KOF School

Trying

Yashiro looked at his father in surprise when he told him that he no longer had to go back to the army.
"I left," Yoshiro said. "I don't want to be away from you two anymore."
Yashiro smiled at that, but at the same time concerned at what he was going to do now. "That's great, I really do miss you."
"Yeah, I do too," Yoshiro smiled back, ruffling his son's head. "But here's the bigger surprise. I've landed a job in the nearby gym to be a trainer!"
Yashiro couldn't help but laugh at that, imagining his father running about in tight shorts while shouting at people to train harder. It wasn't a bad sight though, just a funny one.
"I know what you're imagining, and no, I'll be wearing track pants," Yoshiro chuckled. He gave his son a light punch on the cheek, merely pushing his grinning face slightly with his fist. "I still look good in shorts, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," Yashiro snorted. "But you're staying here from now on?"
"Yep," Yoshiro nodded, smiling.
"And you won't have to leave for months?"
"Yep."
Yashiro hugged him. "Thank you."
Yashira came in and joined them, seating herself down beside her husband. "So you told him about it."
Yoshiro nodded. "Yeah. And he's really happy for it."
"Well, I am too," Yashira smiled, putting an arm around her husband to hug him. "The house feels so empty, with just the two of us here."
Yoshiro nodded in agreement, gazing at his son. "Yashiro must really feel lonely sometimes."
"I do," Yashiro nodded in agreement. "Especially when Mom goes out to work and all."
That was a lie, Yashiro felt alone even when his mother was around, especially when she was around. He actually shuddered to think of what would happen when his father goes back to the army, especially with all that Yashira did before. There was still a possibility that she might go back to her old ways of pressuring and tormenting him with the highest of expectations.
It felt better to know that Yoshiro would stay by his side from now on. Even if Yashira did go back to her old ways, at least he had someone by his side to support him through it. That made him feel slightly better.
Yoshiro suddenly held his stomach and got up. "I need to go to the toilet. The stuff we ate yesterday was not great..."
Yashiro snorted. "Yeah, it was bad. It attacked me last night."
"This morning for me," Yashira added. "For you, now."
Yoshiro sighed and made his way to the bathroom. Yashiro chuckled and took his phone out.
"Yashiro?" He looked up when his mother called him. "I never really got the chance to ask, but... are you still mad at me?"
"No," Yashiro shook his head. "I'm not. It's all in the past, Mom. You... you had a lot to deal with as well, and I understand that."
Yashira sighed. "I'm glad you think so, but I still can't forgive myself for what I put you through. What if something happened to you when you ran off like that?" She sobbed, wiping a teardrop with the back of her hand. "I want to make sure that you're happy here, make sure that I don't treat you the way I did before."
Yashiro nodded, a slight smile on his face. "I'm glad to hear that, Mom."
Yashira smiled slightly. "You wanna go out tomorrow? Your father said he's going out with an old friend that came to town, how about we go out too? Hang out at the mall, get some drinks, something like that. What do you say?"
Yashiro shrugged. "Sure. That... that sounds good."
"We can get something from Posiden too," Yashira added. "I heard they have some cakes now. We can try them out."
"Sure, I'd like that," Yashiro smiled as he nodded.
It was clear that Yashira was trying to fix things between them, he just wasn't sure if he can go with it. After all, he has to give her a chance to redeem herself too.
And so far, she's doing an okay job.
Yoshiro eventually returned and heavily sat himself beside his wife again. "Gosh, that was good. Ah... feel so much better now."
Yashiro couldn't help but snort at that.

Kyo was getting annoyed at his parents' long phone conversation with Maki about her sister's date with Kazuhiro the night before. He couldn't even say anything aloud, not even burp, without earning himself a glare from both parents. What made it worse was the call being on speaker mode.
And the 'drama' that they were so interested in was lame too. He was surprised that it could even go on for this long.
In the end, Kyo decided to just abandon them since there wasn't anything he could do anyway. There must be a time where they grow weary or hungry after the long conversation. Until then, he would be playing video games up in his room.
No sooner had he booted the game did he hear a knock on his door. Kyo groaned and turned to see his father literally knocking his way into the room, knocking the door while opening it.
"Why bother knocking when you're gonna come in anyway?" Kyo sighed.
"Get ready, we're going out for lunch," Saisyu announced.
"What?" Kyo said in surprise. "Right now?"
Saisyu gave him a look of disbelief, leaning forward slightly with his hands on his waist. "Are you not hungry?"
Kyo paused and placed a hand on his stomach, frowning as he tried to figure out the answer to that question. In the end, he shrugged. "I couldn't tell, but I am. You guys took forever on that phone conversation that I actually forgot."
"I'm actually surprised that Hiro actually managed to pull it off," Saisyu smirked to himself. "They had a good date."
"Really?" Now, Kyo was interested. "What did he do?"
Saisyu shook his head. "Get ready first, we'll tell you on the way to the restaurant."
Kyo nodded and shooed his father out before turning his gaming appliance off and then changed into a casual outfit. He excitedly left the room and asked his parents to tell him in detail, what they heard from Maki.
"He took her for sushi?" Kyo asked, surprised. "And then?"
"She enjoyed it," Shizuka chuckled. "They went for a movie after too."
"But apparently, our friend brought his children and showed up at the sushi shop," Saisyu shook his head when he said that. "This Masaomi... man was probably there to spy on him."
Kyo snorted. "That's Yagami's dad, right? It was probably his son's idea to show up there."
"Nah, Masaomi is just as bad too," Shizuka said. "You know, there was this one time he and Takuma showed up just to disturb Saisyu during his birthday once. It was a very long time ago, before any of us even got married."
"Yep, that's him," Saisyu chuckled. "Poor man, it was hard to see him crumble like that after Natsume passed."
Kyo nodded slowly. "Yeah, what happened was terrible. Yagami was in really bad shape too."
"Yeah, I'm just glad Masaomi's getting the therapy he needs," Saisyu added. "His brother had to do everything."
"And that's why we really want Chizuru and Hiro together," Shizuka added. "Because she went through the same thing with her sister. They both deserve this."
"Yeah, I guess they do," Kyo chuckled. "But you guys spoke to Ms Maki for hours till we have to go get lunch since you forgot to make anything."
Saisyu just silently grabbed the keys and started out of the house, Shizuka followed suit while snickering. Kyo shrugged and went after them as well.