Family Ties

Family Gossip

There were more people in the house than the Sakakis could keep track of, and there certainly wasn't enough room at the table for everyone. Yoko's siblings introduced Yusho and the boys to their spouses, since Yoko remembered them from before she'd been kicked out. There was Auntie Asuka's husband Uncle Takeshi, Auntie Ren's husband Uncle Hiroshi, Auntie Fumiko's husband Uncle Ryou, Auntie Kaede's husband Uncle Akira, Uncle Ichiro's wife Auntie Sakura, Uncle Toshiro's wife Auntie Amaya, and Uncle Jun's wife Auntie Aiko. Yoko blinked in surprise when she saw Auntie Aiko.

"You remarried?" she asked her brother in confusion. Uncle Jun nodded and said, "Yeah, turns out Kagura had a bit of a gambling problem. I only found out when the car broke down and I went to take money out of our joint savings to pay for repairs only to find that we were completely broke. And since most of those savings were mine, I got pretty upset, we had a fight, and we ended up divorcing about seven years ago. Aiko and I met shortly after the divorce, and we really hit it off and started dating about five years ago, and we actually just got married three months ago. She's been really great!"

"Well, I'm glad you found someone," Yoko said. "If I'm being honest, I never really liked Kagura. She seemed too much like a gold digger to me."

Her sons listened to the conversation in interest while they ate their breakfast. They were all very hungry, and the farm-fresh home-cooked meal was very good and very big. Grandma kept their plates piled high with food. It was clear where Yoko had gotten her love for cooking.

"Are you alright, dear?" Grandma asked Yugo, noticing the tears streaming down his face. Before Yugo could speak, Yuri piped up. "Don't worry, Grandmother! Yugo has a habit of crying when he tastes really good food. He cries all the time when he eats the food Mother makes us!"

"Mhm!" Yugo nodded in agreement, sniffling a little. "'S so good!"

The family melted at the explanation of Yugo's reaction. Well, everyone except for Uncle Haru, who was watching in disgust as Yuya scarfed down his food. "Well, that one could stand to learn some table manners..." he muttered.

Grandma immediately pulled the hand towel off her apron and began slapping Uncle Haru with it. "Oh, like you were any better when you were his age?!" she shrieked. "Your manners were MUCH worse! In fact, they're still pretty awful! Leave the little one alone! Go do something useful, like look for a job so that you can move out of the basement!"

"Why exactly does he live in the basement?" Yuri asked, mildly interested. Grandpa ruffled his cabbage hair and said, "Because his ex-fiance owned the house they were living in and she kicked him out after they broke up, and he couldn't afford a place of his own because he'd been fired and never saved his own money. So we agreed to let him move back in with us until he got a new job and was able to afford his own place. That was ten years ago..."

"Ten years ago?!" Yuto stared in shock. "And he still doesn't have a job? Does he at least help out around the house?!"

"No, he does absolutely nothing," Uncle Ichiro said, glaring at Uncle Haru in disgust. "And Mom and Dad don't want to just kick him out because they don't want to do something they'll regret again, like how they did with Yoko..."

Yoko hummed and looked at Uncle Haru, then at Yusho. "Yusho, come with me outside. I want to talk to you alone for a moment."

"Oh, sure," Yusho said, following his wife outside. The extended family all looked worried, and Cousin Miki murmured, "Oh no... Is she mad?"

"Nah, she's not mad," Yuya reassured her. "Trust me, I've seen her mad plenty of times. She's probably just gone to talk to Dad about doing something to help. She likes taking care of people. And animals too. We got a whole bunch of pets at home cuz Mom and I keep finding strays and we can't turn our backs on the poor things. I just hope she's not talking to Dad about possibly inviting Mean Old Uncle into our home so that you guys don't have to deal with him."

Auntie Fumiko chuckled, "I doubt she would. Yoko and Haru never really got along very well, even though they're twins..."

"Wait... Twins?!" Yugo asked, looking up in surprise. "I thought Mean Old Uncle was older? Like, he looks like he's at least forty!"

"Stop calling me Mean Old Uncle!" Uncle Haru said in annoyance. Yuri snickered and said, "Stop being mean and maybe we'll stop calling you that!"

"Haru's older than Yoko by twenty-five minutes," Auntie Fumiko replied. "They actually do have different birthdays though. Haru was born at 11:49 PM on April 30th, and Yoko was born at 12:14 AM on May 1st."

"Oh wow!" Yuri was mildly impressed. "Reminds me of a book I read a few years ago, about twins who were born like that, one before midnight and one after midnight. They had these supernatural powers where the one born before midnight had dreams of the past and the one born after midnight had dreams of the future."

Uncle Ichiro chuckled. "Well, Haru and Yoko never got those powers as far as we know, but they definitely had a lot of sibling rivalry growing up. We've found out over the recent years that a lot of the things that Yoko got into trouble for were actually Haru's fault, and we now suspect that he knew that she never did any of the things we thought she did with her motorcycle gang..."

"What's wrong with being in a motorcycle gang?" Yugo asked, frowning. "Not all of them are bad. A lot of them just like motorcycles and hanging out with people who share their interests!"

"Yes, we realize that," Grandpa sighed, "it's just, well... back then there was a string of crimes committed by a motorcycle gang in the area, and after some time, we were informed that Yoko was involved. We got angry and kicked her out, because we didn't want a criminal in our family. Then, a few weeks later, we found out that the motorcycle gang that had been committing those crimes was a completely different one, and that there was more than enough evidence to prove that Yoko wasn't involved at all. We felt really awful about kicking her out over hearsay and not even trying to find any evidence that she really was involved. But we couldn't find her anywhere. We tried talking to some of her friends, but they just said she'd left town and they wouldn't tell us where she went because she told them not to."

"So that's why you kicked me out?" Yoko's voice startled everyone. They hadn't noticed her or Yusho come back. "You didn't tell me about those accusations! You just said that you didn't want a delinquent biker in the family! That's what you meant by delinquent?"

The extended family looked ashamed as Grandma and Grandpa nodded. "We're so sorry, Yoko. We should've made sure the accusations were actually true before believing them."

Yoko sighed. "Well, at least you apologized..." she mumbled. "Anyways, Yusho and I talked, and we're willing to pay for an apartment for Haru to live in. We'll pay for one year's worth of rent, during which time Haru will be able to focus on looking for a job. After the year is up, he'll be responsible for paying for everything on his own. A year should be more than enough time for him to find a job."

The extended family was surprised, and Grandma took Yoko's hands. "Are you sure about this? You really don't have to. We can't expect you to do something like this, especially so soon!"

"Ten years living with you and he still hasn't found a job?" Yoko pointed out. "Sounds like he's not even trying. It wouldn't even surprise me if he's not. This way, he'll have to get a job and learn to stand on his own two feet. He can't keep expecting everything to just be handed to him all his life."

Her sons grinned, realizing their mother's thought process. It was clear that Grandma and Grandpa didn't want Mean Old Uncle to stay in their house any longer than necessary, but they wouldn't kick him out of the house due to the guilt from kicking Yoko out. And they could tell that the rest of the extended family didn't like him either. If he didn't find a job within the year, the extended family was unlikely to let him move in with them. He would have to either learn to rely on himself and become independent, or he would become homeless.