Survival Of The Fittest

Richard drove up Milton St in his 1995 Audi A4. Frankly, having both his license and a sweet car was awesome. And, he assumed, handy for attracting the ladies. Well, probably not really, but at least he was making an effort.

Looking out for the street signs, it occurred to him that the houses up here on summit hill were more than a little flashy. Like, real upper-class stuff, nothing here was under two stories, the lawns were manicured, the houses clean, even the asphalt seemed well-kept. Ok, what was this one coming up... Goodrich, nope. Eiko was on Fairsight or something.

Eiko, he could have done a lot worse as far as prom dates were concerned. She was cute, smart, had good taste and seemed to know exactly what she wanted to do with her life, which was more than he could say for most of Bayview's students. He'd say "himself included" but that wouldn't be entirely true, he had a few ideas for post-school life, it was just a matter of choosing between them. Animation and the culinary arts weren't exactly the most congruous career paths.

He squinted at the next signpost, Fairview, perfect. He flicked the right blinker on and turned into Eiko's street. The housing quality hadn't diminished at all in this street, little mansions, pioneer and otherwise, with big lawns and plenty of trees. Now all he needed was to find her number as he slowly trundled down the street. 78... 82... 84, that was it. wow, nice, it had bay windows and everything!

He pulled up beside Eiko's lawn, shut off the engine and stepped outside. Eiko hadn't come out yet so he leant back against the car for a moment. Should he wait there and let her come out in her own time, or go up and ring the bell? Decisions decisions... Okay, he'd wait a minute or two and then go up, Eiko didn't seem the type to be late, and they probably knew he was there. He straightened the jacket of his tuxedo and fixed his tie, he'd already combed and gelled his hair (in that order) and frankly, he was feeling pretty confident looks-wise. Now all he needed was Eiko.

At that moment, Eiko was busy powdering her nose, so to speak. Actually, she was doing a lot more than that; her entire makeup kit was out, and she'd used her best eyeliner, lipstick, mascara, rouge, and so forth, as well as bathing with scented bath lotions and shampoo. She finished up by polishing her nails, and looked into the mirror. Everything was in essentially in order. The best part about the evening was that she'd taken care of nearly all her studies. Graduation was approaching quickly, and there were only final exams to worry about. She could stand to postpone her work for one day.

Just then she heard someone knocking on the house's front door, causing her to turn her head around quickly enough to get hair in her eyes. She carefully removed it and sighed when she noticed that her eyeliner was disturbed. By the time she was done fixing it, she heard a second knock. The voice of an older woman drifted from the lower floor, speaking in Japanese. "Eiko, it looks like your date is here!"

"Please welcome him in, Okaa-sama!" Eiko replied. "I still need to put my dress on!" She turned to her dress, still laying in plastic on the bed.

Instead of Eiko greeting him, it would be her mother, Kimiko Haraguchi, who opened the door for Richard. She spoke English in a voice that was more heavily accented than Eiko's. "Hello, Han-san. Please come in."

After locking the car, straightening his jacket again and taking a deep breath, Richard walked up the patio steps and knocked on the door. Best to just go up and do it without hesitating too much. He looked for something interesting to distract himself from his nervousness, and settled instead on the sparse cobwebs up in the rafters above the door. They made the house feel a little less intimidating.

What was he worried about anyway? This wasn't really a date, it was prom. Nearly everyone was going with someone. So it wasn't like this was going to lead anywhere. He should just relax and enjoy it, not get so tense.

What if he did want it to?

Then it might happen. Chill.

No response to his previous knock was forthcoming, so he used the ornate knocker this time. Sure enough, Eiko's mother came to the door. And called him Han-san. No-one called him Han-san! That was awesome.

"Ah, hello Mrs Haraguchi, thank you."

The interior of the house was nice, not over the top. It was definitely lived in, but kept clean and tidy, presumably Mrs Haraguchi's work. She led him to a couch in the living room and invited him to take a seat.

As Eiko put on her dress upstairs, Kimiko sat down gingerly on the couch opposite Richard. "I hope you're feeling well," she said, folding her hands and maintaining eye contact. "So, what are you and Eiko planning to do tonight? I must apologize, I'm not familiar with the concept of 'prom'. Eiko's done her best to explain it to me, but she hasn't told me if you had any plans for after the formal dance part."

Suddenly, a small, high-pitched voice piped up in Japanese. "Mommy, who's this?" a little boy standing in the doorway asked. He looked curiously at Richard.

Kimiko smiled. "This is Eiko's friend Richard. He'll be going with Eiko to prom tonight. Can you say hello to him in English?"

The boy squinched his eyes shut, trying to remember what he was supposed to say. He finally looked at Richard and smiled. "Hello, Richard," he said, forgetting to to pronounce the 'r'.

"Very good, Acchan," Eiko said from the stairwell, wearing an elegant white dress. It fit snugly on her top, leaving everything above her breasts bare, and moved to a much looser fit over her legs, ending just above her ankles, which were elevated by matching heels. "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, Richard-san. Shall we go now, or would you like to have some more words with my family?"

Eiko had arrived just before Richard could respond with a 'konnichi wa' to her little brother. And she looked, well, amazing. Keeping his hormones under control, he thought maybe he should say something to that effect.

"Wow, hey, no problem" He checked his watch. "I'd love to stay, but we should probably get going. Starts in 20 minutes and I'm not sure about the way there." That was the honest truth too, before arriving he'd thought he might've wanted to get out of there ASAP, but as it was, he would've liked to hang around and talk with Eiko's family a bit more.

"Nice to meet you Ms Haraguchi, you too Acchan"

Eiko nodded and walked towards Richard, giving him a little smile and nodding. "You're quite right. It is getting rather late and as much as I'd like for you to get further acquainted with my family, I'm afraid we should leave as soon as we can."

Her mother looked back at the two and said to Eiko, "Be sure to call me if you need anything, please!"

Eiko walked toward her and nodded. "I have yours and Otou-sama's numbers ready if anything comes up. Be sure to let him know that I'll be fine. I know how he gets sometimes."

Kimiko got up from her seat and reached out for Eiko, giving her a hug. Eiko reciprocated and leaned closer, putting her head over her mother's shoulder. Kimiko then whispered into Eiko's ear: "Don't worry, Eiko. I'll be sure to tell him. You know, he's very proud of you. And so am I."

Eiko nodded, releasing herself from the hug after a few more seconds, then bent down and put her hand on Ayumu's shoulder. "You be good for Okaa-sama while I'm gone, alright Acchan?"

Ayumu nodded. OK, have fun, Nee-san!

Satisfied that her farewells were in order, Eiko got up and walked up to the front door. "After you," she told Richard.

Richard held the front door open for Eiko as he left, giving a last 'bye!' to the family as he let the door shut. The two made their way back down the path to the car.

"Here, wait a second" he said to Eiko when they were there. He opened the passenger side door and picked a small white box with pearly ribbon up from the seat. Turning back to Eiko, he held the gift in both hands and offered it to her. "Here you go! I'd uhm, say dozo or something, but that'd be a bit cheesy. I uhh hope you like it."

Inside the box was a corsage that'd taken him more than a bit of effort to get, and probably wouldn't have if his parents hadn't explained that they were absolutely essential. Finding out what colour Eiko would want without tipping her off had been hard, and going and getting one had been harder. Anything for love he supposed. Well, love or a friendly date, whichever.