When the doors open and a man steps into the living room, my muscles freeze. He looks so serious and cold! Although he is rather skinny than brawny, he looks strong and his chest appears toned beneath his old gray tank top. His hair is a light gray and his eyes are even brighter than Link's. So much so that I catch myself staring at him.
I move my eyes to his hands. They are dirty from soil and hard work. He's not very tall, hardly taller than Link, but I can tell he's in very good shape for his age and even though he just came home from a long day at work, he doesn't appear as exhausted as others would be. I look back up at his eyes; those bright blue eyes. Link and Aryll definitely got their genes from him.
Link greets the man first, but his fathers eyes remain on me. Instinctively, I make an excessive bow and pray to the goddesses that I don't butcher this greeting!
"Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!" I spit, holding my bow at a stiff 90 degree angle. I give a subtle glimpse at Link and wait to be corrected but he doesn't say anything.
"Hyrule-chan," the man returns calmly. When I look up at him, the corners of his mouth lift vaguely. Is that a smile? Did I do it right? "It is nice to meet you."
"You speak English?!" I say excitedly, returning to my former pose.
"Little bit." His accent is strong but I can easily understand him! What a relief!
He passes by me to walk up to Link. He is now standing in front of his son like a general in front of an army. I'm so anxious! Why is this whole situation so tense? Are they not on good terms or something? Are they going to shout at each other?
"Miyamoto-kun," his father says in a sharp, quiet tone.
"Miyamoto-san," Link returns emotionlessly, holding his father's eye contact with fearless intensity.
Suddenly his father's laugh breaks through his tough exterior and his hand reaches up to mess with Link's hair. He gives it a thorough shuffle as he chuckles from joy. Link tries to fight it but his father has the upper hand. Literally.
"Welcome home, son." He pulls Link into a very brief one-handed hug and leaves a quick kiss on his messy hair. The first thing Link does as his father turns his back toward us is fix his hair. He's smiling which tells me that their cold and heartless greeting was just an act and nothing more. I'm relieved!
"Flight was okay, yes?" The man asks us, walking into the tiny kitchen to wash his hands. His voice has a warm and calm ring to it now.
I drop my shoulders and exhale in relaxation. I instantly feel a bit more welcomed and at ease. It's like Link's father's mood and behavior reflects on me.
"It was okay," I answer for us and nod one too many times even though he isn't even looking at us. I'm just so happy that somebody in this house speaks my language!
The kitchen is so compact that he can barely pass his wife to get to the sink where he cleans his hands. I notice a limp. I wonder if it's a temporary or permanent injury.
"Dad," Link follows to the kitchen but doesn't enter. "I had the best flight ever. Zelda bought first class tickets! It was still super long but at least it was comfortable."
It's so adorable to see him this excited with his father.
"I slept for most of it," he continues and his father replies with a chuckle.
"Of course. You always asleep."
"So true," I laugh along and when Link rolls his eyes at me I stick out my tongue to tease him further.
"We are happy you are here now," his father says to me, walking out of the kitchen. I hide my silly expression and return to a serious posture as I nod. "We hear a lot about you," his eyes shift to Link. "A lot."
"Only because you keep asking about her," Link counters with a playful smirk.
I disregard the awkward and extremely adorable comment and hope my cheeks aren't giving anything away. "Thank you for letting me stay here. I really appreciate it! Oh, and Link has told me a lot about you as well!"
His smile is subtle but it's there! I'm so glad that his father seems to like me so far. My heart is racing from the joy I feel at his English skills.
"You are hungry? Let's eat." Link's father takes a seat at the table. Now I see; there is a hollow area for our legs beneath the table. How cool!
"Famished," I reply.
I remember the seating arrangement so I sit in the center opposite him. Link sits next to me and the rest of his family joins soon after. Now comes another challenge... eating with chopsticks. I should be decent enough at it after eating at Vah Rudania for years but I'm still terrified of making etiquette mistakes.
I keep my back unnaturally straight while Link's mother serves the food; looks like we're having rice, soup, and... chicken? Some kind of meat, that's for sure. It looks good, that's all I care about right now.
When everyone puts their hands together in front of their chests and says the phrase Link tried to teach me a few minutes ago, I stay quiet and repeat the phrase in my head, hoping to remember it for the next dinner.
"You want sleep?" Link's father asks me as he pours me a glass of water. What? Oh, is he asking if I'm tired?
"Yes," I admit.
"You take good sleep tonight," he says with a calm and confident smile. He seems so friendly. Not at all like the version I created in my nightmares.
Link leans closer and talks in a low volume. "We can just chill tomorrow and depending on your jet lag we can explore the city a little," Link tells me. "My job doesn't start till Monday, so we have... like... 4 days where I don't have to be anywhere."
"Sounds good," I reply with a tired smile. I am at my limit here. If nobody else was in the room, I might just put my head on the table and call it a night right here, right now.
Link and his father are the only family members to talk to me during dinner. His mother attempts to ask me something but I can't understand her and Link ends up translating for us. I wish I could talk to her, she seems very sweet. Aryll however... she just clings to Link, not letting go of him once. I have to find a way to get along with her. I wish I could assure her that I'm not trying to take Link away from her but she doesn't seem to understand any English.
At least his parents and grandmother seem to like me, even if I can barely communicate with them. I should really take a Japanese class next semester. Link and I could take it together, I miss taking classes with him. And I've been meaning to learn another language anyway.
After dinner, we say goodnight to Link's family and head upstairs. The stairs are old and creaky and the air is very thick up here, motionlessly sitting between the dark wooden walls. The hallway is just as tight as the one downstairs and contains four doors. Link slides open the third door, which leads to a tiny bathroom with only a bathtub... I look at him in confusion.
