Chapter 11 – Toshi’s House

Third person POV

 Shortly after that, Masashi announced to them that he'll call the police to arrest those people by tomorrow. Toshi, Akira, and Hachi agreed with him, with Toshi saying that he'll contact those two individuals to come to the agency to pick up Hachi. Because of this, Akira was skeptical about that plan though. Eventually, Hachi was let go off the hook by the agency under the pretense that he was the victim.

 Later, Akira, Hachi, and Toshi went back to the lobby, where Riho was reading magazines to pass the time. Upon seeing her friends, Riho closed the magazine. "Oh, are you guys done?" 

 "Yes, and we just need to catch those bad guys," Hachi responded back. 

 "Wait, so we need to stay here in Tokyo?" 

 "Well, exactly, yes," replied Akira back. 

 "Okay, so where will we stay for a night or two?" 

Then, Toshi stepped in. "You kids can stay at my place for the night." 

Hearing that, the kids looked at him with a surprised look on their faces. 

 "What?" 

 "Your place?" 

 "As in, you have a home here?" 

 "Yes, I have a house a few blocks away from here," Toshi replied back. 

 "Oh, is that so?" 

 "Yes, you can stay there. Besides, I lived all by myself." 

Eventually, Akira and his friends agreed, and they and Toshi left the agency and once again, rode in Toshi's car and went to Toshi's house. 

 Not long after, they arrived at Toshi's house, which seemed to be a modest, modern, Japanese house. But, there's something hidden beneath the floor. The house was located 5 minutes from Ningyocho station and was near a convenience store. Upon getting off the car, they saw how modest the house was. 

 "Yes, my parents bought that one for me," Toshi explained to them. 

Akira then looked at him. "Wait, what? Your parents?" 

Toshi then glanced at him back. "My parents are rich businesspeople in the UK." 

 "Oh, that's why."

 After that, they all went in, and Toshi unlocked the front door using his key, revealing a modest interior of the first floor of the house. He then turned on the lights since it was about to be night time. They then all take off their footwear and entered the living room. Akira and his friends then settled on the sofa out of exhaustion while Toshi puts his briefcase on the dining table and went to the kitchen to prepare some glasses of water for the kids. They are still in their school uniforms and didn't have any extra clothes to change on. Then, Toshi came back with a tray of glasses of water. "Are you kids thirsty? I bet it's a long trip from Okutama, isn't?" 

Upon seeing that, the three kids sat down on the sofa and accepted the drinks since they are thirsty and had ran out of water in their water bottles over an hour ago.

After that, Toshi sat down on his armchair and watches them drinking. 

 "So, how was it?" he asked. 

Finishing drinking his water, Akira said to him, "Thank you so much, sir." 

 "Thanks for releasing me, sir," Hachi added. 

Riho became the last to finish drinking her glass of water.

 "So, uh, your name is Toshi, right?" Akira asked Toshi. 

 "Yes, my name is Kawasaki Toshi," Toshi responded as he pulls out a business card and gave it to Akira.

Akira receives it and took a short glance at it. "Woah, senior detective?" 

 "It's my current position in the agency," Toshi replied back. "We had a bit of a hierarchy, but not too rigid at all." 

Looking at the detective, Akira responded, "I see." 

He then shoved that card in between pages of his notebook just in case. 

 "Well, good sir, my name is Riho Yoshihara," Riho said to Toshi while acting cool as a delinquent. "I am Akira's childhood friend. I am a half-American. He's a half-Filipino." 

 "Mhm, impressive," Toshi commented. 

 "Um, are you a half-British by any chance?" Akira asked. 

 "Yes, on my mother's side." 

 "That's why."

 Later after that, Toshi leads the kids to their room upstairs so they could have a place to sleep for the night. The house has 3 bedrooms in total, but Toshi only used one of them since he lived so lonely. Although he has a chance to get married, he remained a virgin since turning into an adult. The reason why is that he wasn't interested in relationships at all. Then, at one of the two rooms, Toshi opened the door and turned on the lights, revealing a bed, a wardrobe, and an air conditioner. 

 "Wow, that was quite modest," Akira commented. 

 "You will be sleeping here for the night," Toshi stated. "I'll get an extra mattress for the two of you." 

But just hearing that makes Riho to think about her and her childhood friend sleeping together on the mattress. 

Upon seeing that, Akira asked her, "Are you okay, Riho-chan?" 

Riho then snapped out. "Y-Yes! I am fine!" 

She then looked at Toshi. "Can I have a separate room for myself? I kinda have a thought of me and Akira sleeping together on one mattress." 

Toshi was surprised to hear that. "What? Are you and Akira-kun in love or something?" 

This causes the two biracials to blush in embarrassment. 

Hachi sees this and was snickering a bit, thinking that his adoptive brother and his friend are in love. "Are you guys in a relationship or something?" 

The two biracials then glared at him for saying that, causing Hachi to apologize to them. 

Toshi now saw how serious they are about it and aborted that question. 

 "Okay, okay, you may use the other room if you want," he said to Riho directly. 

He then gave the key to the other room to Riho, and she went off to open it.

 Later, at dinner time, Toshi was cooking Japanese curry and rice for dinner. But Akira decided to help out by cooking the rice as Hachi and Riho waited at the dining table. Toshi was once again surprised on how helpful Akira was. 

 "I want to help out," Akira said to him. "My father taught me to be a helpful person at another person's house and not just a mere guest." 

When the rice was done cooking, Akira opened the rice cooker and began scooping some hot, steaming rice into a ceramic bowl. 

Toshi, meanwhile, was still stirring the pot full of Japanese curry. 

Akira then served the rice to his friends. 

After that, he went to the living room to grab the remote control to turn on the TV for the latest evening news. 

The sound from the flat screen TV was emanating across the floor. 

The three kids then watching TV to pass the time, catching up on the latest news. 

 After some time, Toshi came to the dining room with a big bowl of hot, Japanese curry and served it alongside the rice. Upon smelling that delicious aroma, Akira, Hachi, and Riho turned back to the table, and Toshi sat down. 

 "Okay, shall we eat?" he said to them. 

Eventually, they all did a prayer gesture. "Thanks for the food!" 

After that, they grabbed their utensils and began getting some food for themselves. 

When the three kids tasted the curry with rice, they were mesmerized by its spice-filled flavor. 

 "Woah, it's so delicious!" 

 "Yummy, man!" 

 "Thank you so much, Toshi-san." 

Smiling at them, Toshi responded, "You're welcome. It's one of my favorite dishes. Eat as much as you want."