Three days before the big departure date Kotoko squared her shoulders outside her father's restaurant before pushing the door open.

"Sorry, but we're clos—Oh, it's you, Little Miss!" Odawara grinned at her. "Long time no see!"

"I'm glad to see you're in good health, Odawara-san," she said, bowing. "Are my father and his idiot apprentice in the back? I need to have a few words with them."

He cackled at the description. "It looks like Boss's nickname for him has rubbed off. Hey, Boss! Kinnosuke! You've got company!" He gestured with his towel to a table. "Have a seat there. I'll bring a drink to keep your throat moist while you're yelling at them."

"I didn't say I was going to yell," Kotoko argued.

"Little Miss," he grinned at her, "whenever a woman says she wants to have a 'few words' with a man, raised voices are going to happen."

"Kotoko!" Kinnosuke's excited cry was immediately subdued when Mr. Aihara placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Daughter," he nodded at her. "To what do we owe this honor? Shouldn't you be in class? Or packing?"

"Classes are over for the day, and I can pack in five minutes. Would you two please sit down?"

With a worried glance at each other, the two men seated themselves across from her. "What's up, Kotoko?" her father asked. "Is it Iri-chan? He hasn't had a relapse?!"

"No, no!" She waved her hands in denial.

Kinnosuke half stood. "Then have you finally come to your senses and decided to leave That Bastard Irie?" Mr. Aihara tugged him back to the bench.

Kotoko stared at him. "Satomi was right. You can hear the capital letters."

"Wh-what?" Kinnosuke and Mr. Aihara looked from her to each other in confusion.

"At any rate," Kotoko set herself back on task, "I have come to lay down some orders."

"Now, you listen here, young lady," her father began to bluster. "This is my restaurant and although you are my beloved daughter, I am the only one who gives the orders around here. Besides, if you took over, we'd be driven into bankruptcy in three months!"

"Not to mention all the people you'd put in the hospital with your cooking!" Kinnosuke added.

Odawara rolled his eyes as he set down Kotoko's drink while her father chided Kinnosuke for the comment. "That's my daughter you're speaking of! I can say that, but you can't!"

Kotoko took a sip of water (so Odawara was right about the yelling, she thought) then banged her hand on the table. "Gentlemen!" When they faced her again, she added, "If you would let me continue. Otosan, I know that you have adjusted recipes for your and Otosan-Irie's health. But I also know there are many foods on the menu here that you cannot change."

"Right," her father nodded.

"Some of them are Otosan-Irie's favorites. In a few days he will be back at work for just a few hours each day. With all that free time, I have a feeling that he might drop by here for awhile before going home. He has been getting antsy already from Okaasan's undivided attention."

"Well," Mr. Aihara grinned, hand rubbing the back of his neck, "the Missus does seem to go overboard. I'm surprised she hasn't ordered herself a nurse's costume for when she takes care of him."

Kotoko snorted. "Don't give her any ideas!" She sobered quickly. "If, no when, he shows up, make sure that you only give him food made by the 'healthy recipes'. We don't want him back in the hospital."

"But he looks so well," her father argued. "He does three kilometers on the treadmill every day, and I haven't seen him this skinny since junior high!"

Kinnosuke's eyes widened. "Mr. Irie, skinny? I'd like to see that!"

"He's not skinny," Kotoko began to explain, "but he doesn't need to stray off the path he's on. I know your friendship goes back decades, Otosan, but you must be firm!" She pounded the table with her fist once more. "Do not allow him to talk you into cooking something that could harm him."

"Even just one dish?" her father wheedled.

"No!" Kotoko was adamant. She turned to Kinnosuke. "I'm depending on you to keep Otosan to his word. And Kin-chan, make sure that Otosan doesn't sneak any sake at the restaurant. Tie him to a chair if you must. Naoki said that he has to be careful or he'll have a serious liver."

Her father scratched his head. "I don't think that's the word…"

"Kin-chan!"

"Yes, ma'am!" The young man leaped to his feet and saluted her as if greeting a general. "I'll do it!"


"Traitor!" Mr. Aihara accused after his daughter left the restaurant.

"But Boss, when she looks at me like that, I just can't tell her 'No'!" Kinnosuke appeared as if he had been nipping the sake himself, so drunk was he on being the center of Kotoko's attention for several minutes.

Her father shook his head. "Then thank goodness it's Naoki she married. That boy can keep her out of trouble!"

Odawara snickered as he wiped the table. "Someone sure needs to!"

Kinnosuke sighed. "I still wish she'd chosen me. You don't think…?"

"No, son," Mr. Aihara rubbed his hand over the young man's close-fitting chef's hat. "When are you going to accept that?"

"I thought I had given up after I woke up in the hospital. I really did! Then when my memories came back, I was so angry at what he'd done with her…"

"No need for details," Mr. Aihara assured him quickly.

Kinnosuke stood up with determination. "This time I'll do it! I'm giving up on Kotoko!"

"It woulda make more sense to have done that when she first got married," Odawara muttered to Mr. Aihara.


"Take that! And that!" Yuuki muttered, eyes on his handheld game and fingers flying.

"Do you plan to play that all during the trip?" Kotoko inquired. "I know I'm not as smart as you, but at least I know that there's a big time difference between California and Japan."

"Considering that Mom woke me up every time she called you on your honeymoon, I'm definitely aware of that!" Yuuki scoffed.

"Oh! Sorry about that!" Kotoko apologized with a grimace.

"It wasn't your fault—this time! What do you mean, hitting me from behind? Damn it, Kotoko, you distracted—Way to go with protecting me, Non-chan! Nice shot!"

