Chapter Three - Breakfast at Mia's
The dining room table was draped in a white tablecloth as usual. There wasn't much decoration to it other than that, but in the morning sun it looked beautiful as light shone off the plates overstocked with food. Down the center there was a pile of bacon the size of the pig it was taken from, there was a small plate with a stack of bread. Around the table were other breakfast meals such as stacks of pancakes and waffles, muffins, rice- balls, and biscuits. There were sides of butter, cream cheese, jam, jelly and such. There were large pitchers of milk, grape juice and orange juice. All this before the group of friends, simply put, a feast.
"Is this all?" Kento said, unable to hide his smile. Mia slightly pushed his arm as he sat down.
Mia sat down first, placing a napkin on her lap, and next to her was Sage, then Rowen, then Kento. On the opposite side Sai sat in front of Mia, and Mina had taken a seat next to him, for Ryo had taken the next seat and Yuli seemed to demand earlier that he sit next to Ryo.
Kento was set to dig in when he was elbowed by Rowen. "Ouch! What?! I'm hungry!" he complained.
"I think we should say grace first," Mia requested.
"Fine. Grace. Amen. Food!"
"Kento!" the Ronins scolded in unison.
"C'mon, guys, I'm starving!" he whined.
"Oh, go ahead!" Mia said, shaking her head with a grin.
"Can I get an 'amen'!" Kento said jokingly as he piled four eggs, five waffles, five pancakes, and an insane amount of bacon on his plate.
"Hey, Kento, there are other people at this table, you know!" Ryo stated, chuckling a little.
Kento looked up with a biscuit in his mouth and his cheeks seemed to turn red in embarrassment. "Oh... sorry... " he said humbly, ever so lightly putting the plate of bacon back on the table.
Easing his embarrassment, they let out their usual light laughs at his endless hunger. "It's okay, Kento, we know your stomach has an infinite capacity for food," Sai chuckled, reaching for the pancakes.
"Well, I know how he feels, I have missed Mia's cooking for so long!" Sage exclaimed, carefully slipping an egg onto his plate.
"You guys act like you don't eat at home! Every time you're hungry you're going to come crying to me?" Mia queried, trying to throw off the blushing compliment that Sage had given her. The room fell silent for a little while with the clicking and clanging of dishes being passed back and forth.
Eventually, everyone had a decent amount of food on each of their plates. Mia looked over the table delightedly as they were about ready to feast. "So, now that we're all settled, what have you been up to for the past two years?" Mia questioned, clasping her hands together eagerly.
The table was silent for a moment. Rowen had his fork stabbed into his waffles and noticed everyone was keeping quiet. Kento looked like he wanted to say something, but the bacon in his mouth occupied his speech at the time. Rowen leaned forward a little and pulled out a picture and laid it on the table. The group took a look at it then up at Rowen, hoping for an explanation.
"You see the third guy in the back there?" he started, pointing down on the picture.
They took a closer look. "Hey, he has the same hair color, the same eyes, the same face. He looks way too much like you, man," Ryo pointed out to the others.
"Yep, to a 'T'. You see the woman standing next to him?"
The group returned their attention back to the picture. "She looks a little like you, bud." Kento smirked.
Rowen picked up the picture again and slipped it back in his pocket. "Well, she should; that's my mother."
"Who was the guy?" Sai asked, turning from his pancakes.
"I can't confirm anything, but as I looked on a bit and did a little research, it seems my mom was married before she met my dad."
Sage looked up at him and it seemed that Rowen was more intrigued than anything else. "So, who is he?" Sage asked.
"Well from what I think, he's my half-brother. I tried looking him up, but it seems he's everywhere. Residential areas of Korea, Thailand, China, the most recent is in Hirosana."
Sage held out his hand to see the picture again. "You going to see if it's him?"
Rowen reached back in his pocket to take it out once more. "I wrote a letter to mom about it, but she avoided the subject completely." They all returned to silence as Rowen finished. He looked around and said, "Well I spoke up, but it looks like no one else has anything to say about their time off."
"Sai got a job as a cook!" Kento blurted out between mouthfuls.
Sai seemed a little upset that Kento had turned all attention towards him, but he continued upon it. "It's nothing really big, I just work at a restaurant, trying to help my family pay for college and all," he said as he returned to his pancakes and toast.
"Tell them about your honey bunny!" Kento interrupted. Sai blushed heavily and buried his chin into his chest.
"C'mon, Sai, clue us in!" Rowen egged him on.
"Well... she... I... she's just a waitress where I work," he offered.
"Did you tell her you're madly in love with her?" Kento smirked.
"Hey, knock it off, Kento! I just got the job to help with college! Nothing more!"
Sage seemed to notice Sai was getting very upset, so he decided to insert himself. "That's really responsible of you to take on expenses like that. Rowen tried to get a job and he blew it as bad as he blew cooking!" Sage stated happily. Rowen blushed and sank down in his seat.
"What happened?" Mia asked eagerly.
"I tried for a photographers assistant in town a while back..." he trailed off.
"Tell them the whole story, Rowen!" Sage said impatiently. Rowen shook his head violently and stuffed his mouth with some waffles to keep from explaining further. Sage, however, was not about to let the story die a quick death. "Rowen was going to try out for a photographer's position to get through college. He thought he was going to take pictures of wildlife and science experiments." Sage purposely stopped there.
