Chapter 5

5 MONTHS

-ERIOL-

After the exams, winter vacations came. But just before being free from school, we had to endure our test results. Fortunately, we all had good grades, and so, that Friday afternoon we were able to enjoy three weeks of Christmas festivities, gifts, and family dinners.

Nakuru said, as every year, my grandpa had invited us to spend Christmas together. We accepted the invitation, delighted, this because of some important considerations about his situation: first of all, Nakuru loved to spend time with him. He wasn't his father, actually he was my dad's dad. But Nakuru looked at him as the only proof my father had existed (besides myself, of course), and she just loved him. My grandpa lived in Tokyo. Despite him being quite old and actually hating the capital since it was too fast paced for his liking, he was a grumpy old ass that hated changed more than everything. Nakuru had offered several times for him to move with us to Tomoeda, but he always replied no, saying that he had everything he needed in Tokyo, specially a fast and reliable medical attention, since he had diabetes.

The logical thing would be for us to move in with him. My mom and I were both sure he wouldn't have any objection, since his apartment was quite big, and had all the commodities. But my dad had his own business at Tomoeda (a small shoe store, which my mom was now the owner), and my mom was not willing to quit to her husband's dream.

So, as every year, we just left the store on hands of the manager, for a whole week, and with our suitcases filled with clothes and gifts, we headed to Tokyo, to spend some quality time with grandpa. He picked us up at the bus station, holding his cane, and smiling warmly at both of us. Nakuru was the first one to hug him, but he hugged me the longest. We chatted a bit, and then we took our suitcases and took a taxi, towards my grandpa's apartment, in the outskirts of Shibuya.

We used to visit at least once per year, so I was very familiar with Shibuya. Since my mom and grandpa spent most of their time just sitting and chatting (mostly, about dad and the "good old days"), I used to spend most of my time outside, walking around the district, although making sure I didn't blend in with the locals.

I knew in Tokyo no one would recognize me, no one would care about me, and I could just simply remove my ribbon. If people saw my counter, everybody would come to the conclusion I had already found my soulmate, and had my happily ever after. If anyone was planning to point it out, I could always lie and describe a different person each and every time: Someone tall, skinny; older or younger than me. One day she could have brown hair, next day black, and the day after that be blonde…

But I could just not even picture myself doing that.

Despite no one in Tokyo knowing who I was, where I came from, or what was my story, I just didn't feel strong enough to parade my zero, even when nobody would care about it. The idea of them all thinking the zero meant I had already found my happily ever after, somehow felt as I was lying to myself, and I wasn't sure I wanted it to be that way.

It was Christmas Eve morning. Nakuru had told me we should let my grandpa rest, since it would be a long day, so as he slept, she went out to buy everything she would need for tonight's dinner, and so I was allowed to hang out as I pleased, as long as I brought back some more gifts, and came back before nine sharp.

So I went out. It was so cold I would've love to be inside the subway, but thinking it would be packed with locals, I decided it was better to be out at the streets, which luckily were almost empty.

I had had breakfast before leaving home, so I didn't get hungry until it was around of 4 pm. I wasn't starving, but I knew that, if I pushed it any further, I wouldn't be hungry when mom would serve dinner, and if I rejected any food she had spent almost eight ours cooking, she would definitely kill me.

I didn't want to spend that much money on myself; I wanted most of my allowance to go towards the presents I had yet to buy, so I opted to stop at a conbini store. I walked out of it three minutes later, holding an egg sandwich and a lime soda, and sat right outside the subway station. Shibuya station was quite famous. Hachiko's statute was visited by millions of tourists, every year. Yet, that afternoon, the place was almost empty, and so I could sit next to the dog's statue, as I ate my food in utter peace.

That, until I saw her.

"D-Daidouji?"

She stopped when she heard her last name, and turned around to see who had called her. As our eyes lock with each other, she got surprised, but soon she smiled at me, and hurried to get next to me.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, still visibly shocked.

"I can ask you the same question." Was my reply, but I soon added. "My mom and I are visiting my grandpa. What about you? Are you visiting relatives?"

She said no.

"I know it's the holidays, but mom had some business to resolve with some foreigners, so we're spending some days here, until all the contracts are signed. What are you eating?"

I didn't know why, but I offered her my lunch.

"Egg sandwich. Want some?"

