Author’s corner: HELLO HELLO! LATE RELEASE BECAUSE REASONS!
ANYWAY, today was a slow day when it came to writing, and I simply kept getting distracted at every other word I wrote, and this ended up delaying the release. Sorry about that. On another note, we get to see two new characters today! Hooray!
ALSO, I just want to clarify one thing. I never went to my city’s airport, so I have no idea how it actually is, so don’t expect me to actually replicate it correctly in this story.
ALSO(2), Lord Wich! I shall never forget your effort! /salute… But seriously, you guys loved that story! Even when it was one of the most random part of the chapter! It almost makes me feel like writing something more about it…
ALSO(3), I'm not very good with Japanese names, so forgive-me for the lack of criativity, okay?
Have a good read!
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“So…” I said once the girls stopped laughing at me. “You said that your ride to the apartment had a problem. What exactly happened?” I asked them. Yuu’s eyes widened before she nodded.
“Chichi-ue called a Limousine to pick us up…” As Yuu said that, rather than feeling surprised, I simply sighed. This kind of thing didn’t really surprise me much anymore. “Oh… Sorry Shishou… Chichiue means father.” She said hurriedly, probably thinking that my sight was because I couldn’t understand.
“Yeah… I knew that…” I said with a wry smile. “I do know one thing or another of Japanese. Anyway, as you were saying?”
“Hmm… It seems that the closes limousine our company owned was on Rio, but it broke down on the way here...” She said with a deep sigh. “Right now, Chichiue is trying to find a way to get us a transport, but it seems that he’s having some problems…”
I blinked in surprise at her words, then took a quick look at the other remains of food on the table besides the girls. There were two plates left empty. If I add what she just said to that, does it means that…
“Your father business is here in Campos?” I asked her confused, and she shook her head.
“No… It was going to be in Rio, but he asked to change it to here so that he could meet you.” Yuu said seriously while Mary smiled wryly. For some reason, I suddenly felt like I just heard a bad thing.
Sighing loudly, I turned towards the entrance of the airport and saw the glimpse of some cars passing around, staring at them for some time, I turned towards Yuu with a raised eyebrow and asked.
“Why didn’t you take a taxi, then?” I asked her. Yuu looked at me confused for a moment before widening her eyes.
“Are those the cars you pay the driver to take you somewhere?” She asked surprised.
I stared at her for some time as I noticed that she was starting to get excited about the idea. I mean, yeah, she might be a sheltered princess and so on, but to not even know what a taxi is… isn’t that a bit too much?
Turning towards Mary in search for an answer, I noticed that she felt a bit at loss at Yuu’s reaction too. She noticed my gaze and shrugged before saying.
“She doesn’t have much idea how normal people live.” She said while scratching her head. “She would actually come here wearing her hakama or a yukata if I didn’t pick her clothes for her.”
“Wow… Is it that bad?” I asked while raising my eyebrow at Mary, who nodded weakly and Yuu, who looked down shyly. “Wow… Truly a sheltered princess…” I said with a heavy nod. “Okay, son one plate is your father’s… Then the one is…?”
“That’s…” Yuu started, but she stopped suddenly while turning away to another direction.
I blinked surprised and followed her gaze, seeing it fall on a woman that was approaching the table.
Having a fair height and pale white skin, the woman, clearly an oriental, wore a white silk yukata tied with a simple red sash around her waist. Her smooth black hair tied behind her head in a simple bun using a pair of long sticks. If I had to guess her age, I would say early thirties or late twenties, but then I couldn’t be so sure. Still it didn’t take me too long to actually discover who she was.
“As you can see, it runs in the family…” Mary said with a long sigh.
I smiled wryly as I looked at the woman whom I had ninety percent certain that it was Yuu’s mother. Surprisingly, while the black hair was surprisingly similar, their faces were different, with her mother’s having a much gentler look than the daughter’s. Maybe she took it from her father?
Noticing my gaze, she looked at me and opened her mouth slightly in surprise while resting one of her palms in her cheek.
She spoke a few words in Japanese, and although I couldn’t understand what she was speaking, I somehow knew that she seemed to be surprised of seeing me here. Yuu immediately greeted her and started speaking to her about something.
“Hey, what’s happening?” I heard Cyg asking confused, as her vision was limited to the cellphone’s camera.
