My Neighbor Is A Freeloader

Chapter 55 [Am I Even Include In Your Future!?]

The flight from Seoul, South Korea to Osaka, Japan takes about two hours. By the time her plane landed, it is already dark outside. Despite Sana’s assurance that she will get home safely by herself, she can see her father waiting or her the moment she exits the gate.

Papa Minatozaki owns a car but he seldom drives these days. Especially now that it is night time, he has taken public transport to the airport and fetch his daughter home by cab. When they are near home, Sana’s mother, Mama Minatozaki has been expecting them and she opens the window to call out to her daughter the moment she sees her alighting from the cab.

Sana's home is on the third floor of an apartment block. Their house is comfortably spacious – property prices are more affordable in second and third tier cities – and Sana can feel a sense of homecoming when she steps in. Mama Minatozaki sits her down on a sofa and starts fussing over her while Papa Minatozaki quickly fetches a cardigan from the room and starts fussing over his wife, for fear that the cold night air from the open window will cause her to catch a cold.

Papa Minatozaki works as a manager in a milk-powder factor supervising the production line. Mama Minatozaki is a kindergarten teacher.
Papa Minatozaki used to have a fiery temper and Mama Minatozaki is his exact opposite with a sanguine nature. When they have arguments earlier in their marriage, Papa Minatozaki would bellow all over the place while Mama Minatozaki would remain quiet and unmovable like a mountain. Sana does not know if there is any love in her parent’s marriage, but over the years, her parent have settled into a companionable partnership and that togetherness seems much more solid and sustainable to Sana, than waxing love poetics.

When she is back in her childhood room, she looks out of her window to admire the city view. Like any other Japanese city, development has been relentless and has transformed the city landscape like mushroom blossoming after rain. Even the stars, which used to be visible from any part of the city, seem duller now with the polluted air. The changes have taken away a lot of the familiarity of home, and like most young people returning to their hometown, her eyes scans the landscape hungrily for familiar sights.

While she gets lost in nostalgia, she receives a call from Tzuyu. Although he has received her message when her plane has landed, he misses her deeply and has waited, waited and waited until he thinks she is done with her reunion before calling her. However, when she picks up his call, all the words that he wants to say seem stuck to this tongue and he can only manage to talk about the most mundane things. A long while into their conversation, he finally manages.

“Sana”

“Hm?”

“I miss you.” 4 hours and over 400km of separation presses like a dead weight on him.

Sana sighs, equally forlorn. “I miss you too.”

XxxxxX

Mama Minatozaki is scheduled for operation the next day and it is a great success. Over the next few days, Sana would spend a lot of time at the hospital taking care of her, earning herself praises from the hospital staff for being a filial daughter. Although most of the complements are just routine remarks for the occasion, Mama Minatozaki is nonetheless very happy to hear from others how lucky she is to have such a filial daughter.

During this period, she notices that her daughter receives a lot of calls and very often when she is talking to the other party, Sana would smile into the phone. Deciding to be direct, she asks one day. “Do you have a boyfriend already?”

Sana flushes and nods shyly, much to Mama Minatozaki’s amusement. Stroking her daughter’s hair, she teases. “Why are you feeling shy? After all, it is not as if you have never dated before.”