CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
Dafydd and Momo Fujioka House
Higashi, Nagoya
Japan
November 19, 2006
The next morning, Ryo woke up to a knock at their door. Pulling on the one of the yukatas he had set out for use the night before, he went to the door to find Momo about to knock again.
"This is your wake-up call," his cousin said in Japanese with a grin.
"Huh?" Ryo asked, blinking as he looked at his cousin turned sister-in-law. "What time is it? I swear I just fell asleep," he said also in Japanese. He looked back toward the bed to find Dee undisturbed by Momo's knocking and still asleep.
"It's 7 o'clock," came Momo's reply. "And yes, we were also sleeping until Papa called not long ago. He said because of the number of people joining us today it would be best to take out a room somewhere for breakfast, which will be at 9:30 at your hotel."
Ryo rested his head against the door frame and sighed. "Shame we all didn't stay at the hotel last night. We could have slept in a bit more."
"Dafydd feels the same way when I woke him up. He's in the shower now and plans to make a run for some pan to hold us over with coffee until we meet everyone," said Momo.
"Not only do Dee and I need to shower, but we need to give Darin and Ryoko baths before getting them dressed."
"I suggest you get to it. Do you want me to get Bikky and Carol moving, or do you want to do it?"
"You mean those two aren't up already and looking for your local pan shop?" Ryo joked.
"It was a very eventful day." Momo sighed. "Ten o'clock is not a late time to get home by, but after everything, I also could use another hour or two of sleep."
"Then stop looking so damn cheerful at this time of the morning, cousin," Ryo quipped.
"I can't help it. I was built this way," she replied breezily, making Ryo laugh.
"Hey, what's going on over there?" they heard Dee's sleepy voice ask in Japanese.
Sounded like Dee was no longer undisturbed. Ryo was also impressed that Dee was able to start speaking Japanese while still mostly asleep. But then they did spend a lot of time over the time they arrived in Japan speaking the language. There were times English was spoken because of Bikky and Carol, but sometimes they still had to switch between the two languages when they were speaking to someone who did not know English well enough while with Bikky and Carol. Whenever Bikky and Carol were not around, it became natural to speak in Japanese. Ryo realized that the night before, when they were talking before they fell asleep, it was in Japanese. He was now impressed with himself, as well as Dee.
"Your father wants us all to meet at our hotel for breakfast," Ryo replied, deciding to stay with Japanese. "In 2 and a half hours. Meaning if we want to give Darin and Ryoko their baths, we have to start moving now."
Dee let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine. But our first day back in Tokyo, I'm sleeping in."
"I'll be right there with you," Ryo agreed with a smile. He looked back to Momo. "We'll start getting ready and will be downstairs once we are all dressed and ready for the day, Darin and Ryoko included. And yes, please, can you get Bikky and Carol up and going?"
"No problem," Momo remarked. "All these years of dealing with waking up Dafydd, I'm prepared for anything Bikky might pull." She smiled at Ryo.
"Yeah, I believe you can from what I've seen of Dafydd so far. Have fun!"
"Thanks, Ryo," she remarked sarcastically, and then laughed. "After I have Bikky and Carol up, I'll get the coffee started and then take my shower. So, if I'm not in the kitchen by the time you come down, just help yourself to coffee until Dafydd gets back."
"Where's Dafydd going?" Dee asked, now sitting up in the bed.
"Around the corner to get us some pan," Momo stated.
"I would like to go with him," Dee said.
Ryo looked at Dee. It would have been faster with the two of them giving their infant twins a bath, since Dafydd and Momo left two baby basins in the room where Darin and Ryoko slept. But while they still had three more days in Nagoya, Dafydd and Momo had to work the next two days and would only see them in the evenings. After that, they were not going to see Dafydd and Momo until they returned to Nagoya for Ayaka's birthday in two weeks. It was good that Dee spent whatever time he could with his twin brother now that they found each other, so Ryo understood why Dee wanted to go. "I think I can handle the chibis. If you want to go with your brother, you better get in the shower now and get dressed."
