6:30am
He sat casually in his study, leaning back into a chair and sipping a cup
of green tea that was before him, his eyes looking vacantly at the photo
sitting at the side of his desk. The sky was bright red as it was
every morning, bird chirping their bright little tunes were lost on deaf
ears as his mind drifted off to another time, another space. A maid
came into his study, hands carrying a large white tray, on one side was
a bowl of porridge for breakfast, and the morning paper.
“Good morning sir.”
“Morning, have you prepared the two rooms yet?”
“Yes sir, I had them prepared last night.”
“Good.” Helping himself to a spoonful of porridge, he nodded his head for her dismissal as he picked up his paper. In his mind he was ready to see Seira and Kyoru-san’s teary faces as they played up an act for sympathy over the ‘called-off’ marriage, but that had not prepared him for what was on the front page.
She smiled at him, “and good morning to you.”
“Do you plan to lock me here all by myself while you go to school?”
“Grandpa will be here, so will Yuuchuiro, you won’t be here by yourself.”
“I would prefer if you were with me though.”
“I can’t! I have school to go to.”
“Remember? We withdrew you from school for three months.”
The door slid open as Yuuchuiro walked in and dropped the morning paper on the desk beside Rei, his body shaking with rage, and behind all the hair in his eyes he gave a vicious glare to Kenta. Rei gave him a curious look at turned her eyes to the page, “oh my god, I can’t believe this!”
“Well, er… maybe we’ll start with the sports today, umm, golf, there is a tournament in the US at the moment, and um…” Ami bit her lip nervously and avoided her gaze.
“Ami-chan, lets not drag this out any longer than we have to, just start with the news and end with the news please.” Usagi flopped onto the chair next to Ami and cocked her head to one side awaiting the boring information that Luna had forced her to know.
“Um…” Ami could not speak and quietly handed the newspaper to Usagi.
“Is that who I think it is? Wow!! Who is that guy she is kissing? He looks good!”
“Kenta Inouye, the person running for vice-president with Imaruru Hino, Rei’s father.”
“And she is lip-locking that guy? Wait a minute, that was the guy who came to have dinner with her on her birthday wasn’t it… that assistant guy.”
“You could say so. He was set to marry the current president’s daughter, it more or less implies that Rei broke them up, he and Seira Kyoru called off their wedding yesterday, it does paint her in a rather bad way.”
“Why? Because Rei followed her heart?”
“No, because she broke them up.”
“Did she?”
“No one can be right when it comes to this question.” Ami said, as Haruna-sensei entered into the classroom.
“Oh and what question would that be?” Haruna-sensei asked thinking that it was a school question.
Ami smiled, “life, sensei, life.”
She opened the doors again and held her palm up facing them, asking for silence, “ladies, gentlemen, the doors in this place cost much more than all your cameras and accessories added together and doubled, it is an antique… if any of you cause a single scratch on this door, you will get a bill, and send you my worst wishes.” With that, she closed the doors once again, satisfied that no more knocking could be heard.
“I’m sorry.” Kenta said softly, “but it seems like you are going to spend some time with me today, does it?”
“Yes, you got your wish.” She said as she pecked him lightly on the chin.
“Oh, and much more than I bargained for.”
His cellular phone rang, disturbing the mutual communication between them, reading the monitor on the phone, he shook his head and sighed, “guess what? It’s your father…” She smiled and went back into her room, “moshi-moshi? (Hello?)”
“Do you realize what deep shit we’re in right this moment because of you and your little news? What was that about PR schooling, did they teach you how the hell to lose a watertight election by PR? And get your hands off my daughter you little shit!”
“Imaruru-san, I am serious about her.”
“You damn forget it if you think that you will get anywhere by getting into bed with my daughter but out that front door!”
“I am for real here, its not some one-nighter, I… I know the risks I am taking, and I accept them, readily, in fact, I… I’m willing to hand in my resignation right now sir.”
He heard Imaruru, the man who had treated him like a son, take a deep breath, “I want it on my desk by this afternoon, get the chauffeur to drive it over as soon as possible.”
He moved his lips, but no words came out, then slowly he said, “it has been my pleasure to learn from you Imaruru-san, you have been like a father to me all these years, you have given me every chance to learn and apply, I apologize for my mistakes and my decision, which you also believe to be a mistake. I am willing to prove to you that my being with your daughter has nothing to do with my goals in life other than that of a happily married man, and… I sincerely hope that my resignation will show that. I will do everything in my power to make sure that this will have no bearings on your election, I believe in what you stand for, your integrity, your morality. I may not deserve it, but I hope that you will give me your best wishes in pursuing someone that if I don’t, right now, then I will regret for the rest of my life, because I have truly fallen for your daughter.”
“And you hit your head on the way down.” Imaruru Hino hung up shaking his head in disbelief. Kenta, for the second in a week stared at his cellular in shock, hardly knowing what had given him the courage to resign.
“SHHH!!! Inouye-san, is this true, are you calling off the wedding for Imaruru-san’s daughter? Are you having an affair with her?”
“What about the rumors that you are doing this to further your political career?”
“Excuse me.” Kenta said quietly, hushing the crowd immediately, “I will respond to your questions, first of all, I did not call off the wedding, it was Kyoru-san, as for the reason, I can only imagine it to be rage. I did not have any, I repeat, any relations with Ms. Hino, I was not in contact with her at all. As for your second question, I will respond by telling you the truth, I am resigning, from the party and from politics, how you interpret this I do not know, but I can only tell you that it proves one thing, this is not for my career. Imaruru-san, my mentor, will receive my resignation letter this afternoon, so, I must take my leave and write this letter.”
He took one long look at them, waved and turned to leave ignoring the questions that were being asked. As he walked into the sunshine, he looked the victor, the hero, the reporters sighed as they thought ‘how romantic’, that a politician with such a bright future would leave it all, for love.
“You kissed him.”
“I know that Yuuchuiro, I wanted to.”
“He’s engaged.”
“He wasn’t, not anymore.”
“Why?”
“Because… I’ve loved him since I had my senses.”
“Why not me?”
“Yuuchuiro, I see you as an older brother, nothing more, I’m sorry you thought that way, I never knew, if I did…” she bowed her head, “I’m sorry.”
“I see, I hope that all goes well then.”
“Thank you.”
Yuuchuiro got onto his feet and bowed, Rei returned his bow but would not
meet his gaze… she was ashamed of what had just occurred, and she was seriously
wondering whether she had made the right choices.