have a second stomach." Suddenly something seemed to occur to the girl mid bite. "Does that also run in the family Mrs. Narukami?" It took a second for the woman to realize what Yukiko meant. "Oh, oh no actually. I did probably eat more ice cream than I should have though. But no...to be honest you're eating more than any pregnant woman I've ever seen. Ow! Ryotaro, don't you dare kick me under the table!" But Yukiko just smiled. "I came to terms with that a long time ago, I think of it like him doing his part to help his mama." Before Mizui could ask how making her fatter helped her in any way, Yu spoke up quickly. "Mother, were you planning on staying the week? I'd love to show you around, introduce you to people." The woman bit her lip regretfully. "I have to be back in the office by tomorrow morning so I should be heading off soon. I think the train leaves at 9." For the first time in a long while, Mizui was actually a bit elated to see Yu frown a bit. He actually wanted her to be there! It gave her a warm fuzzy feeling.

"Well that's okay, there'll be plenty of time before the wedding to do that." The normally withdrawn woman smiled large enough to match a smile from Nanako, "yes, I suppose that's true."

"The Amagi Inn is lots of fun Aunt Mizui, there's a hot spring and everything. And the waitresses are really nice." Yukiko hummed happily from the glowing review. "Please you simply must come by sometime on your own. It would be my pleasure to assist you in resting your weary souls," Dojima chuckled at that, "I see you're hard at work advertising even now. Your parents would be proud." Mizui tapped her chin in thought. She'd been to the Amagi Inn before yes but she had a thoroughly adequate experience, she had so much studying to do for college entrance exams that there was no way she could possibly relax and just take it all in, for years she had let that prevent her from giving the place a second chance but now she was starting to think maybe that was another case where the problem lay with her. Now that it was going to be her son's business, perhaps she owed it to him to give the place another shot...

"Has it changed much since I was in high school?" she asked. Yukiko cocked her head and put a finger on her cheek in consideration. "Wellllll...we have a television in the lobby and we're getting a security system installed but other than that not really. Oh! Wait, we do have an absolutely amazing chef now." Before anyone could react she leaned over and pecked her hubby hard on the cheek. He rubbed the spot where she had kissed him in mild surprise and laughed good-naturedly, "it has been nice getting back into it. Of course, my cooking is just a nice bonus, the hospitality is the real attraction."

"Wait, my son is the one who's been cooking for you? I must confess, this whole time I assumed it was your staff who was making all your meals" she almost added "because of their size" but she didn't feel like getting kicked under the table again. Yukiko nodded. "Oh yes, hubby insists that he gets to cook for me. Not that I mind of course but sometimes I wonder if he's trying to fatten me up."

Everyone laughed in good humor but Yu could feel a cold sweat on his neck, Yukiko looked so innocent and giggled with the rest of them like the possibility was completely ridiculous but the look she gave him out of the corner of her eye was full of teasing intent. She leaned back a bit and for a brief moment allowed the softness of her back to press Yu's arm firmly against the chair before sitting up straight once again as if nothing had happened. "All I know is the sight of you enjoying my food makes me happy and that's all the motivation I need." For the first time that evening, Yu pecked her right on the lips and her eyes took on a more loving gaze. "I know, I've always known." Mizui found herself remembering when Yu used to try to cook for her and Sorano. He had looked so happy when she'd enjoyed his cooking but unfortunately she had avoided his attempts to get her to sit down and try his cooking with excuses of work. It had been so long, she'd honestly sort of forgotten about that little hobby of his. A social disaster she may be, but even she understood sharing one's feelings non verbally. He must have been ecstatic when he found out his new wife had a bit of an appetite and worked hard to ensure she knew she was well loved both through words and through actions. It was certainly sweet but he was going to love her right into custom maternity wear if he wasn't careful. Maybe she should say something...

Right at that moment, Yukiko leaned back in her chair with a tremendous groan, her belly looked positively full term and her still slender hands looked ill equipped to the task of quelling the boulder of a belly, even with both of them rapidly smoothing over it and rubbing slow tender circles. Leaning back with such a heavy load was enough to spread out her hips just that little bit extra seeping through the back like warm mozzarella cheese. She was well and truly stuffed and her belly was dutifully bubbling away, a fattening cauldron of stew and meat

But despite that there was still a tiny amount of food in front of her, three spoonfuls worth of her second helping of stew, and if there was food in front of her, that meant only one thing, the baby was still hungry. "*Huff* Mama's happy t-that *phew* you're cleaning your p-*puff*-plate at such a young age. You're so *hah* responsible. Now mama just has to *urk* just has to *mmph*" laying back had been a mistake and her attempts at reaching for the last few bites only sent her flopping back into her seat, the back of the chair creaking worryingly as she did so. Her tummy was in such a tumultuous state, that she couldn't even take her other hand off it to grab on to the table.

"Do you have a bellyache big sis?" Not wanting to worry Nanako, Yukiko shook her head. "N-no I'm alright. I just-"

"You can take the leftovers home if you would like, don't worry about it."

"N-no I..."

But only Yu understood what she really wanted, her baby was hungry right now and she wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted. Wordlessly, her husband took a spoonful and slowly brought it to her mouth, if she couldn't feed herself, he'd feed her. Her mouth opened slowly at first before wrapping itself around the spoon, the others at the table could only watch wordlessly, even if they had said something it was unlikely the young couple would have even acknowledged them. "Two more left, just a little bit more. For the baby."