"You can also grab Bikky or Carol to lend a hand if you need," Dee said. He fell asleep in a tank top and shorts, so he did not have to cover himself as he got out of the bed. Ryo only put the yukata on out of habit of putting on a robe of some sort over his pajamas. Lately it had been a yukata. The one he wore was the one he bought with him from Tokyo that he been a gift from his grandmother. It was really more a nighttime, around the house type meant to be worn as a robe than the type they wore while going out whenever kimono or yukata was to be worn.
"Good idea," Ryo said.
"Good morning, Dee," Momo greeted from her place just outside the door.
"Morning, Momo," Dee replied and then yawned.
"I'll tell Dafydd to wait for Dee and then get the coffee going so they could have some before going out," Momo said. "I'll see you in a little bit."
"Yeah," Ryo replied. "Thanks, Momo." He slid the shoji screen door to their room closed and stretched. Looking at Dee, who was gathering his shower supplies, he said, "I would suggest saving time by us showering together, but more times than not, we end up taking longer. So, I'll shower after you. In the meantime, I'll check on the chibis and see if they are ready for their breakfast."
"Yeah, that wouldn't save time at all," Dee agreed. He had his toiletries in the basket Momo had provided and now wearing his yukata since he had to leave the room to use the bathroom. While in Japan, Dee noticed it was just more polite, even around family to wear a yukata over any clothes slept in during the night. He came over to Ryo as he made his way to the door and pulled him close with one arm. "But we can still do this," he added with grin and started to kiss his husband.
The kiss went on for several minutes before they had to pull apart, breathing heavily. Placing a hand on Dee's chest, Ryo said, "You better leave now, or you'll never make that shower."
With a sigh, Dee nodded, but leaned in for a brief kiss. "Hopefully tonight we won't be too tired to pick up where we're leaving off."
"Tonight, we're going to be at your fathers' house."
Dee let out a frustrated groan. "We could try to be quiet, but it's been days so I doubt that will be possible. Now I truly understand the reason for those love hotels."
Ryo chuckled. "Shame we don't have the time to slip off to one for a couple of hours like we did in Osaka."
"Yeah, no kidding. Another thing on the agenda for our first day back at the penthouse."
"We will be staying in Obāsan's guesthouse when we get to Kamakura," Ryo reminded him. "And we have that all to ourselves."
"Oh yeah. Right. It's a date then," Dee said with a wink and slipped out of the room, sliding the door closed behind him.
OoOoOoO
Since they were to stay at Dee's fathers' that evening and then the next evening they would be at Dee's grandparents' house, everything they had taken out of the van had to be packed and put back in. Dafydd offered for them to keep the cold stuff where it was, and he would bring it over to their fathers' house before Dee and Ryo left Nagoya. Their last night in Nagoya, they were back to Saburo's house and have a large family meal. Dafydd would bring everything to his father's house on that night.
Momo also added, since they were going to be in Nagoya for a few more days, if anything was noticed still in their house, they could also easily get it to Dee and Ryo.
Still, Ryo was doing a last-minute walk through of the house, making sure they had everything. As he entered Kiyoshi's and Tatsuya's room, where Bikky also slept the last couple of nights, his cell phone started to ring.
Seeing it was Emiko, he answered the call. "Moshi moshi," he said.
"Ryo! Oh my God!" came from Emiko, sounding excited.
"What? Everything okay? Something happened with Daito or the kids?"
"Oh no, no. Everyone is fine. And I'm super fine. Ryo, Ayaka Fujioka called me just now. Oh my God! I got to speak to Ayaka Fujioka! SHE. CALLED. ME! OH MY GOD!"
Ryo ended up holding the phone away from his ear and grinning during his first cousin's rant. He was glad he didn't put the call on speaker. If Dee was around, he probably would have, but Dee was downstairs, sitting with Dafydd and Momo, most likely playing with the puppies along with his nephews. Judging from the sounds coming up from the living room, it was exactly what was happening.
When Emiko was done, Ryo bit his lip to keep from laughing and composed himself to say evenly, "Oh, you mean the Ayaka Fujioka who is my sister-in-law? The same one who is Dee's youngest sister."
"Oh my God!" Emiko exclaimed again. "I don't think it really sank in until she called me. I only knew from what my mother told me and the one talk with you. She really is Dee's sister."
"I know, Oh my God!" Ryo teased, mimicking his cousin.
