Sakurako was standing on a stage as she played a refined song with her violin. Her blonde hair was done in a beautiful style that combined with her simplistic yet gorgeous purple dress and blank expression alongside her mature face thanks to the make-up, gave her an elegant and breathtaking atmosphere. Her audience was composed of members of the high society both from within and outside the nation, with many who had only come to see her performance. That was how much she and her family name was well known to those in that privileged section of society
And after what felt like a short time for Sakurako, she had reached the end of her performance, then one after the other, the audience got up from their seats and applauded her. Sakurako held her violin with both hands and respectfully bowed down to the audience before the lights turned off one by one as the curtains closed, hiding her from the audience
"… Brrrr! The AC is too cold"
And that was the first thing she said as she got up from her bow and rubbed one of her arms that were cold from the cold temperature of the theatre because of the AC. With a trembling body from the cold, Sakurako went to the backstage area, and then to the dressing room given to her
Once in there, the first thing she did was turn on the AC in the warm mode, and once the AC began releasing hot air…
"Fuaaaaaa!… This is paradise!"
She said that with her eyes closed still with a blank expression, but at the same time, it was easy to see that she was feeling blissful. After enjoying the warm air for a few more seconds, Sakurako turned and picked up her violin case and opened it, before storing her violin inside its case, she checked its condition to see if it was still good
"*Nods* Still looking good as ever"
And then she carefully put it inside the case and closed it, after doing that she noticed her reflection in the mirror and looked at herself for a few seconds before nodding with a proud look
"Another excellent performance, mom and dad will be proud of me"
Sakurako's reasons for performing today were because of her parents, as she saw this as a way to repay them for giving her such a good lifestyle, and also because she enjoyed doing these performances. Then she gave another look to herself and then she began undoing her hairstyle as well as removing her make up
After she dried her face with a towel, her natural pretty, and young-looking face could be seen alongside her natural semi-long blonde straight hair. Then she looked back at her reflection in the feature mirror, and did her hair in her usual semi-looped ponytail, after seeing it was good, she got up from the chair and picked up her black leather jacket and put it on over her dress, making her previous elegant look be changed to a more cool look
In many ways, she looked completely different from herself on the stage during the performance
"… I guess, I'll go buy some snacks to eat"
Sakurako was a quite big eater, and she always felt hungry after doing things like the performance she just did a while ago. And with her choice made, she picked up her bag and her violin case that she passed the carrying strap over her head to carry it on a diagonal. After doing all that she left her dressing room and made her way to the exit as she walked down the hallway
"Hey, where are you going?"
"I'm going to buy something to eat"
But as she made her way to the exit, one of the actors in the theatre tried to strike up a conversation with her
"Then let me accompany you"
"… … … No, thank you"
Sakurako stared at the actor for some seconds, before refusing him
"Don't say that, I'll even pay it"
"No, thank you"
"No, no. I insist I can't possibly let a gi-!?"
The actor tried to touch her shoulder, but then he noticed Sakurako pointing a stun gun toward him
"I already said no, so if you try to touch me, I'll stun you, and I'm not afraid of doing it"
Sakurako said all that while keeping her blank expression and no signs that she was scared or nervous in any way. The actor slowly backed away as he sweated heavily from seeing the stun gun in Sakurako's left hand, and then he dashed away
"*Sigh*"
Sakurako said that to herself inside her mind, and she put back the stun gun in her bag. She had fairly good instinct at noticing people's real intentions, so she more often than not did not have a problem going to places with strangers, especially if it involved food, if she could notice that they didn't have any second intentions towards her, and Ichiro the other day was one of such cases
Sakurako then went back on her way, and eventually, she arrived at the main entrance hall that was mostly empty, with only a few people in the wide place, then as she walked towards the entrance, she noticed two people near the entrance. One was in a wheelchair while the other was behind it pushing, with both persons waving at her, so she continued on her way and then approached them
"Good evening, Kohaku… Erm… Kazuo-san?"
