Life changes

Chapter 14

That week passed by fast. Emi and I spent time going places. The days were spent shopping a little, eating out at some of the fast food places that pocked the Tokyo downtown core and seeing things. Even taking walks in the evening was a distraction. Through it all, we still made sure to furiously study, cramming as much as we could for long hours.

In the night time, I never slept alone. Emi and I would make love over those many nights, often until fatigue finally forced us to slumber, with out uncoupling from one another love embraces. She would make sure of the fact that it was in her as she slept, mostly on top of me. I really did not mind one bit.

When Emi’s family came back home, they were ion for a shock. The way the young girl had transformed from one who was dressing many years younger than she was to a normal teen was very night and day.

Mr. Nakano was shocked, and in the end pleased at the evolution of his youngest daughter. He just kept on commenting proudly, as is daughter excitedly told him about the movies and other places we had gone to. Quietly, he listened.

He seemed very pleased at the transformation as he saw Emi now, being a confident, pretty yet still very outgoing, yet still a stubborn teenager.

Her sisters all looked at me and smiled, then just looked at their sister. I don’t know just if they knew just how the change had come about, but the all were smiling at me for those long seconds. I wondered if they were upset under those smiles, if they had clued in on it, yet, I did not sense any of the above.

I felt a small but growing sense of satisfaction with it all. It was not everyday you can see a person change like this, and right in front of your eyes too. Maybe this was just how it had to play out in the long run of things. That was two that I had changed... strange.

Mr. Nakano tried to pay me a little for my time. I politely and aggressively declined his generous offer.
“ You don’t have to, sir.” I said, bowing to show respect. “ I was happy just to help.”
“ Suit yourself then.” He sais, smiling. “ I was just wanting to show you our extreme gratitude for all of your time and apparent friendship skills.”
“ You do not have to, sir” I said, gathering up my books and duffle bag as I headed to the door.

He bowed, as I passed him and left the house for home.
“ Thank you again.” He called to me, before he closed the door behind me.
I just hurried and crossed the street, hoping that I would not drop my load of books, yet my mind was still on the week I had just finished up. I could not help but smile at the memories that were in my head at that time.

My uncle was there, surprisingly. He sat on the couch, reading the daily newspaper as I entered.
“ Is it good to be home, Hiroaki?” He asked, peering around one side of the paper at me.
“ You know... “ I said, drawing out the words as I thought out my answer. “ It really is.”

He chuckled.
“ Did she wear you out?” He chortled in glee. “ She’s a sparkplug, that young one is.”
“ In a sense... yes.” I answered back, knowing that he would never guess in a million years just how right he was. “ It was a tiring, yet interesting time for sure.”

My uncle put down his paper and looked at me. He seemed to be in a very chipper mood, and was smiling from ear to ear.
“ Now that you are home, go stash your bag and stuff upstairs and return down here.” He said.
“ Ok...” I said slowly, unsure just why he had told me that. I was curious at his request. “ Why?”
“ Don’t ask so many questions and just do as I asked, lad.” He said, his voice reassuring me that it was definitely not anything bad. “ Just go up and do that... I’ll call the car service.”

Dumbfounded at my Uncle’s unusual request, I scampered up stairs to do just as he said, so I could hurry back. This peeked my interest to no end. What was he up to now? Why get the car to come for us? This might be interesting.

Soon, we were in the car and driving. I did not know where we were going, but this would be interesting. It was like a blind date that I was on, the only difference was I was going with out the fear of rejection.

We drove for awhile, passing the high school I was going to attend soon. I loved the stone building, looking like something from the early seventies in America, rather than modern Japan. I heard it would hold two thousand students, and this would be no different than other years.

That number that was quoted had me worried, my old high school in Canada only had four hundred or so students in it and that was congested enough. I could not even fathom that many students all under one roof, yet, that was exactly what I would have to contend with once the semester was upon me.

A little short of two blocks from the school, the car stopped and we got out. We were in front of what apparently was a apartment complex. It looked like the a motel, with its balcony that led to many doors, much like the apartments in the valley near los Angeles.
“ We are here, Hiroaki.” Announced my Uncle, seeming to be excited about being here.
“ Where is here, Uncle-san?” I asked, a little confused at just why he had brought me here in the first place.
“ Just follow me, and all of your tidal wave of questions will be answered to you in quick and understandable ways.” He stated, walking to the building. “Come then, my young charge.”

Not quite understanding the verbal picture he had tried to paint, I followed, as he headed up the rough stone walkway. I hoped that this mystery would finally be known.

We went up the stairs that led to the first tier of walkways. I just was a little bit inquisitive, more than I was earlier, but decided to just follow and all of my questions would soon be answered.

