CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Nagoya Sakae Blossom Hotel

Sakae, Nagoya Aichi

Japan

November 5, 2006

They returned to the hotel just after eleven. There was a game center around the corner from the hotel that Dee and Ryo allowed Bikky and Carol to go to, making them promise to be back around midnight. Bikky had discovered in Tokyo that the game centers there had many games not in the U.S. yet. Both Dee and Ryo had explained to Bikky how some of the games they played during their times in Japan were still not available or had just come out in the US. The game center near the hotel also offered indoor slick track racing. Instead of go-carts, the vehicles were more like mini-sports cars. It was something that they did not have in New York that Dee and Ryo had enjoyed the last time they were in Japan. They had even joined Bikky and Carol in racing when they went into a game center in Tokyo together.

After they got Darin and Ryoko settled for bed and in the crib provided by the hotel, Dee sat down with a grateful sigh. As enjoyable as the day was, it was long as they expected, and Dee and Ryo were exhausted. By the time they arrived at the hotel, Darin and Ryoko were asleep and did not stir when they took the babies out of the van. Bath time would be in the morning for the twins. Dee was ready for a long hot soak himself, but the day was still not over yet.

There were phone calls they felt they were finally able to make, and it was a good time to call those in the U.S. They were still ignoring J.J. until the next night when they were scheduled for their video conference with the unit. Ryo had sent J.J. a text saying they would try to be on a little earlier to give an update on their vacation. They were certain they would make it for the video conference because Dafydd was looking forward to it since he had a big part in their update, and had made it known to everyone in the family who had made it to dinner about it, so no one would dare to come up with something late night for adults to do until after the call. No one would think of keeping Dee from getting to the call at the time they planned by talking to him or some other activity to get to know him better. J.J. seemed to accept Ryo's text, replying that he was looking forward to it and to not take too long before telling them the story behind the picture Ryo had sent him earlier in the day.

Dee and Ryo had worked out the order of their phone calls. The most important people already knew: Mother and Obāsan. Dee wanted to talk to Barry first. For one reason, he had been feeling guilty about rushing the couple of calls Barry had made to them. He wanted to burst out the news about Dafydd, but couldn't before letting Saburo know that he had survived whatever had happened to Dee's other father. Barry was Dee's closest friend since childhood, the two considering each other brothers. Ryo easily agreed that Barry should have the honor of being the first to know. Dee had questioned Ryo about telling Elena or Emiko first since they were actual family. Ryo had reasoned that while both his families had embraced Dee as one of their own, they were his family, meanwhile Barry was Dee's. It made sense for Dee to talk to Barry first before Ryo got on the phone with his family. They were also both curious on the news Barry had for them. They had a feeling it wasn't great news like theirs were from the short talks Dee had with him. Barry also had mentioned that it was best for when they had more time. So, while they had amazing news to tell Barry, they were bracing themselves for whatever Barry had to tell them.

But first they had to have a conversation. Dee knew that his grandfather had more to say to Ryo than what both of them were admitting. He hardly believed that Ryoichi Fujioka would corner Ryo alone to give him 'the talk' about being good to his grandson. That didn't just seem right.

Ryo was putting water in the electric water kettle to make coffee for them. Dee stood up and went by the small kitchen area and watched as Ryo plugged in the kettle and turned it on.

As Ryo reached for the mugs, Dee asked, "So what was it he really said?"

"Who?" Ryo asked, turning to look back at Dee.

"The grouch. My grandfather."

"Oh." Ryo pressed his lips together, his mouth going into a straight line. "Well, he's okay with me being your husband. He said he would have preferred if you married a full Japanese like Dafydd did, but considering your circumstances, he is pleased that you picked someone who is at least half-Japanese."

"That's good to know. Shame he didn't feel to include me in that conversation. I still don't really have any idea how he feels about you or even me, except for what you just said. Whatever he did say to me was grumbled, and most likely what he knew my grandmother would want to hear." He started to smirk. "That woman has her claws in him."

"As your father said, your grandfather thinks he's in charge. He might be with running business, but not with family life," Ryo said with a laugh.

"What else did he say? I don't see him as giving only compliments, not that I really would consider that a compliment."

Ryo shrugged. "It could have been worse, but yeah he had some things to say. I was hoping we could talk over coffee."

"That doesn't sound good."

"It shouldn't come as a surprise that he has issues with my grandfather. Dafydd mentioned his refusing to give rights to Grandfather to bring GPN Communications to America, because of his previous attitude about Carriers."

"But that's all in the past," Dee commented. "I think what he has done since he made his turn around is really making up for all that nonsense."

"But to your grandfather, and probably other pro-Carrier groups who don't know him or have benefitted from his recent actions, it's not enough yet. Dee, your grandfather does not want you associated with the name MacLean."

Dee stared at Ryo with wide, surprised eyes. "What? He wants me to change my name? Does he expect me to suddenly take on Fujioka after one day?"

"No, he's not insisting, but he would prefer it. He said that he will never see you as Daisuke until you take the Fujioka name, but if you don't, at least he acknowledges that you are his grandson. Only his grandson is named Dee."

"To be honest, I don't care, because Dee is the name I know."

"I know, but his reasons..."

"Are crap, I know. Unlike the others in this family who call me Dee. I would like everyone to eventually call me that, maybe as a nickname for Daisuke." He shrugged. "I know what my father said when we first met him, but after today, I really don't see him calling me Dee. Not for a long time, at least. At least the brothers and sisters seem okay with calling me Dee. And the way they say it, it is both acknowledgement of me all my life going as Dee and seen as a short version of Daisuke. With my grandfather, he says it like it's a curse."

"Your grandfather is an ass," Ryo remarked.

"I'm not arguing you there," Dee agreed. He stared at Ryo.

"Your grandfather did say something that is disturbing, but it's something that I believe we do need to look into."

The kettle made a chime signifying the water was hot. Ryo continued to take out two mugs and after rinsing them, he put in a packet of Blendy Stick, a Japanese instant mocha coffee, in each mug and then added water. The hotel provided packets of UCC instant dark coffee, along with green and oolong tea bags, but they had picked up a box of Blendy Stick during their travels for nighttime coffee. The Blendy Stick not only was mocha flavored but included some non-dairy creamer and sugar.

