The next day, Hayase was out the door and running as fast as she could to get to the crossroads where the couple usually split off. She got there and found him sitting at the bus bench, reading a copy of the morning paper.
She came up and put her arms around him, kissing his cheek, "Good morning Naoto. Did you wait long for me?" He smiled and turned to return the kiss on her cheek, "Hi, No I wasn't waiting long, someone left the paper here so I thought I'd catch up on the news." she giggled, and sat on his lap. "I feel so happy today, I don't know how I am going to pay attention in class."
He put an arm around her waist, "You'll do fine in class, because I believe in you." By the way, I brought lunch for us." He held up the double bento box that he spent the morning preparing for them. "I wasn't sure if you had Judo Club practice today, so I made some lemon-glazed chicken for you."
She squealed with glee at his lunch selection for them, his lemon chicken was very tasty and the lemon did help make her feel better after her previous club sessions when he made the chicken for her.
"So, are you ready for this? I'm sure Gamo and the girls are gonna want to know first," he said as she nuzzled her head on his chest a bit. "Yeah, I am. No more hiding how we feel around them, huh?"
He pressed the bridge of his nose with his fingers, "I suppose not, I think they've always suspected how we feel about each other, but I don't see a reason to hide it from them," He seemed to have a new-found confidence at being open about his relationship with Nagatoro. Gone was the nervous, stammering loner who felt intimidated by the dark-haired girl who once brought him to tears but now brought him joy.
From behind him, they heard Gamo's voice, "Oh, I don't know, it would ruin some of the things we were planning to tease you about," Hayase's head jerked up to see all three girls behind them, smiling at the two of them. "Surprise!" Yoshi said, while Sakura just smiled. "So you two finally got together, good going Hayacchi. I knew you and Paisen would finally come to your senses," Gamo patted Senpai on the shoulder. "So if you two lovebirds are done with your canoodling, we got to get to school, we have that big test in History today, Hayacchi." Nagatoro stood up, taking Senpai's hand, "Come on, we don't want to be late, do we Senpai?" She smiled as they all headed to school.
It took them only about 15 minutes to get to school, the five friends moving at a brisk pace, led by the young couple who strode hand in hand, not even hiding their feelings anymore. Senpai seemed to have a newfound strength to him as he kept up with his young love, reaching the school together without getting winded like he used to during his training for the school marathon. The girls moved to their shoe lockers, changing their footwear from their loafers to their indoor school shoes, while he did the same in the third-years' lockers.
Hey, Nao-kun! Hurry Up, Sensei Shiragone is doing his "burning calories" demonstration today," One of Senpai's classmates called out to him, "Coming!" he said in response as he closed his locker, getting one last moment with Hayase before splitting up for the morning.
"I'll see you at lunch?" he said, holding her hand as she leaned on his chest. "Yeah, can't wait. Have fun in class, Naoto." She got up on her toes and kissed his cheek before running off to join Gamo and the girls.
Lunch rolled around and the two spent it quietly eating the bento he made. For the first time, Naoto wasn't flustered when she fed him some of the chicken he made, while she blushed as he returned the favor with the rolled scrambled egg.
"You know, I don't think I will ever get bored of your cooking, Senpai," she said as she leaned her head on his arm as they finished lunch. "But something is still bothering me," she said as her arms gripped his arm a little tighter.
Senpai moved his chair back from the table and stood up, leading her to the old green couch, letting her snuggle next to him. "Is it my graduating from here in six months that's bothering you?" He asked as he stroked her hair softly.
"When April comes, you'll be gone from here and I'll still have another year to go before we can be together again, and you're going to be away at school." She sniffled a bit as her emotions started to come out to him for the first time. "I do love you, and this is going to be the first time since we met two years ago where we won't get to see each other every day." Her hand wrapped around his waist, as if she wanted to keep him with her.
He sighed, "I never thought that I would even be in this position to be in a relationship with you, but now I don't want to picture what life would be like without you," he leaned down and kissed her on top of her head, "I promise you, Hayase, we will spend every day we can together while we're still here, and when I graduate, we will figure things out, but I don't want to be apart from you any longer than necessary."
She laid her head on his chest, "Why couldn't we have met in Middle school like you did with the Little Bunny Kouhai?"
