Chapter 14

Home visit~Act III~ 2006/01/10 20:33 Early in the new year—my first visit to Y-ko’s parents’ house. First her mother’s ambush invitation, then Y-ko’s unbelievable refusal to pick me up, followed by her father grabbing me on the rebound, and ending with her mother’s aggressive Le Creuset jab—I was reeling in the ring. Not only was I nervous as hell, my welcoming party had taken several abrupt turns. The meal was a storm of questions about me. To be honest, I was exhausted. After Y-ko’s elder brother had shown up and we had shared a very awkward conversation, I was finally allowed to escape to the safety of Y-ko’s room. There could not possibly be more manga in here. It’s a whole wall full of manga. She pulled a sailor uniform out of the closet. … Why are you grinning like that? In an unbelievably quick movement, Y-ko used the hanger upon which her uniform was displayed to unleash a killer “Gatotsu” against me. (*Gatotsu = an attack used by Hajime Saito in Rurouni Kenshin.) Her eyes flashed with murder! This was the look of someone driven to kill!! She caught me right in the solar plexus. … That really, really hurts… Yes. Y-ko had abandoned her duty to pick me up at the train station, because she had to watch the recording of the first half of Satomi Hakkenden. If there was a choice between Shinsengumi and Satomi Hakkenden, she ought to be choosing the latter. … What is so confusing about that? Obviously. How silly of me. I agree. Ninzaburo Furuhata is a great show, of course. Ain’t that right… Y-kooo? (twitching my eyebrows, like Furuhata) Tra-la-la-la-la-la, tra-la-la-la (that’s supposed to be the Furuhata theme). … Okay, me, settle down. What happened to Hakkenden, the show so important that you couldn’t come get me because of it? So, to sum it all up… Furuhata > Shinsengumi > Satomi Hakkenden > boyfriend’s first visit home. So the final boss was Y-ko, after all… I don’t think I’ll ever beat her.