"Hey, Ema?" Yusuke asked as she sat in the couch watching an anime with the twins. "Can I ask for your help with something?"
"Ask her later," Tsubaki said, putting a possessive arm around her shoulders. "Ema's hanging out with us right now."
"It's not like we can't watch this later," Ema said, ducking under Tsubaki's arm to get up. "What did you need, Yusuke?"
He gestured for her to follow him farther from the couch. He didn't want the twins overhearing him. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he muttered, "I was hoping you would show me some cooking tips."
Ema blinked at him. "Sure, I can do that. Is there anything specific you want to cook?"
He shrugged. "Just a normal bento."
"Okay," she said slowly. "We can do that. Though why do you want to know?"
Red crawled up his face as he stared at the floor. "I wannamkituptya," he muttered.
"I'm sorry, what?" Ema asked, leaning closer.
"I want to make up for what happened with Akane," he said louder, then winced and cast a glance over at the twins. "I'm really sorry for what happened, so I wanted to make it up to you by making your lunch for you for week. But if I make it as I am now, it'll probably taste like crap, so I wanted to get your help." He hung his head. "Sorry for asking you to help with something that's supposed to be for you." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Actually, I guess I should have asked Ukyo first, huh? Man, I'm such an idiot."
Ema hid a smile. It would probably embarrass him to know she thought he was being adorable, but she appreciated that he wanted to do something for her. "It's fine," she assured him, grabbing his arm to quiet him. He froze at her touch. "Why don't we make our lunches for next week together?"
He shook his head. "It doesn't count if you're helping. I just wanted a few tips so I don't screw things up."
"It'll probably be easier if we just go through it together. Why don't we make the lunches together this week, and you can make it on your own next week if you want?" She hesitated. "Or we can just keep making lunch together if you want. It's more fun if you cook with someone."
Yusuke thought his head might explode as his face heated up. Ema wanted to cook together? With him? He couldn't help the newly wed fantasies that sprang to his mind at her words. "S-sure," he stuttered. "We can do it together if you think that would be fun."
~.~
Kaname had just gotten home from lunch with one of his girlfriends when the doorbell rang. He turned back toward the door, checking his phone to make sure he hadn't missed a text. If his girlfriend accidently left something with him, he was pretty sure she would call or text him rather than showing up at his door. He didn't like any of his girlfriends coming around here in case they ran into each other. Though they all knew about each other, having them actually meet each other was more awkwardness than he wanted to deal with.
He opened the door and blinked at the sight of a Caucasian boy with brown hair and green eyes. "Can I help you?" he asked.
"Is this the Asahina household?" the boy asked in passable Japanese with an American accent.
"Yes."
The boy looked relieved. "Is Ema Hinata home? Can I see her?"
Kaname hesitated. Maybe this boy was Ema and Yusuke's classmate, but he was pretty sure that none of Ema's classmates knew she lived with Yusuke. Kaname told her the previous year that she was welcome to invite friends over, and she'd explained that Yusuke didn't want anyone knowing they lived together since they'd gossip about it. Kaname hadn't been able to argue with that logic.
"May I ask who you are?" Kaname asked, though something about all this gave him an uneasy feeling. Why was some boy who probably wasn't a classmate coming to visit Ema? Especially when it seemed she wasn't expecting him.
"Um, my name is Erik Cannon," Erik said. "I'm an old friend of Ema's from back when she traveled with her dad."
Kaname stared at the boy. He couldn't remember the name of Ema's American boyfriend, but she hadn't mentioned any other friends from America. Could this be the boyfriend that broke up with her? Ema hadn't mentioned much about to him. She'd suddenly mentioned having a boyfriend for months when she emailed him, but the next time he'd asked about her boyfriend, she'd merely said they'd broken up, then added that he broke up with her. She hadn't said much in her email, but Kaname had gotten the impression she'd been hurt by the breakup.
"And can I ask why you're here?"
Erik frowned. "I'm here to see Ema. Would you please go get her? Or is she not home right now? She lives here, right?"
Now Kaname frowned. How had this boy learned where Ema lived? "I'll see if she's available," he said. "You wait here." Then he shut the door on the boy's face.
He went to the third floor and found Ema cooking with Yusuke. That was a new sight. They looked like they were enjoying themselves and he was tempted not to interrupt, but just leaving the boy there was ruder than he was willing to be. Even if it turned out he was the one who broke Ema's heart. Plus, it didn't look like the boy had any intention of leaving.
"Ema?" he called.