"For the baby," she agreed, her nodding making her budding double chin pop out, and took her second bite. "And for you," she thought to herself although she didn't say it aloud. He held up the final spoonful and placed it right above his other hand, "whenever your ready."

"Y-yu, I'm so full I don't know *huff* if I can." He smiled so lovingly at his wife that she felt her heart grow as full as her stomach. "But I do, you can and you will, because our baby boy is asking you to and that's all the motivation you need."

Her husband was absolutely right and she dutifully opened her mouth for him to put the final spoonful, a particularly filling one with a big piece of meat in it, she thought that once she got to this point she wouldn't even taste the food anymore but somehow that wasn't the case. No matter how stuffed she was, the flavor would always dance across her taste buds like her body was rewarding her for being a good gorging mama. She chewed slowly and deliberately until eventually the final bite made its way into her packed tummy and after a minute its distressed whining was accompanied by a full and content rumbling that sounded almost like the purring of a cat. She stifled a belch with her fist and allowed a tiny smile to cross her face. "All *huff* all done."

Nanako's tiny hands began to clap in full force "hooray! Good job big sis!" She wasn't entirely sure why she was clapping but she did know the older girl was happy and that was something worth celebrating. Dojima sadly shook his head, "poor girl, her body's going crazy right about now. Chisato just got some peach fuzz on her stomach and got gassy." Honestly if Yukiko had felt the need to let out a big belch right at his table, he wouldn't have even minded, her gut was probably like a pressure cooker right about now. But for whatever reason, she looked like the happiest woman alive and with the way she was looking at her belly and the way Yu just couldn't help but massage her lower stomach, he could see why. That sheer look of contentment made Dojima remember some of the past interactions with Nanako the girl had, and just how she composed herself in general. She always possessed a somewhat matronly air to her, so it only made sense she was so happy.

He chuckled as he came to understand the girl a little bit more as well as his nephew. Some girls, it just felt wrong not to court them, marry them and give them a baby. One such woman was on the windowsill in a picture next to him and Nanako.

She even did that thing where she would talk to her belly from time to time. Hell she was doing it right now!

For Mizui it was much simpler. The whole situation was odd, very very odd but for whatever reason watching his wife inflate like a balloon seemed to make them both happy so that's all there was to it. Although the look in Yu's eyes was enough to make her smile, she decided she wouldn't say anything about it after all.

Conversation turned towards where and how the two had met, the history of the Amagi Inn and a bit about her family. As much as Mizui wanted to ask about what exactly had happened with the serial killer case, she decided against it due to the presence of Nanako, besides she should probably do at least a little research herself beforehand. She'd heard Yu's version of how the pair met, but it was interesting hearing his wife's perspective on it in between the occasional puff of air or suppressed belch.

"...and then he just asked me for my phone number! I asked him if it was for a group project but he said that it was because he wanted to get to know me better. He was so confident, but he didn't seem like he'd be crushed if I didn't give it to him either, so...I did. It left me wanting more I suppose. He was one of the only boys at school who never got all weird around me either or asked me to come with him for no reason. It felt nice just being treated normally and not like an heiress, like I was just any other person." She described their first couple of meetings and Nanako let out a gasp of recognition when she recognized one of them. "Oh! I was there for that one! It was at Samegawa!"

"That's right and you helped me quite a bit too back then. But it took me a while to get things down." The more the story went on, the more impressed Mizui got. She actually didn't know how to cook herself so the idea that one could just...decide to become good at it one day was astonishing to her.

When she got to the part about the camera crew, Yu piped up. "That's the day I fell in love with her."

"Really?" Yukiko asked, surprised but curious to know why. "Even though you were having doubts about your future, you still stood up for the important people in your life when it came down to it. It's when I knew where your priorities lay and I fell in love with that. Well that...and everything else about you of course." Yukiko let out a puff of breath and beckoned Yu to come closer, as soon as he had entered her trap she grabbed his head and smooched him as hard as she could and then covered the rest of his face in smooches. Nanako giggled when it was all over, making Dojima glad he didn't put a stop to it. "Big bro, you look like a clown!"

"I think I'm more of a Fool than a clown."

Although the story about the camera crew did make Dojima wonder just how many misadventures he'd gotten into with his other friends if something like that had happened with the most gentle and peaceful of all. That did remind him of something though. "I saw a big black limo in the shopping district yesterday. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?" Yu did his best to hold back a gulp but remained unwavering when facing his uncle. "Yeah, I heard about it. Don't know what they'd be doing here though."

"I heard they rented out the entirety of Junes and that people saw you on the roof."

"Ask around and people will say they saw all sorts of people up there like a Featherman ranger. I even heard a rumor there was a pair of cyborgs."

"Hmm, well I'll take your word for it. There's no way you'd be getting involved in crazy stuff with a baby on the way." His words were jovial but his tone was dead serious. "I'm not doing anything that would endanger my future Dojima-san."

"Dad, you're always way too superspicious of big bro. You need to lighten up!" His uncle's facial features began to relax and he gave Yu an apologetic gaze.

"Yeah I guess you're right. Whatever's going on, I'm sure you have it under control." The look of complete trust his uncle had made Yu feel the tiniest bit guilty for lying but he shrugged it off. He decided to just call things even.

Yukiko wasn't the only one who was full but no one had stuffed themselves anywhere near the extent she did. It did put a bit of a damper on a post dinner walk to the floodplains and back, though. But that was quite alright with Yu, they all had quite a bit of catching up to do.