“Yuu’s mother is here.” I said briefly and saw as her image widened her eyes surprised.
Yuu quickly finished exchanging some words with her mother in a respectful tone, and so her mother turned back to me while nodding amused.
“So, you must be the Shishou that I heard so much from Yuu-chan?” She asked me in a curious and gentle tone in perfect English.
“The one and only, ma’am.” I told her with my best proud smile.
“I see… Thanks for taking care of her for me.” She said with a kind smile, then she suddenly looked shocked. “Where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself.”
Geez, overly polite just like you would expect from a japanese. But I guess that’s just like their culture, so maybe I should let her do her introduction like she’s used to?
“Sorry, Ma’am, but I have to stop you right now.” I said while lifting myself from the bench and raising my hand. Goddamit, I went joke-mode immediately!
Seeing this, the two girls, one woman and one AI looked at me confused. Mary somehow understood what was about to happen and started shaking her head, while Yuu simply looked blankly at me.
“Look ma’am.” I said while looking at her seriously. “I know that you want to introduce yourself the Japanese way, but, as they saying goes. When in rome, do as the roman do. So I’m going to teach you how we Brazilian introduce to each other, okay?” I said with a gentle smile, and saw as she nodded, probably not wanting to be disrespectful. I made a motion towards the table. “Here, in Brazil, we sit down on a table and then tell an embarrassing fact about ourselves. That’s how we introduce to each other.” I said in my best serious tone.
Hmm… that… Didn’t sound very convincing. As I thought that, I noticed that Yuu widened her eyes, probably noticing that I was only fooling around while Mary simply let her head fall on the table.
“Ara, sodesu ka?” Yuu’s mother said surprised while sitting down, and if I'm not wrong, she seems surprised.
Did… Did she really fall for it? I looked around and noticed that Mary and Yuu were both watching her surprised. I quickly put back my poker face while sitting back on the chair and sitting up straight.
“Well, even if I say embarrassing stories, it doesn’t need to be nothing too big. It’s mostly a way to talk about ourselves openly, so that we can relate easier.” I said briefly and noticed how she watched me intently. “So, why don’t you let me begin?” I quickly cleared my throat. “My name is Richard Hadaway. Richard being my given name. And I only learned how to ride a bicycle when I was eleven years old.”
Yes, that is a true story, before anyone asks.
Mary looked at me surprised, similarly to Yuu, while Yuu’s mother looked at me with a slight hint of pity. I simply shrugged it off since I was used to this kind of reaction before looking towards Yuu’s mother. She nodded and took a deep breath before starting to speak.
“My name is Kuzuha Fuyuki. Fuyuki being my given name. And…” She stopped to think of something. “Once, when I was Yuu’s age, I dropped some juice in my Yukata, staining it. But I kept wearing it saying that it was a design made by a skilled artisan.” She said while covering her mouth and looking down.
I had to look away to hide the playful smile that was appearing in my face, Mary doing the same while Yuu looked at her mother confused. Finally after a few seconds, I decided to tell her the actual truth, but just as I turned back forward, Yuu cleared her throat and said.
“My name is Kuzuha Yukihime. Yukihime being my given name, and…” She started saying seriously. I stared at her openly for a moment while Mary held her sides trying not to laugh. Noticing this, she turned to me and asked a bit embarrassed. “Hmm… What happened, Shishou?”
“Gon was only joking, Yuu…” Cygnas said with a long sigh, making Yuu and Fuyuki blink surprised for a moment in perfect synchrony.
I looked away with a triumphant smile while I noticed Yuu and her mother both blushing slightly, Fuyuki even making an ‘Ara, ara’ while covering her mouth. She also started to look at my cellphone with clear curiosity, probably wanting to know where the voice had come from.
Taking the cellphone and pointing the screen towards Her, she widened her eyes when she saw Cygnas image there, bowing respectfully.
“Oh? And who might this young lady be?” Fuyuki asked curious while looking at Cygnas.
“Greetings, Kuzuha-dono. My name is Cygnas, and I am an artificial intelligence, responsible for managing the game Insania Online, and a friend of Gon… Of Richard.” She introduced herself politely.
“Artificial intelligence?” Fuyuki asked surprised. “Ara ara! I just met someone incredible!” She said cheerfully. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Cygnas-chan.”
