Chapter 2

"Yazawa Nico."

The maroon haired woman handed the envelope to her husband.

"So what do you think? Sonoda is being extra risky isn't she." She had meant to sound amused but a bit of worry had seeped through.

"Yuki has always been like that, especially considering the situation. She'd risk her name along with all her family's reputation to get what she wants. She always succeeds too." The man adjusted his glasses as he scanned the papers he was handed.

The woman sighed. "This isn't only her name now, if things take a turn for the worst we'll be in trouble. And more importantly, Maki will."

The man remained silent. He thought for a good few seconds and then grabbed a pen.

"We owe this woman a lot Aya. Maki will be fine." He finally replied. He began to circle things on the file, not minding his wife's pacing in the background. "She's an adult now."

"I know. Of course I know that." She said, she was still thinking and she held her chin, staring down at the ground. "But you'd think she could have found a less obvious person."

The man moved his eyes to look at her but didn't turn and he chuckled. "You think so? She never does things without thought, rational or not."

Aya stopped in her tracks and looked at him, his back was still turned. "She did this on purpose? But why?"

"Just think about it. Nico-nii~? The young pop idol on the rise to stardom?"

He turned around and handed the file back to his wife.

The woman thought for a second, and then shook her head. "But, if it doesn't work it'd be terrible. The entire world would know."

"I guess there's no room for error then."

Maki pulled at the collar of her dress irately.

'I swear, if his eyes drop one more time...'

Maki shouldn't have listened to her mother. This dress was just a little too... revealing.

"Maki dear, you're friends with that Tsubasa Kira girl aren't you? Wasn't she in your class?"

Maki shrugged the uncomfortable feeling of being ogled and turned to look at her mother.

"Acquainted." Maki answered simply looking at her mother with a raised brow. "She's a year older than me. Why do you ask?"

"Well if you had been listening, you would have known." Her mother replied distastefully as she took a sip of her wine. Her mother wasn't usually so stern with her, but tonight she found her to be easily annoyed. Maki's attitude wasn't helping though.

The man that was sitting directly across from Maki at the table chuckled.

It had been two weeks since she had officially become a doctor. She graduated with ease, flying through medical school in only two years, of course she had been studying since the beginning of high school, no sane person could have gotten through all that so flawlessly. Both of her parents being high class doctors didn't hurt either; she seemed to have the genetics of a genius.

Not that she would brag about it.

"It's fine Aya-san, it wasn't the most interesting topic." The man that sat across from Maki, smiled to her, giving her a wink.

Maki tried not to shudder.

This man was named Takahiro Nakamura. A young, wealthy, soon-to-be heir of the Nakamura Corporation. A research and technology company that was well known to anyone with a smart phone.

His father was on his deathbed. Cancer. And he had made it clear that his life work and fortune would go to his eldest son. His twenty-five-year-old son. Unmarried twenty-five-year-old son.

Maki scrunched her eyebrows together and looked to her father for some sort of help when neither her mother or Takahiro elaborated on the conversation that she was feeling too self-conscious to pay attention to. Her father of course only shrugged his shoulders. Useless.

"I was just explaining that Kira-san is a major client of ours." Takahiro explained, waving his hand off as if it was not an important fact.

"I see." Maki didn't have any real interest in Kira Tsubasa, let alone that she bought who knows what from this guy. She didn't find the fact to be so great either. Maki picked up her spoon from her bowl and silently drank her soup without any further questioning.

Takahiro smiled. He seemed amused and it annoyed Maki but, not enough for her to actually care. It was annoying because he would most likely get whatever he wanted when he did it in any other situation.

Maki's mother cleared her throat, sensing her daughter's lack of interest and smiled at Takahiro. "I heard you play piano Takahiro-san. How long have you been playing?"

Maki twitched her head at the change in conversation. Why did her mother have to keep initiating a conversation? This was in no way going to sway her. Her parents have tried countless times to get her to date someone, her negative interest in dating brought worry for her parents more than it did Maki. Any attempt at a suitor for their only daughter always ended in an uneventful way though. Well, there was that one time in her third year of high school when she actually slapped a guy.

"I've been playing since I was eleven. So...about twelve years now." Takahiro answered humbly. He smiled and took a small sip from his glass.

