Chapter 12 – Girl, Once You Go Asian
12/28/08
Disclaimer: I have a broken battery adapter, an uncooperative laptop that constantly shuts down, and a pair of cheap headphones that doesn't work. Does this sound like the owner of Yu-gi-oh to you?
THANK YOU FOR 100+ REVIEWS!
You rock!
I'm sorry that I haven't been able to update recently, but school and life in general have been keeping me busy. Plus a broken laptop. Hopefully, that'll be fixed by the end of the week. I am using my parents' ancient computer to upload this chapter.
Notes:
Hiroko Ito is Seto's father's first cousin that disapproves of him. Met her last chapter.
Random fact: Seiji literally means manages affairs of state/lawful. Now you know why I named him that.
When Hiroko Ito hummed to herself as she held a bag of groceries, she expected another day of the mundane and expected as she trudged through the winter roads. She was pleased with the completion of one of her chores for the day. As her mitten-clad hands held tightly onto the bags, she headed toward a small path that stood before a wooden-framed home. The previous day's snowstorm came and covered everything, leaving a sense of equity. Snow outlined the bonsai trees, grounds, and the thatched roofing. The only part without snow was the path that she had shoveled personally. She smiled at herself proudly as she picked up the hem of her kimono to head towards the porch.
That was until she heard the loud shrieks that came from the two-story home that she was about to enter.
Hiroko groaned. Any hopes of routine tranquility were vanquished.
Ever since her younger cousin Seiji and his half-blood offspring had moved from America, Hiroko rarely had a moment's peace. Seiji was uncomfortable with the notion of daycare and the concept of strangers caring for his children, so he made an arrangement with Hiroko to watch his sons at his house while he worked. The hefty check that he left, though Hiroko had profusely declined before accepting, did not hurt either.
As she opened the wooden front door and entered, the sounds of screaming grew. She quietly removed her shoes—for Hiroko Ito was not so impolite as to kick off shoes—and stealthily walked through the hallways of the house.
To her dismay she found her seven-year-old nephew arguing with her fifteen-year-old daughter Jun, who dangled a remote control from the brunette's reach. The boy tried to grab it, but the ganguro girl's incredibly long arms held the desired object at a high distance and giggled as his attempts to get it. Seto, insulted by his brazen cousin's mockery, lunged at the remote. This caused his cousin to lose balance, resulting in her being sprawled onto the tatami-matted floor with the boy on top of her.
Hiroko sighed. The Japanese woman was a sharp and intelligent domestic housewife. She was an excellent cook, kept an ordered and clean house, found the greatest sales in times of a great recession, and held position as a secretary of a local women's association. Nonetheless the middle-aged woman was clueless on how to deal with Seto's and Jun's endless arguments. The two of them were similar to gasoline and fire. They were volatile elements that should never be mixed unless one wished an explosion.
In that extremely awkward and uncomfortable position, Seto took the opportunity to swipe the remote from his cousin's hand. The platinum blonde, uncomfortable with the weight of the brunette on top of her head, pushed the boy off her. It took a few minutes for her to realize that object that they had been so furiously fighting for was no longer in her possession.
"Hey! Give it back to me!" The ganguro girl screamed. "I was watching 'Milliseconds of Our Lives!'"
"I'm not watching that idiotic drama any longer! I'm playing Mortal Kombat! You can watch your stupid soap opera at your own house!"
"It is not a stupid soap opera! It is a brilliant tale of the most gorgeous guy in the world, so give me back that remote control before you get it!"
Seto smirked. The show was about a beautiful girl that moved to a town and captured the attention of a cold, mysterious, and, of course, handsome man. In the last episode, it had been revealed that he was the long-lost twin of his supposed identity and was man with no memory. The beautiful girl named Sakura was currently going through turmoil about her true feelings, strung between her affection for the handsome man and anxiety of his possible tragic past.
Further screaming ensued about the evils of cliché plots and amnesia, while the other shrieked about the godliness of Ken Tanaka. Hiroko was starting to get a headache from the copious amount of noise that she endured. As the two argued, she grabbed the remote from Seto's hands and held it tightly.
"That's enough." Hiroko stated quietly as the pair faced her sullenly. "If the two of you can't be quiet and watch television, then neither of you will get the remote. Besides Jun, you're fifteen and nearly a young woman. You should know better."
"Mom, stop being so lame. This is a back-to-back marathon! Like, do you realize how much of my life you that you are depriving me of? That's totally unfair!"
