Disclaimer: I do not own "Happy Lesson," its characters or concepts.

One thing I forgot to mention about the previous chapter. The "Nintendo Challenge" is a (fictitious) competition between four teams of two kids (between ages 10 and 14) that test their mental ability, their physical agility, and their video game skill. The first Nintendo Challenge was held in 1988, and has since been an annual event. The 1994, 1995, and 1996 events were international competitions, featuring kids from the United States, Great Britain, Japan, and Australia.

I should also mention that this chapter will only mainly feature Chitose and the Gokajou family. If you want to see any of the other major characters, then you'll have to wait until chapter twelve. Until then, please enjoy the following.

Oh, reader discretion is advised, and certain celebrities have been impersonated. Let's get that clear.

Chitose had just walked back up the basement steps onto the first floor. He then walked into the game room where Kazu, Daichi, Tommy, and Keni were playing dominoes.

"Game, set, and match," Keni said, placing the last domino on the table.

"Damn it!" Daichi said.

"That makes it what, four games he's won today?" Tommy asked sarcastically.

"I hate both of you," Dai said.

"Hey, guys," Chitose greeted them.

"Oh, hey, Chi," Kazu said. "We just finished a game here. How was the Torture room?"

"Definitely lives up to its name," Chitose said. "One of the students was backdropped over the top rope, and he broke his arm when he landed on the floor."

"Ouch!" Keni said.

"That definitely had to hurt," Tommy said.

"So, how are you feeling?" Daichi asked.

"A little sore…but I managed to make it back up the stairs okay," Chitose said.

"HA! Thought so, man!" Tommy said. He then turned to Daichi. "Give me my money!" Daichi reluctantly gave him three 500 yen coins.

"I'm going to go out for a bit," Daichi said as he took off the yellow wristband. "Tell Mako I'm taking his car."

"I'm not sure he'd like that," Kazu said. "You know how he feels about other people driving his car."

"It's an RX-7, Kaz," Daichi said. "He's not going to miss it that much. I'll see you guys later." He then left the room, but not before stopping to talk to Chitose. "If I were you, I'd watch TV than play dominoes against that guy right there." He pointed to Kenichi before heading out.

"What's his problem?" Chitose asked them.

"He's just upset over the fact that he lost game after game," Kazu said.

"Aw, man, I've got to grab a smoke," Keni said, taking off his blue wrist band. "I'll be right back, though. NOBODY take my spot, okay?"

"Got it, Keni," Kazu said. Keni then left the room to go smoke outside. "You want to sit in Dai's chair, Chitose?"

"I don't know," Chitose said. "I've never really played dominoes before."

"Don't worry, Chi. I'll teach you," Kazu said.

"I'll see you guys later," Tommy said as he was about to remove his green wristband before leaving.

"Freeze!" Tommy stayed in his seat after Kazu shouted at him. "You're staying right here, Tomoki Gokajou."

"Damn."

"Please, have a seat, Chitose," Kazu said. Chitose then sat down in the chair between Kazu and Tommy. "Be sure to put the wristband on your left wrist."

"Why?"

"It's a tradition of the Gokajou Family Domino Games, Chi," Tommy said. "It's a stupid one, but a tradition nonetheless."

"You see, if one of us doesn't want to play anymore, and someone else wants to take their place, they give him the wristband and take their seat," Kazu explains.

"Oh…okay," Chitose said. He then put on the yellow wristband.

"Now, since this is basically your first game, we're going to play double-six draw, because it's one of the easiest to learn," Kazu said. "Now, this is a double-nine set, but you can use double-six games with it, as we're about to do now. I just basically leave the sevens, eights, and nines in the case while I take the other dominoes out." Kazu then placed all the appropriate dominoes onto the table. "Tommy, why don't you shuffle the dominoes while I explain the game to Chitose?"

"Sure," Tommy said.

"Be sure to turn them all face down before you start, though," Kazu reminded him.

"I know how to shuffle dominoes, Kaz," Tommy said. He then started shuffling the dominoes.

"Now, Chitose," Kazu started to explain. "There's a reason Tommy's shuffling the bones face down, but I'll get to that in a second. Once Tommy's done shuffling the bones, we'll each take five dominoes, making sure not to show any of them to or opponents." He then takes out the double-9 domino. "Once that happens, the player with the double-six plays their bone in the middle of the table."

"That's a double-nine, Kaz," Chitose pointed out.

"Just listen to me on this," Kazu said. "If no one has a double-six, then the player with the double-five plays first, or if no one has it, then the double-four, the double-trey, and so on. If no one has a double, then the player with the highest-ranking domino plays first. In this set, the 6-5 five is the highest-ranking non-double, and if no one has that, then the 6-4 is played, if not, then 6-3, and so on. Once the first domino is played, then the next player, on the original player's left, either plays a domino that matches one of the sides like this…" He then places the 9-0 domino next to the 9-9 domino. "…or he draws from the boneyard."

"Boneyard?" Chitose wondered.

"Kind of like drawing a card you don't have in Go Fish," Kazu explained.

"Oh."

"Also, note that you can play from either side of the double," Kazu said. "Are you listening, Tomoki?"

"Yes," Tommy said, as he was just finishing his shuffling.

"I'll explain more of the game as we go along, Chi," Kazu said. "Looks like Tommy's done with the shuffling, so we'll each draw five dominoes." The three men/boys then did so. Kazu then moved the other dominoes, or the boneyard, to the spot where Keni sat a few moments ago. "Well, since Keni's not here, we'll just move the boneyard here for this game." They then checked their dominoes. "Anyone have a double-six?" Nobody said anything.

"No, but I have a double-five," Tommy said as he placed the double-five domino in to the center of the table to start the game.

"Damn, I don't have anything," Kazu said. He then drew a domino from the boneyard, but noticed that it wasn't one that he needed. "Damn." The next one that he draw was the one that he needed. "Yes!" he then played the 5-1 domino on the table. "Your turn, Chitose."

"So, I have to play something that matches either one of the three fives, or the one on the end there," Chitose said.

"We call it an ace in dominoes, Chi, but that's basically right," Tommy said.

"Okay," Chitose said. "I'll play this." He then placed the ace-zero domino on the table.

"Good move, Chi," Tommy said. "I can't play any of my bones, so I have to draw from the boneyard." Tommy then drew a double-ace from the boneyard. "Ah, damn, that one would have been good a few moments ago." He then drew another domino from the boneyard, one that he needed. "Ha!" He then placed the 6-5 domino across from the 5-1. "This is why I am the domino master."

"Only for so long, Thomas," Kazu said as he played the 6-4 domino.

"Let's see…" Chitose said out loud, then played the double-four domino, but he placed it the wrong way.

"Uh, Chi, you have to play doubles perpendicular to the other ones," Tommy said. "Like this." He then adjusted it so that the double was cross from the 6-4. "You're starting to get good at this, Chi. You've got the least amount of bones left, and I have to draw again." Tommy then drew a domino. "Ah!" He then played the zero-trey.

"So, are you learning something new, Chitose?" Kazu asked as he placed the trey-deuce on the field.

"Definitely," Chitose said, as he played the five-deuce domino. "I may have to tell everyone else about this."

"Damn it!" Tommy said, meaning he had to draw another one from the boneyard.

"You're starting to turn into Daichi, Tommy," Kazu said.

"I am not!" Tommy said, then put his five-trey on the ending five.

"I don't know what's worse, another Tommy or another Daichi," Kazu said as he placed the four-deuce on the table. Chitose then placed the five-zero domino on the middle double-five.

"Man, I missed that!" Tommy said. "But at least I've got somewhere to play." He then placed the six-trey on the field.

"This is definitely getting interesting," Kazu said as he placed the double-deuce on the field, crosswise, of course. "Your move, Chitose."

"Hmm," Chitose pondered his move before placing the double-zero domino on the field. Tommy was about to place the ace-deuce on the field, when he noticed something.

"Wait a minute!" Tommy said. "That was your last domino. You little bastard!"

"Watch it, Tomoki," Kazu said. "Well, since you played your last domino, Chitose, that means you score first."

