Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Chairman Oizumi was a man not given to imaginative leaps. His success as an entrepreneur was built solely on practical principles. He was, in short, not a man inclined to indulge in fanciful things. His life was a regulated clock, his finger was always on the pulse of the comings and goings of Tokyo's financial world. Seldom did anything take him by surprise. One impossible thing before breakfast would be a paradigm shift, six, however, would be the stuff of strokes and heart attacks.

At that moment he had no thought for breakfast. His appetite, unfortunately, had not been improved by an effusively apologetic phone call he had received earlier that morning.

"It's insufferable... intolerable... Can no one be trusted to keep their word these days?" He stormed as he saw the approach of his beloved granddaughter.

At that moment Oizumi Sahoko thought her grandfather had turned into a raging tsunami. It was an inexplicable sight. Grandfather was usually a picture of calm and dignity.

"Grandfather... what's the matter..."

Chairman Oizumi looked as if he was going apoplectic. His pretty young granddaughter was certain that the blood vessels in his upper torso were on the verge of bursting. She had never seen him so infuriated.

"How can they treat us like this... who do they think they are?" The chairman was breathless, pacing up and down the enormous dining room.

They? Could it be that...

Oizumi Sahoko smiled at her grandfather with genuine affection. "Whatever it is, it can't be all that bad. No need to get a heart attack over it."

"Heart attack!... That Irie mob... they will be the death of me..." Chairman Oizumi was gesticulating wildly.

"Grandfather... it is not like you... Please calm down."

"Because no has ever treated me like this... No one has ever dared... and you my dear girl..."

So it is that...

"It's Naoki san isn't it? He has changed his mind..."

Oizumi stared speechlessly at his granddaughter for some moments and made no attempt to conceal his astonishment.

"You don't seem surprised."

"No, I'm not..." was the matter-of-fact reply.

"But why..."

"He is in love with someone else."

"Impossible."

"But true..."

"Why did you agree..."

"I wasn't sure at first, grandfather. I suspected it... but he's such a closed book. There was a side to him I couldn't penetrate... a wall I couldn't scale. It was as if he had fenced his heart off and was keeping everyone at bay.

"It's the Aihara girl, isn't it?" The truth had dawned as Sahoko spoke.

The granddaughter nodded.

"But... what in God's name... does he see in her..."

"It's a matter of the heart, grandfather... We can't always predict these things. She is a lovely girl... and she won his heart fairly and squarely."

"You are very calm about this..." Chairman Oizumi observed gruffly.

"I am now... but I wasn't last week."

"You knew... and you said nothing..."

"What could I say? My dreams of love and happily ever after shattered...?"

"My poor girl. How can you sit there and give up without a fight?"

"Fight with what... our money, our position?"

"Well..."

"That worked out well... didn't it?" Sahoko muttered bitterly.

"You are superior in every way to the Aihara girl..." Her grandfather was growing exasperated.

"Except in the way that really matters..."

"I don't understand you."

"I want to marry for love, grandfather. I want him to love me. But he doesn't. It's as simple as that."

"You young people... honestly... It's ridiculous. All this marrying for love rot is overrated."

"You haven't seen him with her... when he is with her... that mask that he wears... The one that you see, the world sees... the polite, efficient, capable wunderkind... it falls off... When he is with her... he is flesh and blood... He is angry, jealous, and spiteful. All the things he cannot and will not be with me."

"Maybe he despises her..."

Sahoko shook her head regretfully. "I only wish..."

Sahoko was stunned.

The handsome young man that had charmed her with his intelligence and thoughtfulness was being uncharacteristically vicious.

His eyes were locked onto the young chef apprentice with an intensity she had not seen previously. Naoki san opened his mouth and the words tumbled out in quick succession, with a ferocity that lurked beneath the surface.

Sahoko noticed Kotoko's discomfiture as soon as Naoki san spoke. Kotoko san was clearly unhappy with what was obviously an ordeal for her.

"You shouldn't force them to go, Sahoko san."

There was an air of overweening arrogance... It was so unlike him.

"It's too much of a pain for them to go to a place like that."

Mixed with condescension...

"They should stay at their level."

Mixed with contempt...

It was a side that Irie Naoki had done his best to conceal in the past.

But there was something else too...

"You two are a perfect match..."

Jealousy.

Irie Naoki was jealous. Unbearably, uncontrollably jealous. In spite of his best efforts to master his emotions, he had let it all slip in an instant.

Immediately, Sahoko was envious of Kotoko. To inspire that kind of outburst from a passionless creature like Irie Naoki, she must be something special to him.

Very special.

It was then she understood everything. Everything finally made sense.

The reason why she couldn't get to his heart...

The reason why he seemed so out of reach...

Was this:

Irie Naoki had already given his heart to someone else.

"I was in love with a dream... grandfather... an illusion. It was never going to end well. Sooner or later the bubble was going to burst."

"Are you sure about this? That cheek of a boy hurt my beloved Sahoko..."

"He didn't know what he wanted, grandfather. But the truth is, he probably hurt her much more."

"Aihara Kotoko?"

"She's been in love with him a long time and she never knew how he felt. Compared to the short time I've known and been infatuated with him, I'm sure she's been through torture."

"You're letting him off lightly..." Chairman Oizumi was unconvinced.

"Probably because I'm in a forgiving sort of mood." Sahoko took a deep breath and flashed her most brilliant smile. "And I've thought a lot about it. A lot."

Oizumi considered his granddaughter a moment and put his arms around her. "I wish he could be here to see what he is missing out on."

"I don't think we should underestimate Kotoko san. When a man like Naoki san falls in love with a girl like that, she must have her unique qualities."

"Unique qualities... Hmph... maybe he just has poor taste in women."

"He's a genius, grandfather... How"

"Hmph... Even geniuses have their weaknesses..."

Author' Notes: I am having a hard time letting go of Itazura na Kiss: Love in Tokyo and so this is therapy for me. I loved the series, loved the leads and loved the payoff at the end. Still it was not without flaws, hence this missing scene which I thought needed to be in that final episode.

I should really be studying or working but I had to get this one off my chest.