Kaori was driving her car on her way to Hikarizaka in order for Ushio to reconcile and reunite with her family, in the car was Kaori, Ushio and Charlie.
Charlie's POV
We had spent the rest of the weekdays of that week catching up with events and getting to know my mother a bit more considering I hadn't seen her in many years as well as getting know Kousei and Chopin alot more.
It was now the weekend and we were heading to Hikarizaka where Kaori would drop off me and Ushio and I get to meet Ushio's family which made me nervous considering what Ushio told me about them espcially her father and grandpa.
"So Ushio, are you looking foward to seeing your parents again" said my mother
"Yeah I am" said Ushio
"Thats good, I wonder how they will react seeing me for the first time" I said
Both Ushio and my mother laughed before Ushio replied "Yeah it should be interesting"
"At least it might not be as embarrassing as when Kōusei met my parents" said my mother
"Ah yeah, I just saw, what was it like when you met my grandparents" said I said
"Well me and Dil met in the summer before we both went to the same university as we were fairly local to each other and it was roughly I would say two weeks before I went to university and Dil invited me over to his place at the time which was his parents and yeah they seemed nice, is Dils father still an inventor" said my mother
"Yeah Grandpa Stu still invents, he actually more competent than he used to" I said
"Good, I remember when he once made a self playing violin which went crazy and out of tune" said my mother chuckling
"Yeah he can make some wacky inventions" I said
"What got you into violin Kaori" said Ushio
"When I was younger, I was an pianist where one day Kousei came on stage and peformed and from that day, I became an violinist" said my mother
"So Kousei got you into playing music" I said
"Kinda, he got me into playing the violin as I wanted to peform a duet with him from then on which I was able to do in my final performance in Japan before my surgeries in both Japan and America" said my mother
"What was the duet like" said Ushio
"Honestly it was a little comical in retrospective as Kousei hadn't performed in years and was suffering from PTSD and Amusia and as a result he panicked to the point where he stopped midway through the performance and then afterwards we performed on and although we got disqualified, we were invited to the after Gala concert which Kousei peformed alone as my illness has caused me to fall and suffer an concussion" said my mother
"What illness did you have" I said
"When I was younger, I was falling alot and would frequently go to the hospital, one day i found out that I didn't have long to live so I lived a free spirited sort of life until my illness got worse with frequent collaspes, muscle paralysis and cardiac arrests, eventually I decided to have a surgery to try and extend my life and while it was barely successful, thats when I got offered an experimental surgery in the United States which I took and it was mostly successful bar the occasional heart problems and tiredness and after two and a half years of being homeschooled in various hospitals in the States, I was to do my last year of school before college, in fact I was only a tiny bit older than you Charlie when I met your father" said my mother
"How ironic, did you miss Japan when you were in the States" said Ushio
"Yes and no, the weather in California was better, but then I knew more people in Japan" said my mother
Soon the 3 of them approached what appeared to be a border crossing
"Uh, I forgot that the Dangos now have their own government" said my mother
"When did this happen" I said
"Hikarizaka and its surronding villages declared and were granted independence from the government as the people were sick and tired of property developers destroying the greenery and nature which some people are bonded to like my mother, they formed the Dango Republic, my father was talking to me on the phone about it, I managed to get citizenship, I would imagine you two have your passports (Charlie and Kaori got out their passports)" said Ushio
As they approached, they provided their passports before entering Hikarizaka and then eventually they were around the corner from the Furukawa Bakery
"See you in two days, you two, bye" said my mother as she drove off
"Are you ready to meet my old folks" said Ushio smiling
"Yeah" I said nervous
We walk ahead towards the Furukawa bakery where we enter to find what appeared to be Ushio's grandmother serving a customer
"Come back soon, (Sanae sees Ushio), Ushio, its a pleasent surprise (runs to hug Ushio), is this Charlie that you've been telling us about" said Sanae
"Yeah it is, Charlie this is my grandmother Sanae, Grandma this is Charlie" said Ushio
"Nice to meet you Sanae" I said
"Nice to meet you Charlie, I hope you've been treating Ushio well, (Sanae went to the counter) here have some bread, its my new Rainbow Starfish Bread" said Sanae
"Starfish, has Fuko had any influence with its creation by any chance" said Ushio
"Well yes, she came in recently, she misses you, also they have actual fish inside" said Sanae
I handle the Starfish bread, the rainbow effect may or may not be food colouring and I took a bite to find the pastry to be quite dry from being left on the counter for a while as well as the savourness of the fish didn't really blend well with the sweetness of the food , it tasted pretty bad actually, but remembering what Ushio had said on the plane, I lied.
