The Ripple Effect | Volume I

Chapter 12 – The Fujiwara Family


(Fujiwara Residence)

By this time, the sun had finally fallen beyond the horizon. But the color of the sky still had thirty minutes until it changed to a pitch black, starry night. The neighborhood was relatively silent. It was a weeknight, meaning that most people living there that were employed or students had to wake up in the morning and follow a routine. That's how life went for many people and that trend is something that would never change.

Inside the humble-looking townhome, a tall and slender woman stood in front of Kitsutsuki. She looked a lot like Kitsutsuki—as a matter of fact, the main difference being that her hair was shorter and a light beige color instead. The hair texture was all the same, as well as her sharp hazel eyes that were even more pronounced on her irritated face. Kitsutsuki on the other hand looked up at the woman with a bit of fear.

"Where on Earth have you been?!" the older woman barked at Kitsutsuki. She crossed her arms very similarly to how Kitsutsuki had a tendency to do. "Your curfew is three hours after school. You'd better have your ass back home by then! We went over this, haven't we?!" The woman leaned down to Kitsutsuki's level.

Kitsutsuki looked slightly reluctant to answer. " … Y-Yes ma'am…" she stuttered. She clasped her hands together and bowed her head. "I'm sorry…!"

If it wasn't made obvious yet, this was Kitsutsuki's mother, who we'll address as Ms. Fujiwara. The woman wore a dark, navy-blue long-sleeved turtleneck shirt and pink tempo shorts—accompanied with fluffy socks and wooly slippers. An outfit that was only good for the house as the items never looked like they should go together.

Ms. Fujiwara sighed. She stood up straight and some of the tension that was embedded on her face seemed to ease. "What were you doing all day?" she asked her daughter, sternly. "Who were you hanging out with?"

"Ermmm…" Kitsutsuki lingered in thought. She felt that the truth wouldn't be any more believable than a lie. "I just walked Cheri home since she missed the bus!" she answered with a sheepish grin.

Ms. Fujiwara's face turned up in confusion. That sentence sounded like a lie from the start. Then she narrowed her eyes at her daughter and stared at her harshly. "You wouldn't lie to me straight to my face, would you?" Kitsutsuki kept face and looked her right in the eyes. "There's a reason she needs to ride the bus, y'know."

"N-No…! We didn't walk all the way," Kitsutsuki added. "I caught the city bus on the way there and back! It was about eighteen hundred zeni both ways, so I still have some change to give back."

She reached into her pockets and switched hands. Then she pulled out some change and a couple of paper sums of zeni. "Here. See?" Kitsutsuki said, presenting the zeni to her mother.

No words were said as Ms. Fujiwara took the money and counted it, humming in thought. "Fine," she remarked. "You're off the hook—just this once. But you didn't answer a single one of my calls. Open up your phone." She pointed at Kitsutsuki's pockets.

Kitsutsuki reached into her back pocket and took out her phone, unlocking it and looking at her call logs—which showed eleven missed calls from "Mom" caller ID.

"Oh…" Kitsutsuki lowly mumbled to herself. "Sorry about that…"

"I gave you a phone for a reason, y'know!" Ms. Fujiwara barked, leaning down to Kitsutsuki's level with eyes that appeared to be peering into her soul. Kitsutsuki looked guilty enough and she felt like her job was done. Her mother's face relaxed and instead, smirked. "Dinner's sitting on the stove for us. I made your favorite."

Her daughter's face brightened. "Thanks!" Kitsutsuki happily exclaimed. She placed her bag in the corner of the wall and ran over to the kitchen which was only ten feet away.

"Clean yourself up first!" Ms. Fujiwara snapped. "You've been outside all day!"

Kitsutsuki turns around, still keeping face. As if she was trying to play off her eagerness to eat. "R-Right…!" she awkwardly uttered, running towards the steps that led her to the third floor. She picked up her backpack she previously left on the way there.

Ms. Fujiwara sighed. But smiled.

Kitsutsuki had to have had a good day at school today because she didn't come home with an attitude like she used to during the school year before. She came home with her cheek bandaged which concerned her a little bit, but as long as Kitsutsuki didn't look or seem to be bothered by that, she wouldn't fuss about it herself. Ms. Fujiwara just hoped that Kitsutsuki wasn't getting into fights.