"Score?" Chitose was confused.

"Let me explain," Kazu said. "Since you played the last domino, you earn points based on the value of our remaining dominoes." Kazu then showed his dominoes to Chitose, the ace-four and the zero-six. "Well, you get eleven points from me, and…" Tommy had turn turned over his dominoes (ace-trey, ace-deuce, ace-six, double ace). "Four and three, that's seven, plus seven is fourteen, add two, sixteen, plus mine…you scored 27 points, Chitose." Kazu then score down a new scoreboard for the game…

Red (Kazu)—0, Yellow (Chitose)—27, Green (Tommy)—0

"Hold on a sec," Kazu said, going over the points again in his head. "Yeah, I got it right." At that moment, Daichi showed up.

"Well, that was quick," Tommy said sarcastically. "Where'd you do?"

"Nowhere," Daichi said, still somewhat miffed. "Mako caught me trying to hotwire his car, and he threatened to piledrive me on the cement if I even attempted to do that again. So, how'd the rookie do? Did you blow him out of the water?"

"Actually, Chitose pretty much kicked our butts," Kazu said, shuffling the dominoes.

"WHAT?!" Daichi had that angry look in his face. "Let me at him! Let me at him!"

"Freeze!" Tommy said. "We're in the middle of a game here. When it's over, you can join in. And don't even THINK about taking Keni's seat."

"Damn," Daichi said out loud. "Can I watch, then?"

"Sure," Kazu said. "In fact, why don't you sit behind Chitose? You can give him a few pointers, not that he'll need any." Daichi then grabbed a nearby chair and sat down behind Chitose.

"So, Kaz, what other kinds of domino games are there?" Chitose asked him.

"Well, there's Block, which is just like Draw, except that you can't draw any more dominoes. You have to play with the ones you already have," Kazu explained. "There's Muggins, a somewhat more difficult game. And there, you have 42. And Chi, sitting right behind you, is perhaps the best 42 player that I know." Chitose then turned around to face a grinning Daichi.

"I'll give you some very good chips, Ti," Daichi said.

"Did you just call me Ti?" Chi said.

"Sorry. Tip of the slongue," Dai said.

"Humerus," Chitose said dryly.

"Okay, all done," Kazu said. "Draw 'em." And with that, all the players drew their dominoes. "Now, since you won that last hand, Chi, you get to go first. Remember, highest double or highest tile."

"Hold on, how many points are we playing to?" Tommy asked.

"You're right, I forgot to say," Kazu said. "We'll play to 100 since it's Chitose's first game.

"That's fine with me," Tommy said.

"That's your highest double, Chi," Daichi said as he pointed to the double-zero in Chitose's hand.

"Are you sure?" Chitose asked him.

"Trust me," Daichi said.

"Mako said the same thing to me, and I'm in barely walking because of it," Chitose said as he played the double-zero.

"So, what are we going to have for dinner tonight?" Tommy asked as he placed the zero-five on the field.

"I don't know yet," Kazu said as he placed the five-deuce on the field. "What would you like, Chitose?"

"Huh?"

"I asked what you wanted for dinner tonight."

"I don't know yet," Chitose said as he placed the zero-six on the field.

"Booyah!" Tommy said as he put down the double-six.

"Who are you, Kevin Van Dyke?" Kazu asked his youngest brother.

"I don't even know who the hell that is," Tommy said.

"He's an Ultimate Boxer," Kazu said as he placed the 6-4 on the table. "One of the greatest."

"Well, how great is he?" Chitose asked as he placed the 4-zero domino on the board.

"He happens to be the longest-reigning United States Champion in Ultimate Boxing history," Kazu said as Tommy placed the deuce-trey domino on the field. "Ironic, because he's from Canada." He then placed the six-trey bone on the board.

"Aw, man, you don't have anything, so you're going to have to draw," Daichi said, looking over Chi's dominoes.

"I knew that," Chitose said as he drew a bone from the yard. He drew a double-trey.

"That's not going to help you, Chi," Daichi said.

"I know that, Dai. Stop pestering me," Chitose said, very aggravated, as he drew another bone. "Ah!" He then placed the zero-ace domino next to the double-zero.

"If this guy's so good, why wasn't he the World champ?" Tommy asked as he placed the ace-four on the board.

"He was…four times," Kazu said as he placed the four-deuce on the board.

"He won the World Heavyweight Championship four times?" Chitose said, as he placed the ace-deuce domino on the table. "That's got to be a record."

"Nah," Kazu said. "Johnny Montana holds the record with five world titles." Tonny then placed the zero-deuce domino on the starting bone.

"Domino," Tommy said.

"Looks like you won that one, little bro," Kazu said as he counted the remaining dominoes. "Thirteen points."

Red (Kazu)—0, Yellow (Chitose)—27, Green (Tommy)—13

"So, Kaz, can you tell me more about Ultimate Boxing?" Chitose said.

"Well, Chi, have you ever seen a wrestling match?" Kazu asked him as he was shuffling the dominoes.

"Yeah, a couple of times," Chitose said.

"Have you ever seen a boxing match?"

"Once, when Satsuki forced me to watch it with her," Chitose said.

"Then, that's all you need to know," Kazu said. "I'm kidding, Chi. I'm kidding. It actually started out as an independent boxing promotion, but over the years, it's leaned more towards wrestling. The basic ways to win a match are…

Number one, pinfall—when one has his opponent's shoulders on the mat for a referee's three count.

Number two, submission—when your opponent taps out while locked in a submission hold. If one passes out while locked in a submission hold, it is classified as a knockout.

Number three, countout—when someone is outside of the ring for a referee's count of ten.

Number four, disqualification—when someone intentionally or continually breaks the rules during a match.

And number five, and most importantly—the referee can stop a match when one of the participants is deemed to injured too continue.

Did you get all that, Chi?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Chitose said. "I know a bit about being disqualified in a competition. During last year's sports festival, I was on the white team, while Satsuki was on the red team." Kazu had stopped shuffling the dominoes, and everyone took five bones. "We're doing a three-legged race, and Satsuki had the crazy idea of racing with me. We won, but we ended up being DQ'd because we were on opposite teams."

"Where in the world would she get a stupid idea like that?" Tommy asked Chitose as he put the double-four in the middle of the board.

"Hey, I heard that!" Satsuki called out from down the hall.

"Actually, it was all the moms' idea," Chitose said as Kazu drew the four-trey domino from the boneyard and put it on the board. "They wanted me to be the MVP of the Sports Fest, even though I had no desire to even compete in the damn thing." Chitose then put the six-trey bone on the board.

"Why didn't you want to compete in the Sports Fest, Chitose?" Kazu asked him as Tommy put the four-ace domino on the table.

"I thought the games were stupid," Chitose said as Kazu put the double-ace on the board. "I mean, don't you guys remember competing in the Sports Fest?"

"Yeah. I'd rather be put in one of Papa-san's holds than participate in those stupid games," Tommy said.

"You said it," Chitose said as he put the ace-six domino next to the double-ace.

"If I had to choose between having to watch Gone With the Wind back-to-back-to-back and competing in the Sports Fest, what do you think I would pick?" Tommy said as he put the four-zero next to the double-four.

"I see what you mean," Chitose said.

"The Sports Fest isn't all that bad, Chitose," Kazu said as he put down the zero-six next to the open zero. "You'd be surprised how well I did when I was your age."

"I don't walk to talk about it anymore," Chitose said as he drew a domino from the yard. He didn't get what he wanted, so he drew another one. "Aha!" He put down the double-six next to the ace-six.

"Man, that's the best bone you could have gotten, man," Tommy said. He then drew from the boneyard. "Ha!" He then put down the six-four next to the double-four. "Deal with that!" Kazu then put down the six-two next to the six-four.

"Deal with that," Kazu said. Chitose replied by putting down the deuce-zero.

"Damn," Tommy said before he drew from the boneyard. He placed the bone he drew, the ace-zero, on the board.

"Hey, why don't we have pizza for tonight?" Daichi asked.

"That did cross my mind, actually," Kazu said as he put down the ace-five next to the ace-zero.

