Sasha couldn’t believe how much she was enjoying her date with Hideo. The man in front of her was charming, funny and intrigueing to the young woman. “Hard to believe this guy could ever be an asshole,” Sasha thought happily. “He seems like such a great guy.” Sasha shook her head as she realized what she was thinking. Hideo was old enough in reality to be HER dad, the magic of the ring may have made them the same age but deep down she knew better.
“Um excuse,” a voice said behind Sasha. Turning she smiled in surprise to see Gloria standing behind her. “Hey Gloria, fancy seeing you here.”
Gloria frowned slightly as she looked at her now grown up friend. “Sasha,” she frowned. “Why did you take the ring and make yourself so grown up.”
“Me,” Sasha exclaimed holding her hand up. “I didn’t take this it just appeared on my hand.” The two now angrily began to argue amongst themselves as Hideo looked on. “Um Sasha,” Hideo questioned. “Is this a friend of yours.” Sasha spun quickly to face Hideo, noticing the look of confusion on his face. “Oh yea this is my friend,” Sasha paused as she realized the age difference between herself and Gloria. “I mean..um...this is my friends sister. Yea it’s her sister we, Uh, need a minute.” Sasha quickly grabbed Gloria walking out of hearing distance from Hideo.
“Look,” she hissed glowering at the young teen. “The ring just appeared on my finger. I didn’t take it. Hell I didn’t even make a wish on it. I was just talking with him when all the sudden BOOM, the rings on my finger and me and Hideo are old enough to have a real date.”
Gloria frowned as she looked at Sasha. As unlikely as it seemed she believed Sasha, the girl wasn’t the kind of person to lie. “Okay Sasha,” Gloria said grumpily. “I believe you. You’ve never lied to me but I’ve never heard of the ring doing that.” Sasha sighed looking Gloria over with a critical eye. “Okay so is that it,” she sighed. “Cause not for nothing I’m really enjoying my date with Hideo over there. He’s such a nice guy.”
“That is the problem,” Gloria gaped. “Somehow the ring is affecting Mika and her brother just look.” Curiously Sasha looked over where Diane sat with Reiko, Claudia and Mika. “Holy crap is that Mika,” she exclaimed. Gloria nodded in response. “Yeah somehow the ring is turning you into her mom...so....she’s half white now.”
Sasha shrieked as she now tore the ring from her finger, handing it back to Gloria. “Oh hell no,” she exclaimed. “I am waaaaaaaay to young to Be someone’s mom. Gloria you gotta fix this.” Gloria fixed the ring on her finger as she now looked over at Hideo and Reiko. “I gonna try,” she whispered. “First let’s go talk with the others. You might as well bring Hideo with you.” Sasha nodded as she led Hideo to where the others were standing. As they approached the others couldn’t help but gawk at the two twenty somethings.
“Umm Gloria,” Mika stammered. “Why did you bring him over here.” Gloria glanced at the group as an idea began to form. Quickly explaining to the others what Sasha had told her she made a wish as she now anxiously watched Reiko and Hideo. “God I hope this works,” she thought, crossing her fingers.
Hideo and Reiko shook their heads as if coming out of a daze, slowly they now looked everyone over in confusion. “What’s going on,” Hideo said groggily. Slowly he looked at the others his eyes going wide as he looked at his son, wife and daughter. “Mika,” he exclaimed. “Shiro, what happened to you!”
“Um dad,” Mika said softly. “It’s, Uh, kind of a long story.”
“Hideo,” Reiko said softly. “Hideo, your...your so young.” Hideo frowned as he looked at the young girl gaping at him. “Your one to talk, look at you Reiko, your a child....barely a teenager.”
Reiko frowned as she looked up at her husband. “I’m still your wife Hideo,” she huffed. “Which reminds me what are you doing with that woman?”
“I was going to ask you the same question,” Hideo frowned blushing as he realized he had been holding hands with Sasha. Reiko blushed slightly as she looked at Diane. “We,” She stuttered. “We were just...enjoying some coffee...and um...girl talk.”
“Girl talk huh?”
Reiko blushed as she looked up at her husband. “Okay maybe it was more than girl talk.” Hideo sighed as the two now began to argue with one another about their respective dates. The others could only gape in stunned silence as the twenty something year old man and his now teenage wife argued about their taste in dates. Finally, Mika could only longer listen.
“Hey,” she screamed. “Will you two knock this off.” Hideo and Reiko stopped suddenly gaping at their daughter. “Seriously,” Mika sighed. “This is just too weird. But I do have a question? How in the blue hell did you two end up with THOSE two as your dates!?!”