"That's easy for you to say. You've been able to hang out with her."
"Yup. In fact, we spent almost the whole day with her yesterday. Even with all of Dee's relatives, she decided to spend as much time at the party as she could with Dee and me, and when she wasn't, she was with Carol."
"How is Carol handling it?" Emiko asked.
"She's getting used to it. She spent a night sharing Ayaka's room before we left for our road trip, and she'll be sharing the room again tonight. They're like sisters now. Not only does Ayaka adore Carol, but Carol is part of Dee's family, so to Ayaka, that makes Carol her family too."
"Can I one day be family to Ayaka?" Emiko asked wistfully.
"Most likely, yes. I'm sure that is why she called you. You came up in conversation a lot yesterday, especially when Ayaka talked to Obāsan and Aunt Hoshi. I can see that Dee's family accepts my family as theirs now, especially since Dee's grandmother invited Obāsan to join us for the Naming Ceremony yesterday."
"I know. Okāsan told me they were going to Nagoya for that. I'm so jealous. I'm stuck here in New York, while you're doing all these great things in Japan. Especially the chibis' Naming Ceremony, at such a famous shrine. I wanted to move to New York to spend time with you and Dee and be part of your children's' lives, you know."
Ryo chuckled fondly. "I know. And we'll be back in New York in about a month. We're still not sure on the exact date yet."
"I thought you were returning in 3 weeks?" Emiko asked.
"Originally yes, before we met Dafydd. To give Dee more time with his family we decided to push back our return by a week or so, depending on when we can get one of the corporate jets to fly back to New York."
"Yeah, okay. That makes sense. Does that mean you'll have a whole day to do some industrial shopping for me in Tokyo?"
Ryo started to laugh. "Yes, of course. Dee and I will plan a day shopping for you. I promise. This is our investment too, you know. So, we're all in."
"Good. Because I have a tentative opening date now that I have a design plan and a schedule of construction. I also have all licensing started, and hopefully will have a finished place for the final inspections. Barry has been most helpful with the process and putting me in touch with all the right people. He is a very good man, Ryo."
"Yeah, Barry is someone we're lucky to be part of our extended family. How is he handling not being Dee's only brother?" Ryo asked.
"He's fine with it. He says that doesn't change everything Dee and he did over the years, and that he's really glad Dee has real family now. He says Dee deserves it. He admits he was wondering after Darin's and Ryoko's births if Dee had a twin somewhere out there. Now we all know he did, and happy Dee knows him now. Barry would love to meet Dafydd and the rest of Dee's family one day. So would I."
"It will happen. Our big extended family just tripled with the Fujiokas. We're all one big family now, and they want to know everyone we call family in New York," Ryo said.
"I'm happy to hear that."
"Especially if that means you'll get to meet Ayaka Fujioka one day?" Ryo said slyly.
Emiko laughed nervously. "I really do want to meet everyone in Dee's family, because they are his family, but yes, I would really love to one day meet her."
"When is the opening day?" Ryo asked.
"If all goes well, the soft opening will be on February 5th, and we'll have the Grand Opening Weekend on February 10 and 11."
"That's a Saturday and Sunday," Ryo stated. "I thought you were only doing weekdays?"
"The original plan was weekdays 6:30 to 2:00," Emiko replied. "But Daito suggested also being opened for the evening rush hour, or at least part of it. He noticed many people get off the ferry with him. We managed to find some Japanese students going to college in New York who live near us, and I am now training them to handle the afternoon hours and in the mornings on weekends. I am putting together our full plan in a document and will be sending it to you in a week or so. It really has evolved, especially as I have met many people interested in the café, either as customers or potential employees and have plenty of feedback. Daito and I are considering everything, and we'll also present it to you for your thoughts."
"That sounds great, Emiko." Ryo finished his walkthrough as he spoke to his cousin. "I have faith in you and Daito so I'm certain Dee and I will love what you plan to do."
"I was also put in touch with the people at the bakery at Mitsuwa. I'll be getting an early morning delivery of fresh pan from their bakery," Emiko added.
"Bikky will be thrilled to hear that. He had been asking if there was anyway you can sell it."
