On edge

Part 4

Nishikata and Takagi were once again on their way home, but this time, things felt different. They weren't wearing their school uniforms, and the route they were taking didn't feel familiar to Nishikata, but he wasn't paying it much attention. 'She looks so happy.' Nishikata thought to himself. "You excited?" He asked.

"I don't think I could be any more excited." She said as she walked with a slight spring in her step. "Actually, there is something that could make me a little more excited, but that's not till later."

"What do you mean?" Nishikata asked as he gave her a curious look.

She gave him a sly smile as she ran a finger down his arm. "I think you know."

Nishkata blushed and turned back to face front as he scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, well, that's ..."

"Something we still need to discuss?" She said as she wrapped one arm around him and placed the other on his shoulder. It was at this moment when he noticed the ring on her finger, and that she looked a lot older.

"Yeah." He placed his hand on top of hers, now noticing the ring on his finger as well. "Something we need to discuss." He wrapped his other arm around her and pulled her close, as the couple continued making their way to their destination.

"We could discuss it right now."

"We're almost there, so we should wait till we have more time."

"What's there that'll take that long? You want to, I want to, isn't it that simple?"

"You know it's not that simple, there are also expenses that need to be considered so we can make sure we can properly care for them, where we'll be sending them to school, whether the neighborhood is the right place we want to raise them in."

"But we already took care of at least two of those." She said as she began walking her fingers up his chest. "You're just nervous about being a father, aren't you?"

He blushed and gave a guilty smile. "Well ... I mean ... there's that as well."

Takagi laughed and dug her head into his neck. "Honey, you'll be a great father, and our kids will love you to no end."

"You keep saying that, but I'm ... still worried."

"Every prospective parent is worried, but we'll get through it the same way we get through everything else, together."

He smiled and held her a bit closer. "Well, we're here, so we'll have to put this conversation on hold for now anyway." They looked up and got a good look at the apartment building, before making their way to their room.

"I still can't believe we managed to get a room in this place," Takagi said as they began making their way down the hall. "And on the first floor as well."

"Yeah, what luck, right?"

"Perfect place to raise a small family."

Nishikata blushed as they reached their room, and saw the blank nameplate. "We'll need to update that nameplate," Nishikata said as he searched his pocket for the key.

"Yeah, soon it'll say Nishikata on it." She looked at her husband who was now blushing more than before. "Our family name."

"I'm still surprised that you were so insistent that we go with Nishikata, I was more than willing to go with Takagi."

"I know." She said as she placed her hand on her stomach. "But I'd prefer it if we stuck with yours."

"Well, either way, I'm with you, and that's all that really matters." He finally managed to find the key and unlocked the door, opening it up to their new home. "Here we are."

"Wow." Mrs. Nishikata said as she walked inside. It had a small dining area, a kitchen, a moderately sized living room, and a hallway that led to a few other rooms. "This is really nice." She said as she walked over to the hallways to look around. "Dear? You coming?"

"Uh, yeah." He said before catching up to her. Down the hallway were a few more rooms, namely a bathroom, a bedroom, and an empty room that didn't have anything in it yet.

"I wonder what we should do with this one," Takagi said before glancing at her husband. "I mean, our first is going to be sleeping with us for the first few years, so we should do something with this room until we need to change it."

"Y-yeah," Nishikata said as he looked around. "Maybe a study?"

"Maybe, but we'll think about it later." She said as she walked out of the room and began stretching her arms behind her back. "It's late and the rest of our things aren't getting here till tomorrow." She began walking back to the living room as her husband followed. "Let's relax some." She made her way over to the couch and plopped down on it before her husband followed and sat next to her.

"So ... you want to watch something?"

She crawled up to him and placed a hand on his cheek. "Maybe later, I think I'd rather finish our conversation from earlier." He felt his heart begin to speed up as he smiled.

"Well, what do you think?"

"I think you managed to find a great place, with a good school nearby, and in a great neighborhood." She pressed her forehead to his and closed her eyes. "And very affordable."

He smiled as he closed his eyes as well. "Nothing less for my family." He wrapped an arm around her back and pulled her into a kiss.

As soon as they separated, she gave him a mischievous grin as she began running her hands over his shoulders. "Then I think we're ready to start expanding that family a little."

"Yeah, I think so too."

It was at that moment when Nishikata's eyes opened as he shot up, once again in a cold sweat as his body began to calm down. "What ... what was ..." He looked around the familiar room, and found that he was once again, still young. "What?" He looked at his hand as if to make sure, and sure enough, there was no ring there. "So it ... was another dream." He felt a ping in his chest, as he began to feel a sense of disappointment. "That was ... why am I upset?" He closed his eyes and placed a hand on his forehead as he tried to commit the dream to memory before it faded. "Takagi ... married ... moving in together ... and we were ..." He began to blush as he looked down. "Not again."