“The pleasure is all mine.” Cygnas replied politely while moving her eyes away slightly towards my general direction. “You… Don’t seem all that angry at Gon… Richard’s joke.”
“Ara, it was just an inoffensive joke.” She said with a smile and I relaxed noticeable, as I was worried that I might have angered her. “It’s actually good to see that my little Yuu knows someone so cheerful. She only seems to know Mary-chan from her school.” As she said that, Yuu blushed slightly again, which earned a playful smile from her mother.
“Well, I’m starting to think that it might have been a bad idea to let her meet him.” Mary said discretely while looking away. I stared at her and kicked her leg beneath the table, making her giggle slightly at that. “Anyway… What did Hattori-san decided to do?” She said while turning to Fuyuki.
“Oh. He was still trying to get a transport, but then the bodyguards told us that a strange man had approached Yuu, so I came here to see who it was.” She said in an explaining tone while looking at me.
“Shouldn’t that be a work for the bodyguards, then?” I asked confused. “What if I was a dangerous person or something?”
“Oh, no. Those bodyguards aren’t here for Yuu or Mary-chan. They are here for me and my husband.” She said with a short laugh. “Besides, anything that the bodyguards can deal with, Yuu can probably do better anyway!” She said proudly while looking tenderly at her daughter.
Yuu simply nodded at her words with a strange confidence. I smiled a bit wryly at that, I did kind of expect her to be skilled at martials arts, but isn’t that a bit overboard? Being stronger than the family’s bodyguards is a bit too much, right?
Anyway, leaving aside that fact, I felt that there was something a bit strange in what Fuyuki said.
“From the way you say it… Does that means that Hattori-dono doesn’t practice martial arts?”Cygnas asked the question I had in mind, and I saw as Fuyuki shook her head.
“No. He does practice, but not as much as Yuu. My daughter goes to her grandfather’s dojo everyday without a fault to train. Or at least did…” Strangely enough, it didn’t seem that she was bothered by those words. “Recently she have been missing a few of her grandfather’s teachings to play the game she earned.”
“… Sorry…” I said reflexively while lowering my head. No doubt that I was somehow involved in that.
“Ara. No need to apologize.” She said with a cheerful smile. “It was the first time she actually did something selfish, so we are all actually a bit glad that this happened.” Wow, when Hanbei told me that I thought that she was just joking, but she was actually telling the truth? “Anyway, enough talking about me and my husband. Why don’t you talk a bit more about yourself?”
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
As soon as she said that, all three other girls started nodding excitedly while looking at me with excited eyes. I sighed loudly while stopping to think what I could tell about myself. Shrugging, I decided to start from the basic.
“Well, you already know my name, besides that… I’m actually twenty one years old…” I stopped for a moment to make some calculations before nodding. “Yeah, twenty one. I am studying mechatronic engineering at my university and I know a few things about computer. All my knowledge about japan comes from manga and anime, so there might be somethings I can be mistaken about. And no, I don’t do martial arts. Anything else you want to know?” I gave a brief introduction.
“So Shishou’s three years older than I am…” Yuu said while amused, and this caught my attention.
“Am I?” I asked surprised before stopping to make some calculations. She said that she was in high-school and preparing to enter Tokyo-U. Then she should be something around… “Seventeen, eighteen?” I asked while tilting my head, and she nodded.
“I became eighteen this year.” She said with a nod.
I widened my eyes surprised for a moment. That’s something I had never really considered due to how she looks and acts mature, so I kind of just went with the idea that she was around my age or older.
Well, I can’t really talk about maturity with anyone. I have the mental maturity of an eleven years old overdosed with sugar, so I’m far from a good example.
“And I’m just a bit older than Yuu.” Hanbei said cheerfully and I widened my eyes a lot.
“Seriously?” I asked in a fake surprise tone. “I swore you were four or five years younger!” I told her.
She blinked a couple of seconds before pouting and kicking me beneath the table. Me and Cygnas laughed a bit at her while Fuyuki simply giggled lightly.
As we continued our antics, with the corner of my eyes I managed to catch a glimpse of someone approaching us. It was an Asiatic man with sharp features and a hair curt short and nicely, with only some traces of gray around the sides.
