A fresh start! | Inazuma Eleven fanfiction

Chapter 4. Counter proposal

The match between Raimon and Shuuyou Meito had ended with a win for Raimon. Short after, we also learned of Teikoku's victory in the other semifinal, which meant that the deal had been made. I was to join Raimon.

But the only thing in my way was trying to convince my dad. I knew there would only be a slight chance that he would dissaprove, but I could already feel the dissapointment he was going to have. It took me a little longer than a month until I wanted to reverse our deal.

Shuuya actually wanted me to join him to see the team after today's match, but I wanted to keep the surprise until I had actually filled in the registration form and given it to Endou at school on Monday. It would be most appropiate to meet everyone there.

So I went home early, got some homework done to let the time pass. I wouldn't be able to talk to my dad until the evening, because of the time difference, so I had to do something. After finishing school I couldn't even call my American friends either, since I would be waking them up.

As the evening slowly fell, it was already time for me to make some dinner. I had stationed myself in the kitchen as I was whipping up an easy but healthy pasta. It was something I made quite often, so it barely took time and effort.

Just like back in America, I was living on my own here. My dad rented an apartment for me to live in. It wasn't super big, but enough to be comfortable and it had two bedrooms. He probably chose it with the idea that he could visit me here, but I liked it as a study room for now. And it's not that my dad and I live separetly in New York, he's just more at the hospital than in his own home. I often had to pick him up and force him back home to make sure he'd eat and sleep well.

Sometimes I wonder how we are father-daughter. The workaholic he just is, is something I'd never get. The lack of interest in work and school, I probably got from my mother.

The thought of it made me smile softly as I was stirring through my homemade sauce. I had never met my mother, since she died at my birth, but my dad had enough lively stories about her to know she was an amazing woman.

~

Okay Rina, you can do this. It's just a call with your dad and you have prepared this to make sure he will approve. It's not like he's super strict, he's just looking out for you.

I sat down at my desk with my computer in front of me. In a few minutes my dad and I had agreed to videocall, something we hadn't done since I arrived here. We barely talked actually, it was mostly texting, since my dad was extremely busy and the time difference was hard to handle too.

I had made a plan to try to get the best out of this. I was going to tell him about how well school went and how much fun I had seeing Yuuto and Shuuya again. Then I was going to show him how ready I was for my first midterms and as he is totally satisfied with everything, I'll try to ask him to let me go back on my promise. It's the only way I could do it.

When the clock striked 7, I hit the facetime button and waited paitently until my father's face popped up on the screen. After a while he did, with a cheerful expression.

"Honey! How good to see your face after such a long time." He smiled at me and took a sip of his morning coffee. It was right before work for him.

"Hi dad! It sure is! You must have been busy." It wasn't hard to tell that he had been overworking himself again. The dark circles, small eyes and double espresso in his hand. He always tried to hide it by taking a cold shower and shaving, but I always noticed. "How have you been dad? Do you take a day off once in a while?"

Sometimes it was me who was the parent rather than him.

He looked caught and didn't even try to lie. "There's just this project we have going on and I don't really have the time to take a day off."