Ryo handed Dee a mug with a spoon and picked up his. "Let's sit down and talk about this."

Once they were settled on the couch, Ryo turned so he was facing Dee. "Your grandfather said he had done some research on me and my families. Not really a surprise, especially considering that he is the owner of a multi-billion-dollar corporation. Then there's the department store chain, which I'm sure is probably worth at least a few million. I'd be doing background checks on spouses too."

"Yeah, me too. Okay, so you don't have a problem with him doing research on you. That's probably what he suddenly had to do at the office. So, what did he find?"

Ryo took a deep breath and suddenly looked angry. "He said that even if Grandfather gets acknowledged in the Pro-Carrier community, the MacLean name is still being tarnished. He claims that there are members of my family who are giving money to the ACC. He didn't give names, but once he said that, at least two names came to mind."

"Yeah. Same here. So, what do we do?" Dee asked.

"I talk to my grandfather, let him know so he could start looking into it, and then we bring it up at the meeting tomorrow. The others need to know what we're up against."

"That makes it ugly," Dee commented. "I mean, flushing out the ACC in your family should be hard enough, but it makes me think of all the other wealthy families willing to fund the ACC."

"I should have thought of it. That bastard Richard probably has a slush fund that hasn't been frozen that went to the ACC. Anyway, just so you know, I was planning to talk to you about what your grandfather had to say before we made our calls. I didn't want to tell Grandfather before you knew what was going on."

"I have to give my grandfather that, even if he did it to attack you." Dee folded his arms. "We will run with the information and use all resources possible to confirm who in your family is aiding or belongs to the ACC. However, I have no intention of changing my name in the near future, so don't even think about us dropping MacLean. My father doesn't expect me to start changing all my documents to Daisuke Fujioka and understands why I would want to keep the name I have. As long as he understands, then that's that. I don't need anyone else's approval. I really didn't need my father's, but it's good to know he understands and won't start badgering me to start making changes. He's just happy to know I survived and that I'm back in his life now."

"What about you? How are you feeling now that you had a chance to sit down and catch up with the day?" Ryo asked.

Dee smiled warmly. "I like him. A lot. It's still too new to say I love him, but I'm sure with time that will change. It still feels weird calling him Papa, but by the end of the night, it also feels right." Dee leaned back and closed his eyes for a moment. "All my life I believed I was unwanted; sometimes even thought I did something so wrong as an infant that they didn't want me. Most of the time I just saw my parents as monsters who decided to dump an unwanted child. Saburo made it very clear that I was very much wanted, and loved. It's a bit overwhelming. I mean, I was only in his life for four months, but even all the kids in the family born after me, know about me."

"I get the impression that your father mentioned you often. Enough that even while you weren't there, you were still a part of their lives. Which is why so many relatives showed up tonight," Ryo said. "Yes, I would say you were, and still are, very loved. Saburo loved you when he woke up this morning, having no idea what the day had in store for him."

"I believe you. It's still going to take time to shake off over 30 years of thinking, but I'm off to a good start. Wow, I can't believe that I have such a huge family." Dee shook his head. "A huge, very Japanese family."

Ryo started to laugh. "Yeah, that's obvious. But that's only the Japanese side. Are you curious to find out more about the Welsh side?"

"I'll talk to my father eventually about it. He did tell me some things about Alun. Nothing really about Alun's family. I admit that after today I am curious about my Welsh family, but I'm not sure if I could meet anyone."

"Well, I'm sure there's might be a cousin or someone in Wales. I think eventually you should ask your father," Ryo said.

"Yeah, but not right now. I figure, let the excitement wear off first. Who knows, maybe with time, he'll start giving me more information without asking him. He did say he wanted me to know about my other father. I know Dafydd knows about him, and he told me some things, but Dafydd also admitted he wanted Saburo to have something new to tell me about Alun, so he didn't tell me everything. I guess it's probably a good idea. I need to absorb knowing I have this gigantic family here. Can you believe that tonight was mostly the relatives in this area, with a few from Toshijima and Ise?"

"Imagine what the party when we come back to Nagoya will be like?" Ryo said with a laugh. "Tomoko already is starting work on that one."

"We need to give her a date, which we might not be able to give until we know for sure when we're leaving Nagoya for the rest of the trip," Dee stated. "So, do you think Bikky is okay with all this?"

"Are you kidding? I think he's having fun knowing he has so many more Japanese people in the family. Besides, he has new friends as of tonight. New friends who are cousins. And Dafydd's boys seem to gravitate to him."

"Jirou's little girl too," Dee added. "I think by the time we get back to New York, Bikky is going to need a vacation from little kids. Which is a shame because we'll be going to the orphanage so the kiddos there don't think we forgot about them. Especially for Christmas."

"That reminds me, if we're extending our time in Nagoya, are we going to spend less days back in the Tokyo area? Or push our return to New York?"

Dee shrugged. "I didn't think of it, but I guess we should. We probably should check the jet's schedule on when it's available."

"Remember we can also fly commercial. I know the flight overseas won't be as comfortable as our flight here, but we can at least go first class, and have whatever we can't take on the flight shipped home."

"Yeah, I guess we can afford it," Dee said.

Ryo let out a laugh. "You forget that any of our transport needs will be handled by Obāsan and the family company. We can more than afford it since she will most likely not charge us."

Dee let out a snort. "Part of tomorrow's expedition includes picking out what we want from my father's store. We are getting a lot of owner's benefits lately. Sheesh. We'll work it out when we're here again on the way back. We'll have a better idea of when we'll be back in Tokyo and should give us enough time to make new arrangements if we decide to stay a while longer. You good with that?"

"Yeah. Probably the best way. So, if we got everything out of the way, phone calls. Barry first, right?"

"Sure." Dee reached for his cell phone and dialed Barry's number. "First call of many we'll be making eventually. Here we go."