"I haven't had pizza in such a long time," Chitose said as he put down the zero-five. "I'd love to have some tonight."

"Same here," Tommy said as he drew another bone from the yard. "Damn!" He drew another one. "DAMN! Oh, wait a second." He put down the trey-zero on the board. "I almost forgot about that."

"Don't do that again, Tomoki," Kazu said as he drew from the boneyard. He put the domino he drew, the six-five, next to the double-six. Chitose then put the ace-trey on the board.

"I'll do whatever I want, Hirokazu," Tommy said as he put down the five-four.

"Damn you," Kazu said. He drew another bone from the yard, the double-trey. "Damn it!" He drew another one. "Ah!" He then placed the four-deuce on the table.

"You guys curse a lot when you play dominoes," Chitose said as he drew a bone from the yard. "And I can understand why." He drew another one, the ace-deuce, which he placed next to the deuce.

"This is the most aggravating game of dominoes I have ever played in my life," Tommy said as he drew the last bone from the yard. "Damn it!"

"Welcome to my world," Daichi said.

"I don't have anything," Kazu said. "You have anything, Chi?"

"Nope," Chitose said.

"Okay, let's count our dominoes," Kazu said as he flipped over his dominoes. "I have thirteen total." (double-trey, five-deuce) Daichi counted the pips for Chitose.

"What are you doing?" Chitose asked Daichi.

"Since none of you have a playable domino, then whoever has the lowest hand wins the round. You have ten." (double-five, double-zero)

"Oh," Chitose said. Tommy the counted his bones.

"I've got seventeen," Tommy said. (five-trey, trey-deuce, double deuce) "So, I guess Chitose wins that one.

"What do you know? The rookie wins again," Daichi said.

"Huh?" Chitose wondered.

"You get the points that Tommy and I have, Chitose, since you have the lowest-ranking hand," Kazu said. "That's 30 points added to yellow, so that brings you to 57."

Red (Kazu)—0, Yellow (Chitose)—57, Green (Tommy)—13

"Whoa, you're almost halfway to winning this thing, Chi," Dai said.

"You're definitely getting good at this, Chitose," Kazu said as he began shuffling the dominoes again.

"Thanks," Chitose said. "I'm definitely going to show it to the other moms when I get back." Tommy started laughing at that. "What's so funny?"

"Sorry, Chi," Tommy said. "I just find it hard to believe that five beautiful women are living with a guy like you. I envy you, man."

"It's not all fun and games, Tommy," Chitose said. "One time, when I was doing cleaning duty at school, I accidentally scrubbed Satsuki's face, so she threw me right into a bucket of water."

"Oh, my God!" Kazu exclaimed.

"She really lost it, huh?" Daichi wondered.

"Yeah," Chitose said. "I just cannot handle water, even after God knows how many of Satsuki's special lessons I've had." Kazu was done shuffling and the players took their bones. "I can't tell you how many times I've almost died since the teachers have moved into my life." Chitose then played the double-deuce to start the round.

"Come on, Chi," Tommy said as he drew a domino. "It can't be all that bad." He drew another…and another. "Damn you!" He drew a double-six, and it started to piss him off. Then he drew a six-trey. "Come on! Give me a goddamned deuce!" He then drew a four-deuce. "Finally!" He played it on the board.

"Man, calm down," Kazu said as he played the four-trey. "You were bound a deuce hit one sooner or later."

"Yeah, you're only 18, man," Daichi said. "Don't have a heart attack." Chitose then played the five-deuce.

"I hope I don't have to draw again for a while," Tommy said as he played the six-five.

"I know this for sure," Kazu said as he played the zero-trey, "whoever wins this hand is going to get a lot of points.

"Definitely," Daichi said as Chitose played the double-zero. "Good play, man."

"Thanks," Chitose said.

"Now…" Tommy said as he placed the double-six on the board, "deal with that." Kazu placed the zero-five on the board.

"Dealt with it," Kazu said.

"I had no idea that a simple game of dominoes could be so intense," Chitose said as he placed the zero-deuce on the opening double.

"Yeah," Tommy said as he played the six-four. "It can get really annoying when you go through six dominoes before you finally get the bone you want."

"I agree with that," Kazu said as he placed the double-five on the table. Chitose then put down his last domino, the ace-four.

"Domino," Chitose said.

"I hate you," Tommy said to Chitose.

"Well, I've got two," Kazu said. He then counted the many, many dominoes that Tommy had. "Four, seven, eleven, six, seventeen, six, twenty-three, eight, thirty-one, nine, forty, nine…forty-nine. You won, Chitose."

Final score…Red (Kazu)—0, Yellow (Chitose)—106, Green (Tommy)—13

"Wow, I won my first game," Chitose said.

"Okay, I get to play now," Daichi said as he stood up and began moving his seat. At that moment, Keni came in, carrying a bag in his hand.

"Hey, guys."

"Hey,Keni," Chitose said. "I won my first game of dominoes."

"Oh, you did?" Keni said. "Well, congratulations."

"What's in the bag, Ken?" Kazu asked.

"I was a little thirsty, so I went to the store and got some ramune."

"Ramune?" Chitose asked.

"Don't worry, it's not alcoholic," Keni said. He then saw Daichi heading over to him. "Don't even think about it."

"About what?"

"You were planning on taking my seat, weren't you?" Keni asked him.

"No, I wasn't," Daichi said.

"Dai, you're sitting between Keni and me," Kazu said. "I'll go and get the purple wristband."

"Do I have to wear purple?" Daichi moaned.

"Yes," everyone else said.

"Damn." Kazu then stood up from his seat and went to get some more wristbands.

"So, Chitose," Keni said as he has took a ramune bottle out of the bag, "you won your very first game of dominoes?"

"Yes, sir," Chitose said.

"Impressive,"Keni said as he sat down in his chair, ramune bottle in hand. "You know I won four games in row today?"

"I kind of heard that when I came in earlier," Chitose said. He then noticed the album in the corner of the table. "Hey, what's that?"

"This…is my 007 World Tour album," Keni said as he opened the album to show Chitose some pictures of him at various James Bond locations. "That's me in Udaipur, that's in India. It's where they filmed portions of the film "Octopussy"." Chitose blushed as soon as he heard that. "And here I am in Egypt, by the Pyramids at Giza. I was there when they had the light show when they lit up the pyramids at night. And over here is Venice, in Italy. There were no gondolas running through St. Mark's Square that day." Daichi gave him a dirty look. "Did you no that there are no motorcars in Venice, Chitose?"

"I didn't know that," Chitose said.

"Ah, this…this is the Piz Gloria mountaintop restaurant in Switzerland,"Keni continued going through the album. "I actually had dinner there one night. And this is Mount Asgard on Baffin Island in Canada. I actually flew up there from Montreal with the guy that performed the famous ski-parachute jump in "The Spy Who Loved Me"."

"A guy actually skied off of the mountain for a movie?" Chitose askedKeni.

"Yep,"Keni said. "That stunt was, undoubtedly, one of the most dangerous stunts in the history of filmmaking. If you watch the film, you can see one of the skis that the stuntman took off while he was in mid-air graze his parachute."

"Wow, that is dangerous!" Chitose said.

"Have you ever gone skiing, Chitose?" Keni asked him.

"Yeah, I have," Chitose said. "It's actually something I wanted to talk to you guys about, but I'll wait until Kazu gets here."

"What did you want to talk about Chitose?" Kazu had just entered the room with two wristbands in his hands.

"It's about the time I went on a skiing trip with my family," Chitose said as Kazu walked over to his chair and handed Daichi the purple wristband. He then set the orange wristband on the table.

"What happened on the ski trip, Chitose?" Kazu asked him.

"Well, Satsuki and I got separated from the rest of the group, and we ended up being caught in a blizzard," Chitose said. "We even got caught on a rock that collapsed and we fell deeper into the mountain. We both miraculously survived, but Satsuki twisted her ankle when we landed. She tried to walk it off, but after collapsing, I told her to climb on my back."

"Man, that must have been tough on you," Tommy said. "Carrying a heavy girl like her on your back for an extended period." Keni then smacked him in the back of the head. "Ow! What was that for?"