Senpai chuckled, "oh you wouldn't have liked me then, I was much worse than when you met me in the library last year." She lifted her head up to look at him. "You were Worse than the lonely virgin Senpai I fell in love with? How could you be worse?"
He pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose and sighed, "I had a Chūnibyō phase during middle school…" Hayase looked at him, sat up and started turning red, shuddering as she tried to not laugh at the boy she loved. He rolled his eyes and tried to stifle his own laugh. The two of them started laughing out loud, she wrapped her arms around him as she let loose with a withering laugh that is the past would have brought him to tears, but this time he was in on the joke because he told it.
"Oh my God, Senpai! You're right, you know I love you and all, but I would have been merciless," she said between laughs. Senpai was laughing as well, "I even had one of those little mini audio speakers that I would play music from Final Fantasy VIII as I strode through the halls."
"Wait, wait, wait," she said as she wiped some tears from her eyes, "you… had… a theme song?"
Senpai looked straight ahead, his face beet red and also shedding a few laugh-induced tears. "I was trying to change my personality to try to get people to stop picking on me, it… didn't go well…" he sighed as he recalled that failed attempt. She leaned up and kissed his cheek, "well, you ended up finding the woman of your dreams anyway, and I'm thankful for that." She hugged him as his arm pulled her in closer.
"Am I interrupting you two here?" Gamo asked as she stood in the doorway, her smile sitting perfectly crooked on her countenance. Before yesterday, Hayase would have jumped away or tried to act like she was trying to throw Naoto for doing something "pervy," in her words. "I wanted to stop and talk to you both for a minute, just the three of us."
"What's on your mind, Gamo?" Senpai asked, a bit incredulous. She walked into the room, closing the door behind her, Yoshi and Sakura nowhere to be seen.
"I was just curious, what took you two so long to finally figure out what the rest of us knew?" she asked. Nagatoro looked at her, "What do you mean, 'the rest of us,' Gamo?"
She leaned against the table they would use to hang out at lunch. "Well, I'm still not sure when Yoshi knew, but Sakura had you two pegged since the day you helped her catch the video game club member who was following her." The two blushed as they remembered that Saturday afternoon when Senapi posed as Sakura's boyfriend to stop him from following her. "When did you know, Gamo?" Senpai asked.
"I figured it out in Kyoto, when you two were at the Love Fortune Stones. Hayacchi calling to you like a lighthouse fog horn in the dark was the clincher," Hayase looked surprised as she recalled that day, even now only realizing that her shouting to him was a Siren's Song that led him, not to his doom, but to his true reward, the woman who captured his heart. "In all the years I've known you, Hayacchi, I never saw you so determined to see Paisen reach the stone like that, but I realized that he became the most important thing in your heart."
She grabbed one of the chairs from the table and straddled the back of the chair as she continued.
"Paisen, you've stopped being that nerdy loner long ago, and I know when it started, it was a year ago when you walked up to us in the park and told Hayacchi that it was time to go home." Nagatoro smiled at that memory, Senpai telling her, "let's go Home," and taking all four of the girls away, leaving the two dopey third-year boys behind like a couple of abandoned toys at a charity donation bin. "Honestly, the only thing I can think of that could've caused this change in you is practically sitting on your lap."
She looked at the two of them. "I'm genuinely happy that you two are together now, Paisen is nothing like the other guys in this school, Hayacchi. You lucked out when you stayed behind that day in the library when we met Paisen, but so did we."
Senpai looked at her, "what do you mean by that, Gamo-Chan?" He asked, as Hayase sat up but still clung to his arm.
She stood up and turned the chair around to sit properly. "Hayacchi found her true love, but Yoshi, Sakura, and me? We got ourselves an awesome friend and surrogate big brother, that's you, Paisen. As much as we know you love Hayacchi, we realized that you've become our friend as well, and someone who would come running to help us if we were in trouble."
Hayase stared at her, her eyes getting a bit hollow as her jealousy started to rise a bit. "You better not be trying to tell us you love him, Gamo, because you know what I'm capable of doing," she threatened, her grip on Senpai's arm tightening.
"Calm down, Hayacchi, it's not like we love him like you do. As I said, he's become that older sibling the three of us never had. I remember a time when you were little, you thought Ichiro could walk on water," she said, mentioning Hayase's older brother, and Gamo's not-so-secret crush. "Paisen is like that for us, both you and him would drop everything and come running if one of us was in trouble."