Eventually though, the clock struck 8:15 and Mizui let out a regretful sigh. "I'm afraid...it is time for me to leave. Sorano will be furious if I'm not back in the office on time after this many days off." Yu looked a bit sad for a moment but nodded shortly after and gave his mother a smile. "I understand, go do what you do best. And...don't worry if you can't come to the wedding, things happen."

"Yu...I-I promise I will try my absolute best to make it here." And for the first time, Yu believed her. After the moment, it took to grab her suitcase, she was ready to go back. "I'm going to miss you Aunt Mizui. I hope your social skills get better!" The woman was nearly toppled over from the force of Nanako's hug but she stood firmly and cautiously stroked the back of her head. "I think they just might."

"Ryotaro, none of this would have been possible without your assistance." He was about to protest again saying he didn't do that much but his sister did the last thing he had ever expected. She gave him a quick familial peck on the cheek and pat his other one. "You've grown into a truly fine young man, mother and father would be proud."

"Ah well you know...you mean that?"

"Of course." Yukiko looked to Yu urgently and he instantly realized what she meant, with her big gut, getting up from the table would be an awkward weighty process. He pulled out her chair and helped her ever so gently to her feet, not wanting to jostle it even slightly.

"It was truly a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Narukami." The girl bowed ever so slightly, not even attempting to bend at the waist. "And if you can't make the wedding, next time we meet I'll have a cute little grandson for you to hold." The woman nervously scratched at her neck, at first Yukiko thought it was at the concept of holding a baby but when she started mumbling the girl realized it was in fact something else. "Well Yukiko, I think that in light of recent events and considering the wedding is so soon...it might not be altogether inappropriate if you were to call me...mother. Only if you want to of course and I wouldn't wantyoutoforceyourselfifitisn'tappealing, yes?"

"Of course I'll call you mother! I was worried you'd think I was being too forward but if that's what you want I'd be happy to do so." She attempted to pull her mother-in-law into a hug but winced in pain much to Mizui's secret relief. "Ooooh still a little too full. I'm gonna *ooh* rest on the couch." Mizui's relief was short lived when she was pulled into a tight hug by her son. Her hands hung close to her chest before she slowly and carefully wrapped them around his back. "Thanks for stopping by...mom." The woman was so stunned that she had to take a step back. Had he just called her mom? He had! He really had!

"Right yes of course. I'll...I'll see you later son. G-goodbye now." She left in a hurry but Yu just knew that she had a smile on her face nevertheless. He felt a gentle tugging on his hand from a distraught looking Nanako. "Can you guys stay a little bit longer? Please?" She turned to her dad with pleading puppy dog eyes. "I know it's a school night but can I stay up just a teensy bit later?"

"Fine, but you better not sleep in."

"I won't! Big bro, now it's your turn to see my garden. Big sis, I hope you feel better." Yukiko let out a pained groan that caused Nanako to giggle. Big sis sounded just like a cow! She was so silly sometimes.

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Kanji stood outside of his family's store nervously checking his watch every couple of seconds. Already it was ten minutes past eight and he was losing hope, "it's nothing personal, she's just very busy. I'll give it to her some other time." Still, it wasn't like her to be late so maybe he wasn't just being negative? But wait! Off in the distance he spotted a pretty pale face making its way through the shopping district. With the dark fabric and midnight blue hair it blended in to the after dusk Inaba streets quite well, in fact he still couldn't quite tell if it was his mind playing tricks on him.

"Kanji? Is that you?" Behind her came the clack clack clacking of a rolling suitcase that always drove him crazy. He was certainly thankful he wasn't expected to walk her to the station but he was even more thankful she had actually shown up. "Yeah, thought you weren't gonna show for a second."

"I just wanted to make absolutely sure I didn't forget anything for tomorrow. Were you...waiting out here for me?"

"*Pfft* no! What? *Pfft* No! Of course not, I was just...taking in the night air. Yeah!" Naoto wasn't sure how much she believed that but she decided not to pry, after all she was the one who was ten minutes late. "This will be the first time I've been inside your house in quite a long time. Is your mother home?"

"Mah? Nah she stepped out for a bit. Said she needed to pick something up, didn't say what. So...we have the house to ourselves." The two blushed hotly and looked away from each other neither one wanting to broach the subject of doing anything extra after whatever surprise Kanji had in store. The boy peeked over at the girl taking her in a bit; she was honestly more adorable every time he saw her with that short yet feminine soft hair that always smelled like lavender to just how delicate her hands looked, perfect for knitting a blanket with. Her lips were glossy and pink even without the aid of lipstick and best of all, she didn't rub it in.

She was just...pretty. When she caught sight of him staring he quickly went in for the save, "*Uh* a bug just landed on your hat! We should probably get inside, cuz of all the bugs." He kicked himself for his awful attempt but it was better than saying he was eyeing her up, not aware that she had been doing the same thing to him.

"Oh my goodness, Kanji did you make that? It's beautiful. Is-is that my surprise?" The "that" she was referring to was a shimmering blue and silver dress of some sort. The dyes were blended perfectly and it almost looked like a painting than simple fabric. It seemed a tad too big everywhere except in the chest area though and he knew very well she wasn't a dress wearer, but it was so beautiful she had forgotten all of that momentarily.

"Not yet," he said with a confidence that he normally never held around her. "That's Ma's big project for the month. I'm nowhere near that good with the dyes...yet. But I will be someday as long as I keep practicing. I've *uh* I've never actually said that to anyone yet. You're the first person I've said that to so now I guess it means I have to do it." Yet he didn't seem bothered by that fact in the slightest and looking around Naoto saw his stuffed animals proudly displayed just like he had promised Yu. She had a feeling that even if some girl did come in and insult his interests, he'd easily brush her off. Looking at some of the dye work on the animals, she thought he had a lot less work than he thought he did, a fact which she was quick to share with him.