"For being an idiot," Keni said. "Continue, Chitose."

"Thank you. Lucky for us, before the blizzard got worse, we found a cabin and made shelter there," Chitose continued. Kazu began shuffling the dominoes while Chitose was talking. "It was there that Satsuki told me that she wanted to be just as good a mother as her mom was."

"She actually told you that?" Daichi asked.

"Yep," Chitose said. "Unfortunately, things got worse from there. Satsuki caught a pretty high fever, we were running out of firewood, and we got swept by an avalanche. When we woke up the next morning, the cabin ended up right next to the cabin where the other moms were staying. Now that I think about it, I believe Mama Gokajou was watching over us that night."

"You know what, Chitose," Kazu said. "I believe you're right." He then stopped shuffling the dominoes. "Okay, the game is double-nine Draw, seven bones to start each, and we play to 300 points. Draw 'em, boys." The boys then drew seven dominoes from the pile before being moved off to the "boneyard."

"Hey, why is there an orange wristband over there, Kazu?" Chitose asked.

"Oh, that's in case someone else wants to play later," Kazu said. "So, does anyone have the double-nine?" No one answered. "Double-eight?" Chitose then put the double eight in the middle of the table.

"You lucky bastard," Tommy said as he put the 8-6 on the table.

"Chitose is not a bastard," Keni said as he put the 8-4 on the board. "At least I don't think he is."

"Ah, nobody knows if anyone is legitimate nowadays," Daichi said as he put down the 9-8.

"So, Chitose, what exactly happened after you and Satsuki were reunited with the other teacher-moms?" Kazu asked as he put the 6-4 next to the 6-8.

"Well, we were both taken to the hospital afterwards," Chitose said as he put down the 9-3. "I was given a clean bill of health, but Satsuki still had a bit of a fever and she had to stay overnight." Tommy then put down the double-four next to the 6-4. "She also had to use crutches for a few weeks while her ankle healed."

"Satsuki was on crutches?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah," Chitose said, as Keni put down the zero-trey. "It really bothered her, because she wouldn't really work out, but we helped her get through it."

"Yeah," Daichi said as he put down the zero-eight on the open zero. "Satsuki really likes to work out."

"I'm glad to see she's okay now," Kazu said as he put down the 8-5 on the last end of the double-eight. "Oh, I almost forgot to ask about your sisters."

"Well, both Mina and Hazuki lost their respective birth parents when they were very young, so the Hitotoses adopted them," Chitose explained as he drew a domino. He didn't get what he wanted, so he drew another one. "As far as I knew, the Hitotoses were the only parents I ever had." He then drew a double-five, which he immediately played. "I lost my parents when I was ten. I don't know how it happened, but the place caught on fire." Tommy then played the 9-5. "The firefighters managed to get all of us kids out, but our parents didn't make it."

"Oh, my," Keni said as he played the 6-5 on the double-five.

"We managed to stay together in the orphanage for a few years until we got split up," Chitose said, as Daichi played the six-zero. "Shortly after the time Satsuki and the others became my mothers did I meet up with Hazuki and Mina again. Now they live in a condo a few blocks from where I live."

"Unbelievable," Kazu said as he played the ace-eight. "I can't believe you lost your parents, and you separated from your sisters for a long time."

"Yeah. Well, I know that I've got people that care about me now," Chitose said, playing the ace-nine on the open ace.

"That's true," Tommy said as he played the 9-6 next to the 9-5. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost any of you guys."

"Same here," Keni said, playing the double-zero.

"I want you to know that we care about you too, Chitose," Daichi said, playing the 4-2 next to the double-four. "You're part of our family now."

"That's true, Chitose," Kazu said, playing the 9-2. "Despite the situation you're in with Satsuki, you're more like a brother to all of us."

"Thanks, guys," Chitose said, playing the double-six.

"Can we talk about something else, please?" Tommy asked as he was playing the 7-4 next to the 8-4. "I'm getting a little misty-eyed here."

"Yeah,"Keni said, playing the 7-5. "Let's talk about Yayoi. Is she still as sexy as when I last saw her, Chitose?"

"Well, first of all, the last time you saw her was five years ago if I'm not mistaken," Chitose said. Daichi was playing the five-zero next to the 7-5 in the meantime. "And since you are asking, I guess she is still sexy."

"Thought so," Keni said.

"Hey, Chi, have you had any…weird experiences with Yayoi?" Tommy asked him.

"Tommy!" Kazu exclaimed. He had played the 5-3 next to the double-five in the meantime.

"Unfortunately, I have," Chitose said as he played the 7-6 next to the double-six. Tommy then played the double-seven next to it. "I really don't like to talk about that, but that same day that Satsuki threw me in the water bucket was the whole start of the Spirit of Misfortune incident."

"Spirit of Misfortune?" Keni and Daichi asked. Keni played the seven-zero while they exclaimed that.

"What the hell is a Spirit of Misfortune?" Kazu asked. Daichi drew a domino, which he didn't like.

"Damn," Daichi said after drawing a double-deuce. He then drew another bone from the yard, which he didn't like either. "Crap." Then he drew an ace-seven. "Thank you." He then put it on the double-seven.

"Well, what happened was that Yayoi came up with this ridiculous theory that the reason I had been so unhappy recently was because of a Spirit of Misfortune," Chitose said as Kazu placed the ace-trey next to the trey. "She tried these weird things to try and exorcise this spirit from my body." He then placed the 7-2 next to the last spot on the double-seven. "Dousing me with ice-cold water, writing weird symbols all over my naked body, dripping candle wax down my butt, rubbing salt all over my body…especially my genital region."

"That kind of thing would have turned me on," Tommy said as he put down the zero-four next to the double-zero. "Oh, by the way, domino." Kazu then counted all the pips on the opposing (including his own) dominoes.

"Forty-one," Kazu said. "You would have been turned on by that stuff?" he then asked Tommy with a somewhat disgusted look on his face.

Red (Kazu)—0, Yellow (Chitose)—0, Green (Tommy)—41, Blue (Kenichi)—0, Purple (Daichi)—0

"Well, that didn't turn me on," Chitose said. Kazu was shuffling the dominoes in the meantime. "In fact, I was so humiliated, that in my rage, I thought about how I was going to pretend to be happy in order for Yayoi to stop doing these stupid things to me. Well, she didn't stop, and she ended up getting herself sick. I will tell you this, when she asked me to take her temperature, she pulled me so hard I thought she was going to kiss me."

"Does she have a crush on you, Chitose?" Daichi asked. Chitose simply glared at him. "Never mind."

Soon, another round of dominoes was played, and eventually Daichi won the game. Here's how each of the rounds went round-by-round…

Round 2: Red (Kazu)—0, Yellow (Chitose)—0, Green (Tommy)—41, Blue (Kenichi)—0, Purple (Daichi)—68

Round 3: Red (Kazu)—0, Yellow (Chitose)—0, Green (Tommy)—41, Blue (Kenichi)—0, Purple (Daichi)—108

Round 4: Red (Kazu)—0, Yellow (Chitose)—0, Green (Tommy)—41, Blue (Kenichi)—0, Purple (Daichi)—255 (Kazu had to do a LOT of drawing)

Round 5: Red (Kazu)—0, Yellow (Chitose)—0, Green (Tommy)—41, Blue (Kenichi)—13, Purple (Daichi)—255

Round 6: Red (Kazu)—0, Yellow (Chitose)—0, Green (Tommy)—41, Blue (Kenichi)—82, Purple (Daichi)—255

Round 7: Red (Kazu)—0, Yellow (Chitose)—0, Green (Tommy)—41, Blue (Kenichi)—82, Purple (Daichi)—281

Round 8: Red (Kazu)—27, Yellow (Chitose)—0, Green (Tommy)—41, Blue (Kenichi)—82, Purple (Daichi)—281

Round 9: Red (Kazu)—69, Yellow (Chitose)—0, Green (Tommy)—41, Blue (Kenichi)—82, Purple (Daichi)—281

Round 10: Red (Kazu)—133, Yellow (Chitose)—0, Green (Tommy)—41, Blue (Kenichi)—82, Purple (Daichi)—281

Round 11: Red (Kazu)—133, Yellow (Chitose)—56, Green (Tommy)—41, Blue (Kenichi)—82, Purple (Daichi)—281

Round 12: Red (Kazu)—133, Yellow (Chitose)—82, Green (Tommy)—41, Blue (Kenichi)—82, Purple (Daichi)—281 (after this round, Satsuki came by to watch)

Round 13: Red (Kazu)—133, Yellow (Chitose)—110, Green (Tommy)—41, Blue (Kenichi)—82, Purple (Daichi)—281

Round 14: Red (Kazu)—133, Yellow (Chitose)—110, Green (Tommy)—41, Blue (Kenichi)—82, Purple (Daichi)—321

"The winner of the match, and UNDISPUTED DOMINO MASTER…DAICHI GOKAJOU!" the second-born child exclaimed his victory.

