Break #9: In Which Shinra Informs His Eccentric Father of His Impending Marriage, and Shingen Ought To Do Traditional Things But Doesn't Because-Because of Society's True-Way-to-Happiness Conspiracies Blah-Blah-Blah (Are You Even Reading This?)
"I can't believe we waited until two weeks before the wedding to do this..." Celty said, biting her nails. "Then again, can't we wait another week...?"
"It's gotta be done," said Shinra grimly. "He's pretty flexible, my Dad, but—he can be scary sometimes. But I mean, you know that, you've seen him..."
"Yeah, I know." Celty gnawed anxiously at her thumb. "Not something I want to see ever again. Granted last time it was over something I would have classified as "trivial"—do you remember when he flipped out over that green grape jello thing? He acted like it had been purposely spiked, but with what and by whom I had no idea... When, oh when is he going to answer the door?..."
She's wearing her tried and true shadow jumpsuit today. At least Shingen should recognize her with it—although he might now, just by looking at her face.
The door opened, and a scruffy-looking middle-aged man in a white lab coat came out. Celty flinched back involuntarily; Shinra didn't react.
Whenever he came to Tokyo, Shingen wore a face mask because of the pollution and dirty air. The mask gave him the appearance of a deranged science-escapee gutter rat. But here, in the country, he walked around normally. Celty had always lived in Tokyo so it was something of a shock to see his real, rather ordinary face. She gaped at him.
He was actually somewhat good-looking—albeit somewhat ordinary; and that was also surprising, given what one knew of who he was. His eyes were not cold at all, but ever inquisitive, almost morbidly so; there was no room in them for any other kind of interest. His face was more square than Shinra's, the jaw very masculine, and he had fine stubble running along it. The hair was dark brown, and one side was drawn into a straggly, folded wing across his wrinkled forehead. His eyes were dark, like Shinra's, and the hair dark brown, although parts of it were phasing into silver. An asymmetrical scar slashed diagonally across the skin of his nose. Yes, he had aged significantly since Celty had seen the bare contours of his face. She had almost forgotten what he looked like after seeing him in the mask so many times whenever he visited. It had been a long, long time.
He stared at them. And then, after a moment, Shinra and Celty realized that he wasn't actually staring at them both—just at Celty.
"Hi, Da," Shinra mumbled.
"From Tokyo, eh? And who is this? Pretty girl, isn't she?" Shingen didn't lift his eyes from Celty's face, but it was blatantly obvious that he knew what had happened.
Celty lifted her chin in challenge. "Cut the crap. I know you cut off my head with that accursed blade and gave it away so I couldn't find it, so don't play innocent. You know exactly what's gone on and who I am." Her face was usually gentle, but right now its expression was sharp and fierce. Not that Shingen would take note.
Sure enough, Shingen simply switched his gaze and looked over at Shinra instead. "Good job keeping secrets," he said, raising his eyebrows at his son, pointedly ignoring the walking talking and very irritated Dullahan in front of him.
Knowing that she would get nowhere, Celty reigned in her temper and kept her peace. Some fights just weren't worth it. And some people weren't worth arguing with: Shingen was one of those. He could never be convinced of anything he didn't secretly want to be convinced of—like wrongdoing, sin, blame, failure. It wasn't so much that he was convinced that he was always right as it was that he never saw reason to regret his decisions, however badly they turned out for other people. Either that or his morality sense was turned on its side. He always managed to slither out of those kinds of discussions and use less energy to do that than it took to trap him into joining them in the first place.
Shinra scowled back. "Some things are worth more than pinky promises that you made when you were nine, Dad. I'm stupid for waiting to tell her for so long—till she confronted me, actually. Now, of course, I wish I had the courage to tell her before that had to happen."
"Hmm-mm. Wondered how long that promise would last." Shingen lost interest. "But surely you're not here to berate me, or you'd have done it long ago. Shinra. Celty. To what do I owe the nuisance of your being here?" he said forbiddingly, looking at them both, and while they were stunned continued blithely on, "Anyway, I can't actually let you in. I'm in the middle of experiments. Come back tomorrow morning." He flipped the latch and turned to slide the door again. Shinra leapt up and wrestled with the sliding door so it wouldn't close.
Some things never change, Celty thought ruefully. She extended a hand, concentrated, and released smoke shadow tendrils, helping Shinra prop the door open. After a moment, Shingen leapt back with a yelp and Shinra shot forward, bumping his fingers as the door slammed into the other side. Celty winced and stepped inside. Shinra nursed his fingers. They took off their shoes and looked at Shingen.
"Excuse me, I have a delicate experiment to conduct—" Shingen sidled away.
