The year Haruki and Kentaro became friends was the same year Akashi and Maki Fukuda stumbled upon the truth about Kentaro Nomura's mysterious background.
During a casual dinner at their home, Haruki proudly introduced his "new friend" to his parents. Little did they know that Akashi would feel an uncanny sense of familiarity upon seeing the ginger-haired boy.
"I swear, I feel like I've seen that boy before," Akashi remarked, helping his wife clear the dishes after their son had accompanied his new friend out. Left to their own devices, the couple could freely discuss their thoughts without putting Kentaro in an uncomfortable position.
"Ken-chan does look familiar, but the name 'Nomura' doesn't ring a bell," Maki pondered, also unable to shake off the nagging feeling that they had crossed paths with the boy somewhere before. "Do you have any friends named Nomura? Maybe it's someone you know."
Akashi, determined to unravel the mystery, pulled out his cellphone and began scrolling through his contacts and social media accounts. "The kid mentioned his mother is a ginger, but I don't know any female gingers. Could it be a friend of yours?"
"Do you really think I'd forget someone like that?" Maki, who had been washing the dirty dishes, joined her husband at the counter. "Maybe it's an acquaintance we both know? A business partner, perhaps? Let's keep scrolling and see."
Curiosity gnawed at them, although it wasn't a matter of distrust or the need for a background check on Kentaro. They simply wanted to satisfy their curiosity and put their restless minds at ease. If Kentaro happened to be connected to someone familiar, it wouldn't hurt to get to know them as well.
However, after an extensive search, they couldn't find any trace of Kentaro Nomura or anyone matching his profile on social media. It was a dead end.
"Well, that was a let-down," Maki sighed, returning to her task at the sink. "I was genuinely curious about his mother."
"She sent her kid to live on his own at twelve. I doubt you'd be thrilled to know her," Akashi muttered.
"Don't be judgmental without knowing her circumstances," Maki scolded him.
"Yeah, yeah," Akashi absentmindedly continued scrolling through his cellphone. Suddenly, his thumb froze on a particular profile, and he couldn't help but chuckle. "But don't you think Kentaro bears a striking resemblance to Satoshi Harada?"
Maki was ready to retort, but her husband pre-empted her by showing her Satoshi's profile. The sight left her speechless.
Wait a minute, how could it be? If she imagined Ginger with darker hair, wearing a suit, he would resemble the younger version of the renowned chairman. Their eyes even shared the same mesmerizing shade of gray!
Maki was so astonished that she forgot about her wet hands and snatched the cellphone from her husband, nearly giving him a heart attack.
"Wow, you're right!" she exclaimed.
Agreeing with a distressed nod, Akashi said, "Yes, yes, indeed. But your hands..."
"This is really too scary," Maki, who seemed unfazed by her husband's cheap cellphone, continued scrolling through Satoshi Harada's posts before a sudden realization struck her. "Wait, didn't Ken-chan mention that his father passed away?"
Satoshi Harada already had two children, a son and a daughter, but their facial features leaned more toward their mother. On the other hand, Kentaro Nomura bore no resemblance to Satoshi's legal wife, Kohana Ishihara, whose hair and eyes were both black.
Considering all these factors, Maki and Akashi dismissed the possibility of Kentaro being connected to the Harada family.
Or so they thought, until a few months later...
"Old hag, can I ask you something?" Haruki Fukuda approached his mother one day, wearing a wide grin.
Initially preoccupied with work-related matters, Maki wanted to brush off her son's inquiry. However, Haruki persisted, pleading and coaxing until she reluctantly gave in.
"Fine, what do you want?" she replied, her tone flat.
Taking a seat across from her, Haruki opened a small notebook and began bombarding her with questions—about her work.
Maki was taken aback. Her son had never shown interest in such matters before.
"It's for a project I'm working on," Haruki explained solemnly, noticing his mother's inquisitive expression.
And so, she proceeded to share everything she knew about her work with him.
After a while, Haruki suddenly interjected, "You and Dad are business dealers, marketing managers. You've interacted with many famous people, right?"
"That's correct, but I fail to see how—"
"In that case, do you know the Harada family?" Haruki's curiosity was piqued.
"I mean, we've dealt with them a few times," Maki seriously pondered over it, before waving a dismissive hand. "Though to be honest, they're not very—"
"What kind of people are they?"
Maki, fed up with the constant interruptions, couldn't find the patience to continue explaining. Instead, she scolded her son, words dripping with frustration. "How can I explain anything if you keep cutting me off? And what does that family have to do with your assignment?!"
"Uh... research purposes," Haruki responded cautiously.
This child; Maki thought to herself. "Then go browse the internet! Don't bother me for no reason; I'm busy here!"
"Fine, fine, chill," Haruki grumbled before storming off to pester his father instead.
At the time, Maki couldn't fathom why her son suddenly fixated on that particular family. With so many influential figures to choose from, he had to pick them. She sighed inwardly, utterly disliking any interaction with the Haradas.
"I hope he doesn't idolize them," Maki muttered, just as she noticed a crumpled piece of paper where Haruki had been sitting.
Assuming it was trash, Maki picked it up, intending to discard it later. But curiosity got the better of her, and she decided to take a peek, in case it held something important.
"Let's see what this boy has doodled... Who knows what—" Her eyes widened as she skimmed through the words on the paper.
It was a messy family tree, hastily drawn in pencil—the Harada family tree, to be precise.