"Swell," Tommy said sarcastically. At that moment, Mako entered the room, with his hair down, and dressed in a white t-shirt, black track pants, and white socks.

"Hey, guys," Mako greeted them.

"Hey, Mako," Chitose said.

"Looks like I missed a hell of a domino game," Mako said.

"You certainly did," Kazu said. Just then, Hiroto entered the room.

"Looks like you people up here were having fun," Hiroto said.

"We were," Keni said. "Exhausting, but fun. Hey, I'm going to go smoke outside for a few. I'll be right back. DON'T TAKE MY SPOT!" Keni then stood up and left the room.

"Hey, dad, we're going to have pizza for dinner tonight," Kazu said. "Do you want anything in particular?"

"Not really," Hiroto said. "I'll just have whatever you order."

"Are you going to call it in, Kaz?" Tommy asked.

"I wasn't going to, but sure," Kazu said.

"Well, in that case, I want squid on mine with extra tentacles."

"Oh, man!" Chitose said, very disgusted.

"Extra cheese and pepperoni on mine, bro," Mako said.

"I want mushrooms, pineapples, and ham on one half, and olives, green peppers, and anchovies on the other half," Daichi said. Chitose looked like he was going to throw up.

"Okay," Kazu said, writing down the orders on a piece of paper. "What do you want, Chi?" Chitose didn't respond, as he still felt a little sick. "Chitose?"

"Oh, sorry about that, Kaz," Chitose said, trying to regain his composure. "I think I'll just have pepperoni on mine."

"Same here," Satsuki said.

"Tommy, go see what Keni wants on his pizza," Kazu told him.

"Are you kidding me, man?" Tommy asked him. Kazu gave him a look that said he wasn't kidding. Tommy then sighed. "Okay." Tommy was then about to leave the game room, but Keni simply walked back in. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I just remembered I used my last cigarette," Keni said, "so, I'm chewing the gum. What's up, guys?"

"Hey, Keni," Kazu said. "I need to know what type of pizza you want."

"I don't really care, man," Keni said. "I'll just have what everyone else is having."

"Okay, that's one pizza with squid, extra tentacles, one with extra cheese and extra pepperoni, one with mushrooms pineapples and half on one half, and olives, peppers, and anchovies on the other half, two with just pepperoni, and one plain cheese pizza," Kazu read off the list. "I'm going to go order our pizzas now." He then stood up and went to the nearest telephone.

"Hey, Satsuki, I've been meaning to ask you," Chitose said.

"Yeah, Chitose?"

"Where'd you get that baseball shirt?" he asked.

"I got it when we went to Toronto," Satsuki said. She was, indeed, wearing an old 1990s-era white Toronto Blue Jays baseball shirt. It was open, revealing her black negligee underneath it. "Hey, Keni, can you show me some more of your photo album?"

"Sure thing, sis," Keni said. He stood up and brought the album with him to show her and Chitose. "That's me in Istanbul, truly one of the great historical cities in the entire world. You want to know something, Chitose?"

"What?"

"Istanbul is the only major city that's in both Europe and Asia," Keni told him.

"Hmm. Interesting," Chitose said, before checking another picture. "And where's that at?"

"That is the Metora monasteries in Greece," Keni said. "The only way you can get to the top of those rocks were by rope basket. Here's an interesting fact. At one point during the shooting of "For Your Eyes Only", the monks that were living on the monastery did not want the producers to film there, and even went out of their way to put sheets on the top of the roofs there."

"Wow!" Chitose said. "Well, what about that?"

"That…is the Sugarloaf Mountain at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil," Keni said. "You guys want to know something? When I was on my way up the mountain in the cable car, the car just stopped. We were, like, hanging almost a thousand feet above sea level, with like, ten other people in the car. We were stuck there for like, two hours, before we started moving again."

"You were actually stuck in a cable car?" Chitose wondered. "Did you panic?"

"Nah, I stayed calm," Keni said. "Of course, I couldn't smoke on the damn thing, but I had my gum with me."

"I think you're more addicted to the gum than the actual cigarettes," Satsuki said.

"Ha, ha, ha," Keni said sarcastically. He then took back his album from Chitose. "I'll take this, thank you." He then went back to his seat at the table.

"Are you sure you two are twins?" Chitose asked Satsuki.

"Chitose, you should know by now that even though Kenichi and I are twins, we have virtually nothing in common," Satsuki said.

"I've seen that," Chitose said. Just then, Kazu re-entered the room.

"Pizzas will be ready in about half an hour, but they don't deliver out here, so I'm going to go and pick them up in a few minutes," Kazu said.

"Bummer," Tommy said.

"You sure they won't deliver out here, Kaz?" Mako asked. He had already sat down in his chair and put on the orange wristband.

"Yep," Kazu said. He then took off his red wristband and tossed it to Hiroto. "Here, Papa-san. You can take my place."

"Why, thank you, Kazu," Hiroto said as he put on the wristband.

"You want to come with me, Chitose?" Kazu asked him.

"Huh?"

"I asked you if you wanted to come with me." Chitose then stared at Satsuki.

"Go ahead, Chitose," she said. "I'll play for you while you're gone."

"Thanks, Satsuki," Chitose said as he took off the yellow wristband. "Yeah, I'll come with you, Kazu."

"Good," Kazu said. They were about to leave, when Keni called them back.

"Hey, Kazu, could you get me a carton of cigarettes while you're out?"Keni asked.

"Hell no," Kazu replied.

"Come on, man," Keni said as he took a 10,000-yen bill out of his wallet, "I'll even pay for my own smokes." Kazu took the bill out of his hands.

"Fine, but I'm not doing this for you anymore," Kazu said. "Let's go, Chitose."

"Okay," Chitose said. "I'll see you guys later."

"See you later, Chi," Mako said. At that moment, Kazu and Chitose left.

"Why are we all sitting around like a bunch of lazies?" Daichi asked. "Come on! Let's get this party started! Mako?" At that moment, Mako started shuffling.

"The game is five card stud, one-eyed faces and deuces are wild," Mako said. Keni laughed at Mako's explanation.

"Shut up," Daichi said. "Don't steal my joke, man."

"I was only kidding, Dai," Mako said. "How about double-nine block, seven bones each, and 150 to win?"

"Sounds good to me," Daichi said.

(And in case anyone forgot, Hiroto is wearing the red wristband, Mako is wearing the orange wristband, Satsuki is wearing the yellow wristband, Tommy is wearing the green wristband, Keni is wearing the blue wristband, and Daichi is wearing the purple wristband. Everybody got that?)

Soon, Chitose and Kazu were on the road, with Kazu driving (of course) the Toyota Estima rental van. Chitose was riding shotgun.

"I swear, if I had the time, I would go to every tobacco store in the country, give the owners a picture of Kenichi, and tell them not to sell any cigarettes to that man," Kazu said to himself, but Chitose overheard him.

"Um, Kazu?"

"Yeah, Chi?"

"I don't mean to pry, but when exactly did Keni start smoking?" Chitose asked.

"Ah, he's been smoking ever since Mama-san died," Kazu said.

"So, he's been smoking for ten years?!" Chitose said, with a shocked look on his face.