"What did he take pictures of?" Kento asked, finally done chewing on a large piece of bacon.
Sage began to laugh to himself and finished his story. "The part was for a photographer's assistant, but it was for that swimsuit magazine photo shoot! He called me up saying he was so nervous around the beach bunnies that he couldn't do the job anymore!" he finished, bursting out in laughter. Most of the others tried to keep from their giggles, but Kento almost spewed his mouthful right into Yuli's face he was laughing so hard.
"Hey, I have more respect for women than that, you hypocrite! As I recall, the subscription list they gave me showed that you have been a subscribing member for the last five years!" Rowen protested out loud.
Sage stopped laughing, and his face turned as red as Rowen's as all eyes turned to him. "I, uh... " he echoed. The table grew in laughter as Sage had the tables turned on him, and eventually he joined in the fun.
The table wasn't quiet long. Kento turned to Ryo. "Your father is a photographer, right?" he asked, putting some bacon in his mouth.
"Uh, yeah... " Ryo stuttered.
"How has he been lately?" Sai asked, turning his attention to Ryo.
"Oh, um, he's all right. He, uh... he sent me a letter a while back... yeah, once he gets done in Africa, they are going to send him to Alaska for a while," he responded, twirling a cut piece of toast in his egg yoke.
"You mean he hasn't come home at all?" Rowen sat up.
"Nope," Ryo replied, putting the piece into his mouth. The table was quiet again. "As far as I can remember, that's been almost seven years since you last saw him," Sage accurately deduced.
"Yep," was Ryo's only reply as he cut off a piece of egg white. They all noticed that Ryo was never scant about his father. He was hiding something and they all knew it.
Mina rubbed his back a few seconds with her hand. She knows, Rowen thought to himself. I probably shouldn't pry. "Hey, I know how you feel, Ryo," Rowen stated quietly.
"Yeah, I know, Rowen, you're better at handling it than I am. You got guts, buddy." Ryo grinned in response. Rowen chuckled a little.
"Yeah, well, I try. My mother hasn't got back from her trip from Cairo yet, so me and my dad are trying to make do."
The table turned their attention to Rowen now. "Are you sure you're okay there?" Sage asked quietly.
Rowen looked around, a little surprised. "Hey, I'm fine! Don't worry about me, guys, I know how to handle my father. He can be a great guy too, you know?" They returned to their food and again the short-living quiet had returned.
"Well, you have been awfully quiet, and we know the least about you," Sage said, grinning at Mina.
"Yeah, tell us a little about yourself," Mia requested.
Mina started to blush very lightly. "I don't really know what to say."
Rowen swallowed a piece of food he was chewing on and waved his fork at the two. "How about how you two met, hm?"
Ryo's face blushed and popped up. He looked at Mina out the corner of his eyes shakily at her. The entire group picked it up and started to get excited. "Ah ah ah! We saw that! We saw that! You better tell us now! This is going to be good!" Kento exclaimed, almost jumping out of his seat.
"It's really a long story," she offered.
"Oh, we have all morning! Spill it, sweetheart, and don't leave out a single detail!" Sage said with an equally large smile on his face.
"I really don't want to embarrass Ryo..." she tried one last time.
"Oh, but we do! C'mon! Let's hear it!" Kento whined as he finally stopped stuffing his face. It seemed the whole group was interested in hearing the story.
Ryo buried his forehead in his thumb and pointer finger again as Mina looked around, trying to figure out where to begin. "Well, I live at the base of Ryo's mountain. I lived there all my life, so naturally I would see him a few times. I always saw him running past in a panic to get to school. I didn't know he lived so far away. My mom or dad always dropped me off." She drifted as she took another bite out of her egg white.
"So you knew him before you personally knew him? That's cool. How did you two get to know each other?" Rowen questioned, wanting Mina to continue.
Ryo forcibly cleared his throat as if saying 'that's far enough' but didn't actually say it. Mina smirked lightly. She loved how Ryo was so hidden when he was in an embarrassing situation. She waved off to the people at the table, acknowledging them that she would tell them later. However, they couldn't wait until later.
"Well, I'm full!" Mia proclaimed as she wiped her hands. Sage picked up on her plan and also announced he was finished as it followed down the line. Eventually all said they were finished.
"So, whose turn is it to do the dishes?" Sai asked lightly.
All eyes and fingers pointed to Ryo, whose jaw dropped. "It's Friday! Ryo always does the dishes on Friday!" Kento told almost in a six-year-old manner.
"Hey, I did the dishes the last time we were here, which was also a Friday! It should be Rowen's turn!" Ryo debated with the thought of all the others with Mina without him.
"I'll help you out, Ryo!" Yuli shouted at the end of the table.
"Thanks, Yuli, at least someone here has some decency," he coldly remarked, rising from his seat.
"I'll get Kento's dish! It should have the least leftovers!" Yuli seemed to be almost cheering. The group laughed at the logical yet humorous truth. Eventually the dining room cleared out, and all except Ryo and Yuli gathered in the den. They ushered Mina to a seat that seemed to be in the center of the room and took seats around her.