"It tastes okay, a bit dry from being left on the counter for a while, but its not bad" I said knowing that the bread wasn't good, but trying to be nice
Sanae perked up and smiled saying "You like it, you know your the first person who tried my rainbow starfish bread and liked it"
"Has anyone tried the rainbow bread, Grandma" said Ushio
"No, your dad and Akio refuse to try it" said Sanae
Not surprised considering the awful taste of the bread
"Aki should be home in 5 minutes, he went out to play baseball, in fact we only knew around a few days ago that you were coming back for a weekend" said Sanae
"Who told you, it was meant to be a surprise" said Ushio
"A surprise to your parents Ushio, Kotomi told us, Akio has heard how good of a baseball player you are Charlie and wants to challenge you at it" said Sanae
and as soon as Sanae finished, a man with a baseball hat, jersey and jeans barged in, by the looks of things it was definitely Ushio's grandfather Akio
"Akiii" said Ushio as she hugged her grandfather
"Good to see ya, its been a long while Shio, Ah the challanger has arrived" said Akio pointing at me
"I'm Charlie Miyazono Pickles, nice to meet you" I said nervously
"I've heard your good at baseball, ready for battle" said Akio as he drags me to the baseball field nearby with Ushio and Sanae following behind them
After a small time being dragged, we had arrived at the baseball field where Akio hands me a baseball bat.
"Ushio's been telling me how good of a baseball player you are, now your up against the bread baking Sai Young" said Akio
I prepare to bat the ball by entering a batting stance and Akio pitched and I hit the ball as hard as possible, the ball ended up going over the guard rail and scored a home run, shocking Akio
"Not bad kid, but that was a warmup pitch, time for the real deal" said Akio as he pitched to me, it was a faster pitch, however I still managed to hit another home run.
"How is that possible to get two home runs in a row against me, The Bread Baking Cy Young" said Akio
"He is a baseball player Aki, a good one" said Ushio
"I see, do you play baseball in the States Charlie" said Akio
"I do, I play for my High School Team, there are even some draft boards predicting me to go in the last round of the draft next year" I said
"Really, how about you pitch against me" said Akio
"I can't pitch that well, i'm usually a 1st Baseman" I said
"Come on Charlie, you aren't scared aren't ya" said Akio
"No, just be prepared to score a few points" I said
I reluctantly began to pitch and the first ball was a home run, Akio could hit the baseball quite hard, although his swing can be described as similer to a haymaker style of baseball shot in terms of being quite wild
I grab a baseball from the floor and prepare to pitch, something Brian is far better than I am, But I then prepare to skillfully throw it and closed my eyes
"Strike 1" said Sanae
After Ushio threw the ball back at me, I then prepared a curveball which Akio missed
"Strike 2" said Sanae
"Strike 2, that was clearly a Ball" complained Akio
One more successful pitch and I will of defeated Akio, knowing his skillset, a fastball won't work, my arms aren't strong enough to launch a successful one especially considering his slugger style of battling, I have to be skillfill to defeat him.
"Whats the hold up, are you going pitch or not" said Akio impatiently
I prepare to pitch and then launched the ball that drifited downwards, Akio missing it again as he aimlessly tried to swing at it.
"Strike 3, your out" said Sanae
"How is it Strike 3, two of those pitches were balls" said Akio
"You were out Akio, Charlie outplayed you in those pitches" said Sanae
Akio approached me before saying "Well done kid, you proved yourself great out there"
"Thanks" I said
We walked back to the bakery after playing a bit of baseball to find what I presume to be Ushio's parents, Ushio's mother looked exactly like Ushio except her fashion taste which was less tomboyish, whlist Ushio's father looked more serious looking than Akio, he had dim blueish hair and a tiny beard similer to dad and Grandpa Stu.
