Work sucks. The endless amount of homework, classwork just seems to swamp me from every direction, and I have less time to spend with the girls. I can't talk to Shizune as often anymore, because she is just as swamped with work, and Misha has more make up work to do. Gosh, I need a break.
[Can you help me look over these hand-outs?] [Sure. Actually, I just wanted to talk. So no. break is almost here, so we can talk for a bit right? And I want to spend more time over the summer as well, if that's fine with you.] She flusters a bit. [You mean like a date.] I smile softly. [If you want it to be.] She smiles, before adding [Ok, but not today. I'm going away for a week to visit my family.] My nose twitches. Does Shizune act even slightly obedient at her house? If there is even a chance, then I must see it. Even if she completely ignores her parents, I still have to see. [Only a week? Must not be that far of a trip.] I say casually as possible. [Of course, they still live in japan after all.] [Oh really?] She smiles. [Did you want to come with me?] My nose twitches again. [Yes, absolutely.] [I don't know. It isn't like you would enjoy it that much.] Maybe not, but even just a couple of minutes with her would make the trip well damn worth it. [You don't know that. I can entertain myself while you and Misha go do your thing.] Shizune raises an eyebrow. [How did you know Misha was coming?] I smirk [I didn't. Besides, she goes everywhere with you. Anyways, if she's going then I am too.] Shizune seems to be trying hard to give me a reason not to come. [Fine. I actually hoped you would come too. You can't skip out on student council to pack.] I shrug. [I don't have anything to pack except the clothing my mom gives me. And even that is not much.] Shizune gains a thoughtful look and tents her fingers. [You must've come to this school at short notice.] I nod. [A few months after my heart attack. And in those few months, I was in the hospital.] She nods, once again looking slightly off, before nodding and smiling [My home is in a particularly beautiful part of Saitama. We leave early next morning, so be prepared. We can talk more on this later, but for now, we have work to do.
I find myself looking at myself in a mirror. I'm dressed in the same clothing I wore during Tanabata, with sunglasses in my hand, I contemplate putting them on, and go ahead and do so. I look like a total douche. I take off the sunglasses and leave them on my desk, before hearing a knock on the door. I pick up my duffle bag full of everything I need. Clothing, toiletries, and medication, and open the door. Shizune is wearing a white top that has black traces, and a red belt, and a black skirt. Very mature, and classy. Misha's is more of what I expected, a salmon shirt with print reading 'Bush Cheney, 2004' and a short, dark purplish skirt. [You're bringing so little.] I look at her and say in a deadpan, [This is everything I have.] they seemed embarrassed at the huge amounts of briefcases, while Misha only has one, it's nearly bigger than her. [That sucks. You should pack light next time like me. Everything inside this bag.] "Like James Bond~!" [Exactly like James Bond.] Shizune tugs at her glasses in concentration. I look at her and say [How about we make a deal? If I carry two of your bags and not complain once, we have a date at least once before we leave.] She gains a playful glare. [And if you lose?] I shrug. [That's for you to decide.] She nods, gaining a thoughtful look. [You have to pay me back my 77000 yen.] Damn, that would have thrown a wrench in my plan. I take a medium sized brief case and Shizune hands me her large one, determined to win this one.
Once we reach the train station, I gain a victorious smirk, even as my muscles burn. Shizune says nothing, just boarding the train and sitting down and falling asleep. I put away the luggage, including Misha's and sit down next to her. Misha sits across, and falls asleep as well. Well, I'm all alone.
When we reach Shizune's house, it was quite larger than I expected. [You live in a mansion?] She looks a little indignant that I suggested, and standing on her tip-toes trying to reach my eye level. [This is just a normal house. Nothing ostentatious as a mansion.] I have to disagree. [I don't know if we have an extra guest room. I'll have to check.] I get the feeling she doesn't spend much time at her house "Well, if she doesn't, then you two can go ahead and share a bed." Misha says then laughs at our red faces. Shizune heads in and Misha follows, leaving me with the luggage.