"Yes, it's Kazuo. It's good to see you Sakurako-san"
"Yes, it's good to see you, Sacchan! *Cof! Cof!*"
"You didn't need to force yourself to come here, Kohaku. I would visit you in my free time and bring the recording with me"
The two were Mochizuki Kohaku and Hasegawa Kazuo
Kohaku was the one in the wheelchair because of her weak and usually sickly body, she had beautiful long white straight hair and blue eyes, she also always had a gentle and calm smile on her face, all of that gave her the look of a princess from a fairy tale, but she had the bad tendency of overexerting herself whenever it involved her childhood friend, namely Sakurako
While Hasegawa Kazuo, was the one pushing Kohaku's wheelchair and her fiancé, different from Kohaku, he had a clearly healthy body that alongside his handsome face, shiny black hair, and unusual red eyes made him have a mysterious and handsome feel around him… And it also made him into a complete weirdo, who still suffered from chunnibiyou to this day
"No, Sacchan! Seeing you perform live is one of the few things I will never allow myself to miss! *Cof!*"
"Please, Kohaku. Don't overexert yourself, I can always go and perform for you in your bedroom whenever I have time"
"No… your performances can only be brought to their full potential in theaters like these! *Cof! Cof! Cof!*"
Kazuo then gave Kohaku some water for her to drink, and as she did so, Kazuo took on the opportunity to talk with Sakurako
"So Sakurako-san, how have things been going with Masahiko?"
"A few days ago he told me that he was going out with another girl as I waited for him for our date that he never came, so I guess it has been going bad"
"He what!?"
"Pfffftt!!! *Cof! Cof! Cof!"
Kohaku spat out the water in her mouth from the surprise and because of that, her coughing got worse. Which caused Kazuo to forget about what he just heard to take care of Kohaku while Sakurako helped him
"Thank you… Haa haa haa…"
"Don't worry, you're my lovely fiancée after all"
Kazuo patted Kohaku's head as he said that, before turning back to Sakurako as one of his eyebrows twitched
"So? Do you care to tell me more details about what he did?"
"No, so…"
And Sakurako told Kazuo everything about what happened a few days ago, alongside other things that Masahiko did, or better yet, didn't do with Sakurako on the days that their parents had made them go on dates after they gave them tickets or invitations to have their date at. And the more Sakurako told him, the more rage-filled Kazuo's face became, and after a quite long talk, Sakurako finished telling everything she knew
"… And that's everything he did with me"
"… … … *Deeply inhales* I'M GOING TO KILL THAT IDIOT!!! I already have to endure myself from punching him for making fun of Kohaku's condition every day!!! And now he did all of this to you!?!?!?"
Having finally gotten fed up with his older brother's antics, Kazuo finally snapped from the pent-up rage that he had towards his older brother. But before he could do anything, he felt a tug on his clothes, and he saw that it was Kohaku, as she pouted one of her cheeks with a cute angry face
"Kazuo, you can't go killing your brother like that, I don't want you to end up locked in a cell"
"… Yes, I'm sorry, Kohaku… I'll make sure to only leave him badly injured from punches"
"Now that's better"
Kazuo's only weakness was Kohaku since he really loves her. While Sakurako looked at them while feeling glad that her friend had a nice partner to take care of her
"Well, I'll get going then, see you two another time"
"Ah! Wait, Sakurako-San! Do you want to have dinner with us at my house?"
"Sure, I was in planning on having a snack somewhere now"
"… Are you sure it's fine to accept my invitation without sparing a thought?"
"You're my friend's fiancée and I can protect myself, so I don't see any problem in accepting your invitation"
Sakurako said so as she showed Kazuo, her stun gun and pepper spray. That made Kazuo show a quite surprised face since he didn't really know Sakurako all that well
"Kazuo, you don't need to worry about Sakurako, she may look a bit carefree, but she knows how to take care of herself"
"I-I see…"
And as if she had read his mind, Kohaku defended Sakurako's way of doing things. And with that settled, Kazuo called for a car to be sent to pick them up, and a luxurious car owned by his family came shortly after, and they all entered it
-
Meanwhile, at the Hasegawa residence
-
"Sorry, to have asked for a meeting with you on such short notice, Ryousuke-san"
"No problem, Hansuke-san. It's always an honor to receive the parent of my oldest son's fiancée"
Because of their schedules, the parents of the two families were only able to have a meeting today, which was scheduled only a few days ago, when they usually agree to meet with a much longer window of time to make all the necessary preparations
"About that has your son told you anything that he dislikes about the engagement?"
