Scratch Backup: Sudden Roommate (10) Fumie's Family

[Actual chapter is at https://joelrees-novels.blogspot.com/2019/12/sudden-roommate-10-fumies-family.html.
Backup of completed chapter is at https://joel-rees-economics.blogspot.com/2019/12/bk-sudden-roommate-10-fumies-family.html.]

[JMR: Scratchwork from between 20191216 and 20191222:]

"There's where I live." Fumie indicated the subdivision of neat rows of houses packed close together on the streets stretching vertically away from us, across the major road where we waited for the light, almost in the shadow of the high-rise condominium block to our left and behind us. The afternoon sun glinted off upper-story windows.

"They all look the same!" Teru shook her head in bemusement.

I had to agree with Teru. Modular mix-and-match construction gave some individuality to the houses, but there was an underlying sameness. Four-by-eleven meter rectangular plots, three-and-a-half stories, less than a meter between each house, one-meter deep garden or general-use area in front of the entryway, with carport area one side or the other overhung by the second floor. For all that each house had it's own variations, there's not a lot of variation possible in that tight a space.

"Wait. Is that your house? The third one in on the second street over there? The blue and pink one, with the kaki tree in front threatening to hang fruit over the fence?" Teru pointed, and I leaned in to get a view over her shoulder. Jun scoped it out from behind us.

Fumie nodded. "Very good guess. We have to trim that persimmon twice a year."

"Give good fruit?" I asked.

"For an inner-city tree."

"There's something different about the house, the colors, the layout," Teru observed. It makes me think of you."

"S' yer dad manag'd th' construction when this's goin' up?"

"My mom. The houses were constructed in modules at a factory. Dad led the team that built the module design and layout software. And then they decided to live here when they got married."

Teru nodded. "Your dad and mom could do more with the software than the average customer and the sales architect working together, I guess."

"Yeah, but I think it takes a special eye to notice it."

The light changed and we crossed the street. Entering the subdivision, we skirted the common parking lot at the end of the first street, passed the first two houses, and crowded into the micro-garden beside the persimmon tree. Fumie opened the front door and aromas of udon noodles and soybeans with pork and vegetable broth, seasoned with cayenne and sesame oil and other traditional spices, wafted out.

Jun tested the air. "Smells good."

"Yeah." Fumie nodded. "Tada-ima," she called out as she let us in.

We filed in after her, echoing, "Tada-ima!" and adding the obligatory apology, "Shitsu-rei shimasu," as we left our shoes in the genkan and stepped up onto the inner floor, then shuffled into the carpeted first-floor kyakuma where we dodged the low-hanging ceiling lamp to stand between the couch and the electric piano. A computer keyboard and screen stood on a small desk in a corner, and bookshelves stood against the far wall, with books and magazines on a variety of subjects, including a selection of religious and philosophical works that I recognized.


"Ah," a deep male voice resonated down the stairwell. "Fumie. Teru, Ryō, and Jun are with you, right?"

"Right, Dad."

"Is the kotatsu set up down there?"

The low table for the kyakuma was nowhere in sight.

"No, ..."

"Honey, no need for formalities between friends," a contralto voice resonated from above in turn. "Bring them up here where the food is."

"Okay." Fumie indicated the stairs with her head. "Is the kitchen okay?"

The three of us nodded. "Sure." "Yeah." "Sounds great."

She led the way up the narrow stairs, Teru following. Jun nodded for me to go first, then came behind, all of us following the smell of good food wafting down from upstairs.

At the top of the stairs, Fumie moved ahead on the landing between the open kitchen door on the right and the closed door on the left, so we could enter first. Fumie's mother turned to greet us as we squeezed in, wiping her hands on her apron. Her dad was tending the pot at the stove, sweating lightly in the steam.  He also turned and nodded welcomingly towards us.

"Ah, Teru. Welcome!" Fumie's mom took Teru into a big hug, then leaned back to look her in the face. "Been so looking forward to meeting you."

