AN: I made a first name for Kaido's mom, since she got more screen time than Sora and Toki. I started writing and it turned into a study between parenting methods and how the kids would react.
The chapter is a little confusing due to the honorifics. Hopefully, it flows okay.
Chapter 15 - A Shopping Trip
Kaido Aoi, the fearsome mother of Shun, Sora and Toki, pushed the shopping cart with purpose.
Her husband was coming home from a long business trip tonight, finally spending the weekend with the family. As a businesswoman, a perfect wife, and a tiger mom, she was determined to have that perfect picturesque weekend with the family. She already completed the special project for work, started her beauty regiment, started the slow cooker, chilled the desserts and now its time to get the rest of the ingredients and tools for the perfect dinner.
It had been a relatively good day so far, baring the threatening overcast sky. It finally stopped raining, which was good. The local public works department was getting worried about the reservoir getting too high and water levels breaching the river levees. Most of the local TV stations were covering the strange weather patterns, mostly blaming it on countries that ignored things like climate change.
Shun came home with the good news that he made it into the top 25 places for midterms, for which Aoi rewarded Shun with a faint smile of approval and an extra wad of cash. Shun didn't seem too happy about it, the grade ranking part. Aoi chalked it up as Shun finally learned to be gracefully mum about academic success. He was not very good about reacting to such news gracefully before.
Her two other children, Sora and Toki were doing well academically too, easily scoring in the top quartile in their respective school grades. These test scores had pleased her, and would well please her husband.
Still, Shun worried Aoi the most. He was the eldest, and therefore, so much of the family's respectability, her own reputation as a mom, and her husband's approval of the family, rode on Shun's diligence in his studies. Shun was not a big kid, so he had to depend on academics to shine and stand out. Aoi spent the most time and money on his education with, extra workbooks, cram school and reinforced strict study times. Shun had to set a good example for his younger siblings.
"Go get these things, Shun-kun," said Aoi as she handed her eldest a list. She would have Sora with her, since Sora was far more detail-oriented. Sora was at a school club, though, much to Aoi's approval. Of the three children, Sora was the most self-motivated, with her sight set on Todai (1). Toki just entered third grade and went over to a friend's house to work on a project, so he said. That just left Shun to help her.
Shun just had midterms, so his cram school went on a week intermission. This usually meant that Shun took the opportunity to squirrel himself away to wherever with his guy friends. The week-long rain seemed to put a damper on whatever hangout activities he and friends usually did, though. The usual group seemed to be missing someone, too, so Shun came home earlier and wasted his time on some online role playing game.
So Aoi suggested to Shun that he should come along on the shopping trip. Unoccupied young men tend to spell mischief. Shun was trained well enough not to say 'no' or show exactly how he felt about shopping with his mother.
With Shun going after the random ingredients, it freed Aoi to study the vegetable, fresh meat and adult beverage options. Her husband was a high-powered businessman who had eaten at a lot of fine dining establishments in his pursuit to seal the deal. Aoi was up to the challenge. No three-star Michelin star restaurant was going to best the most perfect woman and wife in the world.
She was looking at the vegetable options when she noticed a familiar short young-looking brunette hanging out near the fruits.
"Oh! Hey! Kurumi-san!" called Aoi, pleasantly surprised.
Kurumi looked up from the packages of umeboshi. She had a basket in the crook of her arm. "Oh! Hey. Kaido-san!" exclaimed Kurumi.
Aoi flicked her pale hair away from her face. "Oh, please. Call me Aoi. We're friends, aren't we?"
Kurumi beamed at Aoi's blithe declaration of friendship.
"What are you shopping for, Aoi-san? This is a lot." asked Kurumi, looking at the cart full of expensive ingredients already. Was that a waffle iron? Since when did people have space for those things?
"Oh, my husband is coming home for the weekend," said Aoi happily. She did love her husband, despite his awful attitude and temper. He did give her three sweet, beautiful children and was a good provider. "I want to go all out before he goes on his next business trip. What about you? What are you shopping for?"
Kurumi smiled, "Oh, something fancy. My mother-in-law is in town. I think she's staying for dinner so I want to pick up some extra stuff. I hope to impress her, you know."
