Chapter Fourteen
"Korin-chan, can I come over to your house? Your mum arrived today, didn't she?" Megumi asks excitedly. I nod.
"Yeah, sure. Just as long as you're okay with the fact that she will hug you and pinch your cheeks and treat you as though you're about five years younger than you are. Also, my baby sister Esmeralda is with her." I say.
"You have a baby sister? Why didn't you tell me?" Megumi squeals. I roll my eyes.
"You didn't ask."
"Wait… How come your mum and sister don't live with you?" Takeshi asks.
"Mum only speaks English, Greek and Romanian." I say with a shrug.
"Only? That's more than I speak." Megumi says.
"Yeah, but that's because you live in the country your family is from. My mum's Greek, married to a Romanian and lives in England." I explain.
"How many languages do you speak, Korin-chan?" Megumi asks me.
I count them off on my fingers as I speak, "I'm fluent in English and Romanian, almost fluent in Greek, and proficient in German and Japanese. I tried to learn French, but it's actually a pretty boring language to learn and it sounds too delicate. I can say that I don't speak the language in five or six other languages. Dad and Ezra are better." I say. Megumi sighs.
"You're so lucky to have been able to learn so many different languages. I wish my parents worked in foreign countries and took me with them."
"Yeah, I am lucky," I agree with a smile, "Although it would have been better if I was better at making friends." Takeshi lets out a laugh.
"Everyone's lives would be easier if they were better at making friends." he says. The bus stops and the three of us get off, with Jase and Satoshi, who had been sitting at the back, getting off behind us.
"Excited about seeing Mum?" Jase asks me. I shrug.
"I wouldn't say excited. I've got used to not having her around. I don't really notice anymore." I admit. Satoshi frowns.
"That's awful. I'd hate not having my mum around." he says. Jase scowls at the floor.
"You wouldn't if you had our mother." he says bitterly. I roll my eyes. Jase only hates Mum because she expects him to be more mature than the rest of us because he's the oldest.
"Why's that, Jase-kun?" Megumi asks, sounding genuinely concerned.
"She expects him to have a certain amount of maturity due to the fact that he's the oldest." I say. Satoshi rolls his eyes.
"At the age of seven, I was babysit Megumi and Takeshi while our parents were out working. They would leave us on our own overnight to go up the mountain if there had been a single walker dead in the past month. I think I probably had it harder than you." he says exasperatedly. I smirk and let out a small laugh. Satoshi makes eye contact with me and there is an awkward silence. I feel like he still doesn't trust me entirely.
Jase swings the gate open and the five of us walk along the path to the house. I take my key out of my pocket and unlock the door. We all enter , take our shoes off and dump our bags, before walking through to the living room. We open the door and six pairs of eyes find us. Mum stands up and comes over to the door.
"Korin, Jase, my little babies… I haven't seen you in ages! You've both grown!" she says, wrapping her arms around the two of us. We both desperately try to wriggle out of her grip. I manage to pull away, and make eye contact with her.
"A month and a half isn't that long, Mum." I say, and Jase nods beside me.
"Korin's right, for once." he says. Mum frowns slightly. She looks over at Takeshi, Satoshi and Megumi.
"You three must be Hiroaki and Mai's children. Hello. I'm Arethusa." I glance over my shoulder and see that there are three identical looks of confusion directed at Mum.
"They don't speak English that well." I tell Mum, and she nods. I turn to the Akiyama siblings. "My mum says hello." Megumi nods.
"Hello, Mrs Belododia." Satoshi says slowly (the word 'hello' comes out as 'herro', which is so cute it makes me want to squeal and hug him, but I exercise self control and restrain myself). I look over at Dad and see that he's holding little Emmie in his arms. He makes eye contact with me and turns Emmie round. She shrieks happily and reaches her chubby arms out towards me. I grimace. Megumi runs over to Dad, cooing about how cute Emmie is.
"She's adorable! Can I hold her?" she asks excitedly. Dad nods. He places Emmie gently in Megumi's arms.
"Megumi, this is Esmeralda," he says. "Emmie, this is Megumi." Emmie gurgles and reaches a pudgy hand out to touch Megumi's face.
"Hey there, Emmie-chan!" Megumi says in an incredibly annoying (more so than usual, in fact), high pitched voice, lifting Emmie up and down and loosening her grip fractionally on occasion. Emmie shrieks with happy laughter. Mum and Mrs Akiyama share a look and smile. Takeshi and I make eye contact.
"Run for your life, Korin-chan! The mothers are making friends!" he says in a hushed undertone in my ear. I laugh and we grin at each other. He coughs a little for a few seconds. Mum's head whips around and her eyes lock onto him. Her eyebrows and furrowed in concern.
"Are you feeling okay, sweetie?" she asks him, placing her hand on his shoulder. Takeshi stares blankly at me.
"She asked if you're feeling okay. Unless you want her to go into full neurotic, over-protective mother mode, just smile and nod." I advise. Takeshi makes eye contact with Mum and nods, smiling.
"I'm fine, thank you." he says. I translate for Mum. She smiles back at him. She rubs his back gently for a moment before moving on. She clasps her hands together.
