87 Chapter two, 2016, southbound: 4 (1/2)
After he fetched his unwilling sister from his room Ryu led her to the room shared by their parents. Any other time and the four of them would have shared a room, but this was their club field trip. Even though they paid for the stay his parents were not part of it, but for now he and his sister were to attend dinner with their parents.
Noriko still hadn't switched into her yukata, but dad was adamant they signed the contracts before Urufu woke up, so Ryu brought his sister with Urufu still sleeping in the room they left.
He slid the door closed behind him giving Urufu some stray thoughts. 'Threats, dad did something bad to her.' Else he couldn't understand how they made Kuri's guardian sign those documents. She was about to lose a lot of blackmailing money, so it had to be fear. Then again, he really didn't care.
He dragged Noriko through a corridor with wooden floors, up a carpeted stair and halfway through another corridor until they arrived, and he slid the door open. Inside they quickly removed their slippers, slid the next door open and sat down on the tatami mats.
Their parents already sat there waiting together with Kuri and Sato-sensei, and to his surprise, so did Principal Nakagawa and Ashiga James.
'What are they doing here?' ”Dad?”
”Son, I guess you wonder about Nakagawa-sensei and Ashiga-san.”
Ryu nodded.
”I'll explain while we wait for dinner. Noriko, Ryu, sit down!”
Ryu followed his sister who had already anticipated the invitation and was on her way to one of the four remaining seats. He gave Ashiga-sensei a thankful thought when he saw the young man sitting cross-legged on the floor. No need for a traditional knee-breaking dinner tonight. To make him even more at ease both his father and Nakagawa-sensei switched into a more relaxed pose.
Behind him Ryu heard the doors slide open and when he turned he saw Kyoko and Yukio enter the room. Both were properly clad in their yukatas, something that made his sister stand out even more. 'So you helped your girlfriend with the belt? I don't think you stripped before Noriko so that means you two went to the girls' room alone. And sis said nothing about it.' Before he had a chance to give her a nasty remark Kuri intervened.
”Noriko, thank you for watching over Ulf. I apologize for the inconvenience it caused you.”
'Damn, you had her back. Oh well, there will be more opportunities.' He growled in response to Noriko's out-stuck tongue. 'And sis, you know you were just saved by Kuri. Girlie conspiracy! Guess she saved you two as well,' Ryu thought and looked at Yukio.
From her seat his mother gave Kuri an approving nod.
'Yes, definitely girlie conspiracy.'
”If you're done with your antics, could we please proceed?” his dad said. ”I called Nakagawa-sensei here to get a written confirmation that Himekaizen approves of the unusual part time jobs related to these contracts. He'll also confirm that the school approves of the contracts.”
Everyone round the tables nodded understanding. His mother helped Ashiga-sensei pour a round of tea and porcelain cups made their way around the party.
”Ashiga-san will handle some of Ageruman-san's financial transactions, and must sign one of the contracts for that reason. He represents Stockholm Haven Café.”
Ryu waved understanding and accepted a cup into his hands. The tea was hot to his lips and of surprisingly high quality, but maybe that was only to be expected in the Mie prefecture.
Kuri broke the silence that followed. ”I'll continue the modelling work I just took up. My guardian has to believe that she controls my income.”
”That's unfair!” Ryu said and looked down at the tatami mats. No business of his really. He wasn't even her boyfriend.
”No Ryu. I appreciate that you care for me, but this is just me being smart,” Kuri objected with a smile. ”I'll enter into a formal partnership with your father's company concerning any side-incomes I may have though.”
”Side-incomes,” Ryu murmured. Saving only a small share of what she earned still seemed unfair.
”Yes, side-incomes.” Suddenly Kuri looked like a much older woman, a dangerous woman. ”I plan to become famous enough to brand collections after my name. If I'm successful the old hag can have all my modelling money, and I'll never even notice.”
Ryu stared at her. 'The billion dollar empress. That's what Urufu called you. I've never seen that face of yours before.'
The signing was a quick affair after that, and then the dinner arrived. It was a traditional multi-course thing, partially more eye-candy than truly tasty. But Ryu knew a lot of his friends loved the traditional sashimi accompanied by rice and the endless side dishes.
During the dinner his father poured Kuri a very small cup of sake with the apparent approval of all other adults, and she very pointedly only sipped it when they toasted her new partnership. It was tradition, and it was treating her like an adult. 'And you would have choked on your sake had you only known how old Kuri really is,' Ryu thought and smiled.
”Something funny?” his mother asked.