Waiting for Kashimura

Arata returned to the table. His irritation now replaced with a downheartened expression. He wasn't sure how to break the news to his mom. Meanwhile, she was too busy with her conversation with Hine to notice him. Erina did though.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She leaned over to him. They made sure to keep their voice down.

"I've… Got some bad news." He told her. Turns out that his other family members got into a little car accident.

"That sounds terrible, we have to tell her right now." She grabbed his mom's attention without asking for his permission. He would've like to have some time to word this correctly.

"Oh, did you reach your sister?" She turned to them. "What's taking them so long?"

"Well, you see mom." He was nervous, not sure how he should break the news. "The two of them, well they got into a little car accident."

"What?!" She yelled, everyone else in the room jumped at the sudden noise. "What do you mean a little accident?" She was absolutely floored by this. His mom leaped over the table, grabbing him by the collar and shaking him. "Are they okay, please tell me that my husband and daughter aren't dead!"

"Mo-mom. Please… Please stop…" He tried to talk as she shook him. This was what he was worried about, that she'd overreact to this news. "Mom, they're fine, it's just the car that's damaged." He told her, once she had calmed down a little.

"Oh thank goodness." She breathed a sigh of relief.

"So will they be able to make it?" Asked Yogi.

"She told me they'll try." Arata explained. "But for now, they just wanted us to enjoy our dinner for now."

"That's terrible news to hear." Said the store owner. "Is there anything special you want me to bring out while you wait?"

"Oh no, we'll hold out for the main meal. Just something small will be okay." She said, believing that he'll make it relatively soon. Arata on the other hand, was wondering how his dad was feeling. He must be pretty devastated that he might not be able to meet this dinner.

"Well, so how are you all doing?" He asked Erina and the others. "I'm sure he'll be here sooner or later. Might as well not dwell on it." This was more for him than anything.

"We're fine." Yuriko answered. By now, their meals had arrived. At least they weren't going to be hungry. Behind him, he didn't notice Hanaka whispering something to Matsu. He did notice her as she got his attention.

"Hey." She got him to turn around. "Matsu has something to tell you." He looked over to her.

"What is… Hey wait a second!"

"Come on, you should smile." She grabbed his cheeks, pulling up his mouth into a smile.

"What, what are you doing?" He was surprised at this sudden action. It was also very hard to talk with her grabbing onto his face. Moving it around as she pleased.

"I know you must be feeling pretty down, so I'm cheering you up."

"This is… Not how you cheer someone up!" He slapped her hands off of him. "Where did you learn something like that?" Arata had seen something like this from an anime. A horror one, of all things.

"Aww, but it always cheers everyone else up." He figured that she meant with the other girls at the gardening club. Kind of thought it was weird they just let her do that, or that they liked it.

"Well that won't work with me, if you wanted to cheer me up. Then tell a joke or something."

"Oh okay, how about this. Why did the chicken-"

"Not now, I'm not sad. I'm sure my dad will be here soon." He stopped her from telling what he thought was going to be a pretty lame joke. "Look, if you just wanted to talk. I'm cool with that."

"Yay!" She cheered, giving him a hug.

"Wait, hang on… Be careful!" She wasn't paying attention, her chair gave way, causing her to fall. He had to act fast, quickly moving. He moved his arm underneath her. Saving her.

"Oh, thank yo…" Her words faded out. Their eyes met as she turned her head back up, still in his embrace. Arata had never seen her up so close before. This was unlike being at the dance, when he was trying to avoid her then.

Her emerald eyes… Was she always this cute? She had gotten meek again. Never expecting she'd ever get this close again. Matsu could almost steal a kiss from him at this very moment.

"You know, if you keep staring like that…" Hanaka whispered to her, teasing her. "You'll have to get married." This caused Matsu to launch backwards in a panic. She regained her balance almost perfectly doing so.

"Geez, I didn't realize you two were so close." Yuriko said, with a hint of disgust in her voice.

"You got it all wrong, that was an accident." He denied her accusation.

"What happened?" Erina asked. She was too busying staring at Yogi to notice. The only answer that she got was Hanaka's and Karino's giggling

"It's not important." He responded to her. Her face was still in his mind, His heart beating fast just from thinking about it.

"You know, we've known you longer." Yuriko continued her complaints. "Now you're just ignoring us? Not that it matters to me." She crossed her arms, to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal.

"I guess you're right." He agreed. "Well if you want to talk, how's your sister?" He decided that was a good conversation starter, only because it was the only thing he could think of.

