A sudden tropical storm had dropped almost two decimeters of rain on the coastal town where Kinnosuke had been sent. The organizer of the festival had apologized to the vendors when he announced the cancellation. "This is the first time it has happened in nineteen years."

The precipitation did not travel far inland, so Kinnosuke soon had to pull out the sunshades. Say, he had a sudden thought. I'll be getting back early this evening. Instead of reporting in to Boss, I'll drop by their apartment and see if I can catch Kotoko at home. The brief phone conversations they had shared over the past few months had been unsatisfactory to the lovelorn young man. I'm sure that she'll be as glad to see me as I will be to see her!

"You know, Yuuki," Kotoko turned from the front seat to address him, "the business world has the most interesting vocabulary."

"Really?" he asked, preparing himself to be entertained.

"Yes. Naoki-san said he was head-hunting, and I imagined blood and guts and heads on a stake."

While the boy fell over sideways laughing, she continued, "Imagine my disappointment when it was just hiring new people."

"I don't know," he said between gasping breaths, "I think Onii-chan would look stunning in an African headdress."

"Africa?" Kotoko questioned. "I thought it was Australia."

Naoki shook his head as he turned the wheel. "It looks like we're going to have to review History and Geography again."

Over Kotoko's loud protests, Yuuki asked, "So, who's leaving?"

"Some of the department heads from Dad's generation are getting close to retirement age. I thought to bring in fresh blood early so they can get acclimated."

"See, Yuuki!" Kotoko cried. "Blood!"

While the two fell into another set of giggles, Naoki tried to explain the terminology. "New ideas, you two!"

"And ideas come from the brain, which is located in the head!" pointed out his brother.

He rolled his eyes and checked the traffic to pull over for Kotoko's residence. The other two in the car were thrown off balance when he suddenly turned the vehicle sharply into a side street.

"What—?" was all Kotoko managed to say before he shoved her head as far into her lap as the shoulder restraint would allow.

"Stay down!" he hissed.

The interior mood of the car was immediately sober, and they continued in silence as he maneuvered them to an observation point and dimmed the headlights. "Yuuki," he called softly to the back seat, "is that blanket still there?"

"Sure." He handed it over with no question and watched his brother cover Kotoko with it.

"Raise your head slowly," he ordered. "Isn't that your stalker in front of your place?"

Feeling like an undercover spy (literally, she thought!), Kotoko nodded her head. "What's he doing here?"

"Back to his old tricks, I suspect," was the terse response.

Kotoko's eyes were barely above the level of the dashboard. "I wonder who he's calling," she said as his face was temporarily lit by the light of the cell phone screen.

"Did you happen to turn your ringer off before the session tonight?" he asked grimly.

"Oops!" She pulled her phone out of her purse. "Thirteen calls," she informed him.

"Has he done this before?"

"Called? Yes. Waited outside my home? Not that I'm aware of."

"Well, let's let the police take care of it." Naoki reached for his pocket and was stopped by Kotoko's hand on his.

"It wouldn't do any good," she said. "All he'd have to say is that he works for Dad and that he was trying to get in touch with him."

"Kotoko, the restaurant is still open," Yuuki pointed out.

"Then he'd say there was some misunderstanding. Just like when all of my friends bailed on that group date years ago."

"I'll face him myself," he gritted out, reaching for the door handle. This time it was his brother who stopped him, both hands grasping his shoulders from behind.

"No, Onii-chan," he urged. "You're the one who's supposed to be cool and collected. This won't solve the situation for good."

"Situation?" Kotoko suddenly felt left out of the conversation.

"Okay, we'll do it your way," Naoki agreed, after a quick glance at her confused expression. "But we're having a brainstorming session tomorrow with the parental units. For tonight, both of you are coming back home and staying with me."

"Yay, sleepover!" Yuuki crowed.

"But all I have to wear is what I have on," Kotoko protested.

He did not even bother to give her a quick look-over before checking behind to back up. "Yuuki left some clothes behind from earlier stays. You should be able to fit in them."

Both of them gave him and each other looks of outrage at the thought of being able to swap out clothes.

The next morning it was an expression of disgust that Kotoko displayed when Yuuki's jeans proved to fit her perfectly. She had refused the anime-patterned tee-shirt that was offered ("Not if I'm going to be seen by Irie-sama!") and instead looked quite chic in one of Naoki's dress shirts, falling almost to her knees and belted with a colorful tie, as she and the younger Irie waited for Naoki to escort the two fathers to the apartment. He and Kotoko had called Pandai to say they would be absent that day, and Yuuki refused to be left out of the conference.

Mr. Aihara made a beeline for Kotoko and embraced her. "Baby! Are you all right?!"

"Of course I am, Otosan," she said, patting his back as if he were the child. "Irie-san and Yuuki-kun were here to protect me, after all."

"That Kinnosuke—!" he bit out. "Lying in wait for you. Wait, you boys were with her—all night?"

"Sir," Naoki gestured to the other door, "she stayed in the separate apartment. It is as secure as this one," he assured him.

"Oh, uh, sorry." Mr. Aihara rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm so upset that I don't know what I'm saying. I should've known that you wouldn't take advantage of my little girl."

He nodded his acknowledgment. "However, we need to discuss what we're going to do about the one who is most likely to. First of all, why was he there last night? He had the travel truck parked at the curb."

"Yes," Mr. Irie answered, "Ai-chan told me that he showed up at the restaurant a little later and informed him that the festival was rained out."

"Naturally," her father added bitterly, "he said nothing about stopping by my place earlier. I wish I could put a homing beacon on the bastard."

Yuuki raised a hand. "That's doable," he said but was ignored.

