Chapter Fourteen: Housewarming

I grumbled to myself as I trudged down the sidewalk toward the convenience store on my way home from work. I was to the point where I could make simple sandwiches one-handed, but most dinners still required the use of two hands, hence the frequent stops at the store. I'd briefly considered making sandwiches for dinner, but I knew I needed something warm to eat every so often, and the noodle cups and bowls were hot meals, if nothing else.

My shoulder still tingled from my first stimulation treatment the prior Saturday. I was told that it would take at least a couple of treatments before anyone could tell if they were having any effect and that I could expect some tingling as well as aching. I was grateful for the lack of aching, but the tingling was starting to get on my nerves…so to speak.

As I approached the apartment complex I saw a girl with purple hair and wearing the uniform for Hikarizaka High waiting near my front door. Because her back was to me I couldn't be sure who it was, but as I got closer I quickly recognize the twintails. "Mika-san?"

The girl spun and, sure enough, Ryou and Kappei's daughter stood before me. "Ah! Okazaki-sama! Good afternoon!" she greeted with a bow.

"Good afternoon," I returned with a nod. "If you're looking for Ushio, she's staying with the Furukawas."

"I'm actually here to see you, sir," she said shyly.

"Um, okay." I stepped past her to get to my door and started my door-opening ritual. "You're a ways from home, but what can I do for you?" I fumbled the key as usual, dropping the whole ring to the ground…as usual.\

Before I could pick it up, however, a hand quickly snatched it up. "Please let me help you," Mika said. "Which one's the door key?"

I straightened with a blink of surprise. "Um… that one," I said, pointing to the only silver-colored key on the ring. "Thanks."

She blushed as she worked the key into the lock. Finally, it clicked and she opened the door for me. "After you, sir."

"Thanks," I repeated as I entered my home. "Well, come on in, I guess. You can tell me what you need while I make us some tea."

"I-If you will show me where the tea bags and the mugs are, I-I would be happy to prepare the tea," she offered.

I dropped my work satchel and store bag before turning to face her. "You don't need to do that," I told her. "You're a guest here."

"I…I understand that I am a guest," she acknowledged. "But…"

"Mika-san, is something wrong?" I asked, stepping forward to rest my hand on her shoulder. "Did you have a fight with your parents or something?"

"No, not at all!" she blurted, then cast her gaze to the floor. "I-I'm sorry; I'm a little nervous."

"Then take your time," I said gently as I stepped back again to give her space to think. "Just tell me why you're here; that's a good place to start, right?"

"R-Right." She took a couple of deep breaths before managing to lift her gaze to mine. "The truth is; Aunt Kyou asked me to come by after school and help you."

"She did? Did she talk to your parents about it?"

"Mom and Dad were very supportive of the idea," she confirmed with a nod. "We figured that since I pass nearby on my way home that I can stop by and help with whatever you might need help with…like dinner."

"Dinner?" I exclaimed as I retrieved a couple of mugs, one at a time. "That's kinda late, don't you think?"

"I could prepare it beforehand, so all you'd have to do is microwave it," she offered.

I blinked in thought, firing up the stove under the kettle before gesturing to her. "Well, if you're okay with this, then…"

"I am," she said, taking a step toward me. "I want to help. Mom's told me about how you've been through a lot, so…"

I paused as I reached for the tea bags, suddenly feeling very vulnerable. "Just how much has she told you, anyway?"

"She told me that you lost your wife a long time ago," she said. "She told me that you had a really hard time dealing with the loss." The teenager looked up with a thoughtful expression. "She told me that you hurt your shoulder back in middle school, and that it never healed right. And she told me…" She snapped her mouth shut, her eyes wide.

"Mika-san?" I prompted, worried. "Are you okay? What did she tell you?"

She opened her mouth, but no sounds came out for several seconds. "I'm…sorry, but I just realized that...it was something about her." She gave me a sheepish grin. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, okay. As long as it's nothing bad, I guess."

"Not at all!" she exclaimed. Just then, the kettle started to whistle. "Oh! Let me get that for you, sir!"

