[Story] Future Plans

[kattobingore]

[Story] Future Plans

"Argh! You beat me again?!"

Yuma looked at his cards that were set up on the kitchen table and then looked over at Kotori's who was sat opposite him.
This was the third duel they'd played and each time she had completely wiped him out.
Giving out a sigh, he just rested his head against his hand.

"Maybe you're the one that should be aiming for the Pro-Leauges."

"That's your dream, not mine, Yuma." Kotori replied, as she began collecting up her cards from the table. "To be honest, I don't even remember how I got this good. Maybe the game just suddenly... clicked better with me?"

"I dunno, but I bet you could beat everyone at the Super Junior League! Hell you might even be able to beat some of the bigger Pros with how you've been playing!"

As he spoke, Yuma gestured suddenly with his hands and without thinking, knocked a glass of water that was beside him.

"Yuma! Watch out...!"

Yuma wasn't able to react quickly enough as the glass of water fell off the edge of the table. He closed his eyes, expecting to hear the sound of glass shattering but... it never came. When he opened them, he saw the glass floating just inches off the floor and Kotori, who was holding her hand out towards it, with her eyes fixed firmly on the glass.
She'd caught it with her powers just in time.

The two looked a little surprised, before Kotori gave out a sigh and she slowly floated the glass back up onto the table.

"Yuma, you should be more careful."

It hadn't just been her dueling that had gotten better. Her powers had improved too.
The last either of them remembered, she could only really push, pull and knock things gently. She could lift things up, but only for a short time, but now she could react like lightening and easily stop something like a glass from hitting the floor.

Before the two of them had chance to think anymore on it, Akari entered the kitchen, with Haru behind her.

"Yuma. Kotori. We'd like to speak with you both about something for a moment."

The two exchanged glances. They weren't really sure what Akari and Haru wanted to talk to them about, but it seemed important.

Moments later, the four of them were sat at the table at the back of the kitchen.

"As you know, I recently took a trip to Heartland to gather information on the recovery efforts going on there." she began. "While I was there, I also surveyed the damage to our house back there and despite some significant damage, it's fixable.
It's believed that the recovery efforts will be finished by sometime next year.
Once the damage to the house is fixed and the city is habitable again, granny and I are going to be moving back there."

"Moving back?" Yuma looked puzzled at his sister, then exchanged an equally puzzled look with Kotori. Neither of them had really thought about what to do if they simply got the chance to... move back.

"Yes. Which is why we need to talk about what the both of you would like to do." Akari finished.

"What we'd like to do?" Kotori glanced down at the table. "Chances are, my parents will probably move back too, but..."
She looked back up at Yuma, with hesitation in her eyes. Moving back and living in Heartland again would be nice, but, alongside Yuma she'd built up so much here in Domino now and despite her reservations about living in Domino when they had fled Heartland after the earthquake, she felt... settled here now.

This was the hesitation Akari had been expecting from them.

"I have a proposition for you both."

The couple looked up at Akari with curiosity.

"If, in a years time, the two of you are able to support yourselves financially, I'll transfer the contract for this apartment over to you. It'd be yours."

"You mean, we'd be living here, just the two of us? On our own!?" Yuma exclaimed. Akari gave them a nod.

"Over the next year, we plan to gradually give you the chance to look after the apartment and support yourselves on your own. I may take more jobs that require out of town work and granny may come with me for the trips. Then, once the damage to the house is fixed, we plan to share time between this apartment and the house, before moving permanently back."

"We believe this is something you are both quite ready for." Haru chimed in.

"I know the last time we left the apartment to you things... didn't go quite as planned, but even though I came down hard on you, Yuma, for not telling me what had happened straight away, I can understand why you did.
I never said it back then, but, I was proud of how maturely you handled the situation."

"Proud?" Yuma seemed surprised.

"I know what happened was beyond both of your control, but Yuma, you not only showed you listened to me when I told you about the emergency money fund I had, you made sure to use it to fix the damage to the windows. You accepted help from your friends when you needed it and through all that, you made sure Kotori was comfortable and that she got the right kind of help during a difficult time for her."

"I just did what I felt was the right thing to do at the time!" Yuma replied.

"And it shows that you've matured."

The room fell into silence as Yuma and Kotori exchanged glances once more. They really didn't know quite what to make of this right now.
Sensing that, Akari spoke up.

"You don't have to make a decision on this straight away. It's a big decision for you both and it's one you need to make together."

Looking back at Akari, Kotori gave her a soft smile.

"Thank you, Akari-san."

---------------------------------------

As dusk descended on Domino City, Kotori was silently sat under a tree outside their apartment. She had a lot on her mind, as she looked up at their apartment building, but being sat out here was relaxing.

While lost in her thoughts, Yuma entered through the open gate carrying a small plastic bag of stuff Akari had asked him to get from a nearby store. Spotting Kotori sat outside, he smiled and walked over to her.

"Hey!"

Kotori was startled out of her thoughts as she looked up at Yuma, instantly returning the smile when she saw him.

"Hey."

Yuma placed the bag he was carrying onto the ground as he went to sit down beside Kotori under the tree. It was silent between the two before Kotori spoke up.

"It's so strange. It seems like only yesterday we were kids... now we have careers we're building and this place might be our first home together, on our own."

"We've come pretty far, huh." Yuma replied softly. Kotori gave him a small nod in agreement, before looking over at him.

"We really have and... I'm happy with where we are and excited for whatever's next."

Yuma silently looked over at the apartment for a moment in thought.
"Then let's do it." he said, before looking back at Kotori with a determined expression. "Let's kattobing and aim to make this place our own home. If we keep working towards our goals, I know we can do it!"

Smiling contently, Kotori leaned in for a kiss, before cuddling up against him.

"I know we can do it too."