BLURB: Like it says in the intro, Yohji cuts off Ken and Aya for treating him like a sex object. So how would THEY take that? And What would Yohji do to kill all the time that frees up? He goes to look for his long lost father. . .
Omi shook the cobwebs out of his head, and to his credit, dropped the subject and carried on.
"So now what are you going to do?" He asked. I thought it over for a minute. I could hit a bar or a club somewhere, maybe meet a good-looking someone. . . or I could go and look for HIM.
"I think . . . I'll go look for my father." I said aloud to see how the thought sounded.
"Your father?"
"He left my mom when she got pregnant. I never knew him. My mom still knows who he is, though."
"So you're going to visit your mom, then."
"Yep."
A glimmer appeared in Omi's eyes. It was . . the hint of a hope of a possibility.
"Can I come too?" Omi asked. "I never get to do anything fun."
The request seemed innocent enough. But my mind is my mind, and I know my mom, which is why I saw what was wrong with that little request first.
"Do you know how BAD it is for me to show up at my mom's place with a 17 year-old? She DOES know I'm bi, she does NOT know I work at a flowershop."
I sighed. I'd just have to give mom the same story I feed women. A stupid excuse for being on call 24/7.
"Don't you have homework?" I tried hopefully.
"Nope."
"Fine, but play along with any story I give about work, okay?"
So back downstairs we went. We passed by Aya's door on the way out. By the sounds of things, it hadn't taken them too long to think of the obvious solution: Just forget me, and go screw each other. I'm not a math geek. I'm a language geek who's good at logic problems and stuff like that. But still, look at this equation.
Horny Aya (oh excuse me, RAN) + Horny Ken = Pissed Aya + Sore Ken
Like I said, Aya likes it hard, Ken likes it soft. They're not compatible. Even so, I just HAD to stop and listen in on what was going on.
"KEN! Don't be such a WUSS!"
"OW! Aya, not so hard, man!"
"DON'T call me AYA!"
"What am I SUPPOSED to call you?"
"That's NOT my problem."
"Gaah!"
From here on, there was silence from the two of them, and I could even hear the mattress squeak if I listened hard enough. Then there was a small struggle and gasping from Ken. Aya must have gagged him to keep him from calling him Aya. I certainly wouldn't put it past him.
"Owww! This isn't working. Man, I'm gonna be sore for a WEEK!"
I snickered softly and then headed down the stairs where Omi was waiting for me.
"You should have heard that." I grinned appreciatively.
"I don't WANT to hear that." Omi insisted.
"Fine, fine. Suit yourself."
I stopped by the shop long enough to get Mom a custom-made bouquet, and then we set off. The front door of Mom's place was unlocked, and three sets of shoes were at the door: Mom's, Mom's best friend Tanaka-san's, and a third pair I recognized, but couldn't place. Ah well. Omi and I took off our own shoes, and I led Omi to the living room. I could hear Mom and her friends talking even from the hall outside the room.
"You just have to come with me one of these days." Said a voice. I recognized it. It belonged to a little old Lady who had been in the shop earlier that day.
"You can never have enough flowers, and there are three young men who work there who are just BEYOND handsome. They should even be close to YOUR boy's age, Megumi."
I tried my best not to laugh.
"What?" Asked Omi.
"The lady who's talking is talking about Koneko. A satisfied customer from earlier this afternoon."
"So what's the name of this quaint little shop?" Tanaka-san asked.
"You know, I can't quite remember. . . ko . . . ko ."
At this point, I decided to make my entrance. I leaned on the doorframe to the living room, holding the bouquet out in front of me.
"Koneko no Sumule." I supplied. The three ladies looked up at me, and their reactions were just as amusing as Omi's was earlier. Mom and Tanaka- san's faces lit up. Their other friend, our Raving Fan looked horrified, as if I had broken in or something.
"Shee, If I had known there would be THREE of you, I'd have brought more flowers."
"That's HIM! The handsome young man who helped me at the flower shop!"
By this time Kaasan had regained some of her motor skills.
"YOHJI!" She exclaimed, and practically strangled ME in a maternal hug. Instinctively I kept the flowers out of harm's way. When I realized what I'd done, I practically sweatdropped. Then I gave my mother a kiss on the cheek.
"Mom, I missed you so much."
"Yohji! OH I have so many questions. What happened to Asuka? How about that red-haired lady you were looking for? What are you doing working at a flower shop? I thought your dream was to be a detective?"
That's my mom for you. Give her a chance and she'll talk your head off. Some might find it annoying; I find it endearing. Mom is the most important woman in the world to me, more important than Manx or Asuka. You wouldn't think so, considering I hadn't seen her face to face in two, three years, and I never left the town.
"Hold on, One thing at a time. I'll answer anything, but first I want you to meet someone." I turned back to the doorway and called Omi, who was still standing nervously in the hall.
"This is Tsukiyono Omi. He works at the shop, and convinced me to take him with me to meet you."
"Hajime o-me mashite." Omi muttered nervously.
"Asuka is probably dead. The redheaded lady set me up with my job at Koneko in the first place, to focus on the lighter things in life, instead of the corruption. I do detective work part time now."
Mom seemed satisfied with the response. Or at least, she thought that Omi was more interesting, anyway.
"Are you SURE this boy is just a colleague of yours, Yohji?"