"Who wants falafels?" she asks. This time, Dad translates, because I honestly have no idea how to say 'falafels' in Japanese. Apparently, though, it's 'faraferu'. When everyone says they want falafels, Mum strides out of the room.
Mum returns moments later with a tray piled high with falafels. She places the tray on the table and gestures for everyone to help themselves. We do, with manners completely disregarded. We grab falafels and shovel them into our mouths. Megumi breaks off small pieces and puts them into Emmie's mouth. I probably eat more than anyone else. Xander smiles almost as happily as he does when he's with Hanako.
"Have we got everyone who's coming to the resort here?" Mum asks. I shake my head.
"Xander's friend Chiasa is coming, too." I say, feeling proud of the fact that I said Chiasa and not Hanako. Dad clicks his fingers.
"It's her birthday on the 21st, isn't it?" Dad asks. I nod.
"Can we get her a Bulbasaur cake?" Xander asks. Dad smiles and nods.
"We can try." he says. It suddenly dawns on me that I haven't spoken to Ezra since I got home. I glance around the room and see him sitting alone in the corner, breaking a falafel into little pieces and arranging it nicely on his plate, before slowly eating each morsel separately. I walk over and sit down beside him.
"You okay?" I ask him. He nods. "Still have a headache?" He shakes his head.
"I never had one in the first place. I just wanted to be able to see Mum as soon as possible." he admits. I roll my eyes.
"You're turning into Xander." I say. Ezra frowns at me.
"You don't seem like you're happy to see Mum and Emmie. Therefore, you are turning into Jase." he says condescendingly. I wrinkle my nose in disgust.
"You must be kidding. You cannot be serious." Ezra shakes his head.
"Now you know how stupid you sounded just then." he says. I sigh and rest my head on his shoulder. He tilts his head to the side so that it is on top of mine.
"What does this remind you of?" I ask him.
"Christmas at Granddad's house in Cluj-Napoca." he says. I smile at the pleasant memories.
"The house was always so full. Do you remember how we had to lay out blow-up mattresses on the floor in almost every room?" Ezra giggles.
"You always used to get told off for drawing on someone's face while they slept or climbing trees in the garden with your dress on," he recalls, "Yeah, this is kinda like that. Everyone sitting on the floor or standing against the walls and then just us in the corner, ignoring everyone else…" He trails off and I glance up at him. His eyes are closed and an elated smile lights up his face. I close my eyes and listen to the loud, cheerful chatter filling the room, only broken by the occasional cough from Takeshi.
I've almost fallen when someone pokes my face.
"Your sister bit me, Korin-chan." Takeshi says as I open my eyes. I blink as he holds out his finger.
"This is one of the reasons why I hate babies," I say, rubbing my eyes. "Though I think more damage would have been done if it had been your sister who had bitten me." Takeshi looks over at Megumi and starts laughing.
"It seems our sisters get on well," Takeshi remarks, "What with having similar mental ages and all." I frown slightly. Although I've often heard Takeshi being a jerk in front of people, he's not one to say something rude about someone behind their back. And yet, here he is, saying that his sister has a similar mental age to a one year old. Beside me, Ezra snores and jolts awake. I look at him and start laughing. Takeshi sits down next to me. He leans across me and looks at Ezra with concern.
"How come you weren't at school today, Ezra-san? Are you alright?" His voice is filled with the same worry that laced Ezra's words on the orienteering trip. Ezra nods, a slight blush creeping onto his cheeks.
"I had a slight headache this morning, so I thought it would be best to stay home and get some sleep." he says. I try not to laugh out loud at the blatant lie.
Suddenly, Jase yells something about the 'Emo Corner'. Everyone turns to look at me, Ezra and Takeshi, apart from Satoshi, who gives Jase a disgusted sideways glare, and Emmie, who doesn't understand the situation because she's a year old.
"Is he talking about us?" Takeshi asks, giving Jase the Ultimate Akiyama Death Glare of Doom.
"Y-yeah. Ignore him, Takeshi-san. He's a complete idiot who boosts his own confidence by belittling other people." Ezra says. Takeshi smiles at him.
"You're right, Ezra-san." he says. He sighs. "Y'know, even though it was a horrible experience, I'm kind of glad about the orienteering trip." Ezra stares at him, clearly confused, but I think I might know what he means.
"We got to know each other better. If it wasn't for that, I would still think you were a total stuck up prat and I would probably still hate you." I admit. Takeshi smiles.
"Yeah, that's what I meant," he says. "The four of us- me, you two and Megumi- we make a great team. I have the awesome badass skills, Megumi has the enthusiasm and boosts our morale, Korin-chan, you look after us and give us the confidence to keep going, with your problem-solving skills and resourcefulness, and Ezra-san, you're sensible and keep us all tethered to the ground and stop us from doing anything too stupid."
"Yeah," I say. "It's like we were born to work together."
"Isn't that right, Megumi-chan?" Ezra calls across the room with a smile. Megumi bounces over to us.
"What's that?"
"The four of us are the perfect team."
"Of course we are!" she says with a grin. "Oh my God! We totally need a team name! Like the Avengers, but cooler!" I grin at her.
"Well, duh. Every team does. We need an anthem, too." I say. Takeshi and Ezra share a look and roll their eyes simultaneously.