"I can…all right, thanks." I stepped back and let her take over, watching as she expertly prepared the tea. "I guess…I'll go sit down, then."

"It'll be ready in just a minute," she said, her eyes still on her work.

I sighed with a smile as I headed over and carefully sat at the kotatsu. "How's school going?" I asked, already feeling uncomfortable with the silence.

"It's going well," she replied as she headed over with our tea. "I'm not earning perfect grades, but I am doing my best."

"That's all anyone can ask," I said with a smile, trying to comfort her.

"Y-Yes, sir."

I gave her a concerned glance, but focused on picking up my mug and lifting it to my mouth. "Hey, this is good," I remarked.

"I…would hope you like it," she said with a puzzled look. "You bought it."

"No, I mean…" I chuckled self-consciously. "I just mean that I usually end up making it too strong or too weak, but this…this is perfect."

"Oh. W-Well, I'm glad you like it. Thank you."

We sipped our tea quietly for several minutes, and I realized that I was no longer uncomfortable with the silence. Perhaps I had been uncomfortable because someone was serving me, because I was starting to relax now that I was feeling grateful for the company; I had been alone for a couple of weeks, after all. "How are your parents doing? I haven't talked with them since my surgery."

"They're fine, sir," she replied. "Nothing's really changed since then. Dad still coaches and Mom still works at the hospital."

"'Normal' can be a good thing, in a way," I observed.

"Yes, sir," she said with a giggle. "I hadn't thought of that, but I guess it can." She looked back at my kitchen. "Do you mind if I see what you have? I mean, to make for dinner?"

"No, go ahead," I said, gesturing to the kitchen with my mug. "I'd rather not have to throw ingredients away."

She flashed me a smile as she got to her feet and padded to the kitchen, where she promptly started poking around in…well, pretty much every cabinet. "Do you have any seasonings?" her voice echoed from somewhere.

"Far left, second drawer down."

"Ah! Found it."

I smiled to myself as I watched her continue to rummage around my kitchen. "Did your mom teach you how to cook?"

"A little," her voice echoed again. "She told me she's never been a very good cook, so she's glad Aunt Kyou's free." She straightened to face me. "Ever since she moved in she's been helping out the cooking, and she's been teaching me how to cook."

"Kyou is a really good cook," I remarked as I remembered the meals she'd made for me and Ushio.

"She's amazing," Mika breathed, nearly glowing. "I don't know how she does it, but she can take anything and make it gourmet-level."

"Then I guess it's a good thing you're learning from a master chef."

"Yeah… Oh! I'm sorry, I got distracted!" She quickly spun and went back to her treasure hunting.

As I watched her I felt an itch start to form on my right side. I tried to reach across with my left arm to scratch it, but my harnessed right arm made it so I could barely reach it. After looking around in desperation for something long enough to reach it, I finally had to lay down and writhe on the floor to rub the itch against the inside of my shirt.

"Okazaki-sama, what are you doing?" a giggly voice asked, and I looked up to see Mika watching me from the entrance to the kitchen with a look of amusement.

"Sorry," I grunted as I struggled back to an upright position. "Had an itch and couldn't reach it."

She sighed sympathetically. "Aw, that sucks. Do you have a backscratcher anywhere?"

"Not yet," I said with an awkward smile. "But I will by the end of tomorrow."

She giggled softly as she headed back to the kotatsu to sit again. "I've been able to come up with a few options for dinner, but I want to know what you'd like to eat."

I shrugged my shoulder. "Anything's fine with me. I'm not a human garbage disposal or anything, but I'm not too picky, either."

"You're so funny, Okazaki-sama," she giggled again. "Oh, that's right; do you need to eat anything in particular because of your operation?"

That was a good question. "My doctors haven't told me to eat anything in particular… I'll have to ask them next time, but I'm sure they'd have told me. I guess anything with protein would be good for now."

"I'll get right on it," she said, getting to her feet again to head back to the kitchen.

