Chapter Thirty-One

A Dream Gone Wrong

Mizushima Kasumi’s Point of View

            “Nanase, walk more slowly!” Asami chided poor Haruka as he was apparently walking down the aisle of the church, where her wedding was to be held, too quickly, and not intact with the wedding music.

            Nanase simply nodded his head as he started at the end of the aisle once again, and then proceeded to walk ‘more slowly’ to the other side of the lane.

            “That’s more like it!” Asami clasped her hands together, eyes glittering with delight.

            “Reo!” she then suddenly glared at her poor cousin. “Don’t walk in a zig-zag. Walk in a straight line, please.”

            “Sheesh,” the eighteen-year-old boy scratched the back of his head in irritation, as he too, started at the end of the aisle once again, and then proceeded to walk in a straight line to the other side of the passageway.

            “Great job!” Asami rubbed the top of the boy’s head, messing his hair up in the process.

            “Ugh,” he deadpanned as he sat down at one of the pews.

            “Don’t you think you’ve been drilling them enough, dear?” Masaru-nii sweat-dropped at the scene.

            “Naw,” my brother’s fiancé shrugged her shoulders. “It’s only a day before the wedding! And why did you ask people who reside outside of our Prefecture and outside of Japan?”

            “Um, they’re my good friends,” he replied simply, his hands in his pockets.

            “You are truly hopeless,” she sighed in mock ‘annoyance’ before turning her attention back to the two groomsmen in the room—Nanase and Reo. “We’ve been doing this for about two hours now, so I think it’s enough. You guys can go now.”

            At that, she exited the room, nowhere to be seen, leaving Masaru-nii, Nanase, and Reo left in the room.

            “Well that escalated quickly,” I blinked my eyes several times before snapping back into reality.

            “You could say that again,” my brother smacked his forehead.

            “I’m surprised you’re not hosting a bachelor’s party or whatever before your wedding day,” I teased. “You were always such the player.”

            “Hey!” he faked anger. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

            Everyone in the room laughed at the scenario before Masaru-nii said, “Well, I’m going to drive Reo back to Asami’s house so that he can go back to babysitting the little kids. See you two later . . . but don’t do anything bad, okay?”

            “And what is that supposed to mean?” I blushed furiously as Masaru-nii chuckled and exited the room along with Reo.

            “Well,” I started the conversation, my arms flustered. “Where would you like to go?”

            “Pass by Iwatobi?” Nanase asked passively as he took my hand in his.

            I thought about his suggestion for a moment before answering, “Sure, why not.”

            We then walked over to my car, where Nanase asked me hesitantly, “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive?”

            “I’m sure,” I laughed. “Unless you really want to drive. Then . . . sure.”

            “Thank you,” he replied with a sense of relief, taking the driver’s seat while I took the passenger’s.

            He revved the engine before steering the car out of the parking lot and onto the highway.

            “How many minutes is it from here to there, again?” I asked, looking out the window as a few cars were zooming and zipping past the speed limit.

            “If we maintain our speed right now, it would take about twenty minutes to get there,” Nanase replied, his eyes glued to the roads before him.

            I quickly snatched his phone out of his lap, as it was his navigator for the trip, and instead of him looking down at the screen to see where he was to go, I told him the directions instead.

            “Turn right at the second exit,” I instructed him as he simply nodded his head in return.

            “Wasn’t there an alumni party a few years ago for our graduating class?” I asked Nanase as he made a right turn at the second exit.

            After a moment or two, he replied, “Yeah, Makoto and I went there, but no one showed up, so we left.”

            “You wanted to socialize?” I raised an eyebrow in disbelief, though I already knew his answer. “That’s rare.”

            “Makoto dragged me,” he replied simply as changed his speed limit to thirty as he passed a speed-change sign.

            I chuckled at his response.

            “You didn’t show up,” he stated finally after several minutes had passed.

            “I was with my college swimming team, getting ready for some event,” I answered him. “I think so, anyways. Go straight, then turn left at the second crossing.”

            He nodded his head, as if to say he understood before doing as I told.

