Chapter 7

"Ah, you must be Kisa-san."

Yukina was standing outside Marukawa as expected, with Ken and a man and woman Kisa could safely assume were their mother and father. They weren't talking to him, though. Miyuki had left the building in front of him, and Yukina's parents approached her when Yukina waved. Kisa could feel his eye twitching, and Yukina was about to say something, but Miyuki beat them to it.

"Nope!" she said, and then she bowed. "My name is Kobayashi Miyuki. Nice to meet you."

Kisa stayed back in the entrance, still hesitant about this whole 'meeting the parents' thing. Yukina had seen him, though, and of course, he didn't understand what was wrong. Yukina smiled at him, and Kisa ducked his head, clutched his bag to his chest, and approached the group.

It was a bit scary, seeing Yukina's parents and being able to tell where he got his looks. His mother had the same hair color, but his father looked more like him, whereas his mother seemed to be where Ken inherited most of his physical appearance. Right now, they were both staring at him.

"Um, nice to meet you. I'm Kisa Shouta." He bowed at a clean ninety-degree angle. He couldn't remember the last time he had bowed that low, but the looks he was receiving from Yukina and Ken's parents suddenly made him want to be as respectful as possible so they had no reason to say he did something to get on their bad sides.

"Ah," Yukina's mother said, a vague smile on her face. "Yes of course. I'm Gina, and this is my husband Taro." Yukina's father didn't look like he wanted to be part of the conversation as the odd group started down the sidewalk. "Kou tells me you work as an editor at Marukawa. You must be very good to get the position so young."

Kisa felt like beating his head against the nearest building. Even with all the guys he slept with, he didn't have to explain himself this much. Of course, that was mostly because he was okay with them assuming he was as young as he looked.

Miyuki came to the rescue, though, mostly because she could tell how awkward Kisa felt. "Oh he's older than he looks," she said, smiling over at him. "I kind of envy him. I'd love to look that good at thirty." She sighed and ambled along, eventually leaving the group behind. It wasn't like she knew where they were going, but Yukina's parents had both stopped to stare at Kisa at Miyuki's last remark.

Yukina's father continued on after the initial shock wore off, but Gina kept pace with Kisa. "Really? You must tell me your secret for looking so young. I've tried everything but I'm afraid my age has caught up with me after all these years."

"Heh, I doubt you'd want to know," Kisa said, averting his eyes. He wasn't about to tell his boyfriend's mother what he told all those women at Marukawa who asked him his secret.

Miyuki was the one that kept the conversation going when they got to the restaurant. She could talk a lot, and no one was trying to stop her. She talked about everything, and that included her interest in making a BL manga someday after visiting the Emerald office.

"And why's that?" Gina asked kindly, because she was the only one willing to give Miyuki the cues to keep going.

"There's a lot of inspiration there," Miyuki said, that perpetual grin still on her face. "When I was there, I stopped in at the BL department. Did you know they have a betting pool, Kisa-san? A lot of different scenarios. It's pretty awesome."

"Nice women. Too much time on their hands," Kisa said, trying to look indifferent. Then his phone vibrated in his coat pocket. He glanced at it and sighed. The waitress was just coming their way with the food, and he didn't want to get up, but he had a feeling he'd have to. "Sorry, it's one of my authors. Probably calling to say they fled to America or something." He was only half-joking with that, mostly because he suspected one of them would do that someday. Yukina's parents simply nodded and let him go without a word. Kisa stepped out onto the sidewalk and could clearly be seen talking from the long window.

Yukina's mother said something about going to the bathroom, completely disregarding the waitress as she put the food down on their table. She gave his father a significant look. When she was gone, he turned to Yukina. "Kou," he said, not picking up his silverware. "You know we've been supportive of you. Your mother nearly had a heart attack when she found out you wanted to go to college for painting instead of something practical, but obviously we warmed-up."

"Father, I'm not sure why you're lecturing him, with the stories you told us about your college days," Ken said, looking at his father over his glass.

Yukina's father ducked his head. "That's not relevant, because obviously I got over the need to… rebel."

Yukina glanced out the window at Kisa, who was pacing the sidewalk by then. He couldn't hear what his boyfriend was saying, but he didn't look happy.

And then his father snorted. "Besides, you're not married. How do I know you're not just as flaming as him?"

It was Ken's turn to look slightly embarrassed, and Yukina was probably the only one that caught his older brother give the shortest of glances outside to Kisa. By that time, Kisa had snapped his phone shut and threw it on the ground. So much for the old saying, don't shoot the messenger.

"Onii-chan?" he asked.

He didn't get an answer, though. Kisa entered the restaurant again, frowning down at the cell phone he had reluctantly picked back up off the ground. "I have to go, Yukina. The one night an artist actually tries to send storyboards to my apartment and I forgot to put paper in my fax machine. I should probably get there before they change their mind."

Kisa bowed to Yukina's father, apologizing, before heading back out. Yukina glanced over to Ken, who was watching Kisa out of the corner of his eye even as he ate. Their eyes met for a brief second before Yukina got up. "Kisa-san, wait!" he called. The two exited the restaurant together.

Miyuki had been silent the entire time, mostly because she had been taking notes on a blank page of her sketchpad. When she saw Kisa and Yukina were leaving, though, she tried to get up. One look from Ken put her back in her seat. She frowned down at her meal. "You never let me have any fun."