Before we could discuss any more my dad called up to us “Jon, Zoe, dinner’s ready.” I gave Karyn a shrug and got up. We headed downstairs, followed by Zoe and Trevor. As I turned the corner in the stairs I glanced back at Trevor who was watching me intently. My dad was waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs and said “Karyn, Trevor I’ve contacted your parents and they’ve given you the clearance to have dinner here if you want.”
“Thanks Dr Gibson,” smiled Karyn.
“Yeah,” nodded Trevor “Sounds good.”
We filed in to the dining room to find Rin-kun sitting at the table talking with Mikey. Seeing us enter he waved and said “Hey guys, hope you don’t mind sharing a meal with one of your teachers, Richard insisted I stay.” The four of us shrugged and commented that we had no objections and took our seats. I sat to Rin-kun’s right while Karyn sat to my right. Zoe and Trevor filed around the other side, taking seats next to Mikey who was already seated on Rin-kun’s left.
“Hey Jon,” he grinned up at me.
I glanced around at the others and in mock confusion said “What, do I have something on my head?” I patted my new ears theatrically and was surprised that they already felt quite big compared to this morning.
Mikey laughed at my joke and said “It’s so cool you being a kemonomimi. I hope I’m one too. Rin’s been telling me a lot about them.”
I glanced at Run-kun and he shrugged sheepishly. “He was curious and I love teaching.”
Before anything else could be said, my parents entered carrying trays of serving dishes and Karyn and Trevor helped set them on the table. We waited for my parents to be seated and were about to tuck in and start dishing up when Rin-kun clasped his hands together as if he was about to start praying and bowed his head to my parents, saying “Thanks for the meal.” Mikey glanced at him and copied his actions but without the words.
“You’re welcome Rin,” chuckled my father, reaching to take some bread from the bread basket.
The meal passed fairly casually with us sticking mostly to safe topics and joking with each other about various things, mostly about me being a late bloomer and about kemonomimi. When it was over, Karyn and Trevor had to go and apologised for not staying to help tidy up, while Rin-kun insisted my parents go to the front room while he helped me and my siblings to clear the table and wash the dishes.
