“Mirai-san! Haruka-san!”

Both Mirai and Haruka looked in the same direction and saw Mayu and Juri with their two-year-old son, Daichi, who was following closely beside his mother, who was in a peach-colored summer dress under a loosely fitted, gray cardigan. Following them was Juri with a large-sized tray with the takoyaki Mayu had cooked from home for the party. He smiled as he watched his wife and son slowly make their way to Mirai and Haruka, sitting on a picnic rug under the shade. Daichi was dressed similarly to his father: a blue-collared shirt and fitted jeans except that Daichi’s shirt was checkered.

Mayu and Juri were the last of the friends to get married and had been married for four years. After a year and a half of trying to conceive, the success arrived after Mirai introduced them to a specialist that could help boost their success of pregnancy. They chose the magic of IVF, in-vitro fertilization, and Daichi was the beautiful result. Because it was an expensive alternative, Juri had to work two jobs. Even though Juri and Mayu worked with Haruka at Haruka’s family business and Haruka had countlessly offered to loan them money or even suggested to raise the salary, Juri and Mayu wanted to pay out of their own pockets from their own hard work for their little fella.

Mirai and Haruka stood to greet the couple. Before Mayu’s arrival, the two mothers had discussed and laughed about their husbands’ perks and their children’s relationships with each other. Haruka and Shintaro had gotten married a year after Mirai’s small wedding, and they had one daughter, Hime, who is the same age as Aki, Mirai’s fourth son. Unlike Mirai’s small wedding that was for close friends and family and unlike Mayu’s vintage-themed wedding that had the proper audience attended, Haruka and Shintaro’s wedding was the biggest, grandest, and longest wedding of all since it was a three-part wedding. Of course, Haruka’s theme was princess and royalty-related.

“You can put it over there with the rest,” said Mirai to Juri, pointing to the two rounded and wooden picnic tables under a patio umbrella.

Mirai’s husband and her two older sons, Natsu and Haru, had arrived earlier in the morning to claim the area and to set the table with decorations, with her arriving later with her two youngest boys, Fuyu and Aki, along with the Morimoto family. Right when the two families came together, the children went off with their fathers to the nearby baseball field, leaving the two mothers to stay behind and wait for the other guests.

“All right, ladies,” said Juri, “I’ll see you later.” He patted his young son’s head and kissed his wife’s cheek.

“Juri, can you tell Kota to call me?” asked Mirai. “No one’s picking up my calls.” She had made over ten calls to her husband, to his brother, and to her oldest son, Natsu, but because they were too busy playing baseball, she knew they wouldn’t bother to answer the phone.

“Even Natsu?” asked a surprised Juri.

Natsu had grown up to become more responsible than his father and uncle, and too responsible that he obeyed what anyone asked.

Mirai heaved a restless sigh. “With his Dad egging him to play baseball, he’s definitely forgotten about me. I just don’t know why Kota won’t answer though.”

“Got it.” Juri ran off after waving goodbye to his son.

Mirai joined her friends on the rug again. “Thanks, Mayu-chan, for the takoyaki. I hope it wasn’t much work.”

“You’re welcome,” said Mayu. She lifted her son and placed him on her lap. “What else do you have?”

“Tonkatsu, because I plan on making it with curry later when we have more guests, and Haruka had ordered dishes I didn’t even think of.”

Haruka was pleased with herself. “Of course. It’s for one of our kids’ birthdays—how can I not do such a thing? But who are you also expecting?”

“The usual: my big family, my in-laws, the Satos, the Matsumotos, and Mrs. Yurio—our daycare lady. The ones who can’t make it are Sugita-san and Rie nee-chan, Ryota and Ayame, Haruma and Rena, and Kei.”

“Wow, you still keep in contact with your daycare lady?” Haruka asked, raising a brow. “Isn’t she, like, retired? Way, long ago?”

“She is, but she occasionally visits the daycare center.”

“That’s sweet of her,” said Mayu, and Mirai and Haruka nodded.

“Speaking of your guests,” said Haruka, “the Matsumotos, Jun and his family, are here.” She looked past Mirai’s direction, and Mirai stood up again to greet her neighbors and their daughter, Sakura, and their son, Touma.

