Sachiko quickly jumps from her seat while the kids are still in shock. “Ah, there’s my big cutie pie!” She rushes to hug Yuudai.

“M-Mom! H-hi! Uh… C-could you let go? A-and use my name!” She pulls away and gives him a big kiss on the cheek. “Aww, this is so embarrassing mom…”

Aiko turns to Katsuki. “Just pretend we’re not here and go about your meeting like normal.”

“Ooook then.” Katsuki looks around the room. “You guys are in our spots…”

Aiko looks around. “What do you mean? There’s room for 25 students here!”

“Yeah but we sit in the front.”

“Because you don’t have to walk to the back?”

“Exactly.”

Hideaki laughs. “Respect your elders, kiddo. Lik-” He’s interrupted by his daughter running up and tackle-hugging him. “Heeey, there ya are! It’s so good seein’ ya hangin’ around outside!”

“It’s nice seein’ ya outside tha house too!” Mari says back merrily. She turns back to the other club members. “Hey y’all, this here’s my daddy! Yew should meet him, he’s a great guy!”

Hideaki gives Mari a hearty pat on the back. "Yer actin' more like yer mother every day!"

Mari's smile disappears.

Hideaki tries to cheer up his daughter, his broad smile straining. He stops as Katsuki starts the meeting.

Katsuki perks up and says. “Oh, right!” She turns to look at the rest of the club. “Right, just a normal meeting same as if you guys weren't here.” She nervously giggles.

“What’s the matter, don’t wanna talk about the haunted photo booth in front of mommy?” Cerys snorts.

“Or the time we beat up those nerds for money?” Akina adds on.

“Oh, what about when you hurt Mayumi-senpai so bad I cried until it became a water monster and healed her?” Kirika asks Akina.

“Wait wait, what the hell is all this?” Tsutomu jumps up from his chair. “You left Chiba for THIS? What, was it not dangerous enough for you?” he stomps towards Yuudai. “Nevermind, I’m getting you out of this school right now.”

“H-hey, calm down, dad. These guys helped me out in a way you couldn’t even know!”

“That doesn’t matter, this kind of life isn’t for someone like you!” he says before he grabs Yuudai’s wrist.

“Hey, calm down! We all had crazy things happen in high school, right?” Sachiko looks back at the other parents who all nod in agreement.

“Are you all crazy? No wonder these kids are wild, if they come from wild parents! Yuudai, you’re out, now come with-”

“Tsutsu.” Sachiko says sternly. “C’mon, let him live a little. Don’t you remember all those nights you’d let me ride on your motorcycle?”

“W-What?!? Don’t bring those up, that’s embarrassing! It’s awful how irresponsible I was!”

“Oh, but you were soooooo cooool!” She says in a sweet tone.

“Wait, dad, you had a motorbike in high school?” Yuudai asks, perplexed.

“Yes… B-but I sold it when your mom got pregnant with you! It was the proper thing to do!” Tsutomu says with a blush.

“He was crying when he sold it and everything, Yuudai!” Sachiko says teasingly.

“You don’t need to say that, dear! I was… only crying because I was so happy to have a child on the way!”

“And look at him, Tsutsu, he’s big, strong… and he’s becoming his own man. You don’t need to worry about him so much!”

Yuudai strikes a cool pose and follows her up. “Yeah, dad! You gotta let me grow up myself a bit!”

Tsutomu can only sigh and return to his seat. “I… I guess it’s fine. But if anything happens, I’m taking you out immediately!” He crosses his arms, but otherwise lets the meeting continue.

The club members take their seats behind their parents and settle in. Katsuki takes her place at the large desk in front of the room. “Alright, completely normal meeting. Normal club here. Yep, that’s us. Just a normal...club.” She looks down at the papers in front of her, with the printout of the photo booth pictures. “Oh, right. The haunted photo booth was on the docket for today.”

“But Ah’m right here.”

“Yeah...yeah you are…” Katsuki scratches off that part of the paper. “So next is...Parent Invitation Day…”

“So President Kusaka what is new in the world of the paranormal today, a werewolf or something like that?”, a smirking Cerys calls out.

