Forever 3

So the boy came up with a game plan to try to work things out between Erina and her dad. If he truly was a changed man, and given their conversation it seemed to be the case, then it wouldn't be too hard to show her.

"Okay, I'm back now." She announced her return in a not so upbeat fashion. The girl had a couple of bags filled with groceries for dinner. "Wow, you guys did a nice job cleaning up the place. I guess I should be the one to cook us dinner."

"Thanks." The two both replied in unison, trying to actual casual. Then, Arata nudged her dad to get him to speak up and put their plan into motion.

"Oh, here let me help you with dinner." They were hoping that a little bit of father-daughter time would get the ice broken.

"I don't need your help." However, she was still cold towards him as the girl made a beeline towards the kitchen with the bags. Yogi encouraged the man, who was feeling nervous with trying to reconnect with this daughter for the first time in ages. Whatever she did, they couldn't allow him to give up and relent to allowing her space.

"Please, we have guests so you can't cook for everyone by yourself."

"It's not hard to cook." She replied. Erina laid about all the ingredients she bought from the store. Udon noodles was the plan for their dinner night. "Besides, I've been cooking for myself for almost two years now." That last sentence stung from the truth of it, but her dad wasn't going to let her walls prevent him from getting closer.

"But it's still not fair to make you do all the work." He stepped closer inside. It seemed she turned a bit in response as if to not face him. "You're still a little girl-"

"I'm not your little girl anymore!" She slammed her hands onto the kitchen counters with a level of strength that sent chills down both Arata's and Yogi's spine. It was quite clear she was very angry with the man. "What kind of father forgets about his daughter?"

"Should we stick around for this?" Arata whispered over to Yogi. "This seems like it should be a private conversation for them."

"Nah, I'm sure things will turn out just fine." Somehow, despite what was right in front of them, that boy had unwavering faith in the situation. Was it just his naive nature not allowing him to confront negative outcomes. Or perhaps, there was more to his insight than meets the eye. "I mean, at least she still refers to him as her father." It was probably the former.

"The separation was really hard on me." Erina's dad defended himself. "But, you don't need to hear excuses coming out of me." After all, a child would be devastated at losing one of their parents. More so considering the circumstances she had to go through.

"You don't get any excuses." She spoke more weakly now. Her tears dripping onto the counters. "Not after you lost your job and started drinking."

"I know, to put you through that after losing… Her was wrong of me." It was deliberate of the man to not refer to her mom as such. "But, I've gotten better. I have a new job now, and until recently I stopped drinking."

"That's not enough." She responded. Indeed, he did relapse back into his old ways after getting injuries. It was clear that his path to recovery was not over yet.

"I'm still working on it." He said, getting closer to her. She no longer was standoffish to him, as there was no resistance to his movement. "I need to still work hard to be the father you deserve, but I'm never going to give up on you."

"I don't want to give up on you either." In a surprise for both boys. She was the one who rushed towards him and hugged the man. "I want my dad back. I want to be happy as a family again."

"Oh…" There was silence among all of them as the pair embraced each other. It seemed that things had become better for those two after getting their emotions out to the other.

"Looks like things went just as I expected." Yogi sighed in relief.

"I don't think you had any reason to believe it'd turn out like this." While Arata did have his quips. He was glad that she seemed to be happier in the presence of her dad now.

After this, the group were able to begin on making dinner. The air inside felt different now that Erina and her dad weren't so estranged with one another. It was a lot lighter, as if the elephant in the room got up and left. When all the food was ready, they sat down at the dinner table to enjoy something to eat. It had been a long time since the last time anyone had a meal.

"You know, it's been too long since we've caught up." Erina's dad was enjoying the talk he was getting with her and her friends. "It looks like you've done plenty of growing up without me." The idea was rather bittersweet. All this time trying to be a proper father for her and it seemed she didn't need him after all.

