Walking beside her in the hallway, Luciano couldn't help but think how lucky he was to know Luce-san.
I mean, she's so kind, and even if she was friends with my mother, that doesn't mean that she had to take me in after the accident, but she did. She took me into her home, and explained everything to me, even though she didn't have too, and could have easily just sent me back to Japan without me ever knowing what had happened, since I lost my memories.
I still can't believe that I don't remember anything about my life, or who I am. I only remember basic things that I must have learned in school, like what things are, and places, otherwise I never would have known what or where Italy and Japan are.
I remember how to speak Japanese, but when it comes to things that have to do with me, like who I am, my name, who my mother was, and even simple things like what I like or dislike, there's just nothing there.
It's like…it's like I just started my life today, and that's scary. Luciano thought, stopping short in the hallway. It was like the reality of his current situation suddenly hit him all at once, and he couldn't stop thinking about all the things that he knew, or in this case, didn't.
He stared down at his hands, and realized that he didn't recognize them. Pale and small and shaking slightly, they could have been anyone's hands. Like the hands of a stranger, but wasn't that who he was to himself?
Luciano remembered when he was in the bathroom earlier, and he looked in the mirror when he was washing his hands. He looked into the mirror, and staring back at him was a perfect stranger. Unfamiliar, and unknown, there was nothing there to connect with, nothing that made him think, "this is me".
I don't even know how old I am, or when my birthday is, my favorite color. Do I like to read? Am I a happy person? Sad? Did I have friends, or was I someone who was always alone? Am i-
Luciano was abruptly brought out of his thoughts by the feeling of a warm hand being placed on his back. He turned his head to the side and saw that Luce-san was standing next to him, her blue eyes filled with concern as she stared down at him, and he realized that it was her hand resting on his back.
"Are you all right Luciano? If you're not feeling up to walking around yet, I can have lunch brought up to your room, instead of us going all the way to the dining room." Luce asked, and Luciano stared at her uncomprehendingly for a second, before he quickly shook his head no.
Luciano took a step away from her, and forced a smile back onto his face. He really wasn't alright, but he didn't need to give Luce-san more things to worry about, or bother her after everything that she had done for him.
"No, no! You really don't have to do that Luce-san, I'm fine, but thank you for asking. I was just…I was just thinking about how I don't know what I like to eat." He hastily reassured her, but she didn't look like she believed him.
Luce straightened up from where she had been slightly bent over when she was talking to him, and stared at him with a frown on her face.
"If you're sure. We only have to go down two flights of stairs once we reach the end of the hallway, and we don't have to walk far to get to the dining room, but if you feel like turning back at any point, don't hesitate to tell me, ok?" She said, looking like she was about to make him go back to his room regardless of him saying that he was fine.
"Ok, but we won't have too, and like I told you, I really am fine, so you don't have to worry." Luciano told her, starting to walk again.
A few second passed before Luce joined him, and they were once gain walking down the hallway together.
They finally reached the end of the hallway, and made their way down the first flight of stairs, and Luciano noticed once they reached the landing of the second flight of stairs that Luce-san was rubbing her stomach again. He had seen her doing the same thing earlier, but he forgot to ask her about it.
"Um, Luce-san? Are you alright?" He asked and she looked up at him in surprise, her hand stilling on her stomach.
"Yes, I'm fine, why do you ask?" Luce asked him, the surprise on her face clearly reflected in her voice.
"It's just that, I noticed that you keep on rubbing your stomach, and I wanted to make sure that everything was alright." Luciano responded, noticing as he did a flash of emotion pass through Luce-sans eyes, too quick for him to tell what it was.
Luciano saw Luce-san's hand tense up briefly from its place on her stomach, before it relaxed and she let it fall back down to her side. She gave Luciano a close eyed smile, before starting down the rest of the stairs, talking as she went.
"Everything is just fine, thank you for asking. I'm pregnant, so I rub my stomach whenever I feel my daughter, Aria, kick." Luce-san said, and Luciano hurried to join her on the steps so that he wouldn't be left behind.
"Really? um, then, I should say congratulations, right?" Luciano asked, and Luce paused on the steps for a second before answering.
"You can say congratulations if you want, but it isn't something that has to be said." She told him, and Luciano couldn't help but think that she sounded a little...odd, like she didn't want to be talking about her being pregnant.
Luciano decided to keep quite the rest of the way down the stairs, and he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Luce-san seemed to relax when it became obvious that he wasn't going to say anything more.
