Chapter Text
“Yoo-hoo! Noriko-chan!” The redhead turned her head at the familiar voice.
“Oh! Mr Kujo!” Noriko exclaimed as she turned toward the blonde man, who had a basket in one hand and was being followed by… “And Jojo!” The smaller girl ran toward her girlfriend to hug her.
“Hey Nori.” Jotoka offered, expression softening slightly as her girlfriend jumped into her arms.
“What are you doing here?”
“Helping my dad with groceries. Baba’s coming over for christmas and is bringing the entire gang, so we have to like, buy a shit ton of food. And by the entire gang, I mean the entire gang: Baba, Nono, Carmen, Josuko, Josuko’s dad, Polnareff, Avdol, Iggy, probably a friend of these three who has nowhere to go for the holidays... I think Sanae is also gonna be there, for once. You?” Jotoka asked. The redhead blinked in confusion, before remembering that…
“Right, Christmas is a family holiday in western countries… and also way bigger of a deal.” Noriko commented, letting go of Jotoka. To be honest, she was kind of sad that she wouldn’t be able to spend the festivities alone with her girlfriend. “And, uh… I’m here with my parents? We finally went through my clothes and threw away like, everything beside my uniform, a dress, two sweaters, one pair of pants and two pair of panties, so we’re buying myself new stuff right now.” The redhead explained, before adding that they were currently in the food section as a detour due to missing some things for the week.
“Oh! Your parents are there, too?” Harry asked.
“Yeah! They’re right over there. Mom! Dad! Jojo and her dad are here!” Noriko yelled, both of her parents turning toward her daughter. They then made their way to their daughter.
“Well, hello, Jotoka-chan.” Ms Kakyoin offered to the taller girl, who nodded.
“Hi Ms. Kakyoin. Mr. Kakyoin.” Jotoka answered, tipping her hat over her face. She then turned toward the blonde man. “Uh, dad?”
“Yes, Jotoka?” Harry asked, turning away from the shelves of food to look at his daughter, who gestured at the two other adults.
“Those guys are Nori’s parents.”
“Oh!” Harry exclaimed before bowing his head in respect. “It’s so nice to meet the ones who raised Noriko-chan! I’m Jotoka’s father, Harry Kujo.” He then extended a hand, which Noriko’s father shooked.
“It’s also nice to meet you, Kujo-san. I am Tadashi Kakyoin, and this is my wife, Nyoko.” Mr Kakyoin said, gesturing to his wife. “Say, your Japanese is quite good.”
“Oh! That would be because I’ve lived in Japan for twenty years now.” Harry explained, which earned him an understanding nod from Nyoko and a sound of approval from Tadashi. Both teenage girls looked at their parents. Noriko wasn’t exactly sure of what she was feeling, until Jotoka leaned down to whisper in her ear.
“You feel that? The bullshit feeling that’s rearing it’s ugly head as your parents talk about you with your girlfriend’s dad?” The redhead nodded, sending a confused look at her girlfriend. “That’s embarrassment. Let’s get out of here.”
“But… my clothes-”
“Hey, Mrs Kakyoin! I’m gonna help your daughter pick her new clothes while you and your husband chat with my dad, that’s fine?” Jotoka suddenly asked, startling all three adults (and everyone else in the aisle) out of their conversation.
“... Alright? Noriko, wait for us at checkout? I think we’re going to talk with Mr Kujo for a while.” Nyoko asked. Her daughter nodded.
“Okay, do I have a limit? On how much I can spend in clothes?” Noriko asked, turning toward her father.
“Try not to go over 15 000 yens, and definitely not over 40 000. We just paid the bills” Tadashi explained.
“I can help paying.” Harry proposed. All three Kakyoin thanked him, and the redhead then forcibly dragged her girlfriend out of the food aisle, and toward the clothes one. Both of them had their face flushed in embarrassment.
“Say, are either of you doing anything for Christmas? Or is your daughter?” Harry asked. The three adults were currently looking for bread.
“No, we don’t really have anything planned, why?” Nyoko asked, turning her head toward Harry.
“Well, my family and a few friends are going to be at my house for the week, and I was wondering if you would be okay with Noriko-chan coming for the festivities?” Harry asked. “I hope I don’t intrude, but Jotoka absolutely adores your daughter! I haven’t seen her being so excited about someone else since… well, since she started going down the road of delinquency, now that I think about it…”
Tadashi ears perked at that. “Jotoka-san wasn’t always a delinquent?”
“No. In fact, she used to be a very sweet child, if a little shy. She had difficulty talking to people, and would easily get overwhelmed. Some of the children took advantage of my daughter being more introverted to be cruel to her, since she didn’t tell anyone.” Harry explained. Tadashi nodded at the explanation, and Nyoko softly gasped, realizing in shock just why her daughter had connected so fast with the delinquent.
However, the similarities ended here. “Then one day, she was out with her grandmother- my mother, Josephine. The two of them are very close- testing out the baseball bat she had given her for her last birthday. And a group of boys that liked picking on my daughter came out of nowhere and tried to intimidate her into giving them her bat… but instead, she got into an extremely brutal fight with them, and she was the one who came out winning.”
“It turned out that the reason why she didn’t do anything about it was because she considered it an annoyance, and though that laying low would make them stop paying attention to her. When I asked her about it, she described that the moment before she decided to beat them up was when it all clicked together that the reason she was being picked on was… well, in her words, because other people are jerks. So, she decided to stop acting nice when around them.” Harry finished as he picked the bag of bread for the week. Both of Noriko’s parents were looking at him in shock.
“... I see.” Tadashi said. Apparently, Jotoka had resorted to violence much faster than Noriko, but it had been much less extreme, and probably less damaging on the taller girl’s psyche.
Nyoko simply looked at Harry sadly, before remembering why she was being told that. “And… Noriko is the first friend she has made since then?”
“Yes! Well, not exactly. More like she’s the first friend she makes who wasn’t already a friend of my mother” Harry said enthusiastically. “So, about the Christmas party?”
“Well, I don’t see where the hurt would be!” Nyoko said, a small smile appearing on her face as she picked her own bread. “Should we bring something for then?”
“Oh! Probably something small, like a soup or some kind of dessert?” Harry proposed before adding “Everyone is already going to be bringing food, so…” Both of the Kakyoin nodded. “Alright, I think I have everything. What about you?”
“We also have everything. We just need to get back to our daughter, now.”