Tsuki! - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Toshihiro couldn’t stop smiling all day, and at least one of his friends was in each of his classes. They gave him curious glances, but didn’t say anything.

After school, they all trekked back to his apartment, but instead of growing gloomy, Toshihiro seemed to grow even happier. His friends thought that if he could float, he would be, and then some.

Toshihiro figured that Hannah would either be waiting for him to come home, or sleeping in the closet like she had yesterday. If she was waiting (please be dressed!), he would introduce her to his friends, and enjoy the looks of surprise on their faces.

If she was sleeping, he would leave her, and surprise his friends another day. He really didn’t mind keeping her all to himself!

They arrived at his apartment, and were all amazed to find that he had furniture! More than one of them checked the name on his door to make sure they were in the right apartment.

Hannah really was sleeping in the closet. She had not gotten much sleep last night (tee hee), and had worn herself out shopping earlier. She had bought dishes, and a beautiful family set of chopsticks. She had also bought a Japanese style low table, some more food, and a bookshelf. She planned to send for some of her favorite books, but in the meantime, it stood empty.

Toshihiro bit his tongue to keep from showing his surprise over the furniture. Hannah wasn’t in sight, and he didn’t want to ruin the surprise of her just yet. Where had she gotten all of this, and how did she pay for it? This looks expensive!

“Hey Hiro-kun, why didn’t you tell us you had gotten a table?” Keichi asked.

“I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“Cool, now we can study at a table, and not have to bend over so much!” Yuki cheered.

If Toshihiro still had any doubt about Hannah staying with him, he figured that this was proof she wasn’t planning to leave just yet.

The five of them studied, then four of them left, and Toshihiro spent time kissing Hannah awake. She made him dinner, and they decided to take a bath before enjoying each other for most of the night.

The next day after school, Toshihiro and his friends arrived to find no new major changes, but there was now a laptop on the bookshelf, some curtains on the windows, and something delicious smelling in the oven.

Keichi checked in the cupboard in disbelief. “You’ve even got cups! Dishes!” He looked in the fridge. “And food!”

His friends all rounded on him, and demanded, “All right, who is she?”

Toshihiro just grinned, and kept silent.

“Come on man!” Kyo prodded. “There’s got to be a girlfriend to make you buy all of this!”

Toshihiro simply grinned.

“Look at him, it’s true!” Sakura, normally too shy to speak so animatedly, exclaimed excitedly.

There came a sudden flush from the bathroom.

“She’s here?!” Keichi goggled at the door.

“How sweet, she’s waiting in the apartment of her boyfriend for him to come home from school.” Kyo smiled.

“Shh, you guys! You’re going to embarrass her!” Sakura whispered.

Hannah heard them, of course, but she couldn’t understand a word they were saying. I hope they aren’t talking about me, she thought nervously. She took a deep breath, and opened the bathroom door.

“Hana!” Toshihiro greeted happily, his eyes roaming her gorgeous full-length summer dress, and its contents, of course.

She smiled at him. “Hero.”

His friends stared at her in shock and awe. She was blonde and gorgeous!

She walked to Toshihiro, and gave him a shy kiss. Do Japanese people kiss in front of others?

Toshihiro pulled her close, and hugged her tightly. “I missed you!” they each said in their own language, and then laughed. They had no idea what the other just said, but it was still funny.

Hannah took hold of his hand, and pointed to the oven. She then pointed at all of them in turn, and mimed eating.

“She wants to know if we are hungry,” Toshihiro informed his friends.

“Uh… yeah?” Keichi answered uncertainly. He felt that the joyous couple might prefer to be alone.

Toshihiro nodded to Hannah, and she removed enough plates for all of them from the cupboard. They were nice, sturdy, stoneware plates with a beautiful cherry blossom shower painted on them.

She set the plates next to the stove, and pulled the nearly matching stoneware pot out of the oven. It was fairly large, and was full with a pot roast, and some vegetables. The roast was pork, and had been seasoned with some herbs the cashier who had sold her the cast iron had helped her pick out.

The two girls had become something akin to friends, and Hannah was extremely grateful for all of her help. She was the one who had helped Hannah find the table, bookshelf, and laptop.

Hannah dished out one plate at a time, and handed them out as she did so. Each person said, “Arigatou,” as she handed them their plate, and she seriously wondered what it meant.

Then it hit her, “Oh! Thank you!” She tapped herself on the forehead, and blushed. “You’re welcome.” She bowed her head slightly in acknowledgement.

After everyone was sitting around the table, the five natives held their chopsticks across their hands, under their thumbs, bowed their heads, and said something that sounded like “ee-tay-deck-ee-moss.” Hannah shrugged, copied the way they held their chopsticks as best she could, and bowed her head as well.

