Uncomfortable Truths

Chapter 20

This story...gonna get a little heavy.

Heavy? This story? Say it isn't so!?

Of course it's so...let's make it so.

Captain Picard aside, here's what will be happening in the next two to three chapters.

Hideki's arrival into this world is at hand!

Ladies and gentlemen...in the words of Jacksepticeye...LET'S DO THIS!

Uh this was supposed to be a much longer chapter...but I need to figure it out a bit more. Also...you guys want the scene where Mei says Yuzu's name while she's having sex with Udagawa? What is wrong with you?! Honestly though...I've slowly began plotting out how to write it so THANKS A LOT!

Chapter 20

"You're looking in better spirits," observed Watanabe as Mei was making her way out of the school.

"Am I?" Mei checked her reflection in the glass doors leading out, eyebrow raised in suspicion.

She didn't look any different outside of her clothes and the fact that Yuzu had done her hair before she left the house for her weekend meeting.

It had been a boring meeting, with little for them to talk about save for the planning of the following terms excursion and then a few minor details about the elementary and middle school's upcoming parent's day. But the more she inspected herself, the more Mei could see what her assistant was talking about.

The dark circles beneath her eyes were almost entirely gone, and she not only looked a great deal more relaxed but also felt it, despite the difficulties of the past week. With Hideki spending the week with his father, Mei and Yuzu had spent much of their time alone talking about where they both were mentally and emotionally. As was her usual fashion, Yuzu was worried about Hideki and worried about having to go away again, this time to the Nara prefecture, and hoping that Mei would be okay with her leaving.

Mei had admitted to Yuzu that she was still feeling anxious, but less overwhelmed. After their argument, several tears, and the hours they spent talking, Mei felt that much of the weight she'd felt pressing down on her had lifted. They both knew that it was temporary, the amount of work both of them had and their home life made sure of that, but the knowledge they had, knowing they could trust the other to listen when they began to feel inundated by fear or uncertainty had become a source of renewed strength for the couple.

As her reflection stared back at her, Mei could only see a glimmer of the previous week's negativity in her eyes and smirked triumphantly that she was feeling relaxed for the first time in weeks.

"Yes, I suppose you're right," answered Mei as she adjusted her hair.

"Things better at home," asked Watanabe casually while he flipped through the messages on his phone.

Mei snorted at the question but allowed it.

One of the reasons she'd hired him was because the man had an innate ability to tell what needed to be done before she asked it, and that ability seemed to extend past his professional responsibilities.

Without asking him, Watanabe always knew when Mei would need her favorite tea to relax, when to take phone calls and answer for her, and at times he had emailed Yuzu to have her check in on Mei when he felt she needed a minute to herself.

While many would see this as pandering to her need for a possible successor should Hideki choose a path that didn't involve taking over the academy. Mei knew that it was a possibility and kept a close eye on him and how he spent his days at the school, and from her observations, she found him to be a man who cared about what he did and in the success of the school. In his mind, Mei's mental and physical well-being were a necessity for the school to thrive. Yes, Mei was planning on allowing him to handle much of her paperwork when she and Yuzu finally took their vacation, but it was nothing he could approve; that responsibility solely belonged to Mei.