Her grip on his arm loosened as she realized what Gamo was saying, "Ohhh, I get it now, Senpai is like Ichiro to you, I sometimes forget that you're the oldest in your family and Yoshi and Sakura don't have any siblings, okay, I can accept that," she said, relaxing more once she figured out that there was no romantic interest coming from her friends.
"Yeah, he's yours, we get it, but he's one of our group now," she said, but then flashed her wicked grin at her, "besides, when we all are walking with you two, all the other guys in his year have to be jealous because he looks like he has a harem of gorgeous second-years with him," she said. Hayase looked at him, kissed him and looked back, "looks are one thing, but He's Mine, remember that." She leaned back in the chair, "of course, and we're going to celebrate your relationship today with Pizza, and we're not taking No for an answer."
She smiled, "I could go for Pizza after school, what do you think Naoto?" He blushed as she used his first name in front of Gamo. "Well, if you're up for it, Hayase, I'm in." Gamo stood up, "We'll meet here since we don't have Judo Club practice today, all right? Oh, Paisen, tell the Little Bunny she's invited as well, she's such a trip when she gets talking. It's hard to believe she's related to the Big Bunny Girl when she gets on a roll."
Gamo stood up as the bell ending lunch sounded. "Come on, Hayacchi, we got to get to class, see you later, Paisen and congratulations again." She walked out of the room, slid the door halfway closed and waited outside to let the two say their goodbyes.
Senpai picked her up in his arms and kissed her, her legs instinctively wrapping around his waist. "I love you, Naoto, see you after class."
"I love you too, Hayase, I'll be waiting for you."
He let her down and she headed out to catch up with Gamo, while Senpai locked up and headed downstairs to his classroom. For the rest of the afternoon, both of them had their mind on the other, counting down the minutes until they could be back in the room and with each other. The last class of the day for Naoto, Math, seemed to breeze by in a blur.
In the Second Year classes, Nagatoro seemed like her old self, breezing through the classes for the rest of the afternoon. Gamo and the girls could see her tackling their math lessons like it was a judo match. Gamo leaned over and said softly, "Hayacchi, when class is over, you head up to the club room and spend a little time with Paisen, I want to talk to Yoshi and Gamo before we go get going," Hayase nodded as she kept her eyes focused on the teacher who was going through a compound inequalities problem on the board.
When the final bell sounded, the class gathered up their bags and slowly headed out, some students started talking as others headed to their club activities. Hayase grabbed her bag and books and took off towards the Art Club room. Sakura and Yoshi watched her run out then turned to Gamo, "Well? Are they coming?" Gamo smiled, "Let's give them a few minutes together before we pick them up and go get that pizza." The two nodded as they gathered up their school things, then headed upstairs to go get their friends. "Oh, Sakura, go find Hana, she's coming along too, it's about time we officially made her part of the posse." She nodded and headed down the staircase to the first-year floor.
Hana was coming out of classroom C as Sakura saw her, "Hana-kun! Over here!" she said as she waved, a number of first-year girls were surprised to see one of the most popular second-year girls calling to the weird Art Club girl.
Hana walked over to her, "Sakura-Senpai, I'm surprised to see you, I was just heading to the Art Club room, did Hachiouji-Senpai need something from Me?" She took her by the arm and they headed towards the stairs, "We're starting there, Hana-kun, but we're going on an adventure today." Hana gave a nod and a grunt of approval as the two of them headed up the stairs, while more first-years watched in surprise as they saw the art club girl embraced by the popular second-year Gyaru.
Gamo and Yoshi got to the Art Club room and noticed the door closed. "Ssshhh" Yoshi said. Gamo shook her head, "They know we're coming, we'll let them know we're here. Then she did something uncharacteristic of her until today, she knocked on the door.
"Paisen? Hayacchi? Can we come in?"
There was a pause before Senpai answered, "Come on in, Gamo," she slid the door open slowly, revealing the two on the couch, Hayase snuggled in his arms. "Well, look at you two, already getting couch comfy." Hayase ignored her, "Gamo, nothing you can say can ruin my mood, I'm happy right now," Her words brought a smile to both Senpai and Gamo. "Now that's what I like to hear, Hayacchi, we're just waiting for our last two invitees and then we're off."
