Chapter 100: Chapter 99 - Mom’s Investigation Begins

As Namida Asakura’s voice echoed through the apartment and bounced off the walls, Minami felt every last bit of energy she had leave her body.

" Kuro,".

" I think final boss is here . "

"What do you mean?" .

"Tell everyone I was brave, please, if it all goes wrong."

"She’s your mom, not a dragon."

"As if you were there and have seen how she acts."

That did not give her any comfort.

Ding! The doorbell rang again.

Ding! Again.

Ding! Again.

"Minami, here!"

Minami shouted as she rushed to the entrance of the apartment to prepare herself, mentally.

Nothing could go wrong.

The apartment is clean.

The catastrophe that took place earlier has been fully cleaned.

It will all be ok.

Minami opened the front door to the sight of the woman with the long black hair who immediately wrapped her arms around her and called her name (Minami).

"Minami!"

"Mom!"

"I was missing you so bad!"

"It has only been a couple of months."

"Nah! For the lifetime of a mother, that’s an eternity!"

Minami instantly regretted answering the door.

Namida now stepped inside and came to a sudden halt.

She looked around her daughter’s apartment: the living room, the kitchen, the shelves, the floors, the furniture – everything was in place and organized. She then slowly turned back to her daughter and...

"..."

"..."

"...Minami?"

"What?"

"Whose apartment is this?"

Minami almost choked on her response!

"It is mine."

"Don’t lie to me!"

"It is mine!"

Namida narrowed her eyes and looked through Minami at the apartment.

Noting the menacing aspect of the shoes so casually left by the door. The apparent danger those shoes represent, will be revealed only as the story unfolds.

Namida raised her eyes from the shoes to the wall above Minami’s head and, after a second, turned her head to Kuro, who was carrying a box of books at the worst possible moment, making their situation all that worse. Kuro and Namida both blinked at the same time, while Minami felt as if her spirit had just departed.

"Oh," said Namida with a wicked grin on her face.

Five short minutes later and all three were now seated at the dining room table. Namida had insisted upon tea being prepared and so it had been. Oddly, it felt as if they were at some sort of a police interrogation.

Namida sat on one end of the table directly opposite Minami, with Kuro seated between them, which now would not allow Kuro to escape easily, that tactical error would be discovered soon.

"So," Namida said with a big grin on her face.

"So," Minami said without one.

"Kuro-kun,"

"Yes."

"How long have you been living here?"

Minami nearly sent a mouthful of tea out her nose.

"We are not living together!"

Namida looked at her with a shocked expression.

"I never said you were living together."

"You certainly gave that implication."

"I clearly implied that you were."

"Mother!"

Kuro was looking out the window, wishing that today was a good day to jump out the window, at least, and gain a reprieve.

Namida, after years of ignoring all but the essentials required as a parent, ignored Minami completely.

"So Kuro-kun."

"Yes?"

A deep silence followed for several beats of time.

After that silence, Namida turned her gaze on Minami.

Then Kuro.

Then back to Minami.

Somehow’s there again.

Her grin seemed to grow larger.

That is a scary thought!

"Oh, this is interesting..."

"It’s not," Minami answered right away.

Interrogation continued.

There was no hesitation.

There was no mercy.

There was no concern for the dignity of anyone, especially Minami’s.

"Kuro-kun, how do you feel about my daughter?"

Minami almost fell off the chair.

"Mom!"

"What?"

"Stop asking him questions!"

"I’m gathering information."

"For what?"

"The future."

"There isn’t one!!!"

Namida ignored that statement.

Kuro looked like he wanted to disappear.

Unfortunately, there was nowhere to go.

No place to escape to while Namida Asakura was around.

Then Namida noticed something.

A pile of laundry which had all been folded.

Perfectly.

Too perfectly.

Namida looked at Minami.

Then at the laundry.

Then back at Minami.

"I know you didn’t do that."

Kuro quickly looked away.

Betrayor!!

"MINAMI!!!"

"What???"

"You can’t fold towels!!"

"That’s not right!!"

"You called me one time ’cause you couldn’t fold a blanket!!"

Kuro was covering his face.

This was becoming too much and hurting him LOTS!

Too much and hurting Minami a TON!!

Too much and is HILARIOUS to Namida!!!

