Hikaru was positioned so she could see Kiri's mother as she was escorted to the booth where her own mother waited alone. She looked so beautifully poised that Hikaru wondered if that were a style she might achieve someday. She'd never be tiny and cute like her own mother, but Kiri's mother looked composed and beautiful even at breakfasts.

Belatedly she wondered if she ought to have warned Tokiko of her own mother's youth as she watched them greet each other. Surprise wrote itself across both of their faces. Then they sat so that Hikaru could only see Miri's face. She looked overjoyed, but that was common for her lately and Hikaru smiled fondly as she played.

By the time she finished Kaoru had joined the two women with plates of food. Hikaru had sent her mother and uncle each a brief message saying that she'd invited Kiri's mother to eat with them on her way to the restaurant.

She greeted them all and slid into the booth next to Kiri's mother. Kaoru handed her a plate and she dished up while wondering what she ought to say.

"Kiri's mother tells me that he's gone on a business trip for two weeks," Miri said accusingly.

Hikaru looked at her mother and replied quizzically, "Yes?"

Kaoru eyed his sister and then looked at his niece and asked, "Is that going to be usual?"

"I don't know, it depends on which job Kiri takes when he gets back. It might be, it has been," Hikaru explained. "Why?"

Miri said worriedly, "You'll be alone while he's gone."

Hikaru smiled wryly and acknowledged, "After his mother goes home." She nodded to Tokiko. "Why is that a problem?"

"Won't you be lonely? Will you be OK?" Miri asked.

Hikaru shrugged and said, "I'll miss him, but I'll be OK. It's not like I'll starve if he's not there to feed me."

Tokiko asked curiously, "Do you cook?"

Hikaru shrugged again and her uncle and mother spoke in unison, "She's terrible at it." Then they glanced at each other and laughed.

Hikaru grimaced and said a little defensively, "I can cook quick things, or bake simple things just fine. I don't do well with complex things that have to be watched over carefully."

Her family members looked at her so dubiously that she protested, "I've never poisoned anyone!"

"Her omelettes are OK?" Miri said doubtfully.

Kaoru laughed.

Hikaru blushed and told Tokiko, "I just don't like to cook as much as the rest of my family, or Kiri."

Tokiko smiled at her and replied, "Then it's fortunate that my son enjoys cooking."

"Yes," Hikaru agreed happily, "Kiri's cooking is amazing."

Kaoru teased her, "Now we see why you're really with him."

Hikaru blushed and shook her head.

"Oh? Then why?" he asked with a grin.

"I'm curious about that too," Kiri's mother said.

"Don't tease her too much!" protested Miri.

Hikaru looked at her uncle and Kiri's mother's curious faces and down at her plate. After a moment she began, "Um, he's really, I mean he's very," she paused not wanting to start with sexy, then said with more determination, "He's very warm, and he laughs, and he's so cute when…" she trailed off and then looked up. "I can't explain it well, but I love Kiri when he's laughing and when he's serious and when he's angry and when he's happy, and I just want to be there for it all."

"Wow," Kaoru said after a moment. "You've progressed a ways."

Hikaru shrugged and said, "Well, I guess."

Miri grinned at her daughter and told her, "I'm glad."

Tokiko merely smiled a little. "Your mother barely looks older than you are," she commented with a change of subject.

"Sorry, I thought when I saw you come in that I should have warned you since my mother had kids early and you had Kiri late," Hikaru said apologetically.

"Kids?" enquired Tokiko.

"My son Yuki is away at university, he's studying to be a doctor!" Miri exclaimed proudly.

Hikaru and Kaoru nodded.

"Kiri told me the other morning that you're paying part of your brother's tuition, but I'd forgotten," Tokiko admitted.

Hikaru shrugged. "It's OK, Kiri has told me bits about his family too, it sounds like it's really extensive with lots of cousins, besides all his nieces and nephews. I'm sure I haven't remembered everything."

"How many children do you have?" Miri asked Tokiko curiously.

"Four, three daughters, then Kiri after I'd thought we were done," Kiri's mother replied.

"I thought I'd only have the two, but I think I'll wind up with four in the end," Miri said patting her belly.

Hikaru gasped and asked, "Is it twins?"

Miri blushed and said, "No, but Izumi and I have talked about having another after." She looked at Hikaru uncertainly.

