“Dr and Mrs Gibson?” asked Hadashi-Sensei, err I mean Rin-kun, drawing the curtain open, “In here.”
“Jon are you okay?” asked my mother rushing to my side, my father quick on her heels.
“I’ve checked him over,” said Rin-kun “And I think he’s okay, but you might want to get a second opinion on that to be safe.”
“What happened to him?” asked my father.
Rin-kun glanced in my direction then said “There was an altercation with some bullies. They were chasing him and he fell down the stairs.”
“What? Where are these bullies now?” demanded my mother.
“As far as I’m aware they’re in the Principal’s Office,” replied Rin-kun “But I should warn you, the Principal might be cautious to punish them.”
“Why?” asked my father coldly.
“They’re both star athletes on the school football team and one of them is Brian Meadow’s son, and you know how important a figure Mr Meadow’s is in this town.”
“Were there any witnesses?” asked my mother. As a paralegal she was already formulating a case to build.
“Just Jon and one other, so it’s their word against the bullies’. I haven’t heard the bullies’ stories yet, but they’ll obviously deny any wrongdoing and I was only able to get the basics from the other boy; the Principal should be getting an official statement from him soon.”
“And Jon’s?”
“I tripped mom, I swear,” I interjected.
“Hmm,” she replied, dubious.
“Thank you Rin,” nodded my father, starting to do the same checks that Rin-kun had done.
“One more thing,” said Rin-kun “Not related to the fall, but something I discovered during my check-up; Mrs Gibson, are you aware what a kemoman is?”
My parents looked at each other and I got the feeling they were hiding something. My mother looked at Rin-kun and said “Yes, my firm has done legal work for some in the past and Richard has told me some details from his work at his lab.” I stared at the two of them shocked.
“So Jon is a kemoman then?” sighed my father, looking at me. “I had him tested just after he was born, but genetic testing wasn’t that good back then; even now we don’t know as much about kemoman as we’d like.”
“Wait,” I interrupted, “You knew I could be a kemoman? How come?”
My parents looked at each other uncomfortably.
“Jon,” sighed my father, pinching the bridge of his nose, a habit I’d noticed he did when he had to tell someone an uncomfortable truth, “Linda isn’t your birth mum, she’s your step-mum.”
“What,” I replied flatly, blown away by that revelation. I looked between them and said “How is that even possible?”
Rin-kun coughed awkwardly and said “I’ll give you three some privacy; I should be reporting to the principal anyway.” Bowing he turned and hurried out.
My father sighed and said “I was married once before but it didn’t work out and we separated a few months after you were conceived.”
“Your dad and I met when he came to my firm looking for a devorce lawyer,” continued my mom, and even after that revelation I could only think of her as mom, not step-mom, “One thing lead to another and we started dating.”
“The devorce was finalised just before you were born. And about a month after you were born your bio-mum disappeared; she dropped you off at my place then just left. Cops tracked here down on the other side of the country and she made it clear she had no intention of coming back ever. I tried to keep in touch but she kept moving around and I eventually gave up.”
“A few months later I became pregnant with Zoe and me and your father married.”
My head spinning from the revelations, I wondered if this was something the stone had created from my wish, or if this had been part of the old reality. Then something occurred to me. “Wait, what does any of that have to do with me being a kemoman?”
My father sighed and said “She was a kemonomimi Jon. Specifically, a...”