A loud bang could be heard from behind Ms. Fujiwara, startling her half to death. She snapped her head around with a hurried expression and saw a little boy not even half her size. "Wait!" the little guy exclaimed. "I heard Kitsuki! Is she back?!" The boy whipped his head in all directions, trying to find the person he was looking for.

The little boy looked no older than six years of age. He had the same hair color and texture as Kitsutsuki which was a lot shorter in length. His hair didn't fall in front of his forehead and flowed over the sides and back of his head. Very similar to Trunks' hairstyle. The main and only difference between the boy and Kitsutsuki was that his eyes weren't sharp – like his sister's and mother's. They were round like Bulma's and Taiyo's and shared the same blue color as they did. He wore a bright blue t-shirt with a robotic design and black basketball shorts. His name was Hachidori Fujiwara and was Kitsutsuki's little brother.

Ms. Fujiwara turned all the way around, facing the boy and catching her breath. "Yes, Hachi…she's home…" his mother slowly said, trying to slow down her heart rate. "Please don't do that to me." She sighed.

Hachidori jumped up in excitement and celebrated. "That means she can play video games with me!" he pointed out. He dashed towards the same set of stairs Kitsutsuki just went up not one minute ago.

"Hold it, little guy!" Ms. Fujiwara demanded coldly, barely even turning her head. Hachidori froze in place, not moving a single muscle. "Your sister's about to take a shower."

His face seemingly started to melt, and his mouth curled downwards into a deep frown. Hachidori was clearly upset about it.

Ms. Fujiwara smiled at him faintly and crouched down delicately in front of him. She put her hand on the top of his head. "Let her get cleaned up first and then you'll be able to play with her, okay?"

"Okay!" Hachidori smiled brightly. Without a second to spare, the little boy ran back into the room he popped out of and pulled the shoji-style sliding door back all the way shut.


(Twenty Minutes Later)

The streets of West City's middle-class district were quieter than ever before. Inside the house on the second floor, the little family of three sat at a small wooden table. Each of them had a plate of food proportionate to their size. Kitsutsuki's portion was about as large as her mother's. They were all enjoying their meals with pleasant and gleeful expressions on their faces.

"So, Kitsutsuki," Ms. Fujiwara suddenly said. Kitsutsuki whipped her head up at her with a mouthful of food. She continued to chew. "How was your first day of school?" She watched her mother stick her fork into her food and take a bite of what she picked up.

Kitsutsuki swallowed. "It was alright," she replied nonchalantly. "Nothing really happened today."

"Ohh~…" Ms. Fujiwara added. "'Nothing', huh? Oka~ay…" Kitsutsuki ignored the tone of her voice, but she didn't feel like probing her mother about it. The woman sounded like she didn't Kitsutsuki, and she was intentionally being obvious about it too.

Ms. Fujiwara turned her head to her son. "What about you, Hachi?" she asked him. "Did anything interesting happen today?"

"Yeah…!" Hachidori exclaimed. His mouth was full, which made Ms. Fujiwara wince at the possibility of him accidentally spitting food all over the table.

"…Don't talk with your mouth full, Hachi."

Hachidori inelegantly swallowed his food and smiled. "I made lots of friends today!" he exclaimed. "We learned everybody's names and…and…" The little boy's train of thought was clearly all over the place.

Kitsutsuki looked at him humorously as well as their mother. Hachidori's face lit up in thought. "…And we played…getting-to-know-each-other games…! Yeah…!" Hachidori expressed with full confidence.

Ms. Fujiwara giggled at Hachidori's sweetness. "That sounds amazing, Hachi. I'm glad you had a good day at school." She then looked at her daughter and sighed, tiredly. "I wish your older sister still talked about her day like you do."

Kitsutsuki glanced up from her plate with her mouth half-full.

"The good old days…" Ms. Fujiwara said in a sarcastic, longing tone.

"It's not my fault the day I had was boring…" she said, as she took another bite of her food. "I'd have a lot more to talk about if you start letting me do my own thing after school." Kitsutsuki finished that thought, mumbling with her mouth full, which irritated her mother some more.

Ms. Fujiwara, despite clearly looking irritated with Kitsutsuki's shot, kept face, and smiled. "Do you like my miso ramen? I did my best~!" she passive aggressively asked her daughter behind the smiling mask.

Kitsutsuki hummed and nodded, taking another full bite. "It's delicious…!" she exclaimed through muffled chews.

"You're speaking with your mouth full again," Ms. Fujiwara sternly commented, raising her fork, and casually pointed it at both of her children. "Both of you need to work on that." Her smiling mask faded away.

