The next two days Eizan lounged around his house. Sakurai and Shimada came by every evening to check on him. Eizan made sure to change the wrapping that held his ribs in place before they arrived, not wanting to have Wednesday’s events to happen again. The three ate dinner together every night, prepared by Hashimoto. Early Saturday morning shortly after 8am there was a knock at his door. Hashimoto rose from his bed and answered the door. The site of Sakurai standing there in a cute little blue summer dress threw his sanity into disarray and his heart felt like it was going to jump out of his chest.
“Sakurai, what are you doing here so early?”
“Um… I thought you might be bored so I thought we could hang out.”
“S-sure.”
Sakurai entered his apartment with a sack full of snacks. She began arranging them on the table.
“You sure brought a lot of snacks.”
“Well, I thought I might be here awhile, so I brought some just in case I got hungry.”
“So, what do you want to do?”
Sakurai put her hand on her chin and thought. “How about that?” she pointed to the stitch they had played last time.
“Ok.” "Did she come over here just to have someone to play with?"
The pair sat next to each other playing games and chatting for the next couple hours. The gap between them slowly getting closer as time passed. The smell of Mio’s perfume was putting Eizan more and more. The closer she got the hard it was for him to focus. After playing video games the pair decided to watch a movie from a popular streaming service he was subscribed to. It was a comedy and the two laughing and smiling the first half. All of a sudden felt a soft sensation land on his shoulder. The smell of a woman’s shampoo felt like it smacked him in the face. He glanced to his shoulder to find a sleeping Mio laying on him. His heart was racing and his mind was going wild trying to find a solution to this situation.
"Should he wake her up? Should he let her sleep? Should he try to slowly move away?" He finally settled on staying still and calmed himself down. He looked over at her sleeping face and gently smiled. "I guess she’s tired, it’s a long walk from her house. I bet she woke up early to get ready and go buy snacks before she came over here. I’ll let her sleep to the end of the movie then I’ll wake her up." After the movie was over, he slowly moved himself and lowered her head onto a pillow. He stared at the Sakurai’s sleeping face. His hand slowly reached out towards her cheek. Right before he was about to touch her a knock could be heard at the door. His heart leaped in his chest and he withdrew the hand quickly. He stood up, walked to the door, and looked at the camera screen. Crap.
Standing there looking patiently at the door was a beautiful blonde American woman with shopping bags in her hands. Damnit mom, why did you have to show up at this moment. Eizan cracked open the door and looked at his mother.
“Mom it’s really not a good time.” Eizan was trying to drive her away. The last thing he wanted is for her to find him alone with a beautiful girl in his room. Also, he wasn’t sure Sakurai could handle her personality. Most Japanese people are not as forward and loud as Americans. His mother has problems with personal space, is really loud, very demanding, and very forward. But he knew his mother’s personality there was zero chance she would leave.
“Nonsense Eizan I only knocked out of curtesy. I pay for this apartment and I will enter whether
"Like it or not I'm coming in. Now let me in.”
“Ok, ok but be quite Sakurai is asleep.”
His mom’s eyes widen and a grin appeared on her delicate face. “Oh, does my son have a girl over?”
“Yes, and she fell asleep when we were watching a movie so can you please quiet down.”
“Is she cute?”
“She’s very cute but.” Before he could finish his sentence a slightly sleepy voice came out from behind him.
“Hashimoto who’s here?” Sakurai’s hair was a slightly messy, her dress was sliding down her left should a little and she was rubbing her eyes.
Eizan turned toward her. “It’s my mother.”
As Sakurai moved her hands away from her eyes, she saw a beautiful blonde foreign woman approaching her.
Eizan’s mom rushed up to her and grabbed both of Sakurai’s hands shocking her a little bit.
“My, my Eizan your girlfriend is very cute just like you said.”
“C-cute! G-girlfriend!” Sakurai unintentionally exclaimed.
Eizan put his hand on his forehead and shook his head from side to side.
“Mom, please calm down. First, she not my girlfriend, were just friends and secondly, you’re scaring her.”
“Oh, I’m sorry I haven’t introduced myself I’m Mary Hashimoto. Oops sorry, I mean Hashimoto Mary. I never have gotten used to the whole last name first thing.”
“I-its ok. Nice to meet you I am Sakurai Mio.” Mio gave a slight bow.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you too Mio.”
“Mom, stop addressing people you just met with their first names.” Eizan is shaking his head again with an exasperated look on his face.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“It’s ok, you can call me whatever you like Miss Hashimoto.”
“Oh, aren’t you a sweet little thing. I’d prefer if you would call me Mary, please. I’m not really the biggest fan of using people’s surname.”
“Alright I’ll call you Mary from now on.”
“I’m sorry to disturb your little movie date.”
Sakurai’s face turned bright red.
“Mom, please stop, you’re embarrassing her. Why did you come all the way here from Kyoto?”
“How could I not visit my injured son? If it hadn’t been for work, I would have been here Wednesday. I came to make to make you dinner and stay the night.”
Mary moved through the apartment checking around everywhere. “You seem to be keeping your apartment relatively clean.” She wiped her finger across the bookshelf. “You could dust a little more often. Especially if you’re going to be inviting your cute girlfriend over.”
