Chapter Twenty-One: The Next Grad Party

The doorbell rang, and I wiped sweaty palms on my pantlegs as I headed over to answer the door. "Coming…" Truth be told, I didn't want to be the one answering the door, but for some reason Ushio was taking a long time to get ready.

I opened the door to find Kyou and Mika on the porch. "Hey Tomoya," Kyou greeted.

"Hey Kyou," I greeted, smiling as I stepped aside. "Come on in, you two."

"Good afternoon, Okazaki-sama," Mika greeted as she followed her aunt into my home.

"Good afternoon," I returned as I closed the door behind them and took their coats. "Go ahead and have a seat; Ushio should be out…sometime today."

"'Sometime today'?" Mika repeated.

"He's being rude, Mika," my old sparring partner said. "He doesn't understand that it takes us a long time to make ourselves pretty."

"It does, huh?" I asked, smirking as I crossed my arms. "And why should it take so long, Kyou?"

"Well, because…" she trailed off with an expression that told me that she'd realized the position she'd put herself in. "Just shut up."

"For what it's worth, I don't think you need any 'work', Kyou," I said with a knowing smile. It was true; in spite of her age, her treatment during her time with her 'husband' as well as her smoking, she looked fantastic. Though I would have been lying if I said her outfit wasn't impressive as well: her long, purple hair, absent its previous gray and ribboned on the left as always, rested on a lighter-purple top that was made of some kind of soft, shiny-looking material. Her black skirt was straight, and covered her to her knees, while black shoes that almost looked like slippers covered her feet. "Honestly, I think you'd start a riot if you walked into a high-school dressed like that."

She stared at me with an expression of open shock before quickly dropping her gaze "Th-Thank you," she said, her former bravado all but gone. "Jeff seemed to like it when I wore it on our last date."

"Then he has good taste," I said, just to tease her a little more; I meant every word, though.

A movement from Kyou's left drew my attention, and Mika was looking at me with an expression that appeared uncertain yet hopeful. "What about me, Okazaki-sama?"

"Y-You look nice, too," I managed, unsure as to how she'd take any praise. She did look nice, though, with her hair down like her aunt's and coming to rest on a dress that was white but not white… 'Cream' I believed Ushio would call it. The color went really well with the purple of her hair and the deep blue of her eyes. The dress covered her from her neck to her knees, and the sleeves extended to her wrists. It was poofy at the chest and flared out below the waist. "Very ladylike."

"You…You really think so?" she asked, her hands balling under her chin.

Fortunately, I was saved from having to answer by Ushio's entrance into the room. "Kyou-sensei!" she squealed as she threw herself at her former teacher. "Oh, it's soooo good to see you!"

"Oh my gosh, Shio-chan!" Kyou said to the teenager hanging off of her. "You look so cute!"

"Thank you," she said timidly, releasing her old teacher to tug awkwardly on the skirt of her dress. It covered her from neck to ankles, which surprised me considering the day and age. It was mostly a shimmery black with white borders at the neck, the ends of the sleeves, and the bottom of the skirt. "Grandpa and Grandma Furukawa bought it for me," she explained, confirming my suspicions.

"It's…good to see you again, Ushio-san," Mika greeted – timidly, which I thought was odd for an upperclassman.

"It's hardly been a day, senpai," Ushio giggled as she exchanged a hug with the older girl. "But it's nice to see you outside of school."

"Y-Yeah…I mean, thank you."

I gave Kyou a look that expressed my confusion, but she just shrugged. "Well ladies, go ahead and have a seat. I still have a few more things to put together before the snack'll be ready."

"Snack?" Kyou's eyes lit up. "Is there chocolate involved?"

"Very much so," I told her with a chuckle; I knew how much girls liked chocolate, so I had made sure to purchase some dark chocolate along with the regular stuff. "Just give me a few minutes and it'll be ready."

"Go, servant," she commended with a wave of her hand and childish eagerness in her eyes.

I shook my head as I reentered the kitchen. "Now…oh, I forgot the plates…I wonder if paper would be okay?"

"Okazaki-sama?" I twitched at the sudden intrusion, but was somehow not surprised at all to see Mika next to me with her hands folded. "M-May I help?"

"Mika-san, you're here to have fun with the others, not to serve," I protested as politely as I could.

"I know, but…" I felt my skin heat up as she looked around anxiously. "I like…helping…"

"Okay," I said, not wanting her to say any more. "Could you get the small plates out of that cupboard over there?"