Yeah, yeah… It's the same thing over and over again.

Kitsutsuki swallowed and sighed. She thought that her mother wasn't one for the "not acting her age" lecture, but she guessed that today was one of those days she felt petty enough to do that. It was probably the case because of her tardiness.

She'd completely forgotten about that.

"Okay!" Hachidori stood up from his seat in triumph, as if he won a competition. "I'm done!" he exclaimed, presenting the clean bowl to his mother.

"I'm glad you liked it, little dude!" His mother gave him a warm smile.

Hachidori left the table with his empty bowl and walked over to the kitchen sink, which was only maybe ten little steps for him. Kitsutsuki and her mother watched as Hachidori dropped his bowl and utensils into the sink ungracefully. Then just as fast as he ran over there, he ran back towards his room.

But he paused for a moment and whipped his head to Kitsutsuki. "When you're done," Hachidori started, "can you play the game with me?" the little boy pleaded, with hopeful eyes.

Kitsutsuki hummed in playful thought while she scratched her chin.

Ms. Fujiwara though, stared at her daughter without Kitsutsuki even realizing it. She had a disapproving look on her face. It seems like she knows something Kitsutsuki didn't think she knew.

"Of course, I'll be in there," Kitsutsuki said, motioning Hachidori to his room. "Set it up where we last left of."

"Okay!" Hachidori happily replied. They watched him run back into this room through the shoji doors and close them back.

Kitsutsuki turned back to her bowl and started eating the last bit of noodles left in the bowl before drinking the soup.

"Kitsutsuki…" Ms. Fujiwara coldly uttered from the other side of the small table. Kitsutsuki looked up at her and started to chew slower. Her mother's face didn't look happy at all which made Kitsutsuki start to feel nervous. Had she been caught?

"Why would you lie to me?" Ms. Fujiwara grimly asked her daughter.

"…Huh…?" Kitsutsuki's nervousness was written all over her face. She couldn't wiggle her way out of this one like she had done earlier.

Guess I'll have to play dumb… I don't know what else to do.

"I called the Suzuki's when you took a shower…" Kitsutsuki's face began to tense up and all that meant to her mother was that she realized that she was busted. She expected that her daughter would finally come out with the truth now. "They said that Cheri got off the school bus today. She got home on time," Ms. Fujiwara finished. "Care to explain?"

"I…Uhm…" Kitsutsuki seemed to be out of responses. Aw shoot…I better just come clean now… "I went to Capsule Corporation looking for a job…application…"

Her mother frowned angrily. "You're too young to work. Try again," she demanded. "At least make your lie seem somewhat believable if you insist on disrespecting me…"

Kitsutsuki's nervous and sweaty expression turned into a pensive one. "I met somebody at school that interested me…and apparently, he was the son of the Brief family…"

"Huhhh—?!" Ms. Fujiwara's face grew more and more agitated by the second. "I know my daughter didn't go to a 'cute' rich person's house to stalk them…!" Kitsutsuki's face flared up in embarrassment.

"I wasn't stalking him! He invited me!" Kitsutsuki barked at her mother. She crossed her arms frowning, and stared at her bowl of now, miso ramen soup.

Ms. Fujiwara scoffed. "Even if that's the case, why didn't you let me know?" she asked her daughter. She tapped her fingers on her crossed arms, trying to do her best to remain patient.

Kitsutsuki sighed. "Because I forgot, alrigh—?"

"—Because you didn't want me to know…" Ms. Fujiwara interrupted her.

"Nngh—…No…" Kitsutsuki slowly responded. She turned her head to the side to avoid her mother's gaze and brushed up on her arm. It was apparent that this interrogation was making her anxious. She sighed again. "…I don't know."

Ms. Fujiwara blinked at her daughter in disbelief. "You went to what I believe is…Capsule Corporation…to visit a 'friend', and you didn't tell me…because?" she pointed out. "You know, I'd be okay with you going if you told me. But you didn't tell me where you're going for whatever reason, and you didn't even do your best to make it home on time…"

Kitsutsuki looked up and nervously bit her lip. It'd be okay if I told you, huh? Fat chance if you think I'm believing that…

"Let me see your phone," Ms. Fujiwara bluntly said, sticking out her hand. "You can do without it."

"Huh—?!" Kitsutsuki looked alarmed and leaned forward in her chair. "Wa—Wait…I—I won't forget about it again! I swear…!"