            “What . . . will we do at Iwatobi, though?” I raised an eyebrow before directing him to make a U-turn at the coming road signal.

            “I was going to visit Ama-chan,” he replied passively as he took a U-turn—on the right our high school.

            “True,” I dually noted. “I haven’t seen her in like . . . forever. Does she still teach literature?”

            “I think so,” Nanase replied hesitantly as he parked the car in the lot. “But, we’ll find out here, I suppose. Besides, I want to see how Nagisa and Rei left the swimming team after Makoto and I left.”

            “Good idea,” I smiled, exiting the car, and closing it as Nanase locked the vehicle.

            We walked up towards the main entrance, where the doors were unlocked and entered the building. We headed towards the teacher’s office quietly, as it was a spring Friday and students were still class.

            Haruka knocked on the door before entering silently. There a teacher stationed at his desk by the door greeted us.

            “Hello, do you need something?” the teacher asked us with an eyebrow raised.

            “Ah, yes, is Ama-sensei here today?” I asked him politely.

            “She’s at her desk by the window,” he replied with a smile before I replied ‘thank you’ and walk by Ama-sensei’s desk.

            “Ama-sensei,” Nanase called his teacher’s name monotonously, shocking the poor woman to death.

            “N-n-nanase!” she shouted in surprise. “W-what are you doing here?!”

            “Ama-sensei, please quiet down,” the teacher sitting in the desk adjacent to hers sweat-dropped.

            “Gomen,” she apologized sweetly before returning her attention to us. “Did you answer me yet, or . . .”

            “Uh, no, but, uh, we just wanted to drop by and say hello, and see the swimming club and how it is now,” I answered for the both us. “How’s literature going along?”

            “Ah, literature is going great as always,” she smiled that classic smile of hers. “The swimming club was disbanded since there wasn’t enough members, however. Gomen!”

            Nanase’s eyes glittered a glint of sadness as it sketched the atmosphere he felt emotionally. The swimming club was dear to him, Makoto, Nagisa, and Rei. Why, even Rin would have most likely wanted the swimming club to remain . . .

            “Gomen, Nanase,” Ama-sensei frowned. “I tried to keep it together, but no one had time, or they were doing another sport, or they couldn’t swim at all! There’s a saying. Ahem.”

            She ‘coughed’ a few times before saying:

            “Moto mo ko mo nai. Failure not only to make profit.”

            “Eto,” I sweat-dropped. “That has nothing to do with what you said previously . . .”

            “Oh, nani?” she shouted in her naïve manner of hers. “Gomen!”

            “Ama-sensei,” the teacher stationed beside her looked stared at her glumly, three streaks of blue at the corner of his forehead. “Please quiet down.”

            “Gomen!” she bowed her head deeply. “Gomen! Gomen! Gomen!”

            The other teacher’s body turned into rubber as he slowly sank into his seat in defeat of quieting down Ama-sensei.

            I chuckled as Nanase grunted, “Tch.”

            Right then, my phone in my pocket buzzed, signaling a text sent to me, so I took the device out of my pocket as Nanase and Ama-sensei continued to talk to one another about random things. Mainly, she was ranting on about life and proverbs and him just nodding his head . . . If that counts as a full, head-on conversation, then, yes, they were discussing about life.

Message from Masaru-nii:

Where are you?

Sent at 1:14 P.M.

Message to: Masaru-nii

Iwatobi High.

Just meeting up with my homeroom teacher back in the day.

And to see whether or not the swimming club was still there or not.

And if it was, how it was going . . .

Where are you right now?

Sent at 1:15 P.M.

Message from Masaru-nii:

Grocery shopping with Asami. She only bought salad.

Ugh. I want a full meal.

A man on a full stomach is always happy one, right?

AND THE WEDDING IS TOMORROW

I’M NERVOUS!!!

What if I nose-bleed at how pretty Asami will be tomorrow?

Or what if I faint midway through the ceremony,

And she takes it the wrong way and thinks I don’t want to marry her?! D:

I am flipping out right now . . . T.T

Sent at 1:17 P.M.