Ryo took Dee's almost empty mug. "I think we need refills to get through the calls." With a smile he went back to the kitchen area.

Dee gazed out the windows in the lounge, looking out at the lights of Nagoya beyond the wall of windows and the small balcony. From his place on the couch, he was just about to make out part of the Oasis 21. The spaceship structure was aglow in bright neon blue. The tip of the Nagoya TV Tower above the observation deck was also visible, bathed in golden yellow light. As he listened to Barry's phone ring and waited for him to answer, he knew Nagoya would never be the same as it had been from his visits before. It had never occurred to him that this was the place of his birth. He would have never thought it of Tokyo or Yokohama either, even if Yokohama had once been home to him. Nagoya, he knew now, was more home than Yokohama because he was born in a hospital a few minutes before Dafydd not far from Nagoya Station. It explained the affinity he felt for the city from the first time he visited, which he now knew was not his first visit since he spent the first four months of his life there.

"Hey bro!" Barry answered, bringing Dee out of his thoughts.

Ryo came from the small kitchen area and set a mug of coffee on the end table next to Dee. With a smile he sat down, cradling his own mug of hot coffee.

Dee put the call on speaker and set the phone on the coffee table. "How's everything back in New York?" Dee asked. "Family doing good?"

"Yes, we're great. And yes, I've been stopping by the orphanage just to check on Mother."

"Oh," Ryo asked, looking amused and sharing a look with Dee. "Did she say anything about our vacation?"

"No, but something is up," Barry replied. "She seems extremely excited about something. I asked her about it, and she said that I had to wait until we had time to talk. So, if you're calling me, I'm hoping that means you have time to talk?"

"Yeah, we have time to talk," Dee said. "And for whatever it is you need to tell us."

"Everyone is fine, so it's nothing bad like that. You know Mother is doing well, so I don't have to reassure you about that, thank goodness. Personally, I don't think it's all that bad, but I know you'll disagree. But later for that. Tell me all about Japan."

"It's great here, but you knew that already," Dee replied with a laugh. "I really loved to see Obāsan's Kamakura, and even Tokyo. Then there's all those places that's part of Ryo's early life."

"How was that for you, Ryo?" Barry asked.

"It was wonderful," Ryo sighed. "For once I was able to go to places I would with my parents, and instead of being sad, I was able to proudly show those places to my family and add stories from the time. I didn't realize how important it was for me to show Dee and Bikky those places, or even Obāsan's house until we got here."

"Add those two darlings of yours, I'm guessing this was a very special visit for you, Ryo."

"Oh, that it was. I'm loving every minute of it. And Obāsan is just so happy to have us here, even when we were staying in Tokyo," Ryo replied. "And then Dee got to show off his Yokohama to us. He even had his friends join us at times."

"I'm sure it was great being back in your second home, Dee," Barry commented.

"Yeah, it was. A lot has changed, but there are still enough familiar old haunts that we went to. It was great showing it to Bikky, Ryo and his family," Dee said. "We even walked around my college."

"You took lots of pictures, I hope," Barry said.

Ryo started to laugh. "We're Japanese, of course there are tons of pictures from all the relatives we had had with us." He winked with an impish grin at Dee. "Besides, Dee's here."

"Oh yeah," Barry said with a laugh. "Dee's an honorary Japanese the moment you put a camera in his hands."

Dee covered his mouth as he snorted. Ryo fought from laughing too hard. "See? I'm not the only one. Even Barry says that," he managed to say.

"Yeah well," Dee replied with a chuckle. "You don't know half of it." He winked at Ryo with a grin.

"Driving even the Japanese crazy with your picture taking?" Barry asked with a laugh.

"Not at all," Dee replied. "The relatives find it charming."

"So, when I called last night, you said that you were driving to Nagoya. Are you settled in now?"

"It's after 11 pm here," Dee replied with a laugh. "We had all day to see Nagoya."

"You've been there before, right?" Barry asked.

"Yeah, several times," Dee replied. "But like Yokohama and the Tokyo area, while so far a lot of it is familiar, there's a lot that changed since my last time."

"This is my second time in Nagoya as an adult," Ryo said, "and I'm trying to figure out why I didn't go more than once. This is a beautiful city."

"How's the hotel there?" Barry asked.

"It's very nice. Not as spacious as in Tokyo. That was larger than our apartment. Much larger," Dee said. "And I'll admit getting just a bit spoiled. Between all the space and the view of Tokyo, I'm tempted to move there."

"You wouldn't," Barry commented, sounding amazed.

"If we could pack Mother up and bring her here, I would consider it," Dee replied. "Anyway, we designated the penthouse as our Tokyo home whenever we can get away. Only there is a bit of a problem with that." Dee smirked at Ryo.

"You're killing me, you guys. What could ever be a problem with a place like that? As much as I'll miss you, if you really wanted to, I'll help you pack and send you off. It would give me a reason to go to Japan." Barry paused to chuckle. "Seriously. You should have what you really want and if living in Tokyo is that, well, you need to figure it out," Barry said.

"The problem is that it might make more sense to move to Nagoya if we ever left New York for Japan," Ryo answered, poking Dee.

"You like it more than Tokyo then? And even Yokohama?"

"Well, I'll admit I prefer Tokyo and Yokohama," said Dee, "but Nagoya seems to be home to me."

"What?"

Ryo started to laugh and poked Dee again. "Get on with it," he said to Dee. "If you keep going around in circles, I'll tell him. For once in your life, you're avoiding getting to the point."

"Maybe because I'm savoring this. Hey, look Barry. You've been my brother for almost all our lives, but I have some bad news for you," Dee said, grabbing Ryo and attempting to cover his mouth with a hand.

"What's up, Dee?" Barry asked.

"It turns out that you'll have to share me with my twin brother," Dee said and removed his hand from Ryo's mouth.

"About time!" Ryo crowed and laughed more.

"Shh…. You'll wake the chibis," Dee warned and leaned in to lightly kiss Ryo.

"What the fuck? What twin brother? Dude, you really are a twin?"

"It's not really that surprising that he is, after Dee gave birth to the chibis," Ryo said. "What is surprising is that we actually met him."

