Life Goes On

It was a peaceful time for the Chikamoris upon Mayumi's demise. River was not vicious, but she had no sadness over Mayumi's death and her inadvertent role in it - in fact, she was just glad that Mayumi could no longer harm her family from beyond the grave. Mayumi had made an unforgiveable attack on her family. However the house ceased to be comfortable to live in and Mayumi's death in the house (albeit in the garage) played a big role in that. So Haruo talked with Yasunobu and River talked with her mother and they decided to temporarily move out while the house was razed to the ground and a new one was built from the ground up. The new house was just big enough to fit Fiona, Yasunobu, River, Haruo, Aidann and Alanna with a few extra rooms so that they could expand their family if fate so intervened to grant them another family member. But with six people in the house, it was pretty frantic even at its best.

However with three chemically induced explosions on the site, a lot of site cleanup had to be done so that there were no toxic chemicals left in the ground before the site was cleared by City Hall for razing and rebuild. So while all the permits and stuff were being applied for and approved (sorry to get so detailed...must be my ex-realtor streak coming out), River and Haruo and Yasunobu did their own thing..

The new house was built and though it was much smaller than the previous house, it was just the right size for River and her family. Five bedrooms upstairs, two on the main floor and a basement for all their stuff that they intended to store. A large gazebo was constructed with the future in mind for all the family's weddings to come.

And during all that hoopla of construction Alanna had her aging up party to child and the resultant school-age reponsibilities of making sure that she went to school every day and that she had her homework done every single night so that she could get onto honor roll.