With the help of a spiritually enhanced body and the blessing of certain tonics that Kisuke had me imbibe, I managed to get myself back to full health in no time at all.

Honestly, it was a bit ridiculous how quickly I ended up back on my feet. I went from experiencing the worst mental pain in my short life, to being entirely fine and actually feeling energised again in the grand total of three or four hours. Though, Kisuke and Tessai both warned me against using my ribbon sense again for the day, citing a supposed ‘repetitive stress’ situation.

Which, along with granting Suzumi a day off, meant that we were both free to do whatever the hell we wanted to for the rest of the day. Originally, I was content to just stay inside and relax the day away, like I had on so many other days in my past. But Suzumi started to pout at me and before I knew it, we were out and about. Of course, I wasn’t made privy to exactly where we were going, much to Suzumi’s delight.

Now, after jumping into the store’s little car and driving for a good forty minutes, Suzumi excitedly jumped out of the car. She then came around to help me out as well, not that I needed all that much help. I had become significantly more mobile for whatever reason, maybe it was the improvement in my senses in general.

“Alright, alright. Guess where we are!” Suzumi said giddily, punctuated with an excitable giggle. I pulled my face into a hesitant grin, eyebrows furrowed in a mix of bewilderment and anticipation.

“Uh, a restaurant?” I asked tentatively. Suzumi giggled again, her ribbon dancing along with her emotions. Thank god I could at least see the important ribbons, though I’m too far away for my weakened field to pick up Tessai and Kisuke’s.

“Close!” She said happily and started to push me away from the car gently. I followed along, being careful where I placed my feet, and finding myself on a footpath, then towards a very floral scent wafting towards me atop a cool breeze, contrasting the mild temperature. I realised pretty quickly, as the cool breeze and powerful floral scent increased in their strengths, that I was being pushed into a store.

“A florist?” I questioned, puzzled.

“That it is!” An older, matronly voice responded. There was an initial shock to being answered by someone other than Suzumi, but then something felt familiar about the voice in a distant way. My eyebrows creased in earnest now, my brain whizzing through scenarios, trying to understand what was going on.

Evidence piece number one; we were in a flower shop, yet Suzumi said that it was ‘close’ to a restaurant.

Evidence piece number two; Suzumi was overly excited about all this. This had meaning to her.

Evidence piece number three; there was something distinct within the other woman’s voice that was familiar to me in a powerful way. I could almost taste a specific flavour from the way that they talked. I thought on those evidence pieces for only a few seconds, for that was all that it really took.

Suzumi’s excitement, the familiarity in the voice, a ‘restaurant’.

“Good evening Mrs Hamari. It’s great to finally meet you.” I smiled pleasantly, dramatically shifting to a more formal form of Japanese.

Behind me, I could practically feel Suzumi deflate, the wind taken out of her sails. Mrs Hamari herself just laughed pleasantly, and in a few short steps she walked close to me and embraced me in a gentle hug.

“No need for that, just call me Yua.”

I got a lot of information from that hug. I was hardly a tall man, but Yua was significantly shorter than me, maybe five foot at best. She smelled like the warmth of summer, and her skin was soft but wrinkled with age. I couldn’t be sure of her age, but likely in her late sixties, from her voice and general feel. Though watch me be wrong about that.

“Yua it is then,” I chuckled as I released her from my embrace and backed off a step, “I’m Grayson, in case you didn’t know.”

“Oh, I know alright. Suzumi has mentioned you at least once a day since she took you home from your flight.” I could just about feel the grin in her voice and a flabbergasted splutter from the woman in question.

“I hope all good things?” Yua snorted in a dignified way.

“All good things, I can assure you. Though Takahashi was the same…” She trailed off, smile on her lips.

“Mum! Shush!” Suzumi drew out the words like a petulant child would, eliciting a laugh out of both Yua and I.

“I have to say, for a hafu from outside of Japan, you speak perfect Japanese. Did your family speak it?” She enquired gently. My brain kicked into overdrive, trying to think. I was half Japanese, but I never saw any benefit from that, other than some basic Asiatic features, skin and hair. Other than that, my face is far too European to believably pass as fully Asian.

It was a difficult thing to account for, and I don’t know if Suzumi had spoken with Yua about my inability to speak Japanese. Though, Suzumi squeezed my arm afterwards in affirmation and I picked a believable lie. Sorry, Yua. Hope this won’t have to be a recurring theme.

“Uh, well, unfortunately not.” I stammered out, “I was adopted very young, and I suspect that my biological parents wouldn’t have been equipped to give that gift to me anyhow. I studied Japanese independently, online and with other Japanese speakers.” I shot a wide smile towards Suzumi, “Though learning here has been incredibly helpful.” Yua made a sound of acknowledgement, her murky form bobbing its head along with.

“There are very few that can speak as precisely as yourself. My husband was very much the same. I swear I learned more Japanese while talking to that man that speaking with my own grandmother!” She chuckled in remembrance and I couldn’t help but smile in concert. It still made me feel bad, even if it was a pretty harmless lie in the end. There would be a point where Yua would need to be made aware of the spiritual nonsense that goes on in the Human world, no doubt. When was a different question altogether.

“I have to say,” I spoke sombrely, “Suzumi has told me a little about her father. He seemed like an excellent man, and I wish that I had the chance to meet him.” Yua made a soft sound as she moved forward and pulled me into another hug.

