Story of a Rhythm Game Couple

Chapter 18. Meet the mother, again

"Huh? What's going on, Sa-chan?"

By the time Asahi got out of the elevator on the sixth floor, he noticed Sana standing dumbfounded at the front door. He proceeded ahead of her to see what was happening, and to his surprise, there was already someone in the living room of his apartment.

"Oh, welcome home too, Asahi. Look at you, the gentleman."

"Mom?"

It was Mia Noguchi, Asahi's mother. She seemed to have gotten in the house using one of the spare keys.

Not wanting to waste any time venting his frustration, Asahi stormed silently into his house. Seeing Sana's continued bewilderment, Mia smiled and told her.

"Why don't you enter for now?"

"...T-Then, sorry for intruding..."

Sana could only return a subtle bow before timidly getting inside.

There were three people in Asahi's apartment. Sana was busy with some tasks in the kitchen, while Mia was sitting on the sofa, and Asahi was sitting across from her on one of the two chairs he had taken from the dining table.

The silence was unbearable.

After silently watching Sana in the kitchen for a while, Mia turned to Asahi.

"Seeing my son all fine and well like this is truly a parent's blessing."

"Why are you coming here without a notice or anything? Even breaking in here?"

Disregarding everything Mia said, Asahi wasn't very comfortable with her arrival. Even though he knew his parents were paying his rent, he was still rather upset that they showed up to his apartment unannounced. To Asahi, that was basically a privacy violation.

"Now that's harsh. Your mom went all the way here and didn't even receive a greeting from my own son." Mia turned to look toward the kitchen as she sighed audibly. "Well, at least I got something from my daughter over there, though."

Sana suddenly stiffened, as her movements became more rigid.

"Well, I thank you for coming all the way here without breaking a word to me." With an irritated tone, Asahi expressed his forced gratitude. "So, would you mind elucidating your rationale behind this endeavor?"

"That's some serious vocabulary right there, haha." Mia chuckled. "Is it wrong to check on my son once in a while? Once you get older, I won't be able to continue this level of caregiving anymore, you know."

"..."

"And besides,..." Mia's gaze shifted back to Sana. "I did inform my daughter of my coming here, though. Hasn't Sana-chan told you anything?"

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

Sana, who was bringing the tray containing some snacks they had just gotten from the convenience store and three cups of water to the living room, seemed to be as astonished as Asahi. As she pulled out her phone to verify Mia's words, she saw an unread ZEN notification sent to her phone.

"You sent me only 30 minutes ago. I was watering my trees then..."

"But I AM your son."

Asahi shouted at Mia. Sana, who was only a friend who played the same arcade game, managed to get a message from his mother, but he, her son, never received a word. He was furious at his mom for such blatantly unfair treatment. Who knew what else she had shared with Sana that he had no idea about?

After distributing snacks and water on the table, Sana put the tray away and returned to her seat next to Asahi.

"Still, I must say, you did a great job keeping the house tidy over here; I'm impressed." Mia surveyed the house. "Having said that, it's not like your room back there was any different. Maybe I'm worrying too much."