"That's nice of you to say but you don't exactly have an eye for these things. *Uh* no offense!" She smiled to show him that no offense had been taken in the slightest, honestly one of her favorite parts of the job was getting to speak to experts in fields she wasn't entirely familiar with, for the first time realizing she'd be able to count her boyfriend among that group.

"But man, ma is like a wizard or a witch I guess? Don't know how she does it but I'm working on it."

"Did someone say wizard?" Suddenly his mother appeared from the back door of the shop. "*Gah* mom what the hell are you doing!?" And even Naoto jumped a bit. "That's the first time I've ever heard you compliment my dyes like that, I had no idea you felt that way~" but Kanji was in no mood. "I thought you said you were out on an errand!"

"Oh well about that, I lied." Kanji felt his jaw drop and his mom smugly chuckled. "You've been acting so odd all day, that the only thing it could possibly be was a girl, I knew you would shoo me out but I wanted to at least meet her before you got the chance." Even the tricky woman was surprised by the identity of her son's girlfriend, however. "My my the detective prince? It's so very nice to see you again. I never thought you would be the girl who had my son in a tizzy but I can certainly see why. He may not seem like it but he's a real catch." The woman felt a pair of strong hands push her along out the door, "that's enough out of you, you old hag! God is this how you get your kicks!"

"Maybe," she giggled. And with one final shove she was out the door. "He's great for reaching the top shelf!" his mother shouted out before he slammed the door in her face. "God, it's like she never leaves me alone sometimes." He saw Naoto looking wide eyed and scoffed. "Sorry about that, she's...weird." But she didn't seem to be very happy about that. "It's probably not my place to say such a thing but...you should be nicer to your mother." Kanji was all set to argue until his common sense reminded him just who he was talking to. "I'm sorry," she quickly cut in. "You invited me here for a nice surprise and here I am criticizing you almost immediately."

"...'s cool. You're probably right, but she doesn't make it easy sometimes. Ah whatever, guess it wouldn't kill me not to call her an old hag every once in a while!"

Naoto smiled at Kanji's words. She knew it was just his way of showing affectionate annoyance but it still was something that bothered her a bit. And she couldn't entirely blame him either, the detective had been quite tempted to yell at the woman herself for scaring the daylights out of her. "So where is this surprise?" she broached. It wasn't that she didn't want to be here but she did have to leave for the station in thirty minutes.

"Oh right, it's just up in...my room." Kanji's face paled as he realized the problem with making it a surprise. His face held a hot blush and he turned to see that Naoto's face was the same. "Gestures only have the meaning we give them so it's not like going up there inherently means anything." Despite her words, the blush didn't leave her face and she couldn't quite meet her boyfriend's eyes. "I'll *uh* I'll just run up and get it. Wait right there!" And he ran as fast as his legs could carry him. She could hear him thumping around up there but he found it surprisingly quickly, call it a detective's intuition but she had a feeling that despite his outward appearance he kept his room relatively organized and tidy. Her theory was supported by the speed at which he returned with a wooden box. He shoved it right into her hands and she nearly fell over as a result, despite its size though, it was surprisingly light.

"It's *uh* well it's...I hope you like it!" He turned away to look out the window trying his best to appear nonchalant but it was clear his heart was hammering. Naoto opened the box and what she saw were...dolls. Dolls that were small enough to fit on a key chain, expertly made tiny replicas of each member of the Investigation Team. Naoto gasped in shock as she examined the detail up close, they even had different facial expressions with Yosuke wearing a smug grin and Rise a flirtatious wink, Teddie's little hood flap even came up!

And there right in the middle of course, were her and Kanji. It may have just been wishful thinking on her part but she thought her doll had even more detail than the rest, every individual thread of her usual blue jacket visible on the replica. She gasped again when she saw a perfectly modeled woolen revolver strapped to her side and just couldn't help but inspect it. "K-kanji this is...this is incredible!" She tried to calm her sense of childish excitement and cleared her throat. "Am I correct in assuming I'm meant to put these on a key chain?" Seeing that she loved the gift brought a big shining grin to Kanji's face and he seemed quite a bit more confident than he had been a moment ago.

"That gift's got some history behind it. I was thinking about making one of these for senpai but...well you know. So I thought...it might make a good gift for you." Naoto had her guesses but she urged Kanji to continue, finding something quite enthralling about the slow deliberate way in which he explained his labor of love. "When we talked at Yu-senpai's party you seemed kind of...I don't know a bit lonely I guess? So I got to work on this. Just a little something to remind you that no matter where your job takes you...you'll always have your friends. And...I didn't make this for you just 'cuz your my girlfriend now or nothing or 'cuz I thought you were...c-cute. I thought it was something you needed to hear but I'm not always the best with words so I thought I'd give it to you in a way I am good at." The boy swallowed nervously, "not too tacky is it?" But he found Naoto's eyes to be shiny and wet.

"Kanji...You did all of this for me?" He nodded in response and saw her close her eyes and smile. "I-I can scarcely believe it. This must have taken you...goodness! I-it's perfect. I truly love it. Thank you so much." He hadn't been expecting her to react like this but would took him even more greatly by surprise was the big kiss she planted right on his lips.

