Creaking the door open slightly, Kenichi saw through the cracks his son peacefully sleeping. Giving a wry grin, he sneaked inside to whisper into his ear.

"Subaruuuuu…" he sang. "Wake up. It's time for school."

Subaru didn't respond. Instead he just kept on snoring.

"Oi, wake up son!" Kenichi yelled enthusiastically. "You gotta eat your breakfast!"

He tried shaking Subaru awake, but again got no response. "Subaru…Subaru!"

Kenichi grabbed his sons shoulders and shook him back and forth, hoping to wake the boy up. But it was no use. He was out like a light.

"Hmm…This calls for desperate measures…" Kenichi mumbled to himself. Giving a quick worried glance at his son, he ran out of the room into the kitchen.

There, he saw his gorgeous and lovable wife hard at work making breakfast for all of them. "Oh, dear," she announced when she noticed his presence. "Is Subaru up and ready?"

"No," Kenichi stated. "He won't wake up."

Naoko gasped in shock. "Oh no!" she said. "Is he dead?"

"What? No." Kenichi shook his head at her question. "Anyways, I've tried shaking that boy but he's out like a light. I just don't get it…"

Naoko gave a mirthful chuckle. "Oh, dear. You know how teenagers are. Subaru was probably up allll night playing video games."

"If that's the case, then I might just have to steal them away from him," Kenichi mused. Naoko gave a disapproving glare.

"Just joking. But seriously," he steered the conversation back on track. "We gotta wake him up somehow or he'll be late for school."

"Don't worry!" Naoko said cheerfully. "I have just the right thing to wake Subaru up!"

A few minutes later, the couple entered their son's room. It was here that Naoko realized just how much of a mess it was. It took everything she had in her to not drop everything and pick up his trash and sort all of his clothing. Instead she walked up to the sleeping Subaru with something in hand.

"Subaruuuu~" she sang. "Mom has something special for youuu~"

In her hands was none other than a delicious mayonnaise sandwich. Subaru's favorite. She knew that if she just waved the food in front of Subaru's face, he'd wake up instantly!

Moving the sandwich back and forth in front of Subaru, she noticed the subtle twitches of Subaru's nose, indicating that he smelled it. A wide grin appeared on both the parents' faces, anticipating their victory.

But instead, Subaru just rolled over on his side, still sleeping and snoring loudly.

Naoko gave a disheartened gasp. "But it's Subaru's favorite!" she cried. "How could Subaru not wake up to a mayonnaise sandwich?"

"This is serious," Kenichi said worriedly. "Never has this ever happened to our boy before…"

"Could it be…puberty?" Naoko whispered.

"Honey, he's seventeen. I think he's past that phase," Kenichi reminded. "We just have to try something else…"

Kenichi's brilliant idea involved gathering some pots and pans and banging them together. But despite how long and loud he played them for, Subaru didn't even stir. Naoko on the other hand had to cover her sensitive ear.

"Dear! I think we should try something else!" she shouted.

"Agreed," he concurred. Kenichi tossed the pots and pans behind him, making a loud crash. Naoko shivered in discomfort at the horrendous sound. "We gotta get personal. Something that'll really rattle him!"

Naoko started to brainstorm. Although she didn't like it, they didn't have much time left and they needed to wake Subaru up. Even if it meant threatening to punish him.

"Hey Subaru!" Naoko shouted. "I have allll your video games here! In fact, I'm going to take them all and play them for myself!"

Nothing. Subaru just snored again while Naoko stared blankly at her husband.

"Well Subaru. Since you aren't waking up, I suppose you won't need any of this anime merchandise anymore…" he said in a fake sad voice. "I guess I'll just have to sell them all."

Kenichi looked over to the bed and expected Subaru to jump out to stop him, but instead he was lying there still. Now he was really starting to get worried.

"Naoko. Do you think this might be a medical problem?" he asked.

"I don't know," his wife responded as she bit her lip. "We may need to call the doctor. Perhaps they will know what to do."

"Yes. This is much more serious than I would have imagined. We should probably call the school and let them know Subaru may not be coming today," he suggested.

"If that's the case," Naoko started. "Then we'll have to call a doctor for sure. Maybe they have some shots or needles to give Subaru that will wake him up…"

"NEEDLES?!" Subaru jolted out of bed, face covered in sweat. "I don't wanna see any needles!"

"You're up!"

Both of Subaru's parents ran towards him with open arms.

"We'd thought we'd never see you again!"

"We're glad to have you back son!"

"Oh…umm…haha…Yeah…" In truth, Subaru had pretended to be asleep the whole time. But after hearing about a potentially sharp pointy object penetrating his skin, he caved in.

"Oh! You're going to be late!" Naoko remembered. Hurriedly, she ran downstairs. "Come quickly! Get dressed and have breakfast!"

Kenichi already got a toothbrush and comb and began to fix up Subaru's face and hair. The boy sputtered due to his dad's meddling and somehow was able to put on his uniform during all of that. When he got downstairs, his mom practically shoved the food down his gullet and wouldn't let him go until he swallowed.

"Now you be good today, okay? No picking fights. No disrespecting teachers—"

"I'm not a little kid anymore, Mom. Geez!" Subaru complained. "You can trust me."

"Make sure to make plenty of friends," Kenichi advised. "Building relationships is the most important part of school."

Giving a small smile, Subaru put on his shoes near the door. It took some convincing, but Naoko and Kenichi eventually persuaded Subaru to go back to school. And although today he attempted to get out of it again, the threat of a doctor was much too great for the boy to ignore.

"Oh! And one more thing!" Naoko called out. Subaru was halfway out the door, and turned to look back at his parents.

They both gave proud, compassionate smiles to their child, waving all the while. "Take care."

Tears began to well up in Subaru's eyes. But he quickly wiped them away before giving a large wave back, and a beaming grin.

"Right!"

And so he was off. Back to continue school. And although he didn't know it…

His parents were the proudest they've ever been.