"I'm sure that they'll be re-runs on another day," the petite woman answered coolly. "Besides, you should read more books. You need to keep those grades up. Learn something from Seto." She swiftly headed towards the kitchen, holding the remote in one hand and the bag of groceries in the other. Silently she cursed Seiji for insisting that Seto was a quiet and obedient child. She almost wished that she secretly drank sake like the other housewives.
Quickly Jun seized a pocket mirror from her purse and further applied white concealer to her lips. Smacking her lips, she smiled as she fixed the ends of her pigtails and the two strands of her hair in the front. The teenager grabbed a fashion magazine that she had brought and slumped onto the wooden loveseat that his father had recently bought. She rested her feet onto the low wooden table.
Seto straightened himself, moving away from his cousin's view. He refused to let her think that she won the argument in any manner. Her quarrel had prevented him from playing the Sega video game console that his father bought for Christmas. Grabbing an astronomy book, he opened it to read. Seto quickly glanced at his cousin as she carelessly flipped through the pages of the magazine.
If Seto could have gotten a plane ticket and had known where his passport was, he would have boarded an airplane to America at that precise moment. After living in Japan for a few weeks, he had decided that he hated the country.
He hated their stupid chopsticks. For a few days, Seto struggled to eat with those strange utensils that were so common in this new land. In America his father was the only one who used them to eat Japanese food, so the notion of eating with two wooden sticks was challenging and highly inconvenient. Seto grimaced at the memory of his cousin giggling as he struggled to pick a piece of sushi with them.
He grew exhausted of the food. Seto especially hated his father's favorite item miso soup. He wanted the hearty chicken noodle or the creamy tomato soup that his grandmother made. His grandmother would top it with small amounts of cheese, making it the perfect warm item on a cold winter day. Instead of his beloved stews, he constantly ate a yellowish concoction of kelp and soybean paste.
He also hated his new home. On the first floor, a toilet, kitchen, and living room were designated. On the second floor, there were three bedrooms and a bathroom. In Seto's opinion it was illogical that the toilet and the bathroom were two separate rooms. This layout made no sense. His father had a simple and conservative style; therefore, he decorated everything with wooden furniture. Seiji may have been talented in designing something as intricate and creative as an amusement park, but he had no sense of interior decorating whatsoever.
When father presented the idea that they would be lying on the floor, Seto thought he was making a bad joke. Yet as his father prepared a futon and covered it with sheets, he was utterly aghast by the thought. After several deep and well-thought discussions with Seiji, he convinced the man that a bed might be an excellent investment.
More than anything else, Seto felt lonely in Japan because he did not feel as if he belonged. There was no one else who he could relate to.
The ganguro girl tossed the magazine onto the wooden table and glanced at the boy in annoyance. Seto met her eyes with equal displeasure. He wasn't the type to be easily bullied.
"Is there something interesting?"
Seto stated nothing as he returned his attention to his book. His cousin was simply baiting him for a fight. She was still sore about her loss to the chess match, though she was too proud to admit it.
"Excited about school? It's starting in a few weeks."
Seto shrugged. He did not expect anything thrilling out if it, though he wished his cousin would quit talking so much.
"You know, I don't know how it is America, but, in Japan, it sucks if you don't fit the prototypical perfect student. Straight As. Good at sports. Light skin. Modest and sweet." The girl sighed. "Like if you stand out or have a different opinion, then there must be something wrong with you."
Jun seated herself up and started to walk towards a small wooden cabinet. His eyes followed her as she picked up a silver picture frame. It was portrait of his mother. Laura flashed a toothy smile, adorning an off-shoulder red dress.
Seto grimaced as the teenager inspected the picture; she was not worthy to touch it.
"Your mom is gorgeous." Her sudden kind remark surprised Seto. Jun had never said anything that resembled a compliment before. His cousin's usual response was complaints about how boring her relatives were and going into long monologues on how pathetic that his father was the rebel of the family. "Wow! How the hell did Uncle Seiji get her?! He must be packing something major!"
Seto's eyes narrowed. No one got away with insulting his father, especially a girl who matched zebra print and bright pink stripes together. "He doesn't pack that much in his suitcase. Just work files and small stuff like that. What does that do with my mom?"
Jun laughed. Seto continued to stare at her in confusion as she stared at him in surprise. "You mean that you don't know how you got born? About the birds and the bees? The pollination of the flower? The making of honey?" Seto stared blankly at the teenager as she paused dramatically. "The drinking of the tea?"
"Tea? What does that have to do with anything?"
"A euphemism. It can be anything that you want it to be. Like, how do you think you were born?"
Seto proudly proceeded to explain about how God placed babies into the stomachs of married women and how extremely advanced machines at hospital were used to remove them after nine months.
