Day 5 - Idol: Career Day
Career Day is getting close at Aiko's school and she doesn't want to talk about Sora's job for another year.

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Aiko had a frown on her face when Sora went to pick her and Kouji up at school that afternoon, which she found weird because her daughter was always in a cheerful mood.

"What's wrong, Aiko?" She asked, looking through the rearview mirror.

"Nothing." She frowned even more and crossed her arms.

"Then why are you like this? You're often chatty and have this smile on your face."

Sora kept looking at Aiko, but she didn't answer. She simply remained quiet and grumpy, and the woman sighed with exasperation.

"How was school today, Kouji?" She addressed to her son instead, and couldn't help but smile seeing the grin on his face.

"It was so cool!" Kouji replied excitedly and went through his bag. "We had to draw a picture today, look."

He bent forward to show it to her.

"That's so pretty, sweetheart!" Sora took a very quick glance at it. "But you might want to sit back. It's dangerous."

"Okay."

She looked through the rearview mirror at her daughter again, but decided not to say anything, as she was still frowning.

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Aiko crossed the living room without speaking to Yamato and went straight to her bedroom, slamming the door with more strength than necessary.

"What happened to her?" He asked Sora with his eyebrows raised when she walked in with Kouji.

"I have no idea." She replied and then sighed. "She's been like that since I picked them up at school. I asked her, but she didn't tell me."

"She can be a little closed off when she feels overwhelmed."

"I know. I will try to talk to her again in about half an hour. She probably needs some time for herself right now."

"I agree."

"So what did you make for dinner?"

"A large variety of food: sushi, niguiri, temaki…"

"Hmm." Kouji ran to the sink and his mouth filled with water. "Can I have a temaki?"

"You know the rules. Shower first."

"Ah mommy, that's not fair. I'm hungry."

"You can have one sushi, and then shower." Yamato said.

"Got it!" He grabbed one of them and ran to his bedroom.

"You know you're spoiling him, right? It's gonna be hard to change that habit in the future."

"I know. This was the last time, I promise."

"I would hope so." She stretched her shoulders and winced.

"Are you okay?" The blonde asked as he got closer to her.

"I'm fine. My shoulders are a little sore, that's all."

"Looks like you need a massage to help you relax." He stopped behind her and started massaging them.

"You keep doing that and I'll do anything you want."

"I'll hold you up for that." He said in a suggestive tone.

"I'm sure you will."

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The Takenouchi Ishida family sat down for dinner about half an hour later. Aiko was still quiet, but the frown on her face was long gone.

"Are you feeling better, sunshine?" Yamato asked her carefully.

"I'm alright." She answered simply and quickly started eating again.

He and Sora exchanged glances for a few seconds. She broke eye contact and looked down, and was surprised when he squeezed her shoulder lightly and in a reassuring way.

"Daddy, I made a drawing at school today!" Kouji exclaimed. "Wanna see it?"

"Not right now, sunset. We're having dinner. But I would love to see it when we finish it."

"Okay!"

Kouji ran to his bedroom to grab his drawing after excusing himself as soon as he finished eating. Aiko stayed at the table, but it was clear to both Sora and Yamato that she'd rather be elsewhere.

"Hey." He gently placed his hand over hers. "Whatever it is that you're feeling, you can talk to me or your mother about it. We're here to help you."

"Your father is right." Sora said softly and placed her hand over theirs. "We love you and care about you. We want you to be happy."

"I know." Aiko finally looked at them, a tiny smile on her lips.

"Here it is!" Kouji came back running and sat on his seat. "Look, dad!"

He nearly shoved his drawing in Yamato's face, which caused Sora to giggle for a second at their son's clumsiness.

"Wow, this looks really amazing, son!" Yamato couldn't hide the smile on his face. "You're very talented. I'm really proud of you."

Aiko quietly slid from her chair and headed to her own bedroom, hoping to leave unnoticed. But both of her parents saw it.

About three minutes later, Yamato softly knocked on her door and opened it slightly.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure."

