Fanon:The Treehouse on Moonlight Lane/4

4
You decide to go in. She did invite you in, didn't she?

You take off your shoes as they ask and step onto the wooden floor of the hall. You take a few moments to absorb the beauty of the room. The floor glistens and the walls are lined with photographs of old times. A faded one has three figures in the photo. One looks like a younger version of Ayoko-obāsan. Another, sitting next to her, is a man wearing a suit and glasses, presumably her husband. The final figure is a small girl, wearing a cute little dress, sitting on the man's lap. Their daughter, maybe?

"Yes," Ayoko-obāsan chimes in. "That photo was taken many years ago, when my daughter Masako was but a little girl this size," she put her hand out to indicate the height she was talking about. She stretches her hand up until she has to stand on her toes. "Now she has grown up to here, and has children of her own!" She laughs. It's a strong, hearty laugh, a sign of the woman's good health.

"Come, come," she said as she walked down the hall. "You should meet my husband as well."

You follow Ayoko-obāsan into the living room. It is full of bookcases and bookshelves. Books fill the entire area. It might as well be the town library. And right in the middle of the room are two armchairs, with a small table separating them. One of them is occupied by an old man with glasses. He looks almost exactly the same as the man in the photo you saw. He has his head buried in a book.

Ayoko-obāsan begins speaking to the man in a strange language, this time one you can't understand. Her sentences are full of "desu-ne"'s; his are full of "Sou-desu-ka"'s.

"Well, hello there," the man looks up from his book. He closes it, places it on the table and stands up. He bows. "I am Koichi-ojīsan."

You reciprocate. "I'm ."

Koichi-ojīsan gestures to his collection of books. "Do you like reading, ?"

"I don't mind it," you say. You can't quite remember whether you like or dislike reading books like the huge novels that line the walls of the living room. You scan the titles written on the spines of the books. Some are readable to you, and others are in a completely different language, probably the one Ayoko-obāsan used to talk to Koichi-ojīsan. Is it Japanese?

"Well, if you are not sure," Koichi-ojīsan says, "you are always welcome to borrow from my collection."

"I'll keep that in mind," you reply. "Thank you."

"Dinner is ready!" Ayoko-obāsan calls from the kitchen.

"Coming!" Koichi-ojīsan says. He turns to you. "Will you be staying for dinner?"

A delicious scent is wafting in from the kitchen, but you know your parents will be expecting you. They might think it a bit rude if you rashly decided to stay with Koichi-ojīsan and Ayoko-obāsan for dinner. What should you do?

If you decide to stay to have dinner, click here.

If you decide not to stay to have dinner, click here.