"Okay, let's hear the full story! We want every detail, no matter how frivolous or irrelevant!" Rowen stated enthusiastically.
"Well, there was one thing you should know first." Mina paused a moment to wait for the nods of the others. "When I was little, there was this song. I'm not sure who it was by anymore, but it was titled 'Samurai Heart'. I don't know what it was, but I couldn't get enough of that song. I hummed it everywhere I went, I wrote its lyrics down every chance I got, me and my Walkman were inseparable. It wasn't as popular as many of the other songs. It only came out as a single, and I couldn't find it in any large- name stores. Eventually I found it on the radio, and luckily I had a tape ready. It was the most beautiful song I have ever heard, I love it now more than ever because it led me to meet Ryo."
Mina took a breath and the others seemed overly interested. Mia beamed as if watching two little puppies fall in love, and Kento seemed to grow ill at the 'mushy' way of explaining things.
"The way it went was like this... "
It was outdoor recess time in the grade school. The fifth grade was not an easy year for many, yet some excelled while others averaged. On this bright Thursday afternoon, a young girl, long blond hair braided back with a red ribbon, walks lightly and happily around the playground, humming away to her favorite song blaring through her headset.
Approaching where the asphalt ended and the grass started, she heard the song slip away right in the middle. Her hair was pulled back and the headset plug was ripped out of its socket. Grasping at the fleeing cord, she turned to find her headset in the hands of Tiro, who was waving them in front of her face.
Tiro was a pure jerk, brat and a bully. He had been held back a grade and was much larger than other students. Despite being almost two years older, he had the maturity of a three-year-old. He threw the headset into the air and caught it in his hand again and gave a wicked smile as his coat- riding lackey-friend snickered at every moment. "Aw, little baby girl forget something?" Tiro ridiculed in a light babyish voice.
"Give those back, Tiro! They aren't yours!" the girl shouted.
"Oh, yes they are, Tina Mina!" he replied with an evil smirk.
"Heh heh, Tina Mina, that's a good one, T!" his rat-faced companion complimented.
"Yeah, it is, isn't it? So, Tina Mina, what else have you got for me today, hm?" Tiro smirked, looking her over. Mina cringed; she didn't like Tiro's roving eye looking her over so intently.
Tiro reached out his hand and Mina grabbed the bottom of the skirt of her uniform in defense that he might flip it up again and show everyone in the recess ground. Instead, he easily snatched away the Walkman at her side. "Oh, why thank you! This will go great with my new headset!" Both Tiro and his companion laughed heartily as Mina blushed and angered at the same time.
Immediately it hit her that her rare song was on that tape. She futilely jumped at Tiro, who held the Walkman above his head. Jumping up and down never getting closer in reach, while Tiro continued to laugh. Mina started crying, but she was so enraged she let out a shrieking cry and kicked Tiro painstakingly low.
Tiro toppled over, whining in a high mouse voice, and Mina could not believe that she had done that. "Get her!" Tiro squeaked, and before Mina had realized it, the rat-faced boy had her hands bound behind her and covered her mouth with his. She struggled, but to no avail as Tiro wearily got to his feet, and they led her behind a thicket of trees out of school bounds.
They threw her up against a tree and she smacked her head pretty hard against the bark, falling to the ground. Tiro shadowed over her, and his face was beet-red. "So, you think you're a tough kid, eh?! You think you're all so special, listening to your fancy music?! Ha!" Tiro took the tape out of the Walkman and held it up to her face. "This is what I think of your music, you miserable little wretch!" Tiro exclaimed as he spit on the tape and broke it in his hands.
"N-o!" Mina cried as the tape unraveled from the broken shards.
Tiro threw it to the ground and smashed it further with his foot and forcefully threw down the Walkman, completely shattering it. "I'm not done yet, dog! Oh, I am far from done with you!" Tiro preached as the rat boy snickered. Tiro raised his fist high. "I will enjoy every minute of this!" he said sadistically.
Mina cringed again and cowered, huddling her head into her shoulder, awaiting the blow. To her surprise, there was nothing.
She opened her eyes to see Tiro struggling to force his fist down upon her as a recognizable young boy held it away. "I don't know who has done what, but most likely it's your own fault, Tiro. This is too far. I suggest you back off before someone gets hurt," he commented quietly. This enraged Tiro. He swung around with his other fist and it was captured in the young boy's palm. "You really are a piece of crap, Tiro..."
The boy pulled both hands forward and delivered a forceful head-butt. Tiro clasped his nose as the increasing blood flowed forward. Tiro roared in anger, but the young boy did not wait for him to finish before he let out a number of furious blows to Tiro's stomach. Tiro staggered over, falling to the ground wheezing. Eventually he slithered away with the rat boy chasing behind.
"Are you all right?" two piercing blue eyes asked as they looked down at her with an extended hand.
"Y-Yes, thank you," Mina replied as she was aided to her feet. The young boy bowed a little, then began to walk off. Mina wanted to stop him, but couldn't think how. He was quite handsome to her, and, after all, he risked much taking on the biggest bully in the school all to save this girl he hardly knew. "Wait!" she cried, "at least tell me your name!" The boy turned and seemed to almost smile. "Um... my-my name is Mina," she said nervously.
