The guest sitting in front of Haruki, well, that was none other than his grandfather - Ryuji Nakamura.
But the term "gramps" would certainly fool people, because the man leisurely sipping his tea was far from the image of a feeble old man. No, Mr. Nakamura had aged like a fine wine, exuding strength and vitality. With just a few streaks of gray at his neatly-gelled temples and a well-trimmed beard, along with a few deep lines that added character to his face when he smiled, he appeared anything but frail.
Yet, despite his robust appearance, Haruki couldn't shake the feeling that the person sitting before him seemed somewhat... what's the word... ah, refined?
Ryuji sported a sleek dark gray tuxedo, complete with a tie, and sat with such elegance, crossing one leg over the other, as he held his teacup in a manner that could only be described as graceful. If Haruki were a stranger, unaware of the family dynamics, he would have easily mistaken the man for the true master of the household, while the two individuals kneeling in the corner appeared to be his devoted servants.
Haruki had never seen his grandfather in formal attire. The old man was always clad in martial arts gear, as if forever ready to take on any opponent. Nevertheless, despite the unexpected sight, Haruki couldn't suppress his happiness upon seeing his grandfather. He felt torn between joining his parents on the floor or happily taking a seat next to the esteemed guest.
Having sensed Haruki's confusion, Ryuji waved his hand dismissively. "You did nothing wrong. Just ignore those two and come have tea with grandpa."
Relieved of any guilt, Haruki eagerly approached the man and settled himself on the adjacent couch. Normally, he wasn't a fan of tea, but today was an exception. His joy overshadowed any distaste, and he even attempted to imitate his grandfather's impeccable cup-holding technique, utterly captivated by it.
"Well, this is a pleasant surprise. I had no idea you were visiting," Haruki cheerfully exclaimed, already forgetting about his parents' predicament. Another unexpected twist came when a younger man entered the room, carrying a plate of raisin scones he had stumbled upon in the kitchen, leaving Haruki doubly surprised. "Ah, Uncle Yuichiro is here too?"
The newcomer was much younger, even younger than Haruki's mother.
"You took your sweet time coming back. We almost thought you weren't going to show up," Yuichiro Higashi joked, placing the plate of scones on the coffee table. He then playfully ruffled Haruki's dark, unruly locks in greeting. "Long time no see, Haru. Look how much you've grown."
"If you know that, why do you still treat me like a kid?" Haruki tried to evade Yuichiro's hand, but his efforts were in vain. Eventually, he gave up and, disregarding any formalities, helped himself to a scone before asking with a mouthful, "Not that I'm not happy to see you guys, but what's going on? Why are Mom and Dad kneeling on the floor?"
Taking a seat beside Haruki on the double-couch, Yuichiro responded helplessly, "What else could it be but the boss' way of letting off steam?"
By "boss," he naturally referred to Old Man Nakamura.
Haruki didn't possess an in-depth knowledge of his family's history or lineage (since he was far from concerned), but he did know that his uncle Yuichiro had no blood relation to either the Nakamuras or the Fukudas. There was some vague recollection of someone mentioning the Higashis serving the Nakamuras for generations, but the only Higashis he personally knew were Yuichiro and his grandfather, Kenji, who had been Ryuji's lifelong friend. Sadly, Kenji had passed away six years ago due to illness.
It wasn't as devastating as it might sound. Ryuji had always regarded Kenji and Yuichiro as family, so even after his friend's passing, Yuichiro was never abandoned. He had practically grown up being treated no differently than Maki and her three older brothers.
Given the circumstances, Yuichiro couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt witnessing his "sister" being reprimanded in front of her child. And knowing Maki's temperament, she was likely seething internally.
"Would you like to enlighten him?" Ryuji glanced at his daughter, who stubbornly kept her lips sealed.
In truth, it was Akashi who wanted to interject with a plea of "We were wrong..." but a single glare from his father-in-law silenced him.
Everyone in the family was well aware of Mr. Nakamura's deep-rooted grudge against his son-in-law. He believed that the "weak-willed Akashi" had essentially "stolen" his little girl, which was the primary reason for Ryuji's disapproval.
However, Haruki couldn't help but feel that his grandfather's grudge had significantly softened over time...
Returning his gaze to his daughter, Ryuji's smile widened. "You don't want to explain to little Rue-rue why you're reflecting?"
"Hey now," Haruki protested upon hearing the old nickname, but that didn't stop him from being fully invested in the unfolding drama.
