Summer with Father

Chapter 1

Artoria watched tv, nervously twiddling her thumbs. "I feel like he should be here by now..." She thought. Her son Mordred would be staying with her for the summer, and was set to arrive that day. Morgan told her that Mordred would arrive around lunch, and now it was 12:30.

She'd already cleaned the house and set up the guest room, so now all she could do was wait. She was a bit nervous, as this would be the first time she'd be meeting Mordred in person. She was hoping this would be a chance to finally get to know her son, but she had doubts. What would Mordred be like? Would she be able to make a good impression? Could she be a good father to him? In an attempt to ease the tension, she'd decided to turn on the tv. After some channel flipping, she found an animated show about a German girl and her tiger going on adventures. The show was strange enough to hold her attention, so she just left it on there. Despite the distraction, things still lingered in her mind like a thorn in her side that wouldn't go away.

Then, the doorbell rang. "That must be him."

She turned the tv off and walked over to the door. When she opened it, she was greeted by the sight of Mordred standing in the doorway. Artoria had only seen pictures of him up until now, so it was a bit odd seeing him in person. The boy was wearing a white tee-shirt under a red jacket, along with denim shorts. His luggage consisted of a backpack and two suitcases.

"Ah, welcome Mordred." Artoria greeted, keeping a cool front.

Mordred smiled, "Hey, dad! Glad to finally meet you!" He set his luggage aside and hugged Artoria. She was caught off guard by the sudden embrace but what surprised her even more was Mordreds tight grip. "He's strong...!" Artoria thought as she hugged back. "He's taken after me...I was quite strong at his age as well."

Grabbing Artoria by the waist, Mordred suddenly lifted his father off the ground. "Hah! I knew you were small enough to carry!" He laughed.

Artoria was struggling to keep calm and this was not helping. "First of all, we're the same height so you are not in a position to call me 'small'!" She huffed. "Second, please put me down!"

"Bah, you're no fun!" As soon as her feet touched the ground, Artoria wasted no time to pick her son up in the same manner. She struggled to do so, but still managed it.

"I'm a bit rusty" She said "but I've still been able to retain some of my strength."

"Hey, not bad! After I unpack, how about an arm wrestling match! What do ya say?"

Artoria simply chuckled and responded, "I'll consider it" before setting her son down.

Helping Mordred carry his suitcases upstairs, Artoria showed him to the guest room. "This will be your room for the summer." She said, gesturing to the newly cleaned and meticulously organized room. After they set the luggage next to the bed, Artoria asked Mordred if he was hungry.

Mordred looked up from his backpack. "Yeah, haven't anything since breakfast. What'd you have in mind?"

"Well, to celebrate your safe arrival I thought I'd take you out to lunch. There's a new restaurant in town I've been meaning to try out. I believe it is called Kotomine Mapo or something like that."

"A mapo place, huh?"

"Yes. I do not know anything about it but someone at work said it was good."

"Sounds fine to me!" He stood up and stretched "Let's get going. I'm starving!"

The father and son ventured out into the hot summer day, the sun shining brightly above them. Since there was no school, there were quite a few children running along the hot sidewalks and crying with laughter. Several kids flew past them on their bikes, looking like brightly-colored blurs.