"Oh," Hikaru said thoughtfully.

"Do you mind?" Miri asked anxiously.

Hikaru stared at her blankly. "Why would I mind?" she asked after a moment.

"I mind a bit," Kaoru announced. Everyone looked at him in surprise. "You've had a lot of trouble with your health with this pregnancy," he told his sister worriedly.

Miri patted his arm comfortingly and replied, "Not really, I've been fine since I stopped working. They've been watching me carefully, and every pregnancy is different."

Tokiko agreed and she and Miri talked about pregnancy experiences for a little while while Kaoru and Hikaru ate.

"What are your plans this afternoon?" Miri asked Hikaru.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"I thought I'd go look at cabinets or shelves before I go home to work on homework," Hikaru said. "I thought maybe office stores would have that kind of furniture?"

"Why?" Miri asked.

"Kiri's house," she paused and blushed, and then corrected herself, "I mean, our house doesn't have the kind of built in drawers and closets that I had in my room. And Kiri feels worried that I'm not really moved in with things still in boxes."

"Oh, you haven't finished unpacking?" Miri asked with surprise.

Hikaru shrugged uncomfortably. "Things have been busy," she explained. "It should be a little better since the competition is over and we won't have extra practices," she added hopefully.

"How did you do?" Kaoru asked.

Hikaru grinned and said triumphantly, "We came in second!"

Everyone exclaimed over it and they all drank a toast.

When they got ready to leave, Tokiko asked Hikaru a little hesitantly, "Would you enjoy it if I went along while you look for shelves? You needn't do it to be polite."

Hikaru looked at her in surprise and replied, "I don't mind, if you'd like to?"

Tokiko looked at her thoughtfully and said, "My son has told me that I'll either love you or hate you, and that he intends to marry you. I'd like to get to know you a little better."

Hikaru blushed, and touched her earring without thinking about it. When she realized what she was doing she dropped her hand.

In one of the office furniture stores Hikaru saw a set of filing cabinets that she thought might go with Kiri's desk. She tried to capture their finish on her phone.

After the third store Hikaru sighed and suggested they stop somewhere for tea. Kiri's mother agreed as politely as she'd followed through the stores. Hikaru looked at the shelf in the tea shop thoughtfully and then regarded Tokiko over her tea cup.

"You don't seem to be finding what you're looking for?" Tokiko ventured.

"I don't know exactly what I'm looking for," Hikaru replied uncomfortably. "I could get sets that match the closet storage system Kiri put in the bedroom. But I'd like to find something pretty, that fits in more, like that shelf would," she said indicating the display.

Tokiko turned and surveyed the elaborate round shelf. "I think it's for sale," she suggested.

Hikaru looked at her with surprise. When there was an opportunity she asked the server about the shelf.

The woman said, "That one isn't for sale, but it was made by a local craftsman with a shop around the corner." She gave Hikaru and Tokiko the name and directions.

Hikaru sighed. Kiri's mother raised an eyebrow at her and she explained ruefully, "Custom shelves are probably very expensive."

"Very likely," Tokiko agreed. "Though if it's something you'll enjoy looking at for years, I think it's probably worth it."

Hikaru considered it for awhile and then nodded.

Tokiko suggested a little speculatively, "I wouldn't think the expense would be much of a problem for Kiri?"

Hikaru grinned ruefully and said, "I'm sure it wouldn't."

"You don't want to ask him for it?" Kiri's mother suggested.

Hikaru laughed and replied, "He already offered Oka-sama, but it's not just having somewhere to put things away. He feels like I'm not, um, marking my territory? I think."

Tokiko regarded her with surprise and asked, "And if you buy it yourself it makes a difference?"

Hikaru said, "It does, I think. It may not seem to make sense, but I want to reassure him and surprise him at the same time."

Kiri's mother just smiled.

They went around to the little furniture store, which had a variety of shelves and benches on display. Hikaru winced at the price tag on a particularly beautiful round set that was a little taller than she was.

She pulled out her phone to take a photo of it and looked at the phone consideringly. They were similar in price. And she could imagine this shelf in Kiri's pretty house, with her Pikachu sitting there, and so on.

She asked the shopkeeper, "Can I put something down on this shelf and pay the rest at the end of the week, and do you have a delivery service?"

