After Okochi Sanso we kept on Arashiyama until evening. Sunset on Togetsukyo Bridge was beautiful.
“Time to head to Grandma and Grandpa’s.”
“You said Katsura, right?”
“Yes — not far.”
Katsura’s in the same ward as Arashiyama. We returned the kimonos. (Losing kimono-Kano felt sad. I would never say it aloud.)
“Two Arashiyama stations being so close is confusing.”
“Causes a lot of wrong-station errors.”
Arashiyama Station exists on both Hankyu and Keifuku lines. Pure tourist trap. Some Kyoto stations got renamed to fix this (Gion-Shijo, Kiyomizu-Gojo) — names matter.
Eight minutes on the Hankyu line later, we got off at Katsura. East exit, walking.
“Katsura is green.”
“The Katsura River and the mountains.”
“Big atmosphere shift from Tokyo.”
“Yeah — station area is commercial but a few minutes out it’s residential.”
We arrived. I pressed the doorbell on a house labeled Ichinose.
“This is Ichinose — who’s there?”
“Grandpa — it’s me, Yuito.”
“Ah, Yuito. Coming.”
Grandpa’s voice with Kyoto-ben. Phone was rare so it had been a while. He opened the door.
“It’s been a while — you got bigger, didn’t you?”
“Sadly, height isn’t moving anymore.”
(He always asks every visit. Seventeen — growth spurt mostly over.)
“Ayato didn’t come?”
“He’s down with a summer cold.”
“Right, Ayako mentioned.”
He looked disappointed. (Grandpa wanted to see Ayato too. My brother — who’s harsh with me — is polite to grandparents, so they dote on him. Be nicer to me too please.)
”…Who’s the tall beautiful girl beside you?”
“Ah, this is —”
Kano cut me off.
“Nice to meet you — I’m Yuki Kano, Yuito’s fiancée.”
“What — Yuito’s fiancée?!”
“K-Kano-san, what?!”
Grandpa and I both shouted. Throwing out a massive lie at a first meeting — incredible.
“Grandma, come quick — Yuito brought a beautiful fiancée!”
“Wait, please —”
He ran inside before I could stop him. Misunderstanding airborne.
“Why did you say that?”
“Slipped out.”
“That was not an accident.”
“Whatever — it’ll be true in a few years.”
(She’d doubled down.) Grandma burst out the door.
“Yuito, you brought a fiancée?!”
“That’s Grandpa’s misunderstanding —”
“Look, there’s a beautiful one beside Yuito.”
“Beautiful indeed — we should make red rice tonight.”
“Looking forward to great-grandkids.”
(My grandparents were already imagining two great-grandkids. Untangling the misunderstanding took enormous effort.)