A/N: I got excited and finished the next chapter early J
Chapter 8: Unwelcome Guest
"So, school is going well?" Louis asked as Ema sat at the table doing homework.
Ema nodded happily. She was pleased that her "home school" (though none of the places had really been home) during the past six years hadn't put her behind where she should be. She'd been a little worried about that, but the first week of school was done. Every teacher had now gone over their syllabus for the year and there wasn't anything Ema was concerned about handling,
"The students in mine and Yusuke's class are nice. I think I'll become good friends with Sasakura and Imai." Imai had eaten lunch with her every day the first week, and Sasakura had joined them three of the five days. Yusuke had joined them every day as well. She hoped that was a good sign.
"I'm glad to hear that," Louis said, patting Ema's hair. "I knew you would do well. And look how fast you've made friends. Guess you haven't lost your friend making skills after all. All it really takes is being nice and being yourself." Ema had confided in Louis through email over a year ago that she was afraid she was losing important social skills. It meant a lot to her that he still remembered her worries.
"I guess," Ema agreed, but she felt like she'd tried to do that around the world and it had only sometimes worked. She felt lucky to be in a class with people who were kind and friendly. She didn't know what she would have done if she'd finally been able to go to high school and still couldn't make any friends. It would have been worth it to live in one place and be with the Asahina brothers, but it would have been hard.
"I have to go to work now, but let's spend some time together this weekend, okay? I have Sunday off."
"Okay," Ema agreed happily.
Ema worked in silence for almost half an hour before an unhappy voice said, "Oh. You're here. I forgot you'd already be here."
Ema sighed. She didn't recognize the voice, but she didn't have to turn around to see who it was. The only Asahina brothers she hadn't seen yet were Natsume and Fuuto, and she was pretty sure Natsume had never used a tone like that in his entire life.
She pasted a smile on her face before turning to confront Fuuto. "Welcome home, Fuuto. I apologize for intruding in your home. I promise I'll try not to get in your way."
"You wouldn't have to try to stay out of my way if you weren't here," Fuuto retorted. "And if you were really sorry about imposing, you also wouldn't be here."
"Most of your brothers don't feel I'm imposing," The words were out before Ema could stop them.
Fuuto blinked at her. It was probably the harshest thing she'd ever said to him, though he'd certainly done and said enough in the past to deserve worse than that.
"But as I said, since you feel differently from your brothers, I'll try not to be too big a pain for you."
Having apparently said all he planned to say, or perhaps too disgusted with her presence to stay, Fuuto turned to leave.
"Congratulations, by the way," Ema said before he took more than two steps, "on becoming an idol as a teenager. That's really amazing. I hadn't known you wanted to be one."
"Well, I was eight when you left," Fuuto said, his tone still sarcastic. "No eight-year old knows what they want to be when they grow up."
"Tsubaki did," Ema replied. She hadn't been around when Tsubaki was eight, of course. She would have been born that year, but she was very familiar with the story of how Tsubaki fell in love with a robot anime and decided he would one day be a voice actor.
Fuuto's mouth twitched and Ema wondered if he had almost smiled. "Fine, point to you. Any normal eight-year old doesn't know what they want to be. Did you just find out when you moved back to Japan?"
Ema shook her head. "Dad and I occasionally had access to Japanese channels. I was really shocked to see a recording of one of your concerts. No one had told me you'd become an idol, but it was fun to see. You got the crowd really pumped and excited." Even though she and Fuuto had never been friends, it had still been exciting to see Fuuto on TV. It hadn't been the same as hearing Tsubaki's and Azusa's voices, but it was another thing that made her feel a little less lonely and a little more connected to home to see his concert. She'd made a point of looking for them when she could after that, though she'd never bought any of his music.
Maybe if she listened to his music, it would be a way for her to connect with him. Or maybe he would just think she was sucking up to him, trying to get close to a popular idol. Knowing Fuuto, that was probably more likely. She'd have to find some other way to hopefully get him to warm up to her.
She heard someone coming down the stairs and turned to see Subaru. Speaking of people she needed to warm up to her…
Subaru was wearing sweats and had a ball in his hand with a bag slung over his shoulder. He'd probably just gotten home from basketball practice. Subaru was easier to figure out than Fuuto. She was sure if she could get him to talk about basketball with her he'd be more comfortable with her in the home. The problem was actually getting him to talk.
"Welcome home, Subaru! How as basketball practice today?"
