Nanoka started by leaving pamphlets around the house where she knew that her father would see them, trying to ease him into the idea before she spoke to him about it.
This didn't stop him from bursting into tears when finally said to him one morning at breakfast, "Papa, what would you think if I went to Hokkaido University?"
"My little Nanoka only just came back to me, and now she's trying to leave again!" he wailed.
"Oh, papa," she sighed. She didn't like to see him upset, but at least the idea was out there. Now it would be Koshiro's time to act.
Koshiro sighed and rubbed at his eyes, and action he'd been repeating every few minutes ever since he'd arrived for dinner. When it became clear that their father wasn't going to ask him what was the matter, Nanoka finally went ahead and did it for him. "Is something wrong, Onii-chan?"
"Nothing you need to worry about, Nanoka," he said, smiling at her. "It's just my job."
"Eh?" That got their father's attention. "You're having trouble at work? You're the best worker they have; how dare they not appreciate you enough?!"
Koshiro held up a hand to stop Zenzo before he could get too worked up. "Nothing like that. We have a new office opening in Sapporo, and I've been offered the position in charge. I'd get a large pay raise, but it's pretty far to move when I'm already making enough to survive here." It wasn't quite the truth; he'd requested the position and been given it, but he and Nanoka had decided that this section of the plan would work better if they let their father draw the connections himself instead of just telling him he'd gotten the job and having his first thought be that both of his children were abandoning him.
"Sapporo?" the father asked, then muttered to himself "Sapporo... Sapporo... Oh! This is perfect! Koshiro, you must take that job!"
Koshiro feigned confusion. "Eh? But it's so far from home, and I won't be able to come and visit often..."
"But listen! Your sister's somehow gotten the idea that she wants to go to Hokkaido University in the fall, which is in Sapporo." He grabbed his children's hands beaming at the two of them. "Koshiro, you can take this job and get a two-bedroom apartment there--I will pay half the rent myself if you need it--then, Nanoka, you can go to the school you wish to study at and I won't need to worry because your brother will be there to protect you!"
As he continued to ramble on about how it was like fate had arranged things so his children could be happy, Nanoka and Koshiro smiled at each other softly without his noticing. Stage two was a success.
Nanoka stepped off the train and looked over the crowd, immediately spotting Koshiro towering over the rest of the crowd. "O--" she began, than caught herself before more than the first sound of the word had left her mouth and instead called out "Koshiro-san!" as she dashed through the crowd and flung herself at him.
She heard a few disapproving murmurs in the crowd at the exuberant display of emotion, but she'd long since cast off caring what other people thought. The only thing that mattered was that Koshiro was kissing her, that his arms were wrapped tightly around her. "I missed you so much, Onii-chan," she whispered into his ear so none of the people around them could overhear her.
He squeezed her to him more tightly. "Next time we come up with a plan, we'll need to make 'not spending three months separated' a part of it."
She smiled softly and touched his cheek. "Once we pick where we want to disappear to from here, we'll never need to worry about that again," she said. It was the most wonderful thought in the world.
From the look on his face as he let her go and took her suitcase in one hand and one of her hands in the other, he seemed to think so too. "Come on, I'll show you our home."
They walked through the streets of Sapporo hand-in-hand, just like any other couple, Koshiro pointing out stores he thought she'd be interested in and places he was planning on taking her on dates. "For your birthday, we'll go there," he said, pointing at a restaurant that looked much fancier than any place she'd ever been. "I'll buy you any dress you want to wear, and afterwards we'll go out dancing, and... and I'll hire a carriage to take us on a ride." He leaned down to kiss her on top of her head. "Everything will be perfectly romantic, just like in a movie. Just like it couldn't be back home."
"Just make me a promise, Onii-chan," she whispered to him.
"What, Nanoka?"
She reached up to touch his stubbly cheek. "Don't shave, okay? Onii-chan isn't Onii-chan if he doesn't look like a bear."
"A bear," he repeated, sounding amused as he let go of her hand and slid his arm around her shoulder. "If that's what you want, Nanoka." Then he stopped in the street and looked down at her. "We're almost to the apartment, and there's something I should tell you before we get there."
"It's okay if it's not a very nice building, Koshiro-san," she said, changing the name she called him by now that there was enough space between them for other people to hear her.
"That's not it. Ah..." He looked away from her, his shoulders slumping. "I've told everyone I know, in the building and... everywhere I've gotten to know people, that my fiancee was coming to live with me." As Nanoka's eyes widened he fumbled through his pocket and pulled out a plain silver band, lifting her hand and sliding the ring onto her finger. "That's all right with you, isn't it?"
She smiled widely, though she needed to swallow hard around a lump in her throat before she could speak. "Koshiro-san, it isn't like this is the first time you've proposed. But didn't I tell you before that you're supposed to tell me when you've engaged yourself to me?"
"I'm telling you now, Nanoka," he said, brushing his thumb across the ring on her finger.
She couldn't stop beaming as she wrapped her arms tightly around him. "Of course I don't mind. Why would I mind anyone knowing I'm yours?" she asked.
Of course they couldn't go beyond being engaged as long as they were there, but maybe, someday, after they'd run so far that nobody who knew them could ever find them to some country far away, maybe then, she hoped, they could call each other wife and husband and nobody would ever even guess anything differently.
Maybe, someday, all of their plans would lead them to happily ever after.