"Yeah, that does make sense. I'll admit Julie and I wondered about if you had a twin out there somewhere, but I doubted that even as great you two are as detectives that even actively looking, you wouldn't have much luck."

"That's how Dafydd felt," Dee replied. "It wasn't how he was expecting it. And yes, Barry, before you ask, Dafydd is my twin brother. He's a detective here in Nagoya and he's been looking most of his life for me."

"Only he wasn't expecting to finally find Dee at the party Obāsan threw for us last week," Ryo said with a laugh.

"Oh Lord, don't tell me he's related to you?" Barry asked, sounding amazed.

"No, but he is married to one of my distant cousins," Ryo replied.

"Holy shit!" Barry exclaimed. "Hey Jules, I have Dee and Ryo on the phone, and you need to hear this!" Barry called out. "So, he's married to one of your cousins? One of the Japanese ones, I assume."

"Yeah, Momo. She's a very distant cousin, but I always wanted to reach out and get to know her more," Ryo replied. "Obviously I never got around to it. For some reason her husband has always been a mystery to us. That's what we get for not finding time to go to Nagoya for her wedding."

"To be fair, even Dafydd said they only sent a wedding announcement to your side of the family," Dee added.

"With no photo," Ryo said.

"Well they did get married before we met, so it's not like you would have seen it and known he was my twin."

"But when I finally met you, I could have exclaimed that you look exactly like my cousin's husband," Ryo countered.

"Maybe," Dee said with a shrug, "but they didn't have a photo yet and wanted to get announcements out."

"What's this about a twin brother?" they heard Julie's voice come from the phone, while Barry laughed at them. "And what about wedding announcements?"

"My cousin didn't include a photo of the happy couple when they sent out the wedding announcements or else I might have noticed that Dee looks like my cousin's husband," Ryo explained.

"Well, it certainly sounds like you're having some time there in Japan," Julie said. "From the tone of your voice, I'm assuming this is good news, Dee? I know how you felt about meeting your biological family, but I sense excitement there, even happiness."

"Oh yeah," Dee admitted. "It almost wasn't for a bit after we finally talked, and I realized why he looked so much like me."

"And then you called Mother," Barry said. "And that's why she seems so excited."

Dee let out a laugh, "Yeah, you know me. I called Mother and she convinced me to give him a chance. I already knew from Dafydd that I wasn't dumped unwanted by my parents and told her that. Still I felt uneasy until I talked to her. And then she sent Obāsan in for reinforcement."

Barry and Julie started to laugh. "Hoo boy, bro! You never stood a chance with that tag team," Barry exclaimed. "That's great. I'm happy for you. Imagine that! Dee Laytner has a twin brother now. How awesome!"

"That's marvelous, Dee," Julie said. "From that name, I'm guessing there's some Welsh there? Was Dafydd military? Or your parents?"

"And what is your name? Can we still call you Dee?"

"Yes, Barry, you can still call me Dee. And it's Laytner-MacLean, Mr. Best Man," Dee said. "And no, not military. Jules, you're correct about the Welsh, but that's only half."

"Oh man. Oh no. Please don't tell me," Barry said. "Dude, if you tell me that you are actually Japanese, I'm just going to fall to the floor laughing here."

"Well, I won't tell you then because I don't want you to hurt yourself," Dee said. "But I will tell you my birth name."

Ryo was taking a sip of his coffee and nearly sprayed it over the table. "Oh crap," he exclaimed. He put down his coffee and picked up his cell phone from where he set it when they got back to the hotel. "Go ahead and tell them, Dee, while I send a picture of you and Dafydd to them."

"Good idea." He waited as Ryo quickly picked a picture from that day. He selected one with just the two brothers standing in front of their father's house, with the castle grounds in the background. It was much like the photo of the twin babies that was one of the first photos that Dee had seen of him and Dafydd. He nodded to Dee when he was ready. "Sending you guys a picture of the reunited twin brothers," Ryo said.

"Yes. Thank you, Ryo," Julie exclaimed.

"My brother's name is obviously Dafydd because one of our fathers was Welsh. And Dee can very much be a nickname for either one of us," he said with a laugh. "But my name is Daisuke."

"You're talking funny again, Dee," Barry said, and they heard the sound of a light slap. They knew he had to have slapped his forehead. "Oh Lord, Dee. You have a very Japanese first name."

They heard a chime letting them know Ryo's text came in. "Pictures!" Julie exclaimed in excitement. They heard her fumble with the phone.

Ryo moved closer to Dee and slipped his arm around Dee's shoulder. "Well, they're happy for you," he said softly.

"Oh, Dee in double!" Julie exclaimed. "That's a great photo. Oh, and you both look so happy in it too."

"Damn, lookit all that teeth," Barry exclaimed with a laugh. "Big happy smiles. That's wonderful."

"Dafydd and Daisuke Fujioka," Julie read. "Your last name is Fujioka?"

"Daisuke Fujioka!" Barry laughed. "Dude, don't hit me when I call you Daisuke when you get home. Daisuke. Oh sorry, couldn't wait that long."

Dee smirked while Ryo started to laugh again. "Yeah, go ahead. Yes, Ryo will be having fun every time someone calls me Daisuke. But so far, I only gave permission for my family in Nagoya to call me that. Mother told me before I met them that it would be easier for them. And while my father was willing to call me Dee, I can see it is easier for him. Each time he called me by the name he gave me, I can see him healing more. Barry, Julie, he believed I was dead all these years."

"What the hell happened? Your family is based in Nagoya, I'm guessing, but you ended up in New York on your own in an alley?" Barry asked.

"It's quite a story," Dee said, "and it involves the yakuza and my Welsh grandfather getting involved with them."

"Holy crap," Barry exclaimed. "I can see where this is going."

"I also noticed the past tense used for your Welsh father while your Japanese one is very much in the present," Julie observed.

