Alinea

"Huh?"

It was subtle, but there was a worried frown marring Homura Ryuu's forehead.

For Kazehaya Gin, this would have been totally hilarious if not for the fact that Koutaishidenka was honestly trying his best to give a good impression to his future in-law. The prince had never bowed his head towards anyone aside from his parents nor served anyone else outside of his duties.

Ryuu only ever did all the niceties when he was doing his traditional arts such as kyuudo, ikebana, and sado. The last one was the traditional tea ceremony where one would have to make and serve drinks. But aside from those practices, the prince never bothered with other people normally.

But to impress Suzuki Aki, he did his best and gave a lot of effort today.

Sadly, the prince's attempt seemed to not only confuse the other party. It scared them shitless too.

The hostesses came again bearing food, but Suzuki Aki remained in a stunned silence. As soon as the three of them were alone again, Homura Ryuu glanced at Kazehaya, urging him to do something with his eyes.

Kazehaya Gin reckoned it's time to intervene. Clearing his throat, he raised a hand and snapped his fingers multiple times in front of Suzuki's face.

SNAP SNAP SNAP

"Suzuki-sama," Kazehaya called out around three times before the other seemed to finally come back.

"A-ah,"

Suzuki Raiden Group's President seemed to be a bit dazed for a while, and then when he recovered, a telltale blush stained his cheeks. "I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to space out. I – "

"It's alright,"Kazehaya waved his hand to calm him down. "It's happens. It's Ryuu's fault."

Hearing that Koutaishidenka was being blamed, Aki's eyes popped out. "Ah no, no, it's my fault I – "

"I'm sorry,"Homura Ryuu suddenly said quietly with a small bow, and Aki froze again, then his handsome face curled up like he wanted to cry.

"Why is he apologizing to me again?"

Kazehaya could already imagine Suzuki thinking in total panic.

"Koutaishidenka, I think Suzuki-sama would like to know why we requested to meet him today." Homura's CEO finally opened the topic – their true purpose for coming here.

With that, Aki's anxiety seemed to vanish.

BANZAII!

Aki ultimately started relaxing. The thought that the prince really wanted something from him ergo the special treatment – he could easily accept that compared to benefiting one-sidedly.

Just being here with them technically was a benefit in itself.

"Let's eat first," Homura Ryuu indicated the variety of colorful and delicious looking plates in front of them, and the others complied.

They were having kaiseki ryori, a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner. The series of very small, intricate dishes served represented the collection of skills and techniques that allow the preparation of such meal and was an equivalent to haute cuisine of the west.

All three of them ate quietly, enjoying the delicacies, albeit Suzuki Aki couldn't help but notice how the two others ate with elegance of royalties, and became a bit self-conscious.

Afterwards, the hostesses came in again to clear their table and served more drinks. This time, Suzuki Shacho's heart was more prepared when Koutaishidenka poured sake for him again. Also this time, he had the presence of mind to pour alcohol for the prince and Kazehaya, who was happy being served wine properly – he even gave him thumbs up.

"So, may I now ask why I was suddenly invited?"

Aki had racked his brains may times over but he couldn't find any other reason if it's not for business.

"We actually invited Suzuki-sama today because of Ara-sama,"Koutaishidenka spoke, his blue gaze on the other, then signaled Kazehaya with his hand, and the latter carefully placed a leather-bound folder on the table and pushed it towards Aki.

"Ara?"

Suzuki Aki was surprised yet again, and then he remembered the bouquet from Homura, and Kazehaya's visit at the hospital. He had thought it was an accident on the Homura CEO's part, but it seemed it's not. Or if it was, and his sister did something wrong…

"What about my sister? Did she do something?"

The older brother suddenly felt on guard as he remembered his sister calling Kazehaya weird, and he wept a thousand tears inside.

Oh…

Suzuki Aki then shifted to the side of the table and did a dogeza, a Japanese way to prostrate himself, by kneeling directly on the ground and bowing 'til his head touched the tatami. If Ara offended them, there was nothing he could do to protect her except beg for their forgiveness.

Suzuki Aki didn't care about his image. Ara was not the best sibling out there, but to Aki, she's his one and only cute sister. She had been in her best behavior lately as well and so he prayed these powerful men would let her off.

Realizing that there was a huge misunderstanding, Kazehaya and Homura scrambled on the floor and pulled the poor guy up, and assisted him back to his seat while assuring him that it's not something bad.

"Suzuki-sama, it's not what you think. It's not something awful," they said until the man calmed down again.

He still didn't look convinced though, and so Kazehaya Gin opened the leather folder for him. Inside was a contract.

"This…"

Suzuki Aki thought he already reached his quota for shock, and that nothing could surprise him anymore, but he was oh, so wrong.

His eyes wide, his hands trembled as he took a second good look at the doc.u.ments in front of him.

There were two engagement contracts all between Suzuki Ara, and Homura Ryuu signed by both parties' parents. One was done when Ara was born, and the other was when she turned fourteen, a year before their parents died.

"This…"

Aki was speechless. Technically, there was no such thing as an engagement law in Japan. But if the engagement was drafted the same way as a normal contract, it would be legally and morally binding, most especially if both parties received something from each other in a form of yuino.

The latter was the traditional Japanese engagement ceremony. The groom's family would send gifts to the bride's family, and if the presents were accepted, then the offer for marriage was received.

Again, there's nothing legally binding about the agreement to the marriage itself. But if there's a statement in the contract about taking back the presents in case the engagement didn't push through, it would be.

So, in case one of the parties refused to commit to the contract, all the gifts given would have to be sent back. Also, the negative repercussions on the reputation of the person who cancelled this type of engagement would be awful, and that would be mildly speaking.

And this was Homura Ryuu...

Flipping the pages, Aki's shock meter rose yet again. According to the doc.u.ments, part of the engagement gift was the huge property in Denenchofu, which meant that the house Aki thought was theirs was actually given to them when Ara was born.

Aside from that, the second time the engagement was sealed between the families when Ara was fourteen was the time when the Suzuki Raiden Group had been having financial difficulties and the Homura House injected around fifty million dollars to save it as the second gift to Ara.

Aki's mind was still reeling from the information. Everything he knew was theirs was just actually given to them by the Homura House – and he didn't know.

He was at a loss on what to say, when Koutaishidenka suddenly sat in seiza, a formal way of sitting over his folded knees, and then performed a senrei, a thirty degree polite bow towards him.

"Yoroshiku onegaishimasu Aniue," the prince said, very respectfully.

Yoroshiku onegaishimasu roughly translated to either "please" or "thank you" but could also mean "I'll be in your care from now on." Aniue on the other hand was a very formal and archaic way to say "older brother".

With Koutaishidenka doing this to him, it was safe to say that for the second time that day, Suzuki Aki's soul left his body.