"No, he says he's quite satisfied with his engagement to Sakurako-san. Why do you ask?"
Ryousuke had a confused face at why Hanse had asked him that
"Well, we recently heard from our daughter that he had left alone in the cold when they were supposed to have a date, as he went out with another girl claiming that we had forced his engagement with her on him"
"Not only that, but we also heard from Sacchan, that whenever we had them to go on dates to places like restaurants, he always made her bear all the costs, including things that were only for him"
" "…" "
Both Ryousuke and his wife, Etsuko, were left speechless when Hansuke and Emma told them that. And then something struck inside Ryousuke's mind
"Wait, was this date the one from this Friday?"
"Yes"
"When we asked Masahiko about his date with Sakurako-san, he said that it was good"
"Then I believe he has been lying to you all this time"
"I let him have a pretty free lifestyle and that's how he pays me back… I'm sorry to say this, but I want to believe that my oldest son is not a bastard, so do you two have any proof that he did all that?"
"Well, you know that Sacchan has performance today, right?"
"Yes, I know"
"And we even gave her a purple dress for her to make her performance with, look"
Emma then showed Ryousuke a photo of Sakurako wearing the purple dress from earlier, and then to follow up Hansuke spoke once again
"So how about you ask your son if he went to her performance and if he knows what dress she's wearing?"
"That… Well, it's a way, I guess"
Following their suggestion, Ryousuke called his son Masahiko, after a few seconds, the call connected to him
"What's up, dad?"
"I just wanted to know how you and Sakurako-san have been doing"
"We have been doing just fine"
"Is that so? Then can you send me a photo of her? I heard that she had a performance today, so I wanted to see how my daughter-in-law is looking like right now"
"Wait, what? What performance?"
Masahiko who never bothered on getting along with Sakurako, was completely unaware of her performance today, and now he was in a prickle
"So?"
"Well… Erm… She… She's currently in the dressing room to prepare for her presentation so I can't take a photo of her!"
"…"
Ryousuke then covered his phone with his other hand and asked Sakurako's parents
"Didn't her performance already end?"
"Yes, it did"
"I see… *Goes back to the phone* How unfortunate, but is she looking good in her dress?"
"Yes, yes, she is looking good in her… Erm… Red dress! Yup, she looks good in it"
"I see, thank you for being honest with me, Masahiko"
"No problem, dad"
And then Ryousuke ended the call and let out a long sigh
"You two are right, he has been lying to me"
"Well, now that you know what he has been doing. I think you should punish him accordingly"
"Yes, you two are right. Haa… Anyways, is there anything I can do for you two as an apology for my bastard son's actions?"
"Yes, there is. We want to cancel Sacchan's engagement with him"
"Just that? Very well, I will go get the documents necessary for that, and I will call you two back after doing so"
"Thank you very much"
"Yes, thank you. We appreciate your help"
"No, as the parents of Masahiko, that's the least we can do for you all"
Etsuko said that as she had an apologetic face
"Still, we appreciate it. So, if you two excuse us, we need to get going"
"Ah! Don't you two want to have dinner here?"
"We can't, we need to go back home to have dinner with Sacchan at home"
"Ah, I see. Then let me take you two to the entrance"
Then as Etsuko escorted Hansuke and Emma to the front door, they ended up meeting with Sakurako who was accompanying Kazuo and Kohaku
" " "Ah!" " "
And they all got surprised at seeing each other for a moment, but after that initial short surprise, they all decided to stay for dinner. And Kazuo would tell his dad, what he heard from Sakurako, only making Ryousuke angrier at Masahiko, who was now going to have a horrible surprise