"Are you talking about us?" Sakura said as she and Hana stood in the doorway. Hana looked in and saw Nagatoro and Senpai in an embrace, her face changed into one of surprise, "YOU'VE DECLARED YOUR LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER! I'M DELIGHTED!" She shouted in glee. Sakura giggled, "I think she approves, Senpai-kun,"
Hayase buried her head in Senpai's chest, so Hana couldn't see her laughing at her declaration, "You know, I was wrong about her, Naoto, I used to think she would be like her cousin, but she turned out to be a pretty funny girl in her own right," she said to him softly. Senpai kissed her on the forehead, "you'd be surprised at how funny the Sunomiyas can be when they let themselves loosen up," the two of them got up from the couch and grabbed their bags, "okay Gamo, this is your show, where are we going?"
"Well, first we're heading to the train station, the Pizza place is about three stations from here, so let's head out." The group headed out, everyone sending messages to their parents that they were going out with their friends and would be back a bit late. They got on the train heading towards Yokohama, a little excited at this new adventure.
"Gamo-Senpai, What are we going to be eating today?" Han asked, not aware of the celebration. Gamo smiled, "well, Hana-chan, have you ever had pizza?" She shook her head, "I am aware of the food, but I have never had the experience yet, Sana Nee-chan said that I would enjoy it, so if that's what we are having I am looking forward to this new experience," she said like she was stepping onto an alien world as an explorer.
Yoshi flashed her a thumb's up, "That's Amore!" she exclaimed, to which Hana nodded. Senpai smiled, "My cousin Shinichi mentioned that there's a kind of Pizza that's popular on the Eastern side of America, something called a 'Tomato Pie,' He was reading a story about a pizza place in the State of New Jersey that's famous for it, apparently it hasn't closed its door in over one hundred years."
"Wow!" Yoshi said, eyes wide.
Gamo gave a thumb's up, "I don't know if this place has that kind of pizza, but it will be fun to see what they have." The automatic train PA announced the stop where Gamo said the pizza place was and they all exited, heading out onto the street.
The restaurant was only a block from the train station but upon entering it, it felt like they entered a portal to Italy. There was Italian music playing while the interior looked like an old Roman villa that could have been unearthed in Pompeii or Herculaneum. The tables had the cliché red and white checkerboard tablecloths and wine bottle candles in the center.
"Wow, Gamo, it feels like we're in Italy," Sakura said as they at a large table in the middle of the restaurant. A young woman brought menus for the table. "Benvenuto a La Trattoria Vesuvio," the young woman said in Italian, "is this your first time dining here?" She asked in Japanese.
Gamo smiled, "I have but this is the first time for my friends, so please, introduce them." The girl bowed at the group. "We have a number of Italian pasta dishes and pizza options to try, since this is your first time here, I would recommend trying the family sized Panzarottis and an antipasto salad to start with." Everyone nodded, "okay, we'll try that, what would you recommend for pizza?" Naoto asked, as Hayase held his hand under the table. "A basic pepperoni is always a good start but if you're adventurous, you could try one of our "Supremo Americano" pizzas, it has a variety of toppings and you can get it as a traditional Neapolitan round or a Sicilian deep dish square style. We also have a Tomato Pie if you want to try an older traditional pizza."
The friends all pondered, "Paisen, how about we get one of each? A Traditional Pepperoni, An Americano Sicilian style and a tomato pie?" everyone nodded in approval, "Taste Test!" Yoshi shouted, making everyone laugh.
"Okay, Yoshi has the right idea," Senpai said, turning to the girl, "we'll have a traditional pepperoni, a Sicilian Americano and a Tomato Pie.' the girl wrote down the order, "Do you want the tomato pie with a well done crispy thin crust? It's the best way to experience it." He nodded, "Sure, we'll go with that, and what do you have to drink?"
The Girl smiled, "We have a special soda from America that's very popular with pizza especially along the Eastern coast of the country. It's called Birch Beer, it's like root beer but a bit sweeter." Nagatoro smiled, "Can we get a couple of pitchers for the table?" the girl nodded, "Absolutely, it's the best way to experience it, I'll bring your drinks and glasses then your antipasto and panzarottis out first."