Must be grace, not that I ever say grace, Hannah thought.

They all ate their food with loud sounds of obvious enjoyment, and Hannah blushed again. I’m acting like a girly girl again! I know I am a decent cook, but the way they are acting, it’s almost like they have never had pot roast before, and it makes me happy for some reason! Hmm, I wonder if people in Japan ever eat pot roast? Maybe they haven’t had it, hmm…

“So, where are you from, America?” Sakura tried to ask Hannah.

“Hana doesn’t speak Japanese,” Toshihiro informed them.

“She doesn’t? But you don’t speak English, so how do you communicate?” Yuki asked. She had initially been a bit jealous of the way Toshihiro looked at Hannah, but the delicious food had softened her a little. “And is that why you haven’t introduced us, Hiro-kun?”

“Yes, that’s why I haven’t introduced you yet, but I can.” He took Hannah's hand, and looked her in the eye. He smiled, and she smiled at him in return.

He pointed at her, laying one finger delicately on her chest. “Hana.” Then he pointed at himself. “Hiro.”

Next, he pointed at Keichi, who was on his other side. “Keichi.”

Hannah repeated him. “Kay-ee-chee.”

Toshihiro nodded, and smiled, and Hannah waved at Keichi as if to say hello.

“Kyo.”

“Key-yo”

“Sakura.”

“Saw-ku-rah? Saw-kur-rah?”

“Sakura,” Toshihiro repeated.

“Sawk-ra.”

“Good, and that’s Yuki… Yuki.”

“You-key.” Hannah thought this one was the easiest of them all, and she smiled at Yuki proud that she could pronounce the name pretty well, and waved hello.

Hannah returned her gaze to Toshihiro, and he smiled at her happily.

“Oh.” Sakura realized that they had just answered how they communicate, and Toshihiro’s friends all looked at each other as realization hit. Toshihiro had fallen in love!

“So, Hiro-kun, where does your American girlfriend live?” Yuki asked.

Toshihiro blushed. “Here.”

“What?!” His friends all demanded. Hannah looked around curiously.

“What do you mean she lives here?” Keichi demanded. “You lucky dog! Have you… you know, yet?”

Toshihiro’s face turned red all the way up to his hairline, and behind his ears. “I don’t think I should tell you that.”

Yuki immediately scooted a little bit away from Hannah, and Keichi and Kyo looked extremely impressed. Sakura smiled, happy that her friend had finally found someone.

Hannah figured out what the conversation must be about by how red Toshihiro’s face was. She grinned at him, and leaned close to him. “Hero,” she murmured softly, and pressed her lips to his.

Kyo gulped and shifted his head side to side as he tried to figure out what to say. “Uh, I, uh, I think we should go.”

“But we haven’t studied at all,” Toshihiro pointed out.

“True, but I think it’s obvious that you’d rather be alone with your girlfriend,” Keichi replied.

“Wait,” Yuki insisted. “Tell us more about her. How long have you known her, and how long has she lived here?”

“Three days, and three days. She was sitting out all alone in the pouring rain, and I couldn’t just let her catch a cold. I offered her to come here, but she indicated that she didn’t trust me. Then these two guys started harassing her, and I stood between them and her.

“I thought I was going to die! But they decided to leave us alone, and she must have decided I was trustworthy, because she came home with me. At first, I figured that she must have someone to call, but apparently not,” Toshihiro finished.

“That’s it! You’ve only known her three days!” Yuki found she had several more things she wanted to say, and none of them nice, so she held her tongue.

“Yes.”

“But… But what if she has done something illegal. Or, what if someone horrible is after her. Americans don’t just fall out of the sky! They have to have permits, and go through customs, and she’ll eventually have to go home,” Yuki pointed out.

“I know,” Toshihiro admitted sadly, and took hold of Hannah’s hand again. “I don’t care what her story is, and I know I’ll be sad when she leaves, but I am so happy just having her here, that I plan to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.”

Hannah tilted her head, and looked at him questioningly. She sensed something was wrong, and she stroked his face soothingly.

“That’s sweet,” Sakura said. “But it can’t be easy for her, she doesn’t understand us, and we’re talking about her. I’m surprised she isn’t sneezing up a storm.”

“Maybe American's don’t sneeze when others talk about them,” Kyo offered. “Anyway, we should go.”

“Fine,” Yuki agreed.

“Wait, what about studying?” Toshihiro asked.

“We’ll do it in the library tomorrow,” Yuki said.

“Are you crazy?! If we come here, maybe Hana-san will have cooked something else for us,” Keichi protested.

“Regardless, I think we are all too riled up to study today,” Yuki replied. “Let’s just go.”

The others agreed, and Toshihiro waved them goodbye.

He turned to Hannah, and wrapped her in a hug. “I’m so glad you are with me.”

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