I wait for what seems like a couple minutes, and see a small, girl? She looks out of place, in a yellow and white shirt and red shorts, and stars and moon stockings. I wave at her in greeting. She nods and says "Hi. My name is Hideaki." That's a boy's name. Woops. I nod and start to head inside with him. "Are you the second person that Shizune brought with her?" I nod. "Are you on the student council?" I nod once again. "She talks about it often. Are you close with her?" This question requires a better answer than a nod, so I bring out a pen and pad. {I would hope so, I am on the student council.} He reads through it and nods. The rest of the conversation is interrupted by Misha's laughter.
I look around us and notice we're inside. I head into the living room after setting down Shizune's and my luggage by her feet. I look around and see, surprisingly Lilly and a tall blonde woman with a suit on. The woman with suit looks at me with her red eyes and says with a smirk "I like how you dress. Looks classy." I write down quickly {You look quite smashing yourself.} and hand it to her with a smirk of my own. She reads it quickly and the smirk grows. "I'm liking you already." I nod at her and we return to the conversation at hand.
"I didn't expect you to be here so soon." Lilly says, with Misha quickly signing for Shizune. [I should've re-arranged my whole schedule for you] Ouch. "That would be nice, but I would not expect you to do such a thing." "Oh hi Hicchan, you're finally here~!" I nod. "Oh, Hisao. This is a surprise. Akira, this is Hisao, a schoolmate. Hisao, this is Akira, my sister." "Yo." I nod at her as she raises a hand in a brief wave. "I hope we're not holding up any plans. Since we're only going to be here for one more day. Lilly and I thought she may as well come with us." Akira explains slightly to me, and I nod. She smirks and says "I guess my position would best be described as babysitter" she ruffles Hideaki's hair, who takes his favorite face. Displeased. "That is demeaning." "Really? Maybe I'll change my title once you grow a few years, or maybe a few centimeters." I look around the room and see a number of outdoor hobbies, including fishing rods.
[Shizune, it looks like you're father has a lot of hobbies.] Misha still has automatic translation power, and translates for me. "Do you fish?" I shake my head. [I've always wanted to learn, heard it is very relaxing.] [There is a river a short drive away, my whole family knows how to fish. If you want, we can go there sometime.] Akira smiles and says "You and Hideaki can fish? That's surprising, since fishing always seemed like a hobby for old men. You know Lilly is a really good cook, if we had some fresh fish…" Shizune nods, saying with an odd amount of cheer, [She can burn the house down!] me and Misha sweat drop. Misha goes to say it but I stop her [it's not worth it.] Akira and Hideaki look at us with suspicion. "If we want fish, we could just go to the store." Lilly says, with an odd amount of authority in her voice. "[It's more fun to go fishing; we could make it like a game to see who catches the biggest one~!] That would be exciting, right? Yeah~! Hicchan, what do you think? It sounds fun doesn't it?" I nod. "Sounds like a plan. I don't know how to fish either, so now is as good a time as any, right?" Akira says, and her eyes shift to Lilly, which has an unusual amount of competitiveness to it. Akira looks at me questioningly, and I wrote down quickly {I think Shizune and her have made up from their fights. It seems Lilly is trying to match Shizune's playfulness.} I hand the note to her, and she nods after reading it. "Well, that's good." She says with a smile. Lilly looks at Akira, asking "What's good?" Akira looks away saying "Oh, nothing to worry your pretty little head about."