Aoi could appreciate that. Mother-in-laws were the final boss for any daughter-in-law. Aoi herself was harangued through the difficulty of obtaining approval from the dreaded mother in law; winning the approval, and thus getting more love from the husband, was one of the reasons why Aoi tried her damnest to be the best at whatever she puts her mind to.
Presently, Aoi allowed herself to take a peek at Kurumi's grocery basket, too trying to see if there are any suggestions to give.
There was not a lot in Kurumi's grocery basket. There was a bottle of extra fancy plum wine, certain market deli items like seaweed salad and sushi, but there were also natto, furikake, fresh ginger, green onions, a bottle of multi-vitamins and anti-inflammatory medication.
"Is someone sick?" asked Aoi. She was a well-studied woman. Kurumi did seem a bit more tense than usual and the basket ingredients simply screamed 'kayu,' the traditional meal for the infirm.
Before, Kurumi could answer, Shun came back, his hands full of sauce and flavoring packets.
"Hey, mom, I got these things on the list," peeped Shun from behind Kurumi. "Oh! It's Saiki's mom!"
Shun seemed to be flustered for a moment before he bowed politely to Kurumi and uttered traditional greetings, as expected of a proper young man raised by the strict and proper Kaido Aoi herself.
Kurumi smiled encouragingly at her baby boy's friend. "You don't have to be so formal, Shun-kun. We're not strangers. You came over for New Year, remember?"
"And he was a most respectful young man," Aoi interjected, looking at her suddenly awkward son with suspicion. "Right?"
"Of course. He was the very soul of courtesy," said Kurumi, saving Shun from an immediate death by a thousand glares.
Aoi seemed visibly relieved, but still eyed Shun from the corner of her eye, as if trying to confirm the corroboration of the story by Shun's expression.
Shun, himself, was on a separate mission. "Saiki-san," Shun addressed Kurumi politely. "Is Saiki-kun okay? He hasn't been in school for almost a week. We've heard something about his grandparents?"
For a moment, Kurumi frowned, frozen in place, not certain how to answer. The direct answer was "no, not really. Saiki-kun is not okay." She clearly remembered bawling her eyes out, scared out of her wits, thinking that her son might not wake up again. Her boy's ESP had not been this unstable since 5th grade. Despite having Risa, an actual trained medical doctor, to look at Ku-chan, Kurumi just did not feel as comfortable as she would have been if it was Ku-kun who was watching over Ku-chan.
Her father was doing well, as far as Kurumi knew. That was another worry too, though. She had been so focused on Ku-chan that she had not checked on her father for a couple of days.
She did notice how her silence affected Shun, who seemed to be mentally going through iterations of horrible scenarios that afflicted his friend, each one worse than the previous.
Presently she said to Shun, "Oh. Ku-chan is at home. We were busy earlier in the week with my father's health scare, but then Ku-chan's gotten the stomach flu and a bad fever. I think he's okay now, though."
"Oh. Great. That's great to hear," said Shun. He quickly whipped out his phone and send a long, extended text to a group chat.
"Shun! Where are your manners?" Aoi scolded. Young people these days, daring to be so disrespectful in front of their elders by paying attention to their phones instead of giving full attention. And seriously, did Shun even understood what he just said?
"Sorry mom," Shun quickly apologized before hitting send. Then he remembered what he had actually said to his best friend's mother and how poor his response was. "I didn't mean what I just said. I mean, Sorry Saiki-san. It's not that it's great that Saiki-kun is sick." muttered Shun as he fumbled with his phone, sticky fingers almost dropping the device. Whatever the message was, it seemed mighty important to the young man. "And I'm sorry about Saiki-kun's grandpa. I mean, it's not great that grandpa was in trouble...I mean..."
"Shun! What's going on with you?" said Aoi with a frown, very much surprised at how Shun was completely botching what should have been a straightforward meeting and small talk with mom's friend.