She had to stand up on her tip toes to do it, but once he started holding her in place with his own arms, that certainly helped a lot. He was just so sweet, it was far more valuable than anything she had ever received from any other hopeful suitor. He did all of this for her! Her heart began hammering in her chest truly allowing herself to feel excited at the prospect that someone truly loved her enough to do something like that. That a sweet handsome boy like Kanji was well and truly smitten with her. Oh he may have been a bit slow but that hardly mattered when he'd do things like this. She kissed him deeply even putting some tongue into it, Kanji returning the favor. As if on instinct, he began to undo the first button on her jacket when she caught herself.

"W-wait K-k-kanji stop!" The boy looked down at his hands almost like he couldn't believe what he was doing himself. "*Gah* o-oh geez I'm sorry Naoto, I don't know what came over me!" He discreetly wiped the thin trail of saliva that dangled from his lips while Naoto did the same. "N-no that was...that was my fault Kanji-k...Kanji. I just...I'm sorry if I...caught you off guard."

"I-it's fine. It's...fine." Neither of them wanted to be the one to admit they had quite enjoyed the feeling and couldn't help but crave more. The two shuffled their feet and made throat clearing noises for what felt like an eternity before Naoto broke the awkward silence. "This was the highlight of my day, I'm *uh* after finals we could...grab a coffee, maybe?"

"Huh? O-oh yeah yeah absolutely! I know this place in Okina that has the best pastries...if that's alright with you."

"Well it's alright with me but is is alright with you? I never took you for a coffee drinker to be honest."

"Hey as long as it's with you, I'd take it black!" Realizing what he said, he nervously played with his sleeves. "Soooo it's a date, a real date this time?"

"I believe it is. Our first date with...witnesses."

At first Kanji was a bit sad to hear that, but when he heard her murmur that she'd have to have better self control, he felt his heart soar. "Hey *uh* Naoto? I know you're busy tomorrow but could you *uh* well tell me what you're busy with...if it's not classified or whatever I mean? I'd kind of...like to know what you're up to." She raised an eyebrow at this, "Whatever for?"

"...well I care about you and I think your jobs really cool. You might have to dumb it down a bit, but I'd just like to know what it is you actually do you know?" Naoto could feel the gentle pitter patter of her heart, "I would love to," she breathed out in her softer feminine voice. She explained as well as she could about the situation with Public Safety. "Everyone else has done their part, so now my report is the last step in ensuring our friends in the Shadow Operatives make it out of this unscathed. Some of it will require some clever maneuvering on Kirijo-san's part but I believe she can handle herself. Cleaning up the red tape isn't exactly glamorous but it's still an important part of any job."

"Hey I think it's pretty sweet! You're really sticking it to the man, Naoto. Not letting them get away with their crap just because they're in a cushy office with a big salary!" Naoto blushed and smiled when he said so. "Thank you..." she said almost in a whisper. Honestly, she had been expecting him to listen for a bit and then tune out, but he was enthralled by every step of the process, sure she had to break things down but that was part of what made it enjoyable. It was the first step in letting him into her world. He was inquisitive, interested and most of all encouraging, "Hey, I think you've got this in the bag, I mean if all you've gotta do is tell them innocent people are innocent I don't see how even they could screw that up."

"Well I certainly hope so. I'm not actually allowed in Kirijo-san's debriefing after all."

"Wouldn't they want you as a *uh* character witness? You know to represent both sides fairly?"

"Well they're not exactly interested in a fair trial but they can't ignore a report from one of their own on the subject, especially not when they're relying on it as a key piece of evidence." She smiled a bit as Kanji growled about the rottenness of the Public Safety top brass, somehow it was refreshing having someone put your feelings into words.

As much as neither one wanted it to end, eventually Naoto's watch beeped. "I have to go, I would...I would really love to talk with you more about things next time."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Anything," she admitted with a hot blush. Kanji rubbed the back of his head but he didn't look away. Naoto gave him a much more chaste peck on the cheek as she left but before she did she turned around one last time. "My curiosity won't permit me to leave without knowing. Why didn't you make a set of these dolls for Rise? She too leaves quite frequently." To her surprise, Kanji gained a wry grin. "I guess stupid 'ol Moronji forgot to make her one. Oops." He expected Naoto to scold him a bit, but instead she first began to chuckle and then she full on doubled over laughing. It was a joyful high and feminine sound that was more beautiful to Kanji than any songbird he had ever heard. "That's so *hahaha* that's so *pft* immature. Oh but I can't *hahahaha* say she doesn't deserve it! I *ahaha* r-really have to go now though. See you soon!" She left the store with one more bag than when she had entered and a bit of pep in her step that not even she noticed.

"Oh my Kanji, I never knew you were such a tender young man. Oh if only you talked to your dear old mother that way." Kanji nearly jumped out of his skin from the shock of his mother seemingly materializing behind him. "Ma! Would you cut that out! It's not funny you old h- old biddy." She chuckled confidently yet again, it would be nice to have a woman around that Kanji listened to.

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"Bye big bro! Big sis! I'll miss you!"

"And thanks for stopping by, it was a real treat."

The two said their final goodbyes to the Dojima family and began the long walk back home. There were no buses running this late so they were forced to make the trek on foot. Not a problem for Yu obviously but with the pot roast and stew filled pudding bag his wife had strapped to her waist, even at her slower than usual waddling speed there was still plenty of puffing for breath and pained groans. "Oooh it feels like I swallowed a *puff* yoga ball! Ooooh."