"Yurisa's fine." She replied. "She was a little sad that she couldn't see you last week." Yuriko remembered that when she got back from their vacation, her little sister told her how jealous she was about it.

"That sounds like her all right." He said. When he had first met her, it felt like that girl clung onto her sister too much. Nowadays, that girl clung onto him a bit more. "At least I'll see you two this weekend." He finished.

"Yeah, just like always." And that was all they could think of to say to each other. She didn't want it to end already, there had to be something else. "Say… What about your sister then?"

"Ayami? Did you already meet her?"

"All we did was have tea, and talk about our vacation with her… But we didn't exactly talk about her." She was curious about that girl. She seemed so different compared to him.

"Well, as you know, she's in college right now. She's studying to be a teacher." She was always such a help with the kids when he started babysitting. In fact, that was why she was inspired to pursue her path in the first place. Though it did make him wonder what she'd be doing if he never accepted that job in the first place.

"Wow, she must really love kids then." Yuriko was not surprised at her future goals. When they were sharing tea with each other. She could feel the warmth and care that woman had.

"Oh yeah, and I'm sure she'd love Yurisa. In fact, I hope they get the chance to meet." He realized that the next time he was babysitting, was also the same day she was going to have to travel back to school. Perhaps she could afford to stay just a little longer for his sake.

"Yeah, I'm sure they'll get along." Before they could continue, the owner came in. With all these unexpected customers, he was having a hard time keeping up the work.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know if I'll be able to finish off all my orders to get back to you." He said to Arata's mom.

"Oh, then have my son help. You've always done so much for us, it's the least we can do." Not that he appreciated being volunteered, but it did present an opportunity.

"I can help, but…" He stood up from his chair, grabbing an arm from both Yogi and Erina, who were sitting next to each other. "You two better help me out."

"Sure." Yogi didn't even try to resist. "After all, with what you did during our vacation, you deserve it." He was glad that this wasn't so hard. They walked towards the kitchen. However, as Arata passed by Akiba's seat, he tripped over. Falling face-first on the ground.

"A-are you all right?" She asked him, looking down at him.

"Sorry." He gave a nervous laugh. "I guess I just tripped over your chair there." He got up and followed the other two to the kitchen.

"It's nice that you could all help me out here." The owner instructed them on what to do. "So I need someone to run out the food to the tables. The other two-"

"I'll run out the orders." Arata immediately asked for that job. This was convenient if he wanted those two alone with each other.

"Perfect, then you two can help create the orders with me. Don't worry, all of my recipes are simple..."

It was time to get to work. Arata weaved in and out of the kitchen as quickly as he could. It would be pointless to let them be alone, if he too much time in the kitchen and taking their attention away from each other.

The first plates were to other customers at this place. People that he didn't know. After that, it was the meals for the elderly group that he had to deliver. As he was finishing off the last of their plates, Hine said something to him that he wasn't expecting.

"You should probably think about what you're doing here." She told him.

"Huh?" He wanted clarification, but he received none.

"Oh sorry, I guess with my old age, I just can't remember the things I say." She played dumb. That lady really liked making him try to figure out what she was saying half the time. "Please, I don't want to hold you up."

He returned to the kitchen. Trying to think about what she meant by what she just said. Now it was the last of the food that needed to be sent out. This was for the order that his family had.

It wasn't easy. Multiple trips were needed just to get everything exactly the way it had to be. However, with his quick pace, the work was already almost done. He put down the last plate, the one for his mom.

"That's the last one." He sighed. Looking over to his table, it felt kind of sad to look at it. All this food, with no one to eat it.

"Thanks, Arata." His mom said.

"It's no… Huh? Mom are you crying?" He noticed the tears on her face. If there was anyone that would be sadden by this, it was definitely her.

"So, you noticed." She sniffled. "It's just so sad to see all this here, when he's not." She said.

"Look, maybe we should go and find them." Arata didn't like seeing this. He was hoping to make a solution."We can just do this another day. Me and Ayami are still on break, maybe he can try and convince his boss for another day off."

"Oh son, I know what you're trying to do." She was glad that this was her son. Only he would try to hide his true feelings about this situation. "I'm happy that you care, but this day is important, not just to me. It's important for your father too."

"Of course it is. I mean, it's an anniversary."

"Not just that." She stopped him. "I was hoping we could tell you about it during dinner. But since we don't know if they'll make it, then I should tell you why now."

For all of his life. Arata had never known anything about how his parents got married. Or even fallen in love. He, and everyone else, was about to understand the importance of this date for his parents, and his family.