August 16th: Meanwhile in Tokyo

"Achoo!"

Waking up in the morning back at the inn. Now I'm sick. Toshi-san called the doctor to take a look. I've told the doctor that the orchid I smelled, has powder in it, which I'm allergic to it. Giving me a high fever and non-stop sneezing. I'm resting on the bed while the doctor and nurse (Saki) began their usual checkups. Toshi-san went to the inn's kitchen and ask Torahiko for a soup.

"Open your mouth and stick your tongue out." The doctor said.

"Aaahh." I opened my mouth and the doctor puts a wooden stick on the top of my tongue. He was looking all the way inside my throat.

"Huh, did you have a tonsillectomy recently? I can see some scars behind your throat?" The doctor curiously said.

"Tonsillectomy? What's that?" Saki said, she's actually a nurse in training, she's still learning.

"I was diagnosed with tonsillitis seven years ago. They gave me a surgery to remove my tonsils in my throat." I said.

"Did you keep your removed tonsils with you?" Doctor… said?

"Ew! Gross!" Saki disgusted.

"No! That's disgusting!" I cried.

The doctor laughs. "I'm joking!"

"Still, ew!" She cried.

"I still have my baby teeth back home." I grinned.

"Oh, my Gosh! Looks who's talking right now. You're like my brother, collecting his baby teeth." Saki said.

"Well, Kelly-san, you will recover by tomorrow after the steward brings your soup." The doctor said.

"Thank you, doctor."

"Saki-chan, will you continue the routine check. I have another patient in my hands." He said.

"Yes, Doctor." Saki replied as the doctor leaves the room.

Saki-chan continues her routine, she takes out the stethoscope and puts it on my chest… ooh, that's cold! Then the door knocks, must be Toshi with my soup.

"Come in." I shouted.

"Hi, Kelly-san!" Shun-kun came in my room.

"Good morning, Shun-kun." Then, another beastman came in my room along with Shun.

"Oh, morning, Kouya." I greeted while Saki is still listening my heart.

"Morning, Kelly, how are you feeling?" Kouya said.

"Achoo! Sick." I replied.

"Sorry, guys, he can't go out and play outside." Saki said.

"That's why I brought my video game console!" Shun-kun brought his console and some games that we can play with the television.

"So, how exactly you got sick all of the sudden?" Kouya asked.

"I smelled that orchid we found, remember? I'm happens to be allergic to it." I said.

"Um, can you guys give me some moment with Kelly after I finish here?" Saki ordered.

"Okay." Shun responded.

"I think Saki-chan is going to mummified you, Kelly." Kouya grins.

"She's gonna what!" Shun cried.

"He's only joking." Saki said and I was laughing.

The two waited outside and Saki continued her thing, but I think she has something to say to me.

"So, what is it? Good news or bad news? Achoo!" I said.

"No news, just that I'm gonna ask you something I'm now curious about." She said.

"I'm all ears."

"Your heart… it raised all of the sudden… when these two came."

"Huh?" What she talking about.

She giggles, "Is there someone you…" She stopped when she see my blushed face.

"Umm…" Before I could say anything, she speaks.

"Sorry, no hard feelings, okay. I was just… curious." She said and leaves the room, I sighed in relief. Shun and Kouya enters. Then Toshi-san brings my soup for my condition. The 3 of us play video games and I'm having fun. At the same time, I miss my relatives, especially Sylvia.

I wonder what my sister did during in the past 15 days after my accident. What did she done? She can be bored without me. She's still with her cousins, though. But the original vacation is now ruined, because of me.

I wonder what's happening in Tokyo.

-Somewhere in the city of Tokyo-

"*Yawn*"

Oh, this is torture. Every morning is the same thing, without my brother. Around the room and every time I look to my right, the other bed next to mine, it keeps reminding me that he's not there. I'm really upset after my uncle told Kelly to stay put, because Henry have a tough job as an assistant of the VP. He couldn't come up with a plan to pick him up, so in order to keep things cool, he ordered him to stay there. Ugh, why Uncle Henry told him to stay put? We can go on a rescue or something! I could not bear this vacation. I been keeping track, day-by-day, on the calendar of August. Today is the second half of August. The middle of August.