Even if I hadn't offered it, Daidouji would've take a bite. She bit it, and more than savoring it, she devoured it.

"I'm so sorry!" She said as soon as she realized what she had done, and I did my best not to laugh. "Is just I haven't eaten anything in all day long. I was waiting for my mom to finish her meeting, so we could go have lunch together, but then something urgent came and thus I had to come alone, this late. You want to come with me to eat something? I was heading to a nearby restaurant."

"Why didn't you just ate at home?" I asked, visibly confused.

"You're such an idiot." She said, giggling. "We're staying at a hotel. But I had hotel food two days in a row, and now I'm kind of tired of it, so that's why I'm going out to a restaurant. So, you're coming or not?"

"One condition." I said, as I offered her the rest of my sandwich, and she took it, almost immediately. "Will you come with me to buy Christmas presents for my family?"

"Did you forgot to buy them!?" She asked, visibly shocked." But today's Christmas Eve!"

"I didn't forget anything." I hurried to clarify. "But Nakuru, I mean, my mom wants me to come back home bringing something extra to place under the Christmas tree."

"You call your mom by her name?"

"It's a long story, it was her who asked me…"

"Okay." She said, giggling. "Then, let's do this: I'll pay for our lunch, and in exchange, you'll buy me a gift too."

"What?"

She smiled.

"It's the least you can do, since I'm taking you to eat the best omurice you've ever had in your life."

It was now my time to giggle. I didn't mind her offering to pay for our lunch, and I also didn't mind to buy her a Christmas present. But still, I couldn't help but feel a tickling in my fingertips, unsure of why.

"Okay." I finally said. "Let's go get some omurice."

I have to admit Daidouji was right: the omurice was simply superb. I was already a bit full due to the egg sandwich, but I still managed to eat all of my omurice, and I'm sure that if we had ordered another one, I would've ate that one too.

Just as she promised, Daidouji paid for both of us, and just five minutes later, we walked out of the restaurant, back to the cold exterior, where she just looked at me, waiting for me to lead the way.

"We're close to Shibuya 109. I think that's our best option."

Daidouji didn't say anything, and so we started walking. Shibuya 109 was waiting for us, with all her stores opened, and a ton of customers doing their shopping. To be honest, as we were in the elevator, pressed against the walls, I couldn't help but be annoyed at how stupid I was: it was more that obvious the place would be packed. This wasn't only one of Shibuya's biggest landmarks, but everybody would be busy doing last minute shopping.

When the elevator doors opened in the fifth floor, I took Daidouji's hand, and pulled her out. We kept on walking like that, sometimes against hundredths of people, sometimes blending with them, until we finally made it to a department store, exclusively filled with women's clothes, and so I finally let go of her hand.

"Go pick something." I said, trying to make it sound as no big deal. "But you've been warned: I only got two thousand yens."

She smiled at me, and almost immediately, head straight to the closest clothes rack, and started looking for something. I did the same, thinking what I could get for my mom, and if I could also find something for my grandpa, since I couldn't even imagine what chaos would be in the upper floors.

"I like this one." Daidouji said, fifteen minutes later, as she stopped next to me, interrupting my search in a pile of plushie keychains.

I looked what she was holding with both hands. A simple black velvet diadem, with a black velvet bow in one side. I thought of several questions, including "That took you so long?" and as "Isn't that too cheap? Why don't you take two of them?", but I didn't say a word. I didn't want to sound rude.

"Have you found anything you like?" She asked me, as she saw I was already holding something in my hand, but was still looking in that pile of plushies.

"Ah, yes." I said, as I showed her the scarf I was holding. It was a dark blue, my mom's favorite color. "It's for mom. She collects scarfs. Maybe she already has this color, but she'll still love it. I'm now looking for something for my grandpa, but I don't know…"

"Look at this!" Daidouji said, visibly excited, and between all the plushies, she grabed one that looked like a kid wearing a blue suit. "It's you."

"What?" I couldn't help but say, and took it off her hands. "Of course not."

"Yes it is!" She insisted, visibly amused. "Look at it. Dark hair, blue yes. He even wears round glasses!"

"It's Detective Conan, Tomoyo-chan, for God's sake."

She looked at me, surprised.

"What?" I stuttered, thinking I had been too rude. It was never my intention to offend her, but she had just compared me to Detective Conan and that was just too much…

"Did you just call me by my first name?"

