Lesson Learned

You Could do Better

"Oh, no not yet," Mitsuko replied dismissively, distracted in her own thoughts.

He looked confused. "Then why would you do a full hey-meet-my-girlfriend family dinner?"

"Gakushuu and my dad can complain all they want about her, but I need to make it clear that it isn't going to stop me from seeing her." She sat up properly, crossing her legs. "I want to show them how amazing she is!"

"Okay..." Sugaya replied slowly. "Still not sure about that, but okay."

"It'll be fine." She managed a smile. "Besides, like you said, the awkward family dinners are going to happen eventually so we might as well start easing into it."

***

Easing into it had not been the right word...maybe bulldozing?

It was uncomfortable either way, but Mitsuko had resigned herself to that and she'd frankly been surprised that her family had even agreed to the whole thing—though technically, the family meal was a birthday meal for Mom and Rio was more of a plus-one...but still...it counted. Sort of.

Mitsuko glanced at her mom from behind her juice, everything looked fine all things considered.  Mom was only on her second glass of wine and the Principal hadn't made any veiled insults for a good fifteen minutes.

Rio was focusing entirely on eating her food and had barely looked at her.

Gakushuu was doing much the same, except he was occasionally giving Rio the odd glare.

Either way, the whole thing felt more uncomfortable than shitting in a public toilet.

Mitsuko gulped down her juice a little too loudly, earning some looks from her family. "Um..." She forced a smile, placing her empty glass down. "So, this is...nice."

Her mom smiled tightly. "Yes, it is lovely." She took a long sip of her drink and nodded to her husband. "Thank you, Gakuhou."

"It was no trouble," he replied lightly.

Rio looked between the two of them warily. "Um..." She smiled forcefully. "Thanks for inviting me, Mrs Asano."

Mom looked at her for a moment before smiling politely. "Well, Mitsuko practically demanded it so..." Her smile tightened. "Who was I to argue." She shot her daughter a look. "Besides, it's been...how long since we last saw you?" She raised an eyebrow. "One, two years?"

"Four," Rio replied.

"Four. Yes." Mom nodded, sipping her wine. "It felt shorter for some reason."

Mitsuko gave a strained laugh. "So, anyway, the weather has been really good these past few weeks." She nodded, trying to ignore the awkwardness. "Honestly, it's going to be a really good summer."

Rio was smiling a little too widely. "Yeah! I know right, this weather, just..." She looked at Mitsuko's parents and nodded along with her. "So much sun. It's going to be a great summer...yep."

Mitsuko tried not to wince when her parents just stared at them blankly.

Just kill me, please.

Why did I think this could work?

"So, Nakamura..." Mom smiled politely, placing her glass down long enough to finally eat something. "How has your mother been?"

"Oh, she's great," Rio said, smiling wide. "She's learning Chinese."

Mom conveyed the appropriate amount of interest. "Oh, that's interesting. Is she planning a trip."