"Long time no see Ushio, its a suprise to see you here, I see this is Charlie that we've heard so much about" said Ushio's mother
"Yeah, he's reunited with his mother in Japan, he decided to tag along with me" said Ushio
"Good to here, I'm Nagisa Ushio's mother and this is Tomoya, Ushio's father" said Nagisa
"Nice to meet you both" I said
"How did you two find the journey here" said Tomoya
"Tiring, but it felt like it went fast" said Ushio
"Yeah, we didn't have to stop in between LA and Japan which was good and actually made things go faster" I said
"Good, Charlie can you go in another room for a minute" said Tomoya as I went in another room with Sanae and Akio.
Ushio had a loud lecture from Tomoya which is most likely to do on what happened that led to her moving to LA, Ushio apologised to both her parents before the 3 of them hugged each other.
"You can come back in now Charlie" said Tomoya
i walked back into the room to find Ushio's family gathered around in the bakery with Akio and Tomoya staring at me.
"So kid, I hear that you've reunited with your mother a few days prior" said Akio
"Yeah I hadn't seen her in many years, it feels good to meet again after so long" I said
"Do you know Charlie's mom and stepdad is Kaori and Kousei Arima, the famous classical musicians" said Ushio
"No way, really, your stepfather is the Human Metronome and mother the Wildcard Violinist" said Akio
"Yeah I guess" I said slightly unsure on my mom and stepfathers nicknames
"I bet you can play violin or piano" said Sanae
"Yeah, go on Charlie, peform for all of us" said Nagisa
"I bet your better than your mother" said Akio
"I'm not a musician and I'm not well versed in classical music, I actually never performed" I said
"Wait your not a musician" said Tomoya
"No I'm not a musician, I'm more of a computer and baseball guy" I said
"Baseball huh, wanna give me a game some time" said Tomoya challanging me to a baseball game
"He is good Tomoya, like Ken Griffey Jr good" said Akio
"Charlie thrashed Akio in baseball" said Sanae
"Really, then again Akio isn't that good" said Tomoya
"Your one to talk, it took you dozens of tries for you to even hit my pitch, even then the rain helped you" said Akio
"I remember that, wasn't it to get my father to approve our marriage" said Nagisa
"Yeah I remember, Tomoya trained through the sun and rain just so he can hit one of Akio's pitches" said Sanae
"Although I don't understand winning a baseball duel was what it took get my father-in-law's approval" said Tomoya
"Because of how important baseball is to our family, in fact Charlie may have beaten me, but he hasn't given you a game yet Tomoya" said Akio
"Fancy a game Charlie" said Tomoya smirking
Round 2 of Baseball, it looks like
"I'm up for it" I said
Me and Tomoya went to the baseball field with Sanae, Akio and Ushio following us there as spectators.
I batted first as Tomoya wanted to test his throwing skills
"Lets see if your up to the task" said Tomoya
I turn to Ushio who smiled and gave me a thumbs up of encouragement.
Tomoya threw the first pitch, it was faster than Akios possibly due to Akio being older, but his pitch had no real spin to it due to Akio being more skilled pitcher, I swang at the baseball, hitting it and it went far left for a home run.
"Akio wasn't wrong, you are skilled, try this" said Tomoya as he threw a very fast fastball, I hit it, although my arm was tired from constant batting, however it hit the ball and just managed to go over the fence for a home run.
I dropped the bat in exhaustion
"Looks like Charlie's tired, he's done well" said Akio in a rare compliment
Later - End of POV
Sanae, Akio, Tomoya, Nagisa, Ushio and Charlie were sat down to eat dinner that Akio had prepared.