"You can, and we do, but it is an extra fee," he said politely.

She asked how much and though it seemed expensive it seemed reasonable. Tokiko also said reassuringly that it sounded like a reasonable amount.

Before they finished Hikaru pointed at another small round styled shelf in the same finish and asked, "And how much is that one, and what was it originally designed for?"

The shopkeeper eyed her uncertainly and said, "It's for jewelry. What did you have in mind to use it for?" he asked curiously.

Hikaru explained with some embarrassment, "Paper fans, I have a collection, and it looks like I could put some open between these pegs and lay the others folded on the little shelves."

He looked at the shelf thoughtfully and said, "Wait a moment." He disappeared into the back of the shop and returned with a narrow round framework in the same finish, but this one was carved with little birds and more pegs and peg holes. "I made this for necklaces, but hadn't finished creating the posts, so they aren't glued in. You could move them around to suit different sizes of fans," he suggested.

Hikaru loved it, but cautiously asked, "How much?"

He smiled at her and offered, "I will sell it to you for the same amount you have offered as deposit on the other, and you may take it with you now. I will add the amount to what you will pay before delivery on the large shelf?"

"That is very generous!" exclaimed Tokiko.

Hikaru nodded and agreed, "It is, I will take it then, thank you."

After they left, and while they waited on their bus, Tokiko asked, "Will you be OK with paying the rest? It seems like a lot for a high-school girl."

Hikaru smiled and replied, "I think I could have bought it outright, because this quarter's tuitions have already been paid, but I want to go over things and make sure."

"I see," Tokiko replied with some surprise.

When they returned home, Kiri's mother offered to make dinner while Hikaru did her homework. After making sure that she didn't mind, Hikaru took her up on it. She set the small round shelf down in the bedroom to think on its placement later and started on her homework.

At a particularly frustrating problem, Kiri called to say that he'd safely arrived that evening.

"Did you only arrive now?" Hikaru asked.

"We only just finished obtaining rooms," Kiri replied with some irritation, "someone messed up somewhere and our first reservations were entered into the hotel system for next week, but at first they thought it was just that we had been sent to the wrong location, as there are a couple of this chain in the city, so we were shuttled back and forth across the city for a couple hours before it was all sorted out."

"That seems careless, couldn't they see that in their system without moving everyone?" Hikaru asked with a frown.

"You would think so," he replied, but added wryly, "though this is my fault."

"How is it your fault?" Hikaru protested.

"It's part of my job to verify arrangements like this, this time I left it to someone. I'll be checking the rest of the schedule over again," he replied ruefully.

"Oh," she said.

"I miss you already," he said quietly.

Hikaru reached up and wiped at the tears that sprang up and replied, "You too."

They sat in silence for a minute. Then Hikaru laughed a little and asked, "Kiri, I have a job after school tomorrow, when do you think we can talk again?"

"Just call me when you're done," he said.

"What if you're busy or sleeping?" she asked.

"If I can't answer, I'll call you back when I can, and as for sleeping, I'd rather talk to you than sleep," he replied.

"Oh," she replied and blushed.

"When are you planning to sleep tonight?" he asked.

"When I finish my homework," she replied unhappily.

"Is it not going well?" he asked. "Should I be letting you go to finish it?"

"I got a bit stuck," she told him reluctantly, "and maybe I should say you should, but I don't want to."

Kiri was silent for a minute.

"Kiri?" she asked.

"I don't want to be bad for you," he said quietly.

"You're not, and I feel the same way, I don't want to make it so you don't sleep," she protested.

He laughed and said, "OK, I'll set it on silent when I'm sleeping if it will make it so you don't ever hesitate to call?"

"OK," she agreed.

"I love you, I'll end the call now, so call me when you're finished, or when you're stuck on something I can help with," he said.

"OK, I love you too!" she said quickly in case he ended it before she got the chance.

"Talk to you in awhile," he replied and disconnected.

Hikaru sighed and looked at her phone, then she looked up and realized that Kiri's mother was watching her and had heard the whole thing. She writhed a little with embarrassment.

Tokiko smiled and said lightly, "Supper should be ready in about half an hour."

"Oh, OK, thank you," Hikaru replied and focused on the problem that had been frustrating her again.