"The toilet's downstairs. This bathroom is only for taking baths," he explains. "You take a shower first to clean up next to the tub, then you get into the bath. I know it's strange to you but that's how we do it in Japan."
"I suppose I just have to get used to it. Where is your room?"
"Right here," he says and slides open another door. His room is small but due to a lack of furniture, it feels a bit more spacious than it really is. It has a small single bed, a simple wooden desk, and a shelf with a bunch of trophies. I'm happy to see that his younger self still cared about trophies and didn't hide them in dusty boxes under his bed. A younger version of Link... I smile at the thought. I'd like to know more about his childhood. This is the perfect place to learn more about him and I can't wait to hear all the stories of his time before he moved to the States.
My eyes roam the space as I step inside. A couple of posters decorate the white walls, most of them are of the ocean, seagulls, and flowers.
"I didn't know you liked seagulls so much," I cackle. "And orange Gerbera flowers."
"I don't," he huffs. "Aryll took down my posters and put up her own! She took over my room when I left."
"Doesn't she have her own room?"
"She shares a room with Obaachan."
"Who?"
"Our grandma."
"Ah..."
I feel a sudden wave of emotions... This house is so tiny... I feel bad for them. Five people have to share one bathroom and they can't even afford a car. Are they poor? I knew Link had financial hardship when he couldn't afford HU's ridiculously high tuition but I never questioned whether his family was financially stable... They don't even have enough rooms for everyone living in this house... Wait a second...
"W–where am I going to sleep?" I ask nervously.
"In my bed?"
"What about you?"
"Same answer?"
"We can't!" I exclaim.
"I know it's pretty small but I think it's about the same size as the bed we shared at the frat house."
"No, I mean, we can't sleep in the same room."
"We don't have five guest rooms, sorry."
"But your parents! Won't they mind?"
"Unless you want to share a room with my sister and grandmother, there's really nowhere else for you to go."
"I'll take the sofa..."
"What? No. You're not sleeping on the sofa," he laughs. "What's the issue? You don't want to share a room with me?"
"That's not it, I just don't want your parents to think... you know? That we... do certain things..."
"They already know we lived together in the frat house. They don't mind."
"Oh." They probably think we already... Ugh, I don't know how I feel about that. I want them to like me, I want them to know that Link and I haven't slept with each other. I mean, I don't want them to know that in detail, I just want them to know that I was raised to wait until marriage. Or at least wait until I find the man I plan to marry.
"I'll just sleep on the floor if it makes you uncomfortable to share the bed," Link offers as a compromise.
"You are certainly not sleeping on the floor. If anything, I should be the one to sleep on the floor."
"You're the girl, the guest, and the foreigner. I used to sleep on futons until I turned 14, I'm used to it."
"It's out of the question."
"So we'll share?"
I bite my lip and cross my arms as I ponder over the options...
"Just take the bed," he insists. "I promise the floor doesn't bother me. I just want you to be comfortable."
Abashedly, I nod without looking at him. I don't want him to sleep on the floor but I also don't want his parents to think poorly of me...
Since I'm the guest, I'm allowed to take a bath first. Link prepares the water for me and shows me how everything works. The shower and tub have so many buttons. Japan is very technologically oriented. I like it. But I'm not really in a bath mood so I just shower and skip the bath.
I use the restroom downstairs afterward and almost lose my mind trying to find out how to flush. There are so many buttons and I press at least three wrong ones before finding the right one... So embarrassing... I quickly return upstairs and wait for Link to finish his bath. His room is so hot due to the lack of AC... It's a good thing that I'm about to pass out from the exhaustion, otherwise I might overthink whether or not I feel comfortable staying more than one week.
I'm already curled up in bed when Link enters the room. His hair is wet and he is wearing gray shorts and a slightly oversized sweatshirt that I've never seen on him. That makes sense; in California he only has a small selection of outfits so I became familiar with all his hoodies and t-shirts pretty quickly. The sweatshirt he is wearing right now is white with small, black Japanese writing in the center.
"I'm so ready to sleep," he sighs.
"Me too."
He grabs a futon from the closet and places it on the floor parallel to the bed. He lies down onto his back with his arms folded behind his head.
"Tomorrow I can show you my old high school and where I used to play soccer before I became famous."
"I'd love to see that. Do you have pictures too? Of you as a kid?"
"Um, yeah, I can look for some tomorrow if you want."
"Sounds good," I mutter, eyes closed.
"Do you like Japan so far?"
"Yes, it's very different from anything I've ever seen before."
"Glad you like it."
Was that a lie? Do I actually like Japan? So far I have only made a fool of myself and wished to be at a bigger, newer, less humid place. I have this odd void in my heart, I almost feel homesick, but I don't think I truly miss Father or my room quite yet. Maybe I'm just experiencing culture shock?
"Oyasumi," he says before turning off the little light next to the bed. I assume that means good night.
I try to fall asleep but after no more than two minutes I cave. I can't sleep in the bed knowing Link is only two feet away. I crave his arms around me. When I whisper his name, he doesn't answer, which tells me that he is fast asleep already. He's a skilled sleeper, I wish I had that talent too. I'm troubled when it comes to sleeping but I do generally sleep better when I'm with Link.
Quietly, I crawl out of bed and lie down next to him on the floor. So much for sleeping separately. I place my leg across his hips and snuggle up to him. He moves vaguely to put his arm around me, not saying a word.
A couple of seconds later, cuddling gets so hot that he has no choice but to take off his sweatshirt. Must be nice to be a guy. I wish I could just take off my t-shirt too and feel the breeze of the fan on my skin. I suppose he wouldn't mind if I did that. What a silly thought. What would be his reaction if I just took off my clothes? Surely it would wake him up quite a bit hehe.