"I wanted to check on you. You've been quiet ever since you arrived from school and it got me worried."

"Everything is fine, dad." Aiko sat down and embraced her knees.

"Are you sure nothing happened at school?"

"I am." She bit her lower lip for a couple of seconds, to stop tears from falling from her eyes.

Yamato moved to sit behind his daughter and grabbed her shoulders, gently pulling her down against his chest. Aiko was taken by surprise and failed to keep holding her tears in.

"If you don't want to talk about it, it's okay. Do you want to hear a story?"

"It's career day at school next Wednesday."

"Oh, that's great! It's always a good thing to learn about what your friends' parents do."

"That's true, but I've talked about mom's job two years in a row."

"I see." Yamato swallowed hard and felt really bad for not being able to spend so much time with his children because of his job and for not realizing how much they missed him. "I can talk about mine this time."

"Really?" Aiko's voice was full of hope, and that feeling was mirrored on her face as she sat up straight and looked at him with the same aquamarine colored eyes he has. "Can you really?"

"Of course."

"Thank you, dad!" She exclaimed and threw herself towards him.

"You're welcome, sunshine." He said softly as he stroked her blond hair.

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"So, I assume she opened up to you." Sora stated when she saw Yamato walk inside their bedroom.

"She did."

"And what happened?"

"She was upset because there will be a career day at school next week and she didn't want to talk about your job for three years in a row."

"Oh." She looked down for a while. "I didn't know she disliked what I do that much."

"She doesn't dislike what you do, baby." He sat next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "I have no doubt she loves it and looks up to you. But you know how children can be like. I promise you she didn't mean it in a personal way."

"I suppose so. So what did you tell her?"

"I told her she could talk about mine this time."

"That's very nice of you."

"Yeah, let's see how it goes." Yamato looked into her eyes intently. "Are you feeling better now?"

"A little bit. I'll feel better over time, I promise."

"Alright." He kissed the top of her head tenderly.

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Aiko's mood got a lot better in the following days, since she and Yamato had that talk. Yamato noticed that Sora felt better about the situation, but he knew it was still bothering her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked when he stopped behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Talk about what?" She asked in a low tone. "There's nothing to talk about."

"Are you sure? Cause I can tell there's this internal battle going on inside of you."

"Is that so obvious?"

"It is." He planted a kiss on her shoulder. "I know it was something that hit you very hard and I hate to see you like this."

"Yeah, I guess I haven't been dealing with all of this as well as I should."

"And it's okay to feel like that. Don't be so hard on yourself. You're a human too."

"I know. I know." She sighed and pressed her palms on the sink. "I just didn't know she felt this way about my job."

"I'm sure she doesn't." Yamato gave a light squeeze on her shoulders. "I understand you're hurting and it's a completely valid feeling. Just remember Aiko loves you and she's proud of you. She really looks up to you."

"I know she does, and I think it's great that she's going to talk about your job this year, I really do. I also think that her classmates will be completely thrilled to hear that you're an astronaut as well."

"I think so too. It's gonna be fun."

"It is." Sora turned around and wrapped her arms around her husband's neck, pulling him into a hug. "Thank you for being so nice about this."

"Aww, of course, baby. I completely understand it's not an easy situation for you."

"Yeah, but I will get over it."

"That's right, you will."

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Aiko was in awe with the photos Yamato showed her about the space. She had seen photos of it in books, but this was a completely different thing.

"Wow, daddy!" She exclaimed. "Being on space must be so cool!"

"And it is. But it's a very long process to be allowed to go on this journey."

"Oh really?" She looked at him with surprise.

"That's right." Sora was the one who answered, and attracted everyone's attention. "It took your father about ten years to be able to go on his first mission."

"Ten years?"

"That's right. You need a lot of preparation for that."

"Daddy, how long do you take to go to the moon?" Kouji asked, intrigued.

"About a week or so. It can be more, it depends on the type of mission."

"Can we go on one with you?"

