The Sakurai household. Kagami is standing in the kitchen just having finished her conversation with Mio. “Does she think she is going to live with a boy for a month? Like hell, her father and I will let that slide.” She stormed up stairs and down a long hallway and swung open the office door. Sitting in a large office chair behind a big mahogany desk is a stern looking man, Mio’s father is reading a document. Kagami walked up to the desk staring him down with an angry look on her face. He looked up from the document. “Kagami what’s wrong you look upset? Did something bad happen?”

Kagami in a loud angry tone “Our beautiful daughter just called. Do you know what she just told me? She said she’s not going to come home for a month. She is apparently going to stay with a boy from school.”

Visibly angry he stood up from the chair “What did you just say? There is no way in hell I’m going to let my daughter live with a man for a month. What’s his name and where does he live were going there now to get her back?”

Kagami with a stern tone “I don’t know where he lives. I only know that he goes to school with Mio and that he works for Hashimoto repair company part time.”

Mio’s father’s eyes widened and look of surprise could be seen. “Kagami what is the boy’s name?”

Kagami gave him a funny look. “Well, if my memory serves me correctly, he said his name was Hashimoto Eizan. Why do you look so surprised all of a sudden?”

Her father turned back to his desk, walked around it, and sat back down in the chair. “I need to think for a second. Did she say anything else?”

Kagami was staring at him in shock. “U-um she said she needed some time to think and that she needed a month to decide something. Honey, what’s going on aren’t we going to find her?”

He put his hand on his chin and thought for a second. “Kagami this boy Eizan what can you tell me about him?”

Kagami still giving her husband a strange look. “I don’t know much about him. All I know is that he’s a relatively handsome young blonde man that Mio has been hanging out with lately. Like I said earlier he works with his uncle as a repair man and apparently, he also has some kind of bad reputation. It was something he actually brought up himself. He didn’t seem like a bad kid though. Why do you want to know about him?”

He turned his chair and looked out of the window for a few seconds. He stood up from the chair and walked up to the bookshelf that lined the wall of the office and grabbed a family photo of the shelf. As he stared at the photo he spoke. “I really thought that she would end up with Murata’s boy, I even set up their marriage meeting earlier hoping she would pick Towa. It sounds like she is taking the other offer seriously as well though. It is surprising that they knew each other, I wonder if that old man knew this before he made the offer. He really is as sly as they say he is. Kagami you never asked what the other marriage offer’s boys name was did you? The funny thing is that Mio never asked about either of them. Did he tell her about the offer?”

Kagami gave him a curious look. “What are you talking about?”

He gave her a small smile “My beautiful wife the name of the other boy is Hashimoto Eizan. That repair business isn’t his uncles, it’s his fathers and it’s a large company. But that’s not all, his mother’s family is one of the wealthiest in the world. His grandfather is a business tycoon from America whose reach spans almost the whole entire world. He has and owns companies in twenty different countries that I know of and either owns or is a large investor of more than ten companies in Japan. That’s not even counting the rest of his mother's family, her two brothers and sister. His mother is also one of the predominate computer scientists in Japan. His family is hugely influential."

Kagami’s eyes widened. “But that boy showed no signs of wealth when he came here. He acted just like a normal boy. Why would he be working as a part time repairman if his family is that wealthy?”

He smiled. “That boy’s mother separated herself from her family after her marriage. She married a common man and decided to raise her children as normal kids. Something about it building good character and making sure they didn’t grow up to be arrogant is what that sly old fox told me.” He placed the photo back on the same shelf it left and walked up to Kagami. He gently reached up his hand and stroked her cheek lightly. “I’ve also heard about this reputation he has.” He then began to describe everything that happened to Eizan before he moved. “I will let you decide what we should do. Should we let Mio stay with him for awhile to make her decision or should we bring her back now? Either way I never intended to force her into marriage, honestly it was the first time she ever spoke back to me I might have gotten carried away.”

She walked over to the picture he had just been looking at and stared at her daughter’s image intently. “She really has grown up hasn’t she. It feels like it was just yesterday that she was begging me for a new toy or asking to go play at the park. She was always my precious little daughter. She knows Towa really well maybe she needs time to get to now this boy Eizan before she can make an informed decision. I’m not sure if it’s the right thing to leave them alone together. I don’t want to be a grandmother yet. I need some time to think, I’ll have a talk with her tomorrow and make my decision then.”

He walked up to her and gave her a light hug from behind peering over her shoulder to look at the picture of his family. “I trust our daughter to make a wise decision. We’ve raised her properly and I think she will be responsible. I can’t say I’m not worried about this situation though.” She turned to face him with tears running down her cheeks. He embraced her tightly.

He was staring out at the night sky through his office window lost in thought. Kagami had left a few minutes ago to lay down in their bedroom. He pulled a file out of his desk drawer and opened it. The image of Eizan could be seen in the upper left corner of the document with and extensive amount of knowledge about him written on the rest. He picked up his phone and searched through his contact until he found a man’s name with the last name being Carter.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

In a fancy hotel room, a gray-haired American man could be seen sitting on a balcony smoking a cigarette. The phone on the outdoor table next to him could be seen ringing. He looked at the phone screen and smiled. “Hello there Mr. Sakurai I’ve been expecting your call.” He put his cigarette out in the ashtray and walked inside the room.

Sakurai “You were expecting me.”

Carter “I would be surprised if you didn’t call me after your daughter ran away to my grandson’s apartment.”

