[Story] A Surprise Visit

[kattobingore]

A Surprise Visit

It was late at night on the day of Kotori's 20th birthday.
It had been a pleasant and fun day simply hanging out with their friends, playing games, watching movies and eating the snacks that Kotori and Yuto had made, but their friends had left about half an hour ago and so she and Yuma were cleaning up the remains of the small party in the living room.

"This was super fun!" Yuma exclaimed. "We gotta do this again at some point!"

Kotori nodded in agreement. "Maybe we can do it for your 20th in a few months. It's really nice to get everyone together. We don't get as many chances to hang out like this these days, since we're all busy with our own things."

"Yeah! I think that's a great idea!"

Just then there was a knock at the door to their apartment.

"Huh. I wonder who that could be. It's awfully late." Kotori pondered, as Yuma got up and walked into the corridor. He pressed a button on the com system to activate the camera and let out an audible gasp when he saw who was stood outside.

"Yuma, who is it--" Kotori broke off as she approached him and saw who was on the camera view. "Wait... isn't that...?"

Yuma had a mix of emotions on his face, like he didn't know what to do at first, but suddenly he bolted to the door and threw it open.
Outside stood his parents, Kazuma and Mirai Tsukumo. They looked relieved when Yuma answered the door.

"See? We got the right apartment eventually!" Kazuma joyfully exclaimed to his wife, making her giggle a little, before turning to Yuma.

"We might have accidentally disturbed a few of your neighbours." She then gave Yuma a warm smile. "It's really nice to see you again, Yuma."

Yuma was at a loss for words as he choked back tears. He then simply threw his arms around his parents, pulling them into a hug. "I missed you guys so much!"

"We missed you too, son." Kazuma replied.
As the family reunited, Kotori watched from the doorway smiling, with tears in her eyes.

"Mirai-san. Kazuma-san."

"It's good to see you as well, Kotori-chan." Mirai beamed. "You're looking well."

Kotori nodded. "Please, come inside. Well... that's if Yuma lets you."

Yuma broke the bear hug with his parents with a laugh, as he wiped the tears from his eyes. "Ah, right!"

When inside, Kazuma and Mirai marvelled at the indoor decor of the apartment. They recognised a lot of their artifacts that now decorated their son's home, which looked a lot better than being piled together in a dusty old attic. When they got to the living room, they laughed at the slight mess.

"Looks like we almost crashed a party." Kazuma joked.

"I apologise for the mess." Kotori replied. "It's actually my 20th birthday today, so we had some friends over."

"20th birthday...?" Mirai seemed a little shocked at that at first. "The Astral world doesn't really have any kind of concept of time, so I didn't realise so much time had passed. Happy birthday, Kotori-chan."

"Thank you, Mirai-san." Kotori then pointed to the kitchen. "We have some left over snacks in the kitchen. If you're hungry, you can help yourselves to those while I set-up the futon in the spare room for you both."

Sat at the kitchen table, Kazuma and Mirai couldn't help but be amazed at the range of different party foods that had been left over. While in the Astral World, they only really had rather basic, synthesised food given to them, which they often had to be creative with, so all the different foods and flavours were an incredible experience for them. Yuma couldn't help but smile at them enjoying the food.

"So hey, what brought you guys here so suddenly?" he asked, curiously.

"Well, things have been going great at the Astral World and with Eliphas, so we figured we really needed to take the training wheels off and see how they do on their own for a bit." Kazuma explained.

"And we really wanted to see you and the rest of the family again." Mirai added on. "We've missed you all so terribly and the last time you contacted us with Rainbow Kuriboh really made us realise just how much you've grown up with us not being here."

Yuma had last contacted them only a few weeks ago and had talked about Heartland being re-built, how Akari and his grandmother had moved back there and how himself and Kotori were transitioning to having the apartment in Domino City completely to themselves.

"So everything is going along smoothly with the Astral world?"

The sudden new voice in the room made all of them jump, before realising that it came from Hope, who was now floating in the room behind them.

"Oh man, Hope. I've told you not to sneak up on people like that!" Yuma grumbled. Hope just looked at Yuma curiously.

"I was not 'sneaking'. I just heard the conversation and was asking for clarification."

Kazuma simply laughed. "Yes. Everything is going fine."

"I see."

Hope left the conversation at that as Kotori entered the kitchen.

"Our spare room is set up for you both. I hope the left over party food is alright."

"Our food options on the Astral World were limited, so this is really like a delicacy to us right now." Mirai replied.

"Even so, I'll make sure to do some really nice home cooked meals for you both while you're staying."

"How long ARE you both staying anyway?" Yuma questioned with eagerness.

"At least for a week or two." Kazuma replied. "We really want to catch up with everyone and do things we haven't been able to do in years. Then we'll return to the Astral World and see how things are going.

"If things are going down the right path, we'll be able to visit more and then eventually return to our lives here." Mirai added on.

Yuma's face was beaming with joy. He was excited at the idea of getting to spend the next few weeks with his parents, something he hadn't been able to do for the last nine years.
His birthday wasn't for another two months, but right now, this felt like the best early present he could of ever been given.

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[Entry]

Oh man guys, I am so excited!! My parents gave us a surprise visit and they're staying for the next few weeks!! I have so much catching up to do with them!

My dad and I are thinking of having a camping trip this weekend, just like we used to do when I was a kid! It's gonna be the BEST!