Kurumi waved the perceived insult away. "Oh. It's okay, Aoi-san, Shun-kun. It's not a big deal. Shun-kun is a socialable young man." She steadily observed Shun's distraction with the phone as the phone dinged to indicate incoming messages. "You know, I wish Ku-chan would join the 21st century sometimes. He rarely initiates or responds to text or phone calls." She did not mention the part where he usually did get back to her, almost always telepathically. As for initiation, he had always made it so that his interaction with people would be as brief as possible, usually by taking care of whatever people wanted out of him first before they asked.
Now, Shun was socially unaware, but not technically unaware. Shun caught on quickly something very interesting. "So...Saiki has a cellphone?"
Kurumi nodded confidently. "Uh-huh. He got one beginning of the school year. "
Shun seemed suddenly very interested, like he just happened upon some sweet cash on the side of the street.
"Do you want his number?" Kurumi asked.
Stars began to shine in Shun's eyes. "Oh yes!"
Aoi, not so subtly, jabbed Shun's chest and said from the corner of her lips. "Shun! Is that how we ask nicely?"
"I mean, Yes, please, Saiki-san? I would be honored to have his number," Shun, added. He was way too distracted by his sudden change in luck to notice that his ribs might be bruised from his mother's stern disapproval of his lack of social grace. Broken ribs mattered less than getting the elusive cellphone number of his laconic friend.
Kurumi unconsciously smiled at the Kaido mother and son interaction before her as she took out her phone. What a different, yet similar family dynamic. Ku-chan could be so unsociably rude and unwelcoming to people, but still immediately adjusted his behavior as soon as Kurumi twitched an eyebrow. It was nice that they live in this area with such good wholesome normal people.
Kurumi took a moment to check the messages section first when she took out her phone, just in case her phone was acting up. Her expression darkened for a brief moment.
Still no response from Ku-kun.
Suppressing the deep churning in her heart and in the pits of her stomach, she tapped the phone again to find Ku-chan's number and showed it to Shun.
"Here it is," said Kurumi.
It took a while for Shun to add the number, as his cellphone began vibrating like it was experiencing a massive earthquake. It was funny to watch the young man frantically scroll through the messages, hanging up on phone calls. Kurumi wondered exactly what Shun had messaged to his friends that caused an avalanche of text and phone calls.
The interplay of facial expression on Shun was fascinating to watch as he tried to quickly read through the messages. He was smiling, grimacing, shaking his head, eyes almost bugged out. He started tapping out a message before another message interrupted his flow. The young man certainly had a lot of friends.
"Well, come along, Shun," said Aoi to her son, "We still have quite a bit of things to get. Your father would want to celebrate you getting into the top 25." Aoi could not help but say the ranking a little louder. Like all moms, Aoi did not mind bragging a little bit.
Kurumi automatically looked at Shun with a beaming smile. "Oh wow! Top 25!" she exclaimed. "Congratulations, Shun-kun! That's great! You must've worked really hard. I'm happy for you!"
Shun visibly blushed. He scratched the back of his head, a little embarrassed at such open and naked praise from Saiki's mom. He didn't get that from his own mother. "Well, Saiki-kun did great too," Shun mentioned, before he dropped his voice to a whisper. "Like, really great."
"That's right, how did your boy do, Kurumi?" asked Aoi offhandedly, completely ignoring what her son just said. She was honestly quite interested, since children's academic success is how moms are graded.
"Mum!" This time, it was Shun who admonished his mother. "Saiki hasn't been at school to see the results."
Aoi dismissed such talks. "Kurumi-san, surely you have a good guess as to how your son did. You're his mother, after all. How do you think he did?"
"Um...average? I guess?" said Kurumi, confessing her ignorance.
Shun gave Kurumi a weird look, but was occupied by the 'dinging' noises coming from his phone again. It looked like he did not turn off all the notifications correctly, and was busily hitting his phone and making faces.
"Don't kid," said Aoi. She recalled how easily Nendo-kun and Saiki-kun were able to so quickly finish those workbooks. They could only do so if they have someone pushing them to do extra homework. "How do you think he did?"
Meanwhile, Kurumi shrugged her shoulders and held out her hands in the universal gesture of 'I-don't-know.'
"You're serious?" A disgusted expression was on Aoi's face when she saw that Kurumi was not kidding. "You cannot be serious!"