I got up, showered, dressed, and go down stairs and face the living room, there's no one here. Uncle Henry is working tirelessly. Samantha must be at the airline's headquarters, since she's the chief flight attendant. Ashton must be at his part-time job. So, where's Ashley? Ashley as I know, she just recently graduated from high school, like Kelly did. She haven't started working on volunteer jobs. She's just focusing on college. But seriously where is she?

I walked to the kitchen and there's already breakfast cooked. Ashley must have cooked it. While eating, I read the old newspapers from the previous week. Only because I found an article about the accident in Minasato Village, I could not speak nor read Japanese, but the picture of the broken bus gave me the attention. It took me awhile to translate this into English to understand what it says. While reading it, the article included an interview with a survivor, who remained anonymous. It was obviously my brother. His injuries were the same as written in this article. There's nothing more that can be done. I'm so bored. I want to call him but his cellphone is out bounds. We're depending him to call us. But Kelly, is not the type of person who call us daily. I'm sure Kelly will tell his experience once we pick him up.

I manage to find information of Minasato Village. At first, I thought that village was located near the coast, but is located way deeper in the mountains several miles away from here. The village hardly have tourist, but some events like the Bon Festival will attract some. I found some pictures from the village and it seem like a great place to stay. I wonder if Kelly found his inner peace in his heart.

I've checked my email account and found several pictures of him and some of his new friends at the beach. I've seen the pictures before, but I can't help but look at it. Kelly sent me those pictures after our webcam chatting.

Every time I look at these pics, Kelly seems to be enjoying himself with his new friends. If I remember correctly, the tiger-dude and his human boyfriend names are, Torahiko and Hiroyuki. Those two save Kelly's life and I'll never forget them for what they did. I've seen interspecies couples before. In the US, is pretty rare. Seeing this tiger-dude reminds me off my friend, Max, who is a white tiger. The tall green dragon-man, most of the pictures I see of him drinking and running naked, good thing Kelly censored those photos of him. I found it kinda funny because he reminds me about Steven, who is a dragon, he was reported missing until the police found him on top of the Space Needle, drunk. Kelly doesn't go out with a drunken person like this one, but this one was an exception.

I don't know which one is cuter!? The wolf-boy or the lion-boy!? Tehehehe… they remind me of my neighbor's kids I used to babysit them. However, these two are like 16 and 17. The bear-man, hardly smiles, but he seem to be polite. The Labrador dog-man, he's kind of handsome. The black cat-man, I can't tell, he seems just rather calm. The raccoon dog, he seems sincere, and at the same time his chubby belly of his is really kinda funny!

"Hmm?" While surfing the pics I noticed something. I'm not sure if he's camera shy or staring at my brother. I'm not sure, but the husky-guy, I think his name is… umm… uhh… Kayo…? No… uh… oh! Kouya! Yes! Kelly seems to be getting along well with this guy. He's kinda hot, though! Tehehehe!

All of the sudden, the home phone in the kitchen rings, the ID says unknown, but the phone number is familiar… is Dad's! My cellphone and even Kelly's doesn't work in Japan system. Auntie Samantha, bought us some smartphones instead of ours. So we could communicate with no problems. I picked up the phone and answer.

"Hi, Daddy!" It's been awhile since I called my parents after Kelly and I landed here. I just hope he's not asking how Uncle Henry is doing.

"How's my Princess of Japan doing?" He cheerfully said. I better keep my spirits up.

"I'm fine, Daddy, Japan's great! I have so much fun with Ashley and Ashton." I said.

"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying there. Is Kelly with you?" Oh-oh…

"Oh… he's still sleeping, you know how Kelly is." I said.