Message to: Masaru-nii

You’re flipping out over nothing, baka.

You shouldn’t be nervous if you love her . . .

Oh, and don’t nosebleed . . . Mother and Father will be there tomorrow . . .

Don’t nosebleed . . . They’ll think you’ve been a fool the past decade.

I’ll pick them up tonight at 10:30 from the airport.

Sent at 1:20 P.M.

Message from Masaru-nii:

Bring Nanase with you to the airport.

I don’t want you to go alone.

Do Mom and Dad know about you courting him?

Sent at 1:22 P.M.

Message to: Masaru-nii

I’ll bring him.

Besides, I’ll get to spend more time with him.

And, no, they’re too busy nowadays to even call their own children.

So, no, I haven’t told them I was dating yet.

Sent at 1:24 P.M.

Message from Masaru-nii:

I can’t wait to see their reaction!

They’ll flip since you’re still in college . . . maybe.

JK! I dated in college, so I don’t think they’d mind.

Besides, Nanase is a good guy . . . I think. o.o

Or IS he . . . (truth comes out o.O)

Sent at 1:27 P.M.

Message to: Masaru-nii

-.- Really funny, Masaru.

Really funny. (Not, ,btw)

I probably shouldn’t be texting while I’m visiting a teacher . . .

See you later.

Sent at 1:28 P.M.

            At that, I put away my phone back into my pocket and listened to the conversation.

            “You should totally coach with Makoto-san at Sasabe-sensei’s swimming club! Like the good ol’ days! Hayato-kun’s going to join Iwatobi next year, so I’m going to guess that he’ll restart the swim club here. And, you should visit when that time comes!” Ama-sensei beamed with delight, pure happiness and sakura flowers radiating from her.

            “I’ll see,” he replied simply as he looked out the window, seemingly contemplating over something.

            “Kisimi visited a few days ago with Makoto before leaving for some place out of town,” Ama-sensei smiled, before cupping her face with her hands, eyes closed. “Ah . . . I’m reminiscing the olden days now.”

            I chuckled at her reaction before Nanase told her, “We have to go.”

            “So soon?” she ‘cried’ an ocean of tears.

            “Wait, we do?” I raised an eyebrow at him before he tugged the edge of my sleeve.

            After a moment of staring at each other, I took the hint and said politely, “My brother will be needing us to set the wedding place tomorrow, and I need to pick up my parents from the airport tonight. Sorry, Ama-sensei! We’ll visit another time. I promise!”

            I waved her a good-bye, and we exchanged farewells before Nanase and I left the compound.

            “She’s too loquacious,” he said out of the blue as we entered the car, him fumbling with the keys.

            “You could say that again,” I deadpanned as he ignited the engine.

            “Tch,” he snorted as his eyes were glued to the road.

            I laughed at his attitude towards his homeroom teacher before taking out my phone—seeing that Masaru-nii replied to my earlier text.

Message from Masaru-nii:

I wonder what our parents’ attitudes are now.

Mom was as cold as ice back then, Kami.

Dad was an angel fallen from the sky who married a . . .

Mom’s not a tsundere. Not exactly a yandere.

I don’t know what to call her.

And I don’t memorize all those ‘deres’

Therefore . . .

Sent at 1:40 P.M.

Message to: Masaru-nii

I guess we’ll just have to find out tonight. ;)

Sent at 1:47 P.M.

            “What are your parents like?” Nanase mumbled beside.

            “Pardon?” I put away my phone—my full attention on him.

            “What are you parents like?” Nanase repeated as he made a right turn.

            “Truth be told,” I sighed. “I don’t know. They were never around. Masaru-nii raised me up pretty much my entire life. They were around during my infancy to my early teenage years. From then on, I lived with Masaru-nii. Then they returned to live with us for a month when I was at governor’s school, so I wasn’t exactly there. And Masaru-nii lived partial time with them since he was at college, so he crashed for the weekend and left for summer courses during the weekdays. That pretty much summed our relationship with my parents. They were always so distant . . . Well, generally, my mom’s cold. She’s distant like you. She cares, but never shows it and never acts like it. She never shows emotions at all—complete opposite of my father, if I do remember correctly. My father is warm, and kind-hearted and everything but he’s quiet—a man of few words. That’s my family for you.”

