Time Stamp: Morning of Graduation

After waiting for so long, the day of graduation had finally arrived. Many students were excited to finally say goodbye to school, but there was an equal amount of students who were sad to see the rose-colored days of their lives disappear.

"It's finally time..." Takei muttered as he looked out the window of his house.

He had finally made his resolve to walk forward no matter what happens in the future. With Akari and everyone else by his side, there was nothing to fear.

"Your tie is a bit crooked," Akari mentioned as she went to fix it for him. "Still got some jitters?"

"Yeah, but I'll be fine. I'm ready for whatever happens!"

Thanks to the talk with Akari that he had about the future after graduation, Takei was ready to go to graduation with a smile on his face. Although he knew that such colorful days at school will no longer come, Takei was happy to move on to another era of his life.

"Time to go... eh?" Takei sputtered.

There was an indescribable sight in front of him, which was so crazy that even Takei's brain was having trouble responding. In front of him were two familiar people that shouldn't have been here.

"There's no way we would miss our son's graduation!"

"We're back to see you graduate into an adult~"

Yuuto and Flora greeted Takei as they stepped out from the shadows to reveal themselves. They had known about the date of the graduation long ago, so they contacted Akari to help them surprise Takei for their return.

Flora came over and lovingly patted Takei on the head. "Congratulations on finishing high school and closing out an era of your life, we're so unbelievably proud of you."

In addition, Yuuto also went over and wrapped his arms around Takei. "You've made me a proud father, so thank you so much for enduring. I know it must've been hard at times, but you've pushed through and got here. Good job."

In both of his parents' embraces, Takei felt a stream of tears flow down his face. The warmth of the words given to him tickled his heart and made Takei feel happy to be a son that his parents could be proud of. Even though he lost himself for a while after the middle school incident, his parents never blamed him for anything.

All throughout his life, Takei's parents were cheering him on no matter what happened. That was something that made Takei believe that they were the best parents in the entire world. Knowing that they would support him through anything, Takei was able to move forward with his life.

"Mom, Dad. Thank you so much. You two are the best parents in the world," Takei genuinely thanked his parents.

"What happened to our son?!"

"Is he ill?! We need to get him to the doctor immediately!"

Yuuto and Flora couldn't believe that their dishonest son managed to honestly thank them. The two of them could count on their hand the number of times Takei was honest with them about his emotions, which was why their jaws were almost to the ground.

"Takei is fine, so please calm down."

"Uwah, my little Takei is finally graduating!"

Takei's grandparents, Akihiko and Ayame, stepped out from the shadows just like his parents and greeted Takei with joyful smiles. As part of their plan to surprise Takei on his graduation day, Yuuto and Flora also invited Takei's grandparents to join them on the surprise.

"Oh, you two are here as well?" Takei nonchalantly asked.

""What's up with that reaction?!"" Both Akihiko and Ayame shouted in shock.

Takei was being so nice and kind when he welcomed his parents home, but he was acting so indifferent when his grandparents came to visit.

"Haha, I'm just joking. I'm happy that you guys are here as well," Takei laughed.

Once the whole Tanaka family was assembled, they were ready to leave the house at any moment to go to the venue of Takei's graduation. Although many high schools used stadiums or larger locations to do a graduation ceremony, Takei's school decided to do it in the courtyard of the school this year.

They wanted the students to be able to say goodbye to the place that they had occupied for so long, so the administrators of the district approved of the school's plan to do it.

"Hey, Airi?" Takei asked his sister.

Airi turned and looked at Takei questionably. "What is it?"

"Remember that promise we made before I entered high school?" Takei grinned evilly.

"Tch, here's your 20 dollars. Just take it..." Airi clicked her tongue.

Just before Takei had entered high school, Airi had made a bet with him that she thought would've been an easy win. If Takei graduates high school with a girlfriend, then he gets 10 dollars. If Takei does not graduate high school with a girlfriend, then she gets 10 dollars.

Airi thought that Takei had long forgotten about that promise, but he decided to bring it up at such a time. Since she had lost, Airi annoyingly handed over the 20 dollars that they had betted.

"Teehee, I really messed up your plans. My bad~" Akari giggled when she saw Airi's dejected expression.

Although Akari was happy with the outcome, Airi was not amused in the slightest. "You monster!"

Looking at the both of them fighting, Takei awkwardly scratched his head. "Maybe I shouldn't have brought up the bet?"

"You think?" His parents facepalmed at his tactless behavior.

Although Akari and Airi were fighting on the surface, they were just messing around to pass the time. There wasn't a need to go to the school yet since graduation wasn't for another two hours, so everyone was just trying to find ways to kill the time.

After the one hour mark passed, Takei stood up from the couch and spoke to everyone in the room. "I'm going to head there early to give my congratulations to all my friends, so I'll meet up with everyone later when the ceremony starts."

"I'll go too!" Akari declared as she stood up from the couch as well.

With the both of them up and raring to go, the adults in the room all laughed and sent them off with smiles.

""Be safe!"" they all said.

"Of course, we'll see everyone soon!" Takei waved goodbye for now.

Akari made a peace sign and held onto Takei's arm. "Let's go to high school one last time!"

—

Graduation arc (2/5)

Time to head to school!

Serious-san: Going to school for the last time feels melancholic and freeing at the same time.

Sugar-chan: It's going to be okay, don't cry~!