"Say, guys?" Kotoko spoke up. "Why is Irie-sama involved with this? And what's that about a travel truck? I know Kin-chan rambled on about going to festivals and stuff like that, and I was wondering how he got all that time off."

All of the men stared at her. Naoki spoke slowly and clearly, "Do I understand that not only has he been calling you, but that you have answered the phone?"

"Uh," Kotoko looked at their censuring faces, "sometimes?" Her voice rose on the last word, then she began speaking rapidly, trying to explain herself. "I mean, I've known him for so long, and we've been good friends, so I thought it was a little cruel to cut him off totally—"

While the three oldest males began telling her in no uncertain terms why that had been a bad idea, talking over each other, Yuuki sighed and grabbed her purse hanging from the back of her chair. By the time the scolding session wound down, he had completed his task and handed it to Kotoko. She stared from it to him, uncomprehending.

"What did you do, Yuuki?" Naoki asked.

"Any time the bastard tries to get hold of her, his call will get routed to several different numbers. He won't know what's going on."

Mr. Irie cleared his throat. "I should probably chide you for the language, but—good work, Son!"

"So you've got Kin-chan running all over Japan so he'll be too busy to pester me?" Kotoko tried to condense the explanation of the three men; actually, four, since Yuuki kept putting his two yen in.

"Yes, although it goes against the grain for me to reward the idiot for what he's done and tried to do to you," her father griped, "Iri-chan said that if he leaves of his own accord and in a better position than when he started, he will cease to be a problem for us."

"Yes," the other man continued, "he will have no legal recourse and any attempts to argue for more will be looked down upon by the legal profession and by Japanese society."

"Hiring the yakuza would probably have been quicker and cheaper," Yuuki pointed out.

"But we have no guarantee that he's not related to them," his brother quipped.

"Yuuki-kun!" Kotoko scolded. "That's no way to talk about a human being."

"Hey! Onii-chan sort of agreed!" he protested. "Why're you only picking on me?"

"Well, Irie-san is mature enough not to act on the suggestion," she informed him before settling a glare on the older trio. "So, you guys thought the little woman should be left out of your big rescue plan, huh?"

Naoki held up his hands. "Although I suggested that Dad help your father, they are the ones who plotted it all out."

"Kotoko-chan," Mr. Irie reached out and clasped one of her hands, "your father and I have seen more of the world and had a pretty good idea where that situation was heading. While you may have fond memories of the lad, you need to set them aside."

"And no more talking to him," her father chided as he took her other hand.

"We didn't keep you in the dark because we thought you weren't capable of understanding or helping," Naoki said soothingly, "but because you had an important goal you were heading for. We didn't want you to get distracted from that by worrying about how things were going on the other front."

"Nice flavor of bullshit, Onii-chan," Yuuki commented in a loud whisper.

"I agree," Kotoko stated firmly while Naoki rubbed Yuuki's face into the table. "However, I know of it now. And while I do not agree with your prior secrecy, I am glad that you came up with a plan that did not involve hurting Kin-chan. That is, any more hurt than he will be when he finally realizes that I'm not a part of his future."

"Well, according to you, he's been told that enough times that it should've sunk in by now."

"Yes, well, that's behind us. So," she leaned forward, eyes sparkling, "I want all the deets!"

"Daughter," Mr. Aihara's voice was hesitant as he watched Kotoko place folded clothes into a large suitcase, "couldn't you stay with someone else? Like your girlfriends from high school, maybe?"

"That's not really an option." She explained, "Satomi moved in with a guy she met at the office, and Jinko finally got into that technical school. It's hard enough to study in that house full of kids, let alone adding me."

"Still, although I appreciate Irie's offer, I just don't think it's a good idea to move in with him!"

"Otosan," Kotoko said with exaggerated patience, "I'm not really moving in with him; I'm staying in an apartment he owns."

"Right next to each other, though! And with an adjoining door!"

"Look, even if I don't think that Kin-chan would seriously harm me, it would be a good idea to be out of his reach for your super-secret plan to play out." She glared at him, still a little aggravated that the men didn't trust her earlier with what was going on in the background. "You know that Satomi and Jinko will be the first ones he'll contact when I 'disappear'. And you don't have to worry about Irie-san acting inappropriately with me. We have a business relationship."

"Even with all that extra time you spend with him?"

"So?" She clicked the suitcase closed. "It's a friendly business relationship."

Her father placed both hands on her shoulders. "It's not his feelings I'm concerned about; it's yours. You already told me that you had a crush on him."

"Yeah, Dad, I did." She gave him a sad grin. "And now it's gotten worse." When he groaned, she added, "But I'm still realistic. I'm not the type of woman that a rich executive needs. This is just something I'm going to have to live with and get through." She removed his hands and patted one cheek. "Don't worry so much."

"I'll always worry about you, Baby."

"I know, Otosan. And I'll always worry about you too."

"Nao?" Mr. Irie had lingered after the Aiharas left with Yuuki, planning to drop him off at school for club activities, over his vociferous protests. ('No way is stupid tennis as much fun as this!')

"Yes, Dad?" He looked up from drying his hands after washing all the coffee mugs.

"I know that Ai-chan didn't feel comfortable saying it in front of me, but will you promise to act honorably with Kotoko-chan?"

Naoki stared at his father. "What?"

"I mean, she will be staying close by, with just a door between the two of you…"

"Father, I can't believe you would ask that of me. Besides," he turned his gaze away, "she doesn't feel that way about me."

"Are you sure, Son?"

"Well, she told me to consider another woman, so what else should I conclude?"

Mr. Irie shook his head. "There's something you should know. Women are seldom straightforward; your mother being a glaring exception, of course."

Naoki paused to consider. "I'll keep that in mind."