Chapter four, 2018, white Valentine: 7

After the disaster at the café any serious talking had to wait until evening. Well, evening came, with a conversation and all, and in the end Ryu managed to convince both girls to attend a birthday celebration. One out of two since both Yukio and Kyoko were adamant they'd have the other for themselves.

Ryu found no flaws in their reasoning. He'd be damned if he had to give up on celebrating Kuri, and Noriko's pairing up with Urufu at least carried the advantage of brother and sister no longer needing to express how much twins they were during their shared celebration.

He also found it rather cute and amusing how Yukio and Kyoko handled their birthdays. With their respective days of celebration just one week apart they apparently saw it as one event in two parts. That was, Ryu mused, probably the only sane thing to do. For Yukio and Kyoko this was a month long insanity with Valentines, two birthdays, white day and end of school more or less evenly spread out. A week to catch your breath, if even that.

Now that first birthday was here, the one that Yukio and Kyoko decided was a combined celebration together with friends. For an occasion like this Ryu didn't have to go far, and neither did his sister. The entire gang, strengthened by Hitomi, Tomasu and Jeniferu all sat in the Wakayama living room. Another six people were on their way here.

"You have everything you need?"

Ryu looked up. The question was superfluous at best, but during the last hellish year there had been few occasions for him to bring friends back home, and Ryu guessed his parents were worried. In the end he just nodded.

"Then I'll have dinner with Tadao. Please don't be too late."

It wasn't like they planned to run around late at night, but since that dinner meant an overnight stay at an onsen Ryu accepted that his mother didn't want over a dozen teenagers to run rampant in the house all night long.

"Some of them are staying over," he said. She already knew, but he wanted her to reaffirm that she did.

"We only have six extra futons, remember?"

That had to do as confirmation. "I know mom. Have a good time."

She just smiled. "We always do." There was something naughty in her voice, something he'd rather hear from a classmate than from his mother. "It's been a while since we had an outing just the two of us."

He definitely preferred something like that from a classmate. "Take care."

"I will," she said. She was halfway through the door when she turned and looked at him. "I won't do anything you haven't already done," she added with a wide grin on her face. For a moment his mother's face lit up like a mischievous devil, twenty years old rather than forty. Then she was outside, and Ryu wondered what kind of life she once led as a teenager.

"What was that about?" Noriko asked from her seat in the sofa.

Ryu frowned. "Dunno."

By Noriko's side Kuri and Urufu looked at each other and laughed.

"Bad girl!" Kuri said.

"Very bad," Urufu agreed. "There's a bad boy waiting for her," he said.

"Look, that's my mother you're talking about," Ryu protested.

Both Kuri and Urufu shook their heads.

"No," Kuri said. "That's a girl ten years younger than me. Damn she's cool!"

"Grew into it?" Urufu said.

This time only Kuri shook her head. "Don't think so. She probably dared everything I didn't myself when I was fifteen. She's a natural you know."

"Mum's awesome," Noriko broke in.

"Yeah, she is," Kuri said. "She must have made a lot of enemies as a kid."

"A lot of friends as well," Urufu countered. "I don't think being on her bad side would be good for your health."

Noriko bent forward and poured some tea for herself. "Mum's awesome," she repeated with a happy smile on her face.

Ryu looked at his sister. They were twins. While outsiders always compared him with their parents, in truth Noriko inherited the invisible parts. Brains to begin with, but also the inner strength their mother really had and their father pretended he had.

The doorbell rang and Ryu hastened to it. Outside Ai waited with her best friend. Behind them four former Himekaizen students, all members of the club, lined up by the gate. They carried paper bags in their hands, and Ryu suspected Yukio and Kyoko would return home laden with presents.

Then Ryu noticed a surprise guest. 'Oh, been a while!' A classmate from middle school, and one of Noriko's few close friends from that time. What connection, if any, she had to Kyoko Ryu didn't know, and Yukio, well Ryu didn't even remember him from middle school despite sharing the same grade for three years.

'Guess food will be enough for one more. Wonder what she's doing here though.' He invited all seven and waited for Noriko's surprised outburst when she saw who had come to visit.

It didn't happen. When the unannounced guest entered the living room Noriko just nodded, excused herself and followed the girl up the stairs to her room.

With a tinge of irritation Ryu shrugged it off. A boyfriend and girlfriend each meant brother and sister were no longer as close as he'd grown used to. Maybe it was as simple as a matter of age. He didn't know.

"We're having hotpot," he announced after giving his sister another thought. "A lot of hotpot. Who's helping me prepare it?"

Kuri smiled and raised her hand into the air like an elementary school kid.

"That's one. One more," Ryu said. Spending time alone with Kuri in the kitchen wasn't time wasted, but she was an awful cook.

"Two more," Jirou said.

Ryu looked for Sango by his side and she nodded. The couple followed him to the kitchen and with three and a half chefs they made short time of the ingredients. Preparations went even faster when Ai and friend unasked set the tables.