"Uh…" He exchanged glances with his wife. "I'm not sure, it can be too risky."

"Ah." Kouji was disappointed with his response, as he was hoping for a positive answer.

"I know it's something both of you really want to do, but I don't think it's suitable for kids."

"We can see that you two feel very curious about it and it's something natural. Maybe in the future it will be safer to do that."

"That's true."

"You have the coolest job ever, daddy!" Aiko exclaimed, not bothering to hide her excitement at all. "I wanna be an astronaut when I grow up too."

"If it's something you still want to be several years from now, I fully support you. But if you change your mind, that's okay too."

"I want to be an astronaut." She insisted.

"Okay then."

.

Aiko couldn't stop talking about planets, spaceships and everything related to space everyday until career day at her school. She woke up earlier than usual that day, before Sora could wake her and Kouji up. She knocked on her parents' door, but didn't even wait for them to answer.

"Daddy, we're gonna be late for school."

"We have plenty of time, sunshine." Yamato mumbled after he saw the time.

"Oh." She looked down for a moment, feeling bad for her confusion. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I know you're very excited for today."

"I am." Aiko paused for some seconds. "Daddy?"

"Yes, sunshine?"

"Are you angry at me?"

"No, Aiko. I'm not mad at you."

Sora was watching and listening to the whole conversation and couldn't help but smile seeing how sweet and beautiful their bond was.

"You should probably get up now. From the way she's excited right now, I don't think she will go back to sleep."

"Yeah, you're probably right." He mumbled and buried his face in the pillow before getting up.

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Aiko could barely hold her smile when her teacher announced Yamato and he walked into the room in his astronaut outfit. All the kids were shocked and in awe with it. Some of them even ran to him to see it, and the teacher had to tell them to return to their seats for a while.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Yamato Ishida, Aiko's father. I've been an astronaut for almost fifteen years now."

There was another babbling around the class again, but on a much lesser scale.

"When did you decide to become an astronaut and why?" Aiko's teacher asked the first question.

"Well, I was a teenager, around 17, when I decided to become an astronaut. I was a musician at the time, but astronomy is something that has always fascinated me. So it just seemed like the right path to take. I don't regret it for a second."

"That's amazing! I imagine college must have been hard for you, wasn't it?"

"It was. Graduation was very long and I had to go through a few years of training to be able to go on a mission."

"How was your first mission?"

"Me and a few more astronauts went to the moon. I think there were five more astronauts with me. It was a short mission, ten days the most."

"What is the best and the worst thing of going on a mission?"

"The best thing is being able to see the earth from space, it's a life changing experience. The worst thing is…" He looked at Aiko, who was listening to everything in awe. "Being away from my wife and my kids for a long period sometimes."

"I'm sure they miss you too." The teacher looked at Aiko and then to the rest of the class.

A good amount of students started talking altogether again, much to Yamato's surprise and the teacher's despair.

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Yamato was in charge of picking the kids up at school and cooking dinner, as Sora had to work late that day. He was nearly finishing his final task when she arrived.

"Hi, baby."

"Hi." She dropped her keys in the bowl near the door and put on her slippers before kissing him hello. "How did it go at Aiko's class?"

"It went great. The kids went crazy about my astronaut outfit."

"I'm not surprised. I see the way Aiko and Kouji are whenever they see it."

"Now multiply it by fifteen."

"Oh wow."

"Exactly. Try this." He handed her one of the onigiris he was making.

"Hmm this is divine. There's a reason why you're the official cook in this house."

"Hey, that's not true. You're just as a great cook as I am. I don't like it when you downplay yourself like that."

"Alright." Sora snatched another one. "I'm a great cook."

"Much better. Just don't eat too many onigiris before dinner."

"Okay, dad." She teased him and then leaned on the counter. "So how was it to speak about your job on career day?"

"It was amazing. Seeing how excited the kids were and their sparkly eyes was an unique experience."

"I can see it in your eyes. I'm really proud of you."

"Thank you, baby." He walked to her and hugged her. "I'm really proud of you too."