Family Ties

Relatives

The Yuus were now very curious about their mother's family. Their grandparents seemed genuinely remorseful for kicking her out of the house and disowning her, and the rest of the people, minus Haru, also seemed to feel bad as well. The boys looked at them in interest, something that didn't go unnoticed by them.

One of the older ladies smiled at the Sakakis. "We should introduce ourselves, huh? I'm your Auntie Fumiko, and that's Auntie Asuka, Auntie Ren, Auntie Kaede, Uncle Jun, Uncle Toshiro, and Uncle Ichiro. We're your mother's brothers and sisters. Our husbands and wives are inside making sure everything's ready for your visit. And you've already met Uncle Haru, our annoying brother. Yoko's the youngest of us nine."

Yugo made a disgusted face at the mention of the mean uncle, and Yuri gave a cruel grin. Uncle Haru seemed taken aback by their reactions and started to speak, but Grandma gave him a withering look that made him fall silent.

"So... we have cousins, right?" Yuya asked. Auntie Ren smiled and said, "Yep! Quite a few, actually. They're all adults now, so you four are the babies of the family! They're all coming to meet you. My twin daughters, your cousins Miki and Niko, are already here, and so are cousins Hina, Seiichi, and Tadashi. Everyone else is on their way, and should be here by sundown."

"How many cousins do we have?" Yuto asked. The aunts and uncles paused, clearly counting. After a moment, Uncle Ichiro said, "Well... there's Ren's twins, Kaede's three, Asuka's four, Fumiko's eight, Toshiro's seven, Jun's five, and my nine, so that's..."

"We have THIRTY-EIGHT cousins?!" Yuri yelped in shock. Yuya, Yugo, and Yuto stared at their aunts and uncles in disbelief with agape mouths. After a moment of trying to count, Uncle Ichiro pulled out his phone and opened the calculator. A moment of calculating later he said, "Yep! Thirty-eight cousins! You're pretty good with quick math, aren't you...?"

"That's Yuri," Yoko said. "The one with blue and yellow hair is Yugo, the one with purple and black hair is Yuto, and the one with red and green hair is Yuya."

"It's very nice to meet you four!" Auntie Asuka said, smiling warmly at the boys. "We were hoping you'd come for a visit. We understand that you might not have wanted to meet us, but we're really happy that you decided to give us a chance. Mom and Dad have really missed having grandbabies to spoil, and I know my youngest daughter, Mayumi, has really wanted a younger cousin to spoil. She's been so tired of being the youngest grandchild for a long time!"

They'd reached the main house by now, and walked inside together. There was a bustling of activity in the house which caught the boys by surprise. Before any of them could react, there was a squeal and they were suddenly tackle-hugged. It took them a moment to process what was happening.

"Oh my gosh! Hi! I'm so excited that you're here!" the hugger squealed. The aunts, uncles, and grandparents all chuckled, and an amused voice behind the hugger said, "Easy, Miki! You don't wanna scare them away, do you? I mean, we know you're a huge fan of Yuya's dueling style, but still!"

"Right! Sorry!" the hugger said, releasing the boys and stepping back. The boys blinked, looking up at her bright, cheery smile. "I'm just so excited! I still can't believe you four are our cousins! I've been watching videos of Yuya's duels online since his debut, and I was actually inspired to learn how to duel because of them!"

"Miki's actually the one that found out that you four are Yoko's children, and about your father," Auntie Ren said. "Honestly if she didn't follow Yuya's social media, we might not have learned that he was family, or that Yoko adopted the rest of you, or even that she'd gotten married."

Cousin Miki squealed again, seeming trying her best not to tackle-hug the boys again. "C'mon, we've got breakfast ready for you! Sit, sit! It's time to eat!"