            Nanase simply nodded his head as he parked the car in front of Masaru-nii’s house.

            “Home at last,” I exhaled a sigh of relief. “We’re picking up my parents at 10:30 at night, but we have to be present there at 10. Apparently, their flights either come earlier than the time they should be there or later. To be safe and get on their good side, I’m going to want get on their good side.”

            Nanase gave a small smile, as if he just noticed something, before remarking, “You’re more talkative than Ama-sensei.”

            No way would I ever be like Ama-sensei. No offense to sensei, but too much of the ‘adorable front’ for my particular liking. I fainted thereafter.

~*~*~*~

            “Oi, wake up,” I heard Nanase poking at my ribs.

            After a few more jabs at my sides, I bounced awake our foreheads colliding against one another.

            “That hurt,” Nanase said bluntly. “Hurry up. We have to pick up your parents. It’s 9:30 P.M. I’m not going to be late.”

            “Longest monologue I heard you say all day,” I chuckled before I walked into bathroom, brushed my hair, brushed my teeth, and dressed into an Iwatobi High cerulean T-shirt, dark-colored jeans, and light paka sweater. I quickly applied mascara to my lashes and chapstick to my lips before rushing out of the bathroom.

            “Hurry, we have ten more minutes to get there now,” Nanase rushed passively. “Thanks to you.”

            “Gee thanks,” I deadpanned. “As if I didn’t already know that.”

            “You’re welcome,” he replied simply before he shoved me out the front door and into the car.

            The drive there was silent except for the music on the radio that was acted like background music to our journey to the airport. Nanase was focused on driving, while I was focused at the scenes that flashed by through the window. The cars’ headlights of red and white . . . the street lights by the highway . . .

            Before long, we had already arrived at our destination.

            “If they’re here before 10:30,” Nanase warned. “I’m going to look bad.”

            “You nervous?” I asked him questioningly.

            “No,” he replied a little too quickly—indicating the opposite answer, though he didn’t directly say so.

            I laughed at his flustered reaction before entering the sliding, glass doors of the airport.

            “Which entrance?” Nanase asked me as we walked down the corridors of the compound.

            “Port J-14,” I answered him as we soon reached the port and sat down at one of the black, leathered seats, waiting for Mother and Father to arrive.

            Nanase and I were both silent the entire time (I, nervous, and he . . . being Nanase), and it wasn’t long before our patience paid off—Mother and Father’s flight had landed.

            “Flight J-14 has landed,” the speaker announced through the microphone. “Repeat. Flight J-14 has landed.”

            Nanase and I walked over to the luggage belt, where he placed his arm cautiously at my outer shoulder. The gesture was small, but was of enormous meaning. For Nanase to even kiss me on the lips was already a rare sight (ever since we were slowly drifting apart, kind of).

            “They haven’t sent me any recent pictures of them,” I informed Nanase slowly. “So I don’t know what they look like as of now.”

            He deadpanned, “How are you going to find them out of this large lot of people?”

            “I don’t know,” I muttered in reply before I heard someone behind talk.

            “Where is Kasumi,” a woman’s voice snapped. “It’s 10:23, and she’s late.”

            “Dear,” a man’s voice soothed. “We weren’t supposed to arrive until 10:30.”

            “Well, she should know better to arrive earlier than the given time,” the woman replied flatly to the man.

            I turned around cautiously. That was too easy. I slowly walked up to the bickering couple, dragging Nanase along with me by the edge of his sleeve.

            “Mother? Father?” I asked the couple hesitantly before they stopped their altercation to look at me.

            “Kasumi?” the man’s eyes widened. “Is that you?”

            “Father,” I mumbled, not knowing exactly what to do since I haven’t seen them for something like a decade.

            The four of us stood there awkwardly . . . except for Mother who was texting someone or playing tetris on her phone.