“How did you know?”

“Let’s just say I keep an eye on everyone of my family members.”

“I see. I think we need to give them some time to decide things on their own. For right now we’ve decided to let her stay with him for the night. She is requesting to stay with him for a month to decide what she wants to do. Does your grandson know who he was going to meet for the marriage meeting?”

The old mans eyebrows raised a little in surprise. “A month surely is a long time for a young man and woman to be living together. It’s quite the bold request. Eizan was never informed about who he was to meet I thought I would surprise him. I had intended to force him to go to the meeting whether he liked it or not this time. From everything I’ve heard he seems to have taken a liking to your daughter. He’s my only grandson and I would like to see him happily married before my passing. I’m not dying or anything but at seventy-five years old I guess I’m getting impatient.”

Sakurai laughed on the other end of the line. “I surely understand wanting to see your children grow up to have a happy life. I am letting her mother decide on how long we will allow her to stay. I have only one request. I need to know the address of his apartment we need to be properly introduced.”

The old man smiled. “Just go easy on the boy. But wait until Wednesday night. I’ll be picking them up for dinner tomorrow as a surprise.”

“Ok sounds good, I won’t promise that Kagami won't storm over in the middle of the night though.” A smile could be seen on his face.

“Hahahaha, yea I understand, women can get a little emotional when it comes to their children. Just let me know if anything changes. Goodnight, Mr. Sakurai.”

“I’ll talk to you soon Carter. We still have much to discuss about your new building project.”

The old man hung up his cellphone and walked over to the large balcony again lighting another cigarette. He stared at the city skyline below him. “Mary you sure have raised an interesting son. I sure hope this girl can help him find the happiness he has lost. Eizan, I will see you soon.”

While Mio’s parents were having their conversation she was still standing in Eizan’s bathroom, staring at herself in the in the mirror lost in thought. "What am I even doing a whole month, will he even let me stay that long. Do I tell him about the marriage meeting? No, that would make things awkward. I’m almost positive my parents will not agree to this, especially my mother. Towa is one thing, but Hashimoto and I have only just started to get to know each other. I need some time to gather my thoughts on the matter. I don’t know what to even say to him at the moment. I can’t stay in the bathroom forever." She smacked both her cheeks to gather some confidence. “Alright, I can do this.” She walked out of the bathroom.

Hashimoto was sitting on the floor near the table staring at his phone as she walked into the room. He looked up at her as she entered. “So, what did your mother have to say?”

She sat down across the table from him. She was fidgeting around obviously nervous “Um, the thing is… I’ve been kicked out for a month.” Eizan’s eyes widened at the statement, he quickly realized what she was about to ask next. “So… can I stay here for the month. I honestly don’t have anywhere else to go?”

He sighed and stared up at the ceiling thinking to himself "How the hell did I even get myself into this situation. Ok, think man. There's no way I can kick her out on the street. But, how in the hell can I justify sharing an apartment with a girl." He looked back at Mio who was shifting around nervously. "Damnit." “Alright fine you can stay but I’m going to have inform my parents first. I can’t justify having you here without their permission. Also, do your parents know where you are right now?”

She scratched her cheek nervously. “Yes, I told my mother exactly where I would be staying. I don’t know if she approved though. I hung up on her before she could approve or disapprove.”

He picked up his phone from the table and stood up. “I’ll be back in a minute. I need permission for this before I can give you definite approval.” He walked out the front door of his apartment while looking through his contacts for his mother’s name on his phone. He put the phone to his ear. Ring. Ring. Ring. “Hello.”

“Mom, I have something I need to talk to you about.” A few minutes of conversation later. “Are you sure it’s ok?” He let out a sigh “Yeah, yeah, I will go grab some. But, it’s not like that’s going to happen anyways. I’ve already told you were not in that kind of relationship.” He placed his hand on his forehead. “Alright I get it, accidents happen. I already told you I would go buy them even if it’s not necessary. It is going to make things awkward though if she finds them.” His mother handed his dad the phone, they had a long talk about responsibility and other uncomfortable topics.

About twenty minutes later he reentered his apartment with an exhausted look on his face. When he saw her sitting there by the table reading a novel, she must have brought with her, he couldn’t help but blush. He thought back to his conversation with his parents "Damn my parents, they just made this awkward as hell." She looked over at him with a nervous look. He calmed himself down and let out a sigh. “They allowed me to have you stay. There were a couple of demands of you and I, but nothing too serious.”

She tilted her head to the side. “Demands?” What kind of demands?”

He sat down at the table directly across from her. “I must call them everyday to keep them posted. You have to call my mother on Wednesday. Also, two weeks from now we have to travel to Kyoto and stay for the weekend if you’re free.”

She stuttered “I-I have t-to c-call your m-mother!” He nodded his head. “T-that’s a lot more difficult than you made it sound. But that’s all the demands they had?”

He blushed a little. “Well…, there were a few more than that but nothing you need to worry about.”

She looked at him with a very confused look. Her stomach started to growl. Her face turned red. “I didn’t get to eat dinner.”

He giggled a little. “Stay here for a little while, I’ll run to the convenience store and buy us some snacks.” He stood up to leave.

“Wait, I’ll go with you.”

“N-no don’t worry about it. Just find a place for your stuff.”

“I can do that later.”

“N-no please stay here. T-this is one of my parents demands.”

She stared at him curiously “Oh, ok. I’ll see you in a minute then.”