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Today was gonna be an interesting day, Ira was certain of this.
Today was the day Rikka's father came home.
Now it wasn't like he was a complete stranger to him, no. There had been phone calls, text messages and whatnot. But this is different, meeting someone in person, especially if they were your girlfriend's father.
Rikka had said it was gonna be fine, 'He's a nice guy, I think you guys will get along'. It was different for her, he didn't have any parents to judge her. She had two. Then again, Mrs Hishkawa had been kind, she didn't say much to his presence, and they did things together at times. 'Bonding Time' she called it.
But this was different, this was her father, they reacted differently to mothers. As a former Selfish, he didn't have a great point of reference to the type of person he was. Sure he had Rikka and Mana to back him up but still. Well, worst comes to worst, he has a few hours left to live.
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His plane landed around noon, Mrs Hishkawa had gone to pick up her husband from the airport and had given them a vague time of return.
Ira was nervous, Rikka was watching a documentary on organ transplants, though the anxiety had kept him from noticing it. He had the sudden urge to make a Selfish, it wasn't an odd desire, nor was the reasoning for it. It was a familiar task, he had hundreds of times before, it didn’t help that he could feel darkness in Rikkas heart, wishing she had gone to pick up her dad, to be alone with him.
His disappearance was sudden, startelling Rikka, causing her head to snap to where he was “Ira! Where did you go!?” He could hear her, he hadden gone far, just to his room, upstairs, he could still hear her.
He stayed there for a bit, until he heard the front door open.
“Rikka! I’m home!” His voice was loud, sounding through the whole house.
“Dad! I missed you” he heard as Rikka answered him, full of excitement. “I missed you too” he could hear him answer back, though now they were talking quieter.
Deciding that now was a good time to come down he teleported over to the entryway, and then walked over to stand behind Rikka’s mom, watching him for a second, taking the man in.
He was muscular, something hadn’t noticed during the video calls, standing he could see he was a bit taller then Bel, but he wasn’t anything too big. Having decided to make his presence known he leaned into Mrs Hishikawa, pulling on her blouse a bit to get her attention.
“Oh! Ira, there you are, I was wondering where you ran off to.This is my husband Yuuzou, why don’t you say hi?’ She has that friendly smile she wears when she’s unsure about a situation's outcome.
Stepping forward to greet the boy, Yuuzou reaches out to grab his hand. “Hey! So you’re Ira, well aren’t you cute, your little cowlick is fun.” He has a soft tone, humorous even, like one would have with a child.
Feeling the tension melt out of his body with a surge of emotion. “Don’t talk to me like that! I’m not a little kid!” He yells as he yanks his hand out of his Rikka’s fathers hand. Retreating a couple of paces behind Rikka’s mom he stood there, arms crossed with a frown on his face.
A bit shocked by Ira’s sudden reaction, a heavy silence fell onto the family. “Why don’t you guys go to the living room while I prepare lunch?” suggested Mrs Hishkawa being the first to recover.
Slowly, the tension washes from Rikka’s body. “ Yes, that sounds nice. Do you want help?”
“Yes, thank you Rikka.”
As they all slowly make their way to the kitchen Yuuzou turns towards the stairs, “I’m gonna put my stuff away real fast.” He says curtly. “Of course sweetie.” Calls back his wife.” While he runs up the stairs Mrs Hishikawa and Rikka walk into the kitchen pushing Ira back when he tries to follow. “Ah, back, never again Ira, never again. Go sit on the couch.” Ira obliges with a huff.
Sitting on the far right of the couch, (the best spot) he picks up the remote and briefly browses before restarting Rikka’s documentary. Even if it isn’t the most interesting thing it’s pretty to look at. He’s rather engrossed in a two painted dogs journey that the sudden lurch of the couch is awfully startling. “So Ira, what do you see in my daughter?” Yuuzou asks leaning onto Ira to look him in the eye.
This was it, this was what he feared all along. He had no good answer, he saw her and she was pretty, sure over time he had found reason that made him love her more, but then he would have to explain all the things he did to her and her team, and then it would be over for him.
“I-I mean I saw her and she was pretty, but I’m not sure if tha-that qualifies for your question,” he looks down away from the man, a bit ashamed to admit that fact.
“Well I know that, that's how I met Ryouko, she was hot and I was single. I think that's how most relationships start. But like now, after being with her, what do you see in her? Like how does she make you feel?” He explains this like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. He continues to ramble on a bit about how he felt about his wife after a few chats though Ira tunes him out.
It was an interesting question, what did Rikka make him feel, different for starters, he had always known that. It was a strange feeling, so he had rejected it at first, but the more he thought about it it was nice, though he had never given it a name, but he knew what it was.
“Home,” his proclamation was sudden, stopping Yuuzou in his reminiscing about his wife. “She makes me feel like I’m properly home.”
“Ok, but why word it that way? Why properly home?” His curiosity is genuine, truly wondering why one would ever say it like that.
“Like, well, umm, well we moved around a lot as Selfish so there wasn’t ever a physical home, you know? And like, I never felt out of place with them, the others, but it wasn’t home, like, safe, a place of comfort.”
“Sure, that makes sense, sooo, you feel safe here?”
“Yes, I do.”
That's as far as their conversation got, dinner was ready, the girls were summoning them. That was the end of that, though Ira wanted to set something straight as well.
“I’m not a child and don’t treat me like one, one it’s annoying and two, don’t touch my hair or my wings they’re very delicate. You hold them and I flinch, they tear, and it HURTS. Got it?” Ira clarified as he looked up to the older man.
“Of course, I’m sorry about earlier.”
‘Heh, good,” Ira's smile wasn't visible to Yuuzou, and he banished it when they sat at the table, but he was happy to have been officially accepted into the Hishikawa household.