บท 8: Whiz Kid
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It was dinner time at the hospital. The atmosphere was a little tense as the usual doting Mei was feeling frustrated while Kyouko was all smiles. Kazuya was his usual self and was thankful that his mother was helping him eat. His limbs hurt every time he moved. This was yet again caused by Kazuya spending his free time getting in condition. He of course was hiding it from them because he knew that they would stop him.
Mei was envious of this because she would fight with Kyouko to feed him but she was feeling down at the moment. The reason for this was when a nurse came with a doctor to check up on him. They also wanted to inform Kyouko and the rest about an event that happened earlier.
"Good evening Kouzuki-san" The doctor entered. "This is one of the nurses from the lobby and would like to report something"
"Hello! This must be Kazuya-kun. You had a little visitor today but since you aren't allowed any visitors, we had to turn her away" The nurse winked at him teasingly.
""Her?""
The two women beside him picked up one specific word and reacted almost instantly. To the nurse's surprise, instead of Kazuya who showed no interest, the two women immediately pounced to question her.
"A little girl you say? Did she say who she was and her relationship with my Kazu?"
"Good job Kazuya! What did she look like?"
"Umm… She was cute and had short blonde hair and blue eyes. Probably half foreign? Her name was Stockton Kurumi and said that she was from his class" She awkwardly explained.
"Cute!?"
"Stockton? hmm…"
Both of them had different motives but seemingly asked the same question of 'did she come alone' which the nurse could only awkwardly nod to. When she looked at the uncaring boy, she felt sorry for the cute visitor since she found out after getting curious that the boy had amnesia. What she didn't know was that he had reacted as soon as he heard the visitor's name.
"(That girl… don't tell me we knew each other since we were children?)" Kazuya wondered but outwardly expressed indifference.
Stockton Kurumi in Kazuya's memory was an upperclassman that everyone admired wherever she went. She had gone to the same middle school as him and surprisingly enough, also went to the same sub-par high school. She was a quiet honor student but she was mostly known for her family's wealth. They weren't friends or remotely even close in his original memory but he remembered her giving him a lot of trouble.
She was extremely popular because of her looks and family background and the boys would always talk about her. Kazuya was a quiet outcast because he was held back a grade because of his circumstances. Basically, they were supposed to be worlds apart. All that changed, including his peaceful life when she took a sudden interest in him. Her curiosity, to be more specific, was with regards to his amnesia.
Various types of people started to bug him not long afterwards. All of them trying to use Kazuya to either gather information about Kurumi or use him to have an excuse to interact with her. Kazuya neither wanted it nor did he intend to continue dealing with her, so he tried to avoid her.
Much to his surprise, he had underestimated the girl. She would always find a way to appear before him. The girl even appeared when he was doing some of his part-time jobs. One example was when he worked at a local car-wash. The girl would surprise him by rolling down the window of the car he was washing just to surprise him. This happened several times and caused him to switch to another job.
Her persistence worsened his relationships with her admirers. He would always refer to her as someone who was as dumb as a rock because of her refusal to take the hint that he was intentionally avoiding her. He just wanted to be at peace and didn't want to have anything to do with her.
Her appearance this time made him realize that they might have known each other when they were children and her interest in him was not because of his amnesia. She was probably more interested at the memories of her that he was supposed to have.
"(Truly an annoying girl. She should have just told me the truth)" he sighed. Even though nothing would have changed much, she could at least had given him some peace of mind.
The nurse and the doctor left after reporting that there was no change in his condition. The two women wasted no time to question the boy who had just finished recalling the annoying girl from his past.
"Kazu do you know that girl?"
"I don't"
"She should be your friend. Don't you want to get to know her better? You might even get some of your memories back" Kyouko viewed the girl in a positive light.
"Hey! Don't think I don't know what's on your mind boss! I can't believe you would use your own son for your own ambitions!" Mei noticed Kyouko's view on the matter and decided to call her out on it immediately. She refused to let her have any thoughts about letting Kazu be taken from her just after she had been acknowledged by him.
"Don't try and twist it Mei. My only interest is my Kazuya's future. This girl may be suitable for him and her background is not bad. She's certainly better than someone more than twice his age"
"Hey that only applies because he's only six! That girl may have a better background but it has yet to be said if she's better than me!"
"We'll see then" Kyouko was confident in her son's charisma. "My Kazuya can still meet a lot of people and the road is still long before he can get married. I only agreed to our arrangement because it must be Kazuya who chooses my daughter-in-law"
Kyouko continued to tease Mei because she now that she had the upper hand. She even told the hospital to let the little girl visit if she ever came again. This led to the sour mood Mei currently displayed while they were having dinner. A threat had just appeared right after Mei finally got her wish of being referred to as 'Big Sis' so she tried to think of ways to keep her position uncontested.
"Hey Kazu" Mei made up her mind and started a conversation. She ignored Kyouko and found her hope in him.
"What is it big sis?"
"You don't remember that thieving Stockton girl right?" She added a few words to vent her frustration as she tried confirming it with him again.
"I don't" He didn't consider himself to be lying because he knew Mei meant memories of them as friends or classmates.
