I sat next to Sakaki at the low table, studying the papers in my hand. Miu had given me a list of things to memorize, but as I looked at the three page list, I couldn't help but think that not even her real mother would remember most of these things.
I wore a fitted black dress with a wide white collar, while Sakaki was dressed in slacks, a button up shirt and a sweater. I was surprised he even owned such clothes.
"Okay you two, once again, from the top!" Miu directed. "I want to hear your names and occupations."
"Saiga Furinji, 38," Sakaki drawled. "I work in the aviation field as a commercial airline pilot. How many times are you going to force me to repeat this, Miu?"
"Shuzuha Furinji, 36," I recited. "I work as a fashion designer."
"You realize I don't know the first thing about airplanes, right?" Sakaki asked. "Why can't we say I'm a pro wrestler or something? Or we can say I'm an assassin."
"You're a pilot and that's that!" Miu barked. "I wrote pilot on my transfer files for school!"
"Okay, okay, sorry!" Sakaki said. I rolled my eyes and reached over, patting his hand.
"Is anybody home?" came a voice from the gate. "Hello? It's Mr. Yasanaga!"
Miu quickly ran out of the room while Kenichi, Kensei and Shugure hid in the next room.
"I'm so nervous," Sakaki confessed.
"Just relax and act natural," I advised. "This is for Miu."
"Right," he said, slapping his hands on his thighs and staring intently ahead.
The door in front of us opened and in walked a bald man wearing a brown suit with a young woman in a red skirt behind him.
"And these are my parents!" Miu said, cheerfully. I smiled at them warmly, glancing over at Sakaki who continued to stare straight ahead. I reached under the table and took him massive hand in min, giving it a little squeeze. The two sat across from us at the table, the man regarding Sakaki strangely.
"I'm Yasanaga, Miu's homeroom teacher," the man said, bowing.
"And I'm Ono, his assistant," the woman piped up.
"I'm Saiga Furinji, aged 38," Sakaki began. "My occupation is…uh…a…airplane!"
I almost fell over as we all stared at Sakaki in shock. He was beyond nervous and a terrible actor to boot. Akisame would have been much better at this. I swore at him in my mind, wishing he could have canceled whatever it was he was off doing.
"No! I mean my field of work is…I mean, I'm a field pilot," Sakaki stuttered. "No! Uh, what I meant to say was…uh…uh…I meant my age, did I already tell you that?"
I sighed and patted his leg, breaking off the ramble.
"My husband is rather nervous about meeting his darling child's teachers," I said. "Forgive him."
"Of course," Yasanaga said. "I didn't mean to make you nervous Mr. Furinji. Miu's told me that you fly international flights. That must be exhausting. I'm planning on taking a trip soon. Which airline do you work for?"
Sakaki was taken aback and glanced at me nervously. I smiled at him.
"Uh…I work for Jarro!" he said. I couldn't help myself. I burst out laughing, leaning against Sakaki's arm.
"Jarro? Jarro! Darling, that's an advertising company!" I said.
"Oh, yeah," Sakaki said, chuckling nervously. "I…uhm…I was just joking…I work for…uh…"
"Daddy works for Delta," Miu piped up. Sakaki gave Miu a smile.
"That's right, baby," he said.
"Having a healthy body must be an asset to a pilot," Yasanaga remarked. "I mention it because you appear to have a very strong build." Sakaki smiled and flexed his arm.
"Hmm, that's because I punch the striking post at least ten thousand times every day!" he said.
"Oh, and where do you do that?" the teacher asked.
"Uhm, in the cockpit on the plane ride!" Sakaki burst out. I looked over at Sakaki wide-eyed. We were doomed. Surely, any idiot could see through the pitiful farce Sakaki was putting up. The teacher chuckled, softly.
"Miu was right," he said. "You do like to joke around." We all laughed at this, my hand gripping Sakaki's.
"He's always good for a laugh," I said, patting his arm.
I heard the phone ring and Miu darted into the other room to answer it.
"Father, it's for you!" she called. "It's someone from the airline! He said it's urgent!"
"Oh well," Sakaki said, "if it's from the plane folk…"
I bit my lip so hard I was sure it would bleed. Plane folk? Sakaki really should never ever do this again.
"It was nice to meet you, thanks for looking out for Miu," Sakaki said and quickly stood, walking into the other room. The teacher turned to me, a glimmer in his eyes. I braced myself, knowing this was not going to be good. After Sakaki's horrible performance, everything was riding on my ability to lie and act as if I was Miu's mother.
"So, Mrs. Furinji," he began. "What company do you work for? In addition, do you recall Miu's report card from the eighth grade. And how much exactly did Miu weigh when she was born."
I scowled at the man.
"Should I feel like I'm being interrogated?" I asked, coldly. Yasanaga blanched.
"Of course not," he said. "I just wanted to see if you were the involved parent you claim to be."
"I work as a freelance designer for various companies," I answered. "I'm in the process of starting my own business, though, so I'm not doing much work besides my own. I don't recall her exact grades and it's asinine for you to expect me to, though I do remember that they were excellent. Miu's a bright child and always makes me proud. As for her weight, I find this an equally ridiculous question as it is blatantly none of your business, but since it isn't too personal I will tell you that my precious little girl weighed 3,014 grams at birth.
"To answer any further foolish questions, she's a brilliant child, a loving sweet girl who can sometimes be a bit flakey but always has her heart in the right place. She loves cats, excels at cooking, and being athletic, something I think she gets from her father. She also feels lonely sometimes due to my husband and I's busy schedule, and her favorite thing to do when she's upset is curl up with me under a blanket and snuggle."