"We called you to arrange this appointment two weeks ago. Don't act like you're busy," Shinra scoffed.
"Shinra, a true scientist does not put his work on hold for mere personal appointments," Shingen replied pompously while he edged down the hall.
"Well, how long is this going to take?"
"An hour. Maybe two. Or three."
Shinra put his hands on his hips. "Make it an hour tops. And then we'll sit down, and eat lunch together? How's that?"
"Oh. Yes. You've got me. Except, then I have to feed the goldfish—" Shingen said, entirely too hopefully.
"Oh no you don't. Knowing you, they're probably absolutely starving because of your absentmindedness, but they can wait a day or two. After this, you sit down and we are going to have a good talk over delivery pizza," Shinra retorted, and rolled his eyes. "C'mon, Celty, let's make ourselves comfortable..." He caught her hand and pulled her to Shingen's living room, where they plopped down and cuddled for a while before Shinra called pizza delivery. Despite his earlier words, Shinra got restless, found Shingen's archived instructions on how to feed the goldfish. Then they went out to Shingen's tiny outdoor pond and fed them in silence.
"It doesn't do to be cruel to the fish," Shinra said after a while. "Da always puts this off. That's why he always brings it up when we come to visit. I know."
Celty looked at him askance.
"Well, my father's not cruel, but... He doesn't treat living things terribly well."
"I've noticed."
"He probably would have sold them by now, but they're Mama's fish, and she didn't take them with her, and koi last a good while. So I can't really blame him for keeping them, although it probably would have been kinder to let them go." Shinra sighed. "I come here determined not to get side-tracked and yet here I am..."
Celty looped an arm around Shinra's shoulders and squeezed gently. "Is your mother still alive?"
"I think so. They divorced when I was really, really young. I'm sure she's still out there, somewhere. Dad didn't allow me to contact her for many years. And he refused to give me her new information when it changed several years ago."
"Do you want to invite her to the wedding?"
"There's no chance. I have no way to contact her. And why would Da do it?"
"Maybe Shingen will, though," Celty argued. "If he's this sentimental. And it's for your sake."
"I don't know about sentimental. What about just plain mental?"
"Shinra, people bury their desires all the time. He might just surprise you. The thought processes of adults are rarely very clear to their children."
"Well...you can ask," Shinra says reluctantly, giving her permission. He's skeptical of whether Celty can pull it off.
"All right. It can't hurt, huh?"
"Right." This has to be one of those times, but Shinra would almost much rather leave the topic alone than ask and be disappointed.
When Shingen finally quit lurking in his shadowy laboratory and ventured into the light, the goldfish were fed, Celty has baked cookies from a recipe Namie taught her and Shinra has persuaded her to leave them out for Shingen to try (Shingen could choke and he would still declare the meal a masterpiece, Shinra assures her, which reassures Celty rather less than he expected), the pizza has been delivered, and Celty was halfway through knitting a shadow scarf to replace her plain, smooth satin matté one that she was wearing right now. Shinra steered his father to his seat at the table, and they all sit down.
Shingen said, "Itadakimasu," and started eating. Compared to his birdlike appetite in Tokyo, he eats like a pig at home.
Both Celty and Shinra glared daggers at him for ignoring the subject at hand, but they were also hungry, so after a moment they too said the thanksgiving and chowed down.
Shinra quickly realized the absurdity of the situation and gratefully pounced on a way to open up the conversation. "Hey, Dad, something's puzzling me, actually. I thought you would have objected more to pizza, with all the additives and junk."
"Nope, just Tokyo pizza."
"Dad..." Shinra sighed. "Tokyo is not the root of all evil. And pizza is pizza wherever you go. Including the additives."
"It was all that when it was called Edo. City of demons, hedonism, and so forth. You can't honestly say that all that has disappeared, can you?"
"Daaaaaaad..."
"What, son?"
"Stop perpetuating your country stereotypes! You lived in Tokyo for ten years! Doesn't that count for anything?"
"And a lot of good it did me," Shingen protested. "Country folks have plenty of reason."
"I don't doubt that, it's just ridiculous that you repeat it!"
Shingen shrugged. "But things are better here!"
"So you have to swallow everything hook, line, and sinker?!"
Shingen only chuckled to himself.
Shinra and Celty exchanged glances. Celty shook her head slightly, and Shinra subsided. Arguing about this was not worth it. Only Shingen would claim that wearing a gas mask 24/7 in fear of Tokyo's deadly pollution was "fun."
"Whatever you say, Dad..." Shinra replied, subdued. "We have something to say to you after we are all finished eating."
Shingen rolled his eyes and said, "Figures, you were so insistent on coming over. Had to come out sometime."
