Of love and friendship?
In the lawyer's office, Takezato Building, Yokohama…
"Well, Uncle Mitsui?" Kioshi prompted. The man he was addressing snapped out his own thoughts and turned to face the two youngsters sitting opposite him across the desk.
"You can just call me Hisashi. Although I am a friend of your Mum and Dad, first name will do."
Kiori leaned forward impatiently. "Then can you please continue, Hisashi?"
Hisashi sighed. "The truth is I've known about their affair all along. Heck, once I even thought that one day, I would be handling their divorce cases."
"Yeah, Mum told me that you specialise in divorce proceedings," said Kioshi.
"Ha, you got that right, son. You know all those divorce cases which were featured as cover stories in the Gossip Weeklies magazine? I handled them." He smirked, proud of his past achievements.
"You knew my Dad very well?" asked Kioshi.
"Of course, as well as could be. We went to university together as freshmen, ragged by the seniors. Man, it was like going through the Vietnam War. How could I not know him well?" As he spoke, his mind began to wander back to those times, 20 years ago…
-Flashback-
"We are the champions, we are the heroes! We are the Shohoku boys!"
The boys of the Shohoku hall (the male dormitory) shouted at the top of their lungs as they jogged around the university. Kaede and Hisashi were among them.
"We are the champions, champions are we!"
As they jogged, they passed by a group of girls playing a game of lacrosse in the field. Immediately, the senior at the front of the line held up his hand as a signal to start teasing. That was the norm.
"Shoyo girls, pretty and sexy! Shoyo girls want to be my wife! They are born beauties, but alas so lonely. They attract bugs and rats and cockroaches rife!"
The girls stopped playing and started giggling.
Normally, Kaede wouldn't bother about girls, but at that moment, he caught sight of a streak of red from the corner of his eye, and stopped to get a better look. He watched as Hana took advantage of the distraction caused by the boys and ran towards the goal, scoring for her team.
"Nyahahahaha! I am the Tensai! Nyahahahahaha!" shouted Hana as she danced around with her team-mates.
Seeing her antics, Kaede couldn't help but cheer as well, catching the attention of both Hana and his friends. His friends started teasing him, but Kaede couldn't be bothered about them, for he only had eyes for Hana, and she him. Even as he was dragged away by his friends, he still couldn't take his eyes off Hana.
-End of flashback-
"Kaede always gave all he'd got in doing anything. Sometimes even the boys felt he's going too far. That time the seniors wanted to stub his pride, they punished him to use 50 foul words in one sentence and yell it out in public. Every word had to be a swear word, now that's tough."
Hisashi smiled as he recalled that particular incident. "You know son, in the history of Kanagawa University, only 3 people had managed to accomplish it. Your Dad was one of them."
"The bad thing was, he also got the Shoyo girl Hana into trouble with her seniors. She had to go to a designated store to buy ice-cream and give it to the Chairman of Shohoku Hall Association. She's not allowed to take a ride, but to walk back to campus, and the ice-cream must not melt. And it was supposed to be summer at that time."
-Flashback-
"Stupid kitsune, getting the Tensai into trouble," mumbled Hana as she walked back to the campus as fast as she could.
Ring, ring!
Hana turned around to see Kaede cycling towards her. He circled around her a few times before coming to a stop.
Hana's temper flared up at the sight of him. "What are you doing here, kitsune? Came to laugh at the Tensai for being punished?"
Kaede just looked and her and said, "Do'aho."
"Teme!"
Kaede pointed to the back seat of his bicycle. "Get on."
Hana stopped ranting and blinked. "Huh?"
Kaede rolled his eyes. "Do'aho, I said get on the bicycle."
"I know what you said, kitsune! But you know I'm not supposed to take a ride back. Are you trying to get me into more trouble?"
"You will if you don't get on, because the ice-cream's already melting, do'aho."
Hana looked at the ice-cream in her hand. Sure enough, it was beginning to melt. She began to panic. "Aahhh! What am I going to do? What am I going to do?!! This is all your fault, kitsune!"
"Get on the bicycle, and I will send you back."
Reluctantly, Hana got onto the bicycle, and because she was holding the ice-cream in one hand, she only had the other hand to hold on to something while he cycled. Not wanting to hold on to him, she tried to keep her balance by holding on to the bicycle seat, only to fall down flat on her back 5 seconds into the ride.
"Do'aho, if you don't want to be punished, then hold on to me," said Kaede, before adding, "Tight."
Hana blushed at the last word, but complied anyway, since she really didn't want to be punished. And so, with one hand around his waist, Hana let Kaede send her on her way.
Upon reaching campus, Hana quickly got off the bicycle and ran off to find the chairman before the ice-cream melted completely. As she was about to enter the building, she turned around to look at Kaede.
Kaede, who was still standing at the same spot he had let her off, lifted his hand and gave a little wave. Shyly, Hana waved back, before disappearing from view.
-End of flashback-
"You rag freshmen this way now, they'd sure complain," said Kiori, her arms folded in front of her chest.
"It's no big deal," shrugged Kioshi.
"No big deal? It's a very big deal. Human Rights Law, Equal Opportunities Commission, Environmental Protection Department. They'd definitely sue your pants off," said Kiori, ticking off her fingers one by one. Kioshi rolled his eyes.
Hisashi watched the exchange with his eyebrows raised. "On second thought, if you want to sell the house, you'd better wait till your parents return and confirm by signature, lest you two have any arguments again. But you can put it on market now. Ask them to come back when you've finalised the terms."
Kioshi sighed. "Well, whatever."
"Oh yeah, Kioshi. Remember to take Shiori with you when you go," Hisashi continued. Picking up the phone, he called his secretary. "Rei, please bring Shiori in."