Sakura was a year younger than Natsu and was usually teased for her relationship with Natsu since they grew up with each other after Mirai and Natsu moved back to live in their old house where they had lived for a year before the six-year disappearance. Her younger brother was the same age as Fuyu.

“Hi, Mrs. Matsumoto,” said Mirai. “Hi, Sakura and Touma.”

“Hi, Mrs. Yamada,” said Mrs. Matsumoto.

“Hi, Auntie,” said Sakura and Touma. Because the Yamadas and the Matsumotos were next-door neighbors and friends, their kids referred to their friends’ parents as auntie or uncle.

“Where’s Uncle?” Sakura asked as she set down two liters of carbonated drinks.

Mirai pouted and glanced at the baseball field. “Over there, playing baseball. I’ve called for him to come and start the barbecue, but he, Natsu, or his uncle isn’t answering any of my calls.”

Mrs. Matsumoto laughed from the side. “Sakura, why not go tell my son-in-law to call his mother? He listens to you too.”

“Mom!” Sakura scowled. “We grew up together, that’s all.”

Everyone laughed, and even Daichi clapped in harmony.

“That would help,” said Mirai, smiling at Sakura. “Can I send you to either pull Natsu or his father by the ear for me?” Even though she had just asked Juri to do the same job, she knew that once he joined the gang, her mission to him was long forgotten.

“You can count on me, Auntie,” promised Sakura.

“I’ll tag along too,” said Mr. Matsumoto with a grin that implied he had other intentions.

Mrs. Matsumoto playfully chided her husband, “You should get them to come here too. I’m sure the kids have been playing without eating.”

Haruka nodded and added, “Since eight in the morning.”

Mr. Matsumoto, Touma, and Sakura ran off, and Mirai joined the girls again.

“Since eight?” Mrs. Matsumoto surprisingly asked. “Oh, to reserve the area.”

Mirai made an unimpressed expression. “I told my husband he could go at ten with me and the kids, but he desperately wanted a good spot, so he took the two older kids with him.”

Haruka laughed hysterically and added that when she, her family, Mirai, and Mirai’s two younger kids arrived at the park later in the day, Mr. Yamada and the older kids were playing catch and had yet to do anything as they were told to do. “In the end, Mi-chan and I had to set up everything.”

“Men,” said Mrs. Matsumoto, jokingly, “they can never get the job done properly.”

The girls continued to chat until ten minutes later, Mirai’s phone rang, and she answered. “Sakura? Oh, Natsu. Why are you calling on her phone?”

Natsu, panting on his end, said, “Dad told me—uhh—I don’t have it with me.”

Mirai heaved a heavy sigh because she knew her husband had committed the same offense of purposely turning off their phones and having them lie to her. “Well, did your dad forget that I have a job for him?” When she heard his soft pantings, she worriedly asked if they had played too rough. “Tell him I want him back here for his job. Both your dad and your uncle.”

“Got it, Mom. And Mom. Dad got Aki and Fuyu dirty.”

From what sounded like it was behind Natsu, Mirai’s husband shockingly shouted, “Natsu, why you—”

Natsu hung up the phone, however.

“I knew I should’ve made them stay behind,” growled Mirai. She would have to lecture her husband later.

“It’s okay, Mi-chan,” said Haruka. “They’re still kids, so they’re going to get dirty anyway.”

The other girls laughed because Haruka was a different story with her daughter, Hime. If Hime had a stain or a wound, Haruka got all dramatic and wanted all stains removed and every wound tended to. There once had been a time when Shintaro secretly taught Hime how to bike that when she scraped her knee, Haruka had almost called all the doctors from around the world to ensure that there wouldn’t be a scar and requested for the impossibility of having the wound to heal within two days.

About five minutes later, four people arrived. Three out of the four knew they were in absolute trouble.

“Auntie, they’re here,” said Sakura, showcasing the guilty men behind her to the warden, Mirai.

Mirai pointed to Natsu. “Take my keys, and get yours and your brothers’ clothes from the car for you guys to change.” As soon as Natsu ran off to obey her orders, she pointed to her husband. “Start the barbecue.” She pointed to her husband’s brother. “We need more ice, so unpack it from that box over there.”