"There are some things..." Shinra's voice strained, and died out. Celty squeezed his hand. Shinra cleared his throat.
"Did I ever tell you about the lizards in the sewers of...?" Shingen rambled. "Rumors that Kyoto's had a secret komodo den for a couple months..." Once Shingen got started on conspiracy theories, it could take a miracle for him to get back to the land of reality, let alone a subject that the rest of company wanted to talk about.
Shinra screwed his eyes shut and tuned out, the better to attend to his stomach, which was currently roping itself into knots and yanking his small intestine out of whack. At least, that's what it felt like. He couldn't attest to the reality—that would probably hurt even worse...
Beside him, Celty asked questions and gently guided the conversation back to family, events, life decisions and so forth when she could. And Shingen could have been fighting her lead harder, but Shinra couldn't focus on that.
At the appropriate moment, Celty dug her elbow into Shinra's ribs. Shinra blinked to alertness and looked up and into his father's eyes. Instantly he felt the air still as an invisible ceiling silently crashed to the floor, giving him chills. "Father, I think we should discuss this in the living room, if you don't mind," he said quietly, then gulped.
Without protest, Shingen got up, and led the way.
Shinra pushed himself up from the table too fast, tripped over a chair leg, and bounced over to the living room instead of using the dignified walk he had been hoping to aim for. Celty came after him at a more relaxed pace. Shinra went down on his knees, and Celty likewise knelt beside him. Shinra envied her. She was so much more beautiful and dignified.
Dad... Shinra cleared his throat; there was just no way that this would not be difficult to say. "Father... I, er, know you've been watching the two of us for some time. I'd just like to tell you...something happened."
"Ah, I see. You found the head." Shingen's face was still as a stone. Shinra wasn't sure if this is less or more unnerving than Shingen's usual flexible, slightly comical expressions.
"Not really—no. Celty and I are getting married."
The slightest frown crossed Shingen's face.
"What, Father?"
"This is news?"
"Have we told you before?"
"Why, no. Isn't the parent supposed to figure it out for themselves? I had you pegged five years ago. I was waiting, you know. What took you so long? You've been living together for—?"
Shinra couldn't help it, he started hacking with coughs. Celty pats him on the back. "Well it's news to me," Shinra rasps. "Wouldn't you like to know the date?"
"I don't need to know the date as I will likely not be attending," Shingen said primly. Celty sighed inwardly. Shingen's pride was going to get the better of him someday.
It was Shinra's turn to roll his eyes. "It's in two weeks, you know."
"There, you see? I can't call off my experiments on such short notice!"
It would be nice if Shingen could say that he was going to attend because he was going to attend, but of course he never would. At least Shinra and Celty knew that it was bound to happen anyway. Shingen will come because he can't stay away, no matter what he says up front.
"Hey. Dad." Shinra peeked at Celty. "If you would...could you do us a favor?" Celty caught Shinra's hand and squeezed.
Shingen nodded slowly.
"Call Mum and ask her to attend the wedding. Please." Shinra waits on edge. It's been so long since I've seen her, heard from her, was allowed or able to contact her... This request is like an unscratched itch. Once he had been reminded of his wish—damn those pond koi—the thought wouldn't go away.
Shingen blinked owlishly and nodded once more. "Hai. Yes."
Shinra let out the breath he had been holding and let his shoulders relax. "Thanks Dad," he squeaked.
"Eh-ehhh well, we'll see," said Shingen noncommitally. It's clear to Celty at least that Shingen is holding back on some thoughts of his own in consideration of Shinra's feelings.
Celty and Shinra got up. "Well... I'm sorry, but we've got other places to go and see if we're going to get back to Ikebukuro before dark. We just wanted to stop by and tell you that..."
"Spare me apologies, I've got experiments to get back to. Good day," said Shingen; then he whisked himself back down the hall instead of walking the couple to the door.
A little unnerved, Shinra and Celty left without saying another word, though they felt rude doing it.
Once they are out of earshot of the house, Shinra muttered, "At least we'll never have to do that again," causing to Celty titter. Strangely comforted, Celty linked hands with Shinra, and they walked to the train station. It's about time they acted like a couple in public, really...
Seriously, don't wait this late to tell your parents things, kids. As tempting as it may be.
The goldfish thing is probably weird. (XD)
...
I remind you to review, please! What do you like? Dislike? Want to see the story go somewhere? Just write a little something. You have no idea how inspiring feedback is. Or just poke fun at my ridiculous titles. You do read them, don't you? Personally, I think these last two Breaks have been a little weak. Just wait. Break 10 will have the actual wedding (finally).