Takumi laughed when he heard the song Eri had chosen. She pulled him over onto the sand and he slid his arms around her waist. They danced on the sand and after the second chorus he sang along softly with the verse.
Eri came to a halt and gazed at him with wide eyes as she exclaimed, "Oh my god!"
"What?" he asked uncertainly.
Eri was in awe. "Your voice is amazing, and you know this song?" she asked incredulously.
"Yeah." He shrugged uncomfortably, and told her a little anxiously, "I hate being asked to sing."
She thought about that for a moment. "I can see why people would ask you. I love your voice when you're just talking, and when you sing it, it makes me shiver." She told him a little unhappily, "I'll try not to ever ask you to sing though."
"Thank you," he said softly, and pulled her back into the dance.
She melted into him as they moved, but she regretted having said anything because he didn't resume singing along. After a bit she whispered, "I'm still surprised you know this one."
He blushed, and told her quietly, "This is my mother's band."
Eri froze in shock and stared at him open mouthed.
Takumi chuckled and reminded her, "I did mention she's a musician and in a band."
She protested immediately, "You didn't say your mother was a pop star!"
"I'm not sure pop star is a definition I'd use, but aside from that, does it really matter what my mother does?" he asked a little plaintively.
She blushed and shook her head. "No, of course not, but isn't it ok for me to be shocked that your mother is in one of my favorite bands?"
He nodded and kissed her until the next song started. They started dancing again. After the third song she sighed and said, "I love this, but we should stop." She looked at him a little anxiously and asked, "Do you feel up to meeting my parents for a few minutes​ now?"
He kissed her again and replied reassuringly, "Yes. Thank you for giving me a little extra time to get used to the idea."
Eri shrugged and said, "Just a minute. Let's fix the sand." She pulled a couple of small rakes out of a closet in the corner of the laundry room and they raked the sand quickly, according to her quiet instructions. Then she shut everything down and took his hand.
He smiled at her and squeezed her hand and they walked back to the elevator.
She led him to her family's corner apartment, took a deep breath and unlocked and opened the door, calling out softly, "I'm home."
Her mother, Miyuki, looked up from where she was standing on a short stool at the counter in the small kitchen section beside the entrance, and grinned. "Welcome home! Did you enjoy your weekend? When do we get to meet him?"
Eri blushed and replied, "Yes, and now." She tugged gently on Takumi's hand and he stepped into the room behind her.
"Oh my," her mother replied a little faintly looking at the pretty young man in red leather.
He said, a little shyly, "Hello, how do you do?"
Miyuki relaxed a little at his polite greeting and set aside the vegetables she'd been working with. She quickly washed off her hands while Eri said, "This is my mother, Miyuki. Ka-chan, this is," she blushed more deeply, "my boyfriend Takeshi Takumi." Then she asked, "Where's to-chan?"
Miyuki took Takumi's hand and replied cheerfully, "Nice to meet you. He's fixing something on a sink in C3. I don't think he'll be very long, if you can stay for a little while?" She directed the question toward Takumi.
Eri looked at him hopefully and he smiled at her and replied, "I can stay as long as you want me to?"
Eri took his jacket and hung it up next to where she'd hung her new white one. Then she looked at what her mother had been preparing and suggested, "Stay for supper?"
Miyuki immediately repeated the invitation, and Takumi agreed to stay. They removed their shoes at the entrance and stepped in while Miyuki returned to her food preparation. He looked around the small apartment curiously, and Eri asked, "Want me to show you around?"
At his nod, she showed him the small bathroom with a tile shower occupying the corner opposite the kitchen, then stepped up onto the tatami floor of the main room, she walked over to one of the antique silk screened doors and slid it open to reveal a raised cubby with a futon set up on its floor, another rolled up behind it, and either end lined in drawers.
A little embarrassed she explained, "This is where my sister and I slept until she got married, now it's just me." She waved to the screens on the other side and added, "That is my parents, it's basically just a mirror image of this section."
Takumi grinned at her as she scooped up her school tablet, and she asked, "Do you mind if I start on my assignments while we wait?"
He shook his head. Eri took his hand again and pulled him over to a padded raised square in the corner where the two walls of windows met. She scooted onto it and he looked at her for a minute, then climbed on and coaxed her into moving so that he was settled against one window sill and she was tucked up under his arm.
"This view of the river is gorgeous," he commented after a moment.
Eri glanced up at him and said shyly, "When I was in grade school, my parents let my sister and I choose whether we'd move into this corner apartment where you can see the river, but is only a little bigger than the one we started with, or into one of the larger three bedroom ones on the back side of the building."
Miyuki watched them cuddle up together quietly, and she grinned as she worked.
Takumi said, "If this place had a tub, I'd apply for a corner apartment like this. The building is beautiful and the view is even better than at my place."
Eri laughed and told him, "We're sitting on the tub."
"What?" he asked with confusion.
She slid out of his arms and pulled him off the little platform. Then she showed him how it lifted away to reveal a square soaking tub with walled overflow drains along each outer side.
He laughed and asked, "Where do I sign up?"
She covered the tub again and replied, "There's a waiting list, but it's like five years."
Her father had slipped into the apartment quietly while they were distracted, and he spoke up, "Seven years probably for one of the corner apartments." He kissed his wife and looked at his embarrassed daughter and her visitor with amusement.
Eri introduced Takumi to her father Mitsui Minami. He was barely taller than his daughter and had the same curl to his hair where it was long enough to show. Looking at her parents after the introduction, Takumi grinned and whispered to her, "you have your mother's pretty green eyes and your father's hair."
Eri nodded and blushed. They curled back up in the corner and Eri tackled her assignment again. After a few minutes Takumi said, "That answer is wrong, but should I interfere or just let you do it?"
Eri looked up at him with surprise. "I'll take any help I can get, but you don't have to. What's wrong with it?"
He showed her where she'd gotten the formula wrong and she laughed and said teasingly, "You secretly really like math don't you?"
He shrugged and replied, "I don't like it, or hate it, but it's easy for me. Thankfully I take after my father rather than my mother where math is concerned. She hates it and I think it really doesn't make sense to her sometimes." He laughed and told her, "Once while my father was away on a longer trip, she was driven to actual tears while trying to help my little brother with his assignments. I had to do it instead."
Eri shrugged and told him, "I don't hate math any more than any other subject."
Takumi raised an eyebrow and asked, "Are there any subjects you like?"
She was quiet for a long time before answering, "Not really. I guess my language classes are the most interesting, but I can't really say I enjoy those either."
"It's OK," he told her comfortingly, "school doesn't last forever unless you decide to become a teacher."
She laughed and cuddled into him before remembering that her parents were watching them from the kitchen. She pulled away a little again and blushed. "Sorry," she whispered.
He shrugged.
They ate dinner with her parents, and he calmly replied to their gently teasing questions. When he suggested that it might be time to go, Eri walked him out to his bike.
They kissed for a while, standing on the pavement beside it. When he felt her shiver he hugged her and said, "Silly, you should have pulled on a jacket. Go back inside, I'll see you again tomorrow afternoon."
She let him go a little regretfully, and went back inside.
Her parents grinned at her and her father said, "He seems nice. How's his driving?"
Eri blinked, then shrugged and replied, "Um, conservative? I guess. We've only driven around a little in town. Why?"
"Motorcycles aren't exactly the safest form of transportation," he complained.
Eri blushed and explained, "That's why he insisted on buying me my own jacket and helmet today." She gestured to the white leather jacket. "And he was really picky about getting ones that fit well enough to suit him," she added.
"Good," her father replied simply.