Episode 208: The Limit

Before the afternoon classes started, I checked my phone and saw that everyone had sent back an「okay.」

After talking with Hanako-san, I’d sent out a mass RAIN message saying I had a report and something to consult them about.

Just like yesterday, I’d have to use the time while Sara-san was in the bath to talk.

To be honest, I vaguely felt that this wasn’t something we could handle on our own.

Because this was a matter happening inside a massive corporation like Saba Electronics, it felt like there was nothing we, mere high schoolers, could do, let alone outsiders.

And since they were outsiders too, I figured the result wouldn’t change even if I dragged my own parents into it.

So today’s contact was more of a report than anything else.

Talking to Masaomi-san was the key here, and as much as it frustrated me, I knew I’d eventually have to rely on him.

This situation, where I felt like I was just waiting for someone else to act, was incredibly irritating. I felt like the most I could do was ask for everyone’s advice, not that I expected a miracle.

Time flew by, and soon enough, it was time to start the group RAIN call as Sara-san headed into the bath.

Kazunari:「Good evening. Thanks for coming, everyone.」

Nishikawa:「Good evening, Takanashi-san. You said you had a major report and a consultation?」

Hanako:「Good work. We don’t have much time, so let’s get started.」

Todo:「It’s about Satsukawa-senpai, right?」

Natsumi:「Sara was acting weird today. That’s what this is about, isn’t it?」

Tachikawa:「Did something happen to Satsukawa-senpai?」

Hayato:「I was worried too. You two looked out of sorts.」

Yuji:「Everyone, let’s listen to Kazunari first. Just give us the story until you hit a good stopping point.」

Once Yuji reined everyone in, I could tell they were all ready to listen, so I decided to lay out the necessary info.

Kazunari:「First off, Sara-san ran away from home.」

Everyone: 「「「 WHAAAAT!? 」」」

Just as expected, everyone shouted in surprise at once. Well, that’s only natural.

Natsumi:「Wait, wait, what do you mean!?」

Nishikawa:「Natsumi, listen for now. Takanashi-san, please continue.」

Kazunari:「Right. I’ll stick to the main points since we’re short on time. Sara-san ran away because her father brought home a marriage meeting proposal from the company.」

Everyone: 「「「 A MARRIAGE MEETING!? 」」」

It’s such a shocking topic that it’s no wonder they reacted that way. They probably have a million questions, but they managed to keep quiet.

Kazunari: 「She’s at my place right now, but she doesn’t want to talk about the marriage meeting, so we haven’t discussed it directly yet. Instead, I heard the situation from her mother and decided to talk to her father this weekend. I’m going to get him to recognize our relationship no matter what, and then have him settle things with the President who sent the proposal. After that, I’ll have him explain things to the other executives who are trying to bring up more marriage talks.」

That should cover the general situation. Now I just need to tell them what I want to consult them about…

Nishikawa:「Everyone, you probably have a lot to ask, but could you leave this to me as your representative? Since time is limited, it’ll be more efficient that way.」

Everyone voiced their agreement to Nishikawa-san’s suggestion. I guess I’ll be talking mostly to her, then.

Nishikawa:「Takanashi-san, I have a general grasp of the situation. However, the truth is that these kinds of stories aren’t rare. Even I’ve had marriage meeting proposals brought up twice before.」

!?

I was just as shocked as everyone else this time. Even Nishikawa-san has had marriage meeting talks?

Nishikawa:「I’m the only daughter of the Nishikawa Group’s president, so those kinds of things inevitably come up… but putting my own story aside, the same can be said for Sara. While nothing is confirmed yet, there are already rumors in the industry that Sara’s father might be the next president.

Even if that weren’t the case, he’s a Senior Managing Director at a giant like Saba, so it’s not surprising that there are people moving to target that position.」

I was hit with a lot of shocks, but more than that, Nishikawa-san looked incredibly reliable today.

