Hideki's Fourth Birthday

After that family quarrel with Kanai and her parents, everything got back to normal. 

Or so it seems.

Kanai still had to work for Hideki's needs and wants so she is still bothered by having an argument with her family but she still has to work and familial matters should be left in the house so Kanai still has to wear her professionalism mask at work. The good thing is that Hideki knows not to talk about it again unless he wants to get hurt again emotionally.

If you're wondering if Hideki is staying Home Alone. Yes, he is. Kanai and Mayumi tried to leave him alone in the apartment and nothing really bad happened, Hideki even tried to clean the house after he was done playing with his toys. But Kanai always goes back to the apartment to eat lunch with Hideki, if the cafe is packed with customers, Kanai always fetches Hidekiso they can eat at the cafe. 

Now while his mom is out at work, Hideki began to think about his life goal as early as three years old.

"Damn, if I can't be a basketball player I don't know what to do in life anymore. I can go back to being a journalist and scout but it defeats the purpose of having a functioning body good for basketball."

It was at this moment that Hideki became more withdrawn. 

As days pass Hideki becomes more aloof and there are times when Kanai calls him two to three times as he is dazed, staring into nothing and thinking about life. Yes as young as he is, he is literally thinking about his second life.

Regarding Ryoma and Taeko, Ryoma and Taeko still shop for Kanai's groceries but Kanai and Hideki still refuse to talk to Ryoma, so much so, that Ryoma is banned at the apartment if he still doesn't ask forgiveness from Hideki and lifting the ban on things Matt related. 

It was not mentioned, but Kanai is open to talking to Hideki who his father is. It's not that hard since Matt's a famous basketball player but Kanai thinks that Hideki is having a hard time believing that his father is a famous NBA player.

Life goes on and time flies, it flew quickly again as we get to Hideki's fourth birthday. Kanai, Mayumi, and Mayumi's fiance were preparing for Hideki's birthday, and even Hideki was helping by inviting some of his friends, neighborhood friends of his age. 

At lunch, all invited guests then came to the apartment, there were only a few guests as there were only family and close friends who came, it was because Hideki's birthday was on a weekday so only those who were not working or on leave came. Kanai's workmates even got to the celebration as the cafe was closed for half a day. So Kanai didn't have to be excused. And fun fact, Hideki is the cafe's cute mascot as Kanai now frequently brings Hideki to the cafe.

Everybody then gave their presents to Hideki, the cafe owner gave Hideki a specialized mug with his photo and the cafe's logo, and Kanai's coworkers gave Hideki school supplies as he'll start schooling in the next school year. Mayumi and her fiance gave Hideki sports arm sleeves, Kanai looked at Mayumi who just shrugged so Kanai sighed and thanked Mayumi.

Kagetora (who was invited by Kanai) his wife and Riko came so Kagetora gifted Hideki a lifetime gym membership card, Kagetora couldn't think of any gift so he thought of giving that, he didn't know he'd regret this decision in the future.

Of course, Hideki was very happy with the presents, but he was really ecstatic with the sports gifts from Mayumi and Kagetora so Hideki hugged them and said thanks at least 5 times, which really meant that he was very happy with his gifts. 

At around 5 in the afternoon, the sun was now setting and the guests were leaving. As everybody left, Kanai, Mayumi, and Mayumi's fiance began to clean up the place, and they were done at around 7 at night. Kanai cooked dinner for the four of them.

As the family was cooking, there was a knock on the door so Kanai opened it to see Taeko with a bag, a present for Hideki, Kanai then asked Taeko "Is he here?" Taeko sighed and nodded and said "Yes, your father's here Kanai-chan. And he wants to make amends. Especially to Hideki-kun." Kanai sighed and let her mother in, Ryoma followed soon after with a surprise.

Hideki hugged his grandmother and Taeko gave her gift to Hideki but before Hideki opened the gift, Taeko held his hand and said "Let's open it later, we still have one more surprise for you." As soon as she said that, Ryoma entered the apartment dribbling a basketball.

When Hideki heard that sound, he was again ecstatic, he dropped Taeko's present and rushed to Ryoma to tackle and hug him, Hideki knew that Ryoma wanted to make things right. Ryoma knelt down and said to Hideki "Hideki-kun here's my birthday gift to you." He gave the ball to Hideki and said "Hideki-kun, I'm very sorry for my mistake, please forgi-." Hideki cut what Ryoma wanted to say and clung to him Hideki told his grandfather "I forgive you Grandpa! This is the best gift ever!"

Kanai was very happy that her father and her son had reconciled so she invited her parents to eat and he said to Hideki, "Hideki-kun let's open the presents after dinner okay?" Hideki nodded vigorously and sat again at the dinner table. Ryoma thanked Kanai and said "It's a good thing we're eating dinner, I brought some presents from the Philippines, their famous mango and banana" Ryoma then presented the fruits at the dinner table and the family ate their dinner.

After dinner Hideki was so excited to open the gifts, he even helped Mayumi wipe the dishes dry and then after cleaning the family let Hideki open his presents from his grandparents.

Taeko's gift was an NBA basketball jersey for Hideki's size and they have 4 of them, Hideki was so happy he thanked his grandma 5 times at least. Then for Ryoma's gift aside from the basketball, Ryoma gave Hideki another present in a box wrapped in gift wrap, Hideki vigorously unwrapped the gift and saw a Nike basketball shoes for kids. Hideki had stars in his eyes and hugged Ryoma tightly and thanked him too at least 5 times.

Hideki tried the jerseys and the shoes it was a perfect fit then he added the sleeves from Mayumi and her fiance he looked like the player Allen Iverson. Then with the ball, he dribbled the ball, it was so cute seeing him fumble the ball and then see him succeed after 5 minutes of non-stop dribbling. 

Ryoma saw this with scrutiny and he saw talent in Hideki with basketball, he was ashamed of his earlier actions of denying his grandson his request as he could see for himself, that Hideki was looking more like a basketball prodigy. 

As Hideki stopped dribbling Ryoma patted Hideki's shoulder and said, "Hideki-kun, do you want to be a basketball player?" Hideki vigorously nodded and said, "I want to!" Ryoma saw that his grandson really wanted this and said "Okay, since you want it, do you want to play with me?" Hideki had an ecstatic smile on his face and tackled his grandpa and said "Yes! I want to play with Grandpa!"

The day has come to an end with Hideki sleeping and starting his basketball dreams tomorrow, what heights can he reach? We don't know, but he'll start from the bottom.