"Yep," Kazu said. "I don't know how many times we've tried to get him to quit, and I don't know if he's made any attempt to quit himself, but it hasn't really worked. I'm starting to think that maybe Keni is suicidal."

"WHAT?!"

"Well, he did take Mom's death pretty hard," Kazu said. "All of us did, but it appeared to be the toughest on both Satsuki and Kenichi. I mean, you pretty much know that Satsuki and Mama-san were very, very close. In fact, Keni and Mom were very close as well. I remember a lot of the kids at Keni's school teased him for being a 'mama's boy'…no offence, Chitose."

"None taken," Chitose said. "I don't really consider myself a mama's boy, though."

"I kind of figured, considering what you told us about that 'Spirit of Misfortune' thing with Yayoi," Kazu said.

"Look, I don't want to talk about it," Chitose said. "In fact, I don't want to talk about my moms, or your siblings. I want to talk about you. What do you do for a living? Where do you live? And tell me more about your daughter."

"Well," Kazu said, "I'm a computer technician. Basically, I fix and maintain computers, build and configure new hardware, install and upgrade software, and create and maintain computer networks."

"Whoa," Chitose said. "You must have be very smart."

"I am," Kazu said. "I live in Yokohama, about 30 kilometers or so from Tokyo. My ex lives only a few blocks from my place, so Momoe doesn't have to worry about either of her parents living too far from one another."

"Who's Momoe?" Chitose asked.

"That's my daughter," Kazu said. "I have a picture of her in my wallet, so I'll show it to you when we stop."

"Okay," Chitose said. "So…you like Ultimate Boxing?"

"Yeah, but Mako's more of a fan than I am," Kazu admitted. "I usually just tape it for him since he's unable to watch it most of the time. But honestly, Chitose, my favorite thing in the entire world is video games."

"Video games?" Chitose wondered.

"Yep," Kazu said. "In fact, at my house, I have hundreds of arcade and pinball machines, numerous video game consoles, God knows how many handheld games, and one or two pachinko machines." Chitose had a somewhat shocked look on his face. "Are you okay, Chitose?"

"You have your own personal arcade at your house?" Chitose asked him.

"I wouldn't exactly call it that," Kazu said. "Well, come to think of it, I guess you could call it that. Maybe one weekend, I'll bring you over to my place so I can show it to you."

"That'd be great," Chitose said, "if it's okay with my moms, of course."

"I'm sure Satsuki and the other 'moms' would approve," Kazu said. He then pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store.

"Why are we stopping here?" Chitose asked.

"Because a certain brother of mine wanted me to get him his cigarettes," Kazu said, gritting his teeth.

"Well, why are we stopping now?" Chitose asked.

"Well, Chi, since the pizzas aren't going to be ready for a little while, I figured we might as well get these now," Kazu said.

Soon, the two entered the store. While Kazu went to the counter to get the cigarettes, Chitose looked at a magazine that had Hazuki on the cover.

"Damn it, I forgot what kind of cigarettes he smokes," Kazu said. He then took out his cell phone and dialed a phone number.

Back at the Gokajou Mansion, the gang was between domino games when somebody's cell phone rang.

"Mine," Keni said. He then answered it. "Yo."

"Keni, I'm at the convenience store," Kazu said. "I forgot what kind of cigarettes you smoke, man."

"Oh, come on, Kaz," Keni said. "You know damn well what kind of cigarettes I smoke."

"Kenichi…"

"Oh, fine," Keni said. "It's Marlboro Ultra Lights, Kaz."

"I don't know whether to thank you or not, Kenichi," Kazu said, just before he hung up. He then said to himself, "One of these days, I'm going to shoot that man." A minute or so later, he came up to the counter to purchase his things. "Okay, I'd like a carton of Marlboro Ultra Lights and that bottle of tequila there."

"Okay," the clerk said. "Are you having a party?"

"Nah, the cigarettes are for my brother, and the tequila's for me," Kazu said. "Because my brother can really drive me to drink sometimes."

"Interesting," the clerk said. "You want anything else?"

"Just a sec," Kazu said, then turned to face Chitose. "You want those, Chitose?" Chitose was holding a hag of Cheetos.

"Nah, I was just looking at them," Chitose said. Kazu soon paid for the cigarettes and tequila, and the two left the convenience store.

"So, what are everyone's plans for tomorrow?" Mako asked while shuffling the dominoes.

"I honestly don't know," Hiroto said. "I guess I could prepare for this Monday's class."

"Well, I don't have anything planned," Daichi said. "What's tomorrow? Saturday?"

"Yep," Mako said.

"I still don't have anything planned for tomorrow," Daichi said.

"I was going to work on my Mustang," Keni said. "Mainly because I didn't get a chance to work on it today."

"No more dominoes…" Tommy said. "No…more…dominoes…"

"I believe the so-called Domino Master has been dethroned," Satsuki said. "Well, I was just planning on working out tomorrow. What did you have planned, Mako?"

"Well, I was thinking we could all go to the Kagawa Fun Center," Mako said. "You know, that recreational place in Takamatsu?"

"Isn't that run by one of your former students, Papa-san?" Daichi asked.

"And if I remember correctly, wasn't he in Ultimate Boxing at one time?"Keni asked.

"He was," Hiroto said. "In fact, he won the Tag Team Championship alongside Sammy "Supernova" Nakamura."

"As the Komodo Dragons—Sammy Nakamura and Katsuro Tanaka," Mako said, still shuffling. "I have almost every one of their matches on tape. So, what do you guys think?"

"Well, what do they have there?" Satsuki asked.

"They've got everything you can imagine," Mako said. "Swimming pool, video arcade, a gymnasium, a restaurant..."

"Well, I'm hooked," Tommy said. "Let's go."

"Same here," Daichi said.

"Wait a minute," Keni said. "We've got to talk to Kazu and Chi about this."

"I agree," Hiroto said. "They may not want to come with us to the Fun Center."

"Are you kidding?" Satsuki said. "Chitose would probably love this place. I know Kazu will."

"Well, all right," Hiroto said, "but I'm going to ask them as soon as they get back…just to make sure."

"You worry too much, Papa-san," Satsuki said.

"Hey, Mako, are you done shuffling those damn things yet?" Daichi asked his brother impatiently.

"Hold your horses, Dai," Mako said. "I'm shuffling as fast as I can."

Chitose and Kazu were now at the pizza parlor, where they learned that it would be a few more minutes until their pizza was ready.

"So, what do we do until then?" Chitose asked Kazu.

"You know, I would have bought you that magazine you had earlier at that convenience store," Kazu said.

"I don't really buy those things, Kaz, but thanks anyway," Chitose said.

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot," Kazu said as he reached into his wallet. "I was going to show you the picture of my daughter. Ah, found it." He then took it out of his wallet and showed it to Chitose.

"Is that your daughter?" Chitose asked.

"Yep, that's Momoe," Kazu said as he showed Chitose the picture. It showed Kazu (sans glasses and having a noticeable stubble on his face) with a three-year-old girl with long teal hair and blue eyes. "This was from last week. I hadn't shaven yet, so that's why I look like that."

"I see," Chitose said. "She kind of looks a bit like a young Satsuki."

"She does, a little," Kazu said. "You want to know something, Chi?" Chitose nods in response. "She's afraid of her grandfather."

"I think I know why," Chitose said.

"You can actually blame Tommy for that," Kazu said. "A couple of weeks ago, Tommy was staying over at my place, and he told Momoe about some of the things that Papa-san would do to his students, like put them in excruciating submission holds. Scared the living daylights out of her. Now, she won't even get near Papa-san without freaking out. You know, Hiroto's actually a nice guy, once you get to know him."

"I'll try to keep that in mind," Chitose said. "Hey, can I borrow your cell phone for a minute?"

"Who are you calling?" Kazu asked, holding his cell phone in his hand.

"My sisters," Chitose said. "I haven't really gotten a chance to talk to them since I left Tokyo yesterday."

"I see your point," Kazu said. He then tossed the cell phone to Chitose, who caught it perfectly. "Try not to stay on it for too long."