Subaru glanced at her before muttering something unintelligible and continuing on his way. Ema slumped. Most of the Asahina brothers were so nice. Why were some of them so difficult?
"Something wrong?" Yusuke asked.
Ema jumped, not having realized Yusuke was in the room.
"No, it's nothing," Ema said, turning back to her homework. She wished she could ask Yusuke for advice on speaking with Subaru. He seemed to be the brother closest to Subaru, but he was another one of the difficult brothers she was dealing with. Though he'd happily eaten her meals all week long, so she was hopefully making progress there.
Once upon a time she would have asked Natsume for advice on Subaru, but Azusa had already warned her not to bring up Natsume around Subaru if she could help it. Apparently, the two had a falling out a few years ago, but no one seemed to know what it was about. She wished Natsume had emailed her when it happened. Those two had been so close that whatever happened must have been painful.
Of course, she was only the little kid who'd hung around Natsume's house for a few years. The two had been good gaming friends, but their friendship really didn't extend much beyond that. She could understand why Natume hadn't told her, but it felt odd to come back to a place that had been a second home to her and learn that two of the Asahina brothers were no longer on speaking terms. It made her sad.
"Don't tell me you're working on homework already," Yusuke said, giving the papers around Ema a horrified look. "It's only Friday night. We still have the whole weekend."
"Yeah, I know, but if I do it now I don't have to worry about it later. I can focus on relaxing and having fun the rest of the weekend. Tsubaki already told me he and Azusa want to take me out to lunch tomorrow, and then Louis wants to do brunch Sunday, and I need to get my character powered up on Fantasia Dawning…it's just easier if I do my homework first."
Homework first had always been the rule when she was traveling with her dad. If she wanted to go on adventures with him, she had to have her homework done first. It established a pattern for her that really was helpful. Having her homework done also meant she could play video games without the work looming in the back of her mind.
"I guess I should too," Yusuke sighed, hanging his head.
"You don't have to if you don't want to," Ema laughed. "I understand not wanting to worry about homework on a Friday evening."
"No, you're right," Yusuke said, retrieving his backpack. "Better to get it done and not have to worry about it later. Mind if I join you?"
Ema hesitated a moment, surprised.
Yusuke misread her hesitation. "It's okay if you don't want me to," he rushed to say. "I know I'm not as smart as you. I won't slow you down by asking for help or anything."
"No, it's not that," Ema said, shaking her head. "I'd be glad to have you join me. And if you have any questions I can answer or help with, I'd be happy to." She pulled out the chair beside her to show she was sincere. Was Yusuke warming up to her this quickly? Food really was the way to get on his good side, apparently. Too bad she didn't figure that out when they were kids.
They'd been working for a while when Ema felt Yusuke's eyes on her.
"Hey, Ema? Why don't you want our classmates to know your Rintaro's daughter?"
Ema withheld her sigh. She'd forgotten her promise to tell Yusuke why she'd told him not to tell anyone about her dad.
"It was difficult to make friends when we were moving around all the time," Ema said, looking at her homework rather than at Yusuke. "Especially when I didn't speak the same language as the people around us. I got pretty good at English and learned a couple phrases in some other languages, but wasn't that proficient. That didn't stop people who knew I was Rintaro Hinata's daughter from trying to be my friend. Not because they wanted to be my friend, but because they wanted to be the friend of the famous adventurer's daughter. Either so they could meet him or in the hope of ending up on his show."
She shrugged awkwardly. "I just don't want that at our school. I'm going to be there for two years and if anyone is my friend, I want to know they're my friend. That means they can't know I'm Rintaro Hinata's daughter."
"I don't think you need to hide it," Yusuke said. "Your dad isn't here, so you won't have to worry about people trying to get on his show. I think people will like you for you. Look how quickly Sasakura and Imai warmed up to you."
Ema looked at Yusuke in surprise. Had he really just said what she thought he'd said? And had he meant it?
Looking into Ema's eyes, Yusuke turned red and went back to his homework.
"I mean, that's just what I think. I could be wrong, I guess. You have more experience with this than I do."
Ema smiled. Maybe it wasn't just because of Masaomi and Ukyo that Yusuke was spending time with her at school after all. "Maybe you're right," she said. "But I'll play things on the safe side for now." She bit her lip, then quietly said, "Thank you, Yusuke."
She wasn't sure if he heard her or not, but they continued to work on their homework together until dinner, finishing it just in time.
