Chapter 84 – Preparations to meet the parents

The Principal became alarmed and almost shouted, “No, that won’t be necessary, I am sure! Even Oki-sensei doesn’t want you to stop! She was very impressed by your athletic physic and even said you could be an Olympics’ athlete if we nurtured your natural-born talent!”

“I can’t be such an athlete. I don’t have time for that.”

“I am sure we can arrange some kind of schedule! Oki-sensei is very qualified to be your coach because she was once a member of the National gymnastics team!”

Sakamo shook his head. “I am sorry for ruining your enthusiasm, but my faith also requires that I live a simple life. I can’t attract so much attention towards me; it would be a complete disrespect.”

“That’s a pity, but I understand. So, what are we going to do about Oki-sensei class, then?”

Sakamo shrugged. “I already told her what I was going to do. I won’t attend any of her classes, she will fail me, and I will keep my grades by having the best scores in all other classes.”

“Are you sure you can do that? I know you got the biggest admission score ever, but still…”

“I am sure I can do it, don’t worry. I didn’t know, but I had already learned everything the Teachers had been teaching until now. You see, some of my older brothers in the Shrine work as part-time Teachers at the University of Nakanojo, and they taught me all the subjects for High School till the middle of University years. I think I am way more than prepared to face the classes in this School.”

The Principal gave a big smile. “That’s nice to hear. Does that mean I don’t need to worry about you? By the way, did you already choose which subject you are going to follow and which University you are going to apply to?”

“Already taken care of. I have my future more or less traced because I don’t like to waste time. If you don’t want to ask anything more, can we go? Because recess is almost over, and I want to eat something before the next class.”

The Principal nodded with a slight smile. “Yes, I think we are done here. Off you go, then.”

Sakamo left with Hangaku straight to their classroom, stopping now and then because a student wanted to take a picture or talk with the new famous girl in School.
…

When classes ended, Hangaku Mae kissed Sakamo and whispered before leaving with Tomiko, “Don’t be late, or they will be very upset.”

“I am never late for anything. Well, most of the time, that is.”

Sakamo picked up his bag and followed Takechi Hito, who was waiting for him near the door. As they were walking along the corridors, he asked, “What do you have scheduled for today, considering you normally have somewhere to go after School?”

“I need to go home to take a bath and get mentally prepared to meet Hangaku-chan’s parents.”

Takechi Hito had his eyes wide open. “No way! So soon? How come?”

“I invited her to go with me to some sort of social event next Thursday, and she said to her parents that she wanted to go with me instead of going with them. I guess they want to meet me to see if I am reliable.”

“Oh! You are not nervous? Parents can be frightening. I don’t know what I will do if Tomiko-chan tells me to go meet her parents!”

Sakamo placed one arm over Takechi’s shoulders and smiled. “Don’t worry, you will conquer them easily with your looks and humour.”

Takechi nodded with a big smile, and when he noticed, they were already at the gate, standing before an enormous crowd of reporters. Sakamo pushed him to one side, towards one of his security guys that were calling for him. The reporters were distracted by a group of girls that were showing them a video they made, and Sakamo could hear that it was once again, related to Hangaku, something about her slapping an abusive boy.
As soon as Takechi entered, the driver rode the car to Sakamo’s house, stopping in front of Takechi’s restaurant for him to leave.
When Sakamo arrived at his home, his bodyguard was waiting for him in front of the door. Sakamo frowned and told the driver that he would need a ride later and showed him the text message that Hangaku sent to him with the address.
Sakamo went to his bodyguard and thought that something was weird because he looked nervous.

While Sakamo was opening the door, he asked, “You look weird. Something happened?”

The bodyguard didn’t answer, and he locked the door as soon as he entered and went straight to the dining table. He sat on a chair and placed on the table a wrapped present and a dossier that he was carrying.

Sakamo joined him, and he explained, “I had my guys check those bullets you gave me yesterday, and I found some disturbing things. It also as to do your visit today, to the Hangaku’s home.”

“Now you are getting me worried. What did you find out?”

“Last year, one member of the board of Hangaku Constructions was killed in a burglary in his home. He was a strong opponent of Hangaku Tokimasa, the President of the company. That man was killed by the same gun that shot the bullets you found. The police are still investigating that case, but they don’t have any clues. I told them one of my guys found the bullets inside the fountain so that your name didn’t come up. They are going to check the footage of the cameras at the entrance of the park, trying to find someone suspicious. There are no cameras inside the park to give the visitors some privacy, there are only cameras at the entrance.”

Sakamo nodded and pointed at the dossier. “And what is this for?”

“This is everything we have about the Hangaku family. An alarm was raised yesterday because Hangaku Tokimasa gave orders to his people to check your name, and we did the same to him. If you are going to meet them tonight, it’s better if you look at what he found about you and what we found about him. The first two pages are about you; nothing out of the ordinary, of course, because we take pride in our work. The Emperor gave us specific orders to make you as inconspicuous as possible, so that’s what we did. There are some weird things about Hangaku Tokimasa that are marked on the third sheet.”

Sakamo flipped the page and looked at one old photo next to the most recent picture of Hangaku Tokimasa. He frowned and asked. “Is this for real? He looks just like his grandfather! Like, his spitting image!”

