Chapter 12

The Dean completely missed the discussion between his wife and daughter. He was currently sitting in his office, straightening out a few papers and gathering together a small number of plain, thin, beige folders.

Leaving his office, he made his way up the stairs and along the corridor to his son's bedroom. He rapped lightly on the door and twisted the knob, pushing the door open gently. Sticking his head around the door, he caught sight of Shinobu: he was sitting by the window, slouching against the wall, staring into the dark, empty night.

The Dean sighed softly. Moving quietly further into the room, he perched on the edge of the bed and studied his son.

Shinobu's expression was blank. He simply stared unmoving into the blackness, just waiting for the minutes and hours to slowly pass.

The Dean broke the silence.

"I've brought something I'd like you to take a look at, please, Shinobu."

"What is it?" Shinobu asked monotonously without looking round.

"Some folders – profiles, actually, of a few girls your own age. I understand that you've been lonely, but, son, there's no need to run off with another man to try to feel better. Now, these girls are smart and talented; they're certainly very pretty, if you ask me. All I'm asking is that you take a look and see if any of them appeals to you at all. You don't have to commit to anything – but the potential is there if it's what you want."

"It's not what I want."

"You've not even looked at them yet," the Dean replied, exasperated.

"I know there's no point. I'm not interested in them. Can't you just go away and leave me alone?"

The Dean sighed. This messy business had dragged on for weeks; he was exhausted because of it all. He had lost all of his energy raging at his son and Miyagi at the start, and now he just felt drained. Most of all, he felt sad; he didn't like to see Shinobu upset and wasn't used to being the recipient of so much anger and resentment from one of his children.

"I know you're hurt, Shinobu; I know you're probably really angry with your mother and me right now. But please know we're doing this for your own good. We love you, we don't want to see you hurt or upset. But in the long run, this will hurt you less than if you go on consorting with that man and end up wasting your life away," he said quietly.

Shinobu said nothing for several moments. Then, without turning away from the window, he replied,

"I don't really understand – do you not like the fact that I'm gay, or that I'm with Miyagi?"

His father flinched when Shinobu declared so boldly that he was gay. A look of discomfort came over his face and he frowned, saying,

"Being gay isn't a joke, Shinobu. I really believe you ought to think a bit harder before making that decision; you've hardly experienced life yet, you should at least go out with a few girls – you may feel differently then."

Shinobu did turn to look at him then.

"It's not a decision anyone can make, you know! And please stop treating me like a child! I've grown up, and I know what I am – and I know who I want to be with. I'm not interested in girls, I never have been. I love Miyagi, he's the one I want. And no matter what, even if you manage to keep us apart with blackmail, you won't be able to change how I feel. Even if, with enough time, my feelings for Miyagi were to fade, I would still always be gay. Your son is gay – deal with it! Because, if you can't, there's nothing I can do to change who I am!"

The Dean sat in shock at this sudden outburst. Recovering himself, he stood up and dropped the folders onto Shinobu's bed.

"Well. Even if you are –" he took a deep breath. "Gay – you're still better off with someone your own age. Think about what this is doing to your sister too! The poor girl, watching her brother run off with her husband."

"Ex-husband," Shinobu muttered under his breath.

"In any case, all I'm asking you to do is to just look at the files – just look at them, on the off chance that you might surprise yourself. For your mother and sister at least. They love you, Shinobu – as do I."

When he had finished, the Dean clapped his son on the shoulder and left the room.


His mouth felt a little dry and he decided a cup of green tea would help to calm him down a bit. Heading over to the kitchen, he heard voices from inside.

"Having a ladies' meeting, eh?" he asked as he entered. He picked up the kettle and went to the sink to fill it with water.

"Dear, Risako and I have been having an important discussion about Shinobu." Noriko said.

The Dean looked round, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh yes?" he said a little apprehensively.

"Why don't you sit down with us and talk for a minute?"

The Dean poured his tea and sat down at the table opposite his daughter. He looked between the two, suddenly feeling slightly anxious. Both women were looking a little nervous. They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Well, this is an interesting discussion!" he finally said, giving an ironic laugh.

Risako took a deep breath.

"Dad, mum and I have been talking a lot about Shinobu and You and the events of the last few weeks. We've weighed up a lot of things… And we've come to the conclusion that it's best to let them be together."

"What?"

The Dean's mouth dropped open in shock and his eyes grew wide and fierce.

"What is this nonsense? How can you even think that's a good idea?" He turned to his wife. "You saw the tape – do you really want to let that man continue to have his way with our son? He was barbaric! I cannot understand how Shinobu could have endured it."

Risako cringed at the image her father was painting of her brother with her ex-husband – was Miyagi really that rough?

Noriko placed her hand over her husband's to try and calm him. In a quiet, reassuring voice, she replied,

"I saw the tape, yes. But, dear, I don't think you saw very much of it – if you saw what I did, you would have seen how loving they were to each other. I've not seen either of them so happy before."

The Dean was flabbergasted.

"I can't believe what I'm hearing. Where's this suddenly come from? Until now you've always agreed that they should stop seeing each other."

"Yes, I know – but that was just going on my initial reaction, which was affected by the shock of discovering the truth. We've not actually given either of them a chance to explain or defend themselves. Risako has though – she's spoken to both of them and she's convinced that they should be given a chance. And, love, don't you think she's the one most qualified to offer that chance? After all, this affects her more than it does you and me, Miyagi-kun was her husband."

"And Shinobu's our son," the Dean countered.

"Yes – and as his mother, I want what's best for him and I want him to be happy."