As the hostess went to put their order in, everyone turned to Hayase and Naoto, "All right you two, how are we going to be playing this?" Gamo asked. Nagatoro looked confused, "What do you mean?" Naoto squeezed her hand under the table, "I think she means how are we going to manage this relationship since we are on different floors during the school day, right, Gamo?" she winked and pointed, "Exactly, we don't mind helping out, just tell us what you need us to do, the four of us are here to make sure you two have as much time together as possible before April arrives."
Hana looked at her, "Four, Gamo-Senpai? I assumed you were talking about you, Sakura-Senpai and Yoshi-Senapi, who is the fourth person?"
Gamo smiled, "Why, you, little Rabbit, of course." Hana's eyes widened, "Are you saying that my Senpais are including me in their inner circle?" she asked, her body trembling in excitement. Yoshi gave her a thumbs up, "One of Us Now!" Sakura put her arm around her shoulder, "you've earned it, Hana-kun, we're proud to call you our friend."
The server brought a large pitcher of a dark red soda and glasses with ice for everyone, Gamo stood up and started pouring the drink into the glasses while Yoshi passed them around. The girl came back with a large plate of what looked like little pillows of dough with some marinara sauce leaking out of a couple of them. "Careful, these are hot," she said, placing the plate on a small metal stand in the middle of the table. Another server placed a large bowl of salad and mixed meats and cheese next to it, as well as a bowl of dressing and a large spoon.
"Oh, this looks interesting," Sakura said as she took a scoopful of the salad and placed it on the plate in front of her. Everyone passed the salad bowl and the dressing around the table as everyone dug in.
"Senpai, open wide," Nagatoro said as she offered a forkful of the salad to him. Although he was blushing, he gladly accepted the offering from his girlfriend. Hana watched the two together, quietly beaming with pride internally. She was pleased to see her seniors finally accept their love for one another.
"Hana, try this," Yoshi said as she fed her a piece of panzarotti. She bit down and an explosion of flavor erupted on her tongue. The combination of the fried dough, the perfectly seasoned marinara, the melted just to the edge of breaking mozzarella, and the savory sausage and black olives delivered an umami-laden tour-de-force of deliciousness the young girl had ever tasted in her life. Her eyes rolled back slightly as the euphoria of the bite washed over her, "Ooohhhh, that tastes incredible, Yoshi-Senpai," The table paused for a moment then laughed as they watched her devour her panzarotti.
"Looks like our Little Bunny has a talent for food tasting," Gamo joked as her mischievous grin perched on her lips. Hana looked at her with that Sunomiya deadpan, "Gamo-Senpai, with all due respect, I was trained to appreciate all forms of art, including the culinary arts." Hana looked deadly serious as she spoke, and Gamo, never one to miss an opportunity to escalate the chaos, chose instead to dial back. "That's good, I can respect that, Hanacchi."
The conversations died down as everyone started to enjoy the food. As the pizzas arrived, Hana asked the question on everyone's minds.
"Hachiouji-Senpai, what happens now for you two?" The others stopped eating and looked at them. Naoto and Hayase looked at each other.
"Actually, Senpai and I haven't really talked about this yet," She said as he squeezed her hand under the table, "No, we haven't really, but for the time being, we're taking things one day at a time, at least for the next six months. We're not going to hide our relationship, though." He lifted their hands from the table and kissed hers. She leaned her head on his shoulder, "I should have said something sooner, but I'm glad we know now," she closed her eyes and hugged Naoto. Gamo nudged Sakura gently, "Aren't they adorable?" Sakura nodded, "Totes adorable."
They watched their friends feed each other pizza slices, while everyone talked about the term that started. What surprised all of them was the decision by the school to move the cultural festival up by a month to October in order to accommodate a new Halloween event. By the end of the evening, they ate, laughed and fully accepted Hana as one of their inner circle.
Senpai split the bill with Gamo and carried the leftover pizza box for the trip home.
"Thanks for a great night, Gamo," Hayase told her as she gave her friend a hug. "You're welcome, Hayacchi, now you two be careful going home, all right?"
Before she could answer, a horn honked and Haruna Nagatoro, Hayase's older sister, got out of the car. "Hey, you two, your ride is here!"
Nagatoro turned beet red while Senpai rolled his eyes, "Oh good lord, we were having such a good night…"hayase just pressed her face to his chest, "It'll be alright, Senpai, I think she's going to be different from now on," recalling the conversation the two had after he left to go home.