I could see Teru's back stiffen as she took the hug. She ducked her head, not able to give a proper o-jigi bow between the table, the wall, and Fumie's mom. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Masamichi."

"Emari. Call me Em." She patted Teru on the back reassuringly. Looking over her shoulder, she checking my face first and then Jun's. She turned back to me and nodded. "Ah, Ryō."

"Mrs. Masamichi." I had room for a proper o-jigi in reply.

"And Teru's wonderful big brother, Jun, who takes such good care of his little sister." There was no trace of irony or sarcasm in her voice as she separated from Teru and squeezed past me to pull Jun into a hug.

Teru turned and followed Emari with her eyes, raising her eyebrows, then turning slightly to look inquiringly at me. I gave her a little shrug and shake of my head, muttering under my breath, "You got me."

Jun didn't miss a beat. "In 'n ideal world, Ms. Masamichi, in an ideal world." He returned the hug easily. "Thank 'e for yer inv'tation."

"Em, to you, too."

"Thanky', Em."

They patted each other on the back. Jun and I exchanged glances over her shoulder.

Fumie's dad put the ladle down and shut the flame off, and came over to shake our hands with a warm grin. "Seisaburō, but you guys can call me Sei. Sure glad you could come today."

The three of us returned his greetings.

Emari separated from Jun and looked out the door, catching Fumie's eye. "I guess the kitchen table really isn't big enough for seven. Fu-chan, since Nats still hasn't come down, can you and Ryō set up the kotatsu in the ima?" She nodded at the door across the landing.

Fumie looked in at me with puzzlement in her eyes. "Is that okay?"

I gave her an "I don't know what's going on!" look in reply, but she didn't seem to be reading me. So I turned to Teru and asked her with my eyes if she was okay.

She was keeping her face a mask. She nodded just enough for me to see, and gave me just enough of a straightened mouth to let me know she wasn't happy.

"I guess, ...," I answered a little more hesitantly than was polite.

"Thank you." Mrs. Masamichi stepped outside so I could get through. I looked quickly towards Teru and mouthed, "Hang in there."

Again, she nodded just enough for me to see.

Jun's eyebrows were raising slightly.

"You're on," I undertoned to him as I squeezed past.

When we were up the stairs and around the corner, Fumie whispered, "So my mother knows you?"
"Not that I am aware of," I whispered back.

 She stopped turned to face me. "Then what is this all about?"

I shook my head. "No idea."

Still puzzled, she turned and continued up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, she knocked on the nearest door. "Nazoru, are you coming down to meet Teru?"

"After my team finishes this battle."

"What are you playing?" I asked.

The door slid open, and a teen-aged boy about Teru's age looked at me from where he sat in front of his game machine with a headset on, one hand on the door and one on his controller. "Got company," he said into the mike. Then he turned back to his game. "Dragon's Dogma."

"Ah, yeah. Teru used to really get into that one."

"Used to?" He digested that for a minute while he attacked the on-screen beast with his teammates. "Are you Teru's big brother?"

 "Nah, I'm not Jun, I'm their friend Ryō."

"Hang on," he said into the mike, and the on-screen avatars of his teammates moved into defensive formation. He turned back to examine me doubtfully for a moment, then returned to his game again. "Let's go." The on-screen battle resumed. "You're as old as Fumie," he commented, keeping his focus on the screen.

"True."

"Is that why you're not interested in Teru?"


"Natsu, ..." Fumie's voice had a warning tone.

"Heh. Nothing of the sort."

"Then why don't you put her in your family registry?"

"Nazoru!"

"Life really is not as simple as many people think. But she's pretty much agreed to marry when she is old enough, since you ask."

"My mother thinks you're dodging your responsibilities."

"Nazoru, really!"

"Might be. But that's between Teru and me and God."

"Mmmff." He reached back without looking and slid the door shut again. "Take that, you beast!" we heard through the door. "There's the healing potion. Sorry I was a little slow."

Fumie and I retrieved the kotatsu from the middle room and I took the front end as we carried it down to the second floor and set it up on the tatami in the ima. Dressers against the wall indicated that the living room doubled as Fumie's parents' bedroom at night.