"Bikky has been enjoying Japanese side dish pan, I hear. I know he likes the pan from the bakery at Mitsuwa. It is a branch of a famous bakery in Tokyo."
"He does, but it might come second best to all the bakeries here in Japan. But part of it is being in Japan. At least he'll be able to have pan when we're around your place, instead of waiting until we go to Mitsuwa."
"Oh, and Dee's Aunt Masami from Kyoto called me a couple of days ago. She expressed some tea to me and I'm going to call her tomorrow on my choices so we can work on getting shipments for the café. It is very good matcha and green tea, and at good prices."
"She said she was going to send you samples of the tea served at her geisha house. I agree, it is great tea. I liked it so much, that she brought me and Dee a nice supply yesterday when she came to the party. Along with some of the wagashi we liked."
Emiko started to giggle. "We now have not only kabuki actors in the family, but also geisha and idols."
"We always had an idol in the family. Well, we did since Dee and I got married, but he wasn't saying anything about it at the time."
Emiko laughed with delight. "I am going to tease Dee about that for a very long time. I found his single on CD and we've been playing it. I'll make sure it plays the next time you and Dee come over."
"Oh, I'll be looking forward to that. Thanks, Emiko. Hey look, we're about to leave to meet Dee's family and Obāsan, your parents and Uncle Takehide and Aunt Moriko at our hotel for breakfast before doing some more sightseeing. They stayed at Dee's fathers' house last night, while we stayed with Dafydd and Momo."
"You're making me jealous again, but I'm so happy Obāsan was able to join you there yesterday."
"She's going back to Kamakura tonight, but she'll join us in sightseeing until then."
"I guess that means I should let you go. It's time to get Rie and Shuuichi ready for bed anyway. I was just shocked when I got that call from Ayaka and just had to call you."
"Are you calm now? Feeling better?"
"I am no longer about to hyperventilate, yes. Thank you," Emiko stated primly, making Ryo laugh.
"I'm happy. Say hello to Daito and the kids for us."
"As long as you tell Dee and the kids the same. And everyone else there."
"I will. Talk to you soon, Emiko. Bye."
"Bye, Ryo."
Ryo closed the call and headed downstairs to discover he was right. Bikky was on the floor and had Mochi in his lap, the puppy jumping up and down, getting licks in and making Bikky laugh. Carol was sitting on a chair with another puppy in her lap, the little black, gray and white fluffy puppy happily rolling around as Carol played with it. Dafydd was also on the floor, in his usual position hugging Michi. Dee decided to join his brother on the other side of Michi, while one of the other puppies seemed to find great joy in running back and forth over Dee's stomach, making him laugh. They had Darin and Ryoko propped to sit up as the other puppies ran around the babies, sometimes going up to lick and arm, or jump around as a baby reached out to touch them. Momo sat on the couch, watching everything, especially the puppies near Darin and Ryoko, and giving attention to any puppy that came over to her.
"Are you satisfied with the inspection, General?" Dee asked, sitting up and grabbing the puppy as it made another dash across his stomach, settling her on his lap.
Ryo gave Dee a mild glare. "We should have everything. Are we going to be able to leave on time?" he asked.
"Of course," Momo said. "Dafydd, Dee and Bikky offered to round up these little ones and get them in their room in a few minutes and we'll be leaving. It's only about 10 minutes on a Sunday morning to the Sakae Blossom."
"You know your way to the hotel?" Dafydd asked, also sitting up. He gave Michi one last pat and then got to his feet. "Just in case we get separated along the way."
"We should find it," Ryo said. "Dee does seem to know his way around this city pretty well."
"On the trains," Dee replied, also getting to his feet while managing to hold onto to the puppy. "But it's almost a straight shot, so we'll be okay. Besides I know which landmarks to keep an eye out for."
Dafydd nodded. "You do." He smiled at his twin brother and everyone got ready to leave for the hotel.
OoOoOoO
When they arrived at the hotel, they were escorted to one of the banquet rooms where they found Saburo, Yoshio, Sakura, Ayaka, Jirou and Eri with Kyoka, Tomoko and Kimi with Minori, Ryo's grandmother, aunts and uncles, as well as most of Hitoshi's and Kiyoshii's family. Mitsuko, Hitoshi's daughter, and her family were already at Nagoya Station to take the shinkansen back to Kumamoto. She was regretfully joined by Mie and her family at the station, needing to get back to Nagasaki that day because her husband had to work the next day and had children who had school. Everyone else was in the banquet room to have breakfast with Dee and his family.