"Well, Ku-chan keeps to himself," explained Kurumi, looking a little bit embarrassed and slightly awkward. She really did not know how her children did on anything academic in recent time. Both did well back in elementary school. Then both stopped showing their report cards at about the same time, right after Kusuo transferred schools between second and third grade. She was certain that they forged the parents' signatures. She turned a blind eye to such mischief, since academic achievement was a useless measure when it came to her children. "He goes from grade to grade without problems, so he must be doing okay."
"But you must know how well he's doing, right?" asked Aoi.
"Well, no, not academically," answered Kurumi honestly. "Ku-chan takes after his older brother, you know. They're both pretty smart, self-sufficient, and get super cranky if you get into their business without being invited."
"So you're really hands off," concluded Aoi.
Kurumi nodded. "As long as they're happy and not getting into bad stuff, we've always let them do their thing."
Aoi seemed to consider that as a possible explanation.
To be honest, she always thought that Kusuo had to be the gloomiest young man she had ever met. It was like that frown was permanently stitched on his face. He seemed to be always either glaring at something or spacing out, like he was constantly preoccupied by unpleasant thoughts. It was impossible to tell whether he was feeling all times. He mood seemed to improve, and only mildly, when served snack foods. He was going to have a mandatory attitude adjustment if he was to continue being a sour-puss.
As for Kurumi's oldest, Aoi recalled the brief conversation she had with him when he offered to show Shun, a perspective student due to the cram school Shun attended, around Cambridge University, all-expense paid, of course. Aoi felt that she was being scammed and started asking about the details like logistics and what they would be doing. That smooth-as-butter voice went on full charm, playing into Aoi's greatest desire for Shun, a good college and being set for life. As persuasive as he was, Aoi could tell that he was similarly preoccupied by a separate motivation.
Both of Kurumi's children did seem like the type of people who kept to the background, with that mysterious air, eternally distracted by one thing or another. Naturally, super-smart people were like that, Aoi supposed. It made Aoi appreciate Shun, for being so gentle, creative and engaging. She get the sense that Kurumi was secretly saddened by her children's aloofness.
"Well, your oldest is a genius among geniuses," muttered Aoi. "Is he still studying abroad?"
"No. Ku-kun came home last year," said Kurumi.
"Oh. What's he doing now?"
"I think he's a scientist, with a business on the side," said Kurumi.
The business part interested Aoi. "Oh yeah. What's the business?"
Kurumi thought about it. Kuusuke had told her, in-depth, one time when he took her and Kuniharu around Cambridge, showing them his lab, his work. Like any son, he had wanted his parents to be proud of him. At the time, Kuusuke said a lot of words that seemed to impress Kuniharu, but Kurumi herself did not fully understand. Kuusuke did seem content when he talked about his work and its peripheral relationship with his studies.
The most Kurumi remembered out of that London trip, outside the rare extended alone time she had with her husband, was how tall Kuusuke had gotten. When she last saw Kuusuke at fourteen, he was shorter than her, the top of his head right at her eye level. The four years passed and barely a peep from him. Then he was suddenly taller than Kuniharu, his voice deeper. She recalled the bittersweet feeling as she looked up at him, having missed out on watching her big baby grow into a fine-looking young man. He had assured her, like he always did, that she had missed nothing and that everything is alright.
"I think it's Psi Industries," said Kurumi, finally remembering the name of the business that he started.
Aoi's eyes almost jumped out of their sockets. "Psi Industries? The Psi Industries? The company that was rising so fast that the business analyst thinks that they'll be on par with the Saiko Group in ten years? The one that just had a massive fire at their headquarters in Cambridge?" Aoi did not even wait for Kurumi to respond. "Wait. Don't tell me. You don't even know if it's that Psi Industries."
Kurumi gave a guilty look.
At that, Aoi shook her head and laughed. There was no way that such a big fact would escape that happy-go-lucky Kurumi. "Of course not. It could not be that Psi Industries. That would make him one of the wealthiest men in the country. Even if it's that company, he must be just working for them, not own them." Aoi decided that she really should get back to being the perfect wife and finish shopping for the ingredients. Comparing herself to her mom friends had turned out to be more stressful than expected. "Well, we have more groceries to get. Come along, Shun."
