The fateful Saturday had finally arrived.
Naoya stepped off the bus, having arrived at the nearest station to the Shirogane residence, and basked in the lovely weather.
It was still quite early in the morning, so most places, save convenience stores and the like, were still closed. Despite that, there was still a good deal of foot traffic—probably because he was so close to a residential area. He could still remember the area, given that he had walked Koyuki home not too long ago. This time, however, he was incredibly nervous. To him, it felt like he had disembarked a plane in a foreign country.
“Man, I hope the gift I got is okay,” Naoya wondered out loud as he shot a concerned glance at the refrigerated bag he was holding.
Inside it was chikuzenni—a dish made with braised chicken and vegetables. Koyuki had recommended he make it for her father, specifying that he should “boil the heck” out of the carrots. Naoya was skeptical about whether or not Mr. Shirogane, a foreigner, would actually enjoy chikuzenni, but he did as he was told. This girl was the object of his affections, after all.
He looked up at the sky and prayed, “I just hope this goes well.” He knew that he was going in at a disadvantage. As he was an undesirable suitor for Mr. Shirogane’s daughter, he would be fighting an uphill battle. The question now was how he would make it up said hill. He ran through multiple simulations in his head until he caught himself and stopped.
A wry, self-deprecating smile rose to his lips. “Who would’ve ever thought I’d be worrying so much about social interaction like this?”
Before he had met Shirogane, he would have been annoyed by the prospect of overthinking a situation like this. He had always preferred to simply throw himself into the midst, regardless of the outcome. He had gone from purposefully keeping others at arm's length to worrying about how to make a stranger like him. If you had told this to him just a short while ago, he wouldn’t have believed you.
“I guess Shirogane isn’t the only one who’s changed,” he noted. Love changes people— it was a cliche, but one that Naoya was now strongly convinced of. He could feel it in his chest. “I guess this isn’t so bad.”
While he was musing to himself, however, a sudden commotion caught his attention.
“It’ll only take a minute! Come on!”
“Come have tea with us, cutie!”
“You lot... Leave me alone! I have a loving wife and two beautiful children at home!” A man cried out among a gaggle of attractive, college-aged girls. He was tall and well dressed, and, although Naoya could only see his back, he could somehow tell he wasn’t Japanese. The man was being surrounded at all sides, cornered against a wall. He seemed to be overwhelmed and unable to escape.
Naoya was reminded of the earlier situation at the game center involving Sakuya and Koyuki. That time, the genders had been reversed, but what difference did that make? There was a person in front of him who was in trouble. Naoya took a deep breath, plastered a fake smile on his face, and headed over to the man.
“Sorry I’m late!” he declared with a false jovial tone.
“Hm?” The man turned to him. He had chiseled features and blue eyes—he was a foreigner after all.
Naoya continued, “Sorry, sorry. I missed my train on the way here. Now let’s get going.”
“Who are—?”
“Sorry about that, ladies, but we’ll be going now,” Naoya cut the man off and started to lead him away from the group. Unfortunately, an arm shot out and grabbed him. Naoya turned around and saw that the ravenous look in women’s eyes hadn’t died—if anything, it had only grown stronger.
“Heeeyyy... You’re pretty cute too. You a highschooler?” one of them asked him.
“Why don’t the two of you come have fun with us?”
“Uh, I’ll pass. I’ve already got someone I like,” Naoya replied.
“Don’t be like that. Look—she’s got a boyfriend, and she’s still out here having fun.”
“Yeah, kid, you’ve gotta live in the moment,” another one chimed in.
These girls were actually quite cute; too bad for them that Naoya only had eyes for Koyuki. He quickly formulated an escape plan; it wasn’t going to be pretty, but he was pretty confident that it would work. He turned to a woman near him with colorful hair and said, “Oh yeah, can I tell you something?”
“What is it?” she replied.
“The girl next to you is probably seeing your boyfriend behind your back. Did you know that?”
“Wha?!” she managed to reply, clearly dubious and taken aback by what he’d just said.
The girl in question, however, looked alarmed and quickly blurted out, “How did you know?! Did you see us together last time we went out?!”
“Um, what the fuck?! D’you wanna explain that maybe?!”
“Tomo doesn’t need you! And you’re out here slutting it up behind his back anyway!”
“Uh, who exactly is the slut here?!”
The place quickly devolved into a cacophony of high-pitched screams and insults.