"...You're enjoying this far too much, Dad," Maki grumbled sulkily.
"And can you blame me?" Ryuji placed his teacup on the table and helped himself to a scone. "When you left Kyoto, you were so confident that you wouldn't need me, that you could handle everything on your own. What was it you said? 'I don't want to stay in your shadow' or 'You'll never see me ask anything from you again'? My memory fails me."
Maki replied sheepishly, "I didn't mean it, though..."
"I know you didn't. But it's only natural for you to own up to your mistakes," Ryuji said, his tone far from displeased or angry. The knowledge that he was "right" and would always be "right" brought him great cheer. "You're complaining about such a light punishment? You used to be much tougher than this."
"It's not just about me," Maki grumbled, her eyes involuntarily shifting towards her husband.
While she remained relatively unaffected, Akashi, who didn't come from a martial arts background like the rest of them, had been silently suffering for a while now, as a numbing pain continued to spread through his legs. His arms throbbed with agony, but he kept quiet, not daring to meet his father-in-law's gaze.
Haruki could clearly see that his father was struggling more than his mother. He nudged the person next to him and whispered, "How long has it been like this?"
"Not too long," Yuichiro shrugged. "About forty minutes."
Haru: Forty... Dad's really in pain.
"Oh, I get it now," Ryuji's smile turned slightly malicious as he realized his daughter's concerns. Resting his bearded chin in a hand, he focused solely on Akashi. "Is it true? Are you already buckling under the pressure, son?"
Akashi quickly shook his head, raising his trembling arms even higher. "No, sir!"
"You sure you don't want to take a little break?"
"Not at all!"
Grandpa can be so ruthless. Using the 'son' card at a time like this; Haruki thought. Maybe he was wrong earlier. His grandfather still held a lot of animosity towards his father.
"Are you serious right now?" Maki nudged her husband and whispered harshly, "If you let that old man fool you, we'll be stuck here all day..."
"So be it."
The woman was stunned. She had wanted to complain further, but the determination in her husband's eyes left her words stuck in her throat.
Especially when he gave her a confident smile and said, "If that's what it takes to finally earn his respect, then this is nothing. Besides, I can't keep hiding behind my wife all the time. What kind of man would that make me?"
"Akashi..." Maki muttered, looking moved with sparkling eyes. "But Dad is truly angry at me. I can't let you suffer on my behalf."
"You're right here by my side," the man said sweetly. "What's a little kneeling compared to that?"
Meanwhile, the other three witnesses to such wretched public displays of affection: "......"
*
After enduring over ten minutes of Maki and Akashi's excessive PDA, Ryuji Nakamura had finally had enough. It wasn't that he felt sorry for them or anything, no way.
On the contrary, he felt that if he had to witness another minute of their sickeningly sweet display, he might end up committing a murder.
Feeling thoroughly exasperated, he didn't even allow the married couple to sit together when they finally joined everyone on the couches. Maki was forced to sit with her son on one double-couch, while Akashi had to share the other with Yuichiro. No one dared to utter a word about these new arrangements.
Haruki, who knew he was innocent in all this, suddenly didn't know how to excuse himself to at least change out of his uniform (or rather, he just wanted to escape). He sat there stupidly, completely clueless about the true nature of the current situation. He had initially assumed his grandfather had randomly dropped by, but it seemed like there was more to it.
"So, what is this 'important matter' that couldn't be discussed over the phone?" Ryuji got straight to the point now that he had regained his composure. "Whose life do you want me to ruin?"
Did the old man want to pick a fight with someone? That's all Haruki could think his grandpa was capable of.
"This time, 'saving' would be a more appropriate term," Maki explained, as her husband rummaged through his bag and pulled out a file, which he handed over for Mr. Nakamura to examine. "We're hoping you might be able to help Chairman Harada's son and the boy's mother."
Haruki's heart skipped a beat. Wide-eyed, he looked at his mother, who returned an apologetic smile. It was as if she was trying to convey the message: Sorry for keeping you in the dark for so long...
Ryuji couldn't immediately grasp what his daughter meant, as all he could picture when hearing "help Harada's son" was the insufferable Izuki Harada. Kohana Ishihara was equally unbearable, and if he remembered correctly, Maki didn't particularly like anyone in the Harada family. So why help them?
It was only after perusing the profiles in the documents that Ryuji's expression transformed into pleasant surprise. He even handed them over for Yuichiro to see, who let out a bewildered "ah?" before turning to the Fukuda family.