"Looks like it too, someday you're going to look like that on an empty stomach you know. Of course, by then the rest of your body will have caught up." Yukiko puffed out her already puffier cheeks and gave her hip a squeeze. "Already I can't use pregnancy as an excuse anymore, as soon as I turn to the side people know I'm big, fat and pregnant." Yu wanted to badly to come up from behind and squeeze her divan soft belly in between his arms but her poor stuffed tummy was far too sensitive for that right now. Instead, he teased the fat on her back a bit as he gently rubbed it while they walked. "I think they know a little bit before that, I mean have you seen the way your belly jiggles when you walk? Oh not after you've stuffed yourself of course, I mean for the other half of the day." She wanted to scold him for teasing him so but she was interrupted when she had to stifle another belch. "And you're getting so wide too, is it really all for giving birth? Seems like there's a lot...extra." Her belly was far too full and cumbersome to even turn around to swat his hands away as he teased her fattened hips but he didn't go any further thankfully. "It's for you to enjoy yourself, I think I've said that before." she said plainly which made Yu take a step back she gave him a somewhat confident grin which was wiped out when her belly groaned in discomfort yet again.

For a second, she actually looked a bit insecure about something. "I...I hope your mother saw it that way. I think she did but did you see how she looked at me and your uncle too? Yu, I'm getting so fat."

"Getting?"

"S-stop teasing me!" She whined. Yu just chuckled, as she pouted a bit. "Let's just get back home and you can tell me what's bothering you, okay?" He pecked her on the cheek as she nodded. They probably ended up stopping at every park bench on the way where Yu's wonderful hands got to work on her drum tight gut, the moment she felt the slightest discomfort he'd jump at the bit to knead it out. It made their trip take quite a long while, so long that by the time they arrived home all that greeted them was silence. "I'm surprised your parents aren't waiting here for us to make sure I really brought you back." Yukiko gently bumped him with her hip and swayed back and forth like a shy schoolgirl. "It's because they know you take such good care of me they don't have to worry. Isn't this wonderful? They're really starting to trust you." Yu felt a happy twinge in his chest that he guessed was how his wife felt at dinner today.

They retired to their shared bedroom and before Yukiko could react, she was brought on to her husband's lap, his hands wrapping around her to relax her stomach while they talked and his head gently resting on the top of yours. "What's bothering you, beautiful? Surely it can't be dinner since you showed everyone why you're such a perfect wife," she allowed herself to blush at the comment and leaned back against his strong chest, involuntarily letting out a content sigh as she did so. "It's just...it's silly."

"No it's not."

She had to stop herself from pouncing on him right then and there, but her heavy belly helped to keep her behaved on that front. "Well...I meant every word I said but *urp* excuse me...but I worry that my body diminished the words a bit."

"Well...that's not true. I don't really care what most people think but I don't want our friends and family to think I'm running you ragged while I get fatter and lounge around like some pampered fat dairy cow. Oh goodness, imagine if our son thought that." She rubbed the very top of her gut in distress, "I want him to have a soft mama to cuddle and squeeze but I don't want him to think his mama is soft and selfish, taking advantage of his hard working dada. It's silly but it's something that's on my mind is all."

"Nobody thinks that, Yukiko." He said it firmly and resolutely without a hint of doubt. She sighed gently and cuddled into his chest. "I know...I guess I'm just not used to being so chubby, I'm still a little self conscious about it I think."

"Well you'll get used to it someday." She giggled at his bluntness, "I could drop the weight if I really wanted to you know, you shouldn't be so certain that I'll remain your fat wife forever," he kissed the top of her head and hugged the area right beneath her chest, letting them flop over his arms. "Yeah but think about how awful that would be, no more taste bud delighting delicacies, no more slow belly rubs after a big meal, and all the hours sweating away in the gym. Oh Yuki just imagine the rash your thighs would give you, and how heavy and effortful everything would be." Even just thinking about jogging a mile around town made Yukiko's legs burn in phantom pain and she pulled herself into her hubby's comfortable lap reflexively. After her hubby finished rubbing her belly, she'd get to lie down on their soft futon, if she asked she knew Yu would give her a spine tinglingly good massage for the meager amount of exercise she'd undergone today, he'd even made her a mouth watering roast all for her pleasure. The baby needed to be fed of course, but it didn't need to be a scrumptious pot roast per se. "That does sound awful," she almost sighed out.

"It does doesn't it? And you'd be so tired from the birth and caring for the baby, I don't think it's fair to make you worry about anything else." She sharply took in a breath of air making Yu smirk as he began to whisper in her ear. "Would you like that Yuki? After an exhausting birth, to be able to sit with the baby and not have to worry about your figure?" She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, just losing herself in the sensation. "Plus you have to stay well fed to give the baby the milk he needs. And the fattest most relaxed cows make the best milk."

"*Mmmm* and studs like you should get the best in the herd," they were almost moaning it out and the two looked at each other in shock afterwards. They'd acted on instinct before but now things were on the table. "*uh* w-what I meant was..." Yu stuttered out, "I just meant I think you're soft and sexy,"

"And full of milk," she finished for him. "Y-yeah I guess that's true." The two stayed silent for a long time, but Yu never did stop rubbing her belly and Yukiko never did move from her position. "I've never been called a cow by someone I love before," she eventually said. "You're not 'a cow' you're my cow," she bit her lip to stifle a moan which spurred Yu on. "I put a baby in your belly then fed you up and now nothing makes me happier than making sure you're well loved and taken care of and I think anyone with eyes can see that." Yukiko chuckled softly, not wanting to upset her tummy. "Could you...squeeze my belly sometimes when we're with friends? To let people know you like your cow nice and fat?"