"You mean the ones with the dragonflies flying around the border?" she asked as she moved to the cupboard that I hadn't even pointed out yet.

"Y-Yeah…those. Thanks." I saw her get out four plates and tried to stop her before she set them down. "Just three."

"Three? How come?"

I turned to face her and leaned on the counter. "This party's just for the three of you. I'll be cowering in my room while you're having fun."

"Okazaki-sama," she giggled. "But…But that's not right. You're working hard and you don't even get to enjoy any of the food?"

"I'll be taking a couple of pieces of meat with me," I admitted, "but I bought all of this with the three of you in mind."

She stared at me for several seconds before seeming to catch herself. "W-Well, thank you for thinking of us," she finally said. "Does Ushio know that you won't be with us?"

"Nah," I said. "She needs to be able to have some fun without worrying about her dad breathing down her neck."

"That's…" Her eyes briefly lost focus before she hurried back to the living room.

Unsure of what had just happened, I turned back to the counter with a blink. "Okay, so we have the plates, the chocolates are ready, the mini-sausages…"

"Daddy!" Ushio suddenly bellowed, causing me to nearly jump out of my skin; in hindsight, I should have seen it coming. "What do you mean 'you won't be joining us'?"

"Ushio," I said patiently, "I'm trying to get your snack ready, but I won't be able to if I keep getting interrupted like this."

"I don't care!" she huffed as she grabbed onto my sleeve. "I'd rather have you there than a bunch of stupid chocolate!"

"Speak for yourself," I heard Kyou quip from the living room.

"Sensei!" Ushio snapped before returning her attention to me. "Daddy, you'll join us, right?"

I looked down at my light-blue button-up shirt over white t-shirt and blue jeans and sighed. "Ushio, I'm not dressed for something like this."

"You don't have to be!" she exclaimed passionately. "You're 'Daddy'!"

"Besides," Kyou's voice came from the living room again, "you boys don't have to worry about being pretty or anything. Jeff told me that God put his beauty in us girls and his strength in you guys, so you don't have to worry so much about your looks."

I could imagine the pastor saying something like that. "He's really got you, doesn't he?"

"Yup!" her voice echoed into the kitchen. "So, are you going to join us or not?"

I sighed again. "Fine. Just…leave me alone for now so I can get the food ready, okay?"

"I'll help!" Mika exclaimed, having somehow switched places with my daughter. "Please let me help."

I sighed in resignation. "There's a bag of vegetables in the fridge," I told her. "Open it, and cut any vegetables that are too long for eating raw."

"Got it!" she chirped with a salute, donning her apron before quickly retrieving the bag and a knife. I was about to wonder how she knew where everything was until I remembered her time helping me during my injury. "Did you want me to put them in the big blue bowl when I'm done?"

"Th-That sounds good," I said, surprised by her initiative again. "Since you're right there, could you take a quick look at the sausages?"

"Sure thing!" She popped the lid off the cooker with her free hand and peered inside. "They smell really good… And they look like they're about ready."

"Cool. Could you turn the heat off, then?"

"Done!" she chirped with a twist of the knob. As I worked on arranging the wrapped chocolates on the serving plate, she went through the vegetables and chopped the ones that needed it, tossing them into the bowl when she was done.

"Oh, shoot," I griped. "Sorry, Mika-san; those need to be rinsed before they go into the bowl. My bad."

Without missing a beat, she opened an upper cupboard and pulled out a strainer and dumped the prepared vegetables into it, sitting it on top of the bowl before giving me a shy smile. "I should have thought of that myself."

I smiled back before returning my attention to the chocolates.

After about a couple of minutes, I saw her leave the counter out of the corner of my eye and 'felt' her move around me to the other side. She then got a smaller bowl and brought it back to my other side, and I realized that she must have been getting it for the dip. She then got into the fridge again and pulled out the tub of miso dip that I'd purchased the other day and poured some of it into the bowl, causing me to wonder how she knew that I'd purchased it for the party. I felt a twinge of nausea as the thought occurred to me that the two of us worked really well together.

"Would you rinse the vegetables while I take this to the kotatsu?" she requested. Before I knew it I was complying, handing her the plate of chocolates and taking the strainer from her. I rinsed the vegetables the best I could, rinsed the serving bowl the best I could, and then dumped the vegetables into the bowl. "Vegetables are ready," I announced, placing the bowl on the counter beside me.

