﹙ REFLECTIONS ★ ﹚

CHERRY AND ANTHONY BLEW USELESSLY ON THEIR BALLOONS!

All around the LaRusso auto body shop were tension and decorative supplies. All of the opportunities had been ripped out of the hands of the kids with the end of the Sekai Taikai tournament. Robby and Miguel would have a harder time getting into college.

Daniel was also struggling with the end of the tournament. All he wanted to talk about was the future. His favorite subject was discussing a car sale to a UCLA admission officer.

"I don't wanna do this anymore." Cherry complained as she added a new balloon to her pile. "I can't marry into this family."

"You and me in this together." Anoush commented as he passed by, carrying a banner.

"Hey. Look at my men hard at work." Vanessa, Anthony's psychologist aunt, greeted her boyfriend, Anoush.

Johnny passed Anthony, glancing down at their pile of balloons. "I want these filled all the way to the top. Make 'em nice and tight. I want 'em everywhere."

"So you blow them up." Anthony huffed as he tied his balloon.

"Johnny, there's a test drive out front. They asked for you by name." The receptionist called to him.

"Someone with good taste." Johnny muttered, pushing the front door open to the car lot.

"Someone who wants to be verbally abused." Cherry corrected, under her breath.

"You don't have to whisper." Anthony laughed. "He's not gonna hear you from out there."

Vanessa squealed as she approached the couple on the floor. "Hi, kids."

"Hi, Vanessa." Anthony and Cherry greeted in unison.

"That'll never stop being creepy." Vanessa hummed and approached Sam, giggling as she held her arms out.

The pair of girls, in addition to Amanda, started setting the cloths over the tables. While Cherry and Anthony spent their time trying to tie the same balloon, but they stopped when they heard shouting.

"Anoush!" Daniel spoke, his hands dropping to his side, eyes on the destroyed bonsai. "Just clean that up. And save the tree."

Cherry watched him walk off, wincing as he did. It was so strange to see Daniel get angry. He was always so level-headed it was alien-like to see him be anything but.

"If your dad yelled at me, I think I'd cry." She leaned back on her arms.

"If your dad yelled at me, I'd probably shit my pants." Anthony agreed, setting down the final balloon.

"Again?"

"Don't bring that up."

"You're strong for not hating Kenny for letting you drink that."

"I deserved it."

"You did."

"For Christmas, will you bring me a girlfriend who's nice to me?"

Cherry leaned up and smacked the side of his arm. He took her wrist as he laughed and repeated apologies between giggles.

"You're so not funny." She scowled. "You can tie all these balloons to their strings on your own. I'll just go home."

"Wait. Wait. I think you're perfectly nice." Anthony took her wrist.

She rolled his eyes at his amused smile but dropped her arms to her side, relenting. With a sigh, she grabbed the roll of gold ribbon and sat beside him again.

"Hold this end. I wanna pull it all the way around the shop." Cherry told him, grabbing onto the piece of string.

"You know, it says ten feet right there. You don't have to measure it yourself." Anthony pointed to the label on his end of the roll.

"Maybe they scammed your dad." Cherry shrugged, "I'm just making sure like any good daughter-in-law would."

She started to walk backward in the direction of the front doors with her gold ribbon, her smile widening as she did so.

"Any good daughter-in-law would tell their boyfriend that he's incredible." Anthony called out to her. "And would also get him popcorn while she's next to the machine."

Cherry sighed dramatically and dropped her string which earned a loud gasp from Anthony. He began to roll it up as far as he could until he dropped the roll at his side and then stood up.

"Thank you so much." Anthony snatched a handful of popcorn.

"That's disgusting. And greasy." Cherry said, popping a piece of popcorn into her mouth.

"This is what hands are for?"

"Hands are for doing stuff yourself."

Anthony burst into laughter that Cherry crinkled her nose with disgust at. If there was one thing he loved to do besides spend money on useless trinkets, it was make jokes something they weren't.

The auto shop was full of employees and family members alike. Cherry and Anthony always managed to separate themselves from the crowd and align with the snacks.

"Holy shit." Cherry picked up a couple of mini-skewers of cheese and salami. "I love free food."

"Chocolate!" Anthony picked up expensive-looking chocolates.

"You sound like that ashy worm from Spongebob."

"Spongebob. Cute couples costume idea."

"And I'm who? Patrick? Are you friendzoning me?"

"Or could you be Squidward."

"Or you could be Squidward."

The clinking of a spoon against a champagne glass they couldn't have silenced the lobby of the shop. The pair joined the crowd, their cupped hands full of snacks.

Daniel held his glass up. "Everyone! I just wanna thank you all for being here with us tonight. We are so lucky to be surrounded by friends and family. And the family that we have chosen, the LaRusso Auto family."

"You know, a family means that we love and support each other no matter what and that we can be proud of every step forward we've taken together. And even after 18 incredible years, there's still so much ahead of us. In the early days of this business, things were pretty uncertain. We knew we were taking a risk. We had no idea if we'd be well-received." He continued, glancing around at his family and friends.

"But we built something of our own. We trusted each other. We trusted that it would all work out okay because we had each other. So thank you to everyone in our family, old and new. Here's to the next step forward. Cheers. Thank you." He finished, the crowd bursting into applause.

Daniel separated himself from the crowd, moving off to the side where his kids were located.

Sam ripped the crackers out of Anthony's hand, who immediately tried to grab for them again.

"Well, it's a hell of a shindig, Mr. Party Planner. What you got in store for next year?" Amanda commented as her husband approached.

"Oh, forget that. I'm calling it early retirement on party planning." Daniel shook his head.

"Hm. I was hoping you'd say that." She wrapped her arm around his.

Robby and Miguel approached Sam's side, all of their eyes fixed on Daniel. They looked at each other, secretly communicating something.

"Dad. Is it true? Is the tournament back on?" Sam asked, curiosity getting the best of her.

"It's true if that's what you all want." Daniel confirmed, glancing at the trio, who eagerly nodded.

Cherry gestured her head towards the back door. The pair snuck away from the crowd, moving into the cold night air. They found a place on the curb, setting their snacks on their laps.

"They're bringing back the tournament after that kid died?" Cherry spoke, taking a bite of her grape.

"Pretty sure he was way older than you." Anthony said, taking one of the fruits.

"Yeah. Was." She agreed.