I watched her with a smile as she started preparing dinner. I missed having someone to talk to; I knew that I could call Ushio at pretty much any time, but it wasn't the same as having someone physically there. "Hey, Mika-san?"

"Yes, sir?" she replied without looking.

"I…don't know how this is going to sound, but…thanks for doing this," I said with a smile that truly reflected my gratitude. "It's been kinda hard being here by myself, so…thanks."

She paused, then put down whatever she was working on to face me with an unsteady smile. "I'm…glad that I could help," she said with a voice slightly laced with emotion. "D-Dinner should be ready shortly."

"Sounds good," I said. "Thanks."

She nodded once before turning back to the stove. I leaned back on my hands – crap, hand – to look out the window…before realizing that the curtains were closed.

"So, dinner's in the fridge. All you should have to do is warm it for a minute-and-a-half at about eighty percent," she told me as she stood just inside the front door. "If it's not warm enough, then warm it again for another fifteen seconds at the same power level; it needs the higher setting 'cause it's kinda dense."

"Got it," I said. "Are you going to be okay getting home?"

"I'll be fine," she replied with a nod. "I was in a club last year, so going home at this time isn't too unusual for me."

"I'd like to know what club you were in, but I can ask about that another time," I told her. "Are you planning on being here tomorrow, then?"

"Yup!" she chirped. "I'll be coming over as long as you need me and as long as Mom and Dad let me."

"Thanks," I said for what seemed like the umpteenth time. "I really appreciate this."

"My pleasure! Well, see you tomorrow!" With that, she turned and headed away from my home, presumably toward the nearest train station to head to her own home.

I smiled to myself as I closed the door, then headed over to dig my phone out of my coat. Thanks to some amazing thumb dexterity, I was able to pull up the Hiiragi's number and hit 'call'.

"Hello?" greeted Kappei's now-familiar voice. "This is Hiiragi."

"Hey, Kappei," I greeted.

"Okazaki!" he boomed. "Man, I really need to give you my cell number!"

"Okay, give me a minute to get something to write with and something to write on," I said as I started to put the phone down.

"Wait!" I heard him yell, so I brought the phone back to my ear again. "You there, Okazaki?"

"I'm here."

"I'll just send it with Mika tomorrow, okay?"

"That works. Actually I was calling to let you know that she just left a couple of minutes ago. I'm assuming she's going straight home?"

"As far as I know, yeah. Okay, well, thanks for letting me know."

"No problem." I then had to ask: "Are you really okay with her coming over here? I mean, you know what happened, right?"

A noticeable pause. "Look, I know it's not your fault. If I'd found out you'd tried to…do that…to your own daughter, I'd have you in my sights myself. But I know you're not like that, and Ryou and I know that you didn't do that, so it's cool."

"Thanks," I said, humbled. "And thanks for letting her do this; she was a big help today, saving me from noodle cups."

His infectious laugh brought a smile to my face. "Well, she's a good student of Kyou's! Have you had what she made, yet?"

"Not yet, no," I replied, glancing over at the fridge. "I was planning on heating it up around six."

Oh, yeah! That's when you have dinner, isn't it?"

"Yup."

"Cool. So you said she left a few minutes ago?"

"About five minutes ago now, yeah."

"So she should be home just in time for dinner… Hey, uh…" Something about his pause had me imagining him scratching himself at the back of his neck. "…would you be okay with the four of us inviting ourselves over for dinner sometime?"

"I...suppose…"

"It's just that it must suck being all by yourself at dinnertime. We couldn't come every day, of course, but maybe Saturday…?"

"Yeah, it does suck," I admitted easily. "It'd be good to have friend over every so often, at least. Thanks."

"Hey, you're a friend of the family! And friends are there for each other right?"

"And when they can't be, they send their kids!" I teased.

"Heh heh, you got me there," he chuckled, fortunately taking my statement as intended. "You free this Saturday, then? We could have the ladies whip up something awesome!"

"I'm game," I said eagerly. "Hey, by the way, your daughter did tell me that Kyou's been teaching her how to cook. How's that going?"