The boy looked at her face with the same smile. She was very beautiful for a young girl. He hadn't noticed it a moment ago, but she seemed more mature than any other girl his age. "Ryo. Ryo Sanada," he stated as he turned to walk off.
Mina wasn't about to let her savior go just like that. She rushed out to him and grabbed his arm and wrapped herself around it, hugging it tightly. "I really am grateful. Is there anything I can do to show my gratitude? Anything at all?" Mina asked.
Ryo seemed to blush at Mina hugging his arm. "I didn't do it for any particular reason other than it was the right thing to do," Ryo said trying to take Mina's gratitude off of him. "I'm really sorry about your Walkman, it looks like it got a little busted up," he added. Mina's heart sank as she finally remembered her 'Ultra Rare' musical masterpiece was destroyed, yet she didn't let go of Ryo's arm. "You look so sad, did that have sentimental value to you?" Ryo asked in his serious way of talking that seemed to be trademark at that time.
"Yeah, you could say that. That was my favorite song for years. You can't find it anywhere anymore. Not in stores, not on the radio, nowhere, and it's the greatest song in the world," Mina continued on as they headed to an unknown destination.
"It really does hurt when you lose something irreplaceable, especially when it comes to a great value to you," Ryo stated solemnly.
"You sound like this has happened to you before." Mina looked up with shaken eyes.
"Yeah, it has. I lost something that could not be replaced when I was a lot younger." He trailed off.
"What was it?" she asked in reply.
Ryo didn't seem like he wanted to answer. He struggled for a new topic, but his lack of social interaction left him no skill in that ability and he was stuck with a confused look on his face. "I really don't want to bother you with my life story, Mina," he said, poorly trying to avoid the subject.
"C'mon, you can tell me anything. I owe you my life!" Mina exclaimed.
This was the outlet Ryo was looking for. "Your life? I highly doubt that. I don't think that Tiro would be foolish enough to kill you," Ryo retorted.
"Well, he has hospitalized people before," she said as Ryo felt relief, "but I don't want to change the subject. I could have been badly beaten, yes, but you look like you need to get something off your chest," Mina went on to Ryo's chagrin.
"You need not worry about me; you're the one that needs to relax, that was quite the ordeal," he tried again.
Mina looked up at him with a slanted face, almost in confusion. "You don't talk like anyone I've met before. You go to a different school in a different part of town?" she asked, full well knowing the answer.
"I go to this school," he said, walking around the outskirts of the building.
"Really? Me too!" Mina tried acting surprised, yet it was Ryo who was truly taken off guard.
"Oh, I have never seen you inside."
Mina looked ahead at the school. "Well, boys' and girls' classes are separated, and the only time we would have to see each other is outdoor recess, but you already knew that," Mina tried to explain.
"Yes, but I would think that after such a long time I would have at least seen you once. I thought you went to a different school, finding you outside the bounds," he stated with a breath.
"Tiro dragged me out here. He always drags the people he picks on out here. That reminds me, why are you out of bounds?"
Ryo was taken off guard by the question; he never really expected to get in this deep. He knew if she continued to push, he would end up pouring his heart out to her. There was just something about her that he liked. It wasn't just that she was beautiful, or that she was a cheery person, but it was more as if Ryo could trust her. "I like to be around more natural surrounding. It's more like my home," he finally responded.
"Where do you live? I sometimes see you running down the street." Mina felt that she shouldn't have said that, afraid Ryo might piece together that she had been studying him every morning.
"I live in Yaminashi up the mountain path by the embedded lake," Ryo quickly explained.
Mina's eyes widened. "You live all the way up there?! That's almost nine miles! You walk to school?!" she said, not caring that Ryo might figure her out.
There was no threat of that, however, as Ryo again seemed to shy away from Mina's excited howling. "I uh... don't have a bus stop near me," he offered.
Mina shook her head. "Don't your parents drive you at least down the mountainside? That at least would take six miles off your trip."
Ryo saddened greatly, and Mina felt like she put both feet in her mouth. She didn't know why, but the look on Ryo's face said it all. Something heavy was about to be said. A nagging pang in the back of Mina's head told her that this was what Ryo was avoiding the entire time. "My... mother is dead and... my father won't be home for another two years," he explained softly.
Then and there Mina's heart seemed to stop beating as the air couldn't reach her lungs. She pushed for Ryo to let this out and now she wanted to shove it back to where it came from but it was far too late. It was out in the open and the silence was deafening. "I... I'm sorry. I didn't know," she sighed as the oxygen finally made it to her lungs.
Ryo seemed to jump on that comment. "Oh, no, don't be sorry! It's not your fault! I tend to have an air about me that makes people ask questions," he tried to comfort. Mina knew that he was trying his hardest to keep her happy, and even though they were at a young age, Ryo seemed adorable to her when he tried.
Mina's cheeks turned a pinkish hue as a thought entered her mind. Ryo was blushing and scrambling to make her feel better, all the while embarrassed at the fact that she was on his arm. Should I kiss him? If he doesn't want me to, I could simply say it was to thank him. A little peck on the cheek couldn't hurt, she thought to herself.