"Kotatsu's ready," Fumie announced through the kitchen door.

"Oh, good. The udon is ready, too, let's all move into the ima. Jun, can you grab these dishes, and Teru, can you get the salad? I was just telling Teru and Jun how I know you're parents, Ryō."

"I didn't know that."

Teru picked up the salad and Jun picked up the dishes, and Seisaburō put a lid on the pot and picked it up with hotpads, and they moved into the ima where we were waiting.


Emari followed with the rice cooker. "Your mother has worked with me on researching the hidden histories of o-mikoshi, and your father is a member of a group Seisaburō and I are in, researching lesser known connections in the history of logographic characters. Why don't you sit here by me," she indicated service side, right of kami-za. "Jun can sit opposite you, and Teru can sit next to him, opposite Fumie." That put Fumie on the service side to my right. "Nats can sit next to Teru," she indicated kyakuza-right, "so they can get to know each other. He seems to think he is the glorious guest anyway."

The joke about Nazoru fell flat, and neither Fumie nor I could think of a way to cover it.

Teru's forehead creased, and she bit her lip.

I have to admit, I did not feel as awkward about all of this as I should have. I can't say why, except that during my two years of religious service I often found myself in socially awkward situations.

Seisaburō came to the rescue. "Honey, if we aren't standing on formalities, perhaps we could let them sit where they choose."

Emari looked puzzled.

"Thank you, Sei," I said quietly, moving quickly to take Teru's hand and assume the sub-kyaku-za position to the left of kami-za. Jun also reacted quickly, moving to stand around the corner of the table from Teru.

Fumie gave her dad and us a quick smile of appreciation. "I'll go get some senbei and mugi-cha," she announced, heading back to the kitchen.

Seisaburō sat kami-za left, patting his wife on the back as he took his place. She sat hesitantly, still with a puzzled look on her face.

We followed suit, and Fumie brought the rice crackers and wheat tea in, sitting around the corner from her mother.

And then Nazoru came down the stairs noisily, sounding like he was taking four steps at a time, arriving at the door with a clomp.

"Hi!"

And he froze, staring at Teru.

"Nats, don't just stand there gaping," Emari turned to him. "Come in and sit down." She was again confident.

He walked timidly around behind Fumie, to stand to her right, across from Teru. "Uh, hi, Teru. I'm Nats. Everyone calls me Nazoru. I mean, ..."

"Hi, Nats." Teru ducked her head with a wry smile. She squeezed my hand under the table.

Nazoru sat down and turned to Jun. "And you're Jun."

"'Ight."

He turned back. "So, I hear you play Dragon's Dogma."

"I haven't had time to for a while."

"Do you want to join my team?"

"No game machine to play on here. I had to leave a lot of stuff behind when I came here. And I think I'll be kind of busy with school for a while."

"Oh." Nazoru's disappointment was visible.

"Not to offer temptation," but Fumie was offering. "But I've got a game machine you could use when you think you have time." Then she did a small double-take. "Oh, but you won't have your avatar."

Teru smiled. "I can retrieve my avatars, when I need to." Under the table, her grip on my hand intensified.

"You can?" Nazoru was incredulous.

"Maybe I shouldn't admit that." She tilted her head and shook it. "Oh, but we can do that. Give me a few weeks." Her grip on my hand loosened, but she started tracing circles on the inside of my wrist. "You could join us, Ryō?"

"Maybe. If Jun and Fumie join us, too." I tickled her palm, and she grabbed my finger.

Jun sensing what was going on under the table, smirked.

"Do you game, too, Jun?" Nazoru looked hopeful.

"Uh, sometimes."

There had been a time when Jun and I could watch gameplay for a half an hour and name the internal game engine.

"Are you interested in our country's history?

 [JMR: End scratchwork.]