“Well it’s only tangentially paranormal but the guy we rescued from the yakuza, back when they were kidnapping people, got back to us. Apparently people with supernatural powers and mages both give off the same energy signatures, which is what they were looking for.”

Cerys pouts. “I was hoping for a werewolf.”

“I’m sorry, you guys did WHAT?!” Takeshi says with shock.

“Which group was it?” Ryo asks with curiosity. The rest of the parents turn towards the formerly silent man. Aiko and Tsubasa get looks of realization, and move their desks slightly further away from him.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Konchū-kai,” Akina spits out. “They kidnapped me and planned on using me as a bargaining chip against father.”

“They knew who your dad was and still tried to kidnap you? Buncha morons. I bet you didn’t even break a sweat cleaning up that trash.”

“I’m not my father, flattery gets you nowhere with me.” Akina rises up from her seat, staring daggers into Ryo as his smirk never leaves his face.

Yuuri realizes just what that look from Akina means and scrambles to think of something. She stands up quickly, shouting, “Katsuki! I do have something to talk about today.” She looks over at Akina with pleading eyes. The grey haired girl relents with a grumble and sits back down.

The Japanese redhead pokes her head up from underneath the desk, “Huh? Oh! Right. Yuuri you may have the floor.”

Yuuri stands up proudly and clears her throat, but then realizes she actually doesn’t have anything to discuss. She looks around the room and spots the concerned and confused faces of her parents. Finally, “What is everyone doing for break?,” comes out of her mouth.

Cerys is the first to answer. “I’m going home with my dad, which I think everyone is doing.”

“You’re going back to Britain for a week?,” Yuudai asks while trying to figure out the travel agenda in his head.

Cerys begins to speak but catches a glare from her father and stops. She looks at him the entire time as she replies. “No I’m going to Tsukuba where my father’s lab is.”

Oliver rubs Cerys’ hair and says to her in English, “Doesn’t it feel good to be nice to people for once?” She answers by grasping her neck and making gagging noises.

“Yeah, I think that’s pretty much true. Everyone’s parents are here after all, besides Akina’s and... Saito’s.” Katsuki turns towards Saito, who’s been drumming on his desk with his headphones on.

Everyone’s eyes eventually fall on Saito. Once he notices, he takes his headphones off. “Huh? What were we talking about?”

“We were talking about what everyone is going to do over the break.” Yuuri asks him. “Do you have any plans to go home with your family?”

“I plan on staying here, I ain’t got a family. I’m an orphan remember?”

There are audible gasps around the whole room and Katsuki speaks up. “What do you mean ‘remember’? You never said you were an orphan ever.”

Saito thinks for a second. “I thought I did. Oh well, it doesn’t really matter to me. I’ve never had a family before so I never cared about it.”

Hideaki puts a reassuring hand on Saito’s shoulder. The force is a bit more than he was expecting, and Saito loses his balance for a moment. He realigns himself and looks the man in the eyes. “I promise you I don’t feel broken up by not having a family.”

“No! You’re wrong Saito!” Yuuri speaks up again powered by her own compassion. “You do have a family, you have us!”

“You guys are nothing like a family, Yuuri. I don’t-” He’s cut short by Yuuri becoming more visibly upset, causing him to sigh.

“I...I was thinking...that maybe…” Yuuri bashfully continues, “Maybe we could celebrate together before we leave… s-so you have a good memory from this break!” An awkward smile shows on Yuuri’s face, her head lifting to meet Saito’s eyes.

Saito pauses, then shrugs. “I guess I wouldn’t mind a little shindig with you all.”

Yuuri’s smile turns wide, then she spins around towards the rest of the club. “You hear that, guys? Be here this Saturday before we all leave so we can enjoy one more get together!”

Most of the rest of the Paranormies cheer, though Cerys only joins in at her father’s urging.

Kirika, however, pouts with her arms crossed. She curtly mutters under her breath, “I’d rather shindig a hole and bury you in it, Stupito.” She then pretends to be excited since Yuuri has been looking at her oddly.

