Serendipity

II - Minna no Ie (みんなの家)

 Two hours can go by quick when your mind is distracted by the beautiful scenery of mountains, rivers, and forests. The forests are large, lively and robust; the blue-green tinted rivers glisten from the sun's rays as they tango with copper cliffs; Mount Kaba and Mount Tsukuba can be seen in the far distance playing coy with keen eyes. The pair pulled up onto their driveway and walked to the porch. Yousuke's heart beats through his skin as he anticipates meeting the members of Mr. Sugisaki's family. The key bittings click as he unlocks the door and the knob slowly turns open. "Tadaima!" declared Mr. Sugisaki, as he took off his shoes; Yousuke did the same. "Okaeri--ah! -- Welcome, Yousuke!" "Ojama shimasu", said Yousuke as he bowed. When he raised his head up, over Mrs. Sugisaki's shoulder, there stood a young woman with a peculiar expression on her face. She had short hair and wore an apron over a navy blue blouse with rolled up sleeves, cuffed jean shorts with overalls and baby blue indoor slippers. "Nene, can you show Yousuke where his room is please?" asked Mr. Sugisaki. "Yes papa." complied Nene. She took off her apron and did as she was told.

 As they walked through a hallway they passed a room with two adolescents wailing and screaming over Mario Kart. "Are those your siblings?" asked Yousuke. "Hm? Oh, yeah; they can get rowdy at times." she said nonchalantly. "Here we are!" Nene opened the door to his bedroom. Yousuke dragged his suitcase into the room, took off his backpack and stuffed duffle bag over his shoulder and placed them on top of the bed. "The washroom is the last door to the left at the end of the hallway and the bathroom is just across from it." assisted Nene. "Thank you. What was your name again? I didn't quite catch it before." "I'm Nene." His eyes followed her as she left the room. Yousuke began to unpack his bags, a feeling all too familiar to him. He hung his clothes by color, then by frequent combinations, followed by seasonal  and finished it off with his jackets. He then placed his empty luggage bags flat on the floor inside his closet. He went to lay on his bed, hands behind his head, testing the comfortability of the mattress. It was soft and contoured to the shape of his body; the comforter was fluffy and well insulated. He closed his eyes  for a few minutes with his head on the pillow before getting up and heading to the kitchen.

"Do you need any help with dinner Mrs. Sugisaki?" asked Yousuke.

"Oh, you don't need to do that Yousuke; you're our guest."

"I don't mind helping out. It'd be rude of me, as a guest, to not contribute to the family. I can help cut the vegetables if you want."

"Well, since you insisted, okay. You can cut the vegetables and peel the onions with Nene."

 Yousuke quickly washed his hands and got right to work. Standing across the table from Nene, he began to slice scallions, dice blocks of tofu and chop daikon. "My, my! You must've been pretty handy around the house growing up weren't you?"

"Yeah, a little bit. When I was younger I would help my mom around the kitchen but she wouldn't let me use knives until I was a little older. Most of the time I was delegated to rinse vegetables or fetch some from the little garden we had in our backyard."

"Aw, how adorable! A baby Yousuke being mommy's little helper! If only I could make my two younger kids more helpful around the house. All they do whenever they're home is glue their faces to their screens, whether it's a laptop, phone, or tablet. Fortunately I have Nene and, now, you."

 Dinner was served quicker with Yousuke's help and the whole family chowed down. Once everyone had their fill and dinner was finished, the rest of the night was left up in the air for whatever anyone wanted to do. "Want some help with the dishes? That looks a lot for one person." Yousuke insisted. "Okay; I'll wash and you can rinse." "Sounds good to me." Still strangers to one another, conversations were kept to a minimum with only the sound of running water and clanging dishes doing the talking for them.