Reign Soma

Ch. 18

"Was I tipsy or something?" Reign asked, rubbing her forehead. "Why did I say I'd cook for our parents?"

Hatori chuckled as he drank his coffee. "You weren't tipsy or anything. You said that with a clear conscious."

"Why didn't you stop me?" she whined. "Now we have to cook!"

"Calm down. Just decide a menu. My family should be fine with anything as long as it's tasty and not too heavy."

Reign fiddled with her hair and let out a sigh. "Do they like to drink? My family keeps soju and other alcohols on hand."

He nodded. "My parents like to drink but not in large amounts."

"So what I'm hearing is a meal that goes well with alcohol?" she smiled, sounding a bit happier.

"No, that's not-"

Reign clasped her hands together and looked in her fridge. "I have a few menu ideas in mind but I'll need to go to the store to get ingredients."

He sat down his coffee and sighed. "Want to go today?"

Reign closed the fridge and turned to face him. "Yeah, but we also need to talk about the house situation that we talked about, remember?"

"I was wondering about that. Where do you want it exactly?" he asked, taking his glasses off.

"In the mountains maybe? Or in a neighborhood that has a decent amount of privacy." she said randomly.

Hatori raised a brow before chuckling softly. "Really? I didn't expect you to say something like that."

Reign smiled and walked around the island to hug him. "What's your idea then?"

"Go visit some houses that fit our criteria of community, surroundings, and what we want in a house."

"Do you have a location in mind?"

"I don't." he said honestly. "I also don't want to rush this process so let's take our time and weigh out our options."

Reign sat on his lap and hugged him. "We won't rush since I said we'll wait a year or so."

Hatori hugged her back and played with her hair. "We can start after we have our parents have dinner together."

"Alright. Regardless," Reign sighed. "Let's just have fun."

"Well before that, let's go to the store to get food."

Reign got up and grabbed his hand. "Let's go."

*

The next day, Reign was walking to Akito's residence to clear something up. As she walked, she saw Momiji who had grown taller and looked more mature than she'd ever seen him but he also looked a bit sad. He had his school uniform on and his bunny backpack.

Reign wanted to call out to him but thought it better to just tap him softly. She walked over to him and tapped his shoulder which made him turn his head to see who touched him. When he saw it was Reign his demeanor relaxed.

"You startled me there." he said, his voice deep with maturity.

Reign smiled. "You looked a bit sad so I wanted to see what was going on with you. Anything I can do to help?"

Momiji linked his arm with Reign and sighed. "Lend an ear and keep a secret?"

She nodded. "Where do you want to talk?"