Love and Beasts

Chapter 28

Akira's flashback (part 2):

The plane landed safely in Osaka. Both Akito and Akira were in grim mood. Afterall, today is another day after Ren's death. The boy looked at other families welcoming their relatives, that just like them safely returned home. Akira saw a little girl with her mother. When the man, probably the husband and father in the family, came closer to them, the girl excitedly ran up to him and hugged him on the leg. The man laughed warmly at her, took the girl in his arms and squeezed her as much as he could. After that, the woman also joined them. The man and woman exchanged a loving look in their eyes and kissed shortly. The girl said 'eww' at them and everyone laughed at their antics. Akira was a bit jealous of the family, because unlike them, he lost his beloved parents. Seeing the boy sadly look at the family, Akito took Akira in his left arm, and with his right one he took their belongings while heading from the airport. When they went outside, there already was a cab waiting for them. They packed their stuff and left off in direction of Akito's and Ren's family home.

...

When they finally reached their destination, Akira was a little worried, since he hadn't had many chances of visiting his grandmother from his father's side, or even his grandparents from his mother's side. When Akito made sure they got everything, he paid the man and said goodbye. When he saw Akira slightly anxious about the first encounter with his grandmother, he took the boy's hand in his and with a reassuring smile took him inside. In there, a woman with still very black hair and good reflexes was cooking and preparing a meal. When she heard someone enter inside, she immediately washed her hands and went to greet her long awaited guests. When she reached them, she started crying out of happiness. She then approached Akira, who not knowing what to do just stood there, impaled to the ground. The woman kept examining his features, only to weakly smile at the boy and hug him delicately. While hugging the boy, the woman became a crying mess, remembering the boy's mother and father by his features. Akito then embraced them both, letting the woman cry in his shirt. *sniff* "Hey Akira?" "Yes grandmother?" "I'll take you to Ren's old bedroom. It will be your room from now on." The boy only nodded, not daring to look in the eye of such kind woman. She then let him go, took his hand in hers and brought him further inside the house. The passed by a kitchen, living room and bathroom. Finally, they reached to the corridor where there were 3 pairs of doors. The woman went to the one on the end of the corridor and opened it.

Inside, there was a neat, tidy room. Walls were white and there was a window in the opposite direction of the door. The bed stood under the right wall, had black covers and a pillow, next to it was standing a gray colored bedside cabinet. Under the left wall stood furniture. One of them was a small bookshelf with a few books, and next to it stood a big wardrobe for clothes and a few drawers in it were for the underwear. Both of them were made from dark cherry wood. In the centre of the room, on the floor there was a little circle shaped white rug. When the boy entered inside, he looked around and saw a desk and a chair behind the door. The desk was also made from cherry wood, while the chair was white and had a height regulation. This allowed Akira to  use the chair however he liked because it would be useful to him for a long time. On the desk there was a black desk lamp and a few photos. On of them was of Ren holding Yukiko by hand. The next one was of Ren and Yukiko in their wedding attires. Another one was of Ren and Yukiko, who this time had a bigger round pregnant belly. And the last one, there was smiling Yukiko with an infant in her arms and Ren crying more than a baby in the woman's hands.

When his eyes landed on the last picture, Akira was a little confused since he thought his mother died right after giving birth to him. He took it in his hands and looked at it curiously. When the elderly lady saw him look at the photo, she smiled to see the boy's curiosity. "Who is it?" "What do you mean Akira? This is your mother of course! Could it be that neither your father nor your uncle showed you any photos of her?" The boy shook his head a bit. The woman then started telling the boy about what a loving and beautiful woman Yukiko was. She started telling him how Yukiko and Ren met, how they were inseparable, how they got married and how much they awaited Akira's arrival to this world. Akira, the curious child he was, listened to the woman's bickering back and forth. Then the woman gasped and looked at the boy, who jumped a bit at her behavior. "I forgot about the dinner!" And panicked, she went to the kitchen and the boy followed behind her. When they came there the woman sighed in relief, since Akito was there to save the day. At the moment he poured something in a little plate that was smaller than his hand and drank from it. After confirming that everything's ready to serve, he turned the stove off and took the apron off. When Akira and his mother entered the kitchen, Akito turned around to them and said "Time for dinner." After that, everyone started making the table and putting all of the dishes there. Then, they all said 'Itadakimasu' and Akito along with Akira started devouring the food, since they were quite hungry.