Akari's POV

"Morning, Granny!" I greeted Granny, who was preparing breakfast as I came downstairs.

"You came down just at the right time, breakfast's ready," Granny replied.

"Mmhmm.... This smell. Could you be making omelette rice?" I questioned as I sniffed the luscious smell. 

"That's right! Now, come sit down." I did as she said and waited for the omelette rice. She carried two plates full of mouthwatering omelette rice and placed one in front of me and the other at her place. Omelette rice is one of my favorite food, and the one Granny makes is the best.

"Itadakimasu." I grabbed a spoon and sliced open the soft warm omelette as the ketchup rice inside poured out. I scooped up the rice and some of the omelette and shoved it in my mouth. "It's soo good as usual!!!" Granny put her hands under her chin and observed me. "What's wrong?" I asked. She shook her head and just smiled. I grabbed for the orange juice and gulped it down.

After a moment she began, "So, you made friends?" I almost choked.

"W-What?" Then I remembered telling her about it last night. "D-Don't tell me you were awake?!"

"Mhmm." Granny smiled with her eyes closed, showing her wrinkles. "I'm glad you made friends Akari chan. Make sure you tell me about them later."

"Y-Yeah." I was so embarrassed that I wanted to hide in a hole. 'I didn't think she would still be awake.' "I-I'm going to school now."

Granny laughed softly, "Have fun with your friends~"

"Gahhhh!!" I ran out of the house.

"You forgot your lunch Akari!" I went back into the house and grabbed my lunch box on the table and ran out again.

>>>>>>>>>>>

"Uwahh~ it's so hot!!" Natsumi stretched her arms and lied down on the floors of the roof.

"Yup, I can't stand the heat during summers," Mari said.

"Oh, right, we have tests coming up huh?"

"NOOO!!!" Natsumi screamed. "No no no no!!"

Mari and I didn't even find this surprising and sighed. "Natsumi.... if you don't pass, you'll have to take supplementary lessons," I started.

"And that means no summer break for you," Mari finished the sentence.

"Ehhh!!! That's not fair! And Eliz-chan is gonna make me study like crazy!!" She paused for a while, "Aki-chan! Maa-chan! How are your grades??"

"I guess my grades are pretty good," Mari smiled. "I usually get over 90s."

"Mine's normal...."

"Then!! Both of you, help me study!!" She grabbed our hands. "Please, it's for our sake."

"What are you saying?" I pulled my hand back.

"Come'on!! If you won't help me, I'll have to study with Eliz-chan! And I don't want that! Plus, you'll also learn better as you teach me," she pointed out.

"Ahaha, I'm fine with it. I think it'd be great if the three if us study together. Akari-chan, you?"

"Do whatever you like," I sighed.

"Yayy!!" Natsumi jumped to hug us but I avoided it.

"I'm eating ahead," I said as I opened my lunch box.

"Ah, me too!" Mari said as she sat next to me and opened her lunch box as well.

"Ehh, so mean~ wait for me," Natsumi said. She crawled over and sat next to us.

"Where's your lunch box?" I asked her, not seeing her usual huge lunch box today.

"What are you talking about Aki-chan? I have right here!" She placed her hands in the mid-air and panicked when she realized it was not there. "Eh-Ehhh??! W-Where's my lunch box?!"

"Did you forgot it somewhere?" Mari questioned.

"No... I don't think so?"

"Did you even bring it to school? I almost forgot mines today," I said.

"Wait. Let me think back." She was silent for a while, recalling back what happened. "AH!!! It was Elizabeth!! She woke me up saying I was late for school today. I believed her and didn't even check the time myself. I had to rush and normally Eliz-chan would come and hand me the lunch box. This time she didn't!! I knew something was missing today."

"Spoiled."

"Rich kids."

Me and Mari said in harmony and rolled eyes. 'Both of us didn't mean it of course, we were just kidding.'

"Don't be like that guys!!!" Natsumi wailed. "I'll go buy something in the cafeteria, I'll be right back." She left.