"Yeah. My Welsh father, whose name, by the way, was Alun Jones, was killed. I was with him, so it was assumed that I was killed with him. They had good reason to believe I was killed with my father. My Japanese father, Saburo Fujioka, was in San Diego with Dafydd. They were hoping that by splitting up, there was a better chance of survival. At the least, they were hoping to keep Dafydd and me alive."

Dee told Barry and Julie what they knew so far, especially about his parents going on the run from Japan. When he was done, they heard a sniffle from Julie. "That is so sad. I feel for your father, Dee. I don't even want to think about how it would feel losing one of our children."

"Yeah, I'm sorry he had to wait until I am grown with my own family before coming to back to him, but you know what I discovered I love about my father? His reasoning. He not only found joy in my showing up today, but after talking to Mother, he decided that if she found joy in having me as her son, then it made him happy for her, and for me."

"Meaning you didn't lose a mother today, but you gained another dad," Julie reasoned.

"Exactly," Ryo agreed.

"Yeah, I know. He kept insisting I call him Papa, like my brothers and sisters, but it was hard at first. Then tonight at a family gathering, we had a talk and it just started to come natural." Dee started to smile.

"This family is much like mine. The Japanese side, that is," Ryo added. "They have their traditions, but when with each other, it's very intimate and personal. They know there is honor and respect, so a lot of the formality is dropped. Not very much oneesan and oniisan for siblings."

"I am happy to know him and want to get to know him more," Dee said. "That goes for pretty much all of my family, including my stepfather."

"But he calls his stepfather Yoshio-san," Ryo added. "Everyone else calls him Chichi."

"Everyone else except for Dafydd, Yoshi-san is their father," Dee remarked.

"Dafydd calls him Chichi too," Ryo added.

"Only because Dafydd was young enough when Yoshi-san moved in with them that he basically raised Dafydd as his own," Dee explained.

"Hey, another picture coming your way. This one is a much older version of the one you have." Ryo sent the photo of Dee and Dafydd as babies in front of the house.

"Oh, how adorable," Julie exclaimed.

"That is you in this photo," Barry stated.

"Mother picked me out right away," Dee said. "That's how I told her. I sent her the photo with no explanation. She called me immediately asking where did I get that picture of me and who was the other baby who looked like me." He started to smile. "Even before I gave her what little facts we started to piece together, she confirmed what I pretty much already knew. And there are also the baby carriers in the photos from back then. That was the same one I was found in by Jess."

"Just looking at you and Dafydd is enough proof for me, but I take it you got absolute proof," Barry said. "Didn't you say that he's also a detective there? Two twin detectives plus a husband detective. That's too many of you type not to go further."

"Yes, we did. There's also the forensics wife. Momo is head of the forensics lab here in Nagoya. I had Diana go to Mother's and get a DNA sample from the Carrier and the clothes I was wearing, and then we also did DNA matching between me, Dafydd and my father. It's definite."

"So now you're Japanese and Welsh. Damn bro," Barry said. "I guess you always were, but we didn't know until now. No wonder you always had a fascination with Japan. So wait! Does that mean you were born there?"

"Yes, here. Nagoya."

"So when can we throw you a surprise birthday party, Daisuke?" Julie asked with a giggle.

"Oh, you're bad," Dee commented, "And it won't be a surprise now."

"Depending on how long we have to wait, you might," Barry said. "So, when the hell is your birthday?"

"September 23rd," Dee replied.

"Dee and Dafydd are equinox babies," Ryo added with a grin. "Japan holds festivals for them."

Dee rolled his eyes but had to laugh at Ryo. "He's being silly. They do hold festivals on the equinox, but my birthday doesn't fall on it every year."

"It did when you both were born," Ryo said.

"Okay. Sure." Dee laughed, remembering one of the stories he heard about when Dee and Dafydd were born. Some of his aunts and uncles went from the hospital to equinox festivals in Nagoya to celebrate their birth.

"And what's with the other brothers and sisters?" Barry asked. "How many Fujiokas are there?"

"Dee happens to come from a very large family," Ryo said. "I think they're even bigger than my family."

"Apparently all the males in the family are Carriers and have twins. Never single babies. And because they have money, everyone has large families. I think the average is five kids," Dee explained.
"My father and stepfather have seven kids, plus Dafydd and me."

"You have 8 siblings?" Julie asked.

"Don't let him pull most of them are step-siblings, because the ones we met today don't think about the step part," Ryo said. He started to laugh.

"Go ahead. You can tell about the first one we met after Dafydd," Dee said.

"You're really going to love this one," Ryo said, amused. "Shortly after we got to the hotel, one of Dee's sisters called Dafydd. She already knew and said that she was approaching our hotel. So, while Dafydd and Momo went to tell Saburo-san the big news, Ayaka took us for a lunch party with some of her co-workers. Turns out Ayaka is in NGY52, and we had lunch with her team and some of the girls from the other teams. She's really a sweetheart. Oh, and she originally was in TKY52 until they started the group here in Nagoya and she transferred to be home."

"Oh my goodness!" Julie exclaimed. "Isn't that the group that Carol loves?"

"Better than that," Dee said. "Ayaka is her favorite. Now she knows Ayaka. Oh, and tomorrow night, I promised that we'll stay with my father at his house, so Carol gets to share a room with Ayaka."

"That girl will end up flying herself back to New York after this," Julie said with a laugh. "Wow, you have a Japanese pop star in the family. That's very fun."

"She's wonderful," Dee replied. "I just adore her. So does Bikky. He seems impressed with everything so far. Except for my grandfather, but I don't blame him. I'm not very impressed with him either. Even if he holds the purse strings for the family.'

"Speaking of Bikky, how is he handling everything that happened?" Barry asked.

"He's doing fine," Dee said. "He doesn't understand everything said all the time, because for some in my family their English isn't that great, but he had fun today. He already calls Dafydd Uncle Dafydd and you can hear he means it. I think he's just having fun seeing me put in positions meeting my family for the first time."

"We had a dinner party tonight for just the members of the family who were able to make it who lived in Nagoya and some in the surrounding area," Ryo said. "Something quickly thrown together last minute, since they found out earlier today. Along with children, we had about 150 people tonight. Many of Dee's aunts, uncles and cousins came by to meet him." Ryo looked at Dee. "It's a good thing one of your sisters owns that event hall and no events tonight."

