“Good morning,” Tomoko said, giving Josuke a quick once over to make sure that he was decent. “You’re up early.”

“Uh-huh,” Josuke said, not sure what was more shocking: that his mother’s Shinobu from work was Mrs. Kawajiri, or the sheer quantity of food spread out before them. Toast with jam and butter, eggs, bacon, ham, cranberry juice, tea, chopped fruit, even fried potatoes though Tomoko hated the smell of them.

“What’s all this for?” Josuke asked as he snagged a slice of toast. He bit into it with gusto, sending butter dripping down his hand.

Tomoko shrugged. “I woke up really early this morning, and I knew Shinobu was coming over, so I thought I might as well cut up some fruit, and then this happened.” She said this airily, as though the table didn’t contain several hours work.

Shinobu was regarding Josuke with her head cocked, trying to place him. Her eyes lit up. “I know you!” She said, “You’re Mr. Pompadour!”

“Mr. Pompadour?” Tomoko smirked, though it seemed like she was teasing Shinobu for coming up with such a lame nickname, rather than Josuke for being saddled with it.

Shinobu blushed a little, but continued, “I’ve seen him walking Hayato home from school before, him and his friend, um,”

Josuke heard a noise behind him, and Okuyasu appeared in the doorway, also drawn by the smell of food.

Shinobu threw her arms out in greeting, “Mr. Slouchy!”

Tomoko burst into laughter, pounding her fist on the table.

Okuyasu looked at Josuke for an explanation, but Josuke just handed him a slice of toast.

“What’s going on?” Okuyasu asked, his mouth full.

“Oh, Tomoko invited me over to talk about what she’s going to do with this house she bought.”

“I thought we were selling it,” Okuyasu said, reaching for a piece of ham.

Tomoko gestured at some papers and scraps of fabric between her and Shinobu’s plates. “We are, but I figured now that it’s back in one piece it’ll need a little sprucing up. Paint, curtains, that sort of thing.”

Josuke paused, his last bite of toast in his mouth. This was the first time he had heard of it. Not that the decsion was that strange, but Josuke found it very interesting that those paint chips and wallpaper samples-Shinobu’s ostensible reason for being here-were all but forgotten under her and Tomoko’s full plates. Plates that were, Josuke just happened to notice, placed right next to each other on the table. Not across from or at the other end of the table, but pushed up right next to each other, close enough to hold hands while you talked.

“You want a plate?” Okuyasu asked, already turning to grab one from the cabinets.

“Sure,” Josuke said, “After breakfast do you want to call Mikata and take him to the beach?”

Okuyasu handed Josuke a plate and sat down at the table. “Why?”

Josuke sat next to him, “He said he wanted to study the ocean a little, you know, for the mothership. I was thinking we could throw him in and see if he dissolves.”

“Josuke,” Tomoko warned.

“I’m kidding,” Josuke said, only half lying. He was pretty sure Mikata wouldn’t dissolve unless he wanted to.

“Not about Mikata, though, right?” Okuyasu asked, fork halfway to his lips. Apparently he wanted this sorted out before he started eating in ernest.

“How about I call him right now,” Josuke said, before putting his plate on the table. He shot his mother an overly bright smile. “If that’s okay. Mikata’s usually up early, so we’d be going soon. And we probably wouldn’t be back for hours.”

Tomoko’s eyes went wide. Having known her his whole life, Josuke knew that was her, ‘Just what do you think you’re doing?’ look.

Josuke looked from her to Shinobu and back again. His grin went from honor school student to kid who totally found that candy you were hiding on top of the fridge.

Tomoko flushed, but said in a perfectly level voice, “Why are you two running off? Sit, eat.”

“They’re busy boys, Tomoko,” Shinobu said, putting a hand on Tomoko’s shoulder. “And it’s not like we’re going to be talking about anything that would interest them.”

“Really?” Josuke said, with an innocent tilt of his hand. “Mom’s pretty interesting. Did she ever tell you about that time in high school when she wore a—“

“Don’t you have an alien to drown?!” Tomoko said, face gone neon pink. Josuke half expected a chain to pop out of her ear that, when pulled, would make ‘my crush is touching me’ flash across her cheeks.