Chapter 10: Confusion

"Hey, Emi! What's up?" Nemuri asked over the phone as she buttered her toast for breakfast.

"Hey Nemuri," Emi said sadly.

"Emi, are you alright?" Nemuri asked.

"Nemmy, you sure we're doing the right thing?" Emi questioned. "With Aizawa, I mean. I'm basically lying to him so I can get close to him. It feels so dishonest and the longer this goes on…Well, I…I don't know." Nemuri froze as she heard Emi start sobbing.

"Emi, Emi, please calm down," Nemuri said gently. "Deep breaths. Breath in. Breath out. Breath in. Breath out. Better?"

"Yes, thank you," Emi responded still a little chocked up.

"Emi, I understand where you're coming from," Nemuri started. "I feel bad about it too. Are you going to tell him?"

"How am I supposed to tell him?" Emi asked. "It's not like I can say, 'Hey, I'm actually your soulmate. You know, the girl who embarrassed you IN PUBLIC, ON STAGE? By the way, what's for dinner?'" Nemuri sadly smirked.

"Yeah, that would NOT go over well," Nemuri responded. "To be honest, I kind of forgot about that."

"I REALLY want this to work," Emi admitted. "But…I know that it won't the longer I lie."

"You like him a lot, don't you?" Nemuri guessed. "Look, I'll talk with Zashi and we'll figure something out, okay?"

"Okay," Emi responded. "Thank you and I'm sorry…"

"No, no, you don't need to apologize," Nemuri interrupted. "It's okay. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"Bye," Emi said before handing up. Nemuri put the phone done and sighed.

"Hey Nemmy, have you seen my keys?" Hizashi asked as he entered the room.

"They should be in the fruit bowl," Nemuri answered sadly. Hizashi paused his task and looked over at his wife. Hizashi walked over to her and took one of her hands in his.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Hizashi asked.

"Are we doing the right thing?" Nemuri asked. "With Shota, I mean. We are practically deceiving him, going behind his back, and… You know. I mean, we want him to be happy but is it really worth breaking his trust?"

"Yeah, I see what you mean," Hizashi responded. "Come on, let's sit down." Hizashi led her to the couch and they sat down.

"I don't know, Hizashi," Nemuri admitted. "This whole thing sounded great on paper, but now…Are we really doing the right thing?" Hizashi sighed in defeat.

"Should we tell him?" Hizashi asked.

"I'll talk to Emi about it more after work," Nemuri told him.

"More? She already called?" Hizashi said.

"Yeah, she wants to tell him, but she also doesn't want to lose him," Nemuri informed him.

"She likes him, doesn't she?" Hizashi guessed. Nemuri nodded.

"She does, so she doesn't want this to end. But at the same time, she understands that keeping this up will do more harm than good," Nemuri told him before sighing. "This is all my fault."

"This isn't your fault," Hizashi said.

"Yes, it is," Nemuri insisted. "This was my idea. It was my idea for her to hide her identity. It was my idea to lie to him. This is my fault and…and I thought this would work but…And now I don't know what to do."

"Well, for now, there's nothing we can do," Hizashi reminded her. "Tonight we'll call Emi and try and sort this out. Sound good?" Nemuri nodded.

"Yeah, let's just hope there's a chance that we can still fix this mess," Nemuri said sadly.

"I hope so too," Hizashi responded. "I…When I called him about their "date", I could tell he was smiling the whole time he was talking. He genuinely enjoyed himself. And while I was happy for him, I couldn't help the sinking feeling that this wasn't real. It made me sick to my stomach knowing that we're deceiving him in hopes of making him happy. We're getting them together, but at what cost?"

Emi was currently making breakfast when she heard her phone ding. She pulled up and saw that she received a text from Aizawa.

Aizawa: You complete me.

Emi raised her eyebrow in surprise and disbelief. This did not sound like Aizawa.

Aizawa: What light beyond yonder window break? It is the east and Juliet is the sun.

Emi was still confused but she decided to play along. She smirked as she responded:

Emi: A Shakespeare fan are we? Did see you as the type.

Aizawa: But of course. Where else am I going to get my pick-up lines?

Emi: You call that a pick-up line?

Aizawa: And I suppose you can do better? Emi, I djofwenof.

Emi raised her eyebrow in confusion.

"What is going on?" Emi questioned.

Aizawa: Sorry about that. Hitoshi took my phone while I was busy with Eri. Did he say anything stupid?

Emi chuckled.

"Why am I not surprised?" Emi playfully said.

Emi: Scroll up.

Aizawa: He's grounded for a month.

Emi: Ah, don't be so harsh! It was kind of funny!

Aizawa: Two weeks then. And I don't find it amusing that my son took advantage of my trust and decided to play on my phone instead of getting ready. Sorry about the messages.

Emi: It's fine. Children will be children after all.

Aizawa: I gotta go. Call you later?

Emi: Sure! Bye! :)

Aizawa: Bye.

Emi smiled at her phone before it fell with a sudden realization. Aizawa didn't know the truth so none of this is real. Emi sighed before hiding her face in her hands.

"How must this go on?" Emi muttered.

Aizawa smirked at his phone. Emi was…. interesting to say the least. He put his phone away and noticed Hitoshi was smirking at him from his spot at the table.

"Don't get too comfortable. You're still grounded for two weeks," Aizawa informed him.

"Just two weeks? You're getting soft," Hitoshi teased with a smirk.

"Keep teasing me and it'll go back to a month," Aizawa threatened. "Understood?"

"Yes sir," Hitoshi replied respectfully. Aizawa sat down across from Eri and Hitoshi before eating his breakfast, which was just an egg on a piece of toast. And while it was not much it was an improvement from just drinking coffee and calling it sufficient.

"I'm done, may I be excused?" Eri asked. Aizawa nodded. Eri got up and put her dishes in the sink before heading off to her room to get ready for school. The other two ate their breakfast in relative silence.

"So by grounded, you mean…" Hitoshi started to ask.

"No going over to friends' houses or having friends over. No electronic devices, that includes the TV," Aizawa informed him. "And your phone."

"Wait, what? But what if…" Hitoshi protested.

"You're getting the dumb one," Aizawa stated. "I'm keeping your iPhone until your two weeks are up. You'll have your old slide phone for that time." Aizawa gestured for the phone and after a small huff, Hitoshi relinquished his phone. "And don't try sneaking into my room to get it back. Otherwise, you'll be grounded longer. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," Hitoshi responded.

"Good," Aizawa said. "And why are you being grounded?"

"Because I took your phone without permission and texted some inaccurate information about your feelings towards an individual which could have possibly damaged your relationship with said individual," Hitoshi answered drily. Aizawa nodded.

"And while this time it was someone who was understanding enough to see the humor in the situation if you had texted one of my business acquaintances it could have been disastrous," Aizawa stated. "Also you know better than to take someone's phone without permission. I know you and Eri love pulling pranks but we all agreed not to do pranks that involve damaging to people's property or relationships. Understood?" Hitoshi nodded.

"Yeah, I got it," Hitoshi responded.

"Good," Aizawa said before checking the clock. "We better get going. We've got to leave in ten minutes."