"What? Ah! I'm… Sorry."

"N-no, no!" She said, and hurried to turn away, although i had already seen how her face was now all red. "It's okay. Does that mean I can also call you Eriol-kun?"

I didn't know how to say no (or even a reason to), so I ended up saying yes.

"As long as you don't call me Detective Conan, we're okay." I said, and she laughed. "Yeah, I think I can gift this one to my grandpa. He'll be able to see his favorite grandson daily."

Of course I wasn't going to tell Tomoyo I was his only grandson, so I just took her velvet diadem, and headed towards the cashier, to pay for our stuff.

"I live nearby, so I can go on foot." I said, as we walked back to the subway station. "What line are you taking?"

"First the yellow one towards Akasaka, and then I change to the red, towards Tokyo."

"Are you sure you don't need me to go with you?" But she said no, firmly.

"You won't catch a train back."

She was right. It was already late, and to be honest, I only had thirty minutes to go back to my grandpa's apartment, before Nakuru had all reasons to hit me with a stick, for being late and not helping set up the table.

"Well then…" And I took out my phone. "Let's exchange phone numbers."

She looked at me, visibly surprised, but as she saw I was being completely serious, she hurried to take out her own phone too.

She gave me her number, and I hurried to call her, so that way she could have my number too. Then we both placed back our phones in our pocket.

"Promise me you'll text me as soon as you arrive at your hotel. Or that you'll call me if something happens."

She nodded.

"I promise." She whispered.

"I'll stay until I see you get in." I added.

"There's no need." She replied. "Just being inside the station I'll be safe."

"I wasn't asking." I pressed, and she pouted. "If you don't do as I say, then I'll take my gift back…"

She gasped, and hugged her plastic bag firmly.

"Okay, okay." She finally gave up. "I'll go buy the ticket."

She came back two minutes later, holding that ticket. As she read it, she asked:

"It's leaving in five minutes. Will you come with me to the platform?"

I would've done it even if she didn't ask.

We went downstairs and stopped at the turnstiles. Since I hadn't bought any ticket, I couldn't go any further, but from there I could totally see the platform, so I finally said goodbye to Tomoyo, and saw how she got up the train as soon as it arrived.

I hurried to go back upstairs, and out of the station. I still had a walk of fifteen minutes, before arriving home, so I better hurried.

"I'm home." I said as soon as I opened the door. I was greeted by the TV, my gradpa (who was loking at it, sitting in the sofa), and Nakuru, who was working in the kitchen.

I left the gifts in one of the dining room chairs, and walked towards her.

"Did you get the presents?" she asked, as she moved all around the place, working on like five different things at the same time.

"Yeah, but I couldn't get wrapping paper."

"Doesn't matter." She smiled at me, but hurried to get back to decorate the turkey. "Neither grandpa or I care about the presentation. Now, will you help me get set the table?"

I walked out of the kitchen, and start doing as she asked. Five minutes later, plates, glasses, silver ware, drinks (cola for me, wine for the adults), and most of my mom's dishes were already placed on the table.

As always, my mom had overkilled it. Considering all that was placed on the table, if grandpa froze it, he would have enough to eat, until April.

"Dad." Nakuru said. "Come sit at the table."

"Coming." He replied, and leaving the TV on, he got up the sofa, and sat next to me. "Looks delicious. Smells delicious."

"And it does taste even more delicious." Mom said, as she also sat, and so, we were all set. "Want to say thanks, Eriol?"

I was about to do so, when I felt my phone vibrate on my pocket.

"Nope, grandpa can do it." I replied as I checked my phone. I had a text from Tomoyo.

"I'm at the hotel. Arrived safely."

She soon added.

"Thanks for the afternoon, and my gift."

"Eriol, can you please leave that…"

"Yeah, I just need to reply to this." I said, not taking my eyes off the phone. If I had done it, I could've seen how my grandpa smiled at my mom, and how she shrugged her shoulders.

"Perfect."

I replied, and soon added.

"Thanks for the afternoon, and the omourice."

"You got any plans for new year's eve?"

She asked. I replied nope.

"You want to hang out again?"

"Yeah, sure."

A crappy translation since I'm sick with the flu. Hopefully next weekend I'll feel much better.

Ribo~