Steampunk Precure

Journey to Family

While each girl was studying for a test or class assignments, the fairies were looking at four faintly glowing orbs in the chest. Ayako and Gina were brought out of their concentrated stares when the door to the bedroom was slammed open. Turning in surprise at the sound of it, a blob of flesh glomped onto Ayako and the girl was startled to say the least.

"Ayako!" They cheered.

"What the . . .?" Ayako pushed the blob away. "Hikaru?"

"I've come to play with you." He exclaimed.

"Good day, Ayako." a voice came from the doorway.

"Hey, Satoshi." Ayako smiled.

"Who is this?" Satoshi pointed to her friend.

"Satoshi, Hikaru, meet Gina Vanna." Ayako introduced. "Gina, this is Satoshi, my uncle, and Hikaru, my cousin."

"Nice to meet you." They synchronized.

"Why the visit, Satoshi?" Ayako asked her uncle.

"Do we need a reason to visit family?" he grinned.

"I'd like to think so." Ayako mumbled.

"What was that?" Satoshi leaned forward.

"Nothing." Ayako grinned.

"Can we play, Ayako?" Hikaru asked.

"I don't know, I have homework to do." Ayako looked at her desk.

"Why don't we take a break, Ayako?" Gina suggested. "We have been studying for two hours straight now."

"Okay." Ayako sighed, reluctantly agreeing.

"Yay!" Hikaru cheered.

'I'm so not going to enjoy this.'

As Ayako was reluctantly enjoying her time with her young cousin, Gina stood on the veranda with Satoshi leaning on the railing as he was watching his son.

"Care to give me the real reason why you came to see Ayako and her parents?" Gina looked at the man.

"How could you see right through me?" He inquired.

"You remind me of Ayako's actions when she isn't herself." Gina explained. "Care to tell me why you're here?"

". . . My wife and I have gone through a bit of a rough divorce and I needed a reason to get away from everything back home." Satoshi looked at the sky.

"So . . . a vacation of sorts." Gina deducted.

"Yeah, I guess that could be it." Satoshi sighed.

"Does your ex-wife get to see your son?" Gina wondered.

"She does, but it's only visiting hours at the home and we have to pretend to tolerate one another when we're in the same room."

"Does your son know about this?"

"Yeah, but my wife and I decided to not tell him the whole truth."

"Why not? He deserves to know."

"I know that, but I want him to ask me about it when he is interested."

"You know the anger that will arise from it, don't you?"

"I do and I will welcome it with open arms."

Tugging on their sleeves told the teens what they needed to know and after sharing a nod, they excused themselves using an excuse to get away from the house. Hikaru hugging her leg caused Ayako to stop in her tracks and look at the boy.