For a few moments, Jun stared at the boy in shock. Then, after collecting herself for a few moments, she started to giggle hysterically.
There was one matter that infuriated Seto to no end, and that was being laughed at. He was a child prodigy, for heaven's sake. "I demand an explanation."
"Kid, has anyone ever told you to lighten up a bit?"
"Has anyone ever told you that you're a moron?" the boy snapped back.
She pulled a platinum blond hair strand that fell onto her face as she frowned. "You know, for a child genius that supposed super crazy brilliant, you are like totally naïve. I bet you still believe in Santa Claus."
"Do not. There's no logical reason why an old man would be able to travel the world and go to every house in one night."
"Did you also catch one of your parents putting the presents under the Christmas tree as well?"
Seto stated nothing as he severely eyed the girl. In fact he had seen his father wrapping his Christmas present when he was four years old, so any possibilities of believing in Santa were quickly squelched. He never revealed this information to his father because it brought Seiji great joy to see him open those presents. Besides, Seto liked those extra gifts.
Jun folded her arms smugly and grinned.
Seto was about to retort that he didn't listen to idiots when he heard the sound of wails from another room. His aunt, it seemed, failed in keeping the baby quiet. No matter what she did, she could not keep his brother from crying.
Seto glanced at his aunt as she attempted to bring a bottle of milk to the infant. There was a simple solution to this. He had seen his father do this several times and succeed.
The wails grew louder. Jun started to complain about the noise when Seto got up and headed to a room on the second floor. When he came down, he calmly walked to his middle-aged aunt and the howling infant and handed a rattle.
His aunt stared at him in confusion at the item. "I tried his rattle already. How's that going to keep him quiet?"
"This is my baby rattle. I don't know why it works, but it calms him. I've seen Daddy do this a bunch of times." Seto shook the rattle towards the baby's direction, causing the infant to quiet down. Mokuba started to coo after a few moments.
Hiroko picked up the rattle. "Finally. You were giving me a headache, Mokie."
Seto stated nothing as he returned to his seat and book. He felt an odd sense of relief when he no longer heard the baby's wails. No. It was simply the annoyance from the noise and not concern that convinced him to do this action.
More drama to come. See this as a Seto development chapter.
By the way I don't own Mortal Kombat and Sega. So don't sue. As the disclaimer mentioned, I can give you little.
Pass on the holiday spirit! Leave a review!
Happy Holidays!
To Kermita, you're right. Seto does not have a good impression of his relatives. If you think ganguro is weird, you should check out yamanba. Don't know what they were thinking.
To The Duelist's Heiress, glad you liked the chapter. If only Seiji knew the future. Great to hear from you.
To KasumiCho, I have read Memoirs of a Geisha, and I love it. It's one of my fav books ever. You should check out Geisha, A Life if you haven't read it already. Evidently, a lot of the facts about geisha life from Memoirs of a Geisha are completely inaccurate.
To hateandkill-D, aww. I'm so glad that you like my story like that. It's good to see that you agree with me how Seto saw Japan.
To Sakura Takanouchi, thanks for the grammar CC. I'm usually catch things when I edit, but I am guilty of rushing with that one. As for the KC idea, I figured that at least one OC who is actually qualified for the job should work for KaibaCorp.
To ml101, feel special. I used your tatami idea. I never even thought about that till you brought that up.
To susie25, good to know that you like where Seto's relationship with Mokuba is going. Good to hear from you.
To MythCreatorWriter, the theme of the salt story was planned. Though with Seiji crying on his own, I made that as a Seiji characteristic. I never thought of Kaiba when I wrote that. Although the parents share a couple of qualities that their kids have, they have vastly different personalities.
To Demented Insane Spirit, I'm glad that you like the geisha line. If this wasn't a serious story, I would probably add more humor, but I can't overdo it. And will keep at the details.
To Wolfstar 713, thanks for your thoughts about descriptions. Will keep that in mind. As for the punk rocker line about Seiji, I just had this image of Seiji rocking in a crazy getup and it was too funny to resist. I didn't think anyone else would get it, so it's good to know that you liked it.
To Hit it Tyler, I never heard of Keeping up with the Joneses by The Medic Droid. I named the chapter after the 1950s saying Keeping up with the Jones. Hope you keep enjoying and good to hear from a new reviewer.
To Noc and NC, I made those differences because I noticed that most fanfiction with a character moving to Japan don't show any differences at all. The character fits in so perfectly that it's abnormal.
To Meconopsis, KC drama will be soon. I'm looking forward to write it. Glad to know that you liked the chapter. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.