They reached the bottom of the steps, and Luciano followed behind Luce-san as she continued to walk, following the path that only she knew to the dining room.
The rest of the walk passed by in silence, Luciano not saying anything so that he didn't bother Luce-san, and Luce silent as she was apparently lost in thought.
Like Luce-san had said earlier, they didn't have to walk long before they arrived in the dining room.
Luciano saw that there were people rushing around, setting things up on the large table in the middle of room, and from where he was standing in the doorway, he could smell the delicious scents of the food that was slowly being brought in by the men and women dressed in white.
"This seems like a lot for just two people." Luciano remarked, as he noticed the table getting filled up with more and more platters of food.
Luce-san seemed to be in a better mood now that they were surrounded by more people, and her smile was back on her face as she gestured for him to come join her as she made her way to take a seat at the table.
"Of course it is," Luce-san told him, taking a seat at the head of the table and patting the seat on her right, showing him where he should sit down," it isn't only you and me that are having lunch now, but everyone in my family that is here today."
Luciano took a second to really look at the table, and his eyes widened when he finally realized how big it was. The table had 20 seats, excluding the ones that Luce-san and he were sitting on, and apparently the table was only big enough to fit the people that were here today!
"Wow, Luce-san, your family is really big. Are you sure that it's ok that I stay with you? Is there enough space?" Luciano asked, staring at Luce-san with a worried expression.
He didn't want to be the reason that anyone had to give up their room. Sure, Luce-san might feel like she had to help him, but he didn't want her to do that at the expense of someone else.
At his words Luce-san looked at him, and when she did, he noticed that the same emotion from earlier flashed by in her eyes, but just like then, he still couldn't tell what it was.
"You definitely don't have to worry about that Luciano. I know that you really didn't get a chance to see the house in its entirety, but it is more than big enough to accommodate everyone here today, with plenty of room left over. I live in a mansion, and they're known for having more rooms than is truly necessary." Luce-san told him, and while she was talking, she had lifted a hand up to her mouth to cover the smile that Luciano could still see, despite her efforts.
Luciano breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled back at Luce-san. "Good, I wouldn't have been able to be happy with myself if I knew that I was putting someone out."
"Don't worry, you aren't. And that's very sweet of you to be thinking and worrying about that." She told him, and Luciano blushed, looking down at the plate in front of him on the table.
He wasn't...he wasn't being sweet, he was just, just thinking what anyone would think. He didn't need to have his memories to know that it was common sense to think about other people, and worry about whether or not you're inconveniencing them.
Luciano decided to let the conversation end there, and he started fiddling with his silverware when Luce-san started talking in Italian to one of the men walking around the room. The table was just about finished being set up, and the food was all out,(the smells coming from the plates and platters making him realize that he was hungrier that he thought) so she was probably telling the man to call her family in since everything was ready.
It was a few minutes later that his thoughts were confirmed, when men and women dressed in black suits started to stream into the dining room.
With their arrival came the constant chatter of conversation being spoken in Italian, and as the seats around him began to fill up, Luciano felt a little left out.
Well, there isn't much I can do about that. I mean, it isn't their fault that I'm in Italy, but I can't speak Italian, Luciano thought as he reached forward to grab a sandwich off the platter closest to him, I just have to get used to only being able to speak to Luce-san, because I can't take up more of her time and take advantage of her generosity by asking her to teach me Italian, it wouldn't be fair.
Luciano looked up when he heard the chair next to him being pulled out, and he saw that a woman was now occupying the space on his right, her long black hair tied up in a ponytail and hanging down the back of her chair. He was just about to look down again, and return to eating his sandwich when the woman started talking to him, in Japanese.
"Hello Luciano, my name is Misaki. Boss asked me to keep you company during the meal, do you mind if I sit here?" Misaki asked, and Luciano was just about to tell her yes, when he paused, the words that Misaki just spoke finally registering with him, and with that, the oddness of her second sentence.
Boss? Isn't a boss like the leader or head of a business? And who could she be talking about? The only person that I know here is Luce-san, but she said that these people are her family, not people who work for her. But Misaki did say boss, and she knew not to talk to me in Italian, and the only way that she would know to speak with me in Japanese is if Luce-san told her, so she must be talking about her when she said that.
Luciano turned his head around to ask Luce-san what was going on, but he stopped once he saw that she was talking to the man seated on the other side of her.
