Two weeks went by Mio would come over to his house on Saturday nights and would play games. He would cook her dinner but nothing really changed in their relationship. Monday night Eizan had just finished eating dinner when his doorbell rang. He was staring through the camera in astonishment, Mio was standing there with a large bag. He opened the door and looked at her, she looked like she had been crying. “Sakurai are you ok?” She looked at him with a serious look on her face. “Can I come in?” He let her in and they went to the living area. She hadn’t started talking yet, he kept looking back and forth at her and the large bag. He was a little confused about what was exactly happening but decided to give her a minute. "Normally she would have called if she was coming over" he thought. They were sitting at the small table in his room every once in a while, she would look up at him then back at the ground in front of her.

After a minute or two she finally said something. “So, I ran away from home.” Eizan was staring at her. He didn’t know what to say. His mind raced "Wait then why was she here?" He looked at the bag and then back at her. "Damnit, I know why she’s here, this isn’t good." He finally spoke “I’m going to take a guess. You need a place to stay.” She nodded her head. “Ok, I have a couple of questions before I give you an answer. First, why here and not someone else’s house? Second, why did you actually run away or were you kicked out? Lastly, I want to know the circumstances behind why you were kicked out if you’re willing to tell me?” He could tell she was nervous, but he needed to know these things before he made a proper decision.

She seemed lost in thought for a moment. “Um, I chose your house because I had a feeling you would let me stay and my parents know everywhere else that I would go.” He thought that made sense considering her parents had never known were he lived. “I would say I both ran away and was kicked out. My father told me if I didn’t agree to his demands I would have to leave. But I told him I needed time to think and left on my own.” She was fidgeting around a little. “Um, the last part kind of has something to do with you?”

“Me, I’ve never met your father. What could I have possibly done to cause problems between you and your fath...er?" He hesitated for a second at the end of his sentence. He had a pretty good idea what problem he had caused. She was spending her weekends at a strange boy’s apartment and that boy lived alone. He was also known as the biggest delinquent of his school. He thought "Damnit, what trouble have I gotten myself into." He sighed “I’m guessing your dad Is mad that you keep coming over to my apartment.”

She nodded. “It’s not just that though. I could have accepted not coming over here alone on Saturday nights. That demand would have been reasonable, considering the optics of two high schoolers alone in an apartment.” Eizan let out a sigh. “But his other demand was something I definitely will not agree too. He wanted me to go to an arranged marriage meeting.”

He put a hand on his head. "Yup I’ve been dragged into a mess." She was staring at him intently waiting for an answer. Those teary blue eyes looked like they were going to burst any second. "There’s no way I can send her away if she’s looking at me like that." Eventually he relented “Alright.”

She immediately got a shocked look on her face. “You’re saying I can stay?” He nodded his head. “Really, I could have sworn you would send me away?” Eizan was shaking his head.

“I should really send you way. My reputation is in the gutter already. But when you give me that look, I can’t bring myself to do it.” He sighed. Tears started to stream down her face. Eizan was shocked and didn’t know what he should do. After a few seconds he steadied his mind long enough to stand up and grab her some tissues. He sat down next to her and to his surprise she immediately hugged him. He stiffened up at first, what high school boy wouldn’t. Finally, he loosened up a little and brought his arms around her slightly rubbing her back as she cried. He thought she smelled really good but did everything in his power to bury thoughts like that at the moment.

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Ten minutes later the tears had stopped. Sakurai was still in his embrace. She raised her head to look at him. “D-do you hate me a little now? I’m causing you lots of trouble.” Eizan shook his head. “I am surprised but I’m not mad.” She put her head against his chest again. Her face started to heat up when she thought about what she had done. She threw herself into a man’s arms, hours after she refused to have an arranged marriage meeting. She could smell his scent a smell she had gotten used to over the last few weeks. Her heart was racing and she could hear his beating at the same time.

Ring, ring, ring. Both of them jumped a little and separated a little. Sakurai fumbled through her bag and found her phone. A frown appeared on her face as she looked at the screen. “It’s my mom, I guess I should answer it.” “Hello.” “Yes.” “No.” “I don’t care who it is.” “I’m not doing it no matter what happens I won’t go through with an arranged marriage.” “NO!” “I said no.” “Mom, I want to control my own life.” “I’ll come home when you change your mind.” “Bye.” Her face was angry but she looked like she wanted to cry again.

Eizan started to laugh a little. Sakurai was not amused. “Sorry. I’ve just been through something similar.” She tilted her head to the side. “What do you mean by that?” Eizan laughed. “Well, not even a week ago my parents tried to set me up again.” She looked at him strangely. “You’ve been to an arranged marriage meeting.” Eizan shook his head. “I’ve refused every single one of them. We fought about it the first time. After that they just ask about it every once in a while. This time was some government official’s daughter. Actually, it’s less my parents but my grandparents who are pressuring me this time.” She stared at him blankly for a second.

She mumbled to herself “Government official’s daughter.”

“My grandparents on my mom’s side are actually Americans, but both of them have large majority shares in large businesses in Japan. It’s not even a thing in their culture so I have no idea where they got this arranged marriage business from. It probably has something to do with their business partners in Japan. They are really trying to pressure me this time though. I don’t know why but this time their being really persistent.” Sakurai was giving him a strange look. “Is something wrong?” he asked.

“I think I need to call my mother again.” She ran into the other room. Eizan was looking at her strangely as she left the room. Something clicked in his mind "Wait a second it couldn’t be?" He looked at his phone "no way It could be true." He looked toward the bathroom and then back at his phone. "Nah, I’m not going to bother them this late. I’m just overthinking things."

Sakurai was standing in the bathroom with a blank look on her face. Her mind racing "There’s no way, right?" Ring, ring, ring. Sakurai’s mom answered the phone “Mom, I want you to tell me the name of the person you wanted me to meet.”

“Oh, honey your dad didn’t tell you? There are actually two marriage meetings but apparently one of the boys is a little opposed to the idea so the second one might not happen. We actually wanted you to go through both meetings and only agree if you wanted too.”

“Mom who are the two boys?”

“Well, I only know the one boy is Towa.”

A look of shock appeared on her face. “Towa agreed to an arrange marriage meeting with me?”

“Yes, apparently he was ok and even happy about it.”

“Who was the other candidate?”

“Some American businessman’s grandson, he’s rather influential in Japan and has his fingers in many companies here. Apparently, the grandson is rather apposed to the idea of arranged marriages though, the meeting might not happen. Does this mean your coming home?”

“N-no not at the moment. I need time to think. I need a month here to decide something.”

“A month are you insane? There is no way you can stay away from home for a month. Honey, where are you at the moment.”

“Hashimoto’s apartment. Just tell this to dad and I’m sure he will understand.”

“What? Why?”

“Mom, I’ll explain things later. I will call you tomorrow.” Sakurai hung up the phone without giving her mother time to explain what was going on.