"And you think that I don't want Shinobu to be happy?! Of course I do! And I will do all in my power to give him every chance of happiness. But I swear, he will never have it with that vile man! It's sick and wrong – it's illegal, for goodness' sake!"

The Dean's voice grew increasingly loud, and he found himself swelling in anger as he stared defiantly at his fickle wife and daughter. How could they change their minds so suddenly and so drastically?

"All he needs is to meet a few nice girls, get to know them – he's never had many female friends, but I'm sure that when he's more used to them, he'll start to realise he can have those kinds of feelings for girls too. In fact, a number of excellent families have approached me in the past about the possibility of a match between Shinobu and one of their daughters."

"What?! You're going to give him an arranged marriage? That's a ridiculous idea!" Risako cried. "Shinobu's only a kid! You can't marry him off just like that, he's not even finished university yet! Let him have some kind of a life, for god's sake!"

"Really, how could you even contemplate such a ridiculous notion? I hardly think setting up Shinobu with some random girl is going to help this situation at all. He's already in love, he's not going to forget about Miyagi-kun just like that!" Noriko argued, frowning at her stubborn husband.

The Dean felt thoroughly under attack from all sides and only grew more riled.

"Shinobu WILL NOT go back to that man! I will not allow it! I cannot understand how you can possibly think that that is in any way an acceptable solution to this nightmare! What is wrong with me trying to give him a chance for a normal life, hmm?"

He didn't wait for an answer. Pushing his chair back, the feet screeching against the kitchen floor, the Dean jumped up and stormed angrily out of the room.

Slamming the door to his home office behind him, he scrambled around in the top drawer of his desk for a moment before pulling out a slim, black address book. Flicking through it, he hummed with satisfaction when he located the name he had been looking for.

Grabbing the cordless phone from its charger, he tapped in the number written in the book and held the phone against his ear.

"Ah, Sato-san, this is Takatsuki. How are you?" he boomed into the receiver. "Oh, good, that's excellent news. Anyway, the reason I'm calling was just to ask if you and your family are free for dinner this Saturday… You are? Excellent. And tell me, are you still on the lookout for a suitable partner for Keiko?..."


"Right, so you'll have that research paper ready for me to read by Friday next week then. Excellent. Well, gentlemen, I think that's all for now."

The Dean rose from his leather chair and stepped around his desk to guide Hiroki and Miyagi out of his office.

Since he had found out about Miyagi's sordid relationship with his son, he had done his utmost to stay away from the man as much as possible. However, he still had to perform his duties as Dean of Literature, and after putting off a meeting with his employee for as long as he could, finally he had to face him.

At least Hiroki was there so it wasn't just him and Miyagi. He had found himself looking at and talking to Hiroki for the most part of the meeting; his eyes simply hadn't wanted to see Miyagi. They had talked exclusively about literature, the students and the professors' progress in their research, which had at least made the meeting a little easier.

Now as they stood to make their way out of the room, Hiroki jumped as his phone beeped in his pocket. Frowning, he glanced at the screen, his eyes widening when he saw the message.

"Ah, I'm sorry but I have to dash – I forgot I had an important lunch meeting to get to."

Miyagi's lips twitched into the hint of a smile, recognising the faint blush on his subordinate's cheeks that he always got when he received a message from his boyfriend.

The Dean chuckled.

"No problem, Kamijou-san, you go on now. Young men always have busy social lives, eh?" Then, seeing an opportunity to aim a vicious blow at Miyagi, he added, "Saying that, older men can too! I'm going to have quite a busy evening this Saturday – I'll be meeting my son's future wife and in-laws!"

Miyagi's head shot up at this and his face drained of colour. He stared at his boss.

"What?! What did you say?" he demanded, forgetting for a moment where he was and to whom he was talking.

The Dean looked at him with narrow eyes, a thin, victorious smile creeping onto his face.

"I said I'll be meeting my son's new family on Saturday. Now, if you don't mind, gentlemen, I know Kamijou-san has an appointment to get to and I'm sure you have plenty of work to get on with, Kyouju…"

Miyagi didn't move, just continued to stare in horror at the Dean. Hiroki anxiously tugged him by the arm and pulled him out of the room, leading him back to their office as Miyagi seemed too dazed to get himself back alone.

The Dean walked back to his desk and rooted around until he found some documents needing a signature from the Bursar. Sliding them into a slim plastic folder, he tucked them under his arm and stepped out of his office, locking his door behind him.

As he walked down the corridor in the wake of the Literature professors, he passed Hirano-san, a lecturer from the History department. The grey-haired, plump woman paused when she saw him and stopped him with a light hand on his arm.

"Oh, Takatsuki-san, I wanted to ask you – is Miyagi-san alright? I've been a little concerned, he's looked rather out of sorts lately, not at all his usual cheery self. I've heard some of the other staff comment on it as well. I was worried he was ill. I've just passed him with Kamijou-san, he looked as white as a sheet. Do you think he should be working?!"

The Dean looked in surprise at Hirano-san. Had Miyagi really been so affected? He knew the man had been somewhat upset by all the events, but he had been trying deliberately to ignore him, to forget about him even, as much as he could. Even when they were in the same room, he could hardly bring himself to look at the man. But the staff were all talking about him anxiously, thinking he was ill?

For a moment, the Dean felt a twinge of concern, mixed with guilt, for the man he had once considered not simply an employee, but also a friend.

The image of his innocent, young son rose unbidden to his mind, and instantly any sympathy he felt for Miyagi evaporated.

"Please don't worry, Hirano-san. I can assure you that Miyagi-san is perfectly well," he said coldly, before walking off, leaving Hirano-san staring after him in surprise.