But what was Kentaro's name doing there? Ken-chan wasn't a Harada.
...Or was he?
In Haruki's scribbled family tree, Kentaro's name was clearly written beneath Satoshi Harada's, alongside another unfamiliar name: Yumiko Nomura.
Maki had never heard of this person before.
According to this discarded scrap, Yumiko Nomura was Kentaro's birth mother?
"...forgot something. I'll go get it," Haruki's voice echoed faintly in the background, urging Maki to return the evidence—er, the trash—to its rightful place.
True to her instincts, Maki hurriedly returned the paper just as her son sauntered back into the room, eyeing her suspiciously.
"You... didn't read this, did you?"
"Do I look carefree to you? Just don't leave trash lying around," Maki retorted, feigning innocence.
Once her grumbling son had retreated, Maki took a moment to process what she had stumbled upon.
Why had Haruki drawn that family tree? Was it a prank? And why did it have to involve the Harada family?
Confusion gnawed at her, compelling her to take matters into her own hands and dig deeper into the family's background.
Again.
She had done it once before, finding nothing out of the ordinary. There was no mention of a Yumiko Nomura connected to the Haradas.
So, what the heck was going on?
"Haruki isn't the type to play pranks like this," Akashi assured her later that evening, as they retired to their bedroom.
"But do you really think Ken-chan is Satoshi's son?" Maki's doubts lingered.
"I mean," Akashi scratched his head, "He does bear a resemblance to the man..."
"It could be a mere coincidence!"
With a sigh, Akashi placed a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder. "I understand it's hard to accept. Even I don't want to believe it, considering what I know about Satoshi. But if it turns out that Kentaro is indeed Harada's son, there's nothing we can do about it."
Because, in the end, they were still outsiders. Interfering with another family's internal strife was not their place.
***
"And that's what happened," Maki concluded, her guilty expression revealing her sense of deception all these years. She couldn't understand why the weight of her secret suddenly felt so heavy. "We would've told you earlier, but back then you were so closed off. We didn't want to seem like we were pushing you away."
"To be honest, we weren't entirely sure until you confessed just now," Akashi chimed in. "There were no records of you or your mother having any connection to the Haradas. So, we couldn't determine if Haru's note from back then was true or false."
How in the world had he messed up like that? Haruki's guilt-ridden gaze shifted towards Kentaro, who sat with his head bowed in silence. Was he mad for being inadvertently exposed?
But of course, Kentaro wasn't one to get angry about something like that. He was more disappointed in himself for not confessing the truth sooner. Ginger clasped his slightly trembling hands together on his lap, struggling to steady his voice as he addressed the elderly couple. "It's true... I've deceived you for a long time, and I'm sorry."
"Nonsense, none of this is your fault," Maki extended her arm, enveloping him in a warm half-hug and gently patting his head. "Everyone knows what kind of people the Haradas are; even your mother couldn't have done anything about them."
That family still held his mother captive. Kentaro couldn't even think of reporting them, knowing they were powerful enough to make his and Yumiko's lives miserable, to say the least.
"The Haradas care more about appearances than anything else," Akashi leaned back in his chair, massaging the bridge of his nose. "Honestly, I'm surprised you've managed to survive this long under their control. I haven't seen that Satoshi in a very long time, and I've always felt he wasn't the 'greatest person' out there. It makes me wonder if you really have Harada's blood flowing in your veins, kiddo."
Though slightly confused, Kentaro nodded. "Yes, sir. It's true that Mr. Harada is my biological father."
"I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but you're nothing like him or those people," Akashi told him, sighing.
Kentaro's heart warmed a little. "I-It's a good thing. A really great thing!"
"Wait a minute," Haruki, who had been nearly forgotten, finally spoke up, snapping out of his daze. "Do you personally know Ginger's dad?"
Haruki sensed something when his father mentioned 'not having seen Satoshi in a long time'.
"I wouldn't say 'personally,'" Akashi replied, crossing his arms with a snort. "We weren't close enough in high school to be considered friends."
"You went to the same school?" Haruki was surprised. "Why have you never mentioned it before?"
"Why would I, though?" Akashi retorted.
"Well, your father's side of the family has close business ties with them," Maki pointed out, leaving her son even more astonished.
Kentaro was also taken aback, albeit briefly. Despite his animosity towards them, he had to admit that the Haradas were skilled in the world of business. They had numerous connections.
What intrigued him, though, was that Akashi's family also had a reputation. He had always suspected that the Fukudas weren't ordinary citizens due to the nature of Haruki's parents' work.
But why did it seem like Haruki was also in the midst of a revelation? Was he truly unaware of all this?
Little did Kentaro know that Haruki, in his own foolishness, paid little attention to the nature of his own family. His interest had only been sparked once, and even then, it was to gather information about some unrelated clan.
The so-called 'idiot' gripped his head woefully. "So, it turns out my entire life is a lie..."
Maki resisted the urge to hurl a shoe at her son, scolding him relentlessly. "You don't even know much about your own family! Whose child are you???"
In all honesty, Haruki couldn't care less about all that. He felt even more aggrieved when his mother made a fuss, berating him non-stop, while Akashi tried to calm her down.
Kentaro watched this spectacle unfold with a small, relieved smile dancing on his lips. He truly believed he didn't deserve these caring individuals by his side.
At least now he had nothing to hide from a family that genuinely cared about him.
~~~~~~