Summer Wars: Aftermath Part 1

Chapter 8

When they got closer to the family wing, they followed the smell of food. They walked into the common room where all the meals were taken, still hand-in-hand.

A few people were still at the table. With a pang, Kenji saw Aunt Mariko sitting at the head of the table in Sakae's place. On the far side were Natsuki's parents. Another couple sat with their backs to the door.

Aunt Mariko turned her head at their entrance and smiled at them. "Here they are now," she said. Her eyes traveled down to their joined hands and her smile widened.

Kenji blushed and tugged at his hand, but Natsuki tightened her grip and pulled him forward.

The woman on the near side of the table turned and Kenji found himself looking at his mother's smiling face. Her eyes flicked down and her smile widened too. The man beside her turned his head and he was surprisingly unsurprised to find his father watching him gravely.

Kenji's mother and father rose smoothly to their feet and faced the two youngsters.

"Good morning, Kenji," his mother said, "and to you also, Natsuki."

"Good morning, Mrs. Koiso," Natsuki said. She released Kenji's hand and bowed low.

"Now, none of that, dear," Mrs. Koiso said.

"That is for my lack of courtesy last night," Natsuki said.

"Nonsense, that has already been spoken of and put away."

Kenji stared between the two, wondering exactly what had transpired in his sleep.

"Dear," Mrs. Koiso said, "this is the young lady I told you about. Natsuki Shinohara, this is my husband, Ichika Koiso."

"I am most pleased to meet you," Natsuki said with another bow in the man's direction this time.

Ichika stepped forward and pulled her upright by the hands. He smiled into her questioning eyes.

"My son is precious to me," he said. "For what you have done for him, I should be bowing to you, so please, let there be none of that between us."

Kenji could see the tension in Natsuki's shoulders release at the gentle words. Father had always been a master at putting people at their ease, he thought, although he wondered why she would be nervous. She always seemed so sure of herself, in all sorts of situations. He shrugged that aside as another mystery of girls, one he would probably never understand.

Kenji and his father stepped forward and embraced.

"It's good to see you again, Dad," Kenji said.

"And you, Son. I'm sorry it takes a situation like this to bring me home. But I am most proud of the part you played in resolving this crisis. You are becoming quite a man."

Kenji flushed with pleasure. "Thank you, Father, although others did more than I."

"Not so!" Natsuki said from where she had been standing with Kenji's mother. "None of what we did would have been possible without Kenji!" She stopped abruptly as she realized Kenji's father was watching her outburst with polite interest and the hint of a smile.

"I see our son has acquired a passionate defender, even against himself."

Natsuki blushed, but shook it off and looked stubborn. "It's true. What he did, no one else in the world could have done."

"That's not true," Kenji said. "You heard Sakuma, fifty-five other people solved the security code where I got it wrong."

"And they took all night to do it." She stepped forward and grabbed Kenji's hands. "But when the chips were down, when it needed to be done; to save lives, you did it. Not once, but three times, within ten minutes; the last one in less than a minute and all in your head. You'll never convince me that any of those fifty-five could have done what you did."