            “You sure this is your dad? You never met him before. He could be looking for another person named Kasumi and not you,” Nanase whispered me a comment on the situations bluntly.

            “I’m pretty sure this is them,” I muttered in reply to him. “They didn’t age that much, surprisingly.”

            “How is your brother doing?” Father asked me hesitantly as he looked directly in my eyes—his wrinkled forehead creased.

            “He’s doing great,” I flashed him a small smile. “The wedding’s tomorrow.”

            My arms were moving completely array for one moment and still the next. I was utterly nervous, and the tension between us wasn’t helping us that much.

            “Hello,” Nanase extended his hand for my father to shake. “My name is Nanase Haruka. I’m currently courting your daughter.”

            My father, initially staggered, then shook Nanase’s hand firmly before replying, “Wow, Kasumi. You never told me you were dating someone.”

            The last sentence sounded more of a question rather than a declaration.

            I responded the ‘obvious,’ “You never picked up my phone calls or responded to my emails.”

            My father chuckled nervously, “That’s true.”

            My mother was staring at Nanase deeply, as if peering down to ascertain his soul. If her looks could kill, Nanase would have been long gone dead.

            Nanase looked unshaken as he bowed forty-five degrees, facing my mother, “Konnichiwa, Mizushima-san.”

            “Well, at least his manners are still intact,” my mother remarked flatly. “A charismatic attribute I can withstand. We already got our luggage. Now, are we just going to stand here or get moving. I have an online meeting tomorrow in the stead of going to work, thanks to your brother, Kasumi.”

            I drew in a sharp breath at my mother’s snappy attitude, “Well, aren’t you happy he’s getting married?”

            “Pft,” my mother rolled her eyes. “Another mouth to feed, if you ask me. He’s wasting his money. That girl probably just wants to cling to him for his money, and he’s going to need that if he wants to get his Ph.D. in engineering.”

            I didn’t say anything in reply to her, for I knew I would regret it if I did. I finally get to meet her after an eternity, and this was how she wished to act. Wow—the same old snappy mother I remembered. I still didn’t understand how Father wanted to marry the likes of her, but love it love. If that’s the decision he chose, then so be it.

            I led my parents to the car, where Nanase offered to load their luggage into the trunk. My mother immediately took the front seat, Nanase the driver’s, and I in the back seat with my father.

            I didn’t say anything of the trivial matter in fear of another of my mother’s incisive outbursts. Instead, I stared out the window.

            After Nanase revved the engine and exited the parking lot, he asked my mother a question in an attempt to start a conversation, “Is work tedious for you these days, Mizushima-san? You sound tired.”

            “Pft,” my mother snorted in a cocky attitude. “Of course, it is stressful, considering the fact that your children constantly absorb your money for education. Why, they should be making their own to go to college, not use mine! The things I do for my children . . . They better repay me all the money I spent for them once they’re out of college.”

            I bit my lip. If one thing has changed, my mother was greedier for temporal goods than before.

            “So what do you do as a living, Nanase?” my mother glued her eyes on him. “What’s your income?”

            “I am a professional swimmer,” Nanase replied passively. “I’d rather not state my income.”

            My mother grimaced before turning her head at me, “Kasumi.”

            I turned my attention from out the window to look directly at her and respond as politely as I could manage in the most unflustered manner I could possibly muster, “Yes, Mother?”

            “I thought you’d go marry a doctor,” she scolded me. “Swimmers don’t make that much money. They may be famous one day, but they’ll die the next. After you dump him, date someone like Nirijima Fuuto or someone—someone rich and desirable, so that you don’t have to worry about money. You’re a pretty-face, somewhat, you should be able to pull a stunt like that off.”

            From the corner of my eye, I saw Nanase’s face turn rigid. It looked as if his patience and tolerance for my mother was running out.

            I simply sighed before returning my gaze outside the window.

            “Kasumi,” my mother snapped suddenly. “Are you listening to me?”

            “I am listening,” I replied simply—my gaze still directed outside.

            “Kasumi!” my mother shouted—everyone one’s attention now at her. “Did you hear what I just said?!”

            “Yes, I did,” I replied quietly.