She smiled as Ryo looked sheepishly at the ground. She leaned forward and started to walk on her toes to reach her chin to Ryo's shoulder. Her lips were about to make contact with his cheek as the loud-sounding bell of the ending of recess rang
The dining room table was draped in a white tablecloth as usual. There wasn't much decoration to it other than that, but in the morning sun it looked beautiful as light shone off the plates overstocked with food. Down the center there was a pile of bacon the size of the pig it was taken from, there was a small plate with a stack of bread. Around the table were other breakfast meals such as stacks of pancakes and waffles, muffins, rice- balls, and biscuits. There were sides of butter, cream cheese, jam, jelly and such. There were large pitchers of milk, grape juice and orange juice. All this before the group of friends, simply put, a feast.
"Is this all?" Kento said, unable to hide his smile. Mia slightly pushed his arm as he sat down.
Mia sat down first, placing a napkin on her lap, and next to her was Sage, then Rowen, then Kento. On the opposite side Sai sat in front of Mia, and Mina had taken a seat next to him, for Ryo had taken the next seat and Yuli seemed to demand earlier that he sit next to Ryo.
Kento was set to dig in when he was elbowed by Rowen. "Ouch! What?! I'm hungry!" he complained.
"I think we should say grace first," Mia requested.
"Fine. Grace. Amen. Food!"
"Kento!" the Ronins scolded in unison.
"C'mon, guys, I'm starving!" he whined.
"Oh, go ahead!" Mia said, shaking her head with a grin.
"Can I get an 'amen'!" Kento said jokingly as he piled four eggs, five waffles, five pancakes, and an insane amount of bacon on his plate.
"Hey, Kento, there are other people at this table, you know!" Ryo stated, chuckling a little.
Kento looked up with a biscuit in his mouth and his cheeks seemed to turn red in embarrassment. "Oh... sorry... " he said humbly, ever so lightly putting the plate of bacon back on the table.
Easing his embarrassment, they let out their usual light laughs at his endless hunger. "It's okay, Kento, we know your stomach has an infinite capacity for food," Sai chuckled, reaching for the pancakes.
"Well, I know how he feels, I have missed Mia's cooking for so long!" Sage exclaimed, carefully slipping an egg onto his plate.
"You guys act like you don't eat at home! Every time you're hungry you're going to come crying to me?" Mia queried, trying to throw off the blushing compliment that Sage had given her. The room fell silent for a little while with the clicking and clanging of dishes being passed back and forth.
Eventually, everyone had a decent amount of food on each of their plates. Mia looked over the table delightedly as they were about ready to feast. "So, now that we're all settled, what have you been up to for the past two years?" Mia questioned, clasping her hands together eagerly.
The table was silent for a moment. Rowen had his fork stabbed into his waffles and noticed everyone was keeping quiet. Kento looked like he wanted to say something, but the bacon in his mouth occupied his speech at the time. Rowen leaned forward a little and pulled out a picture and laid it on the table. The group took a look at it then up at Rowen, hoping for an explanation.
"You see the third guy in the back there?" he started, pointing down on the picture.
They took a closer look. "Hey, he has the same hair color, the same eyes, the same face. He looks way too much like you, man," Ryo pointed out to the others.
"Yep, to a 'T'. You see the woman standing next to him?"
The group returned their attention back to the picture. "She looks a little like you, bud." Kento smirked.
Rowen picked up the picture again and slipped it back in his pocket. "Well, she should; that's my mother."
"Who was the guy?" Sai asked, turning from his pancakes.
"I can't confirm anything, but as I looked on a bit and did a little research, it seems my mom was married before she met my dad."
Sage looked up at him and it seemed that Rowen was more intrigued than anything else. "So, who is he?" Sage asked.
"Well from what I think, he's my half-brother. I tried looking him up, but it seems he's everywhere. Residential areas of Korea, Thailand, China, the most recent is in Hirosana."
Sage held out his hand to see the picture again. "You going to see if it's him?"
Rowen reached back in his pocket to take it out once more. "I wrote a letter to mom about it, but she avoided the subject completely." They all returned to silence as Rowen finished. He looked around and said, "Well I spoke up, but it looks like no one else has anything to say about their time off."
"Sai got a job as a cook!" Kento blurted out between mouthfuls.
Sai seemed a little upset that Kento had turned all attention towards him, but he continued upon it. "It's nothing really big, I just work at a restaurant, trying to help my family pay for college and all," he said as he returned to his pancakes and toast.
"Tell them about your honey bunny!" Kento interrupted. Sai blushed heavily and buried his chin into his chest.
"C'mon, Sai, clue us in!" Rowen egged him on.
"Well... she... I... she's just a waitress where I work," he offered.
"Did you tell her you're madly in love with her?" Kento smirked.
"Hey, knock it off, Kento! I just got the job to help with college! Nothing more!"
Sage seemed to notice Sai was getting very upset, so he decided to insert himself. "That's really responsible of you to take on expenses like that. Rowen tried to get a job and he blew it as bad as he blew cooking!" Sage stated happily. Rowen blushed and sank down in his seat.
"What happened?" Mia asked eagerly.
"I tried for a photographers assistant in town a while back..." he trailed off.
"Tell them the whole story, Rowen!" Sage said impatiently. Rowen shook his head violently and stuffed his mouth with some waffles to keep from explaining further. Sage, however, was not about to let the story die a quick death. "Rowen was going to try out for a photographer's position to get through college. He thought he was going to take pictures of wildlife and science experiments." Sage purposely stopped there.