"I know you won't because you won't have anything to forget about," Ms. Fujiwara responded. "Give it here."

Kitsutsuki hung her head low in defeat. "Aww…" Her hand went under the table, then she reached into her pajama pants' pocket, pulling out her phone. She presented her phone to her mother, and Ms. Fujiwara gently took it from her.

"If you get home on time from now on, maybe I'll give it back to you sooner. You have three hours after school to get home, got it?" Ms. Fujiwara lectured. "I reminded you of your curfew, so you have no excuses."

"Sure…" Kitsutsuki uttered lowly, nodding her head showing that she understood.

Her mother's face lit up in delight, which was a completely different contrast from the expression she had before. "Alright, sweetie. I'm glad you had fun at school today," Ms. Fujiwara lightly expressed. "Don't forget to do the dishes when you finish eating too. You know how you like to forget a lot of things…"

Kitsutsuki glanced down at her bowl. There was only a small bit of soup left in the bowl. "…Right." Ms. Fujiwara stood up from her seat and took her empty bowl and cup with her.

"Good night, dear," she said to her daughter. "Don't stay up with Hachi all night, either." She walked over to the small kitchen and put her dishes into the sink. Kitsutsuki looked back down at her bowl and picked it up with both of her hands.

"Okay…" she somberly said. She began sipping from the edge of her bowl.

At least that turned out better than I thought it would.


(Hachidori's Bedroom – 85 Minutes Later)

The time for sleeping and resting for the next day had arrived for the night. Now, there wasn't a soul to be found roaming the streets of the neighborhood as the sun fell beneath the horizon for many hours now. It was pitch-black outside.

Normally, people would be able to see the starry night when it got this dark everywhere else in the world. But for massive metropolises such as West City, there would never be the chance. Light pollution overruled what most people hoped to see in the night sky—it even affected the outskirts of West City's rural areas as well.

The scene of the middle-class district was enhanced in a different way. Every house on the street and the next had lights on in the house behind closed or open windows. Some were not. It'd be sensible to believe that everyone is quieter at this time of night.

The Fujiwara children on the other hand weren't as quiet as most would hope.

Kitsutsuki and Hachidori sat on their own beanbags on the floor of Hachidori's small and cozy bedroom. One and only one lamp lightly illuminated most of the room. Hachidori had it on throughout the night. They both sat in front of a smaller box television that was situated on top of a small table. A video game was on.

The game itself appeared to be very similar to Super Mario Bros to us. But the thing that set it apart was that the characters on the screen were cats in orange and pink instead of the Italian plumbers we know and love today. Hachidori stared at the screen intensely with his little fingers dancing over his controller.

His older sister on the other hand looked as cool as a cucumber. If anything, she actually looked bored and tired. She was clearly trying less than her brother.

"C'mon…!" Hachidori growled, hitting every button on his controller in calculated motions.

On the screen, the shorter orange cat was running through the course without missing any beats. The taller pink cat moreover was lagging behind. They seemingly weren't even sprinting. Every action they did had no effort behind it. Kitsutsuki yawned.

"Hurry up, Kitsuki!" the little brother fussed. "You're moving super slow!"

She sighed. "Have you ever heard of 'slow and steady wins the race'…?" Kitsutsuki lazily responded. They watched Kitsutsuki's character fall into a pit and die, leaving the speeding orange cat alone. Kitsutsuki slowly blinked, seemingly not caring at all.

"You died again!" Hachidori exclaimed, failing to contain his frustration. "You're terrible! We were trying to beat this level forever!" He frowned at Kitsutsuki with a disappointed face.

It's been ten minutes…

Kitsutsuki placed the controller down on the floor in front of her and laid back in her beanbag. "I'm tired. Aren't you?" she asked her little brother, glancing at him with one slothfully opened eye.

Hachidori leaned forward towards the screen instead. He looked locked in. "I'm…almost done beating—!", he started, before watching his character get shot in the back, ending the round. "Darn it!"


End of Chapter Twelve.

A/N:

I thought I could have this published by Friday but NOPE! Didn't work out…

Either way, I'm back home and the two busiest parts of the summer should be over. And notice I put emphasis on the 'should' part because honestly, I have no clue.

Anyways, hope I didn't leave you guys in the dark for too long, I'm trying my best to push these chapters out in a timely manner. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you'll be back with me for the next update. Happy June!