Reiko and Hideo blushed slightly as they looked at their significant others. “Well,” Hideo said awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, “It’s, its a very long and difficult story.” Reiko nodded shyly as she looked up at her daughter. “I,” She said shyly. “I should of said something earlier about...well..my.feelings.”
Mika glowered at her parents as they awkwardly fidgeted in place. “Do you have any idea the kind of hell you two put me through,”she grumbled. “All that crap about being bi, dating a girl that wasn’t Japaneese. Only to see you two dating a pair of white girls. Seriously! What the hell?”
“Mika sweety,” Hideo said. “Don’t sweety me dad,” Mika yelled. “You kicked me out of the house when I was 16. I spent the rest of high school living with Kumiko. Even though things have gotten better over the last couple of years we still don’t talk much. Hell, I haven’t even brought Claudia over to meet you two. And the. You two do this and all I can ask is why?”
Hideo and Reiko hung their heads sadly as their daughter yelled at them. They both realized they had been wrong but their pride had prevented them from forgiving their daughter. They had been so haunted by their past they had refused to let their children make mistakes like they did. “Mika,” Reiko said sadly. “Your right. We...we owe you more than apology.”
“Huh no shit mom,”
Claudia shook her head as she watched her girlfriend angrily glare at her parents. “Mika honey,” she sighed. “Look, I know you things haven’t been easy for you but will just give them a chance. Maybe they’ve had a change of heart after all this.” Mika sighed angrily as she blew out a long breath. “Okay fine,” she huffed. “So mom how long have you been switch hitting.” Claudia could only bury her face in her hands as Mika’s mother turned bright red.
“Well,” Reiko said shyly. “When I was this age, the first time, I...I came to a realization that...well I was interested in both men and women. It was a different time though...women, especially from our community, did not act on such things. I...I buried my feelings, I was already dating your father. He..he was such a wonderful man. I was so sad how racist the other students were to him. I..I was his only friend, he needed me.”
“So your saying you stayed with me out of pity,” Hideo fumed. “No,” Reiko answered quickly. “Hideo, we’ve been together since we were 15. You were..are..my best friend in the world. We both had to deal with the idiots in school who ridiculed us just because we were Japanese.” Mika looked her parents over, slowly beginning to understand where they were coming from.
“So let me get this straight,” Mika sighed heavily. “Mom, you buried your bisexuality because it was a different time, wasn’t accepted in your community and you didn’t want to hurt dad.” Reiko nodded as she sadly looked at an indignant Hideo. “And dad, you can’t stand white people because you were a loser in high school, Mom was your only friend, and they picked on you all the time.”
“I wasn’t a loser,” Hideo grumbled as he frowned at his daughter. “Fine dad you weren’t a loser,” Mika sighed.
The three Tozawas now awkwardly looked at each other as they tried to think of what to say next. It was finally Gloria who stepped forward, hoping to help smooth this situation over. “Um excuse,” she said meekly. “Mr. And Mrs. Tozawa my name is Gloria. I...I kind of may have helped give you your youth back.”
The Tozawa’s gaped in wonder as Gloria now explained the source of her magic as well as her reason for changing them. As Mika’s parents listened they slowly nodded in agreement, finding that Gloria had good intentions even if they were a bit over the top. “So all of this was to make us more accepting of our daughter,” Hideo said solemnly, to which Gloria nodded. Hideo sighed heavily as he looked towards his children. “Mika,” he said sadly. “I...I am so sorry that I was stuck in the past. I let my feelings of hurt cloud my judgement, I was so...stupid I put myself before you.”
“I’m sorry to Mika,” Reiko said quietly. “I...I should of told you about how I felt about women. I...I just thought you would move on like I did. I realize I should never have buried my feelings like I did, it was wrong.”
Hideo looked anxiously at his now teenage wife, worrying that she would now abandon him. “Does..does that mean you want to explore..those types of relationships.”
“Dear lord Hideo,” Reiko sighed punching her husband in the arm. “No, I’m not going to start dating women now. We’ve been together for 40 years now. Your the only person I want to spend time with.” Hideo breathed a sigh of relief as he now hugged his young wife. “That’s a relief,” he sighed. Reiko smiled now taking her husbands hand in her own. As she did Mika and Shiro let out a sudden gasp. Turning quickly the others watched as Mika and Shiro began to once again become fully Japanese once more. Mika shrank slightly as her skin tone darkened, frowning slightly Mika watched as her breast size decreased to its previous size.
As Gloria now looked the family over she smiled slightly realizing she may have helped the Tozawa family repair their fractured relationship. Hopefully, this would be the start of something special for Mika, Claudia and her family.