"What did he take pictures of?" Kento asked, finally done chewing on a large piece of bacon.
Sage began to laugh to himself and finished his story. "The part was for a photographer's assistant, but it was for that swimsuit magazine photo shoot! He called me up saying he was so nervous around the beach bunnies that he couldn't do the job anymore!" he finished, bursting out in laughter. Most of the others tried to keep from their giggles, but Kento almost spewed his mouthful right into Yuli's face he was laughing so hard.
"Hey, I have more respect for women than that, you hypocrite! As I recall, the subscription list they gave me showed that you have been a subscribing member for the last five years!" Rowen protested out loud.
Sage stopped laughing, and his face turned as red as Rowen's as all eyes turned to him. "I, uh... " he echoed. The table grew in laughter as Sage had the tables turned on him, and eventually he joined in the fun.
The table wasn't quiet long. Kento turned to Ryo. "Your father is a photographer, right?" he asked, putting some bacon in his mouth.
"Uh, yeah... " Ryo stuttered.
"How has he been lately?" Sai asked, turning his attention to Ryo.
"Oh, um, he's all right. He, uh... he sent me a letter a while back... yeah, once he gets done in Africa, they are going to send him to Alaska for a while," he responded, twirling a cut piece of toast in his egg yoke.
"You mean he hasn't come home at all?" Rowen sat up.
"Nope," Ryo replied, putting the piece into his mouth. The table was quiet again. "As far as I can remember, that's been almost seven years since you last saw him," Sage accurately deduced.
"Yep," was Ryo's only reply as he cut off a piece of egg white. They all noticed that Ryo was never scant about his father. He was hiding something and they all knew it.
Mina rubbed his back a few seconds with her hand. She knows, Rowen thought to himself. I probably shouldn't pry. "Hey, I know how you feel, Ryo," Rowen stated quietly.
"Yeah, I know, Rowen, you're better at handling it than I am. You got guts, buddy." Ryo grinned in response. Rowen chuckled a little.
"Yeah, well, I try. My mother hasn't got back from her trip from Cairo yet, so me and my dad are trying to make do."
The table turned their attention to Rowen now. "Are you sure you're okay there?" Sage asked quietly.
Rowen looked around, a little surprised. "Hey, I'm fine! Don't worry about me, guys, I know how to handle my father. He can be a great guy too, you know?" They returned to their food and again the short-living quiet had returned.
"Well, you have been awfully quiet, and we know the least about you," Sage said, grinning at Mina.
"Yeah, tell us a little about yourself," Mia requested.
Mina started to blush very lightly. "I don't really know what to say."
Rowen swallowed a piece of food he was chewing on and waved his fork at the two. "How about how you two met, hm?"
Ryo's face blushed and popped up. He looked at Mina out the corner of his eyes shakily at her. The entire group picked it up and started to get excited. "Ah ah ah! We saw that! We saw that! You better tell us now! This is going to be good!" Kento exclaimed, almost jumping out of his seat.
"It's really a long story," she offered.
"Oh, we have all morning! Spill it, sweetheart, and don't leave out a single detail!" Sage said with an equally large smile on his face.
"I really don't want to embarrass Ryo..." she tried one last time.
"Oh, but we do! C'mon! Let's hear it!" Kento whined as he finally stopped stuffing his face. It seemed the whole group was interested in hearing the story.
Ryo buried his forehead in his thumb and pointer finger again as Mina looked around, trying to figure out where to begin. "Well, I live at the base of Ryo's mountain. I lived there all my life, so naturally I would see him a few times. I always saw him running past in a panic to get to school. I didn't know he lived so far away. My mom or dad always dropped me off." She drifted as she took another bite out of her egg white.
"So you knew him before you personally knew him? That's cool. How did you two get to know each other?" Rowen questioned, wanting Mina to continue.
Ryo forcibly cleared his throat as if saying 'that's far enough' but didn't actually say it. Mina smirked lightly. She loved how Ryo was so hidden when he was in an embarrassing situation. She waved off to the people at the table, acknowledging them that she would tell them later. However, they couldn't wait until later.
"Well, I'm full!" Mia proclaimed as she wiped her hands. Sage picked up on her plan and also announced he was finished as it followed down the line. Eventually all said they were finished.
"So, whose turn is it to do the dishes?" Sai asked lightly.
All eyes and fingers pointed to Ryo, whose jaw dropped. "It's Friday! Ryo always does the dishes on Friday!" Kento told almost in a six-year-old manner.
"Hey, I did the dishes the last time we were here, which was also a Friday! It should be Rowen's turn!" Ryo debated with the thought of all the others with Mina without him.
"I'll help you out, Ryo!" Yuli shouted at the end of the table.
"Thanks, Yuli, at least someone here has some decency," he coldly remarked, rising from his seat.
"I'll get Kento's dish! It should have the least leftovers!" Yuli seemed to be almost cheering. The group laughed at the logical yet humorous truth. Eventually the dining room cleared out, and all except Ryo and Yuli gathered in the den. They ushered Mina to a seat that seemed to be in the center of the room and took seats around her.
"Okay, let's hear the full story! We want every detail, no matter how frivolous or irrelevant!" Rowen stated enthusiastically.