She looked up, a glass bowl full of rice in her hands. "Yes, Kaname?"
Not wanting to make a scene, he moved closer so the twins watching TV wouldn't hear. Yusuke would, but there was nothing he could do about that. "There's a boy waiting outside to see you." He paused. "He said his name is Erik Cannon."
Ema turned white before the bowl slipped from her hands, shattering on the floor.
"Hey!" Tsubaki cried as he and Azusa got to their feet. "You two okay over there?"
Ema shot Kaname a panicked look.
"They're fine," Kaname called. "Ema's hands just slipped. We'll take care of it."
Slowly, the twins sat back down. Yusuke stared at Ema before gently touching her shoulder. She jumped at the contact.
"Ema?" Yusuke said. "You okay?"
She didn't answer.
"Do you want me to send him away?" Kaname asked quietly. "I can go back down and tell him you're not here right now. Or that you moved." Telling Erik Ema had moved would be an obvious lie after the conversation they'd just held, but the lie would hold a clear message that he wasn't welcome here.
Ema shook her head, but it looked like it was out of disbelief rather than telling him not to send the boy away.
"Erik can't be here," she said. "He lives in the United States. Why would he be here?"
Kaname shrugged. "The boy was American and said his name was Erik Cannon. He had brown hair and green eyes. I can't tell you any more than that."
Ema pale face started looking green.
"I'll send him away," Kaname said, anger growing in his chest. Ema was happy. She enjoyed her life in Japan living with the Asahinas and visiting her father. What right did this boy have to come here and send Ema into an emotional tailspin?
"No!" Ema said, reaching a hand out. "No, I'll go talk to him."
"Who is this guy, Ema?" Yusuke asked. "Do you need us to come with you?"
Her eyes widened and she shook her head. She didn't want anyone else knowing about Erik. Only Kaname, Iori, and Hikaru knew about him. "No, it's fine. He's . . . an old friend."
Yusuke looked unconvinced and Kaname couldn't blame him.
"Okay," Yusuke said, staring after Ema in concern. "I'll clean up while you're gone, okay?"
Ema nodded mechanically and Kaname followed her to the stairs. "Are you sure you want to see him alone?" he asked.
Ema shook her head and relief flooded him. As upset as she looked, he'd been reluctant to let her go see this boy on her own.
"I just don't want anyone else to know about Erik," she said quietly. "I mean to know that he was my boyfriend. Will you stand back though? I don't need you close. I just . . . don't want to be alone with him."
"I'll stay as close or as far as you need me," he promised.
"But why is he here?" she muttered under her breath, so quiet Kaname didn't think he was supposed to hear.
They reached the front door and Ema stood there, staring at it. When she finally reached for the handle, her hand shook. Kaname placed his hand over hers, standing behind her. "Maybe I should tell him to come back another time," he murmured. "It's not fair for him to show up out of the blue and expect you to talk to him."
She shook her head, her lips tight. "I won't be able to sleep tonight if I don't learn why he's here." She took a deep breath and blew it out. "It's okay. We'll talk in the courtyard and you can stay by the door." She suddenly wished she had Juli, but she hadn't thought to grab him before coming down. It was probably for the best though. Juli might try to claw Erik's eyes out. Steeling herself, she opened the door. And then almost slammed it shut as green eyes met hers. She wasn't ready for this. Hadn't properly prepared herself to see Erik in person for the first time in two years.
His eyes lit up when he saw her, though the smile he gave her was tentative, like he wasn't sure of his welcome. "Hey Ema," he said, his eyes searching her face. His smile grew, though was still tentative. "You look great." Shockingly, he spoke to her in Japanese. They'd always spoken and written to each other in English before. He hadn't known Japanese when they'd been dating.
She didn't know what to say. He looked great too. Of course he did. She'd always thought he was the cutest boy she'd talked to while traveling with her father. He played soccer, so was lean and his hair always looked windblown, like he'd just stopped running, but it was messy in an adorable way rather than a slob way. And he'd always stared at her with those green eyes like everything she had to say was as important to him as it was to her.
"Ema?" he prompted when she didn't say anything.
She didn't know what she should say or what she wanted to say, but what came out was, "How did you find me?"
He flushed and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I reached out to your dad and he let me know."
Ema felt a stab of betrayal. How could her dad have told Erik where she was without telling her Erik had reached out to him? Did he know that Erik was here, visiting Japan?