Both men said nothing and walked away to complete their respective jobs.

“Mi-chan,” whined Ryosuke as he dragged his feet, “my team was winning against Natsu’s, you know.” Ever since Natsu grew and sharpened his batting and catching skills for baseball, Ryosuke had yet to win a game against him. “I was my team’s MVP too.”

“You guys have been playing for over three hours,” rebuked Mirai, “and no one’s yet to take a rest, so I was getting worried.” She then looked at Kota. “I thought I could trust you to answer my calls.”

Kota shyly pointed to his younger brother, and she grimaced at Ryosuke.

She said to Ryosuke, “Next time, I’m so not inviting you.”

“You can’t do that,” said a scowling Ryosuke. “I’m related to the kids, you know.”

“So, what?”

Everyone watching laughed to themselves at the unchanging friends’ bickering.

When Natsu got back from the car with the clothes his mother had prepared in advance, a group of people: his great-grandparents and Uncle Takeru followed him.

“Mom, I’m heading back to the field,” said Natsu. He walked past Sakura and flipped her hair to the side, something he did whenever he was around her, and she tried to get him back by chasing after him, and they ran toward the field again.

Ryosuke found this to be a chance to join the two and to escape his job. “Me too!”

“Finish this first,” demanded Mirai, already a step ahead of him.

“Kota-nii can do it for me.”

“Almost everyone’s here, and you’re not going to lend a—”

From out of nowhere, Mr. Shida entered the couple’s conversation, standing behind Ryosuke and not his daughter. “Mirai, why are you telling him what to do? Let him go as he pleases.”

“Mr. Shida,” said Mr. Yamada from the opposite side, also coming from out of nowhere and including himself in the conversation, but he bickered with the elder man in front of him as he stood behind Mirai. “Why are you yelling at my daughter-in-law? This son of mine needs to know his responsibilities, and she’s putting him in place.”

“My daughter’s still lacking in many areas, and—”

“Okay, you two,” said both Mrs. Yamada and Mrs. Shida to their respective husbands. They pulled their husbands away and told them to sit down at the other patio while the young adults worked. As the four of them headed to their table, Mr. Yamada and Mr. Shida continued their occasional small but cute argument about Mirai and Ryosuke. Every time the two elderly men met, they always spat over about which friend of the two was better, but they never missed doing it over a few drinks.

Ryosuke quietly whispered to Mirai, “See, your dad’s right.”

“Your dad’s right,” said Mirai.

Within two hours, the kids had been cleaned up by their respective parents, all the guests had arrived, the party started with Haru’s blowing out the candles followed by the grand meal, and finally, Haru’s opening of the birthday presents.

The guests then slowly left the park to head home, first starting with Takeru and his grandparents. They thanked Mirai for the invite and sweetly bade the Yamada kids goodbye.

“You’re going to be home this summer?” asked Natsu to Takeru.

As per usual, Natsu visited his great-grandparents in the countryside every summer, but Takeru now had Kota’s job as the business mediator in the city, so it required him to move between places, causing him to rarely meet the teenager during the summer.

“For the first two weeks, yeah,” said Takeru. “You doing the internship?”

“Yeah, after summer camp. There won’t be any practice for baseball too, so I’ll have time.”

“Sounds good.” He shook Natsu’s hand. “See you then.”

As for Natsu’s great-grandmother, before she left, she slipped a quick commentary to Mirai. “Thank you for always taking great care of our great-grandsons.”

Mirai bashfully smiled. “It’s my pleasure.”

Mrs. Sato walked with her husband and grandson to their car, stole a glance behind her shoulders, and smiled. She was glad she did what she had done ten years ago. She had persuaded her husband to forgive the Yamadas and to have Natsu stay with his virtual family. Her great-grandson was happier with his mother, and she was glad that she didn’t separate the pair.

After the Satos left, the Matsumotos also had to go because Sakura had tennis practice. After Natsu mocked Sakura’s tennis posture, she chased him around the area until calling it quits because of the unnecessary shipping of her and Natsu from everyone.

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