The very next morning, Hisa stood outside the resort, staring at the local beach with a pair of binoculars.
"Got it," she grinned.
Soon the satisfied woman felt a few light vibrations brush against her left thigh. Without breaking her concentration on the sea, Hisa casually dug through her left pocket, pulled out her phone and answered it.
"Yello?" Hisa answered.
"Hey, Mom, it's Hiro," the caller replied.
"Oh, hey, Hiro. How are you doing?" Hisa asked.
"Good," Hiro answered. "Job's good, another season of my favorite show starts in a few days and Shujinkou actually hangs out somewhere else other than the house these days."
"Yeah, that last one was certainly a surprise when you told me,," Hisa interjected.
"To be completely honest, the only bad thing that I'm dealing with is the lack of confidence I have about continuing my sewing with my teacher gone," Hiro continued.
"How bad would it be if you tried without him?" Hisa chuckled.
"As bad as it would be to be currently wrapped up in strands of yarn…" Hiro chuckled weakly.
"Oh…" Hisa scratched her right cheek and then silently giggled at her daughter's current predicament.
"By the way, Mom, how is Shujinkou doing there?" asked Hiro.
"Seems fine to me, especially compared to your reports," Hisa answered. "It seems like hanging out with Sayori and his new friends after school has had a good effect on him. You must love those girls for that."
"Girls?" Hiro was surprised by what she just heard.
"You didn't know that the other three members of the Literature Club were girls?" Hisa remained silent for a moment, before nonchalantly shrugging. "Not surprised there."
"You're not?" Hiro was once again surprised by what she just heard. "Why not?"
"Imagine telling your mom that you decided to join a club when you previously had no interest in doing such a thing and then telling her that it was a club about literature and that the only other members were female," Hisa said. "Can you see a scenario where a young boy wouldn't think that his mother wouldn't react in a weird or embarrassing way if she found that out?"
"…All he had to say was that Sayori got him to join," Hiro replied. "That's the truth, isn't it?"
Hiro would be lying if she said she was not feeling a little hurt by Shujinkou not telling her, but she did agree with what her mother said.
"So what are they like?" Hiro asked.
"Sorry, I don't feel like it would be right to divulge the descriptions my grandson gave me,"Hisa teased. "It would be better for Shujinkou to tell you himself."
"I guess you're right," Hiro accepted. "And I know that you're smiling."
"I am not," Hisa's smile grew even larger with that lie. "Anyway, I got to get back to some Hisa-business."
"Mom, I'm not a kid anymore. Why are you still telling me that you're up to 'Hisa-business'?" Hiro asked.
"In my defense, I never stopped saying that to your father either," Hisa giggled. "See ya later."
Hisa ended the call and sighed. She would soon be face-to-face with an 'awkward' situation and to say she wouldn't be looking forward towards it would be an understatement.
"I wonder if they noticed my subtle hint?" Hisa wondered aloud.
Meanwhile at the Front Desk…
"Okay, Sayori, let's try this again," Natsuki glared at the Club VP as she peeked out from behind Shujinkou. "There were exactly five cookies on that plate for five people and yet four out those five people didn't get to eat any. What do you have to say about that!?"
"I don't know…" Sayori quietly replied, averting her gaze.
"You say you don't know anything and yet… YOU STILL HAVE COOKIE CRUMBS ALL OVER YOUR FACE!" Natsuki pointed out.
"Oh. Thanks for reminding me," Sayori innocently licked the crumbs surrounding her mouth, enraging Natsuki even further.
"Don't just do that like you're not in trouble!" Natsuki yelled.
As Natsuki continued to blow her stack, Monika and Yuri patiently waited for the woman who summoned the club.
"Do you think Lady Hisa is up to something?" Monika asked.
"Well… The evidence does make it easy to conclude that," Yuri replied. "N-Not that I'm trying to accuse her of anything bad!"
"No need to freak out,Yuri. I was just asking for your opinion,"Monika gently smiled.
"But…" Yuri stayed quiet after that barely audible word.
"Yuri…" Monika wasn't sure what she could say. All she could come up with was shifting the conversation to another to relieve Yuri of any unintentional pressure.
"Do you think your grandmother is planning something, Shujinkou?" Monika asked, turning her attention towards the other club members.
But instead of getting an answer, what she received was the sight of Sayori and Natsuki pulling Shujinkou back and forth between them.
"Stop hiding behind others!" Natsuki yelled.
"But you're acting really scary right now," Sayori argued.
"Oh boy…" Monika weakly laughed. Those were the only two words she could come up with at such a squabble.
"Poor Shujinkou…" Yuri thought.
His grandmother on the other hand had a different reaction as she walked into the situation.
"If I didn't know any better, I would say that my grandson was in the middle of a harem argument," Hisa chuckled at the thought. In fact, the part that she found the most hilarious about the entire situation was that she was sure that Shujinkou wasn't aware of the kind of situation he was in.
Noticing Hisa from the corner of her eye, Sayori quickly left her position from behind Shujinkou and jumped behind her host.
"Did you eat all of the cookies?" Hisa asked.
"Maybe…" Sayori weakly laughed.
Hisa smiled at Sayori and casually strolled over to her grandson. She gently rested the back of her hand on his forehead, effectively bringing him back from the realm of dreams.
"What's going on?" Shujinkou asked before realizing that Natsuki's hands were wrapped around his waist.
Before he could say another word, Natsuki quickly pulled her hands back towards and turned away. He expected Natsuki to try to explain why her hands were connected to his waist, but she instead remained uncharacteristically silent.
"So I bet you're all wondering why I called you here today," Hisa said. "I just wanted to know what you guys were going to do today."
Despite her directing that question towards the entire club, Shujinkou couldn't help but notice that his grandmother was sneaking a few glances his way.
"I think we'll be exploring the city today?" Shujinkou awkwardly answered.
"That's such a good idea," Hisa beamed. "What made you guys decide to do that?"
"There was a map of the city next to the cookies," Sayori replied.
"It was a very unsubtle way of telling you to get lost," Natsuki added.
"Really? Well anyway, luckily for you have a certified tour guide with you," Hisa grinned.
"You're coming with us?" Sayori asked.
"No, I have Hisa-buisness to take care of," Hisa answered. "So, I'll leave that job up to Shujinkou."
The elderly woman turned to her grandson.
"You remember what Kuzuryu has to offer right?" Hisa asked.
Shujinkou silently nodded his head.
"Good," Hisa smiled. "Just don't take them to you-know-where."
"I know…" Shujinkou replied with a small worried smile.
"Good. So you guys should be heading off right aw…" Hisa's voice trailed off as she caught a glimpse of something very… disconcerting. "Oh boy…"
Wondering what could have elicited such a reaction from his grandmother, Shujinkou quickly turned towards the direction she was facing. What he saw caused his eyes to widen and his heart to drop. Though he thought the situation had a 0% chance of happening… Because he thought the situation would never come, Shujinkou could muster up the strength to say one thing when face to face with someone he hasn't seen in years.
"Father…" he solemnly muttered.