deja vu {inotan}

Chapter XIII

we sat down at the large dinner table, where a large checkerboard was laid out. my mom on one side, with takeo on the other. my other younger brothers hudled around him, while nezuko and my other sister, hanako, joined my mom's team. i decided to go with my brothers, because they weren't doing so well according to the small notepad i noticed on the table that was tracking the wins.
"yes! you're with us inosuke." nezuko said.
he seemed a little confused but he was enthusiastic anyways.
the game started and immediately, we weren't doing too good. my mom was almost superhuman when it came to board games. only a few turns had passed and she already took a surplus of pieces from us. i managed to help my brothers keep the board relatively even but some of her pieces were already nearing our side. after a while of intense and very riveting checkers gameplay, we somehow managed to win. my mom wasn't holding back this time, either.
inosuke clearly didn't understand anything that happened, but he was distraught nonetheless.
"hey that's not fair!" he yelled. "i wanna rematch!"
"do you even know how to play?" nezuko joked.
"no!" he was visibly embarrassed. "i don't need to, i'll just fight!" he went into a defensive stance right before the oven beeped.
"would you mind saving it for after dinner?" my mom asked. her timing was impeccable.
she stood up and opened up the oven, carefully extracting a perfectly cooked cheese pizza.
"YES" inosuke said, completely transfixed on it. i think he completely forgot he wanted to fight.
we each grabbed a plate for the pizza, inosuke grabbing way too many pieces and even stealing some of mine. i didn't mind though, it was kind of cute in a way. i tried to get my siblings to stop asking inosuke questions but he actually didn't seem to mind.
"how'd you meet tanjiro?" takeo asked after swallowing a large bite of pizza.
he had to think about it.
"well he was stalking me so we fought, i won, and now we're friends!" he said proudly.
"i wasn't stalking you!" i yelled.
everyone erupted in laughter and i felt my face getting warm.
"we didn't fight either! and even if we did, i would've won." i said.
"yeah!" hanako butted in. "tanjiro is the strongest guy i know, he could totally beat you!" she said.
"he is pretty strong, but he's still not a match for me!" inosuke boasted.
"wanna test that theory?" i stood up, pushing my chair back and rolled up my sleeves.
"no fighting at the table!" my mother said.
"if you want, you can take it outside."
i looked out through the glass sliding door behind me, to see it was already dark out. and snowing.
"or would you rather watch some movies?" she finished.

my mother sat down on the couch and not long after, my siblings all rushed to the living room sitting down on the couches and floor, picking out different holiday movies to watch.
once everyone was mostly out of earshot, inosuke turned to me.
"do you honestly think you could beat me in a fight?"
"not at all," i replied. "just bluffed to make me seem cooler in front of my family."
"to be fair i don't want to genuinely fight you," he said.
i noticed his face turn red and he tried to play it off by saying, "wouldn't want to make your face uglier than it already is."
"hey!" i elbowed him and sat down, but before inosuke could, he was dragged off by my brothers, who kept interviewing him.
i seated myself next to nezuko and my mother and watched as hanako and shigeru argued over what movie to watch first.

"quite a strange boy," my mother said.
"hm?"
"your friend, inosuke." she clarified.
"oh! yeah i suppose.."
"it's not a bad thing! in fact, he seems to be getting along better with your brothers than he does with you." she laughed.
"he's really a nice guy," i said. "but, he can be a little overbearing sometimes."
nezuko, unfortunately, looked up from her phone and chimed in. "it's just their love language." she teased.
"oh! i see," my mother said. "you know, you could've told me you were bringing a boyfriend over, i don't mind." she whispered.
"he's not my boyfriend!" i whisper yelled.
and she wonders why i never introduce my friends.
"i mean, i do like him, but we're just friends." i said.
"that's fine," she put her arm around me and let me lean on her shoulder. "if you ever wanna talk about your boy problems, you can call me."
"thanks mom," i said, as i watched my littlest brother, rokuta, showed inosuke how to work a dvd player.

END OF CHAPTER THIRTEEN