"I'll try," Chitose said. He then dialed the cell phone to Hazuki and Mina's apartment. There was no answer after the first two rings. Come on, Hazuki. Answer the damn phone! Chitose thought to himself. After several more rings, someone answered the phone. Chitose immediately recognized the voice as that of his younger sister. "Mina?" It was indeed Minazuki talking to him on the other side. "I've been doing great. I'm sorry I haven't been able to call you guys. It's been pretty hectic since we arrived here." Chitose's expression soon turned to a surprised one. "WHAT?! Fumitsuki is staying over at your place?! No! Don't put her on the phone! Listen, I would appreciate it if next time she was out of the room when you're talking to me, okay? I don't want her to know where I really am. You didn't tell her, did you?" He the sighed in relief. "Good. Listen, I've got to get going now. I'll try to call you. I will. And I'll bring back lots of pictures, too. Love you, too. Bye." He then hung up the phone.

"Okay, call me curious, but who is Fumitsuki?" Kazu asked.

"She happens to be the class president," Chitose said as he handed Kazu his cell phone back, "and she happens to be a real pain in the ass."

"How much of a pain in the ass?" Kazu asked, definitely interested.

"A big one," Chitose said. "You won't believe how many times she's tried to pry into my personal life."

"Why?" Kazu asked, then realized what Chitose was walking about. "Oh! I see what you mean now." At that moment, the pizza clerk came up to the register.

"Excuse me, sir," the pizza clerk said. "Your pizzas are ready."

"Ah, thank you," Kazu said. "Come on, Chi. Let's get these pizzas and get home." They both then walked up to the counter to pay for the pizzas, when Kazu noticed an arcade game standing next to a wall. "Hey, is that a Zoo Keeper arcade game over there?"

"Yep," the pizza guy said.

"Hey…would you be willing to sell that game for me for ¥300,000 yen?" Kazu asked him.

"Uh…I'd have to ask the manager," the pizza guy said. He then went to the back. Chitose then tapped on Kazu's shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Chitose asked him.

"Chitose, I haven't seen an arcade cabinet of that game in years!" Kazu told him. "I used to play that game all the time when I was younger. Here." Kazu then gave him a 100 yen coin. "Try it out."

"Uh…"

"Come on, Chi," Kazu said. "Try it out." Reluctantly, Chitose went over to the machine to try it out. Soon, he got hooked on the game and was still playing it when the manager and pizza clerk came back.

"So, I see the Zoo Keeper machine is getting a workout," the manager said. He then turned to Kazu. "So, you really want to buy this machine, mister…?"

"Gokajou," Kazu said. "Yeah, I used to play this game all the time when I was younger."

"Really?" the manager said, then took a good look at Kazu. "You know, you look familiar."

"I could say the same for you," Kazu said. "Aren't you Shinobu Kondo, the guy that owned Kondo's Game Palace in Tokushima City about twenty years or so ago?" Kondo, as he was known as now, chuckled in response.

"I remember you now," Kondo said. "You and your brothers and sister used to come over to my arcade every day after school. I remembered you used to play that machine over there all the time." He then noticed Chitose intensely playing the Zoo Keeper machine. "Looks like your friend is getting addicted to it."

"He is," Kazu said. "I'll give you ¥500,000 for it. Is it okay if I write a cheque?"

"Absolutely," Kondo said. Kazu then wrote the cheque and handed it to him, along with a card.

"That's my business card," Kazu said. "It has my home address on it. You can ship it there."

"Yokohama," Kondo read the city on Kazu's business card. "Quite a distance from here. Wait, this cheque is for ¥500,000. I thought you were offering three hundred thousand."

"Well, three hundred thousand for the cabinet, plus shipping and handling, and you guys can keep the rest," Kazu said.

"Okay," Kondo said.

"Thanks," Kazu said. "Oh, I almost forgot to pay for the pizza!"

"Never mind that," Kondo said. "It's on me. Besides, I've been trying to sell that game for years."

"And I've been trying to find that game for years," Kazu said. At that moment, Chitose came up to Kazu.

"Kaz, can I have 500 yen, please?" he asked.

"Chi, you don't have to worry about it," Kazu said. "You can play that game whenever you come to my place. Which reminds me, I'll probably have to fly back in a few days to sign the delivery form. But I'm not going to worry about that now." He then took some of the pizzas from the counter. "Thanks again for the game, Kondo."

"No problem," Kondo said. "Hey, Kazu…" Kondo then took a pen and used the back of one of his flyers to write something on it and then handed it to Kaxu. "if you get a chance, I'd like you to call me, and maybe I could show you some other machines I still have."

"I'd like that," Kazu said. "Hey, Chi, could you help me carry these to the van?"

"Sure," Chitose said as he took some of the pizza boxes.

"Hey, thanks again for the arcade, Kondo," Kazu said.

"No problem," Kondo said. "Hey, Gokajou…do me a favor and tell your brothers and sister I said hi, okay?"

"Will do," Kazu said as he and Chitose took the pizzas (three each) and left the parlor.

"Hey, boss?"

"Yeah?"

"You used to own an arcade?" the clerk asked Kondo.

"Get back to work," Kondo simply said.

"Yes, sir."

Soon, Kazu and Chitose were back in the van, on their way home.

"Chitose?"

"Yeah, Kaz?"

"Do you have a picture of Fumitsuki?" Kazu asked him.

"No, and don't ask me any more questions about Fumitsuki," Chitose said.

"Sorry," Kazu said. After a brief pause, he spoke again. "Do you have a crush on her?" Chitose simply glared at him. "Okay, I'll stop! Oh, that reminds me, I'll probably have to fly back home sometime within the next few days."

"Why is that?" Chitose asked.

"Well, one, I'd like to check on my daughter, and two, there's no one staying at my place, so someone needs to be there when my arcade cabinet arrives," Kazu explained.

"Well, why don't you call any of your neighbors?" Chitose asked him.

"Well, you see, I kind of live in a warehouse that I renovated to me needs," Kazu said, "so I don't have any quote-unquote 'neighbors'."

"Oh," Chitose said. The van then stopped at a red light. "Hey, Kaz, do you have a copy of that picture of the entire family? You know, the one you guys took before your mom got sick?"

"Hang on a sec, Chi," Kazu said as he reached into his wallet and took it out. "You mean this one?"

"Yeah," Chitose said. "Can I look at it for a bit?"

"Sure," Kazu said, then he handed it to him. Chitose looked at the picture for a bit while Kazu drove on.

"You know, I just realized something," Chitose said.

"What's that?" Kazu asked him.

"It looks as though you and the other brothers all had long hair back then," Chitose said.

"Well, that was the hairstyle back then," Kazu said, "at least it was in the United States. Here's a funny story—we were in Toronto for WrestleMania, and one of the wrestling fans that got off the plane with us said that Daichi somewhat resembled "The Model" Rick Martel. Well, the day before WrestleMania, we ran into Martel, and Dai managed to get a picture with him. He even did that narcissistic pose that Martel was known for when he was The Model. Maybe I can ask Dai if he can show it to you when we get back."

"Interesting, and I don't even know who Rick Martel is," Chitose said. "You had long hair as well?"

"Yep," Kazu said. "I still do, to an extent. You may not have noticed it, but I do have kind of a short rattail in the back here."

"Actually, I did kind of notice that," Chitose said. "Looks kind of nice."

"Why, thank you," Kazu said. "You know, Keni kept his hair kind of long until I think about last year. He's kind of like Mako and Tommy—always wanting to have their hair long." He then chuckled a bit. "You know, I just realized something."

"What?" Chitose asked.

"You and Tommy look almost alike," Kazu said.

"Are you serious?!" Chitose asked, with a somewhat upset look on his face.

"Well, I don't know," Kazu said. "Maybe it's just me."

"I'll have to ask Satsuki when we get back," Chitose said. "Speaking of whom, did she ever have long hair when she was younger?"

"She always had that tomboyish look, Chitose," Kazu said. "Let's put it at that."