“Desmond was a protective father, so he would likely be interrogating you right now, but thank you dear.”

With the initial greeting having gone over well, the next few hours were devoted to talking about life in general. It was a treat in itself, that I found myself in Yua’s presence. Just from her voice alone I could tell that she was a beautiful woman, not necessarily in the physical sense, but a deeply spiritual sense.

The way that she helped me to a place to sit, knowing that I was as close to blind as you could be for someone with spiritual powers. The way that she listened and regarded each of my actions and words with thoughtfulness.

I realised quickly that Suzumi was her mother’s daughter in the truest sense of the word. She was warm and welcoming to the utmost degree. I swear that she could bring a group of people together in the morning and make them great friends at the end of the night.

I ended up talking more about my past than I would have expected, and Yua was understanding, though I think it affected her more deeply than I expected.

“Honestly,” I began again after a long pause in conversation, “you are a lot like my mother. That gentleness that you and Suzumi share… it’s something that I’ve been missing for a long time now.”

There was a moment of warm silence that we all shared, quietly sipping on our various drinks around the table Yua had brought us to. Once you had moved past the front room, the shop opened up into more living areas that Yua could entertain in. I suspect that Yua uses it extremely often. The pillows that we were sitting on were plush and comfortable and the squat table was made of heavy wood and had a glass centre, surrounded with the wood it was sitting in.

It was a pleasant atmosphere, with the potent smell of flowers and the warmth of the early summertime. It was relaxing all by itself.

Though, it wasn’t for much longer that I’d be allowed to sit on my butt and do nothing. Apparently, Yua had been cooking dinner beforehand and had left the stew to cook whilst we talked. She decided, abruptly, that I was the one to help her.

“But he’s blind, ma!” Suzumi protested weakly.

“Well, you don’t need to see to keep an old lady company, do you Grayson?” Yua asked slyly. I just rose from my place on the floor, wry grin firmly in place, and moved to follow Suzumi’s mother—summarily ignoring Suzumi’s childish protesting.

I knew that what I was going to face was somewhat of a rite of passage when it came to a new boyfriend. Yua was the matriarch, probably of every social circle she could find herself in. I think it wasn’t too much to ask that she have a moment alone with me, or to let her put me through the ringer a bit.

The woman led me through the conjoining house with ease, finally making our way to a tile floored room that smelt of the food of gods. People forget how great a simple stew can be when done right.

“Sit.” The matron said gently, though more commanding than in front of her daughter. I nodded in response, easily following the woman’s order.

“I understand that you have only been in Japan for… less than a month?” I nodded, not particular enough to correct her. I believe is somewhere in the realm of thirty-five to forty days. Though I could easily be just as wrong about that, I haven’t exactly been keeping count.

“What are your plans from here on out?” Though it was a question, it was a demand in truth. I quietly thought on it for a while, even though I had a knee-jerk response, just to make sure that I wouldn’t be lying to my girlfriend’s mother. If I could help it.

“If I’m to be totally honest, I’m not totally sure.” I felt the presence of the room stiffen a little, but I continued, “My life changed rapidly after my adoptive parents died. I spent a long time mourning, and I still am, to be truthful—but moving to Japan was totally of the cuff. I absolutely never could have expected to have my world changed so rapidly around me.” Yua seemed content to let me monologue, and I jumped at the chance to explain myself fully.

“Meeting Suzumi was something of a fluke. There was an immediate connection there that just doesn’t happen often, and then that was only reinforced by my sponsor going bankrupt, her to take me back to hers, both getting a little tipsy and sending out job applications together.” I ran my hand over my leg, feeling the texture of the denim and letting myself think.

“I got a job, and a lot happened that drew us together extremely quickly. Far faster than I’ve had even a friendship could evolve. Honestly, this very sentence will be the first time that I say, out loud, that Suzumi is pretty much my girlfriend.” I smiled towards Yua’s form, who I could only guess was looking towards me. She snorted gently and turned around to the stew.

“I can understand.” She began, though it took her a long time to get around to the but, “But, my daughter has fallen hard for men in the past. She clings desperately to the beginnings of a relationship and hopes it will bloom into something more, though she leaves herself no alternative.” She shifted around some things, idly reorganising her kitchen bench.

“What do you intend with my daughter?” She said, with a light smile on her lips. I guess the cliché line was too tempting not to use.

“I don’t know. I wish I could see into the future and understand what we will become, but I just can’t. What I can say, as of now, is that Suzumi has been invaluable to me for this past month and I just hope that I can be the same for her. I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere soon.”

The quite reigned in the kitchen after that, though it was a warm, comfortable silence, rather than the cold and exclusionary one I had feared I would face. Yua moved towards me, giving me a warm hug, though I couldn’t help but feel something a little off about it. It wasn’t the mood, or even the action itself, but something that I knew I was missing and overlooking right now, that I should be cluing into.

Regardless of the odd feeling, we ate. Dinner was as nice as you’d expect. Tasty with great conversation to wash it down. Though apparently Yua’s MO had become to embarrass Suzumi in any way possible. Including the time where Yua had to stop Suzumi’s father from going in and chewing out a toddler because Suzumi said that they were going to marry.

Other than that, I think it was about as perfect as you could get.