"Wow, you must be very skilled. We know how tough piano can be." Maki's mother smiled back, and put a shoulder on her daughter's shoulder. Maki glanced at her mother and then to Takahiro, attempting to join the conversation, albeit non verbally. At least she was paying attention.

"Oh, I wasn't aware you played Maki-san." He responded, he had barely eaten any of his food and for some reason Maki felt irritated. Was their food not good enough or something?

"Yes," Maki merely blinked at him and nodded her head and then looked away.

"This will be my fifteenth year playing." She finished.

Maki was well aware she didn't like to talk. She was maybe too aware of how awkward she seemed as well. And there were very few people on earth that she could have conversations with without feeling obliged or forced. She had learned from experience that if someone made her feel uncomfortable or gave her the feeling that they had bad intentions, she should ignore them. Her mind worked simple in that way. She wasn't exactly what you would call a "social freak."

"Oh? Wow! You've been playing since you were that small? Incredible! We should play together sometime." Takahiro expressed. His voice was calm, still, and very controlled. You could tell he was good at flattering people. Public-speaking she assumed. Maki, being who she was, was complemented more often than not and she was getting better at who was sincere with their words.

The rest of the evening was filled with talk of the Nakamura industry and what Takahiro had planned for the future. Maki's father finally took an interest when the topic of microscopes came up, Takahiro informed him of the new advancement in them with computers that the company was making. Maki didn't say much aside from confirming things when her mother asked.

She was bored. She had no interest. She was aware of her bad manners. They had a guest over, how could she be so aloof? Well, it was simple.

She had no interest in marrying this man.

"Where are you going?"

Maki turned her head from the front door, one shoe already on her foot.

"To see Eli." She answered as she put her other shoe on. The dinner ended on a fair note for everyone, a "date" was scheduled for her and Takahiro for next week, him promising to show Maki his "brilliant" piano. Now that it was over, Maki intended to talk to the only people she thought could help on the matter. The matter of her not caring one bit about the whole ordeal.

She heard her father sigh softly. It didn't sound mad or upset, it was more of a helpless sigh.

"He doesn't seem like a bad guy Maki. Maybe try and get to know him a little more?" Her father offered.

Maki sat still, staring at the floor in thought. If being married to Takahiro in a year would be her life, she didn't see the point in getting to know him. It was going to happen, and his personality wasn't exactly the deal-breaker since it had been decided already.

"I'll try papa." She answered as she stood.

"If it's any comfort Maki, you can be sure I'll throw him out of a window if he tries anything." He muttered. His eyebrows were deeply set, causing his glasses to sink slightly.

Maki cracked a smile and laughed, watching as her father had his hands on his hips and his brown eyes were full of fury at the thought of anyone disrespecting his only daughter.

"I'll be counting on that."

"Me too."

Maki smiled softly when she watched as her mother stepped over and fixed her husband's falling glasses, causing him to stiffen.

"Don't be so negative though you two. I'm sure Takahiro-san is a good person. We've also been having this discussion for a while now. We came to an agreement." Her mother scolded, patting her husband's chest in some kind of declaration.

"Yes mama." Maki complied to her mother's words and opened the door, a cool breeze entering the house. "I'll see you in the morning probably."

"Be careful. Will you stay the night?" Maki's mother asked.

"Maybe, but I doubt if I come back tonight you'll be awake." Maki answered. She put her coat on that was hanging on the wall, still holding open the door.

"Okay, well tell Eli-chan hello for us."

Maki nodded and waved her hand, giving her parents another good night and then shut the door.

Eli lived closer to Maki then Umi did, so she often went over to her apartment and they would talk about anything from politics to Maki's terrible skills when it came to home economic-like tasks. Umi would occasionally stop by when she had business to attend to in town and found it more comfortable to stay with Eli. Mostly though, Maki found herself retreating to Eli's home when she didn't want to be home. Even her, the scarlet princess of the Nishikino name, who had literally everything, had her times of depression. Eli was a good friend for allowing her to use her in such a way, but hey, that's what friends were for right?

Maki made it to the front of Eli's apartment complex, the doorman letting her in without even the slightest attempt of questioning. Because she was Maki Nishikino obviously.

"Oh. Hello Maki."

When Maki made it to Eli's door and had buzzed for her to open the door, she had expected Eli to be half asleep. It was nearly eleven 'o'clock. Instead though, when the door opened, she was greeted with not Eli's worn out face, but Umi's calm, yet slightly surprised face.