"Oh, that's too bad. I really wanted to know how Kelly is now feeling." A female voice enters, Dad putted on speaker.

"Oh! Hi, Mom… how's Seattle?"

"A little of rain outside, but, how's Kelly feeling? I'm worried about him after breaking up with his ex-boyfriend-who should not be name-last spring break." Mom said.

"Kelly's feeling well and recovered. I think he have moved on already. So, what you guys been doing?"

"Oh, your father and I just recently came back from Dubai." Mom said.

"Julie! It was supposed to be a secret." Dad cried.

"Oh, come on, Ronald, we're already home." Mom spats.

"You guys travelled to Dubai?" My voice sounded confused and puzzled and some feeling of revelations.

"Oh, screw it! Kelly already knows about it after sending that postcard." Dad said. Kelly sent a postcard? Dad sighed. "Yes, Sylvia, we went to Dubai. We sent you and Kelly to Japan, so you kids don't get bored and doing nothing at home. Your mother and I went to Dubai for a business trip."

"Okay." I simply replied. "Alright, Dad. I better hang up you're calling long distances."

"Before you hang up. How's your uncle doing? Good or… something?" Oh-no, he's not asking that.

"He's been taking care of us well, Daddy, very well."

"Can I talk to him?"

"He went to work, sorry Dad, but everything's fine. What's your concern?"

Dad sighed and said, "Nothing at all princess." He hanged up.

Phew! That was close, I think, lucky for me. This is the first time he called us since July. Haah…. There are times that Dad and Henry don't get along well as brothers. But actually, Dad is really worry about Henry. But if Dad finds out what happened to Kelly, he won't forgive him for what he did. I don't want this family to fall apart. None of us wants to lose another family member of the family tree. This is too much…. I sighed and lay down the couch in the living room. Doing what a normal, white, American teenager do for living: texting, computing, reading, watching TV, etc. But I can't help but notice Kelly's happiness in the photos at the beach. I've never seen him like this before.

Something tells me that Kelly will never find someone in our home country, and it has to be outside… The front door opens revealing Ashley coming back.

"Morning cousin!" She cheerily said.

"Hi, Ashley, and is almost noon and… where have you been?" I said sternly.

"At the mall."

"You went to the mall, without me?" I was in shock and annoyed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Sorry Sylvia, you were sleeping a lot and I thought you were still upset after Kelly got ditched." Ashley said.

"DITCHED!? Ashley, how dare you say that!?" I shouted.

"Well look at the facts; Ashton was in a hurry because he has to go back to work by text message and also excitedly to possessed his last collection of his swords. You and I were half asleep. We just continued on and step ahead. And after finally arriving back, Ashton panics, we panic, and everyone panics." She said.

"We didn't 'ditched' him, we accidentally left him behind without knowing." I said.

"But you have to admit that it was Ashton's actions, not ours."

"True, but you know, Ashton is having a hard time right now and he's rehearsing his apologies before we rendezvous with Kelly."

"Didn't Kelly forgave him while video chatting?"

"Ashton didn't felt satisfied by just web chatting, he wants to say it in person."

"Whatever then, I bought some new boots, you like it?" Ashley changed the subject but damn! I like high heeled boots! Yeah, this is girls stuff.

…

That afternoon, Ashton came back from work. He went directly to his room without saying 'hello' or 'I'm home' to us. He's still disappointed after Kelly told him about the swords he collected. I went to his room to see if I can cheer him up. He's lying on the bed and moaning. He noticed my presence without looking.

"I worked so hard on looking for those swords and now your brother tells me that they're fake." He said with his face down on the pillow, muffling.

"You haven't seen the movie have you? The movie is called 'The Seven Guardians' not to be confused with 'Seven Samurai', that movie was awesome." I said and sit beside him and pats his back. "So, what are going to do with those swords?" I said while looking his six already collected out of seven. Ashton flips himself and face me. I think this was a good start.

"Once we reunite with Kelly and collect the last one, well… I don't know if they're valuable. Kelly said they were the original swords from that cheaply-made movie. Is that possible?" Ashton said.