"What, you worried?" he teased back. "When I said she was a good student of Kyou's, I meant it. After you taste Mika's cooking, you'll be begging us to send her over, even after your shoulder gets better!"

"Now I'm really looking forward to dinner," I said. "Maybe I'll have it a little early today…"

I heard him laugh loudly. "Yeah, you do that. Well, listen; I've got to go, but you have a great evening, okay?"

"Thanks, you too. Later."

"Yeah!"

I grunted as Dr. Fujibayashi removed the gizmo from my shoulder. I had felt fine during the first two treatments, but now it was starting to hurt. "Hey, doc; how many more of these are left?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "As you know, you're our first test subject for this procedure, so we have no precedent. In fact, you're helping us form precedent right now. Why do you ask, though? Are you in pain?"

"A little," I grunted as I gingerly held my shoulder. "It feels achy…and kinda tingly; it wouldn't be so bad anywhere else, but here…"

"I believe I understand," he replied sympathetically. "The shoulder can be a rather sensitive area. Would you like us to scan it to see what's going on? You're not due for one until next week, but considering your current discomfort…" he finished with a shrug.

"I wouldn't want to put you out…"

"Nonsense," he said, waving a dismissive hand. "Your well-being is our first priority, especially with your willingness to assist us with our research. Let me help you with your shirt and harness, and we'll head down to Radiology." We got my gear on and I grabbed my lunch bag to follow him out of the lab's treatment room. I almost had the hospital layout memorized, but my memory was mostly limited to wherever I had to walk to get to the lab for my stim treatments. Still, I felt pretty pleased with myself for being able to remember so much. "We'll perform an x-ray, since the tissue in the shoulder should be dense enough to be visible," he said as we entered a familiar room. "Go ahead and lay there; you know the drill, right?"

"I certainly do," I said with a grin as I headed to the table and lay down on it. Moments later, an arm with a camera-like attachment swiveled out and pointed at my shoulder. I knew that I wouldn't need a lead 'blanket' because their x-ray machine could somehow target a specific area without spreading radiation all over the place. "Ready, doc."

"Just hold still…" he said from behind a partition. Why they needed the partition when I didn't need the blanket I didn't know, but I figured that it was because they'd have to remodel the whole room which, when I thought about it, wasn't really necessary. I heard a light humming sound, and… "There! Got it. Come here and we'll take a look."

I grunted my way to the edge of the table and slid down to pad over to where he was waiting. "So? How's it look, doc?"

"Hmm…" he grunted, reminding me of my old homeroom teacher. "I'm hesitant to get too excited just yet, but this is actually looking pretty good." He pointed to a part of the image. "If you remember, we ended up freezing out a lot of your tendon here, but look; it's not much, but it appears to be starting to grow back."

I had to contain my own excitement. "So, what does this mean? Will I be able to take off the harness soon?"

"Not quite yet," he replied with a shake of his head. "I can say, however, that if we keep seeing progress like this…we could be ready to remove the harness in as early as thirty days."

"Thirty days?!"

"That assumes a consistent rate of growth," he quickly added. "But the human body is rarely that cooperative. We'll use thirty days as a frame of reference; how does that sound?"

"Better then never being able to use my shoulder again!" I exclaimed. "So, you're serious? This really seems to be working?"

"That does appear to be the case," he acknowledged. "I'd hold off on celebrating, though, until the harness is off and you're consistently reaching over your head. Keep in mind that even if this is successful you'll have to have physical therapy for a while to build up the strength in your shoulder."

"You couldn't use your stimulation gizmo for that?" I asked.

"Now, that's not how it works," he said with a chuckle. "Right now, this technology is only intended to help you get to a certain point, but you need organic movement to help…" he looked up for a moment. "…to help limber it up and strengthen it. Our 'stimulation gizmo' can't do that, at least at present. This isn't science fiction, after all."

"All right, doc," I said, still trying to contain my enthusiasm. "Sorry for being so pushy."

He chuckled again as he laid a hand on my shoulder. "Chin up; the way things are going, you could be back to normal in as little as six months; that's actually pretty fast for a medical procedure."