Lunch was brought out shortly thereafter.

Actually, Kuro brought out lunch!!

Because, just before that, Minami had almost burnt herself trying to make lunch!!!

Namida was immediately aware of a particular detail.

She enthusiastically celebrated this detail.

"Can you cook?"

"Yes, a little," said Kuro.

"He’s being too modest," Minami mumbled.

Namida tasted Kuro’s cooking and continued to eat.

After one bite, and then another, she couldn’t believe how delicious it was! Kuro respectfully acknowledged her surprise.

Minami felt something deep inside her, and it was uneasy.

Jealousy.

However, she wasn’t jealous of Kuro.

Minami was jealous because her mother was giving praise to someone outside their immediate family.

And she had given that praise multiple times.

It was simply unfair.

And so unbelievably irritating.

Throughout lunch, Namida continued to gather information to support her idea.

She was trying to prove that Kuro would make a good husband, even though it was completely imaginary.

Evidence #1: Kuro did the dishes.

Evidence #2: Kuro fixed an unsteady cabinet knob.

Evidence #3: Kuro carried heavy boxes.

Evidence #4: Kuro listened politely to Namida.

By mid-afternoon, Namida had enough evidence to reach a conclusion.

But that conclusion was going to create danger for her.

"Kuro-kun?"

"Yes?"

"You are going to be a husband."

And then came dead silence.

An absolute stillness before there was no longer functioning mixed in with the indescribable range of emotions.

Minami had lost all cognitive functions due to a computer-like crash.

The computer program crashed, and all that was left were error messages.

"MOM!"

"What?"

"You cannot say that!"

"I just did."

"You cannot say that!"

"Why not?"

" Because -

Namida instantly noticed the confusion with her daughter.

A mother can always sense

A smile forms on Namida’s face.

A dangerous smile.

The rest of the afternoon continued with the family telling stories.

All kinds of stories.

The kinds that make you feel embarrassed.

The kinds of stories that are specifically embarrassing to Minami.

"Did she really get lost in a supermarket for two hours?"

"Yeah," says Kuro while laughing.

While this is happening, Minami wants nothing more than to cry.

"I bet you didn’t know that she failed at making rice six times?"

"Mom!"

"And she accidentally washed her phone?"

"Mom!’

"Twice?"

"MOM!"

At this point Kuro has completely stopped laughing.

However, for whatever reason, it still brings Kuro joy to watch Minami become embarrassed.

This was a very different person than the usual strict teacher

The professional cold person

The intimidating homeroom teacher

Very different than this.

It’s really quite unbelievable.

As time passed into evening, Namida became less hyper and did not continue to tease and joke and eventually, just looked around the apartment.

She would then look to Minami and look then to Kuro.

She eventually smiled, a very different type of smile than what has been portrayed earlier.

Gentle and softer than before.

Her look was full of happiness.

It was a genuine happiness for Namida because for her daughter Minami was not alone for the first time in a long period of time even if she didn’t believe something was occurring between Kuro and herself.

Even if proof was provided to Kuro of a misunderstanding, and even if Minami denied the unfortunate circumstances and reality disagreed with how she saw imagination.

Namida still believed Minami is happier, laughing more often and living more because of two things.

Of course, she wasn’t finished causing trouble.

Far from it.

As Minami got up and stretched, she turned her head in Kuro’s direction.

She smiled.

"I want to hear more stories tomorrow!"

Immediately, Minami stopped moving completely.

"Tomorrow?" She said with a look of confusion.

"Oops!" Namida’s innocent expression quickly changed to a look of evil delight.

"By the way, I am spending the night here."

Silence.

And then quiet again.

Then Minami yelled.

Kuro thought about what had happened and knew that tomorrow would not be enjoyable in the least.

Yesterday in Minami Apartment -

Unluckily for the old neighbor, they had not yet completed the job that they were doing.

As the old woman left, she said loudly to the other old woman next door, "Minami has found a really good man!"

The other woman nodded her head immediately.

"He does everything for her! He cooks, cleans up after Minami, and even carries groceries to her! You better marry him fast!"

"I agree with you!"

Minami almost died of humiliation, while Kuro quietly thought about whether or not it would be a sound decision to move to another apartment complex.