Up a few flights, passing the first and second levels until the third of the four stories. Uncle walked down the way, passing the different doors with a purpose in his step. He finally stopped at the last door, located around the corner from the main walkway on its own little catwalk- as if this entrance was hidden in some way.

He pulled out a key from his suit coat and unlocked the door. He just started to walk in to the room beyond the doorway, without even knocking. I just followed, puzzled at his boldness to walk in to the apartment.

The place behind the door was a rather large studio styled apartment. It was furnished in a unpretentious fashion, it was quite modern, yet had a little throwback to the eighty’s or very early nineties thrown in to the mix for good measure all over the place along with the usual Japanese style of design too.

There was a double bed in a corner, with a desk tucked in a corner near it- a new looking computer was set on top. A large Amor next to the desk was probably in leu of closet space in here. A small bathroom was visible by a door that was in between the bedside and desk at the very back of the apartment.

The kitchenette was just a island cooking space, with a pantry built in to the wall behind it that had a space for a rather decently sized fridge on the side. A small apartment sized washer and dryer set rested in a small cubbyhole of a closet that flanked the other side of the pantry, there was even a dishwasher built in to the cooking island next to the small sink, along with various sizes of drawer space.

The rest of the studio had a couch and chair set, grouped around a large tv that set in an entertainment center that had two low rising bookcases that finished off the room, and accented the bay window with simply colored drapes on them. The other things in the room were halogen lamps that stood on the floors, like mini light trees.

I looked around, and decided that it was very comfortable in here. I felt instantly at ease here.
“ Cool apartment, Uncle-san.” I said.
“ That is good you like it, because this flat is all yours now.” He said, with a smile. “ I own this complex.”

Stunned, I found myself struggling to say something, as my mind raced. I could not get a word out for a second or two.. His words rang through my mind over and over in the course of a few scant seconds... this apartment was fully mine.
“ Mine?” I asked in a monotone question, as my mind did not process what he said at that moment. “ This... place? It’s mine?”
“ Yes!” He said, nodding. “ You definitely heard me right, young Hiroyuki... this apartment is all yours.”

I froze to place, for a moment. The words were now sinking in, and it was blowing my mind.
“ This apartment is mine?” I restated with a gasp. “ This whole apartment is now mine??”
“ Yes, it is.” He repeated.

I glanced around the room for a while, taking it in all over again as if I had just barely seen the room.
“ Why?” I asked hesitantly, after a few long moments of talking to myself in my mind. “ Do you want me to move out already?”

Uncle chuckled at my question, confusing me even more at that moment in time. He took a deep breath, stopping his heavenly chuckling.
“ Heaven’s no!” He said, looking right at me and shook his head. “ I thought this would be like a get away for you sometimes. You could use it to be alone to study, since it is so close to the school, to get away from your Uncle here.” He laughed at that heartily, putting a hand on my shoulder. “ You might need some privacy, if you had a lady friend and you don’t want to have me around. Or I could send you here if I happened to bring a lady home, which might happen too.”

He wiggled his eyebrows, causing me to laugh. My Uncle was not only a expert business man, but I see now that had a real perverted streak behind that subtle calmness he projects outwardly... Maybe a lot perverted. I laughed too, relieved that I was not being thrown out on my ass.

He handed me the keys, and a small envelope.
“ Your apartment keys and the phone number to your own line.” He smiled. “ I will make sure you have money for food here... since you have proven yourself not to waste any money I have given you.” He seemed to be very proud. “ I wanted to make sure you had a place away from home and such.” He beamed a grin. “ Not too many people get one of these apartment for themselves here in Japan.”
“ I know, uncle, and I am grateful.” I said, bowing.

He just stood there, bowed to me to recognize my words. He turned a little to look out of the window.
“ It still stands that you can call the car service any time you want. If you need some housecleaning done at any time, Yuko said she would come in and help.”

I just looked around in disbelief. Here I was, in my own studio apartment and I did not have to pay a dime of rent. This was all so mind-blowing.

Uncle turned and smirked, as he was really enjoying all of this. He lifted his arm to check the watch on his wrist.
“ I need to get going soon.” He said, letting his gaze turn from his timepiece back to me.” Would you prefer to stay, or come back later after getting some clothes and stuff to set up house?” He paused, adding. “ You have everything else you will be needing to make a home for yourself, I made very sure of that.”
“ I’ll come back later on tonight. “ I said, excited about it. “ This is great.”

We locked up and headed back the car to return home. I smiled all the way home. It was nice of him to make sure that I had privacy. This would make the hard transition into school so much bearable. Bearable and also quite exciting too.