"Wow!" Eiji stopped in front of Blue Wave Inn with a shocked expression. The place was huge and so fancy! "Is that really yours, Kono-san?!"

Oishi drove them there, following Takumi and Haruka on their car.

"Isn't it nice?" Shuichirou asked with a smile, taking his bag and his outfit from the car on the parking space.

"Not mine, it's my parents'. And my older sister's too."

"You have an older sister?" he asked, surprised.

"She sure does." A young woman appeared on the door. She was wearing glasses with transparent frame. She had the same traits as Haruka, but her silver hair was short, on a straight cut over her shoulders and her eyes were in a darker tone and her expression was very serious. She was wearing an expensive dark green kimono with yellow flowers on the fabric. "Welcome to the Blue Wave Inn." She made a reverence.

"Always so serious, Hitomi-san." Takumi said, smiling at her.

"It's been a while, Hitomi-san." Shuichirou said, gently.

"Welcome, Oishi-sensei." She looked at Eiji. "Is he your guest?"

"Yes, this is Kikumaru Eiji." He smiled.

"Nice to meet you." He made a reverence.

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Kono Hitomi." She replied politely. "Haruka, Tou-sama and Kaa-sama are waiting for you in the golden room. They prepared a special dinner for you, Harada-san and your guests."

"Why?" she complained. "I told them it was not necessary."

######

Eiji was looking around, amazed. Although it was a traditional building, the whole place was, certainly, high class. As soon as they entered the servants appeared and brought their luggage to their room.

They were following Hitomi through a long hallway until she opened the wide doors at the end of the corridor.

There was a beautiful low table filled with different sushi dishes. A short, middle aged man smile happily as seeing them. He had dark brown hair and golden eyes. The woman next to him was very beautiful too, with long silver hair tight on a braid and pink eyes. They were both wearing expensive traditional clothes.

"Haruka!" he said, when they came closer. "You're finally home!"

"Welcome home, Haruka." Her mother smiled gently as well.

"It's good to be back." She smiled at them, before sitting down.

"Takumi, you finally caught her, right?!" her father smiled. "Oishi-sensei, it's been a while! Oh, and who's this charming young man?" he asked, looking at Eiji. "Sit down, sit down!"

"Good to see you, Kono-san." Oishi smiled at him and to her mother. "Thank you for having us." The teenager sat by his side. "This is Kikumaru Eiji. He's a college student at Hattori Nutritional College. He's a friend."

"Oh, is that so?" he smiled at Eiji. "I'm Kono Hatsu. This is my wife, Yoshie. Nice to meet you, Kikumaru-kun."

"It's my pleasure." He made a reverence, a little embarrassed such high class people were talking to him so gently. "Thank you for having me."

"I'm going to return to work." Hitomi said, before leaving them and Eiji noticed that, even with the great resemblance with Haruka, their personality was very different.

"Takumi-san, sit closer!" her father said. "Let's drink! It's a happy day today! You finally brought my daughter home!"

"Yes, yes!" he obeyed, with a smile, sitting next to his fiancé.

Her father opened a big sake bottled that seemed very expensive, Kikumaru noticed. He poured it to his daughter, Takumi and himself.

"Oishi-san, would you accept some?" her mother asked, gently.

"No,thank you."

Eiji was observing everything quietly. They were such a warm family. His mind wondered a little bit, thinking about Masayuki and Chiho and their moments together as well.

"Eiji-kun?" Oishi's voice called him back.

"Ah, yes?"

"Aren't you hungry?" he asked, gently. There was a beautiful sushi dish in front of him and he didn't even notice. The other people were already having dinner, while talking lively.

"Oh, sorry. Thank you!" he started to eat and the blue eyes sparkled. It was his first time he ate such delicious sushi.

"Good, right?" Shuichirou asked and the teenager moved his head affirmatively and excited.

"Ah, Tou-san." Haruka changed the topic of their conversation. "Is it okay for EIji-kun to take a look at our kitchen? He's studying to be a traditional chef."

"Is that so?!"

"Ye..yes!" he swallow his food quickly.

"He's very talented already." Takumi said gently. "His food is amazing."

"Would you like to meet our chef tomorrow, Kikumaru-san?" her mother asked. "Since it will be a busy day, there will be a lot of different dishes."

"Can I?!" Oishi could see his imaginary puppy tail wagging. "Really?!"

"Of course! You're our guest." Her father said, happily.

###########

"Aaaah!" Eiji hugged the pillow of his bed just after jumping on it. They were placed in one of the luxury rooms. "It's so soft!" he rolled one side of the other and Shuichirou smiled at his happiness. "I love this place already!"

"I really like in here as well." He smiled. "Let's prepare to sleep? It's going to be a busy day tomorrow. Do you want to go to the beach in the morning? We have time."

"I do!" he grinned happily.

"It's settled then." Oishi removed his shirt, looking at the night sky trough the opened back doors. The sky was filled with stars. "It's a beautiful night, right? I hope it's beautiful tomorrow as well. Takumi and Haruki deserve it."

The teenager looked at him for a moment.

"Hey, Oishi-san…"

"Yes?" he turned around.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to, it's not my business at all, but… what happened between you and Kono-san? You guys are so close, why did you break up?"

He was little surprised by his question. He returned and sat by Eiji's side again, with a small smile.

"I cheated on her." The words left a bitter taste on his mouth.

"What?" he was really surprised.

"I was young and foolish. I really hurt her and I regret up to this day for making her cry. I wish I could go back in time and do things differently. I'm very grateful our friendship survived such a thing."

"Oishi-san…" he had no words.

"Even so, Haruka was extremely kind and told her parents she was the one who broke things off with me, so they wouldn't hate me." Eiji noticed the green eyes were filled with sorrow. "The day you said I was amazing, it really hurt, Eiji-kun, because you shouldn't think so highly of me. I'm a terrible person who hurt others. Sometimes I wonder if I really deserve to have Haruka and Takumi on my life, because…"

"You're wrong!" he grabbed Oishi's hand. "Oishi-san's not a bad person at all!"

"Eiji-kun…"

"You took me in when I had nowhere to go! I was just a stranger to you and you gave me food and a roof over my head! When I got the panic attack, you went all the way to Hattori and took care of me! You even carried me princess style!"

"Princess… style?"

Kikumaru blushed and lowered his head, the red bangs over his eyes.

"You said yourself you made a mistake! Everyone can make mistakes, the important thing is how you will repair what you have done to the people that matters to you. Kono-san and Takumi-san really care about you, so I'm sure they don't think anything bad about you!"

The grasp of his smaller hand over his became tighter.

"I was afraid, hungry, alone and away from home. Oishi-san rescued me. You gave me so much when I had nothing." He looked at him and the blue eyes were terribly serious. "So, do not say such bad things about yourself!"

Shuichirou looked at his determined expression, being sure he meant every single one of those words. He caressed his flushed face and smiled, feeling extremely grateful for having him on his life.

"Thank you so much, Eiji-kun."