Her son, Shun, who had been mostly forgotten and completely focused on his phone, dared to hold up a finger in the universal gesture for 'wait.' "Just a sec, mom," said Shun.
The gesture miffed Aoi, but she let it slide, for now, since she was in front of her friend.
"Saiki-san," Shun addressed Kurumi again, with his utmost polite tone. "Uh, the guys are wondering if we can come visit Saiki-kun, tomorrow. I mean, we're pretty worried about him. He's been out for almost a week. He looked pretty green during mid-terms."
Normally, Kurumi would have been overly thrilled that Ku-chan had so many friends and they wanted to come over and spend time with him. But she shook her head. Ku-chan had just woken up from what was obviously a problem with his ESP. She was surprised that the only thing that went weird was the stuff in Ku-chan's room. No, she was not about to risk visitors right now, not until Ku-kun said it was okay again. "No. I'm sorry. He needs to rest."
The young man visibly deflated at that, and the end of his lips turned down and his thoughts obviously turned to the tragic. He seemed like the type of young man who thought only the worst possible, obviously a thought tendency that he picked up from his highly reactive mother.
"I'll let him know that you're asking after him," Kurumi placated. "He should be going back to school next week."
It was like watching a roller coaster's up and down, Shun immediately brightened, and quickly tapped a message on his phone. "Well, Yumehara has his homework sheets. Can we at least drop them off?"
Oh. Homework sheets. Kurumi did recall seeing the size A-4 papers being stuffed in the mailbox, several sheets a day. She had not shown them to Ku-chan yet, figuring that homework was probably the last thing on his mind.
"Of course."
Coincidentally, Aoi saw Kurumi again at the checkout line. Kurumi was in a separate line and Aoi was behind and could see Kurumi, but Kurumi could not see her.
This time, there was a bespeckled middle-aged man with Kurumi. The way he touched Kurumi was a little inappropriate for public display, but Kurumi seemed to oblige happily. The brunette's smile was genuine, and completely at ease. It made Aoi feel a little jealous. Her own husband had not been that lovey-dovey with her in ages. Conspirationally, Aoi tapped her son's shoulder and asked "Who's that?"
"Who?" Shun's eyes momentarily darted up from his phone.
"That auburn-haired man next to Kurumi."
Shun looked up from his phone and actually looked. "Oh, that's Saiki's dad. Saiki Kuniharu."
Aoi tilted her head a little bit as she studied the couple. "They don't look all that much alike, do they?"
"Who?"
"Kusuo-kun and his father," said Aoi. She clearly recalled the few times that Kusuo had come over and how she was quite surprised to learn that quiet young man was Kurumi's son. Now, having seen the father, the difference is even more striking.
"Nah. Their faces are similar enough. It's just the hair color that's all different," muttered Shun, still looking at the phone. "You should see Saiki's older brother. It's like abandon all concept of genetics with them."
Aoi was getting a little more than annoyed with her son being so adsorbed in the phone. "What's up with you and your phone that you have to look at it?"
"Just chatting with friends," said Shun.
"About what?"
"Nothing," he said unhelpfully.
Without ceremony, Aoi swiped the phone from Shun.
"Hey! That's private!" cried Shun.
Aoi completely ignored him. She was a mother and she had a right to review his online activities to make sure that he wasn't into nefarious activities. A couple of his friends, Nendo and Kuboyasu, did look like they legit belonged to a yakuza. She had to protect her boy from bad influence.
It was a group chat, full of names that Aoi had heard of on and off. Most of the messages were directives to Shun, telling him to ask Saiki's mom about 'this and that,' generally towards asking what happened to Saiki. Shun's parroting of Kurumi's response in the chat set off a storm of sad-face emojis and another set of question directives.
Once Shun told them that Saiki's mom said that Saiki would come back next week, there was another flood of emojis, mostly hearts, thumbs-up, and smilies. The group hatched a plan for a get together at a cafe or go to one of the hangout places at a neighboring town when Saiki comes back to school. Shun was telling the group that he would use his mid-term cash to pay for Saiki's snacks as a lure, which prompted a bunch of one on one messages from a "Teruhashi" suggesting that Shun should do the same for a "Yumehara." Shun had sworn, in a text, that 'upon his honor as a man' that he would do as Teruhashi command.