I didn’t know she had a side like this…

Nishikawa:「I’ll continue. If you want a quick way to suppress this situation, even if only temporarily, there’s one fast method. But that’s still a bit much…」

It looks like Nishikawa-san is thinking the same thing as Mayumi-san. Since it’s not set in stone, I hesitated to report it, but it seemed better to just say it.

Kazunari:「Actually… it’s not a done deal yet, but Sara-san’s mother suggested that, well, from now on we date as fiancés on the premise of marriage…」

Everyone: 「「「 WHAAAAAAAAAAT!!?? 」」」

A scream of pure shock, louder than anything I’d heard before, erupted from my phone’s speaker. Hey, I think it’s okay, but what if Sara-san hears you…

Natsumi:「F-F-F-Fiancé!!??」

Todo:「Incredible! Wow! Takanashi-kun, congratulations!!!!」

Hanako:「I… I didn’t expect things to progress that far… so she really is a wife now…」

Tachikawa:「No way, a friend is getting married already… but congrats!」

Hayato:「Whoa, whoa, whoa, this is a real surprise… I can’t believe you’ve already decided to settle down…」

Yuji:「…Uh… well, what should I even say… is ‘congratulations’ right?」

Everyone shared their thoughts and congratulations, but they seemed to be completely skipping over the「not a done deal」part.

Kazunari:「Wait, hold on a second! Nothing’s been decided yet!! Besides, I haven’t even told Sara-san about this yet, so I don’t know what she’ll say…」

Natsumi:「Hah? There’s no way Sara would say no. If you mention an engagement, she’ll cry for joy and give you an immediate yes.」

Todo:「I think so too. I’m sure Satsukawa-senpai would accept happily.」

To be honest, I also thought she’d give me an okay on the spot if I told her. But hearing everyone say it with such certainty made it hard to know how to respond.

…Anyway, since we’re burning daylight, I’ll get back to the talk with Nishikawa-san. I guess she’s used to this kind of thing because she’s a president’s daughter, the way she didn’t show any agitation was really reassuring.

Kazunari:「So, Nishikawa-san, about what you were saying…」

I figured that the temporary way to suppress the other side was probably what I just mentioned, but… there was no answer.

Kazunari:「Nishikawa-san?」

Nishikawa:「……………」

Natsumi:「Eri-ri~n, don’t stay in your own little world forever! Come back to reality!!」

Nishikawa:「Hah!?」

I take it back.

Far from being unbothered, she was the one most shocked and had gone on a mental vacation…

Kazunari:「Um, are you okay?」

Nishikawa:「I-I-I-I’m perfectly fine, okay?」

Apparently, she was not fine.

Where did that incredibly reliable Nishikawa-san from a moment ago go…

Nishikawa:「Ahem! W-Well, congratulations… it’s a very auspicious story…」

Kazunari:「No, I keep telling you it hasn’t been confirmed yet. I haven’t even talked to Sara-san…」

Nishikawa:「There is no way she wouldn’t accept! It’s an instant decision, an immediate yes, a straight shot to the goal, and I’m so jealous!!!!!」

Nishikawa-san started rattling off words like a tongue twister. She might be a lost cause today…

Natsumi:「Eri-rin!!!!」

Nishikawa:「Hah!?」

That’s the second time she’s snapped back to her senses, but will she be okay this time?

Nishikawa:「My apologies, Takanashi-san. I shall continue.」

Hanako:「She’s pretending it didn’t happen.」

Todo:「Hanako-san, shush.」

Since we were out of time, I stayed quiet and hoped she’d just keep explaining, and she finally seemed to get back on track.

Nishikawa:「If the two of you are f-fiancés and have p-p-pledged your f-f-futures to each other, I think the situation will cool down for a while as everyone watches to see how things go. After that, we’ll just have to think of ways to handle things or countermeasures from there.」

Kazunari:「I see. I figured as much…」

Nishikawa:「Yes. However, the absolute prerequisite is that you must be accepted by Sara’s father, Takanashi-san. If you don’t clear that hurdle, there’s no future to speak of anyway, so please focus all your efforts there for now.」

In the current situation, I really did have to start by getting Masaomi-san’s approval. It was too early to talk about anything beyond that.