"Didn't she say she was on a diet?" I asked Mari.

"Yeah she did, isn't cafeteria food unhealthy?"

>>>>>>>>>>>

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!!!" Natsumi slammed the door open and squeezed Mari tightly.

"Natsumi-chan! What happened?" She was panting and trying to catch her breath. I looked at her hand and saw her clutching a melon bread. Her face was bright red, too.

"Natsumi?"

"Kyaaa!! Guess what happened??" She exclaimed.

"What?"

"When I was buying the melon bread, I BUMPED INTO NISHDA-SENPAI!!!"

"Ah, the senpai you like?" Mari said. Natsumi nodded her head continuously.

"It was a bit awkward but he's still so nice as ever! He even offered to buy me this bread as an apology for bumping into me and said that I should eat more than this and stay healthy! >< " 

>>>>>>>>>>>

The following day at lunch, Natsumi brought a bigger lunch box with bigger proportions. Mari and I were staring at her in confusion.

"Natsumi, didn't Eliz-san made you go on a diet?" I asked her.

Mari clapped her hands together and smiled, "Perhaps you've already succeeded in weight loss?"

"It's not like that guys, I just secretly put some food in my lunch box while I distracted Eliz-chan away from the kitchen," she said while munching on her rice.

"You said you would never eat more than one bowl of rice because Eliz-san will kill you if you do," Mari reminded. "That's like three bowls of rice!"

"Ahehehehe. What can I do when N-Nishida-senpai tells me to eat more?" She blushed as she scratched her head.

"Huh?"

"Eh?"

"Just because he said that, you should eat more, you're eating more...?"

"Yup!"

I couldn't help but sigh. "Seriously, now.... Oh, Natsumi, for the study session, why don't we do it at your house?"

"Hmm? It's okay, but why? All of the sudden," she chewed on the bread.

"Nothing~ I just wanted to meet Eliz-san and tell-- I mean, I just wanna meet her cuz I think she's cool...since you're scared of her," I smiled darkly.

Mari sweatdropped and laughed nervously as Natsumi said, "Ah! I thought something was suspicious! If you plan to tell Eliz-chan then I'll make sure you never meet her!"

"Eh? What are you saying?" I tilted my head innocently.

"Uwahh, Aki-chan, I know exactly what you're planing!"

"Do you?" I remain calm and packed up my lunch.

"You're so mean!! (＞ 3＜)"

>>>>>>>>>>>

"Granny, I'm home--" As I was about to greet Granny, I heard her talking to someone. I quietly went nearer and eavesdropped from behind the door frame. She was on the phone with someone.

"What do you mean by that? Akari-chan is enjoying her life right now. Don't make such decisions on your own! You've never change since then!! I'm hanging up." Never in my life did I have heard Granny raised her voice before. Granny put her elbow on the table with her palm on her forehead and sighed deeply. Soon she noticed my presence, "A-Akari-chan? You're already back?"

"Yeah..who was that?"

"Ah... it's no one in particular. It's okay, you don't need to know," she came closer to me and stroked my head.

"Are you sure?" She nodded and smiled. "But I heard you talking about me? What was all that??"

"Shh..." she continued smiling and patting my head. I didn't want to bother Granny too much so I just decided to keep quiet. "Oh, you must be tired. What do you want? I'll go get something for you to eat."

"Oh, it's okay, Granny. I'm not really hungry," I lied, not wanting to make her tire herself again.

"No can do, Akari-chan. You have to eat. Come," she said, walking to the kitchen. "We'll eat together and you'll tell me about your friends."

"Eh?" I was surprised for a second but I let out a breath and followed her.

As Granny steamed the corns she said, "Akari-chan, can you do me a favor and take my glasses in my room?"

"Sure," I replied and walked to her room. I looked around to find her glasses but wasn't able to. Then I found it on her desk. I grabbed it and as I was about to get out, I stopped. "What are these..." I whispered and observed numerous bottles placed on desk. 'Medicine?' I started to worry all of the sudden but shook my head. 'Maybe it's some energy pills or something' I convinced myself and went back to the kitchen.