“Three days isn’t a lot of time, so we better get started on planning soon.” Katsuki smiles, looking forward to the celebration.

Ryo looks on at the others from his seat just behind Akina. “Look at this, everyone holding a pity party for some charity case. You’ve fallen far if you’re willing to be around these kinds of people, Gedou.”

Akina spins around with a murderous look in her eyes. “Call me by my name, not by the name of the man who couldn’t even attend this but still wishes to claim me as his heir.” She slits her eyes. “And who are you to be speaking about falling far, you damned lapdog.”

“Call me a lapdog all you want, I can still bite.”

“You couldn’t break my skin even if you tried.”

“You wanna take me on right here, right now?”

“For the love of God aren’t you supposed to be playing her dad right now? Can’t you act the part even a little bit?” Aiko asks, exasperated at the display.

Ryo scoffs. “If she was my daughter she’d never have the chance to act like this.”

“Akina, please, don’t do this.” Yuuri walks up between the two, with Katsuki not far behind her. “This is supposed to be a nice day for everyone.”

“A nice day would be me knocking his teeth out.”

Yuudai gets in the middle of the room and lets out a loud. “HEY!” Everyone turns to look at him, standing on a desk and looking around the room at everyone else. “How about we calm down? We’re supposed to be showing our parents how cool of a club we are, and all we’re doing is arguing and fighting! Let’s just get back to the meeting and calm down!” Akina and Ryo look away from each other and go back to their seats.

Katsuki helps Yuudai down off the desk, then says with a smile, “Wow, that was kinda cool, Yuudai!” She switches to a more formal tone. “...But the meeting is pretty much over anyway.”

“Huh?” Yuudai says, looking over at Yuuri who’s nodding as well. “Well, at least everyone’s stopped arguing.” He scratches his head and takes a seat himself.

“So, does anyone have anything left to say?” Yuuri looks around.

Tsubasa stands up. “I do! I just want to say that… um, even though it looks like you all bicker a lot, it looks like you’re all really great friends! I’m so proud of my Yuuri for getting a group of friends like this, and I’m sure everyone else here is proud of you all, too! You’re all growing into wonderful young people, and-” She’s stopped by Takeshi placing his hand on her shoulder.

“C’mon, dear. You don’t need to embarrass them any more than that.” Takeshi says, helping her back down to her seat.

“I-in that case…” Yuuri says, her face beet red. “T-then, I declare this meeting adjourned!”

The parents leave their seats, saying their goodbyes to their kids for now. They file out of the room, starting conversation amongst themselves. The clubroom once again only contains club members.

“Whew, that was pretty stressful!” Yuudai says, leaning back in his chair.

“I thought it was pretty fun, by the end!,” Yuuri says with a smile. “But now… we get to plan a party!” She lets out a small squeal of happiness, ready to give everyone a great sendoff for the break. For tonight, let’s end this Parent Invitation Day correctly and spend the rest of the day with our parents!”

“Hey, just so you know Saito, you’re more than welcome to come hang out with my mom and I today!” Katsuki tells him.

Saito puts his headphones on and shakes his head. “Thanks for the invite, but I gotta decline. I got some stuff to do after this today.”

Katsuki only responds, “Oh, okay…” as Saito walks out of the room, the rest of the club also doing so, catching up with their parents.

Out in the hallway, various students are walking with their parents, heading towards the exit. Kirika looks up at her mom. “Aren’t humans just so aggravating, mommy?”

Aina looks down at her child with surprise. “W-what do you mean?”

“They barely even gave me the time of day in there, they don’t give me any attention at all!”

“There’s more to being friends than that, dear.”

“Nuh uh, my servants always talk to me and they’re my friends!”

“That’s not-”

“It’s totally the same!”

Aina places her hand on Kirika’s head. “Hush, I’ll hear no more of this. They took you into their club and consider you a friend, the least you can do is not talk about them behind their backs.”

Kirika pouts, but relents. She takes her mom’s hand as they walk out of the school together.