"Uh-huh," he nearly moaned into her ear. "You're so good to me," she whispered back, "Oh I need to fulfill my end of the deal, you did keep me well fed tonight after all." She turned around in his lap and began working on the buttons of his shirt, "you took care of your baby mama so now it's mama's turn to take care of you."

"Let's take it slow," she begged, "I want to enjoy my man one last time before we become rivals tomorrow."

"Oh? Are you sure it's not just because you ate so much?" Yukiko looked hurt for a second before her mouth made a little "oh" of realization. "It's not nice to tease you know, what do you gain from riling me up anyway?"

"You're adorable when you get flustered...and it's nice to see you getting more confident. Remember when you pushed me in the river for teasing you last year? Now you smother me with your softness." Yukiko turned in his lap and began to do just that, and they began to kiss. Suddenly, she felt a grumbling in her gut and whined, before Yu could ask what was wrong, she belched.

"BWOOOOOOORP." His heavy wife smacked her lips in lazy contentment before she realized what she had done. It was so loud that he heard the birds outside fly away from the trees. She seemed mortified and actually had her hands away from her belly, terrified of causing another outburst, they flapped in distress at her sides. "Oh, oh Yu I'm so sorry! Oh god, mother and father probably heard that...ooooh I ate like a pig." She felt her flapping hands gripped in his firm hands as she was pulled back towards him. Slowly he wrapped his arms around her back and held her tight and Yukiko felt all of her self consciousness melt away. "You ate like a mother providing for her child." And with that he nearly smashed his lips into hers. All she could think about in that instant was how happy he made and wondered to herself just how many other lives he had improved along the way.

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Chidori let out a sigh while working on her latest painting. She just couldn't focus no matter what she tried and it was all Junpei's fault. First he had been gone all last night, no phone call of course, and then we finally did call her he said he wouldn't be able to come back until tonight. At least she knew he was okay, but it wouldn't kill him to keep her more updated on his goings on.

"That stupid stupid wonderful man," she mused to herself. The red head promised herself she wouldn't yell, he worked two jobs to support the both of them. He had asked her time and time again why she didn't want to go to art school and the answer she always gave was that it just wasn't for her and she preferred to practice on her own, but the truth was even with a scholarship they wouldn't be able to afford it unless Junpei took a third job. She just couldn't do that to him, even now the only thing she could do to attempt to ease her burden was sell some of her paintings, as painting was her one real talent. When she had tried to get a part time job he had insisted that she focus on her painting instead. "I'm the man of the house," he had said. "You shouldn't need to work as long as I'm around." As much as she hated having to see him work so hard, she knew it made him happy to come home every day seeing her paint and relatively well taken care of and that her entering the workforce would hurt him far more than any manual labor ever could. As cheesy as it was, while they didn't have much, they did have each other...and a nice one bedroom apartment.

The apartment was always kept spotless despite Junpei's best efforts to change that fact, and there was always a hot meal on the table when he came home. Chidori couldn't do much, but she could be a homemaker at least and that made her happy. The white gothic dress she had woken up in had long been replaced for a white and brown apron and smock combination. She had no idea who put such a silly garish headdress on her while she was out, but she didn't think it was very funny. It looked cool certainly but it was much too cumbersome and attention grabbing to wear to the grocery store. Her hair was usually up in a much more sensible ponytail for her chores although now she allowed it to fall freely behind her, it helped her better get into the painting mindset.

Apparently she was suffering from a permanent form of amnesia, truly all she could remember was a dark tunnel with a man bathed in light standing at the end. She knew that man was important and she had promised to one day find him with Junpei offering to help her until she did. One thing led to another and they had wound up living together, they'd even been...intimate a few times. He was funny and could be really sweet when he put his mind to it and while he was a bonehead sometimes, he truly did try his hardest. Honestly she was so happy with him, that sometimes she forgot about the search she was supposed to be undertaking, it made her feel a little guilty but for some reason the more time she'd spend around Junpei the more detailed the man in her vision would get. He had short blue hair and had a bit of stubble around his face, Japanese and wore a hat of some kind but she still couldn't quite place her finger on it. She was happy but...lately it had been feeling like she was stuck in a rut, there savings were slowly but surely building up but sometimes it was a bit hard to see that in day to day life. Maybe a vacation would do them some good?

The door opening broke her out of her thoughts and she swiveled around on her stool to see a guilty looking Junpei delicately waving at her. "H-hey sweetie, sorry I'm late. That's *uh* a nice painting."

"It's the same painting I've been working on for the last five days. I would have been finished sooner but your inability to inform me properly caused a bit of a delay." Junpei laughed nervously, just as blunt as ever his Chidori was. "Honestly," but she'd already gotten most of it out of her system earlier that day and all that was left was to bring him in for an embrace. "Don't ever do that again,"

"I won't. That's a promise." Chidori opened her eyes, he seemed shakier than he usually did, like something was still bothering him. "Junpei, what's wrong?"

"N-nothing. Hey is that dinner? Smells good hahaha."

She jabbed a long nailed finger firmly into his chest. "You've been acting odd for the past couple of days, and you've always been terrible at lying. No dinner until you tell me what's really going on." Junpei let out an annoyed groan that made her have to stifle a laugh. "Aw babe, I'm starving! Can't it wait until after?" Chidori firmly shook her head to let him know she meant business.

"Well it turns out I was actually getting paid for the favor I did for Mitsuru. Whoulda thunk right? Anyway, it was a lot of money."

"How much?"