            “I. Didn’t. Hear. You,” my mother’s eyes bore through my skull.

            “Yes, Mother, I heard you,” I replied with more backbone.

            “Good,” she snuggled into her seat. “Then I expect never to see this boy here again. Is that clear?”

            At that, I did not say anything. I turned to glance at my father, sitting beside me. He gave me a shrug, as if agreeing with my Mother before whispering to me, “Perhaps your mother is right. Dating a swimmer is not what we had in mind for you.”

            I pursed my lips. This event was totally out of hand at this point in time. From the interior rear view mirror, I glanced at Nanase—whose face, composed as always, showed some sign of anger boiling underneath his skin.

            “I am a grown woman, Mother,” I replied. “I respect your decisions, but I also need to make my own.”

            “What did you say?” my mother’s blood boiled. “Did I hear correctly? Could you repeat what you just said?”

            I could hear the venom from her words seep out an endless plash. This is was going nowhere.

            “I respect your suggestion, Mother,” I repeated what I said earlier with a few alterations. “But I am a grown woman, and also need to make my own decisions.”

            She fumed. The way she bit the insides of her lip . . . You could immediately tell she was irate and about to burst.

            “Really?” she snapped. “I am going to have a talk with your brother. He turned you into this monster, I am sure. Never disrespect your parents, dear. It is against the laws of humanity.”

            The say she said the word ‘dear’ was like an thorn was pierced at my side, dripping with the same venom she applied to her words earlier. And, let’s just say that it hurt a lot more than it should have.

            I didn’t say anything in return. It was too much a hassle to handle.

            As if on cue, Nanase reared the car up to Masaru-nii’s house, where, upon Nanase’s parking the car, the front door opened, revealing Masaru-nii, who was running up to greet us.

            Boy, was he going to meet his demise.

            “Mom! Dad! How are you?” he shouted with his usual edge of glee as he ran up to hug his parents—who completely did not expect an embrace.

            “Good to see you too,” my mother replied flatly. “But, get off me. And we need to talk.”

            “About what?” Masaru-nii raised an eyebrow, still smiling.

            “How the hell did you let Kasumi date a guy like him?” she shouted with wrath. “He’s a swimmer. He doesn’t make that much money. Your case is more tolerable, though your fiancé is probably some gold-digger or whatever.”

            Masaru-nii looked at my mother with a slightly noticeable, aghast face. He looked at me warily before replying to Mother, “We are going to finish this conversation inside. We shouldn’t disturb the neighbors from any more sleep.”

            At that, Masaru-nii showed their room (his room, as Masaru-nii would be sleeping on the couch for the night). As they were settling in, Masaru-nii, Nanase, and I went into my room to discuss the topic of Mother and Father.

            “She’s a bitch!” Masaru-nii shouted as silently as he could. “Excuse my language, but she really is.”

            “I know, right?” I deadpanned. “First thing she asked Nanase was literally how much his income was. Why did Father even marry her?”

            “How would I know?” Masaru-nii snapped. “I thought they’d be nicer . . . Ten years of not seeing us, this is how they want to have the impression as? Well, Mom’s pretty much still the same, but Dad looks greedier. Ugh. Life isn’t all about the money. I am internally so glad I went to ethics class. Thank you so much for everything. Even the bullies who teased me. Wait. No. Why did I just say that. Oh, wait, yeah, they taught me not to be like them. Thank heavens.”

            I laughed lightly at my brother’s reaction, but quickly became more serious, “No offense to Mother and Father, but I’d rather they not be at your wedding tomorrow.”

            “Yeah, if they’re going to call Asami a gold-digger, I’d rather they not,” my brother fumed.

            “Sorry about them, Nanase,” I bit my lip as I sat down on the bed next to my boyfriend. “My mother was pretty harsh to you in the car earlier.”

            He nodded his head, as if understanding this was a family dispute. I kissed his cheek before returning my attention to my brother.

            “So now what?” I raised an eyebrow as my brother was pacing back and forth.