Surprisingly enough… he actually wore fairly normal clothes. A black business suit with a black tie.
Really, I wouldn’t be surprised if he suddenly took out a katana from out of nowhere and told me he was a yakuza or something. He gave a quick look at Fuyuki, who smiled gently at him, then looked at Yuu, who gave a short bow.
Finally his gaze fell on me, and he frowned slightly.
Now comes the part where he takes out the sword, put it on my throat and start threatening me for getting close to his daughter.
“So, you are the one that managed to make Yuu actually skip class for the first time in her life?” he asked me in a perfect Portuguese, which kind of caught me by surprise.
“Ermm… Yes?” I replied in kind a bit worried.
Then, he did something I didn’t expect.
He put his hand on the table with surprising strength, making the plates jump up slightly. And bowed to me, almost smashing his head on the table too.
“Many thanks for making my dear daughter a little more sociable and a little happier!” He said in a loud voice that would surprise me if the others in the room didn’t hear it.
I blinked surprised for a moment and stared at him trying to understand what had happened, and by the time I finally understood, I missed the stony skin of my avatar, as I could feel the blood rushing to my face as I became embarrassed.
Somehow I managed to hide it by lowering my head, putting one of my hands in my forehead while making a motion with my other hand as if saying.
“It was nothing. Just doing my duty as an irresponsible man.” I said with a proud tone, which left the man surprised for a moment before nodding.
When I finally recovered myself from the embarrassment, my gaze passed through Mary, who was looking at me mischievously. When I looked back at her, she made a discreet motion towards Hattori, if that’s his name. It took me a moment to understand what she meant, but once it sunk in, I had to hold back my smile by clearing my throat.
“Well then, sir.” I said in English, getting his attention. “Why don’t we start our introductions then?” I said in a business tone and saw as he nodded while preparing to say something and extending his hand towards me. I shook my hand to tell him that it wasn’t that, which left him confused. “We are in Brazil, so you will introduce yourself in the Brazilian way. That’s the correct order of things when visiting other people, right?” He nodded weakly while also looking confused.
“Indeed, that should be right, but…”
“Then, let’s start.” I said interrupting him. I couldn’t help but think that I might regret tricking him, but since I already started the joke, might as well go through it until the end. “You see, here in Brazil we introduce ourselves by sitting around a table like this, and telling something slightly embarrassing.” I said while pointing towards the empty chair. But…
“Very funny, Boy.” He said with a slight smirk. “But this isn’t my first time in Brazil, so I won’t fall for this little ploy.” He spoke proudly.
I wanted to grimace for having my infallible ploy revealed… Okay, not so infallible. It’s probably one of my worst ones up to now, but that doesn’t mean that I like to have it revealed so easily.
To hide the grimace, I leaned forward while supporting my head against my crossed hands on the table, discretely covering my mouth just like some kind of old villain from anime. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow and I spoke slowly while frowning.
“Look here, sir.” I said in a fake calm tone. “You may have come here before to have your business talks with other rich guys just like you. And from what I could gather by spending some time with your daughter in the game, is that you are richer than even my wildest dreams.” I saw as he looked at me confused, then looked briefly towards Yuu, but she also looked confused at the situation. “This meant that the meetings you had before were made to appease you, and even then, it was made by those of the high class. Right now, however, we aren’t in the area of the high class.”
He frowned slightly at my words, but didn’t try to correct me.
“And I have no need to appease you, since I have no interest in your money.” Which is a bit of a lie, since I do like having some money, but I truly had no intent on asking for some money, even if they could give me for free. “So this means that we should act as middle-class Brazilian citizens, as that would be the proper and polite method to demonstrate your thanks for taking care of Yuu.” I took a brief glance at Yuu, who for some reason was looking at me with some admiration, before turning back to her father. “And as far as I know, you have never been a middle-class Brazilian citizen before, so how can you say that I’m just fooling around? I may end up taking that as you being disrespectful towards me and my class, you know?”
He frowned even more and took some time to think this through. Somehow I managed to make it somewhat convincing, but it might not be enough. Just as I feared, he looked back at me and opened his mouth to give his counter argument.
However, help came from an unexpected direction.
“Dear. You are being extremely impolite towards our daughter’s friend.” Fuyuki said in a perfectly serious tone while looking down with her eyes closed.