"My sister Tomoko and her wife owns this event place. It's more like a small resort. Beautiful place and she opened the larger building and pavilion next to it for us to have dinner tonight. For getting platters last minute, she did a great job. Especially for the number of people that showed up."

"Damn, so you have this gigantic family now. Did you meet all the brothers and sisters?" Barry asked.

"All but one. We'll be seeing Koji when we go down to Ise on Tuesday," Dee replied. "And there are still more cousins and aunts and uncles. Tomoko said that tonight was a meet and greet type meal and a bit of a celebration, but when we come back to Nagoya after the rest of our road trip, she's going to hold a proper celebration party."

"We're getting more photos now that we know, right?" Julie asked.

"Yes, Jules. I promise we'll send you some more photos in a bit."

"Thank you."

"Carol has a YouTube channel and she's been uploading videos," Ryo added. "Until tonight, she was just uploading videos that had just us without Dafydd and Momo, but now she's going to start uploading the videos her and Bikky made that has Dee's family. I'll email you the link if you're interested."

"That's that new video website," Julie said. "Yes, I know it. I just signed up so I can upload videos of our family."

"We just got signed up, so when we have a chance, we'll be uploading videos to share," Dee said.

"Send me your user name so I can subscribe to yours and Carol's," Julie requested.

"Will do," Dee replied.

"I'm glad you're having such a wonderful time there, especially with the very unexpected reunion with your biological family, but I do need to let you know what's been going on around here," Barry said.

"What's going on, Barry?" Dee asked.

"Mrs. Rutkowski hasn't been doing very well lately," Barry said about Dee's and Ryo's landlady.

"What?" Ryo asked. "I didn't know."

"No, you didn't," Barry agreed. "She's been putting up a brave front, acting as if nothing is wrong when she's out of her apartment, but it's gotten to the point that her son stepped in to take care of her."

"Her son has been living in San Francisco," Dee said. "She mentioned him a lot."

"Yup. Her son decided that it's best she goes to San Francisco so he can take care of her."

Dee leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "So where is this going, Barry?" he asked concerned.

"Her son was given power of attorney for her buildings," Barry replied.

"Buildings?" Dee asked, sounding surprised. "As in more than one?"

"More than ten. You would never have known that looking at the way she lives," Barry said.

"Whoa!" Dee exclaimed.

"Here I've been thinking that she had the one building, making a living off it and the rest going into a nest egg for her retirement," said Barry.

Dee let out a chuckle. "She's been retired for as long as I lived there."

"That's true. But her retirement nest egg just blew up," Barry said.

"She was using the money from the rent to what? Buy up more buildings?" Dee asked.

"Not in recent years," Barry stated. "Seems she had a nice little trust fund when she was younger and started to buy up the buildings around your area. She owns the block. She likes you, Dee. She always has. You've been there for her, watching, making sure she was safe. That's why you got your rent so cheap, and then the offer to buy both your place and the apartment next to it. She definitely decided to give you a break."

"That was really nice of her," Dee said. "I really do appreciate it. It made a difference when I needed it. Then when Ryo and I suddenly found ourselves rich, we offered more when paying off the amount we agreed on."

"You're about to get a whole lot richer now," Barry said, "and this is where it's going. Her son sold her buildings to developers this week for a lot of money. From what I know, she most likely made a 1000% profit on what she paid for her buildings way back when."

"What does this mean to us?" Ryo asked. "We own the apartment. We got the papers proving we own, so that means we don't have new landlords."

"Yes, apparently she made it very clear that you are not tenants, but you own your 'condo' as it was put in the paperwork. She also convinced her son not to make it known to the new owners just how much you actually paid for that condo. Look guys, I know you want to stay at your place for a few more years. When I was contacted in your absence, I really did try my best, but they want to buy you out."

"No way!" Dee exclaimed. "We're not selling!"

"What Dee said," Ryo added.

"All the tenants were already given eviction notices," Barry said. "They were told that they would get assistance in finding new places to live and are also getting a nice sum of money for being uprooted. They want your building empty by April."

"We're not moving," Ryo insisted.

"You might not have a choice. They want to gut the building for some ultra-luxury tower," Barry explained. "They are using some law that new owners can evict current tenants. They are doing what they can to make the move easier on the tenants. They can do the same with you, because you are in their building and your apartment is in the way of their plans. They are also willing to make you richer too."

"I don't like it," Dee commented, gritting his teeth. "This reminds too much of the original orphanage."

Ryo moved closer to Dee and slipped his arm around his husband, pulling him closer.

"I don't believe they are the type like S-Corp," Barry assured Dee. "I looked into the company. Ryo, your grandfather also is looking into them but so far they're not bastards, except for uprooting people from their homes. Just like many other developers all over New York City. But it's not a bad thing. With what the tenants are being given, they can end up in nicer, and in some cases, bigger places than what they have."

"Can I ask if she was selling, how come we didn't get a bid in?" Dee asked.

"Because I knew nothing about it until I got a phone call from the new owners' lawyers saying she sold the building," Barry said.

Ryo looked at Dee and shrugged. "That's a good reason," he said.

"Yeah, I guess so," Dee agreed. "Did they tell you why they can't leave us where we are?" he asked Barry.

"It was explained that the building is being gutted from basement to roof. The finished building is going to be much taller than seven floors and keeping you in place hinders that plan. Look, I hope you don't mind but right after I hung up on that call, I called our lawyer and then Mr. MacLean for advice. We got the paperwork, and both lawyers went over it. Yes, you can fight it, but it could be a long and expensive process. They both suggest taking the $11 million dollars they are offering and let me start looking for possibilities for you to sink that money into."

Dee's jaw dropped as Ryo exclaimed, "What?"

"That's their offer?" Dee managed to croak out. "How?"

