Episode 402: The Meeting

「Excuse me,」

I said it with a feeling similar to entering a teacher’s staff room or the principal’s office.

I walked through the door Masaomi-san opened and finally stepped into the special room.

It was a far cry from any hotel room I’d ever seen before. Aside from its sheer size, the placement of the high-end, classical Western-style furniture and decorations was on another level… There was even a fireplace, though it was likely a fake. In the center sat two large sofas that could easily seat four or five people each, along with a low table.

Sitting alone on one of those sofas was a man with a cheerful smile on his face as he looked toward us…

「I say, it is good of you to come. I’m sorry for making you go through the trouble of coming all this way. I actually wanted to visit you myself, but doing that would have caused an unnecessary stir, you see.」

「Ah, no, it is not a problem…」

The man stood up as soon as I entered the room and spread his arms to show he welcomed me. This was, of course, the current Chairman of Saba Electronics, Satsukawa Shoji-san.

Seeing him again from a close distance, he seemed a bit more ordinary than he did at the opening ceremony. If the circumstances were different, he had a gentle vibe that would make the description「a kind uncle I know」fit perfectly…

「…Hmm… You are more ordinary than I expected. I heard so much about you that I thought you would be a more up-and-coming youth.」

「Excuse me?」

…Or so I thought, but I take that back.

Setting aside the smile of Shoji-san, who had suddenly muttered those words, his eyes weren’t smiling at all… In fact, he was staring me down from head to toe quite bluntly, as if he were appraising me.

Hey, is this really how you treat someone the first time you meet them?

「As the youth who led that incident to a resolution, and the man that Sara recognized for the first time, my interest was endless. I imagined many things before meeting you, but you are more…」

「…More what?」

This suggestive way of speaking, mixing in hidden insults while acting like he has something stuck in his teeth, was really getting on my nerves… but I have to endure it. I have to endure.

「Um… Chairman. Is something wrong with Kazunari-kun?」

Even Masaomi-san apparently hadn’t expected this turn of events. He looked bewildered by the unsettling atmosphere that had suddenly started to drift through the room and asked the Chairman tentatively.

「No… for now, standing around talking isn’t ideal, so please have a seat.」

The Chairman didn’t seem particularly apologetic as he brushed it off quite simply… Masaomi-san and I looked at each other. After seeing Masaomi-san give a small nod, we sat down together on the opposite sofa.

I felt like the Chairman was laughing at me for even that simple movement… I’m probably just being paranoid, surely.

「First, let us do a self-introduction once more. As you likely already know, I am Satsukawa Shoji… the younger brother of the previous chairman, Satsukawa Hisayoshi, and the uncle to Masaomi-kun and the others.」

「Yes. I am… no, my name is Takanashi Kazunari. I look forward to working with you.」

「I look forward to working with you as well. I have heard many things about you from Masaomi-kun, Mayumi, and Sachie-san. Perhaps because of that, it does not feel like our first meeting…」

The Chairman said those things, even though he had just muttered those unsettling words earlier… and as usual, his eyes are not smiling.

「Now, since there is not much time to spare, I will get straight to the point… but first, just one thing. I will ask this while knowing it is rude… but are you truly the youth in question?」

「Huh?」

「Eh?」

Both Masaomi-san and I let out hollow voices at the same time because the question was so sudden… For now, I’m not even sure what he means by「in question」.

「Chairman, he is the real Takanashi Kazunari-kun. I told you that before…」

「…I see. I know it is rude to say this because it is just my own preconception, but the image just does not connect. I never imagined you would be such an incredibly ordinary youth with nothing to sense from you…」

「C-Chairman, that is going too far…」

「Ah, Masaomi-kun, please be quiet for a moment. I am talking to him.」

「!?」

The friendly smile he showed at the first welcome vanished completely, and the Chairman’s aura changed entirely… That cold gaze appraising me stayed exactly the same, and on top of that, he started showing an aggressive attitude, even brushing Masaomi-san aside.

Could it be that this is this man’s true nature? But this is nothing like what I heard from Masaomi-san or Mayumi-san…

「And Sara is being Sara, too. She pays no mind to the promising candidates I introduced to her, and yet she manages to catch such an average man you could find anywhere… after all is said and done, she is still just a child…」

「I admit that I’m ordinary, but could you stop speaking ill of Sara-san?」

「…Oh?」

It’s not that I don’t care about myself, or this man’s sudden change, or the gap between him and the person I heard about… but more than that, I can’t forgive him for saying things that make a fool out of Sara-san.

「I know better than anyone that I’m not the kind of person who can do anything special. I’ve only made it this far because I had help from Sara-san and everyone else… I’ve overcome things because people saved me.」

「…It’s not bad that you can evaluate yourself objectively. And?」

「In the first place, Sara-san and I… the reason she chose me wasn’t for some calculated reason like that. It’s hard to explain in words, but it’s because both Sara-san and I felt that we were people who truly wanted each other from our hearts… That’s why Sara-san fell in love with even an ordinary guy like me. Are you going to deny even Sara-san’s own will, Chairman?」

「It is true that denying Sara’s will is not my intention… however, Sara has a position that she was born with.」

「I know that much!! Masaomi-san and Mayumi-san told me many things before I got engaged to Sara-san… so I think I understand what you’re trying to say, Chairman. Even if I don’t accept it…」

This was directly related to the very reason the engagement talk came up in the first place. Even I understand that it’s an issue that exists because Sara-san is the daughter of Masaomi-san and Mayumi-san. That’s exactly why people won’t be convinced by a half-hearted relationship… normally, I’d think it’s nonsense to have to convince others of our relationship… but the fact that it’s needed is exactly what Sara-san’s「position」means.

「I see. Then you are saying that you can prove that the judgment of Sara, Masaomi-kun, and the others was not a mistake?」

「Yes… is what I’d like to say, but at least right now, I can’t. It’s frustrating, but I still can’t do anything yet.」

It’s truly frustrating, but I can’t see how I could possibly do anything to convince the Chairman right now. I’ve only just started trying my best with my studies, and as someone who hasn’t done a single bit of actual work, it would be arrogant to think I have something that could convince the Chairman of a massive corporation.

「Hmm… the fact that you do not say「I can」here is the key point. If you were the child of an executive or someone with a position, you would claim you could even if you lacked confidence…」

「I’d want to say I could, if I could. But as a reality, even if I said that now, it wouldn’t have any persuasive power at all, would it? For someone like me who has zero social experience and has only done simple part-time jobs to say that, it would just be a joke to you, Chairman.」

「Indeed, that is exactly right. To easily claim you can do something you have never done, let alone something you have never seen or heard of, is nothing but the boastful talk of someone who does not know his place. If you wanted to say that, you would at least need the corresponding results or ability… however.」

After saying that much, the Chairman took a deep breath for some reason… and in the next moment, the way he looked at me changed instantly. The sharpness of his eyes increased further, becoming so powerful they felt like they could pierce me, and his expression seemed to be appealing for something strongly…

「Are you not frustrated? To have yourself denied for such unreasonable reasons, and even have your lover brought into it. While your ability to not lose your cool is worthy of praise, this makes you just like any other passive child of today…」

「Don’t misunderstand!! I’m angry too!! But that’s directed at you, Chairman, for trying to deny Sara-san’s will, and at my own pathetic self for not being able to deny that from the front!!」

「…Oh?」

He had pointed out my most painful spot with a straight shot…

Everything I had been enduring finally started to spill out from my mouth.

It’s just that I was desperately thinking of many things while trying to stay calm…

There’s no way I wouldn’t be angry!!