"Well, there was one thing you should know first." Mina paused a moment to wait for the nods of the others. "When I was little, there was this song. I'm not sure who it was by anymore, but it was titled 'Samurai Heart'. I don't know what it was, but I couldn't get enough of that song. I hummed it everywhere I went, I wrote its lyrics down every chance I got, me and my Walkman were inseparable. It wasn't as popular as many of the other songs. It only came out as a single, and I couldn't find it in any large- name stores. Eventually I found it on the radio, and luckily I had a tape ready. It was the most beautiful song I have ever heard, I love it now more than ever because it led me to meet Ryo."
Mina took a breath and the others seemed overly interested. Mia beamed as if watching two little puppies fall in love, and Kento seemed to grow ill at the 'mushy' way of explaining things.
"The way it went was like this... "
It was outdoor recess time in the grade school. The fifth grade was not an easy year for many, yet some excelled while others averaged. On this bright Thursday afternoon, a young girl, long blond hair braided back with a red ribbon, walks lightly and happily around the playground, humming away to her favorite song blaring through her headset.
Approaching where the asphalt ended and the grass started, she heard the song slip away right in the middle. Her hair was pulled back and the headset plug was ripped out of its socket. Grasping at the fleeing cord, she turned to find her headset in the hands of Tiro, who was waving them in front of her face.
Tiro was a pure jerk, brat and a bully. He had been held back a grade and was much larger than other students. Despite being almost two years older, he had the maturity of a three-year-old. He threw the headset into the air and caught it in his hand again and gave a wicked smile as his coat- riding lackey-friend snickered at every moment. "Aw, little baby girl forget something?" Tiro ridiculed in a light babyish voice.
"Give those back, Tiro! They aren't yours!" the girl shouted.
"Oh, yes they are, Tina Mina!" he replied with an evil smirk.
"Heh heh, Tina Mina, that's a good one, T!" his rat-faced companion complimented.
"Yeah, it is, isn't it? So, Tina Mina, what else have you got for me today, hm?" Tiro smirked, looking her over. Mina cringed; she didn't like Tiro's roving eye looking her over so intently.
Tiro reached out his hand and Mina grabbed the bottom of the skirt of her uniform in defense that he might flip it up again and show everyone in the recess ground. Instead, he easily snatched away the Walkman at her side. "Oh, why thank you! This will go great with my new headset!" Both Tiro and his companion laughed heartily as Mina blushed and angered at the same time.
Immediately it hit her that her rare song was on that tape. She futilely jumped at Tiro, who held the Walkman above his head. Jumping up and down never getting closer in reach, while Tiro continued to laugh. Mina started crying, but she was so enraged she let out a shrieking cry and kicked Tiro painstakingly low.
Tiro toppled over, whining in a high mouse voice, and Mina could not believe that she had done that. "Get her!" Tiro squeaked, and before Mina had realized it, the rat-faced boy had her hands bound behind her and covered her mouth with his. She struggled, but to no avail as Tiro wearily got to his feet, and they led her behind a thicket of trees out of school bounds.
They threw her up against a tree and she smacked her head pretty hard against the bark, falling to the ground. Tiro shadowed over her, and his face was beet-red. "So, you think you're a tough kid, eh?! You think you're all so special, listening to your fancy music?! Ha!" Tiro took the tape out of the Walkman and held it up to her face. "This is what I think of your music, you miserable little wretch!" Tiro exclaimed as he spit on the tape and broke it in his hands.
"N-o!" Mina cried as the tape unraveled from the broken shards.
Tiro threw it to the ground and smashed it further with his foot and forcefully threw down the Walkman, completely shattering it. "I'm not done yet, dog! Oh, I am far from done with you!" Tiro preached as the rat boy snickered. Tiro raised his fist high. "I will enjoy every minute of this!" he said sadistically.
Mina cringed again and cowered, huddling her head into her shoulder, awaiting the blow. To her surprise, there was nothing.
She opened her eyes to see Tiro struggling to force his fist down upon her as a recognizable young boy held it away. "I don't know who has done what, but most likely it's your own fault, Tiro. This is too far. I suggest you back off before someone gets hurt," he commented quietly. This enraged Tiro. He swung around with his other fist and it was captured in the young boy's palm. "You really are a piece of crap, Tiro..."
The boy pulled both hands forward and delivered a forceful head-butt. Tiro clasped his nose as the increasing blood flowed forward. Tiro roared in anger, but the young boy did not wait for him to finish before he let out a number of furious blows to Tiro's stomach. Tiro staggered over, falling to the ground wheezing. Eventually he slithered away with the rat boy chasing behind.
"Are you all right?" two piercing blue eyes asked as they looked down at her with an extended hand.
"Y-Yes, thank you," Mina replied as she was aided to her feet. The young boy bowed a little, then began to walk off. Mina wanted to stop him, but couldn't think how. He was quite handsome to her, and, after all, he risked much taking on the biggest bully in the school all to save this girl he hardly knew. "Wait!" she cried, "at least tell me your name!" The boy turned and seemed to almost smile. "Um... my-my name is Mina," she said nervously.