I really had to hid my surprise. Could it be, that contrary to her refined look, she might actually be a trickster at heart? Hanbei didn’t seem all that surprised, and she was stuffing her face on the remaining of her sandwich to hide her laughter.
The man widened his eyes a bit before sighing and sitting down.
“Forgive-me for that.” He said while bowing his head slightly. “I got too convinced of myself.”
“It happens, no need to worry.” I said while leaning back on the chair, only to feel as the sweat running like rivers on my back. “Let me start then, as I said before when introducing myself to your wive, my name is Richard Hadaway, Richard being my given name. And I only learned how to ride a bicycle when I was eleven years old.” As I said that, I turned to the man.
“My given name is Hattori. Kuzuha Hattori.” He stopped to think for a moment before taking a cellphone from his pocket and fiddling with it slightly. “And the wallpaper I use on my particular phone is this…” He said while looking away.
Mary, Cygnas, Yuu and me were intrigued by his words and leaned in to take a closer look, while Fuyuki simply went ‘Ara ara’ while giggling slightly.
The moment we saw his wallpaper, Yuu’s face went as red as a tomato.
“This is…” Mary said surprised while holding back her smile.
“Chi… Chichi-ue!” Yuu complained.
“Urge… To pet… Raising!” I said while holding my twitching hand.
In the image was what looked like an old photo that was scanned up, where a young girl, probably in her five years old, with long black hair and sharp looking eyes was trying to wear a hakama.
However, the martial-artist garment was far too big for the little girl, being adult sized, so she was inside the clothes with her arms barely even reaching the sleeves and most of the cloth dragging on the ground. She was looking confused at the camera, her head tilting slightly as she was trying to fix the garment.
“I look at this photo of Yuu whenever works gets stressful.” Hattori added. “She was so cute back then!” He said in a proud tone.
At that time, Yuu couldn’t bear with the embarrassment anymore and slammed her face on the table while muttering something in Japanese that I couldn’t understand. Mary was holding her sides laughing while the two parents simply looked at their daughter with kind eyes.
And yes, I was petting Yuu. It was an automatic reaction that I developed within Insania that seemed to transpose to real life. Besides, her hair is so smooth and silky! It just feel too good to touch it!
FLUFFINES!
“Oh!” I said in an attempt to change the topic. “Thanks for helping me with the joke, Fuyuki.” I told to Yuu’s mother, who widened her eyes slightly before laughing.
“Ara ara. It was my pleasure, Hadaway-kun.” She said cheerfully. The moment these words left her mouth, Hattori’s face became the perfect example of an even mix of shock and defeat.
“Please, call me Richard.” I said with an awkward smile. “It feels strange to have someone call me by my surname.”
"Is that so?" Fuyuki asked before nodding. "Then what about... Rick-kun?" I took a moment thinking about that before nodding, it sounded nice, so I quite liked it. Fuyuki smiled satisfied before turning to Hattori who had his face on the table, just like their daughter, and asked. "So, Dear, did you solve our transportation problems?"
At her words, Hattori blinked an quickly recovered himself from his shock.
"No. It seems that there's no other car nearby, and that one needs to be towed to the repair shop." He said with a sigh. "After that, I also received a call from father, who said that he decided to come here too."
Huh? Hattori's father? Isn't that Yuu's grandfather? The master martial artist?
Wait a second... Didn't I also meet another martial artist just a few days ago? It... It couldn't be, right? I mean, really, what are the chances? It's almost impossible!
Right?
...
"Say..." I said in a dry voice, getting the other's attention. They turned to me confused and awaited for my words. “By any chance… Did your father recently get himself a D-lute?” I asked while looking towards Hattori.
“Why, yes!” He said surprised. “He became interested when Yuu told him her stories and bought one! How did you know?”
“Just a guess…” I said while laughing dryly, which left them looking at me confused. “Anyway, about your transportation problems… Why don’t you take a taxi?” I asked while pointing towards the airport entrance.
Hattori’s eyes widened before he covered them with his hand in a classic face-palm, while Fuyuki looked confused for a moment, before widening her eyes excited.
“Are those the cars you pay the driver to take you somewhere?” She asked surprised.
I blinked surprise before laughing a bit.
Like mother, like daughter, I guess.