“Oh… So Masachika…”
After listening to Yumi’s account of her interaction with Masachika, Kyoutarou slowly nodded. Yumi sat across from him, face downcast, speaking haltingly and with a touch of self-deprecation.
“He has grown to become such a sweet, intelligent young man… You raised him well…”
“Ha-ha! I don’t know if I deserve any credit. You know how I am. I’m pretty hands-off when it comes to parenting.” Kyoutarou chuckled, a stark contrast to Yumi’s somber tone.
“I believe that parents should simply watch over their children and support them, and all we really need to do is take responsibility for whenever they cause trouble. The reason Masachika grew up to be such a nice young man is because of how he chose to live…and because of the great people he surrounds himself with.”
“…Really? I suppose you’re right… Yuki’s also…” Yumi paused, then lifted her head and looked out the window. “Why couldn’t I have been more like my mother…? Why couldn’t I just think like she did…?”
She let out the whisper filled with regret while gazing into the distant past.
“Being blessed with such wonderful children, all I needed to do was feel proud to be their mother and enjoy watching them grow. That’s all I needed to do, so why…?”
“It’s not too late,” Kyoutarou stated, clearly and with conviction.
“…Do you really think so?”
“I know so. Even Masachika has forgiven you. And I don’t need to tell you how much Yuki loves you.”
“B-but…,” Yumi stammered, before glancing at Kyoutarou, but he knew exactly what she wanted to say and gently smiled.
“I’ve never resented you, not even once.” He held Yumi’s hands on her lap, gazing into her eyes, and declared, “Besides, you keep saying that I’m an incredible person…but I’m really not. I’m just a little better at studying than the average person. That’s all. That’s why I worked as hard as I could to become the kind of man you deserve. I wanted to be good enough for you.”
“Good enough for me? I was just born into a wealthy family. There’s nothing particularly special about me, though…”
“Ha-ha-ha. You’re the only one who thinks that, Yumi. You have no idea how many guys wanted to ask you out back in high school.”
“That was only because I was the sole heir to the Suou family…”
“That was only a small percentage of them. You may have not realized this, but you were way out of my league back then.”
At least for Kyoutarou, that was the truth. He met a girl playing the piano, tears streaming down her face in the music room, and was captivated at first sight. Yet what he learned from his peers was that he had no chance with her. As the daughter of the esteemed Suou family, Yumi’s cultured, graceful, and elegant demeanor truly lived up to her reputation. Her feminine figure and melancholic beauty stirred endless desire among young men, igniting both protective and possessive instincts in them. And among all of those suitors, Kyoutarou had the least to offer her.
“I was a boy from a small, middle-class family, and the only thing I had going for me was my grades. I didn’t have status or money. I was average looking. I wasn’t even very good at sports, and I didn’t have any skills to be proud of. You were way too good for me. I only became a diplomat because I felt it was the bare minimum that I was able to do to be worthy of you…”
In truth, he had once set his sights on joining the First Light Committee, just like Gensei, but that ambition never came into fruition. Therefore, for Kyoutarou, becoming a diplomat represented a basic requirement to earn his place at Yumi’s side.
“So you don’t need to feel guilty about anything, because everything I did, I did it so I could marry you.”
“K-Kyoutarou…”
He knelt before Yumi, who sat frozen with her eyes opened wide. Then, looking directly up at Yumi in the moonlight, he said:
“Yumi, I—”
✦ ✦ ✦
Knock, knock, knock.
“…!”
Masachika’s eyes snapped open at the sound, and he immediately realized he had fallen asleep. A sudden surge of awkwardness and embarrassment sat him straight up, prompting him to quickly reply.
“Yes?”
“I’m coming in, okay?” Kyoutarou announced, before he opened the door and stepped inside.
He noticed Masachika sitting on the bed with the bedding behind him indented in the shape of a person but said nothing. Instead, he simply took a seat in the chair in front of his son’s study desk.
“Your mother told me about your talk. Thank you for forgiving her.”
“…Yeah,” Masachika curtly replied, then pondered for a moment.
“…I guess, after talking, I realized Mom was just an ordinary person like me. I know that sounds weird, but you know what I mean.”
He narrowed his eyes, gazing at the ceiling and recalling the days he had spent in this house.
“You can reason with anyone if you simply talk to them. I knew that, but…”
That was what his grandfather, Gensei, had taught him, preparing him to become a diplomat in the future, and that was exactly why he couldn’t help but wonder why he had assumed his own mother was any different.
I never even considered working things out with her. Trying to talk things through wasn’t even an option. But then…what about Gensei? If that logic held, it would mean there was room for discussion with even his grandfather, who seemed nothing more than a stubborn rationalist to Masachika.
I need more than just some room for discussion, don’t I?
After all, Masachika was not interested in chatting with Gensei but negotiating and coming to a compromise.
“…Dad.”
“Yeah?”
“From your point of view…what kind of person is Grandfather?”
Though his son’s question was sudden, Kyoutarou didn’t question him. Instead, he thought for a moment before clearly stating his answer.
“He’s a man with conviction, I guess you could say.” He paused for a moment, then continued with certainty. “He cherishes the prosperity and survival of this family more than anything else…and he continues to walk this path like it’s his destiny.”
That was something Masachika could understand…or rather, it perfectly aligned with his own impression. However, in his mind, it carried the negative connotation of being a cold rationalist who prioritizes upholding that belief above all else. Kyoutarou, however, furrowed his brow slightly, as if he could read his son’s mind, and added:
“Don’t get the wrong idea, though. It’s not that he doesn’t love his family. Far from it. He cares about his family in his own way… He wouldn’t let Yuki come over to our place as often as he does, otherwise, right?”
“…”
That was something Masachika had considered as well. Despite forbidding Masachika himself from claiming to be Yuki’s brother, Gensei tacitly allowed Yuki to treat Masachika as her brother, which Masachika found to be a surprisingly lenient response from his grandfather.
But…
He couldn’t help wondering if this was the “carrot” in some calculated carrot-and-stick strategy to keep Yuki on track, but Masachika dismissed that cynical notion for now. This was his father speaking, after all, and he wanted to cast aside his prejudices and trust him.
“But even then…he still cares about the family name more than anything else, right?”
“…Well, yeah. I can’t deny that.”
“Got it.” Masachika nodded. It wasn’t that he was disappointed. Rather, it was quite the opposite, since this would be far more convenient for him at the moment.
“Dad.”
“Hmm?”
“I—”
Masachika took a deep breath, gathered his resolve, and shared his intentions with his father: what he was planning to do from there on out and what he truly wanted for his future. It was a pivotal choice—one that would shape the course of his life—and Kyoutarou listened in silence until the end.
“So… What do you think?”
After spilling his heart out, Masachika looked at his father, his gaze full of anxiety and tension. Kyoutarou, however…
“Yeah, I think that’s a great idea. Don’t worry about me. Just do what you think is right.”
…accepted his son for who he was and gently smiled, just like he always did.