"As I said, she left what you paid out of the deal. They started at current market value for your place, and then considered how much they would be making on whatever apartment ends up where your is. They feel this is a fair price for you to find something else within the city. Chances are with that money you don't even have to go to the auction block. Plus, their relocation services also stand for you. If you don't take up their finding you a new place to buy, at least take advantage of them providing the moving service for you. Yes, you can afford to pay for the move yourself, but considering the inconvenience of moving out of that apartment sooner than later, I say let them pay that bill too."

"And we have to be out by when?" Ryo asked.

"By April 1st," came the reply.

"Happy April fuckin' Fool's Day," Dee muttered, looking down. "Alright, Barry. Ryo and I will talk it over and get back to you on our decision."

"I think, as much as we appreciate you being our proxy while we're gone, that it should be us to give the new owners the final answer, whichever it might be," Ryo said.

"I understand. I was going to suggest that. It won't stop us here from digging in more just to double check this company. And Dee, I know that you're thinking about the old orphanage and what happened to Mother, and I can assure you it's not the same thing. Also, as far as Mother holding out, remember her reasons for it, even if the money was okay. It wasn't good like your offer, but it wasn't bad either. She was thinking of all the children under her care and making sure they had a home. You just have three kids. You can even think of having a bigger space now, instead of later. I don't know," Barry sighed. "I guess what I'm trying to say to the both of you is that this could be a bad thing or a very good thing. It all depends on how you look at it."

Ryo also sighed and rested his head on Dee's shoulder. "You know, he might have a point. Especially now that we both have two large families that might invade us in New York."

"Huh," was Dee's response. "We can also take up residence in Tokyo and say fuck it all, too."

"Would you?" Julie asked.

"No, not really," Dee said with a small smile, "but it's still a fun thought. Especially since we do have that option now."

"Well, even if not full-time, we still do have a very nice penthouse in Tokyo for whenever we want to stay there," Ryo agreed.

"Okay Barry," Dee said. "Can you send over the paperwork, please? It's not that I don't trust you or the team we apparently have there, but we need to review the paperwork before making a decision."

"I was going to send it to you today. I just needed to talk to you about it first."

"Hey, we're sorry we kept blowing you off when you called last week. That most likely put you in a not so good situation dealing with this for us," Dee said. "But if I talked more than a couple of minutes, I would have wanted to tell you about Dafydd, and I just didn't feel right telling you before Saburo knew I was alive."

"Saburo, that's your biological father?" Barry asked.

"Yeah, that's him. Pretty good guy too, thank goodness. I like him. A lot."

"Then I'm happy for you, Dee. Don't forget to send us pictures of the family. And Ryo, I know I met a lot of yours, but I don't mind seeing more pictures of everyone during your time there."

"We'll get you pictures as soon as we can," Dee promised. "It might be a couple at a time until we have a chance to sit down and breathe a bit, which won't be anytime over the next few days."

"That's cool."

"And you better have a party to show the rest of the pictures and videos when you get back," Julie insisted.

"Ha. We can try," Dee remarked, "but we might not have time if we decide we'll be out of our place by April. It might seem like a long time, but it really isn't."

Dee and Ryo looked down when Ryo's phone started to ring. "It's Elina," Ryo commented.

"Ho boy, I think Carol finally remembered to send her a picture from today," Dee said.

"I think so too," Ryo agreed.

"Hey, I'll let you go then," Barry said. "You should have the paperwork by the time you get up in the morning."

"Sounds good. And I'll give you a call in the next couple of days," Dee assured him. "Barry, thanks for taking on all that. I know it's not what we expected when I made you my proxy. I was thinking more business deals than this."

"And it's a good thing you did," Barry said. "It's all good, Dee. Say hello to Bikky and Carol for me, kisses to the chibis and hello to all the family."

Ryo laughed. "Now that's a tall order, Barry. Hi Elina," he spoke into his phone as he answered it.

"Later!" Dee said and hung up the call.

"I hope you boys didn't go and do something crazy like spending a lot of money just so Carol could meet one of the idols she loves," Elina said in greeting as Ryo put her on speaker.

Both men laughed. "Oh no, nothing like that at all."

"I thought it was very nice of you to arrange that meeting with that other idol group in Tokyo," Elina commented. "Carol was so excited after that."

"That was nothing. We were invited by Hide to drop by and watch them rehearse. They are gathering opinions and listening to feedback. I just happen to be lucky enough to have a close friend who is involved with the new idol project," Dee explained.

That made Ryo started to laugh. "As for today, well, what did Carol say?"

"She said it was a couple of pictures of lunch today and that it was Dee's story to tell. Other than that, I heard about how sweet and wonderful Ayaka is."

"Well, she is," Ryo said with a smile, "and it is Dee's story to tell, I guess. And he also happens to be lucky enough about that too."

"She could have told you what that was about," Dee said to Elina. "I did tell her it was okay now."

"What's going on?" Elina asked.

"We really did think we were just going to have lunch at the NGY Café," Dee said. Then in a sly tone, he added, "Okay, we weren't expecting the rest of them, but we did actually go to the café with Ayaka, who said she was taking us to lunch."

"How did that happen?" Elina asked, sounding surprised.

"She showed up at our hotel room to say hello," Ryo answered casually.

"Don't tell me she's some distant cousin of yours, Ryo," Elina said, sounding curious. "I mean, popular Japanese idols just don't show up at hotel rooms of anyone."

"We're not just anyone," Dee said, sounding amused.

"Ayaka's oldest brothers were in our room," Ryo said with a wink, making Dee chuckle.

"How did you end up with her brothers in her room? Who are her brothers then?"

Dee gestured to Ryo, who looked like he was having too much fun with the call. "Dafydd and Daisuke Fujioka," Ryo replied with an amused smirk at Dee.

"Who?"

"They're twins," Ryo added, "but you know Daisuke better as Dee."

Silence came from the other end of the call for a few seconds. "Wait!" Elina shouted. "What? Dee? You're saying that Dee is Ayaka Fujioka's brother and that he also has a brother named Dafydd?"

"Don't forget the part about Dee being Daisuke," Ryo said and fell against Dee laughing.

