Disclaimer: .. Need I say more?

Ange: Yay second chapter! Thank you for sticking it out and the reviews and alerts are absolute love. Though if you're going to alert me don't be afraid to drop me a review as well. Hinthint… Erm so this is the second chapter (of course) and hopefully it's up to your liking. Dialogue is killer for me so I'm sorry if it sounds stiff…

EDIT: Now er...edit? It's weird cause I say or type Sadaharu but it comes out as Sadahara. I should request Inui to get a name change or something.


The Laundromat

Step 2: Load Clothes into Washer


Inui was going over his notes from class when he heard a faint knock on the door.

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"Sadaharu, may I come in?" His father asked through the barrier.

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"Of course," Inui replied setting away his books as his father entered the room. Mr. Inui sat down on the edge of his son's western style bed, facing him.

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"Your mom is sorry," he began awkwardly not knowing where to start.

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"I know Dad," Inui plainly assured him.

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"She didn't mean to hit you son," his father plowed on, "her anger just gets a hold of her sometimes."

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"I know Dad," Inui repeated, use to this type of conversation already. Inui knew the steps to this dance by heart now. His mother would get mad at some known or unknown wrong of his, he would consequently have to sit through her lectures and anger bursts, and then his father would be left to deal with the aftermath and hand out the punishment to the deserving party.

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"He's too stoic," his mother would complain. "I never know what he's thinking."

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But really, Inui is the mirror image of his father from his mechanical thinking to his poor eyesight. You would think then that his mother would be use to his character but his data proved otherwise. And data never lies well, at least this not time around Inui corrected, remembering the washing machine incident.

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"Make sure you come down for dinner, ok?" his father went on, "your mom is making your favorite and I'm even throwing together my Special Inui Juice #9 Combo."

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Now Inui and his father knew that the whole family detested all the Inui juices ever made, themselves included. But being the masochistic family that they are, they could never refuse the revolting brew.

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Besides it all made for some good data.

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"Well anyways," his father went on, "your mom and I settled on a fair punishment for you."

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Inui waited with bated breath for the moment he'd been anticipating with dread since his father walked in the room.

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"Since the washing machine is broken beyond repair, we decided that you will give up the money to buy a new one."

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His father paused to gauge his reaction but of course there was none.

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"Part of the money will come from the money you saved up to see the Professional Tennis Nationals…" Still nothing.

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"The rest will be from the summer job your mom managed to get you at the local Laundromat that just opened up. You will also be doing our laundry over there as well. This will be a good learning experience for you so try to see it that way."

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"Yes I understand and this sounds like a just punishment as well," Inui assessed.

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Mr. Inui's shoulders slumped in relief. His son was like him to the extreme so he never knew how to deal with him either. At times like these he felt like the child waiting for his father's approval. If only he knew how to break out of that habit.

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"Dinner will be ready in a bit," Mr. Inui finished as he made his way to the door, "so make sure you finish up your homework by then."

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"Okay," his son agreed even though it was summer break so there was no rush. He was practically done with his summer workload in any case so it was no big deal.

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"Oh and Sadaharu," his father remarked offhandedly, "when you wash our clothes see if you can get a discount there too since it's a family business of one of your teammates."

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"Which one?" Inui asked deeply interested. None of his notes pointed that anyone from his tennis team had a family run Laundromat. How could he miss such a detail?

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"Guess you'll have to find out when you start working there tomorrow."

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And with that said his father left Inui to muse over that, more concerned with this new development than the unfinished homework that lay on his desk.


A/N: So how was it? Don't be shy all comments are welcome. I have a habit of referring to Sadahara as his last name Inui so that's going to be hard to break. Oh I'm going to start tennis soon so I'm psyched about that. I also have 3 to 4 others short ficlets that's been running in my head (1 Furuba and the rest PoT) so I'm not sure when the next chapter for this will be out. I'll reply to the reviews when the new chapter is up. I know I had a dumb moment about that for the longest. Thankyou for reading and happy [insert whatever day you're reading this on.