"Hey, you two, come here, before you go home, we want to give you two one last surprise," Gamo said. The four friends surrounded the couple and engaged in a group hug with Hayase and Naoto in the middle, pushing the two together in the hug. Sakura sighed, "We love you guys, so much," Hana just grunted in agreement.
They let them go and the four headed off, first to return Hana to her parents' house then the three heading over to Gamo's House to spend the night. They would be going to Gamo's family gym in the morning to "work off" the feast they enjoyed this evening, even getting Hayase and Naoto to agree to join them as well.
The two climbed into her sister's car and drove off, "So how was your first dinner date tonight?" Haruna teased. Hayase started to get red, but felt her boyfriend's hand squeeze hers gently, letting her know he'd take the lead, "Surprisingly well, we brought you some pizza if you're "Ooohhh, I didn't know you went to Vesuvio, did you like the panzarotti?" He looked at Hayase and smiled, "Actually, there are a couple in there, your sister figured you might like to have them."
A squeal of delight began to emanate from the front as Haruna opened the box and devoured one of the half-dozen, still-warm, doughy pieces of heaven Naoto had ordered before they left. Hayase leaned her head on her boyfriend's arm, sighing contentedly as her sister drove to his house. When they got there, Hayase got out with him and walked him to his door, just out of sight of her sister.
"If you want, I'll get Haruna to bring me to pick you up and we can go to Gamo's gym together," she offered as she put her arms around him, her head against his chest listening to his heart racing. He kissed the top of her head, "Okay, I like that idea, you want me to put a bento together for lunch or shall we go eat out there?" She sighed at the thought of him making a bento for her, but didn't want him to go to that much trouble. "Oh, I have a thought, how about the day after tomorrow, we go shopping together for ingredients and make one together for school?" He smiled at her. "I like that, Mom and Dad are off on another weekend business trip, so I'll be here by myself. We can make them here, what do you say?"
She leaned up and kissed him, "easy Senpai, people might think you'd want me to stay over and do something lewd to Me," she teased. She was shocked as she snapped his fingers and said, "Curses, foiled again!" She started to giggle as she realized he teased her back, "I Love you, Naoto," she said as she kissed him again, feeling him lift her up as he held her. Her legs wrapped around him to steady herself, but also to feel him in her embrace.
She knew in her mind that she would have jumped at the chance to spend the night with her beloved Senpai, but her sister was waiting and even though she was satiated with Panzarottis, she wasn't prepared to stay over without preparations. She started to make plans in her head to prepare a bag or two so that when the opportunity to stay over came up again, she was prepared to come over. But more importantly, she would have something to wear there already in place.
"Call me when you two get home, I want to know you got home safe," he told her, reciprocating the same thing she told him the night before. They were truly a couple in love now, and both knew they cared about the other one. "I promise Naoto, as soon as I'm in my room." she flashed her mischievous grin at him, "Maybe I'll video call you from the bathtub, deliberately this time," she teased. Naoto blushed slightly, "well, if you insist, who am I to deny you anything?" Her face went completely red for a moment as she looked surprised, then saw a small wink from him and started to laugh, "Naughty Senpai, taking advantage of your young lover's feelings like that," she teased. "Guilty as charged," He responded, making her blush and laugh more.
"Hayase, are you coming or should I just let you stay here and get started on making me an Aunt?" Haruna called from the gate. Hayase buried her face in his chest in embarrassment, but not before she heard her boyfriend answer back, "You know triplets run in my Mom's family, maybe we'll luck out there!"
Hayase smacked his chest with her head trying to stifle her laughter as Haruna turned bright red and walked back to the car, waiting for her sister. "Get going, Hayase, otherwise we might have to make good on that threat," he said jokingly. She gave him a quick hug, "Love you, Naoto," she said as she took off to the car. He heard the door slam and the car drive off as he opened the door and walked in.
"So, we're planning on making triplets, are we, Naoto-kun?" His mother said as she stood by the living room. Naoto screamed in shock, "MOM! W-W-What are you doing here? I thought you and Dad were in Shanghai for the weekend at the conference you're doing the keynote for," She smiled. "It got canceled due to a fire at the hotel. They're going to reschedule it for a later date." She smiled and motioned him to have a seat at the table. "So I think we have some things to talk about My son."