"You are having way too much fun with that," Dee commented but smiled at Ryo, rubbing his back. "Yes, Elina. Last week at that party Obāsan threw for us, I ended up staring at myself standing in front of me. Then I realized his eyes were dark brown and not green. It turns out that Ryo's distant cousin Momo was married to Dafydd. Wait… who is Ayaka's brother." He looked down at Ryo with a smirk. "Elina was right. If you think about it, Dafydd is a distant relative of yours and he's Ayaka's brother."

"And at the same time, she is my sister-in-law," Ryo said.

"Okay, I think I'm going to pop right now," Elina exclaimed. "What is going on?"

Dee and Ryo explained about meeting Dafydd at the party and how they realized that Dee was the missing twin brother he had mentioned. They mentioned how after the party they spent time with Dafydd and Momo, and how Dafydd almost killed Carol by mentioning his sister Ayaka.

"After we got confirmation from DNA matching what we already knew, Dafydd called her that night. He then told her that we were all coming into Nagoya today. She couldn't wait until we finally got to my father's house and decided to show up at our hotel shortly after we got here. And that's how Ayaka Fujioka ended up at our hotel room," Dee concluded.

"Dee… Oh my God! Even more than Carol having such a great day, I'm floored. I mean…. Wow! You actually met your biological family today?"

"Most of them. Obviously Dafydd we met last week, but yeah, I discovered I have one of those super huge but close-knit family," Dee said.

"Dafydd and Daisuke? How different are those names," she remarked.

"One of our fathers was Welsh, one Japanese," Dee replied. "So each of us got an ethnic name. Dafydd got the Welsh name because he looks very Japanese. Much more than I do," he explained and chuckled.

"Sounds like your fathers had a wicked sense of humor," Elina stated, sounding amused.

"Saburo still has one," Ryo commented. "He reminds me a lot of my Uncle Nobu."

"And then some," Dee said. "Out of all the crazy adults who sometimes forget they are adults that I know, I think he's the one more likely to actually get into trouble with the kids. And this is what I got from him after only one day."

"That's so true," Ryo agreed.

"What are you going to do about your name?" Elina asked.

"I'm still Dee," Dee replied. "I even got some of the family calling me that. Mostly the siblings and cousins. I'm letting my fathers and older relatives call me Daisuke if it makes them feel better. And I'm trying to get Ryo to stop calling me that." He turned to slap Ryo's arm, making Ryo laugh after letting out a yelp.

Elina started to laugh. "Oh Dee. I know how we all know Ryo as Ryo, and you are so screwed now!"

"See?" Ryo said with a laugh. "The lady is smart."

"Hush you. Anyway, I promised Saburo that we'll stay at his house tomorrow night," Dee said to Elina. "And Ayaka still lives at home. Carol will be staying with her in her room."

"Oh no!" Elina exclaimed. "She's going to be talking about that to everyone for years!"

"Hopefully they'll become close enough friends that it will stop being that much of a deal," Ryo said. "Actually, I think they will."

"Yeah, she'll come back to you talking all the time about her best friend in Japan, who just happens to be in a major idol group," Dee commented and laughed. "Did she send you any video yet?"

"No, just a couple of pictures with Ayaka from your lunch," Elina said.

"We have video from lunch, and then there's also Carol and Ayaka doing karaoke together during dinner," Ryo said.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing some video," Elina said.

"We'll have Carol give you a call, probably morning for us and evening for you, unless you are working," Dee said.

"Today is my day off, and I'm not planning on doing much except relax, so anytime today is good for me," Elina said.

"It's probably going to be a long phone call, even if it's only been a couple of days since you last spoke to her," Ryo said.

"I'm ready," Elina said. "Now is there any chance of this family of yours invading New York so I can meet them?"

"Maybe. Hopefully," was Dee's reply. "If not, we'll have to get you to Japan even if for a few days. There are some things coming up over the year that now that they know about me, I'm expected to be at."

"That's going to be interesting. Good thing you have use of the private jet," Elina stated.

"Very good thing. We'll be making trips here throughout the year, but it won't be as long as this trip," Ryo explained. "Sometimes even just for a couple of days and back again. It all depends on what's going on with work and school."

"I'm going to let you two go now," Elina said. "It must be late for you and you've both had a long day."

"Very long," Dee agreed. "We hit the road about 5:30 to avoid traffic on the Tomei Expressway, and to give time to stop at the rest areas so Bikky and Carol could explore them. And to collect stamps from at the rest stops."

"The rest areas here have their own unique stamps as souvenirs," Ryo explained. "Bikky and Carol decided to collect as many as they can as we're getting around Japan. Which is fine, because Dee and I are also collecting them for our trip book."

"Knowing Carol, I know it's probably obvious, but she really is having the time of her life. And that was before she got to Nagoya," Elina said with a laugh. "Now it's off the scale."

"Oh, tell me about it," Ryo agreed, also laughing. "But I'm glad she's enjoying herself."

"She should be getting back soon with Bikky and we all need to get ready for sleep. We have another long day tomorrow. My father wants to take us sightseeing."

"That sounds so exciting for you, Dee," Elina exclaimed. "I'm so happy. This is amazing and surprising. Have a good day tomorrow."

"I'm sure we will," Dee replied. "I'm sure Carol will be calling you after we get out of the NGY show tomorrow night. Have a good day."

Ryo ended the call and looked at Dee. "I think I'm going to give Obāsan a call and let her know we're both good tonight and give her a recap since we last talked. I'll deal with the rest of the family at some point soon. You better give Mother a call and let her know everything went mostly well with your family tonight."

"Yeah, you're right. I know I've been texting her through the night with photos, but I'm sure she wants the rundown. Okay, those are good next and last for the night calls to make," said Dee.

Ryo ended the call and looked at Dee. "And then I have plans for you, Daisuke," Ryo said with a wicked grin.

"Oh crap," Dee moaned. "Here it comes."

Ryo grinned at him. "Oh yes, you will."

"Behave now, until we're done talking to Mother and Obāsan," Dee warned and then grinned back. "Let's get these calls out of the way." Dee picked up his phone to call Maria.

OoOoOoO