"Great!" Mika grabbed the bowl while flashing me a smile, then headed back to the living room, humming some tune as she went. She sure seemed to be in her element.

A couple trips more, and we all sat around the kotatsu, with delicious-looking food piled on it. There almost wasn't enough room for our plates with all the food there was.

We all folded our hands. "Itadakimasu."

"…for your provision, and bless…this…" Kyou trailed off with a blush as she saw the rest of us looking at her. "Oh, uh…sorry; I've been…having more dinners with Jeff."

"It's okay, sensei," Ushio said encouragingly. "Go right ahead, right Daddy?"

"Um…sure!" I said, not sure what else to say. "Not like it's going to hurt anyone, right?"

Kyou smiled shyly before closing her eyes and bowing her head, so I did the same.

"Lord, thank you for your provision, and bless this food to our bodies' use. Please be with us during this time and let us be…edified, that's it…edified by our time together." I sensed that she was done, and cracked an eye open to see that she was lifting her head again, so I followed suit. "Thanks," she said shyly.

"No problem," I said, somewhat moved by her words. "That was pretty cool."

"I'm not sure I remembered it right, but that's how Jeff prays before our dates," Kyou said, drawing her hair over her ear. "He told me that the point isn't the exact words, but the heart behind them."

"O…Okay," I said, at another loss for words. "Well, your dates must be pretty interesting, then."

"Oh, you," she said, wadding a napkin and tossing it at me. "We don't spend the whole time praying. We've gone to movies and dinners, and even walks in the park, just talking." Her eyes grew unfocused as a smile crept across her face. "He's…amazing."

"Good for you, sensei," Ushio said with a warm smile. "I'm so glad that you could find someone so special after…after…"

"…after what you've been through," I finished, noting my daughter's expression of gratitude. "I'm happy for you, too."

"Yeah…" Kyou said, gazing softly at me before seeming to catch herself. "Er, thanks!" She then leveled a catty gaze at her former student. "So, Shio-chan; any boys at school catch your eye yet?"

"EEEEHHHHHH?" Ushio turned panicked eyes on me as she blushed crimson.

"Whoa, I think we have a winner," Kyou said, still smirking.

"I'm…I'm not thinking about that right now!" she squeaked. "I'm…still…"

Kyou's face paled almost instantly. "Oh, no! I am so sorry, Shio-chan; I spoke before I thought!" She quickly shifted her apologetic look to me. "Tomoya, I'm really sorry about that; I wasn't thinking about anything other than just teasing her a little, honest."

"I believe you," I said as I looked across the table to my daughter. "Are you okay, sweetie? Do you need to leave the table for a minute?"

"N-No, I'm fine," she replied. "I'm just…It's still kinda embarrassing."

"W-Well, then I'll tease someone else," Kyou decided, giving me a knowing look before turning her attention to… "Well, Mika? Is there anyone you like?" While part of me was cringing to the point of doubling over, another part of me was grateful that she was giving her niece the chance to possibly come clean.

"M-Me?" Mika gasped before covering her face.

"There is, isn't there?" her aunt teased in a singsong tone. "Who is it?" she asked while giving me a wink. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with us."

Mika didn't reply, but we could hear a whimper from behind her hands.

"All right Kyou, that's enough," I said, feeling sorry for the girl. "If she wants to tell us then she'll tell us. You remember how awkward it was for us when we were in high school, don't you?"

"It wasn't for me," she said with a wistful look. "I knew who I liked and…was…" she trailed off with what looked like an expression of pain. "N-Never mind; it wasn't awkward but…" She straightened to look me in the eye. "I understand, though."

"What about you, Daddy?" Ushio asked innocently.

"What about me what?" I asked, confused.

"Well, you're…very handsome…" I noticed she was suddenly having a hard time with her words, understandably so. "…so there must be girls – women, I mean – who think you're handsome."

I felt my face heat up as I reflexively looked at Kyou and remembered when she had tried to seduce me, as well as when Ushio's friend confessed to me; out of the corner of my eye I saw Mika finally uncover her face. "I'm…nothing special."

"Aw, knock it off, Tomoya," Kyou said. "You were a really good friend to me when that guy was treating me like sh…treating me really badly."

"That's just what friends do," I told her. "It's nothing worth noting."

"That's not true!" Mika exclaimed. "You were such an amazing friend to Aunt Kyou! You had to give a lot of yourself to be there for her! You are a good man, Okazaki-sama!"