[JMR: Scratchwork from between 20191212 and 20191216:]

"There's where I live." Fumie indicated the subdivision of neat rows of houses packed close together on the streets stretching vertically away from us, across the major road where we waited for the light, almost in the shadow of the high-rise condominium block to our left and behind us. The afternoon sun glinted off upper-story windows.

"They all look the same!" Teru shook her head in partial disappointment.

I had to agree with Teru. Modular mix-and-match construction gave some individuality to the houses, but there was an underlying sameness. Four-by-eleven meter rectangular plots, three-and-a-half stories, less than a meter between each house, one-meter deep garden area in front of the entryway, with carport area one side or the other overhung by the second floor. For all that each house had it's own variations, there's not a lot of variation possible in that tight a space.

"Wait. Is that your house? The third one in on the second street over there? The blue and pink one, with the kaki tree in front threatening to hang fruit over the fence?" Teru pointed, and I leaned in to get a view over her shoulder. Jun scoped it out from behind us.

Fumie nodded. "Very good guess. We have to trim that persimmon twice a year."

"Give good fruit?" I asked.

"For an inner-city tree."

"There's something different about the house, the colors, the layout," Teru observed. It makes me think of you."

"S' yer dad manag'd th' construction when this's goin' up?"

"My mom. The houses were constructed in modules at a factory. Dad led the team built the module design and layout software. And then they decided to live here when they got married."

Teru nodded. "So your dad could do more with the software than the average customer and sales architect together, I guess."

"Yeah, but I think it takes a special eye to see it."

The light changed and we crossed the street into the subdivision, skirted the communal paid parking lot on the end of the first street and passed the first two houses, and Fumie opened her front door. Aromas of heavy udon noodles and soybeans with pork in vegetable broth, seasoned with cayenne and sesame oil and other traditional spices, wafted out.

Jun tested the air. "Smells good."

"Tada-ima," Fumie called out as she let us in.

We filed in after her, saying, "Shitsu-rei shimasu," by turn as we left our shoes in the genkan, to wait in the carpeted first-floor kyakuma, dodging the low-hanging ceiling lamp. An electronic keyboard stood on a stand in a near corner, and a network terminal computer stood on a small desk in a far corner. Bookshelves against the far wall held books and magazines on a variety of subjects, including a large selection of church books and works of modern utilitarian philosophy. [***This still needs work.]

"Ah," a deep male voice resonated down the stairs beside the genkan. "Fumie. Teru, Ryō, and Jun with you, right?"

"Yeah, Dad."

"Is the kotatsu set up down there?"

The low table for the kyakuma was indeed nowhere in sight.

"No, ..."

"Honey, no need for formalities between friends," a contralto voice resonated from above in turn. "Bring them up here where the food is."

Fumie indicated the stairs with her head. "Is the kitchen okay?"

The three of us nodded. "Sure." "Yeah." "Sounds great."

She led us up the narrow stairs, Teru following. Jun nodded for me to go first, then came behind. Steam carried the aromas of lunch down the stairs.

At the top of the stairs, Fumie slipped out of the way past the kitchen door so we could enter the kitchen first. Fumie's mother met us as we squeezed in, wiping her hands on her apron. Fumie followed Jun in.

Fumie's dad was tending the pot at the stove, sweating lightly in the steam.  He turned and nodded welcomingly towards us. "Hi, guys."

"Ah, Teru. Welcome!" she took her into a hug, then leaned back to look her in the face. "Been so looking forward to meeting you."

Teru took the hug a little stiffly, and ducked her head, not able to give a formal o-jigi bow in the tight space between the table, the wall, and Fumie's mom. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Masamichi."
"Emari. Call me Em." She patted Teru on the back reassuringly and scouted out my face, then Jun's, over her shoulder. "Ah, Ryō." She nodded to me perfunctorily and shook my hand around Teru's waist.

"Mrs. Masamichi." I had room to give o-jigi in reply.

Teru turned to let her pass and she reached around me to shake Jun's hand warmly. "And Teru's wonderful big brother, Jun, who takes such good care of his little sister." There was no trace of irony or sarcasm in her voice.