He scuffed the ground and quietly added, "I thought about emailing you, but I was worried you'd be too upset to email back." He was probably right. She might have deleted any emails from him without reading them and then removed them from the trash on her email, though she would have regretted it later. Mostly because she would have stewed over wondering what he'd written her. He peeked at her through his bangs, then cast a glance at Kaname behind her. "Can we talk? Alone?"
Silently, Ema led the way to the giant tree in the courtyard with Erik trailing behind her. Kaname stayed at the door, watching the two teens.
"What do you want to talk about?" she asked, crossing her arms. He looked hurt at her brusque attitude, which both hurt and pissed her off. What right did he have to act like she should welcome him? Like she should be glad to see him again after he broke up with her through a giant email explaining all the reasons it was too difficult to be with her, while throwing in some compliments about how great she was to try to make her feel better?
"Well?" she pressed when he didn't say anything. She was being rude, but she didn't know how else to react. And she just wanted this conversation over with.
Erik looked down at the ground again, his hands still in his pockets. "Breaking up was really hard for me too," he said quietly. Ema flinched, but he missed it. "You're the most amazing girl I've ever met. No one else I met before or after compares. None of them understood me the way you did and I didn't connect with any of them the way I did with you."
He looked up at her. "It was really hard dating when you were so far away and always moving around . . . but now you're stable." Alarm bells went off in her head at the words she was stable now. "I secretly started learning Japanese when we were dating. I wanted to surprise you. I stopped learning after we broke up."
Ema wanted to interrupt that they didn't break up, he broke up with her, but she kept those words to herself.
"But then it made me too sad that I'd stopped. I'd see anything related to Japan and I just couldn't stand it, so I took up my lessons again, telling myself that maybe someday you'd be ready to be friends again, and then I could surprise you with being able to speak Japanese.
"The thought of being your friend again got me really excited. I'd quite soccer after we broke up, because I couldn't focus on anything." That surprised her. He'd been one of the stars of his team. It hurt to feel vindictive, but she couldn't help being happy that she hadn't been the only one hurting after he broke up with her. "But after I started planning how I'd reach out to you and how we'd become friends again, I was able to get back into soccer. I thought about how our meeting would go all the time. If I'd call, or email, or fly to wherever you were at the time."
He blushed. "But the more I started to imagine what I would say and what you would say, my imagination kept morphing from us becoming friends again to us dating again, and I eventually realized that was what I really wanted. Not to just be your friend, but your boyfriend again." He tensed, his shoulder riding up by his ears as he said, "I know I don't have the right to ask for that and I know I'm probably not your favorite person, but when my uncle got transferred to Japan for work, I asked if I could come too." He hesitated. "I'm going to finish high school here, Ema. At your high school, I think, starting tomorrow."
She heard a rushing in her ears and wondered if she'd pass out from shock. She almost missed what he said next.
"I totally understand if you need time before you want to be around me and I'm willing to be your friend or whatever else you might need in the meantime. We can just be friends in high school and, if you're ready, maybe talk about dating again in college. I could stay here in Japan, or you could come to the United States, or whatever." He shrugged, looking increasingly uncomfortable over her silence.
"Either way, I'm really sorry for how our relationship ended. And that it ended at all. I made a mistake, but I want to be with you if there's any way I can be." He waited, but she still didn't respond. "Do you think there's any way we can be friends again?" he asked, peering into her eyes.
She opened her mouth, but no words came out. She had to try several times before saying, "I never thought I'd see you again, Erik. You're asking way too much for meeting me for the first since breaking up with me. Especially since it's been over eighteen months since we last spoke." Or emailed since that was the last time they'd communicated.
"Right," Erik said, immediately stepping back as he nodded. "I understand. Totally. I just didn't want to blindside you at school." She appreciated he'd at least done that. Unexpectedly seeing him at school would have been awful. She would have thought she was hallucinating. "So, I'll see you tomorrow?" he asked hopefully.
"I guess," she said since she apparently didn't have a choice. This was awful. How was she going to focus at school with her ex-boyfriend there? "I need to go back in and help my friend. We were in the middle of something when you came."
"Right," he said, nodding again. "Sorry to bother you."
"No, it's fine," she said even though it wasn't. "I appreciate you coming and telling me." He looked relieved, though she wasn't sure he deserved to feel that. "I'll see you at school."
She waved and he returned her wave, looking a little more cheerful before he walked away.
A/N: Did anyone predict Erik making an appearance? I can't remember if I originally planned for him to show up (I kept all my old story notes in the hope that I would return to this fic someday), but I have been planning his appearance for quite a while.