Dee's grandmother apologized that his grandfather could not make it, but he suddenly announced that he was needed in Tokyo and did not know when he would return. He hoped it would be before Dee and his family left Nagoya, but he couldn't be sure.
Sakura seemed to be a bit put off by her husband's sudden trip, but it did not get in the way of her enjoying the day with her family.
After breakfast, almost everyone in Hitoshi's family said their goodbyes, promising to be in touch and hoping to see them in Osaka again. Hitoshi and Kiyoshii remained, along with Chiasa, Sam, and most of their family. Luna and Ken decided to go back to Osaka because Ken was not up sightseeing. Dee understood, having been there himself, only he did not realize he was having twins at the time. He found he enjoyed talking to Luna and Ken, and knew he would definitely want to keep in touch with them. He was still not sure about the constant in touch with all of the family. He decided not to think of it because the thought overwhelmed him. Yet, besides his immediate family, he still had some uncles, aunts and cousins he wanted to make the effort to stay in touch with. The family who flew in from San Francisco and Chicago were also still there, planning on spending most of the day with them.
Around 11, the family members who were going back to their homes got into cabs, while the rest of them got on a bus to start their day of sightseeing.
The first stop was Atsuta Jingu, where they walked around viewing the various shines on the grounds, and the Treasure House, which Bikky especially found fascinating. Dee noticed that Bikky seemed to enjoy looking at things from the Edo period, which in turn opened Bikky to history, as long as it was older history. Ryo had also mentioned it, and they decided to encourage it. Once they saw all the buildings, they stopped at Miyakishimen, which was a noodle shop next to the café on the Atsuta Shrine grounds for some kishimen.
After Atsuta Jingu, they went to nearby Shirotori Garden and walked around the park, which was a traditional Japanese style garden with ponds and streams. Water fell from carefully arranged rock formations like small waterfalls in various places. It was a serene and beautiful park. Dee enjoyed the time there with his family.
The last stop was to the Nagoya Public Aquarium before setting out for dinner. Sakura had booked a restaurant near Nagoya Station for their group to have dinner. There were too many of them for Saburo's house and with those numbers, it was more convenient to eat out than to attempt to feed everyone at Sakura's house.
After dinner, the bus stopped at Nagoya Station to let Akira, Nobu, Hoshi, Takehide and Moriko off so they could take the train back to Kamakura. Hitoshi and his family also got off, needing to go back to Osaka that night, including those who came from San Francisco. Kayako and Donald, and Shiinichi and Steven remained on the bus with Dee's parents, grandmother, Dafydd, Momo, Ayaka, Jirou, Eri, Tomoko and Kimi, along with children. They were going back to Dee's parents' house, except for the cousins from Chicago and their children, who were going to their parents', Dee's Uncles Hajime and Seijin. They planned to stay for the week with their fathers and spending time with the family in Nagoya before going back to Chicago.
Early Monday, Sakura came over to the house and had breakfast with everyone. It was just Saburo, Yoshio, Dee, Ryo, Bikky, Carol, Sakura and the twins who were setting off to Okazaki that morning. Dafydd and Momo had to work that day, as did Jirou, and Ayaka had rehearsals and a show later that night. With the smaller group, Sakura decided they should take the train. It would take them about 40 minutes by train, and at that time of a weekday, it would take them longer in traffic if they drove. So after breakfast, they set off for the walk to Sengen-cho Station and take the train to Nagoya Station, where they got a JR express train to Okazaki.
They toured the Hatcho Miso no Sato factory, seeing how the miso paste was made in gigantic cedar barrels and then pressed with 3 tons of rocks for the fermentation process. The tour actually turned out to be more interesting than Dee thought. There were also samples of the miso, which everyone enjoyed. After the factory tour, they went a few blocks to a stretch of various miso stores, where they bought brightly wrapped gift boxes of miso and kishimen noodles to bring back to friends and family in New York. They walked over to Okazaki Park to see Okazaki Castle.