“What is stranger is that there are no pictures of Hangaku Tokimasa while growing up. He lived a very sheltered life, or so it seems. Maybe I am being paranoid, but I found it strange that an heir from such a rich family never once went to a party, bought a car, travelled by plane, or was on the pages of a magazine. The first photo of him was when he was already forty, when he became the new President of Hangaku Constructions, succeeding his father when he retired. There is a photo on the next sheet, and you can see that there are only a few resemblances between him and his father.”

Sakamo looked at the picture and nodded. “I see what you mean. Only the shape of their eyes and their cheekbones are a little similar.”

“Yes, Hangaku Tokimasa resembles his grandfather more than his father. Strangely, both of them are nowhere to be found. Word is that his grandfather retired to a small village in the mountains, and no one knows where it is, while his father is travelling the World. The last time he was seen was in the Bahamas, but he is not there anymore and no one knows where he is now. Hangaku Tokimasa’s mother died when he was young, like yours, so you two have that in common.”

“It’s not something I want to talk about with him, because it doesn’t seem like a good conversation topic. All this is way above strange. It looks like he purposely hid it while growing up. Hangaku-chan is not like him, for sure. She likes to make herself known. Maybe she has more of her mother, I guess.”

The bodyguard shook his head. “A few sheets ahead, there is information about Hangaku no Maki. She is a very reserved woman with a small circle of friends, never once appeared in a magazine because of a scandal, only because of social events, but she is the face of some philanthropic organizations, and she is often on television, invited to talk about a subject related to those organizations. She is thought to be very strict about how wealthy people should act and behave, and image is very important to her. I think she has some problems with Hangaku Mae, who doesn’t care a single bit about her image as the heir of the Hangaku family, but never once, she let anything about it transpire to the media.”

Sakamo flipped the pages and looked at the picture of Hangaku no Maki, Hangaku’s mother, and he smiled. “A very beautiful woman, but Hangaku doesn’t look much with her. Maybe the round face and the eyes, but just a little. What about Hangaku’s brother?”

“Yes, Hangaku Say, the Princess’ friend. A few sheets ahead. Actually, this dossier is a copy of the one we made for the Emperor because of Hangaku Say, but we dug a bit more regarding Hangaku Tokimasa since the first dossier. That was when we found the picture of his grandfather.”

Sakamo looked at the picture of Hangaku’s brother and smiled. “I think I understand why Princess Nabito got a licking on him. So, is this the present you got for Hangaku’s mother? What is it?”

“We found out that she collects jade sculptures, so that’s a small dragon fighting a knight. A famous sculptor who normally doesn’t sell to the public made it, so I am sure she will like it because she doesn’t have anything made by him. I thought it was a good way for you to gain some points with her.”

“Nice, but what do I say if she asks how I got it? And how did you get this sculpture, by the way?”

“When you sent that message in the morning, I was with the Empress, and she was the one that thought it would be a nice idea. The sculptor is her friend, and she phoned him and asked for this. She said to him, it was for one of her friends who was about to meet a very mean mother-in-law. I went to meet him, and he showed me a few of his sculptures, so I chose this one. He also let me take a picture of him holding this, and my guys did some special effects and put your picture there as if you were both posing for the photo. I am going to send it to you just in case Hangaku no Maki doubts he is your friend.”

Sakamo laughed as his bodyguard picked up his cell phone and sent him the picture. “Ahahah! You really thought about everything! Okay, let me see the photo... Now, this is a good one. We look like pals!”

Sakamo looked at the picture on his cell phone of him and an old man holding a small jade dragon, and they were both smiling.

He raised one eyebrow and said, “I don’t remember when someone took this picture of me.”

The serious bodyguard explained, “It was the Empress. I don’t know when she took it, but she had it on her phone. One last thing that I need to warn you about. We did our best to hide everything about you, but my guys suspect one servant in the Imperial Palace might work for Hangaku Tokimasa, and we made that servant find out that you work part-time at the Earthquake Institute on a secret project. If Hangaku Tokimasa asks, you say that you are a mere delivery boy or something along those lines, but if he speaks about you being involved with something secret, we know the servant spoke. There is also one person on the President’s staff that we suspect, and he was told that you give Martial Arts training to the security guys that work in the Imperial Palace.”

“I see. If Hangaku Tokimasa says or asks something about that as well, you know for sure that person is a mole. Okay, I will tell you if he says something about those two subjects. Is there anything else that I should be concerned about?”

“Don’t be nervous. Hangaku Tokimasa is known for respecting people that face him head-on. If you show any sign of weakness, he will think little of you and cause you all sort of problems about you dating his daughter.”

“Like if I ever get nervous around people! Okay, I need to take a quick bath and check my email. The driver is outside waiting for me, and I already gave him Hangaku’s address. If you are going with me as well, you can watch some television while you wait. If not, I will see you tomorrow.”

“I could use a ride, but I don’t see the point of going with you. You are just a normal student; there is no need to be seen arriving there with your bodyguard, right?”

Sakamo smiled and went to the stairs, leaving his serious bodyguard to decide if he should watch television as Sakamo suggested.

…