Kazunari:「Got it. Thank you so much! Sorry, but Sara-san should be coming out of the bath soon, so I’m going to head off.」

Nishikawa: 「T-T-T-THE BATH!?」

Natsumi:「Oh, honestly. Takanashi-kun, don’t worry about us, just look after Sara!」

Everyone offered words of encouragement and told me to do my best as I ended the call.

「The bath… at a man living alone’s house, the bath… just how far has Sara…」

「Eri-rin, those two are basically fiancés now, so just get used to it already.」

I was soothing Eri-rin, who had gone on another mental journey, but I thought we’d all end the call since Takanashi-kun had left.

But even in the middle of that, Hanako-san seemed to have something else on her mind and started talking to Eri again.

Hanako:「Nishikawa-san, what do you really think? You didn’t say it on purpose, did you?」

Nishikawa:「………As expected, you noticed.」

Oh, she’s back…

The rest of us seemed to feel that we shouldn’t interrupt their meaningful conversation and just listened in silence.

Hanako:「…To be honest, this story is on a completely different level. Based on what I’ve heard and guessed, the way things are now…」

It looks like Hanako-san has seen right through the situation. I’d vaguely noticed it too, but I knew it was going to be difficult.

Nishikawa:「Right, I should probably tell everyone. Regarding this matter, even if those two become fiancés, it will likely only suppress things temporarily. That’s because this isn’t a story that can be settled with just personal romance. There’s the stage of the company, and because this marriage meeting is based on various ulterior motives, a simple engagement isn’t nearly enough to shut people up. To put it further, this story won’t end unless he is finally recognized as a necessary person for the company. If Takanashi-san, who is still a high schooler and for whom the word ’employment’ is a distant concept, realizes how massive this wall is, he might break under the reality that he can do nothing on his own…」

Hanako:「True. Takanashi-kun doesn’t understand in a true sense what kind of family his wife’s family really is. He doesn’t yet understand what it means to date his wife or to get married, or what kind of position he’ll end up in. But because he himself realizes that he doesn’t understand, he’s working hard to at least keep his feelings from wavering.」

Heavy… this is an incredibly heavy story.

I understood perfectly that this wasn’t on a dimension where it could be settled with just「liking」or「disliking」like the romance we usually think of.

I’d been calling Eri-rin「Ojou-sama」lightheartedly, but if this is the kind of deep, heavy romance they have to think about, there’s no way I could handle it.

Right… it was impossible. That meant there was nothing we could do to help them.

Whether they recognized it vaguely or not, everyone fell silent as if they’d lost their words.

Nishikawa:「As a last resort, there is the option for Sara to leave home. If she leaves the Satsukawa family and has nothing to do with Saba Electronics, the two of them could continue having a normal romance and a normal marriage. I don’t think Sara would hesitate, and I think her parents would choose that if necessary. However, Takanashi-san wouldn’t allow that…」

Hanako:「If they could choose that easily, they wouldn’t be struggling this much.」

This isn’t a story that high schoolers like us can solve. But if we told that to Takanashi-kun, he might actually break.

That’s why Eri-rin didn’t say it, and instead showed him the immediate goal he could work toward himself: getting recognized by Masaomi-san.

Hanako:「It’s frustrating, but this isn’t something we can handle anymore. It might only buy them some time, but for now, we have to leave it to the Satsukawa family’s moves. After that, if there’s any possibility, it would be you, Nishikawa-san…」

「……Yes. I know. If there’s anything the Nishikawa Group can do to provide support from the side… perhaps…」

Wow… is this really a conversation between people our age?

I can kind of understand Eri-rin since she’s been studying as a daughter of the Nishikawa Group for a long time, but I can’t help but be amazed by Hanako-san.

I had the image of her as a mysterious underclassman with a unique aura, but I didn’t think she was this mentally mature.

In the end, the talk broke up there.

Even if we kept thinking about it ourselves, there was no way a real solution would come out.

We left everything to Eri-rin, made sure to remind each other absolutely not to tell the people involved about this conversation, and ended the call.