“Mom, I thought I just explained we are not dating.”
“Yes, yes, I heard you the first time. I just don’t believe you. I mean a cute teenage girl and a handsome teenage boy alone and nothing is going on.” She stared at both of them.
“M-miss Hashimoto he’s telling the truth. We aren’t dating, we just became friends recently.”
“Mio, I thought I told you to call me Mary. Alright, I’ll believe you for now.”
“Thank you, Mary.”
The three of them sat around the table and continued with their conversation for a little while. Eizan and Mio were sitting next to each other and Mary was on the opposite side.
“Eizan, can you go make me some coffee?”
“Sure, I’ll be right back.”
As Eizan began to stand up Sakurai grabbed his shirt instinctively. She really didn’t want to be left alone with his mother.
“Sakurai do you want something to drink too?”
Eizan knew why she grabbed his shirt. He could see how nervous she was.
“U-um… Yeah can I have some coffee.”
Eizan smiled gently he leaned in and whispered in her ear. “Don’t worry she won’t bite.”
His hot breath hitting her ear made her shiver and dyed her cheeks red. Eizan walked into the kitchen leaving the Sakurai and Mary alone.
Mary raised an eyebrow at their exchange and a smile broke out on her face.
“I’m surprised, that boy normally avoids women.”
“I never would have thought that.”
“It’s not to say he avoids them completely. He just keeps his distance most of the time. He’s always been popular with girls of his age. But he’s never had a girlfriend and while he has been pursued, he’s never been interested after a short conversation them. Like everyone in my family he’s highly intelligent. I think the gap in intellect keeps him away from women with low intelligence.”
“Is that so?”
“Did you know he’s always dumbing down the conversations he has with people?”
“What! is that true?”
“I know this is going to come off as arrogant, but almost everyone in my family does it. Those who don’t, often have a tough time dealing with people. 155 is the average IQ in my family. We have many Harvard graduates in my family. Granted not everyone is successful, some are too eccentric. My son has never been tested but I can guarantee he’s more intelligent than I am. I graduated Harvard at 17 years old, but to my parents dismay I started modeling instead of teaching. Eizan could have easily been done with college if he wanted to, sadly he has no drive to do so.”
“Now that you mention it, all the books in his apartment are college level or above. He barely pays attention in class and he’s consistently in the top 20 on the assessment tests.”
“Don’t let that boy fool you. He’s missing questions on purpose so he’s not top of the class.”
“Why would he do that?”
“People are constantly watching those at the top. The tallest tree in the forest faces much more wind than those below it. If I hadn’t got mad at him for doing it at his last school, he never would have been top of the class.”
“I see it does sound troublesome.”
“What sounds troublesome?” Eizan asked from behind Sakurai with a suspicious look on his face. Sakurai jumped a little.
“Oh, nothing to be concerned about my dear boy. Now sit and tell me how have things been going.”
“Everything has been going fine.”
“You describe three broken ribs and a concussion as fine.” Mary frowned.
“It’s ok I can handle it.”
“I know you can. That’s what scares me. I’d prefer if you would handle it as peacefully as possible. Your father might be ok with violence but I am not.”
“Mom, can we have this conversation later.”
“Fine. So, Sakurai tell me about yourself.”
Sakurai gulped. “What would you like to know?”
“For starters do you have any siblings?”
Mary interrogated Mio trying to learn as much about her as she could for the next few minutes before Eizan interrupted.
“Mother, could you cease you’re questioning please.” Mio looked utterly exhausted. Eizan knew she was a rather shy and didn’t want the interrogation to continue.
Sakurai felt like the room had gone dark and a spotlight was pointed at her. She felt like a criminal in an interrogation room. She couldn't help thinking "Mary is a scary woman. Her questions were so natural I feel like I would divulge any information she wanted." Mio internally thanked Eizan for stopping her.
“Are you going to stay for dinner Mio? I plan to make spaghetti.”
“Thank you for the offer Mary but I will have to decline. My parents expect me home for dinner.”
The group chatted for a little while longer before Sakurai said she had to leave. Eizan followed her to the door to see her off.
“Sorry for my mother she can be a handful.”
Mio giggled. “Its fine. She seems really nice. She’s just a little… how do I put it?”
“Intense” Eizan finished her sentence.
“Yeah, let’s go with that.”
Sakurai looked down for a second and became shy all of a sudden.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, it’s just. Do you think we could umm… trade contact info.” her cheeks were dyed lightly pink.
Eizan’s face also became a little awkward.
“S-Sure.”
Sakurai left after they exchanged information.
"What the hell was that?" Eizan’s heart was going crazy. A shadowy figure crept up behind him.
“She really is cute isn’t she?” Eizan jumped at his mother’s sneakily whispering behind him.
“Mom don’t do that. You scared the crap out of me.”
She giggled as she looked at her surprised son.
“You were so distracted watching her leave that I had to have some fun. Besides that’s the first time I’ve ever been able to sneak up on you. You must really be in love with her.”
“W-what love. I don’t know about such things. It feels a little too soon to decide things like that.”
“You know some things aren’t rational my little boy.”
“Yeah, yeah leave me alone.”