Sho groaned. It had finally come, the day he had been increasingly dreading more and more each day. His wedding day was today. He had been woken up by his best man Kitijima at a time which seemed ridiculously early for the lethargic musician who regularly slept in till mid-afternoon.
And had been forced to partake in 'wedding photos', he could only cringe at the 2 hours the photographer took telling Sho to adorn a more joyful expression. How could he look happy when all he wanted was to crawl back into bed? He had spent the rest of the day trying his best to avoid meeting anyone from the wedding party especially Kyoko and Kanae, who seemed to be tearing down a war path in finding him.
He had been circling around the wedding grounds hiding behind trees, trying to remind himself why he so readily agreed to marry Kyoko in the first place. You see Sho had been happily living it up as a new entertainment idol all thoughts of his home forgotten, when he had received a call from his parents on the eve of his birthday.
"Sho, is that you?" His mother's voice whispered through the phone.
Sho looked down at the phone in confusion. He had thought that his parents had denounced him as their son, once he ran away. What could the old hag want? He thought worriedly.
"Yes, that's me. Listen if you think I'm coming back to Kyoto after you moan and complain, I'm not." Sho finished in a huff.
"Shut up. Now listen to what I have to say." His mother sharply retorted in a tone he had never heard before.
He gulped deeply like a child before a verbal beating, "Ok, what is it?" He waited for her to respond. She cleared her throat and started talking.
"Sho, you have to come back to Kyoto. And before you start with your stupid entertainment idol talk, listen carefully to the reason." She snarled down the phone, sensing his oncoming protests. "You see, both you and Kyoko are about to turn 18. And you must marry Kyoko before she turns 18. So come back." She finished abruptly.
"WHAT? That explains absolutely nothing? Why would I ever marry that boring girl? She's part of the reason I decided to leave Kyoto for good. Have you gone mad mother?" Sho's eyes bulged in shock as he started sputtering out excuse after excuse.
Sho's mother sighed, "Now really Sho that isn't the way to talk about your future wife is it? Kyoko's a sweet girl…stupid but sweet. Anyway, if you would shut up and let me finish then I could make you see that this marriage will be advantageous to all parties involved." Yumiko Fuwa snapped back.
Sho sensed his mother becoming more and more serious, "All right finish, but there's no way I will actually marry Kyoko you realise. She's totally not my type. My type is someone more…sexy."
"…Right. It doesn't matter Sho-chan, you will not be required to spend much time with Kyoko. All you need to do is marry her before she turns 18 and stay married till she's of age. You see dear Sho-Chan, Kyoko's mother Mogami Saena was not a very pleasant woman. She used to work as an escort of high profile CEO's when she was younger, and she had born Kyoko out of one of these very affairs. The CEO she had the affair with had a wife and so disowned both Kyoko and Saena when he found out about the pregnancy. But the man named Kiseki Yamazaki shortly after found out that his wife was infertile and divorced her. Meaning Kyoko was his only remaining blood relative, so he signed his will under Kyoko's name and gave her his entire fortune if he was ever to die. I think you can see where I'm going with this Sho."
Yumiko Fuwa drawled on, "Coincidentally not even 1 month after signing the will under Kyoko's name he met a rather untimely fate. Died when someone cut the breaks to his car. The poor bastard." Yumiko chuckled, fingering a piece of food stuck between her teeth.
"So, what? Even if I marry Kyoko the property will still be hers." Sho continued more and more confused. "I mean the will was signed under her name, not her husbands."
"Ah, Sho that is where you are wrong. You see when Mogami Saena found out about the will, she decided to use some contacts of hers from her old escorting days to change the will a little in return for us taking in little Kyoko." Yumiko grinned, a slightly mad expression flittering across her features.
"Ok. So what did she change the will to?" Sho asked uncertainly, not sure what his mother was trying to insinuate.
"Well…after discussing the terms and condition of Kyoko moving in with us. Saena changed the will so that instead of just Kyoko receiving the property, if she had married before the age of 18 her husband and his family would be able to take hold of the property rights of the Yamazaki Empire. In her stead. And if she had not married she would take hold of the entire Yamazaki Empire when she turned 19 years old." Yumiko voice reached a high shrill as if she was ecstatic.
"I don't understand… why would Kyoko even agree to being married before 18 if it meant her property rights were getting stolen?" Sho asked, completely confused.
"You silly, silly boy. You always were depressingly dim-witted. Kyoko obviously doesn't know. And why would we even tell her? The property is basically ours anyway; I mean we were forced to raise the brat since she was 6 years old. This is rightfully our reward." Yumiko enthused down the phone line.
"Right. Well mother nice talking with you, but in case you have forgotten I'm already rich. I'm a popular idol. I have plenty of money. Why would I marry Kyoko for some?" Sho retaliated, sick of his mother's selfish tricks.
"Oh my dear boy, I think you are underestimating the sheer amount of money the Yamazaki empire is worth. It is much more than what a mere entertainer can hope to earn in their entire lifetime."
"Yeah try me? How much is it worth? A million? Ten million? What a hundred million?" Sho rolled his eyes.
"No, far, far more. Her father Kiseki Yamazaki was the eight richest man in the entire world. And the richest man in Asia by far. The entire empire is worth roughly 33 billion dollars." His mother finished impressively.
Sho's heart lurched in his chest, wh-what? Bloody hell. 33 Billion dollars?" Sho couldn't help it, he was completely gobsmacked. The very thought of him possibly owning that much money made him feel slightly sick and mostly excited.
"Yes...33 Billion dollars. Now, do you see why it is so important for you to quickly return to Kyoto and marry Kyoko don't you?" His mother reverted back into her usual sweet but proper lady self.
"Wow. I don't know what to say. All that money? Ours?" Sho managed to gasp.
"Yes sweetie. And all you have to do is sign a marriage certificate and put up with Kyoko for 2 months." His mother cooed.
Even if Sho did not want to admit he could see the logic behind marrying Kyoko. There was no way he would ever be able to earn that much money even if he became the most popular entertainer in all of Japan. I mean it's not like he had to stay married to her. He could divorce her in 2 months and still be 33 billion dollars richer. "Alright, I agree. I'll marry her." Sho conceded, ignoring the slight tinges of guilt he felt for the oblivious Kyoko.
"Fantastic. Your father has sent you a plane ticket, I have the ring prepared and all you have to do is come to Kyoto and propose." Yumiko Fuwa smiled, her plan was coming together well.
"Wait up, how do you even know Kyoko will agree to marry me? I mean I know she used to be obsessed with me, but I haven't seen her for 4 years." Sho tried a last attempt at appeasing his roaring conscious.
"Don't worry about that Sho…Kyoko has been…waiting for you this entire time." Yumiko smirked. She had no doubt that Kyoko would easily fall for the proposal as she had pinned Sho as her personal prince charming for many years.
"Ok, I'm on my way." Sho said as he hung up the phone, "This better work." He huffed.
Sho broke out of his reverie about the past when he heard a noise come from the front of his tent.
"Sho-Chan? Are you there?" A high pitched voice travelled through the tent as the tent flaps lifted and revealed none other than Mimori Nanokura…