Back in Nagoya, they went to Sakura's house. Yasu, along with assistance from Chouko and Yuuki, made dinner for everyone. Eri was already there with Kyoka, Tatsuya and Kyoshi, who she picked up from school because Dafydd and Momo were still at work, and Saburo and Yoshio were enjoying the day with Dee and his family. Before they sat down to eat, Dafydd, Momo and Jirou arrived to join them and spend a few hours.
Around 8 o'clock everyone left, leaving Dee, Ryo and family with Sakura and the family living with her and Ryoichi. Dee knew his grandmother was upset that his grandfather had not returned, nor did she hear from him all day and he felt sorry for her. It made him feel guilty because he was glad his grandfather was not home that night. For the most part, Ryoichi was in a good mood on Saturday, but Dee suspected it was the celebratory atmosphere of the day and he would be back to his usual self now that the party was over.
Later that night, inside their room, Dee stood on the veranda, looking out at the grounds of his grandparents' home. Some of the daidōrō, stone lamps, were still lit. The old traditional style lamp around his grandparents' grounds had very modern led lights instead of flames and operated on a computerized system, going off automatically after midnight, but could be operated manually when the lights were needed outside the programmed time.
"Hey, planning on coming to bed?" Ryo asked in amusement as he came to stand behind Dee. He slipped his arms around Dee's waist and rested his chin on his shoulder.
"Yeah," Dee said. "I'm just appreciating, is all. I can't believe this is my grandparents' home. If you go by Dafydd, you would think they lived in a shack of something." Dee chuckled.
"Dafydd's like you when it come to luxury, despite how he has raised."
"Unlike how I was raised," Dee said, "but I understand his reasons for acting like he does. Especially now." He shrugged and continued, "I don't mind getting comfortable with luxury, just not too comfortable and forget where I came from."
Ryo started to laugh. "Dee, this is where you come from, but I understand what you mean. And both your grandparents insist, as with your siblings, that this is yours too. You already had a key to enter the house on your own and all the codes to get on and around the grounds."
"I know." He shook his head. "And my fathers' house is also mine and my siblings. Even without the penthouse, between the two of us we have collected quite a few 'homes' in Japan."
"Oh yeah, we also have my grandmother's house too. Obāsan's house and grounds is impressive, but this…" Ryo indicated the house they stood in and the grounds below, "this is more an estate. It's beautiful."
"It is." Dee turned so he could put his arms around Ryo and pull him closer. "Not only am I appreciating it, I'm still wrapping my head around this belonging to my family. And the shrine. And all their businesses. It's a lot. And in a couple of days, we're going to leave this behind and go back to our life in the Tokyo area. I'm just wanting to take it all in before we don't have it so easily available."
"We'll be back in a couple of weeks for Ayaka's birthday party. I'm sure we'll end up here for at least a meal before going back to Tokyo."
"That's true."
"But if you want, we can take a walk around the garden before going to bed. You know we don't need to ask to go out of the house and go into the garden."
Dee nodded. "I like that idea. Let's put on our yukatas and take a walk." He leaned in to kiss Ryo.
A minute later, Ryo pulled away and with a laugh said, "We keep that up and we'll never make it anywhere except hopefully the bed."
Dee let out a frustrated groan, and after a chaste kiss, went across the room to where he left his yukata. "Shame we're in the same building as some of my family."
OoOoOoO
The next day, Sakura and Yasu took them to Tokugawaen, which had an art museum with Japanese historical and cultural artifacts, which was no surprise that Bikky took great interest in and made Dee and Ryo happy. The garden was originally a retirement villa for a Lord of the Owari Tokugawa clan back in 1695 designed like the gardens daimyo had back in the day. The garden had a pond, a waterfall, and was very beautiful. Not as much as Shirotori Gardens, but it was a beautiful place to explore. The historical reference could not be beat, and there was talk that it was the original garden with minor changes. The same type of flowers and foilage were used to replace withering plants. Like Nagoya Castle, the garden had somehow evaded destruction during World War II. Saburo and Yoshi were waiting for them at the entrance to the museum. They had lunch at the restaurant there, before going into Noritake Museum and Garden. Noritake was a well-known brand of ceramic dinnerware popular in Japan and the US. They had selected a bright colorful and modern pattern for their wedding registry and received the dishware as a wedding gift from one of Ryo's MacLean relatives. After strolling through the garden, and the museum, Dee and Ryo found a nice set of dinnerware for the penthouse in the retail shop. When it came time to pay for it, Sakura insisted on paying, saying it was her wedding gift to them.
