2:38pm
A young woman, who had only a few minutes ago lain lazily on the lounge
chair, now sat rigidly on the end of her seat. Gripping the white wooden
frame, her fingernails dug deep into the golden decorations painted onto
the frame. The knuckles of her fingers glowed with white from the lack
of blood. Her porcelain face was also drained, her hazel eyes flashed in
anger, her thin red lips moving quickly, seething the venom of rage. “No,
I refuse!”
The older man facing her looked at this early 20’s child in contempt, “arr… but you see Seira, you have no choice but to listen to me. Either you get married without my blessing and destroy your husband’s career by the controversy, or you withdraw from it immediately. If you were to go against my wishes, I promise you that you will be turned out on the streets once the press gets hold of it. But if you are to listen to me, another marriage prospect will soon be presented to you, silver platters and all.”
“You are not listening to me!” The woman stood up and stomped her foot. Her feminine body shaped by a ruby elaborate designer suit and her feet adorned a plainly expensive pair of matching high heels. “To get advantages for yourself, you first you force me to go out with him, sleep with him, get engaged to him…”
“This is what I am getting you out of, my dear.”
“No! That’s not the point, the moment I develop reciprocal feelings for him, you force me withdraw from it? That’s not fair!”
The man stood and faced her, his face only inches away from hers. His large hands reached to grab the thin shoulders wrapped in the expensive ruby coat, and shook her forcefully. He leaned his face closer, almost to the point of touching it, he lowered his voice menacingly. “I don’t care if it is fair or not, I will not allow my daughter to marry that political scumbag, the man who is ending my political career. For sure he is young, and the press will say that he is handsome, but he cannot win this election, stepping out with that Imaruru-baka (idiot) will only lose him voters. I am no longer Prime Minister because of those two. My daughter will marry someone worthwhile!”
Seira twisted herself out of her father grasp, her short auburn hair tousled from his shaking. “You mean you will only let me marry the man that you can gain something from? Who do you have in mind this time for me to be a slut to? A rich merchant banker or is it another political ally who is loyal to you for the moment? You cannot force me!”
He raised his hand high and slapped her across her high cheekbones, his experience told him that his precious’ daughter’s face would not bruise, only hurt. Her lips bled lightly from the impact of teeth against flesh. He smiled at her tattered state, “oh no, I have something else in mind. We might have another possibility for you if you do not listen to me. How about your own brother?”
She pulled a tissue from her pocket and dabbed her lips gently, her eyes full of anxiety. From the intense pain of the cut to her lower lip, she stammered softly, “brother? I don’t have a brother.”
“Oh yes you do, you just never knew him, even your late mother doesn’t know. He is a very powerful young man who might even become the next Prime Minister.”
She drew in a short gasp, “what do you mean?”
“Kyoni-san, the world knows him as the leader of the opposition party, I know him as my son, my illegitimate son. I’m sure he can make good use of you, I can publicly denounce you as a daughter for marrying my political enemy, and he will still have all the information he needs through you. I will make sure that Inouye-san gets destroyed with his new idol on a pedestal, and I will make sure that he gets destroyed in your hands whether you like it or not.”
2:46pm
After the rush of footsteps and long, penguin-like robes brushing along
the corridors of TA Girls School, Rei finally reached the principle’s office.
She had never been called into it before, and was surprised by the dinginess
of the external office. Her heart pounded as she walked towards the principle,
she had never been in trouble, always the good, model student of the school.
Her heart flipped and her stomach stopped churning when the small man in
the stripped suit with his large priestly robes adorned, reached out and
took her hand with a large smile. “Miss Hino, what honor you bring us!
I will not detain you a moment later, please.” He immediately opened the
door to his office and gestured for her to enter.
The door opened to reveal a modest office, although it was her first visit, what intrigued her most was not what was in it, but who was in it. Two men stood to meet her, she could help but gasp at whom was standing before her. Two men who had little to do with her present life, but everything to do with her past. The door closed with a soft click behind her, the principle had left her alone with the two.
She found herself stiffly bowing to them, hardly knowing why, when the first thing that she actually wanted to do was slap them clean across the face.
“Hino-san, I have not had the pleasure of seeing you for a long time now, I believe since your last birthday.” Inouye-san bowed to her with the utmost properness. Her heart throbbed as she stared into his face, a hollow face, deprived of every feeling and filled with work. His blond hair swept back to reveal a long skinny face, high cheekbones and a gracious smile. His large blue eyes which were obscured by the presence of horn-rimmed glasses, lacked the sparkle that she had once seen when he was still her Kenta-kun. His athletic height made him hovered over the rest of the people in the room, at least a head taller than herself, and her father only reached up to his nose. He moved gracefully around the room to pull her a chair. Her legs immediately responded as he placed a chair behind her for her to take seat at.
“Arigatou (thank you), Inouye-san.”
He flinched noticeably at her cold, impersonal tone, until the previous year she had called him as Kenta-kun, but now, it was all different. He was no longer her comrade who did not want to enter politics or marry in fear of making his children suffer the same way that Rei had. He was now a man about to enter into marriage with yet another political personnel. He was only a political figure in her mind. He was only Inouye-san, the public man who had no connections to her whatsoever.
“Let’s skip the formalities, child, no doubt you have read the newspaper today and saw us on the front page.”
“Yes, my father is all publicity, all face, I hope that you are happy the way that the photo turned out, although perhaps a slighter angle of 5 degrees to the left would be better.” Rei eyed her father coolly, the impeccably dressed man who carried his body with pride. His shorter figure did not disadvantage him when compared to Inouye-san, Imaruru Hino’s face said it all, he was not a man to be overlooked.
His small, determined eyes narrowed at his daughter’s outrageous suggestion. “I would curb that sharp tongue of yours if I were you.”
“But you are not me, and you’ll never be me.”
“That’s enough! My aim here today is to withdraw you from formal education for the next three months, during this time, you will be studying by correspondence and under the guidance of a tutor.”
Rei felt as though the wind was knocked out of her, this was the last thing that she would have expected, “why?”
“I have no family other than you. How do you suppose I will be able to run an election campaign without at least someone with me? You will be there, as a show of family support. I don’t need you to do anything in particular, just stand there and smile, kiss a few babies, wave to the public, that’s all. I don’t think that it is too much to ask, you cannot refuse me, after all those years I took care of you.”
“Took care of me? Ha!”
“You will drop the sarcasm this minute!”
“And what if I do refuse to be a part of your political campaign?”
“You have no choice but to do as I say and you know that.” Imaruru-san picked up his jacket and swept out of the room, when he reached the door he turned back to face his daughter. “Inouye-san will see you back to the Hikawa Shrine, the chauffeur is waiting. I will expect you tomorrow, Rei, with your bags packed outside my apartment. Inouye-san, will you pick her up in the morning? I think that’s all, maybe you would like to have some time off, spend it with your fiancée, make sure that the old fox is not up to something, you know what I mean.”
“Domo-arigato (thank you very much) Imaruru-sama.” Inouye-san bowed and watched his benefactor leave the room. He then turned his attention to the daughter of his benefactor, the raven-haired beauty with large steady eyes. Using one hand, he opened the door, and with the other, lightly touched her lower back to show her the way, in a true gentleman’s fashion, “after you, Rei-chan.”