"Twenty five million yen." Chidori fell back into her seat and held her head in her hands. "That's...Junpei that's amazing! We'll be set for...well for quite a long time!" She stood up and held his hands in hers. "Oh Junpei, this is great! You won't have to work two jobs any more!" The man smugly rubbed his upper lip, "I know, I resigned from the super market today," when his girlfriend started to laugh, it confused him but she waved her hand. "Oh it's nothing, it's just I had a feeling that would be the job you gave up."

"Well yeah, those kids are great and I promised them I'd take them to the championship! I can't back down yet." The way she looked at him after he said that was quite tender, and usually reserved for only their most intimate moments together, realizing she'd been staring, she quickly looked away. "I'm glad your charity work paid off, it's nice to know that not all good deeds go unrewarded. What did she have you doing anyway?" When she saw his hesitation she gave him a gentle smile, "I understand, classified correct? I wouldn't want you to get into any trouble on my behalf. You do quite enough of that on your own!" Normally he'd chuckle good-naturedly at her light ribbing but now he seemed pensive about something. "*Hmm* you do seem out of it today, maybe it is time to eat. I'll fix you a plate."

"Chidori wait!" She turned to face him, and for a moment he was taken aback by just how gorgeous she was.

"I *uh* there was enough extra to buy you a little something."

"Well I certainly hope you didn't splurge too much on me. You know how I feel about that," Junpei waved his hands defensively, "hey I know, I know don't worry I only spent...half a million yen," he mumbled.

"Junpei!"

"I can't help it! I like to get you nice things okay?" She sighed and started to set the table, "I can't be too mad I guess, just don't make this a regular thing. What's the gift? Junpei?" The man was silent for a lengthy period of time, clearly thumbing something in his pocket. All at once, he nodded to himself, nodded, and turned his baseball cap forward towards the front of his face. "First I want to tell you what this gift is for before I give it to you." That made Chidori pause, was it her birthday? He actually would know better than she did and she couldn't think of any major holidays coming up. "It can't...it doesn't even come close to being enough," he began, "but it's to thank you for always being by my side and always having my back even though I haven't been able to give you very much. You've propped me up for years so now it's my turn to do the same. From today on, I'm gonna start working my ass off studying to get a good job so we can get a real place, so you can do whatever you want! And to prove I'm serious, I'm really gonna commit," the case came out of his pocket and Chidori knew what it was the instant he said "commitment." He got down on one knee and held out the ring to her, It was a simple rose gold one with diamonds around its perimeter and a much larger square one in the center.

"Chidori, will you marry me?"

A long silence fell over the apartment and Junpei knelt for so long his knees started to hurt, but he was willing to stay there until she made her decision. Chidori suddenly stumbled back, like a realization had just hit her, "what's wrong?" he shouted, immediately rushing to her aid. Before she fell over, he caught her in his arms and held her up.

Looking up at his kind scruffy features solidified the realization in her mind and she reached out a hand to stroke his face reflexively. "Junpei, it's you..."

"Well yeah of course it's me. Who else would I be?"

"No you dunderhead! You! You're the one from my dream! You're the light at the end of the tunnel! Oh Junpei I feel so foolish not realizing it before. Always...whenever I'm at my happiest, it's always been you who's been by my side. *Hmm* it's ironic, what I've been searching for for so long has been right under my nose this whole time." Junpei gaped wordlessly. Truth be told, he had figured it out almost immediately after she had told him about it on that fateful day in the hospital, though he'd long since given up hope of her ever realizing herself. His hand grasped hers as tightly as it could to the point it might have hurt if they weren't both so enraptured. "That's right, I've always been by your side, and I always will be!" The girl seemed in shock before giving him the brightest smile he'd ever seen on her face. "I've finally found what I've been looking for," she finally said as she kissed him deeply.

"Does...does that mean you accept?" Junpei asked nervously after a moment of silence.

"Yes of course I accept, why would I not accept? Honestly we're basically married already." Junpei felt like he could slap himself in the face at that moment. "Oh yeah, I guess...that is pretty true isn't it?" But that couldn't hold off his excitement for long and Chidori felt herself hoisted off her feet into his arms. "Haha very funny Junpei, Junpei! Junpei Iori put me down this instant!" He obediently set her down and she brushed down her dress with a huff. "You almost banged my head against the television, Jumpy." He just shrugged, not even the nickname she gave him when he acted somewhat spaz like could faze him right now. Seeing that big goofy grin on his face, she truly couldn't stay mad at him and she held out her hand with a slight blush on her face, letting him slide the ring onto her finger. "So...you want a wedding?" He eventually asked.

"Not particularly. But I would like to go someplace nice with you. Someplace we've never been which is pretty much anywhere I suppose. And...I'd like to move to Tokyo and attend the fine arts school there. After, you win the championship of course, Coach Iori."

"Done and done, I should introduce you to the kids though, I think they'd like you." After a moment to consider, she nodded. "I suppose so, I should get better with kids to prepare for my duties as a wife." And with that she went into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Junpei watched her go, content that this had all worked out. He was fine with not having some big wedding honestly, it didn't really suit him either and that money could better be spent going around and seeing new places and of course helping them get their degrees. "Man I'm so mature now!" He thought to himself. "thanks kid...and thanks man, couldn't have done it without you" he sent his thanks to the boy in small town Inaba and his friend upstairs but after that was done there was nothing preventing his mind from realizing what Chidori had said. His face went as red as her hair and he followed her into the kitchen. "W-wait hold on, Chidori you can't say things like that out of nowhere! Have you been watching dramas again?" But even though he felt nowhere near ready for such a thing, he couldn't help his heart racing at the prospect.