He turned back around to face Misaki-san, and saw that she was waiting for him with an expectant, look on her face.
Luciano hesitated a moment, considering whether or not he should ask Misaki-san the questions that he had. He looked up at her face, and when he saw that her brown eyes were filled with patience despite all the time that had passed since she had asked her question, he decided to just go for it.
"H-hello Misaki-san, my name is Luciano, but you already knew that…um, it's nice to meet you, and no, I don't mind if you sit there, but can I ask you a question?" Luciano asked, blushing a little over how he stumbled over his words.
Misaki smiled, before gesturing for Luciano to go ahead with the hand that wasn't holding the glass filled with some kind of red liquid. The plate in front of her was empty, so Luciano was at least grateful that he wasn't stopping Misaki from eating because of his questions.
"When you said boss you were talking about Luce-san, right?" At Misaki's nod he continued, "Why did you call her that?" Luciano finished asking.
"Why? Because Boss is Boss, and it would be disrespectful to address the eighth head of the Giglio Nero Famiglia by anything other than her formal title of Ottavo, or Boss, unless she permits you to do otherwise. Its fine for you to call her Luce because she said you could, and even though I could do the same, I prefer to call her boss." Misaki told him, and Luciano's brows furrowed in confusion over all the unfamiliar terms she had just used.
"Um, thank you for explaining that for me Misaki-san. And you don't have to keep me company anymore, I'm…I'm just going to go back to my room now, I'm starting to feel a little tired." Luciano said, pushing his chair back and moving to stand up.
Luce looked up at his movement, and he smiled apologetically before pointing to his empty plate and the entrance of the dining room. She understood that he was indicating that he wanted to leave, and she nodded her assent, her hair bobbing with the motion.
Luciano waved goodbye to Misaki-san and Luce-san, before turning to leave, his thoughts revolving around the information that he had just learned, courtesy of Misaki-san.
Giglio Nero must be Luce-sans last name, and famiglia sounds like family, so that means that Luce-san is the head of her family, the Giglio Nero Famiglia. But since she's also called the boss of her Famiglia, a famiglia must be a special sort of family. It must be like a... a family business, one where the employees all live together. Luciano thought as he made his way back the way he came earlier with Luce-san, retracing his steps to get back to his room
That sounds like it's a lot of work though, but I guess it's worth it if you have a better relationship with your employees because they live with you. And they all seemed happy, so that must be a good sign. Luce-san is really amazing to be able to do all this.
While he was thinking Luciano had made his way back up the two flights of stairs from earlier, and now was back in the hallway that held his room.
Let's see, I remember that the door to my room was orange, but most of the doors in this hallway are that color. Luciano thought as he came to a stop at the entrance of the hallway. He had to find his door before he could get to his room, but that was proving to be a bit difficult since most of the doors looked the same.
Um, I also remember that it was on the right side, so that narrows things down.
Luciano started walking again, this time focusing on the right side of the hallway, and he stopped in front of a door towards the middle, that something in his mind seemed to be saying this one, this one too.
He reached forward and turned the door knob, realizing once he did that the door was unlocked. Luciano pushed the door open the rest of the way, and was happy to find when he looked inside that he had chosen the right room.
It's a little strange that I was able to find it so fast, but I must have remembered more than I thought, why my mind was able to give me that nudge when I saw the door. How lucky. Luciano thought with a smile, walking into his room and closing the door behind him as he went, locking it on instinct.
Luciano walked over to his bed and sat down on the edge of it to pull off his shoes. He set them off to the side, before climbing the rest of the way up the bed.
He laid down on his side on the side of the bed facing the window, and looked out of it as he thought once more about everything that had happened just now at lunch.
Doing this, Luciano realized that he was more than a little uncomfortable with the fact that he couldn't understand anything of what was being said around him.
I know that I can't really be upset that they were speaking Italian, as that is obviously the language that everyone here speaks. But I'm living in Italy now too, so I need to learn the language, not only so that I know what everyone is saying, but so that I don't have to bother Luce-san with having to speak Japanese just for me. She shouldn't have to do that if she's used to speaking Italian. I need to learn the language, and maybe Misaki-san can help me. She seemed nice, and like the type of person who would.
Then it's decided. Tomorrow, I'll find Misaki-san and ask her if she would be willing to teach me Italian. Luciano thought, and he felt his body grow warm as if in response to his resolve, and if anyone was watching, they would have seen his eyes flash orange the moment that his decision was made.