From there, the message turned into a sort of jokey mess of spurious topics. They schemed that they'll have to copy homework from a "Hairo" for which one of the responses was "fat chance," and "he doesn't get full marks on homework like Saiki." There was a movie day in the works, a school skip day, and an ouija session. Then Shun began to message the group about the secret gathering of the "Dark Reunion" and the resurrection of the most perfect "Jet Black Wings."
Shun snatched his phone back from his mother before she could read further. "Don't read that!" His face was turning red from obvious embarrassment.
Aoi allowed such snatching without comment. She was simply relieved that most of the text was just a bunch of friends clowning around, asking after each other, and planning activities together. Aoi, being high strung, was imagining things like drug dealing or some sort of debt scamming scheme.
"Why are you always like this?" Shun asked with a frown, obviously upset. He turned off his phone, partially from embarrassment and partially from having his privacy so overtly invaded.
Aoi did not appreciate the backtalk. Was this the fabled teenage rebellion?
"Like what, Specifically?" she challenged.
Normally, Shun would have backed down. Aoi was his mother, and he naturally did as she asked. He was a good big brother who understood that he had to set a good example for his siblings. She was only doing what she thought was good for him. This time, though, she's been more than controlling. "You're always telling me what to do. When to study. What to eat. Where to go. What to say. How to behave. What friends to have. Why can't you be more like Saiki's mom and let me be?"
"Because I care about you and your future, Shun," said Aoi easily. "Your friends do not care whether you're homeless or dead on the side of the street. They don't care if you can be self-sufficient in the future. I care. I want the best for you and I think the best is for you to be pushed to excel. You don't know how competitive it is out there."
Shun was barely listening to her. He had heard the same excuses over the years and had always done what she said because she had put the fear of the nebulous future into him. It was part of the reason why he indulged in concepts of the Dark Reunion. Fake shadowy organization threatening to take over the world was far easier to deal with than this frightening future of inescapable corporate drudgery.
"My friends do care about me!" Shun defended. "Nendo actually trusts and respects my opinion. Saiki helps me out with homework, explains things to me, and listens to me. Kuboyasu looks out for me and invites me to do things. Hairo always includes me in school activities. Saiko rebuit his house so we come over. They don't care about what I can do for them or how accomplished I am going to be in the future. They care about me and accept me as I am now."
"Well, that's just silly-" Aoi began.
"There you go again!" Shun interrupted her. "Why do you have to criticize everything? My friends don't put me down as much as you do. Even Saiki's mom is happier about how I did on midterms than you. And you're my mother! How come I'm never good enough for you?"
Aoi sucked in a breath, readying a vituperation so fierce that it was bound to blister the skin off his flesh. The young man needed to be put into his place and do so now.
"Save it! You're just going to tell me how wrong I am. How I don't study hard enough. How I need to be fixed. You've already told me thousands of times. You don't love me. You love what you think you can make me into. You know what? I'm going to go stay with a friend for a few days. At least I'm good enough for them." Shun was already walking away. "Tell dad I said hi."
Aoi was angry. More than angry. How dare this selfish young man turned his back on her. She had given up so much for him. She had given up a career, her independence, her smoking habit, chained herself to a man who was obviously more in love with his career than her, changed her entire life to have him. To have all that effort be wasted by this one rebellious act was worse than a slap in the face.
"Kaido Shun! Don't you dare walk away from me!"
The words only made Shun run toward the door.
She would have chased after him, if not for her cart full of groceries and good social graces that demanded that she pay for the groceries. By now, she had gotten the attention of everyone at the checkout line.
Emotions ran in Aoi. Embarrassment, guilt, anger. There was a surprising amount of hurt, too. How dare that thankless child accuse her of not loving him? She gave up everything for him.
She bit her lip, trying to keep herself from crying. How did something as innocent as a shopping trip turned into an accusation of her not loving her first child?
How was she going to have her perfect family weekend now?