Six months… If it meant that my shoulder would be completely fixed, I'd wait six years for that.

"That's wonderful, Daddy!" Ushio exclaimed when I gave her the news. "How do you feel about getting your arm back? I mean, being able to move your arm all the way?"

"I'm trying to not get excited," I admitted. "My shoulder's been busted for twenty years, so I guess I've kinda gotten used to not being able to use it much."

"That makes sense. What's the first thing you're going to do if this works?"

"Pick you up and twirl you!" I exclaimed with a laugh. "I've never been able to do that!"

"Hey, that's right!" she giggled. "I always felt bad because I wanted you to do that when I was little, but I understood you couldn't."

"It'd be kinda odd twirling a sixteen-year-old," I admitted. "Though with as long as this could take, you might be seventeen by then."

"I can wait," she giggled. "I've waited this long; I can wait a little longer, though it'll be hard. And who cares if it's weird, right?"

"Right; I guess I can't worry about how it looks to other people, huh?" I then cringed as I thought about her behavior prior to my…accident. "Within reason, of course."

"Huh?"

"Don't worry about it," I said reassuringly. "Just…refining my thoughts, I guess."

"Oh. Okay."

"Well, how about you? How's school going?"

"It's going fine. Hey, Hiiragi-senpai told me that she's been helping you at home. Is that true?"

"Y-Yeah," I said, suddenly feeling awkward. "I guess that Kyou felt sorry for me when I told her how I was doing and pestered her sister and brother-in-law to let Mika-san help me out."

"I'm sorry that I can't be there for you."

"Don't worry about it," I told her, not sure what else to say. "Let's…just focus on the counseling sessions so we can get back to normal. Okay?"

"Okay." A brief pause. "Um, Grandma wants to talk to you."

Sanae did? "Okay, put her on, then."

"Okay. Talk you to later. I love you, Daddy."

"I…love you, too," I replied, understandably uncertain as to how she meant it.

I could hear a brief conversation on the other end, then: "Tomoya-san?"

"Hi, Mom."

"Well, hello!" I always liked how bubbly she sounded. "How are you? How is your shoulder?"

"I'm fine," I replied. I typically hated repeating myself, but this was Sanae, so it was all right. "The doctor said that he wasn't sure, but it looks like I could be getting rid of the harness in the next thirty days or so."

"How wonderful!" she gushed. "Will you be able to use your arm completely, then?"

"Not at first," I told her. "Even if this all works out, I'll still need physical therapy to help strengthen the muscles and tendons."

"What about your range of movement?"

"I should get it all back," I said. "The whole point of the therapy is to get rid of the damaged tissue and replace it with healthy tissue, so…"

"Ah, I believe I understand. Modern technology is amazing…"

"It is," I agreed. "Never thought I'd be helping with it, too."

"It must feel good, knowing that you're helping others as well as yourself."

"Yeah."

"Well, I won't keep you any longer. Oh, how have you been doing with cooking and the like? Do you need me to come over? I can't believe I didn't think of this before!"

"I'm fine, Mom, thanks. Ryou's and Kappei's daughter's been coming over to help out."

"The Hiiragi girl?"

"You know her?"

"A little. She's stopped by a couple of times to see Shio-chan. She seems like a nice girl."

"I think so, too. Anyway, she'll be helping out as long as she can, so I should be fine for the time being. Thanks for the offer, though. You can come over any time, anyway; as far as I know, Ushio can be here as long as one of you is with her, right?"

"That's our understanding."

I still thought the court orders were stupid, but I understood why they were in place; they had no idea why Ushio did what she did, so they had no way of knowing whether or not she'd try to do it again. I knew better, but… "So if you wanted to give Mika-san a day off, we could make the arrangements."

"I'll keep that in mind. Well, I won't keep you any longer. Have a pleasant day, Tomoya-san."

"You, too."

As I got off the phone, it hit me yet again that, in spite of the incident with my daughter, my life was actually starting to turn around.