"How do you know these two?"
Nobody was supposed to know about Yumiko and Kentaro Nomura's connection to the Harada family, as it was supposedly classified information.
Maki didn't hold back, "We don't really know much about his mother, but Ken-chan has been living in Ichihara for the past three years. He's actually a close friend of Haru's."
Is it just me, or does the man not seem surprised at all? Akashi wondered. He'd expected Mr. Nakamura to show some shock after discovering the existence of another heir in the Harada family, especially since it was supposed to be a well-kept secret. Even Yuichiro didn't react much, which puzzled Akashi even more.
"You seem to already know about them," Maki interjected, echoing her husband's thoughts.
After all, this was Ryuji Nakamura - the former head of the Nakamura clan's yakuza, with deep ties to numerous underground organizations, and the current chairman of one of Japan's largest and most influential software engineering companies. His network of connections had no limits, and he could effortlessly dig up the most confidential information from any insignificant organization.
The Haradas had nothing on him.
"I do," Mr. Nakamura said, a disbelieving sneer playing on his lips. "And it seems that punk Satoshi didn't heed my warning in the end. I should have taken action back then."
Haruki couldn't comprehend what was happening or why he suddenly felt like he didn't truly know his grandfather. But amidst the confusion, one thing became clear: he saw a glimmer of hope.
Hope that Ryuji Nakamura could rescue Kentaro and his mother.
"Can you... really help them?" the teenager spoke up, finally recovering from the shock.
"It depends on what you mean by 'help'," Ryuji said, casually flipping through the file that Yuichiro had just returned. "Should I help them gain the recognition they deserve, or—"
"NO!" Haruki's voice boomed louder than he intended, and he found himself standing without realizing it. "Just get them out of there. Help them get their freedom from the Haradas. Ginger, he... That's been Ken's lifelong dream. He doesn't care about anything else as long as he and his mother can break free from that family..."
Even Maki and Akashi were taken aback by their son's words. Previously, whenever Haruki mentioned helping the Nomuras, they assumed he wanted them to be acknowledged like Ryuji had suggested. They believed Haruki despised how they were treated as outcasts in their own home.
But now they understood the true depth of his intentions.
Why did it suddenly feel so challenging? Would Satoshi even allow it?
"Well, that's not a problem," Ryuji replied calmly, earning puzzled looks from Maki and Akashi. Placing the file on the coffee table, he continued, "However, I'll need more substantial stuff than the meagre evidence your parents managed to collect."
Maki wanted to ask why her father sounded so confident, but the mention of "meagre evidence" ignited her anger instantly. "Meagre? Dad, we spent weeks tirelessly gathering that so-called 'meagre evidence'. The least you could do is cut us some slack!"
Upon hearing this, Haruki glanced at his parents, who were too ashamed to meet his gaze. So they were truly making an effort, he realized. He felt guilty for his outburst back then, even though it had long since passed.
"I'm know, dear, you did your best," Ryuji said with a sweet smile. "It wasn't enough, but you still tried."
He's determined to make Sis realize she made the wrong choice by hiding her true identity; Yuichiro thought sympathetically for Maki.
"Ask Sakuraku to send files six and ten on the Haradas," Ryuji instructed Yuichiro, who had been typing on his laptop all this time.
Raising an eyebrow, Yuichiro questioned, "Why go to such extreme measures for a problem that can be easily resolved?"
The files Mr. Nakamura requested contained classified records of the Harada family's illicit activities, which had been conveniently swept under the rug through bribery and forced settlements, mostly during Suguru Harada's reign as the family's head.
"Extreme? Those people have enough dirt on them that I can randomly pick file numbers; I don't even know which is which anymore," Ryuji sighed. "It doesn't matter which ones we choose because they'll only serve as a last resort if Satoshi decides to be stubborn."
Yuichiro finally understood and made the call. While he conversed with Sakuraku, Ryuji's secretary, Akashi was the first to snap out of his daze and cautiously spoke up.
"Not to doubt your capabilities, sir, but do you really plan on storming into the Harada mansion and demanding their cooperation?" Like the rest of his family, he couldn't keep up with the conversation.
"Of course," Ryuji replied as if it were the most obvious thing. Thankfully, he no longer eyed his son-in-law with hostility as he explained, "I gave the Haradas a chance to redeem themselves long ago, but they clearly didn't take it. As far as I'm concerned, they have only themselves to blame for the consequences."
It was about time he paid them a visit.
~~~~~~