The boy looked at her face with the same smile. She was very beautiful for a young girl. He hadn't noticed it a moment ago, but she seemed more mature than any other girl his age. "Ryo. Ryo Sanada," he stated as he turned to walk off.
Mina wasn't about to let her savior go just like that. She rushed out to him and grabbed his arm and wrapped herself around it, hugging it tightly. "I really am grateful. Is there anything I can do to show my gratitude? Anything at all?" Mina asked.
Ryo seemed to blush at Mina hugging his arm. "I didn't do it for any particular reason other than it was the right thing to do," Ryo said trying to take Mina's gratitude off of him. "I'm really sorry about your Walkman, it looks like it got a little busted up," he added. Mina's heart sank as she finally remembered her 'Ultra Rare' musical masterpiece was destroyed, yet she didn't let go of Ryo's arm. "You look so sad, did that have sentimental value to you?" Ryo asked in his serious way of talking that seemed to be trademark at that time.
"Yeah, you could say that. That was my favorite song for years. You can't find it anywhere anymore. Not in stores, not on the radio, nowhere, and it's the greatest song in the world," Mina continued on as they headed to an unknown destination.
"It really does hurt when you lose something irreplaceable, especially when it comes to a great value to you," Ryo stated solemnly.
"You sound like this has happened to you before." Mina looked up with shaken eyes.
"Yeah, it has. I lost something that could not be replaced when I was a lot younger." He trailed off.
"What was it?" she asked in reply.
Ryo didn't seem like he wanted to answer. He struggled for a new topic, but his lack of social interaction left him no skill in that ability and he was stuck with a confused look on his face. "I really don't want to bother you with my life story, Mina," he said, poorly trying to avoid the subject.
"C'mon, you can tell me anything. I owe you my life!" Mina exclaimed.
This was the outlet Ryo was looking for. "Your life? I highly doubt that. I don't think that Tiro would be foolish enough to kill you," Ryo retorted.
"Well, he has hospitalized people before," she said as Ryo felt relief, "but I don't want to change the subject. I could have been badly beaten, yes, but you look like you need to get something off your chest," Mina went on to Ryo's chagrin.
"You need not worry about me; you're the one that needs to relax, that was quite the ordeal," he tried again.
Mina looked up at him with a slanted face, almost in confusion. "You don't talk like anyone I've met before. You go to a different school in a different part of town?" she asked, full well knowing the answer.
"I go to this school," he said, walking around the outskirts of the building.
"Really? Me too!" Mina tried acting surprised, yet it was Ryo who was truly taken off guard.
"Oh, I have never seen you inside."
Mina looked ahead at the school. "Well, boys' and girls' classes are separated, and the only time we would have to see each other is outdoor recess, but you already knew that," Mina tried to explain.
"Yes, but I would think that after such a long time I would have at least seen you once. I thought you went to a different school, finding you outside the bounds," he stated with a breath.
"Tiro dragged me out here. He always drags the people he picks on out here. That reminds me, why are you out of bounds?"
Ryo was taken off guard by the question; he never really expected to get in this deep. He knew if she continued to push, he would end up pouring his heart out to her. There was just something about her that he liked. It wasn't just that she was beautiful, or that she was a cheery person, but it was more as if Ryo could trust her. "I like to be around more natural surrounding. It's more like my home," he finally responded.
"Where do you live? I sometimes see you running down the street." Mina felt that she shouldn't have said that, afraid Ryo might piece together that she had been studying him every morning.
"I live in Yaminashi up the mountain path by the embedded lake," Ryo quickly explained.
Mina's eyes widened. "You live all the way up there?! That's almost nine miles! You walk to school?!" she said, not caring that Ryo might figure her out.
There was no threat of that, however, as Ryo again seemed to shy away from Mina's excited howling. "I uh... don't have a bus stop near me," he offered.
Mina shook her head. "Don't your parents drive you at least down the mountainside? That at least would take six miles off your trip."
Ryo saddened greatly, and Mina felt like she put both feet in her mouth. She didn't know why, but the look on Ryo's face said it all. Something heavy was about to be said. A nagging pang in the back of Mina's head told her that this was what Ryo was avoiding the entire time. "My... mother is dead and... my father won't be home for another two years," he explained softly.
Then and there Mina's heart seemed to stop beating as the air couldn't reach her lungs. She pushed for Ryo to let this out and now she wanted to shove it back to where it came from but it was far too late. It was out in the open and the silence was deafening. "I... I'm sorry. I didn't know," she sighed as the oxygen finally made it to her lungs.
Ryo seemed to jump on that comment. "Oh, no, don't be sorry! It's not your fault! I tend to have an air about me that makes people ask questions," he tried to comfort. Mina knew that he was trying his hardest to keep her happy, and even though they were at a young age, Ryo seemed adorable to her when he tried.
Mina's cheeks turned a pinkish hue as a thought entered her mind. Ryo was blushing and scrambling to make her feel better, all the while embarrassed at the fact that she was on his arm. Should I kiss him? If he doesn't want me to, I could simply say it was to thank him. A little peck on the cheek couldn't hurt, she thought to herself.
She smiled as Ryo looked sheepishly at the ground. She leaned forward and started to walk on her toes to reach her chin to Ryo's shoulder. Her lips were about to make contact with his cheek as the loud-sounding bell of the ending of recess rang