As usual, the last couple of days, they hardly spent money on meals and many items they picked up for themselves, as Dee's grandmother or fathers insisted on paying for it. Dee was about to put his foot down on paying for the new set of dinnerware, or sets as it was because they had to have enough to set out when family came over. They would also be using it whenever they hosted a nice meal when they were in Tokyo. Dee felt it was best that he and Ryo pay for it, but how could he argue with his grandmother when she had made it a wedding gift. So, Dee and Ryo did the only thing they could at that point and graciously thanked her and allowed her to pay.
They were getting ready to leave the store with their purchases when Sakura finally got a call from Ryoichi saying he was on his way back to Nagoya. She was happy he was coming home, but Dee knew she was still pissed at his sudden leaving for a couple of days. It was not the best time for them for him to disappear. They seemed to have started to patch things up Saturday night as they left the party, but damage control came to a complete halt with Ryoichi up and leaving the next morning and not being heard from until now. Hopefully his grandfather would be up to the task of getting things right between them. He knew his grandmother would be, but it took more than just one. It had to be the two of them, and at the moment, Dee wasn't sure his grandfather was able to give as much as his grandmother. It made him sad and feeling guilty again, and he really hoped everything would be sorted between his grandparents sooner than later.
Their last stop for the day was nearby Nagoya Station, where they strolled along the underground shops and went into Takashimaya Department Store at the station. It was already mentioned that across Nagoya station was GPN Square, which included GPN Tower - a 40+ floor office building, a 9-floor mall with 7 floors above ground and two basement levels, and a smaller office building which was GPN's headquarters. Also located in GPN Tower was ChiyoshiAka's executive offices. Besides the executive staff having offices at that location, it also included the operations, legal, acquisitions, accounting and logistics departments. The rest of ChiyoshiAka's departments were at the same location as their R&D and manufacturing departments and the warehouse in Nakamura Ward near the Shōnai River. Yoshio further explained that many of their items were manufactured there, using as little subcontractors as possible except for parts. The clothing line would be sent from wherever the selected designers had their clothes made. Since Dee and Ryo were planning to be back in Nagoya for Ayaka's birthday, Sakura thought it best to leave the family business tours for another day, to make that day less hectic and crammed with seeing places. They would also be taken into the storage facility located in the basement level of the GPN office building at GPN Square.
When they arrived at Saburo's house, they found Dafydd, Momo, Jirou, Eri and Ayaka already starting on dinner. They were expecting all of the Fujioka siblings for dinner that evening, except for Koji who had returned to Ise on Sunday. Ryoichi did not make it back to Nagoya in time to have dinner or to say goodbye to Dee and family, because early the morning, they were leaving Nagoya and going to Kamakura, where they were staying for a few days with Ryo's grandmother before staying at the penthouse in Tokyo until they had to return to Nagoya for Ayaka's birthday.
It was an emotional night. Dee found it hard saying goodbye to his grandmother and Dafydd when they left later in the evening. It was just as rough the next morning after breakfast to say goodbye to Saburo, Yoshio and Ayaka. Jirou and Eri were also there for breakfast before Jirou headed off to work and Eri went to start her errands for the day.
Ryo decided to take first shift in driving, because Dee found he had trouble getting his emotions under control after saying goodbye to his fathers and youngest sister before getting into the van. Even Ryo seemed sorry to leave, but he was not the missing son who was finally returned to his family. Dee felt as if a part of him that he found in the last few weeks was suddenly ripped from him as they pulled away from Saburo's house. Even Bikky seemed subdued on the ride back to Kamakura. It was not lost on Dee and Ryo that Bikky had quickly became very fond of his new grandfathers, great-grandmother, Dafydd and Momo, and some others in the Fujioka family.
The further they got from Nagoya, the more Dee started to feel it was all just a dream.
OoOoOoO