Teru raised her eyebrows inquiringly at me from behind Emari, and I tilted my head very slightly and blinked non-commitally and let Emari pass. She gave Jun a hug, too.

"In 'n ideal world, Ms. Masamichi, in an ideal world." Jun returned the hug easily. "Thank 'e for yer inv'tation." Yeah, Jun could be very socially savy.

"Em, to you."

"Thanky', Em."

The patted each other on the back.

Fumie's dad put the ladle down and came over to shake our hands. "Seisaburō, but you guys can call me Sei. Glad you could come today."

The three of us returned greetings.

"I guess the kitchen table really isn't big enough for seven." Emari stuck her head out the door. "Nats still hasn't come down. Fumie, can you and Ryō set up the kotatsu in the ima?"

Fumie looked at me with puzzlement. "Is that okay?"

I gave her an "I don't know what's going on!" look in reply, but she didn't seem to be reading me.

I turned to Teru and asked her silently, "Will you be okay?"

Teru was keeping her face a mask. She barely nodded, but she wasn't happy.

 "I guess, ...," I answered a little more hesitantly than was polite and turned for the door.

Jun's eyebrows were raising slightly.

"You take over," I mouthed.

His head tilted slightly as I moved towards the door, and I read doubt in his eyes.

Fumie backed out into the hall, and her mother let me past. Jun whispered, "What's going on here?" as I squeezed past him.

"Don't know. Play it out." I whispered back and followed Fumie out the door and up the stairs.

"Do you and my mom know each other?"

"Not that I am aware."

"I don't understand what's going on." She knocked on her brother's door at the top of the stairs. "Nats, Teru's here. Are you coming to meet her?"

"In a minute. My team's in a battle."

She shook her head. "The spare kotatsu is in this room." She opened the door to the middle of the upstairs rooms, turning the light on as she went in.

I followed her.

She indicated a low table leaning against the wall and picked up one end, and I picked up the other. As we returned to the stairs, her brother's door opened, and Nats looked out from where he sat in front of the game console. "Are you Teru's brother, Jun?"

I chuckled. "I'm Teru and Jun's friend, Ryō."

"Oh. Her boyfriend who won't do right by her."

"Nats, where did you get that from?"

"It's what Mom said."

"Well," I laughed low, "she might be right and she might not. I'm trying the best I know how. Whatcha playing?"

He moved out of the way so I could see. "Battle Spirits."

"Not familiar with that one. You'll have to show me later."

"Okay."

We descended the stairs.

"Ryō, what are you doing?"

"Just playing this out to see where it goes."

"You think this is just a game?"

"No."

Fumie sighed through her nostrils, but didn't press the question. She opened the door across from the kitchen with her free hand, and we took the kotatsu in and set it up.

As we turned to leave, she took me by the elbow. "You won't betray Teru's trust?"

"No, of course not. I fully intend to invite her into my family registry when she's old enough to decide for herself."

She didn't quite seem satisfied, but she let it go and we returned to the kitchen.

"Ah, you're back. I was just telling Teru and Jun how I know you're parents, Ryō."

"The food's ready," Seisaburō interrupted. "Let's take into the ima and dig in."

We moved back to the living room, carrying food and dishes with us.

Nazoru came down the stairs

We descended the stairs.

"Ryō, what are you doing?"

"Just playing this out to see where it goes."

"You think this is just a game?"

"No."

Fumie sighed through her nostrils, but didn't press the question. She opened the door across from the kitchen with her free hand, and we took the kotatsu in and set it up.

As we turned to leave, she took me by the elbow. "You won't betray Teru's trust?"

"No, of course not. I fully intend to invite her into my family registry when she's old enough to decide for herself."

She didn't quite seem satisfied, but she let it go and we returned to the kitchen.


[JMR: End scratchwork.]

[JMR: Scratchwork from before 20191212:]


To our left was a high-rise danchi subdivision, several long high-rise apartment buildings with probably a thousand apartments in the group. Across the street, we could see into the streets of a single-dwelling subdivision.