"Then do you want to be her friend?" She asked with hesitation
"No I don't" His quick response once again reversed the situation with Mei blooming and Kyouko frowning.
"Why not Kazuya? Isn't she thoughtful to have come all this way? She's a good girl"
"I'm not interested" he knew that getting involved with such a person would bring him endless troubles so he made up his mind to avoid her the moment he learned that they were acquaintances.
"Yes! I knew I could count on my Kazu!" Mei put him on her lap and hugged him like a plushie.
"What if you remember her? Won't you at least agree to meet her?" Kyouko persisted.
"I can meet her if she comes but I doubt I can be her friend even if I remember" His response earned him a reward as Mei happily took charge in feeding him.
"Ehh? Why not?"
Kazuya knew that he needed a good reason since his mother was being extra persistent. He also didn't want Mei to start acting up again. He pondered for a moment trying to think of what to say to satisfy them both.
"Don't I already have mom and big sis? I don't need anyone else" Kyouko's heart skipped a beat since she felt her son's affection towards her. She was still a concerned since Mei was still included. Her thought was, Kazuya had been acting like a baby chick. Where he considered the first few people he encountered to be family.
"Don't be like that Kazuya. As your mother, I want you to have fun with friends your age. Who knows? You might even meet someone you'll end up marrying in the future" She hinted at him while glancing at Mei who responded with a glare.
"No need. I'll just marry mom and big sis in the future!" He chose a childlike response that immediately worked because Mei was around. He knew about Kyouko's anxiousness because of his lost memories so he had no hesitations in saying such an embarrassing line.
"That's right! He'll marry me in the future! Don't push him mother-in-law or he might think twice about marrying you too. Unlike me, you'll still be more than twice his age when he's 20!" Mei stuck her tongue out proudly.
"You!!" Kyouko didn't have the heart to get mad because who could blame her? It was always too soon to talk about such matters and mothers who had sons always liked it when they were picked before any other woman in their lives.
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Two days passed by without incident. Kyouko's anxiety towards her son became almost non-existent. Although he had changed because of his lost memories, she observed him to be more thoughtful and mature for his age. Which parent didn't want their children to be excellent?
The mother and son duo were alone in the room because Mei had to do work related errands all day. Both women had to work harder because they chose to stay at the hospital instead of the office. The weather was perfect this day so Kyouko fell asleep on the table as she was working.
"Mom?"
Kazuya who was feigning sleep to give her some time to work made sure she was out cold before getting off his bed. He looked at the files on her side and took the computer away before analyzing them. His initial purpose was to gain access to the computer for his personal use, but after seeing how tired his own mother was from all the work she and Mei had to do because of him, he decided to help out.
He placed a blanket over her and took her computer to the table by his bedside. After making quick work of the workload she left behind, he wasted no time to visit a few websites. Kazuya made accounts on various popular websites to look for information. This action had not been planned beforehand, so he could only post things that were at the top of his mind. The purpose was finding his possibly still living predecessor; Uriel.
Of course, as a person who had lived in a world with no modern technology existing for nearly a decade, he indulged himself in reading or playing whatever he could think of. He was disappointed when he remembered that he was currently reliving his past. Most of the stories or the content he looked forward to catching up to had not been made or released yet.
He settled with just helping his mother with her work and gathered whatever else she left unfinished. Kazuya did not forget to erase the traces of whatever else he used the computer for. He thought that he may or may not have his own computer at home, but he was sure that he would have a phone he can use to check if there were any responses to his posts after he gets discharged.
"Mmm?" Kyouko slowly sat up and noticed a blanket was put over her. She was touched and turned to look at her caring son but her drowsiness immediately disappeared after realizing what she was seeing.
"I'm back my Kazu!" Mei entered the room just as Kyouko stood up and saw the stacks of papers she brought for her piling up on the patient's bed. This immediately made her eyebrows twitch in annoyance as she turned to her blanket holding boss.
"Did you just come back Mei?"
"Didn't you hear me just now? While I've been working you… I know you have a habit of making other people do your work because of Kazu but you…" She gave her own boss a disappointed look.
"It's not what it looks like! How can I make my six-year-old child do this? He might not even understand…" She realized something and knew that Mei also had come to the same realization. They both came to confirm with Kazuya only to find him sleeping soundly on his bed.
They turned towards the computer and were immediately shocked. After closing the game they assumed he played before sleeping, all of the data has been properly entered including reports they have been working on were finished and were supported by graphs and charts.
"This…" Kyouko couldn't hide her shock as she continued to check her son's work.
"Didn't you say that Kazu didn't have a computer?"
"He doesn't. I figured he didn't need one until he was older"
"If you don't buy him one then I will. As his future wife, I reserve the right to monopolize whatever he makes or does with it"
"I refuse. I'll even let him choose one that he prefers. As his mother and legal guardian, I have those rights"
The two of them checked every single work Kazuya had done. He had swiftly and successfully completed the work that Mei brought for Kyouko to work on. He had even left a few notes on how they could work more efficiently which they couldn't argue with. He had only accomplished everything in a few hours. Both women couldn't help but turn towards the boy who was peacefully feigning sleep and could only think of one word.
[Genius]
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