"Hey…" Maki replied a little suspiciously as she entered the room, Umi holding the door open for her and then closing it shut. "What are you doing here? And where's Eli?" She asked as she plopped herself on Eli's tan couch.

Maki and Umi had seen each other over the past few months but it had only been briefly, so there hadn't been anytime to play catchup with life yet. Their schedules seemed to clash in that way. Eli was always the bridge between them when it came to information of there whereabouts.

Umi took a seat across from her in a desk chair that had been moved from its original place.

"I live here." Umi answered.

Maki looked back at her confused. "What? Since when?" To be honest she felt slightly betrayed, but more than anything just plain confused.

"Well not here, here with Eli I mean. I live just down the hall. I moved in just today. Eli asked me to feed the cat. She was called off for a mission until tomorrow." Umi sat in her proper position with her back straight and her hands in her lap, but her face was obviously distressed, if her emotionless expression was anything to go by.

"I asked permission to live on my own. My mother agreed upon the condition that she chose where. She chose here because I would have the option of Eli's accompany."

Maki leaned forward, getting a closer look at Umi's distraught expression and narrowed her eyes. Umi was always easy to read and since they hadn't really seen each other in a while, Maki's obvious concern had made her feel the need to explain. There was something off though, Umi seemed too detached.

"Why? What happened?" Maki prodded, watching as Umi focused her gaze on her folded hands in her lap. She intended to kick out whatever it was that was bothering Umi. Maki hated conversations that were sliding over the real problems. If Eli hadn't beaten it out of her yet, it was probably because she was too soft when it came to Umi's emotions. She would always say how naïve Umi was with those sort of things and it couldn't be helped. Then again, she thought they were all useless when it came to talking about there feelings.

Umi sighed deeply, and looked at Maki solemnly before looking down again. She trusted Maki with all her being to be so brutally honest because Maki would just as quickly tell her if something had gotten out of hand. She was grateful to have such friends like Maki and Eli.

"Kotori overheard my mother and I arguing…" Umi furrowed her brows and frowned. "We were discussing the future legacy of the Sonoda clan, my duties and her duties as a political leader. As you know, the rumors have been getting out of hand lately." Umi had begun to wring her hands, a red flag that she was desperately trying keep herself together. "I raised my voice at my mother when she insulted Kotori for not being that example as my future marriage partner. I made it clear to mother that I had no intention to let Kotori be involved in anything we do. I got angry, and I told mother I didn't wish to follow in her foot steps if it meant Kotori would be unhappy." Umi scoffed at her last statement, surprising Maki.

That was a rare occurrence.

"She became silently furious and voiced that I wasn't to speak such nonsense and that it was my fault for falling for someone who was so ill-fit for me." Another scoff. Man, maybe Maki should write this down.

Umi paused for a while and closed her eyes. "I-I didn't notice her enter the room. Kotori, she walked in at the worst possible moment." Umi said in a breathless tone.

Maki watched sadly as she witnessed Umi clench her pants tightly. She found herself standing up.

"I said I wished not to love Kotori because it was a burden." Umi wiped at her eyes where tears were threatening to fall. "I-I said, that, but I only meant under the pretense that my mother should be so closely keeping track of us." At this point, Umi's voice had cracked and Maki was rubbing her back soothingly. Maki understood. How could Umi put someone she truly cared for through the trials of the cold reality that Umi lived? There wasn't much room for good times. It was all business.

"I haven't been in contact with her in months…Eli thought that moving away from my mother would be good for now."

"You're not just gonna let things end are you?" Maki asked softly, her tone calm as she continued to have a supporting hand on Umi's sshoulder.

"She doesn't want to speak with me. Why should I force something she doesn't want?" Umi sighed pathetically, Maki wasn't sure if it was at Umi herself or at the situation.

Maki turned, not answering, but instead looked to the kitchen.

"Anyway, why are you here Maki?" Umi finally asked when she didn't get a response.

Maki patted Umi's back and walked to the kitchen.

"I'll tell you," Umi watched silently as Maki began to open the cupboards. "Do you know if Eli has any sake? She won't be back till tomorrow right?" She asked suddenly, her tone quite annoyed.

Umi stood up, only nodding her head and then helped Maki find whatever liquor Eli had stashed away.