"Here you go, Granny," I said as I handed the glasses to her. By the time I arrived, I saw a couple of corns on the table.

"Thank you," Granny said as she wore the glasses and sat down. "Fujiwara-san sent these this evening."

"The neighbor that moved in a week ago?"

"Yeah, her family owns a farm and the corns are in season so they gave us, as well as the other neighbors some. We should send something back to them."

"We can send them your signature Japanese cuisine."

"Oh, sounds like a great idea." Granny jotted it down on a sticky note and stick on the the fridge and turned back to me. "So, how was school today?"

"It was fun," I smiled.

"Hmm? How many friends did you make?"

"Oh..umm...I'm not really sure. But I'm certain that I made 2," I furrowed my brows, thinking if I count that bastard as a friend.

"Oh really?! That's great, Akari-chan! Who are they?"

"Um, one's Tachibana Natsumi and the other is Yoshino Mari. They're really nice...."

"Oh is that so?"

"Imm, I usually hang out with them nowadays. We eat lunch together, too. Mari is really calm and ladylike while Natsumi is very energetic and loud."

Granny laughed. "I would like to meet them too. Why don't you call them over to our house?"

"Um..sure maybe one day?"

"Akari is there something else you want to tell me? Did you make another friend other than them? You said you were not sure," I kept quiet. "Is it a boy?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Oh my god Akari-chan don't tell me he's your boyfriend?"

"NO!! HE'S NOT!!"

"Then?" Granny smirked. "Who is he~?" I ended up telling everything that happened between my friends, about Ken, and about yesterday. "Hmm.. he sounds like an interesting fellow. Your grandpa used to be a playboy too," Granny giggled as she gaze at Grandpa's photo frame on the shelf. "But I won his heart, he never played with other girls again after meeting me. He was such a sweetheart."

"Ehh~ How did you win his heart?"

"Are you curious?" I nodded.  "Well, I did nothing much. I was pretty chill and stayed quiet when I was younger. I tried my best not to stand out too much from the class. I think it was on the day I was assigned to a cleaning duty, that I met your grandpa. I went to throw my trash out and saw him there under the tree.....with another girl. They were being all lovey-dovey. I sighed helplessly and walked back to the classroom. But he spotted me. He said he never seen me before, but I told him to help me with the cleaning instead of trying to question me who I am. And that's how it basically started."

"Eh? That's all? Tell me more!!!"

Granny laughed, "I guess I'll tell you about an event when I fell for him, it was during the class trip, we went to Hokkaido and I was looking at this hairpin," Granny smiled as she put her hands on the hair pin she was wearing. "It was too beautiful that I didn't realize I was standing there for a while, and ended up being separated with my group. I wasn't familiar with this town we were at so I guess I was kind of lost."

"What about your phone?"

"Too bad it was out of battery... I tried to ask the other people but the hotel was far so I needed to go with a taxi, but I had no money with me either, I spent them on buying a keychain from a gift shop. But then, I encountered your Grandpa; apparently that place was his hometown. He showed me the way back to the hotel, at that time I remembered how manly he was; he was encouraging me that it was going to be fine. At that moment, I fell for his sweet act."

"Then how did you get that hairpin?"

"Well, it was my birthday and he told me he bought it during the trip when he saw me staring at the pin for a long time."

"I didn't know Grandpa was that sweet!" I laughed.

"Yup, he is."

I've lived with Granny since birth but Grandpa passed away a few years before I was born so I never got a chance to meet him. But I would really like to meet him and have a friendly chat with him and hear his side of story with Granny...

I never get to hear life experiences of other people; usually parents are the ones who would tell these kinds of stuffs but I never had that kind of relationship with my parents. They left me for work when I was three years old, and I've never seen them since then. Even if I do, I think I wouldn't recognize them.