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“Mitsuba!” Jobin smiled as he opened the front door. “Here already?”
“I wasn’t doing anything, so I thought I would show up early,” Mitsuba replied. “I hope I’m not intruding.” She stepped inside, taking off her shoes and leaving her roller skate bag by the door.
“Not at all! I just haven’t found my skates yet.” Jobin took her hand and led her to the living room, planting her on the couch a few seats away from Norisuke who was busying himself with the morning newspaper. “I’ll go look in the garage, but you stay here,” he said.
“Okay,” Mitsuba said with a nod before Jobin rushed off. “Morning, Mr. Higashikata,” she said politely.
“Morning to you, too, Mitsuba,” Norisuke replied, not taking his eyes off his newspaper.
He had been seeing a lot of Mitsuba lately. It seemed that, when she and Jobin weren’t busy with work, they were hanging out at the house or going out on the town together. They were practically attached at the hip and had been this way for the past couple of months that they had been together. Norisuke was all for young love and was very supportive of their relationship, although silently, but the amount of time they spent together was a bit concerning. More so concerning in regards to Mitsuba.
It was like the girl never went home. Mitsuba was there in the morning almost every single day and usually didn’t leave until late in the evening, long after dinner was over. Norisuke had even started increasing the sizes and measurements of his recipes to compensate for her. He had to give her credit though. Mitsuba was always very thankful and polite, never overstayed her welcome, and always left promptly and without complaint if she was asked to.
Mitsuba was an adult, as much as an adult a person could be at eighteen, but she was still a young girl that lived with her parents. At this point, Norisuke had expected to receive some kind of call from her parents about how much time she was spending at their house or at least to talk about meeting up for dinner to discuss their children. But he had heard nothing of the sort. Nothing at all for that matter.
Norisuke had been thinking about bringing it up to her, but he didn’t know how to without sounding like he didn’t want her there. He figured there was no point in trying to be nice about it. He needed to broach the subject now before he looked like he didn’t care enough about the goings-on of his own household.
Norisuke folded his paper neatly in his lap and removed his reading glasses. “You sure spend a lot of time at our house, Mitsuba,” he said bluntly.
Mitsuba visibly grew tense, no longer seeming like the calm and collected girl she usually was. “You don’t have to beat around the bush, Mr. Higashikata,” she said, echoing his own thoughts. “If you think I’m hanging around here too much, I’ll lay off.”
“That’s not it at all! I’m just worried,” Norisuke back-tracked. “Do your parents not mind you being here so often?”
Mitsuba relaxed a bit, but her mood shifted at the mention of her parents. “They don’t mind much of anything,” she answered, not meeting his eyes and seeming more interested in the hem of her skirt than the conversation she was having.
“What do you mean?”
“They don’t really care about what I’m doing. If and when I’ll be home. I guess it’s nice to have so much freedom at my age, right?” she smiled meekly. She was pained by her own words, but they carried a weight of acceptance to them like she had already come to terms with her situation a long time ago.
Norisuke's heart clenched with guilt under Mitsuba’s gaze. He hadn’t considered that the reason why she had been hanging around Jobin and their family so much was that she didn’t have much of a home for herself to go back to.
Mitsuba was a very kind and polite girl on the surface, but as he spent more time with her, Norisuke had gotten to know her better than the image she portrayed herself with. She was bold and compassionate and never backed down from a fight. She meshed with Jobin perfectly, bouncing off his energetic and quirky personality with her own outgoingness and wit. Norisuke had never seen his son more happy since he met Mitsuba. She was a positive force in his life and had the ability to lift his spirit with her presence alone. Norisuke was grateful to her for that.
That was to say that he liked her a lot and was so blinded by her charm and the happiness of his son that he didn’t think to question anything about her personal life. He never would have thought that she would have something going on at home. Mitsuba wasn’t his daughter, but he felt as though he had failed her in a way. Like neglecting to understand Mitsuba was akin to failing one of his own children.
He wanted to ask her more and maybe try to fix whatever was going on with her and her parents, but it wasn’t that simple. He didn’t have that kind of power. No one did. And besides, Mitsuba wasn’t a child and her family’s business had nothing to do with him. All Norisuke could do was try to support her in any way he could.
“Jobin has gone through a lot these past few years, but he’s been happier since you’ve started coming around,” Norisuke said earnestly. “You’re welcome here anytime, got that?”
Mitsuba was silent for a moment, tears welling in her eyes that she quickly blinked away. “Got it,” she smiled, laughing a bit in disbelief.
“Found them!” Jobin announced as he emerged from the garage, holding up his white roller skates in triumph. “Ready to go?”
“Yes!” she said eagerly as she rose from the couch and smoothed the wrinkles from her skirt.
“See you later, dad,” Jobin waved.
“Bye, Mr. Higashikata,” Mitsuba said, giving Norisuke her best smile. “Thank you for everything.” She gave him a wave before following Jobin out the front door.
With a sense of accomplishment, Norisuke unfolded the newspaper, put his glasses back on, and continued where he had left off.