(Outdated) The King of Elements (part 2)

Chapter 79

After eating, the groups headed back home. Megumi, panic-stricken, waited for Katherine to show up at her house. She sat on the sofa, barely paying attention to the anime playing on her TV. Her parents were still gone; Megumi figured that they were probably on a mission. She folded her legs under her. It's been about an hour. Katherine said she would ask her roommate to give her a ride down to Prescott, and if she wasn't able to, she'd text Megumi to pick her up. She was really serious about this. Sighing, she cursed at herself for not asking her parents how she felt about it before. She could've even used someone else as an example, or tried to tiptoe around the subject. At any rate, they had to know.

Her heart jumped out of her chest as she heard the Amian alarm go off. It seemed like a good idea at first, but now she was really getting annoyed with her uncle's machine. It, at least, alerted her to Katherine's arrival. After a moment, the doorbell rang. Megumi rushed to the door to open it.

Katherine stood in front of her, her hair bound in a long, wavy pony-tail. She looked stunned to see Megumi. "Megumi? I figured that you would've been in time-out by now."

Wrapping her arms around Katherine's waist, Megumi said. "So, you got jokes. My parents aren't home yet. I think they're still on Amity."

"I see. Listen-" she released Megumi, "I may have been too harsh on you for not telling your parents about us. You don't have to if you don't want to."

Megumi shook her head. "I have to tell them. For our sake. I'd rather they find out now by me than by finding out later from someone else. Just in case they do accept it, I don't want them to feel like I don't trust them.

"But let's worry about that when they get here. For now, I'll show you around the house. Of course, this is the living room. Over there-" she pointed to the doorway adjacent to the TV, "is the kitchen. Oh, before you come in in, you mind taking your shoes off? My mother's pretty traditional, and I'd rather you two met on the right foot."

"Okay, but I don't have good balance," Katherine said as she slid out of her sneakers.

Megumi looked disgusted. "Did you really just make a pun?" Katherine shrugged playfully. Groaning, Megumi turned towards the living room. "Let's just keep going. That door over there is to the storage closet. I wouldn't go in there unless you want to get bombarded by junk. The door beside it is to the staircase, but the only things that are up there is mom and dad's study room."

"Wow, you guys must be loaded."

"Kinda, sorta. Both my mom and dad were mixed martial arts fighters back in Japan. Dad was actually a pretty successful champion before he retired. He said he would've stayed, but something came up. I guess that something is Aggaron. Anyway, they both made more than enough for us to live comfortably, especially here in the sticks."

"Sticks?" Katherine chuckled. "I see that you haven't been to that many places around here, baby. I'll have to show you the real sticks of Arkansas."

"I think I'll pass. Oh yeah, the tour. Follow me." She walked into the hallway, pointing at the first door on their right. "This is the guest room. Not much is in there, except for a TV and a bed. The door beside it is the bathroom. I don't think I need to tell you what that's for. Over-"

"Aww. How cute," Katherine interrupted, taking a picture off of the wall. "Look. It's a picture of you when you were younger."

Megumi blushed before she reached for the picture. Laughing, Katherine held it over her head, far higher than what Megumi could reach. "You looked so cute when you were younger. Oh? I thought you were a natural redhead."