Naoya chose this moment to escape. “Okay, time to leave now,” he instructed the man. He took his hand and began to lead him away.
“Who are you?” the man asked, but Naoya didn’t reply. Once they’d gotten a safe distance away, the man seemed to calm down. He heaved a sigh, collected himself, then bowed to Naoya. “Thank you—you helped me out of a tight spot. Still, how did you manage to do that? How did you figure out that her boyfriend was cheating?”
“I didn’t really reason it out or anything like that. I’m just good at reading people, I guess,” he answered. It had been a lucky guess, really—he noticed the girl’s friend appeared nervous, as if she was in on a secret the other didn’t know, and had simply taken a shot in the dark. He hadn’t expected it to go that well.
I feel like I’ve met this guy somewhere before, though, Naoya thought. He regarded the man once again. His deeply set features, blue eyes, and proficient Japanese indicated that he was a foreigner who had been here for a long time. He looked to be in his 30s... No, his 40s. Naoya knew they had never met before, but there was still something oddly familiar about him. Thinking nothing of it, Naoya turned to leave. “Okay, I’ll see yo—”
“Wait!” the man cried and quickly took Naoya’s hand before he could leave. “Allow me to thank you in some way. At least let me treat you to some tea.”
“Oh, there’s no need for that. You’d’ve done the same for me,” Naoya demurred.
“My, to think there are youngsters as modest and gallant as you in this day and age,” the man marveled, overcome with emotion. He took his hat off in a show of respect, revealing a swath of shortly cropped silver hair underneath. “Please. I will never be able to rest well again if I don’t thank you properly. Just a short moment of your time will suffice.”
Naoya felt guilty at this display; to refuse him now would be incredibly cruel. He had arrived somewhat early, so he had some time to spare. Still, there was a rather large problem that remained unaddressed.
This guy’s Shirogane’s dad! He has to be! Did he come simply to scout his daughter's suitor?! Foreigners were no longer a rarity in this day and age. Just because he shared Koyuki’s hair and eye color, it didn’t signify with certainty that he was her father. Even so, his gut was telling him that this was the man himself. Should I tell him who I am? How should I do it?
The man grasped Naoya’s hand, interrupting his thoughts, and began to lead him away. “Come!” he directed. “We should hurry. The cafe I frequent is nearby. I’ll treat you there.”
“O-Okay,” Naoya faltered. They ended up at their destination before he had even had a chance to introduce himself.
The cafe was situated across from the front of the station. The interior was small, but cozy, with calming classical music being played at a low volume. The customers sat around, enjoying their time in their own various ways, such as reading newspapers and eating breakfast.
Naoya and the man chose a booth and sat opposite each other.
“What do you think?” the man asked expectantly.
“I’m not too used to places like this, but I like it. It’s nice,” Naoya replied.
“You have good taste, my boy,” the man remarked with a widening smile—actually, he hadn’t stopped smiling since they’d escaped the women.
Okay, let’s get things straight. We don’t know for sure that it’s her dad. But it’s gotta be... Naoya attempted to reassure himself. He was 99 percent sure it was him, but it was that lingering 1 percent that scared him. And if it was him, he had to be even more careful of what he said.
Incidentally, he’d saved almost every member of this family from unwelcome advances—what were the chances of that? Furthermore, what was the likelihood that Naoya would end up going for tea with Koyuki’s father, of all people? Naoya shivered as a chill and cold sweats racked his body.
The man, on the other hand, was positively beaming as he looked over the menu. “The cakes here are all superb. What kind would you like? Order anything you’d like.”
“Th-Thank you, but...” Naoya stuttered.
“What is it?”
“Thank you for bringing me here, but are you sure this won’t eat into your plans after this?”
“What plans? I don’t have anything of the sort,” the man stated. For the first time since they had arrived, his smile disappeared. After they had both stated their orders to the waitress—a cake set each—the man set his hands on the table with a grim expression and explained further, “You see, my daughter’s boyfriend is coming to our home today. I came to the station ahead of time to ascertain what sort of man he is. I don’t know what he looks like, but he should be a young lad—around your age, actually. I was doing some scouting, you see.”
“Oh, wow...”
“There is nothing to be ‘wow’ed about—I would do anything for my precious daughter!” the man cried and took a passionate sip of his coffee. Well, this was most certainly Koyuki’s father.