"I don't know, go to that famous pawn shop in Las Vegas and they'll tell." I said.

"Does anyone seen my laptop? Where is it?" Ashley shouted from the other room.

"Is in Kelly's suitcase!" Ashton yelled.

"Oh… that's right… Good thing I got a good password. Hey! Where's my yaoi manga book!" She's still shouting.

"It's also on Kelly's suitcase! Gosh!" Ashton shouted back.

"Aw come on! He better not be reading it before I do!" She said.

"What's a yaoi?" I asked Ashton.

"Is a genre of romantic relationships between male characters. Is specifically for girl audiences, but males also read or watch this stuff. And Ashley began reading those comic books with a vibrator." Ashton said without teasing.

"Oh." I replied.

"Ugh, next time, I better be sure to carry my things on my purse than Kelly's 8,000 pound suitcase." Ashley muttered and comes in and sits on a green beanbag.

"Speaking of that… is Kelly… uh, gay?" Ashton asked.

"Yeah, he came out in high school, because he was a chick magnet…" I explained.

"A chick magnet?! Wow, how unfortunate those girls were!" Ashley laughs.

I continued. "So, my friends and other classmates asked me to ask him out on a date. Kelly received a lot of emails and secret admirer letters and he had enough. Kelly came out to me first, and then he came out to Mom and Dad later. After that, I told the girls in school that he's interested in men, but it resulted all the opposite, the girls leaved Kelly alone, but guys in school, who were gay, began to send letters to him. There was no way out." I said.

"Oh, Gosh!" Ashley and Ahston laughed.

"But did Kelly dated anyone?" Ashton asked.

"Cool, let me hear it! I tried to talk Kelly about it, but he refused." Ashley said.

"Okay, Kelly's first boyfriend was in the tenth grade, he was dating a jock, not a dumb one, a smart one! His name is Spencer Redman, I used to have a crush on him and I tried to ask him out, but he told me he has a crush on Kelly. So I set Kelly and Spencer on a date. Kelly was a little unsure about it and upset that he didn't make a choice on who to date. Anyways, he got along so well with Spencer that they were now a couple… until one year later…" I sighed, knowing what's going to happen next. "You guys know what happen to Konnor, right?" I softly said.

My two cousins fell in silence but together replied. "Yes…"

"Kelly fell into a deep depression, and broke up with Spencer. Kelly continued on with school and never dated anyone until the twelfth grade. He met this new student from Tacoma, which I'm not gonna say his name, he was nice to us and he made my family laugh and even Kelly. I was hoping he will make Kelly happy and get rid of his depression. Then one spring break, Kelly discovered that he was seeing another guy from Tacoma, and you guys know the rest." I said.

"Oh yeah, he threw a bucket of his vomit on him." Ashley said.

"Well, Kelly got a lot of things that got out of his system so he felt a little better, but still heartbroken from his ordeal."

"So, what about his other boyfriends?" Ashley asked.

"That's it, he only dated two people." I signaled with two fingers from my right hand.

"I thought he dated five dudes."

"No, you come up with it. Is you and your bad reputation of dating guys." I said.

"Oh, leave it." The disgusted Ashley said. "So what's for dinner?"

"I'll go and make dinner." Ashton left the room. I look at Ashley.

"Hey, Ashley, can I tried some of that gay comic books?" What? Can a 17-year-old high school student try some new things while exploring her sexuality? Oh, come on.

The city of Tokyo lights up the skies at night. Is an amazing sight that Kelly would've enjoyed, just like home. Ashton cooked dinner, Samantha and Henry are having dinner someplace else. The three of us eat at the dining room table. I asked Ashton about the plans of picking up Kelly. Ashton said "Once Henry gets a day-off, we're heading to Minasato Village, and it would take us two and a half days to reach there. So, get comfortable while we're at it." I just hope Henry doesn't delay this. Don't worry Kelly, we will come for you.