Hideaki, being the ultimate downer, says "I don't think we have enough fishing equipment for everyone." "[We can take turns, it'll be like a team battle~!]" "Well, is this going to be good! So is it going to be a competition for the biggest fish, or the most?" Akira asks. [The older sister understands better as always.] "Shicchan says that [Lilly wanted to go to the store, right~? It's much less work, so it's natural she would! But going fishing would be more fun, and less expensive. Akira, you have the right idea!]" Akira looks surprised at the sudden praise, but looks gracious. Lilly opens her eyes, and stares at Shizune's general direction. "Isn't the river quite far away?" Akira says "It isn't that far, and I could drive if we have to. I'm okay with it, as long as you catch something." I sign "Hicchan asks [Can your car fit this many people in it, as well as a bunch of fishing gear in it as well?] She subtly moves her fingers, counting up the amount of people. "Damn, six people, my car can only hold five. Unless Hideaki sits in my lap…" "I'm not sitting in your lap!" Akira looks slightly disappointed. "Aw." "Shicchan says her [Father's car is big enough]" "What, the Fuga? If he doesn't mind us using it, but I feel bad forsaking my car, considering I won't have it much longer." Lilly has a small smile of defeat, and Hideaki's being as super downer-y as ever.
My hope of a relaxing drive through the country side was fulfilled. Misha was sleeping with her head against the window, drooling slightly. Both Akira and I had left our blazer tops at the house. Lilly was 'looking' out of the window the whole trip. Hideaki winded up sitting on Akira's lap anyways, which he didn't look to happy about. My arm was wrapped around Shizune's waist, and she had her head laying on my shoulder. I saw Akira's subtle glances and the smirk she gave afterwards. Shizune, who seemed to genuinely enjoy the trip, snuggled closer into my chest. Best trip I could think of.
As soon as we arrive, Akira and Shizune head off towards the river as fast as they could, and we had to run after them so we wouldn't get left behind. The siblings seem to be humoring the two, Lilly a little bit more excited than Hideaki, but I'm assuming that it isn't too hard. I finally catch up to Shizune, and she explains how to fish to me. "Lilly, what do you want to call our team?" "I don't think it matters" Hideaki says, "The 'I don't want to here squad'?" Lilly says with amusement. Akira pouts. "Team No-enthusiasm it is." After giving a brief tutorial to Akira, we start choosing our line-up. "Watching you three talk is making my head hurt. You know I'm only hearing a third of this conversation?" I write a note to her saying {You're getting impatient. You're feeding the beast. Trust me, I know from personal experience.} Shizune gains a playful look. After going off on her she looks at me, which I already had a note ready {She wants to play for higher stakes.} That makes Akira smirk. "Not a good move, we have beginner's luck twice over on my team. The only way to beat that is to catch a whole ocean. "[This is a fresh water body, you marine biologist~!]" Akira looks at me once again, and I only have a shrug. Akira laughs it off, "so are we gonna get started? I'm getting hungry." At this, we head down to the water, and Misha and Hideaki head off to the beach to get started with the spare rods.
I sit next to Akira and Lilly, with Shizune on the other side of Akira. I glance over at Shizune, who seems to be relaxing as best as she can. After Lilly and Akira joke around a bit, and Shizune asks [Hisao, what's the score, are we winning? I hope we are, given that I entrusted you with our team's success.] I deadpan. After fiddling with the rod a bit, I manage to sign, [Shizune, No one's caught anything yet.] Shizune seems to lighten at that. [Just making sure you're paying attention.] [Of course I'm paying attention-] we soon get into one of our playful arguments. I hand Akira a note, saying {Shizune wants you to ask Misha to stop flailing her arms, and to ask why Hideaki hasn't even casted out yet.} After doing so, Misha says "Shicchan, I think he's just upset about getting the back-up rod~!" Shizune just sighs as I translate it and Akira says some motivational words. {Want to switch over now? Shizune is looking a little fidgety.} I hand the note over to Akira and she nods. She hands her rod over to Shizune who seems to be slightly surprised, but takes it none the less. I hand my rod over to Lilly, who seems frightened at first, but manages to grasp hold of the rod.
After a while, the sun starts setting, and Shizune's and Lilly's little competition comes to a close. We close the container we keep the fish in, and load everything into the car. Nobody brings up the competition, as it doesn't matter anymore. We all had fun, and that's what's important. God, I sound like my mom right now. When we are all in the car, the calming mood comes back, and Shizune seems to fall asleep, using my shoulder as a pillow.
When we come back to Shizune's house, it's pretty late, so a good time for dinner.