"Don't beat yourself over it." She comforted him. "I wish I could come back so we could become a family again." While it was entirely possible for her to move back in with him. The man himself recommended she stay over there with the others she had grown to call friends. It would be a shame to leave all of that behind just for his sake.

"I think you are a family again." Said Yogi. "Because, it's not about living together, but that the love you share knows no distance." This would've sounded sweeter were it not for the fact the boy said this while his face was stuffed with the food she made.

"It really changes the meaning when you know who says it." Arata joked, making a reference that none of them got.

As it would turn out, this trip of theirs ended up being a lot shorter than they were expecting. The trio thought the man would need a lot more help than he actually did, so they were able to leave earlier than planned. The boy were going to get on a train back home before Erina left, as she wanted a little bit more time spent with her father.

"I really can't thank you two enough for all your help." He said as they got ready to head out the door. "I never imagined that two near strangers would help be get on the road to fixing my family."

"Ahh, most of it was thanks to you." Yogi downplayed their efforts. After all, that man did begin the personal journey of healing his own mind and body before they had even met. "And we just wanted to help Erina be happy."

"Yeah, we did." Arata said, peering over to Yogi. It was no wonder that girl fell head over heels for this boy. He truly was a kind soul that he wished he didn't try so hard to avoid after all this time. "She's a wonderful person, but I'm sure as her father you already know that."

"And I can tell that you two are wonderful people as well." He replied. Erina had not been apart of this conversation as she had made a trip to the bathroom after dinner. "I can tell she's a different person too, something I imagine I have the both of you to thank for that."

"You should be thanking Arata for that." Said Yogi. "Ever since he became friends with us, I can tell it's been great for her." Indeed, she used to be a much more obsessive person over him. In fact, the boy was worried after rejecting her that she might have some issues with it, but having Arata around ended up better than anyone would've imagined.

"You don't need to give me all the credit." Meanwhile, the boy in question wasn't a fan of being put at the center of attention. "We're just friends."

"That said, as her father." Erina's dad put a hand over his shoulder. "She is a beautiful girl, and I'd love if someone like you could end up making her really happy."

"Um, thanks for the compliment." Flustered, Arata brushed off the mans hand and turned away to hide his growing blush. "Anyway, we need to get going or we'll miss the train out of here." Trying to come up with an excuse to get out, he grabbed onto Yogi and dragged themselves out of the house.

Afterwards, Erina spent a little longer with her dad at home. She was only there for a couple more hours than the boys, as the pair caught up and she told him about the many things they had done as a group. Despite not seeing his daughter in ages, he could tell from the way she talked where her heart laid with those boys.

"You know, I told that Arata kid that he has my blessing."

"Why would you do that?" This caused her to lose a bit of composure. "He's just one of my friends."

"Well, us parents just have a way of knowing." He laughed as he teased his daughter for the first time in what felt like forever.

"Well, I need to get going." Now it was her turn to come up with an excuse to leave and not deal with the conversation. "My train, it's the last one for the day so I really can't miss it." With that, the girl got herself ready to go and out the door. The way she acted reminded him a lot of how Arata had acted upon leaving.

"They really are meant for each other…" He sighed, now alone once again.

Erina rushed back to the station. There was no need to run as quick as she did. After all, the train wasn't leaving for a while now. However, she didn't want to talk to her dad, despite being on better terms on, about her feelings for Arata. She truly had fallen for the boy, but unlike with Yogi, she was more reserved about jumping head in. With Yogi, she didn't have any reservations about showing her love to him publicly, but something was still holding her back even now.

After a short walk to the station, she sat down at one of the benches to catch her breath. There was still some time to kill until the train arrived to pick her up, so she went to grab a drink from the vending machines. This turned out to be a decision she would regret deeply after buying and grabbing out her desired drink.

My, I didn't think I'd see you here." A woman's voice greeted her. Erina turned out in an instant, for she knew who's voice that belonged to.