"Whoa Mika, dial it back, would you?" Kyou giggled. "You're sounding like a fangirl or something."

"Could we remember, just for a moment, why we're here?" I asked rhetorically.

The others looked at each other for a moment, then: "GIRL TALK!" they shouted, almost in unison as I buried my head in my hands.

"I give up," I said, getting to my feet. "I'll be in my room. You 'Girl Talkers' have a good time."

"Wait, Daddy!" Ushio exclaimed, grabbing my hand. "You said you'd stay with us!"

"Yeah!" Kyou seconded, playfully grabbing my other hand with an impish grin. "You promised!"

"Knock it off, Kyou," I grumbled. "I know you're just messing with me."

"Would you please…stay?" The three of us looked over at Mika, who seemed to be having trouble with her composure as she looked down at the top of the table.

Not wanting to be the cause of any more trouble, I relented. "Fine… But I'm not talking about my love life 'cause I don't believe in nonexistent things."

"Aw, why not?" Kyou crooned. "Didn't we agree that you're the kind of guy who's made to be married?"

"That was a private conversation!" I snapped, feeling my temper flare. "Not something to be broadcast to everyone else."

"I…I'm sorry…" Kyou said, and it looked like she really meant it as she glanced around at the others. "I'm gonna shut up for a few minutes and give myself a chance to…to reset."

"May…Maybe we should eat," Ushio suggested helpfully, leading by example as she put some vegetables on her plate.

"G-Good idea," Mika agreed as she started to fill her plate as well.

As we ate, I looked to my right at the purple-haired teenager. "So, Mika-san; have either of your parents been able to get the time off for the festival?"

"No," she said with a shake of her head. "But…if you really don't want to go, I'll understand."

"I'd still like to go, if that's okay, Daddy," Ushio said.

"You're fine, sweetie," I told my daughter. I then looked over at Mika again and sighed. "Look, if it really means that much to you for me to go, then I'll go. I didn't mean for you to feel like you're some kind of burden or anything."

"It's okay, Okazaki-sama…"

"Shoot, I'll probably be grateful to you for the rest of my life for all the help you've given me. I really was in a bad way." I rotated my right shoulder a couple of times, enjoying my improved range of movement. "I have you to thank – in part, at least – for me being able to recover as quickly as I have."

"It was my pleasure," she replied as she looked down at the top of the table.

"I'd like it if you could still come over," Ushio said before I could stop her. "I've enjoyed talking to you at school, and I'd really like you to teach me how to cook."

"Your cooking is great already, sweetie," I told her.

"Thank you," she said with a blush. "I just mean that I'd like to…to get even better."

"I didn't teach her everything while I was here, Tomoya," Kyou said with a sly grin. "I'm sure my niece could help her refine her skills. Shio-chan could help her, too."

"That's right!" Mika exclaimed, grabbing my daughter's hands. "We could bake some awesome things together!"

"And you'd get to try them," Kyou said while giving me a meaningful look.

I had to admit that the arrangement would certainly have its benefits. "Well…it's not like I wanted to kick anyone out in the first place…"

"Then it's okay, Daddy?" Ushio nearly begged as she held hands with Mika. "She could come over every day?"

"If her parents are okay with it, I…guess I'm okay with it."

"You guess?"

"Stop picking apart my sentences, Kyou," I grumbled. "I could have some fun with yours, if that's what you want to do."

"M-Make sure to check with your parents when you get home," Kyou suddenly instructed her niece while giving me cautious looks.

"Anyway…" I chuckled softly. "Congratulations on your graduation, sweetie," I said, finally addressing the reason for the party in the first place.

"Thanks, Daddy," she said with the warmest, happiest smile I'd ever seen.

"So, what movie are we watching?" Kyou asked excitedly as we settled in front of the TV. Ushio and I were in the middle, while Kyou sat on her other side and Mika…sat next to me.

"I dunno," I admitted while trying to ignore my discomfort. "I let Ushio choose it herself this time."

"Whoa, all grown up, huh?" Kyou said, wide-eyed, but I could tell she was messing around again. "Next thing you know, she'll be driving and have her own place!"

"K-Kyou-sensei!" Ushio squeaked with her hands on her blushing cheeks. "I'm n-not ready for that!"

"She's messing with you, sweetie," I said as I faked a dirty look at my old friend. "Kyou, please stop picking on my daughter."