"Okay…"

Soon, Chitose and Kazu reached home, bringing in the pizzas. While everyone was enjoying their dinner, Hiroto was asking Kazu if he and Chitose wanted to come with them to the Kagawa Fun Center tomorrow, and they both said yes. Kazu then told everyone about encountering the owner of the arcade they went to when they were younger, and the siblings, especially Daichi, couldn't believe it.

After dinner, Kazu and Mako were going through the Ultimate Boxing videos.

"So, what are we going to watch, Mako?" Kazu asked his younger brother.

"I haven't the slightest idea, big bro," Mako said. He had his hair tied in a ponytail. "How about this? 'Saturday Night Boxing—February 22, 1986'."

"Isn't that the one where Kevin Van Dyke began his two-year-long reign as United States Champion?" Kazu asked.

"Yep."

"Pass," Kazu simply said. "How about this one? 'The 1988 Ultimate Boxing Tourament'?"

"Hell, no," Mako said. "There were only three or four good matches on that card—and that includes the Henderson-Van Dyke match. Let's try this one—'Ultimate Boxing Tournament's 25 Greatest Matches'. True, it's from three years ago, but it's still good."

"All right," Kazu said. "Chitose!" At that moment, Chitose walked up to Kazu and Mako.

"Yeah, Kaz?"

"We're going to watch some Ultimate Boxing," Kazu said. "It's 'Ultimate Boxing Tournament's 25 Greatest Matches'."

"What's the Ultimate Boxing Tournament?" Chitose asked Mako.

"Well, it's kind of like the Super Bowl for American football, the World Series for baseball, or even WrestleMania for the World Wrestling Federation," Mako explained.

"Ah, I see," Chitose said. "Well, I'm going to see if Satsuki wants to join us. Don't start it without me, okay?"

"Okay, Chi," Mako said as Chitose left the room.

Chitose was walking over to Satsuki's (and his) bedroom, when Tommy happened to pass him.

"Hey, Chitose," Tommy said.

"Hey, Tommy," Chitose said. Tommy then grabbed Chitose's arm and turned him around to face him.

"You know, I've been thinking about what Satsuki said about you and her earlier," Tommy said, "and I don't buy any damn bit of it."

"What do you mean?" Chitose asked him, a little worried now.

"The reason Satsuki and all those other teachers moved in with you was because you were struggling in school?" Tommy then laughed out loud, then said, "Sorry, but that just sounds ridiculous." Chitose then somehow overpowered Tommy and pinned him against the wall.

"Then, why do you think they decided to move in with me?" Chitose asked, gritting his teeth.

"Well, if you let me go, I can tell you," Tommy said. Chitose reluctantly let him go, but Tommy simply ran off. "I'll tell you later. Bye, Chitose." Chitose watched him leave with a confused look on his face.

"Idiot," Chitose simply said to himself. He then walked over to Satsuki's room. "Satsuki?" Chitose then opened the door, only to find Satsuki standing in front of him, completely naked. "Oh, God!" He then quickly shut the door, blushing and sweating heavily. After taking a second to catch his breath, he knocked on the door.

"Yes?" Satsuki asked through the door.

"Can I come in now?" Chitose asked.

"Just a second," Satsuki said through the door. Chitose then waited semi-patiently for her.

I cannot believe I just saw Mama Satsuki naked, Chitose thought to himself. She does look kind of hot. NO! She is your mother, for God's sake! You cannot be thinking like that!

"Well, you might as well come in now," Satsuki said through the door. Chitose then took a deep breath and opened the door again. This time, Satsuki was using a blanket to cover her still-nude body.

"Hi," Chitose said weakly. The two couldn't say anything for a moment before Satsuki finally spoke up.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked.

"Well, the guys and I are going to watch some Ultimate Boxing, and I wanted to know if you wanted to come join us," Chitose said in miraculously one breath.

"Actually, I was planning on going swimming in the pool house," Satsuki said, staring at the swimsuit that was on the floor.

"Oh," Chitose said. "Well, I just thought I'd ask. Thanks anyway."

"No problem," Satsuki said. As Chitose was about to leave, she spoke up again. "Uh, Chitose…next time, could you please knock before you enter?"

"Yeah. Sorry about that," Chitose bowed apologetically. "Well, good night, Satsuki."

"Good night, Chitose," Satsuki said, just before Chitose closed the door and left her standing there, covering her front with the blanket.

He just saw me naked, Satsuki thought to herself. Shrugging it off, she dropped the blanket and put on her swimsuit before grabbing a towel and leaving her room.

Well, things have DEFINITELY gotten interesting between Chitose and Satsuki! What's going to happen? Well, you'll have to wait and find out, but not right away…

Because the next chapter will focus entirely on the other main female characters of Happy Lesson (Mutsuki, Yayoi, Uzuki, Kisaragi, Fumitsuki, Minazuki, Hazuki, Kanna) and their troubles.

And the chapter after that (lucky 13) will instead be an interlude, focusing on Hirokazu Gokajou's house and all his wonderful toys.

Before anybody asks—no, I did not name the former arcade owner and current pizza parlor manager after Nintendo music-man Koji Kondo. The name was a coincidence.

And for you Digimon fans out there, yes, I named Kazu's daughter after the oldest sister of one Miyako/Yolei Inoue. I based her look somewhat on Kiyone Makibi from Tenchi Muyo, but she really does look like a young Satsuki.

Zoo Keeper is an actual arcade game, originally released by Taito in 1982. Take it from me, it is addicting.

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, Rick Martel is a former Quebecois professional wrestler. During his first stint in the World Wrestling Federation in the early-1980s, he was a two-time World Tag Team champion alongside New Zealand-born wrestler Tony Garea (Garea currently serves as a Road Agent for the WWE). During the mid-1980s, he wrestled for the American Wrestling Association, where he was the AWA World Heavyweight Champion for 19 months. After returning to the Federation in 1986, he formed tag teams with Tom Zenk (as the Can-Am Connection) and later Tito Santana (as Strike Force; winning another Tag Team Championship) before becoming a narcissistic, arrogant heel (bad guy) nicknamed "The Model." He pretty much retired from wrestling in 1995 when he left the World Wrestling Federation, but he did resurface briefly in World Championship Wrestling before retiring for good in 1998.

I'm going to give a little spoil for the next chapter. Yumiko Nakamura and Sammy "Supernova" Nakamura are distant cousins. That's how they're related.

Now, for the five questions, this chapter's segment focuses on the younger of the twin Gokajous, Kenichi Gokajou. Please note that he was clean-shaven when we asked him these questions.

My first question to you is, when exactly did you start smoking, and have you made attempts to quit?
I actually started smoking a week or so after my mom died. I was grieving and a couple of my friends from high school suggested I start smoking because I was under a lot of stress. Well, I did that, and I've been smoking ever since. And as for my attempts to quit—I've tried cold turkey, I've tried the patches, and I've tried the gum. None of them work. I got sick once using the patches, and the gum just makes my nicotine addiction worse.

Okay…what exactly is your absolutely favorite thing in the entire world?
James Bond, 007, no question about it. In fact…this album here documents my "007 World Tour" as I call it. I also have a video of it as well.

007 World Tour. What is that exactly?
That was when I toured the various locations where they filmed scenes for the James Bond movies. I went to Great Britain, Jamaica, Turkey, the United States, Switzerland, France, the Bahamas, Spain, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, Egypt, Sardinia, Italy, Brazil, Guatemala, Greece, India, Iceland, Gibraltar, Austria, Morocco, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Monte Carlo, Russia, and Azerbaijan. Whew, I said a mouthful.

Interesting. What exactly do you do for a living?
I'm an auto mechanic. Unfortunately, I'm out of work because that guy that owned the body shop where I worked at was arrested for…unpleasant things. But I do share an incredible classic car collection with my work buddy, Yamato Suzuki. (no relation to Takashi Suzuki, Professional Cosplayer, and Master and Ruler of the World) My main car, the one I drive most, is a '69 Mustang Mach 1 with a 428 Cobra Jet that I imported from the States. That's the one I like to work on the most as well.

You have a twin sister. Do you have anything in common with her?
Well, she's athletic, I'm not. I'm into cars, she's not. We really don't have much in common, but one thing we do share is the love we have for each other.

Remember…smoking kills.