Less than a half meter of space between the houses made one doubt whether the fire warden had actually dropped by to check while the houses were going up. In front of each was less than a square meter of garden or other private-use space, fronting on the front door or a full-length veranda window. To one side or the other of the tiny garden was parking space, just big enough to safely park a sub-compact family car, although there were larger compact cars squeezed into many of the parking spaces and bicycles instead of cars in others. The second story of each house invariably hung over the parking space or the garden, or both. There might be a veranda with laundry posts showing on either the second or third floor.

Lots of little variations, but they only served to emphasize how tightly the houses were squeezed together, and the mix-and-match component style of construction -- and the underlying commonalities.





"Ours is the third house from the corner." Fumie indicated the house with her hand.



Most had room next to the entrance to park a sub-compact low-roof vehicle. Each house was three stories, and the parking area was overhung by what one might guess was the staircase inside. The garden was maybe a square meter of space beside the

 From our approach, we could see the houses lined up in a row on the nearest street, and streets branching off the street Houses lined up against the road along the street we were facing, and

Teru looked from house to house. "Well, not exactly the same. Little differences, but

"Comput'r aid'd man'factur'n'."

"Every


Fumie's house was in the middle of one of the new development areas.

My dad would have called them modern row houses. He had shown me pictures of cheap housing of the previous century, row upon row of houses that all looked exactly the same. Cookie cutter construction, he called it.

Once, he mentioned to me with some expressions of regret that he had helped pioneer the software that had enabled the modern version of mass housing developments, using automated computer-aided design and manufacturing to give a certain variety to the houses that were built. But seeing all the houses together left you with an impression of an underlying sameness.

The Masamichi house showed some customization.


"We're here!" Fumie called out as she let us in the front door of her house.

***


"Fumie, you're here," her father called from the kitchen as Fumie let us in. "Everybody come on in and let's get acquainted!"

We said helloes and his as we removed our shoes and left them in the entryway, stepping up into the living area.

Her mother came in from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. "Hi, Teru." She reached out and drew Teru into a hug.

Teru took the hug stiffly at first, but then I could see the stress in her shoulders relax. "Hi. Thanks, Mrs. Masamichi."

"Emari, but call me Em." Mrs. Masamichi looked over Teru's shoulder from Jun to me and back, settling on Jun and giving him a nod. "And you must be Teru's wonderful big brother, who is so careful of her well-being." She reached her free hand out to shake hands with Jun. There was no trace of irony or sarcasm in her tone.

"Nice to meet you, Ma'am." Jun shook hands warmly. His shift in dialect wasn't quite natural.

Then she nodded to me. "Ryō. Hello."

"Hello."

Fumie looked over at me, questions in her eyes. I may have blinked, but I sloughed it off.

"Teru. Jun. Ryō." Fumie's father followed his wife in, borrowing her towel to dry his hands. "I'm Seisaburō, generally answer to anything you call me." He greeted each of us with a nod and a warm smile.
"Where's Natz? Nazoru!" Fumie called out to her little brother while she booted up the family computer on it's desk against the wall.

"I'm sure he's playing one of his games." Mrs. Masamichi patted Teru on the back and disappeared through a doorway. "Nazoru, come welcome your new sister, Teru."

Teru turned to me, eyes widening slightly.

Fumie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then glanced at both of us apologetically.



"He







"Jun. Nice t' meet you, Mr. Masamichi. Ah, uhm, Mrs. Masachi."



Fumie brought us in to the ima (living room) and we sat down at the kotatsu. Her older sister Maina, Maina's husband Matt, and her little brother Nazoru joined us, then her parents, Seisaburō and Emari, came in from the kitchen. We spent a half hour or so in introductions.




Fumie's family were good people. Well, her little brother was a brat and far too interested in Teru's connections with the Sumaguchi family.

PTA rumor story of abusive boyfriend kidnapping causes mrs masamichi's bias.


My mom isn't like this.okay, she may have a bit of a mother cat mode, but she's overboardAlone felt cold.

Landlady's disappointment

[JMR: End scratchwork.]