Kioshi sat up quickly at the mention of Shiori. "Shiori? Who's Shiori?" His eyes widened visibly. "You mean they've even got a kid…?" Kiori also looked at Hisashi, her eyes as wide, if not any wider, as Kioshi's.
"No. Shiori is the puppy your Dad and her Mum kept. Every time they went abroad they left him with me."
"Oh." Kiori breathed a sigh of relief. Kioshi sank back into his chair, and then sat back up again.
"Wait a minute. Why me? Why not her?" he said, gesturing to Kiori beside him.
Kiori gave him a glance and said nonchalantly, "Well, 'see a man about a dog', right?"
---
A few days later…
"Come on, Shiori. Be good," said Kioshi, trying to stop Shiori from barking. A couple was supposed to take a look at the house that day, and he didn't want things to go wrong. Meanwhile, Kiori was busy entertaining the aforementioned couple.
"Hubby, there's a lot of leakage stains," remarked Miyagi Ayako to her husband, as they looked around the house.
"Is that so, koi?" Miyagi Ryota answered.
"The leak-proof here is lousy," said Ayako again.
"Koi, do you think there are termites here?" asked her husband.
Kiori quickly chipped in. "Of course not. We've lived here for so long and haven't seen one termite. Relax." She widened the smile already plastered on her face. I hope this works. I mean, I've seen Dad do it so many times already. It seems to be working every time he does it.
"But this house is very tattered," said the wife.
If anything, Kiori's smile grew even wider. "Of course not. It's only 5 years old. So the paint on the wall's a bit cracked, just whitewash it. Relax."
"Renovating this place will cost a lot."
Kiori felt as if her teeth were about to fall off any moment soon. "Of course you've got to brush up a bit before moving in, madam." She turned to Ryota, deciding to make her move on him, since his wife was playing hard to get. "Mister, does this place suit your fancy?"
All this while, Kioshi was watching from one corner of the house, holding Shiori in his arms.
Ryota took one look at Ayako and smiled sheepishly before saying, "You know, this place is out of the way, and this shack is worn-down. Why don't you cut the price?"
This is going to be harder than I thought. "Aww… mister, come on. It's a quiet surrounding here. See the beautiful sea view? It's hard to find places like this in Japan."
"Miss, we're just an ordinary household buying a house to live in. Our kids are small. This is a remote spot. Don't ask for too much. Quiet surrounding and nice view? That's good for keeping a concubine, it means nothing to us," Ayako interrupted when she saw that her husband was about to give in.
Kiori's smile froze on her face. In a flash, her whole demeanour changed, and she snapped at the couple. "Forget it then. We're not selling!" She stomped over to where Kioshi was standing.
Ayako pulled Ryota along as she caught up with Kiori. "Ok, miss. We'll meet you halfway. I'll add 0.2 million Yen to the original price. How about that?"
"We are not selling! Do you hear me? Not. Selling. Not selling!" yelled Kiori. I should have adopted Mum's attitude from the very beginning. Dad's is definitely not my cup of tea, thought Kiori angrily.
Ayako walked off in a fury, but Ryota stayed back, still not willing to give up. He approached Kioshi. "Young man, you are a sensible one. How about this shack?"
Time to show off Dad's famous expressionless and monotonous self. "Didn't you hear? This shack is not for sale now. Go shack-up somewhere else," said Kioshi monotonously, at the same time keeping a straight face.
In the meantime, Ayako had returned and proceeded to drag her husband away. "Let's go, Ryota. Our money is good for any house."
Kiori began muttering angrily, "Scumbag. People nowadays are so foul-mouthed, all babblers."
"Yeah, your Mum's hardly a concubine, at most a mistress," said Kioshi sarcastically.
You could practically hear Kiori's veins popping one by one as she turned to face Kioshi. "Why don't you dry up? So what's your Dad? A male prostitute? A paramour? Or a home-wrecker? And don't forget, your Dad and my Dad were friends. 'Thou shall not covet thy friend's wife'. Know that one?"
"Hey! Don't you try to intimidate me with big words. How do you know it wasn't your Mum who seduced my Dad?" Kioshi retorted, all manner of Rukawa-ism forgotten.
"How dare you suggest my Mum's a seducer?! Say it again and I'll sue you for libel! Lunatic!" shouted Kiori, her voice practically bouncing off the walls, threatening to bring the whole house down. She's certainly not Hanamichi's daughter for nothing.
"I don't know what you are talking about," mumbled Kioshi.
"Stupid banana-boy, stop speaking English. It's out of fashion," sneered Kiori as she walked out of the door. "Now we go for mother-tongue teaching. Practice your Japanese," she continued before slamming the door behind her.
Almost immediately, Kioshi threw the door open again and shouted, "Who cares about what's fashionable in Japan? You ugly Japanese. I don't know why my Dad would fancy your Mum. Gotta be bad taste."
"I don't know what my Mum saw in your Dad either, you loud bugger!" Kiori shouted back.
"Who are you calling a bugger?!"
"I'm calling you and your Dad and your dog, you limp and loud cur!!"
With that, she walked away, leaving Kioshi fuming to himself. He slammed the door shut and almost broke the glass windows in the process.
"Arrrgggghhhhh!!! Shiori!!!" he cried when he saw the dog happily chewing off some old records.
That's it! I've had it with this dog. Tomorrow I'm going to bring him to that stupid Japanese girl, or my name is not Rukawa Kioshi.
Tbc...
---
As usual, please read and review. Thank you all. I'm sorry about Mitsui's character. I mean, there isn't anybody else I could think of to take the place of that character. There are not many first-years in Shohoku, and I didn't want to use the non-main characters. So, Mitsui had to be 2 years younger. And, I know Sendoh and Rukawa aren't really friends, but they have to be in this story. Please bear with me. Till the next time, ja!