Yasanaga stared at me in utter shock. I reached over and pulled Miu to me, hugging her tightly.
"You may not think much of me as a parent, Mr. Yasanaga, but I love my daughter," I snapped.
The tension hung heavy in the air.
"Forgive me," he said. "I never meant to insinuate that you didn't." Ono raised her hand, breaking the tension.
"Excuse me, where is the bathroom?" she asked.
"Oh, I'll show you," Miu said, getting to her feet and leading the woman from the room.
"I must say," Yasanaga said. "You're husband's behavior had me convinced this was all a farce."
"My husband is a nervous man at times," I said, my back ramrod straight as my anger mounted. "He loves Miu and wants her to be happy. He's not the conventional father and is worried you may judge his baby girl harshly based on this. He tends to spoil her and let her get away with damn near murder while I'm the disciplinarian. But he is someone she can come to with a problem and they talk freely about many things that I'm sure most daughters don't feel they can talk to their fathers about." This wasn't all a lie. Shio was more like Miu's older brother, so she was comfortable talking with him about a lot of things and he cared for her deeply, laughing things off that he probably should have scolded her for.
"I apologize if I've upset you," he said. "and I certainly didn't mean to make your husband worry. Miu's a wonderful student."
"Then why don't you tell me why you're here?" I asked.
"I beg your pardon?" he asked.
"You said yourself she was a wonderful student, so I cannot think of a reason for you to be here," I deadpanned. "I can think of at least four other students in her year that would need a home visit, so I will ask you again why you are here."
"We came here to investigate a rumor that a male student has been living with her," he admitted. I glared at the man.
"As a teacher, I would expect you not to fall victim to baseless rumors," I hissed.
"A student claimed she had heard about it," he said, somewhat sheepishly. I narrowed my eyes.
"A single student?" I asked, my voice like ice. "You jumped on my baby because a single student made a remark. Did it ever occur to you that said student might be a jealous rival given Miu's excellence? Did it also occur to you that in the event I allowed another child, male or otherwise to reside here when they were not my own flesh and blood, it may have been because said child was escaping a bad home situation and I was helping them? Did it cross you mind that in such an event I would personally inform the school so as not to cause occurrences such as this?"
Yasanaga sputtered, searching for something to say.
"I think I need to withdraw my daughter from your establishment, Mr. Yasanaga," I seethed. "If the teachers are given to planting themselves in the middle of teenage melodrama, it is obviously not a place I want my daughter to be educated."
"Now, Mrs. Furinji, let's not be hasty," he tried.
"Mama, no!" Miu cried. I looked at her, my gaze softening. My fury at the situation was very real. I was appalled at the blatant lack of professionalism that this teacher exhibited.
"I can enroll you in any school you wish," I told her. "You could even study abroad."
"Mama, I like this school!" Miu said, seeing the very real fire in my eyes. I stood and walked over to her.
"Are you sure?" I asked. "I only enrolled you in this school so you would be close to home."
"Please," she asked. I sighed and took her in my arms, petting her soft golden hair.
"If it's what you want," I said. "But I don't want any more visits like this!" I glared at the teacher who turned red and bowed low.
"Of course," he stuttered. "I apologize." I smiled down at Miu who was gazing at me uncertainly.
"See," I cooed. "I told you Mama would take care of it."
Her blue eyes shone with relief and she laid her cheek against my chest.
"Mama," she sighed in content, wrapping her arms around my waist. I ran my hand up and down her back, brushing a stray piece of hair from her face.
I heard the thunder of footsteps and looked up as Apachai burst through the door with Ono on his back.
"Apachai!" I cried, horrified. Kensei, Kenichi and Shugure ran into the room.
"Apachai, no!" Miu yelled.
"I knew it!" the teacher hissed. "You're a liar! I'll have Miu expelled! This is some kind of yakuza hideout!"
"No!" Miu moaned. I hugged her tightly, trying to calm her. Our carefully laid plan had totally unraveled.
"Apachai, stop!" I cried, releasing Miu and chasing him.
Apachai burst through the wall of Akisame's forbidden room. I realized that at one point, Kenichi and Yasanaga had escaped the chaos and somehow wound up in this room.
The teacher was knocked back into the row of stone statues, causing a domino effect. I stared on in horror as the tallest one tipped over, falling towards the hapless teacher.
"Watch out!" I cried.
"Oh no!" Miu shrieked. I felt something move past me, lightning fast and all movement stopped.
"Are you alright, do you need help up?"
I sighed in relief when I saw Hayato standing next to the teacher, holding the statue up, saving the poor man from being crushed.
"So sorry to have kept you waiting," he said. "I am her grandfather, Miu's actual relative."
"Grandpa made it after all," Miu said.
"You wouldn't believe what I had to go through to hunt him down."
I looked over and saw Akisame standing in the doorway, smiling at us.
"Akisame!" Miu exclaimed.
"But you told us you were busy today," Kenichi said. "You told us you had something urgent to take care of!" Akisame chuckled.
"I went to look for her grandfather," he explained. "Turned out to be pretty urgent, right?"
I flung my arms around him, kissing his cheek.
"Your timing was perfect," I said. He chuckled and rested his hands on my hips.
"You, are you the artist responsible for everything in this room?" Yasanaga asked. "Are you the renowned Akisame Koetsuji?" I looked up at Akisame in surprise.
"What?" I asked. He smiled down at me.
"Let's retire to the front room, shall we?" Hayato asked.