Chapter 9

It was around 7pm when Miho and her friends left the museum and said goodbye to Courtney and her entourage. By the time they finally arrived at Miho's house it was almost 7:30. While Miho's parents weren't pretty well off, they mainly lived more modestly than what you'd expect; while they earned enough to be considered upper middle class, appearance wise you'd think they were lower middle class. They lived in a regular three bedroom and three bathroom home with two floors. Some other notable features of the home included a full and connected kitchen and dining room, an at -home gym and library, a downstairs living room, a small upstairs gaming and entertainment area, and its own laundry room.

As they arrive at the front door, Miho takes out her key and opens the door. "Mom, dad, I'm home." She called out.

Her mother quickly came to greet her, "welcome home Miho, how was your day?"

"It was so much fun," Miho answered, running and hugging her mother.

"Oh, Annelien and Yukari, it's so nice to see you both again, I hope school is going well for you." Miho's mom said to them.

"Ah, Mrs. Kirce, it's nice to see you again as well and school has been ok." Annelien greeted back.

"Hi, Mrs. Mcneil." Yukari greeted as well, waving.

"Ahh you must be Hana and Saori," Miho's mother turned to the two girls. "Miho's told me about you, it's nice to finally meet you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well," Hana said, bowing her head. "I am Hana Isuzu."

"I'm Saori Takebe," Saori followed up, also bowing her head. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

After the introductions, Miho's mother invited them to have dinner in the kitchen, while there they also met Miho's father. After dinner, they headed up to Miho's room. "Now remember girls, I know it's the weekend but please to keep the noise down as much as you can; some people actually work on the weekends and besides people are gonna want their beauty sleep, ok." Miho's mother advised.

"Yes ma'am," they all said.

After she closed the door, the five girls sat in a circle around a small table in the center left of the room, "I gotta say," Hana started talking. "I was a bit nervous about meeting your parents Miho, but they actually seemed to be nice people, especially with how openly affectionate you are with each other," Hana commented.

"Yeah I'm right there with you Hana," Saori agreed. "And also Miho, I hope you won't be too weirded out by me saying this but your dad is kinda hot." She says, with an embarrassed and sheepish smile.

Miho shot a flabbergasted and concerned look at Saori, "I fail to understand how to not be weirded out by a statement like that." After a moment to calm down Miho asked, "Saori, just what type of boys are you into?"

"Oh don't worry Miporin," Saori tried to reassure her friend. "He's way too old for me and besides he's already married. I was just saying that he has qualities that I'd definitely like my boyfriend to have."

"If that was the case then maybe you could've worked it better." Annelien remarked, with the girls sharing a nervous laugh about the situation.

"But in all seriousness, I really am lucky to have met my parents." Miho said.

After spending an hour or so working on homework, they decided to watch something on Miho's TV. "Miho what kind of movies and stuff do you watch?" Hana asked.

"I mostly just have cartoons and the like." Miho responded. "Hold on, I'll grab some and we'll decide which to watch." She said, standing up and heading out into the hallway. On the wall across from the door to her room, there was a shelf with a few hundred movie cases inside. After picking out a few that she'd want to watch: including her favorite, Jim and Terry, some from the western coalition show, Winnie the Pooh, and her childhood favorite, Boko. After taking the cases back inside her room she laid them out on the table and asked, "which of these would you like to watch?"

As they looked through the stack of cases, Saori couldn't help but say, "Miporin, why do you like stuff that's meant for kids half our age?" Much to Miho's embarrassment.

"Oh cut her some slack," Annelien chimed in. "I watch some Winnie the Pooh every now and then." While looking at the one of the mentioned dvd cases, she sighs and places her free hand under her chin, "how nostalgic, to a much simpler time."

"I remember watching Boko a lot when I was little," Yukari mentioned. Looking around Miho's room, "I see you like Boko as much I like tanks."

Miho chuckled, "yeah it was perhaps the most enjoyable thing I had back then."

"Did you not have any friends back then," Hana asked?

"I did, but we quickly grew apart after graduating elementary school." Miho responded.

"What about at Kuromorimine?" Annelien asked.

"Outside of my older sister, there was only one other person I was friends with, actually she was more like my best friend, her name was Kuome Akaboshi. But after my old family disowned me, I haven't spoken to either them at all." Miho explained, a somber expression on her face.

Hoping to lighten up the mood, Yukari quickly reached to one the Jim and Terry cases, "how about we watch this." She suggested.

Everyone recognized what Yukari was trying to do and hastily agreed. While they were watching and occasionally laughing at the series of episodes; Miho couldn't help but let her mind wonder on the past, no doubt what she and her friends were talking about stirring up all sorts of memories, ones she didn't really think for a long time.

A/N: Winnie the Pooh is the intellectual property of Walt Disney Inc. I do not own the name or any other part of it. Please Disney don't take this down :(