            “After the wedding,” Masaru-nii stated. “I’m cutting off all ties from them. Yeah, sure, if they need me, I’ll always be there. But . . . otherwise, I’m just going to care for my family and you, Kasumi. They left us no normal childhood, and, truth be told, it taught me a lot about life.”

            “And being a pervert,” I added, muttering that phrase under my breath.

            “Hey!” he ‘cried.’

            We both chuckled.

            Right then, my mother opened the door, her head leaning into the room.

            “So, you’ll be mother’s son, and cancel the wedding tomorrow, right?” my mother attempted to ‘soothe.’

            “If you don’t want to be at my wedding tomorrow, you don’t have to be there, Mom,” my brother replied calmly. “I’m not going to force you or anything.”

            She fumed, “Masaru. I know what’s best for you, and you know that very well.”

            This time, my brother was breaking his façade of calmness and walked up to my mother, “Mother. It’s either you get on board, or get out. If you’re just going to be a bitch about it, then leave. If you don’t want to see my face again, then I don’t want to see yours either.”

            My mother’s blood boiled even more than before, and I wondered how much anger she could withhold within her.

            “Are you defying me?” my mother screeched. “After all these years of raising you up, this is how you repay me?”

            “Yes,” my brother snapped in return. The tension in the air was not easing up at all.

            “You didn’t even raise us up!” my brother continued his rant. “You left us alone. You didn’t even call on us or reply to any emails whatsoever. If anyone, you are the gold-digger here. I don’t even think that you deserve to be called my ‘mother’ anymore.”

            My mother stood her ground—her lips quivering with wrath, “Then you don’t deserve to be called my ‘son’ anymore either. Kasumi. Choose which side you want to be on. Be your mother’s good child here, and help me out.”

            I grimaced, not wanting to break my mother’s high pride, but I knew what the right choice was, “Masaru-nii is right. You weren’t a mother at all.”

            Mother was livid before she stomped out of the room and screamed, “We’re leaving. Now.”

            In less than five minutes, Mother was holding her luggage and out the door, with Father scurrying behind her whim.

            “Wait for me, dear!” he shouted as he slammed the door behind him, running after his wife.

            “We wasted so much effort to go pick them up,” Nanase dually noted as he placed his arm around my shoulder.

            “I picked up the right parents, right?” I asked Masaru-nii with a mutter.

            “As in the person, yes. As in their personality, no,” he chuckled. “I’m getting married tomorrow, and I don’t want to let one situation define my attitude for my lucky day tomorrow. You two should be getting some sleep as well. I just got a text from Asami, saying she’ll be staying at her house tonight along with the rest of her family. We don’t have any of ours to go to the wedding tomorrow, except you two so . . . rest up, okay? Wear your lucky underwear tomorrow, sis.”

            My brother winked at me before opening the door to his room.

            “Good night, pervert,” I chuckled before he returned me a laugh, and then closing the door to his room. “Shall we forget about that event and pretend we were asleep all along?”

            “You just awoke me from my nightmare,” Nanase replied simply as he went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and complete his hygiene.

            “Yeah,” I sighed. “It was a dream gone wrong.”

            At that, we completed our hygiene and went to bed, forgetting the harsh event that happened today, before going to sleep, succumbing to the darkness as we awaited for the special day thereafter to come.

~*~*~*~

Wasn't really sure how to portray a somewhat I'm-Cruelly-Absolute type of mother.

I was going to make her like Akashi Seijuro, but I wanted her to be a liittttttlleeeee harsher . . .

This was the result xD an over 5000-words result . . .

It's not the best chapter, I know, but . . . I think it'll suffice for now. ;)

Next chapter: Masaru-nii's wedding: after 35 votes on this chapter and five more votes on the previous chapter.

Arigato,

~FujiwaraYuko~

P.S. I was planning on making a Makoto Tachibana fanfiction or a Matsuoka Rin one after this one is complete and edited of all grammar mistakes and fixed of all Nanase OOC-ness ( I know that in the middle of the book, he was sooooo OOC, so I'll fix it after I finish the book. ;) In any case, want to tell me which character you'd like me to write about next? Makoto or Rin?