"So Charlie, tell us more about yourself" said Akio
"I'm from California and I'm both a computer programmer and also play baseball" said Charlie
"Computer Programmer, you must be smart, have you always been into it" said Sanae
"Kinda of, my father was an inventor and later Alien Researcher..." said Charlie before being interuppted
"Alien Researcher, are they people who go to space and explore different dimensions" said Akio
"Yeah he is" said Charlie
"I wonder if he has met any characters from my favourite shows like Star Wars or Gundam" said Akio
"He might have met some from those dimesnions or alternate versions of them , he never really tells much about his missions, although he did tell me about the time he met the crew of the USS Enterprise D or befriending the captain of the USS Defiant, he also met alternate versions of characters from Gundam " said Charlie
"Which Gundam characters did he meet" said Akio in excitement
"He wouldn't say, but it apparently has links with both the Alien Research/Intergalactic Summit and the Alien Cloning Programme, thats all I know" said Charlie
"Even so, Thats sounds really cool Charlie, I bet your proud of your father Charlie" said Tomoya
"I am" said Charlie
"Do you know Charlie's mother is the famous musican Kaori Arima" said Ushio
"Really, she's on TV quite alot on the Music Channel" said Nagisa
"Wow, you have two famous parents Charlie" said Akio
"If you look at it that way then yes, although I view them as slightly crazy, but loving parents especially my father" said Charlie
"Aww, so Charlie, have you heard of the Big Dango Family" said Nagisa
"Ushio has introduced me to them, I found it honestly enjoyable" said Charlie
"Do you know what the famous song is from the show we sing" said Sanae
"Dango Daikozoku" said Charlie
"Thats right" said Sanae
Everyone was singing Dango Daikozoku, the anthem of the Dango Republic that evening for a while in cheerful spirits
"Is that also the Dango Repubiic anthem" said Charlie
"It certainly is, although the official one has an orchestra doing it usually" said Sanae
"Yeah, how did the Dango Republic came to be" said Charlie
"Hikarizaka and its surronding towns are well known for its light orb energy and considering the previous government here weren't aware of people that are both spiritually and physically tied to the cities, there was an independance referendum that passed with 92% of the vote and Kyou Sunohara was elected as 1st President, defeating Tomoyo and Nagisa" said Tomoya
"Wow, that does also mean Youhei is 1st man of the Dango's" said Ushio chuckling
"If you look it at that way, Yeah he is" said Nagisa as Tomoya started laughing
"Come on you two, its not like Kyou is going to let Youhei make any crucial decisions" said Sanae
"Your right" said Tomoya
"Did any of you get ministerial roles" said Charlie
"Tomoya lost the vote for Minister of Power and Infrastructure, Nagisa is currently Minister of Culture and Akio is..." said Sanae before Akio interrupted her
"Minister of Sport, time to create a nation of Cy Young contenders, yeehaw" said Akio
"So yeah, that's the Dango Republic, Hikarizaka, Nortizaka and Fukotown" said Sanae
"Fuko has her own town" said Ushio surprised
"Yeah they changed the name of a nearby small town and filled it with Members of the Fuko Fan Club" said Tomoya while sighing
"Speaking of which, where's younger brother" said Ushio noticing her brother wasn't there
"He's at Baseball Camp, he won't be back for days" said Tomoya
"So, what's for desert" said Akio
Sanae perked up before saying "I've just baked the perfect dessert" as she went into the counter to fetch her bread
"Right Charlie, remember if Sanae's bread tastes awful, just pretend to like it" said Akio
"Right" said Charlie
"Here it is, try this new Cream bread" said Sanae
The 5 of them grabbed the breads and put it in there mouths, it was one of the worst breads they had ever tasted, it had a salty taste which was because Sanae accidentally used salt instead of sugar and the cream felt like it had gone out of date.
"Ew, this bread is awful, worst bread I ever tried..." said Akio before noticing Sanae face beginning to tear up
"My bread is the worst, I see now there just a burden on the Furukawa Bakery" said Sanae before running outside crying
Akio grabbbed two pieces of the Cream Bread, bit them in his mouth and said "Baby, I luv you" whlist chasing after his wife
Tomoya, Nagisa, Charlie and Ushio were laughing
"I reckon that will tire them both out" said Tomoya
The rest of the night saw them all party and have fun as the Furukawa/Okazakis began welcoming Charlie into their family