"Non-chan? You're playing with Nobuhiro-kun?!" At Yuuki's nod, she pounded a fist into his upper arm. "And who said friendships couldn't be forced—uh, gently encouraged?"

"Gentle?!" he snorted. "Well...no need to rub it in, Baka! He's an okay guy, despite his unhealthy obsession with you!"

"It's not really me," she argued, "it's more Kotorin he's in love with."

"I think he's a little confused between the two of you—Charizard! Fire Blitz!"

Kotoko turned to Dylan. "See what it's been like the past few weeks? We can't get a decent conversation from him."

"Come on!" Yuuki disagreed, continuing his previous thought. "The lovesick fool let you give him a complete mani-pedi while we were studying!"

"Don't forget the facial," Kotoko reminded him.

"Aargh! Do you know what I had to give him as a going-home present?" he asked. "Fingernail polish remover! How is that any sort of a gift for a man?"

On the other side of Kotoko, Dylan failed to stifle a laugh.

"But look at it this way," Kotoko pointed out. "Now that you've been visiting Nobuhiro-kun and playing online games with him, he has a larger circle of friends."

"That's right," he answered, slightly subdued as his eyes returned to his screen. "Well, this is our last game for a few days, but he can play with the group while I'm gone, so he won't be bored. Besides," he smirked, "I got him started on Fire Emblem: Awakening. That ought to keep him busy!"

"At least until the next edition of my game comes out," Kotoko responded absently as she searched in her large carry-on purse.

"Oh, get over yourself. It's not as if you have anything to do with the game quality. C'mon, c'mon, keep it up—Wombo Combo! And that's all she wrote!" He removed the single earbud and turned to his seatmate. "Non-chan has it so bad that even after I told him all the dumb stunts you've pulled, nothing changed."

Dylan yawned. "Maybe he's more mature than you then, Yuuki-kun. Appreciating Kotoko-chan's less obvious qualities."

"Hah! What would those be?"

"I'm interested to know what you think those are too," Kotoko commented, pausing mid-hunt with her arm elbow-deep in her bag.

He straightened. "Kind. Cheerful. Optimistic. Happy. Hopeful. Hard worker. Loving. Caring". He tweaked her nose. "Imaginative."

"Imagination is a quality?" Yuuki sounded skeptical.

"Yep. From what I've been told, she 'imagined' that your brother loved her until he finally did."

"'Deluded herself' is more like it," Yuuki muttered, but Dylan took no heed.

"I just wish that I had that strong of imagination," he sighed.

"Now, Dylan!" Kotoko began patting his hand. "There's someone out there for you. You just haven't met him yet!"

"Thanks, darling." He smiled at her then looked at her other hand. "Did you finally find what you were looking for?"

"What are you doing with Onii-chan's tablet?" Yuuki demanded.

"It's mine!" She rounded on him. "Seriously, Yuuki, and you think you're so smart! Can you see Naoki covering his with a turquoise case?"

"You've got me there." Yuuki glanced at it. "So, are you planning to play games too?"

"No," she said, "I'm going to check my latest financial report from Tana-chan."

"Tana-chan? Is that another one of your anime nerds?"

"Oi!" Kotoko Gibbs-smacked the boy. "Stop dissing my nerds! It's thanks to them that you'll have a company to run when you grow up!"

"Pretty full of yourself, aren't you?" he responded, rubbing the back of his head, then leaned over the armrest. "Hey, Baka, I think there are a few extra zeros on those numbers. You probably need to find another financial planner."

"No, Tana-chan's doing just fine," Kotoko answered absently. "And the numbers look right to me."

"Wait!" He straightened up, abandoning his game console as he snatched the tablet from her. "Where did you get this kind of money?!"

"From investments!" Kotoko grabbed the tablet back only to have Dylan take it from her.

"Pretty nice," he commented as he scrolled through.

"Dylan-san!" Yuuki roared as loudly as he dared in the airplane. "How much are we paying Kotoko?!"

"Well," he handed the tablet to a fuming Kotoko, "her 'anime nerds', as you referred to them, encouraged her to ask for a percentage of the profits and licensing fees. Unfortunately for Pandai, the company made two errors."

"What were they?" asked Yuuki.

"They didn't want to refuse the future wife of Pandai's successor—as they believed at that time—plus they failed to predict the enormous popularity of the character and her products." He shrugged. "That took most of the company by surprise."

"How much percentage did they give her?" Yuuki demanded. "Did you look at those figures?"

Dylan raised his eyebrows. "It appears that she has a more than competent financial planner. Remember, Racquet Warrior has been out for a year and a half and Kotoko doesn't have many living expenses. She could have easily given most of her income to be invested. Even so, that's a great rate of return. What firm are you using, darling?"

"Oh, it's Tanaka-kun's sister. She's not with any firm."

"An independent consultant, eh?"

"Yes, she's pretty independent for someone in middle school."

"Huh?"

"What?"

Kotoko looked back and forth between them. "The family likes to play with money. It was Tanaka-kun who acted as my agent with Pandai when the game was first put out."

"Damn! Now I'm definitely going to steal him from R&D," muttered Dylan.

"Middle school," Yuuki muttered. "Middle school?!"

"That's right." Kotoko elbowed him. "You want me to hook you up with her?"

"What are you saying, Baka?!" he howled.

"So she can invest your allowance," Kotoko answered blankly. "What did you think I meant?"


A/N: Thanks to Darian (AKA "Sequel") for the videogame terminology.