"Yes, sir," she replied while giving me a fake look of contrition. "Anyway, what are we watching?"

"Well," Ushio said, looking around anxiously, "I wanted a movie that Daddy could watch too, so…" she quickly got to her feet, took the disc from its case, and nearly shoved it into our movie player.

"Still like the old physical media, eh Tomoya?" Kyou taunted.

"That's right," I told her as Ushio settled back in next to me. "If someone wants to cut me off from my music and movies, they'll have to come in here to do it."

"Ouch, good point," she conceded.

"Shhh, it's starting," Ushio said with a light blush.

The movie was a combination of romance and martial arts; a young man had left his village (as well as the love of his life) to find his way in the world. During his travels he learned how to fight, and went back home to find his home village nearly destroyed and the people missing. After a lot of cool martial-arts fights he rescued the other villagers…well, most of them. His love had been killed at the hands of the 'big bad', leaving her as a free-floating spirit, able to be with him for the rest of his life but unable to touch him. Bittersweet, to be sure.

"Isn't that so romantic?" Mika gushed as she leaned into me. "She wanted to be with him so much that she couldn't move on."

"I know!" Ushio said, leaning on my other side. "And he would never look at another girl again? I wish there were more guys like that."

"That's because guys like sex," I said before I thought to stop myself.

"Seriously, Tomoya?" Kyou scolded as the girls gasped. "You're going to talk like that?"

"Well, yeah," I replied; I figured that if I was going to dig my own grave, I may as well do it with gusto. "We guys like sex because that's how we feel connected to our wives. You girls like all the talking and stuff, and that's fine. But we guys feel close when we're…" I looked up, trying to find the right word. "…trusted to be close like that."

"Sounds like an excuse to be perverted to me," Kyou said matter-of-factly.

"That's because you're not a guy," I countered just as matter-of-factly. "Besides, when you think about it, there's nothing perverted about sex."

"But I remember guys talking about it all the time in school," Kyou pointed out.

"Yeah, but that's about their attitude toward sex, not the act itself," I said. "Besides, you need to cut us some slack; here we are, minding our own business, when BAM! we're suddenly hit with all these desires we never knew existed and we have to go to school with a bunch of things that trigger those desires pretty much every day."

"Good thing we women don't have anything like that," Kyou taunted.

I knew there was something wrong about her comment, but I couldn't put my finger on it…until my eyes settled on the chocolate before us; there were only two pieces left and I knew I had purchased a whole bunch. "Okay, I think I got it; imagine having to go to school where's there's chocolate everywhere."

"That sounds silly, Okazaki-sama," Mika giggled.

"No, just hear me out. So you have to go to school with all this chocolate around, but if you even so much as look at it, you get in trouble."

"But there's nothing wrong with looking at chocolate, is there?" Ushio protested.

"It's not about the chocolate. It's…" I smacked my hands together a few times, trying to get the concept to finish forming. "Ah! I'm talking about the attitude we have toward it."

"I think I get it," Mika said. "I have a weakness to chocolate, so I have to use self-control when I'm around it."

"Thank you!" I exclaimed, pointing at her. "It's the same kind of thing with guys; in a sense, we're weak to women, so we have to use self-control. That hard part is when we're in school, around a bunch of girls, and we're suddenly hit with that weakness."

"I think I understand," Ushio said. "Now I kinda feel sorry for the guys at school; at least we can avoid chocolate by not going to the store, but you guys are around us all the time."

"Wow, Tomoya," Kyou breathed. "Where'd you learn all that?"

"Partly from living for thirty-six years," I said with an awkward grin. "But I read about the chocolate comparison about a couple of years ago. Anyway, I'm sorry for bringing it up the way I did."

"It's okay," Mika said, patting my shoulder. "I feel like I learned something today, thanks to you."

"Don't overdo it, Mika," Kyou said. "Though I guess it explains why sometimes a group of guys will try to get the dress code changed so girls are more covered."

"Ever try to do your homework with chocolate around?" I teased.

"All right, Tomoya, you've made your point," Kyou grumped. "Don't rub it in."

"You're so funny, Daddy," Ushio giggled. "I should try to do my homework like that sometime."

"Well, we could try an experiment right now," I said, feeling impish as I reached toward the remaining snacks. "We have two pieces of chocolate and three girls. Who will be the odd man – er, woman – out?"

The three of them looked at each other, then smiled, and I laughed as I had to duck to avoid three cushions thrown my way.