One Man's Limits
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G184 - Dynasty Project G: A Very Special Story
Cast:
Cure Sunshine, Myoudouin Itsuki - age 19
Myoudouin Kazuki - Itsuki's husband - age 19
Myoudouin Gentarou - Itsuki's grandfather - age 75
December, 2014
"Please, permit me to marry your granddaughter!" That was the first thing Kazuki said, as he knelt so that his forehead touched the floorboards, when he met Gentarou for the first time.
Gentarou was on oxygen at that time too. He did not move or respond. Kazuki remained kneeling, in that painfully uncomfortable position. He had no way of knowing exactly how long. By reputation, the old man was strict and traditional. He had insisted that Kazuki was to enter alone to make his case.
Kazuki had intended to wait until the old man gave him permission to speak. That was the proper, cautious way to deal with a traditionalist. Even though the silence fell heavy on his back and made him feel as though he had already been judged before he had even entered the room, he told himself that he must endure.
Itsuki was worth this. She was worth anything.
However, Kazuki could not remain silent forever.
"Please," he said, without getting up. "I realize that I've only known met Itsuki recently. I know that I must seem hasty and impudent to ask your permission to marry her after only a few months. It may even seem that I proposed to her by accident and only committed to save face, and I do regret the timing. I would have liked to be more prepared, to have accomplishments and money to help win your approval. At the very least, I should have bought her a ring. Instead, I can only profess my feelings.
"I love her. I always imagined that I would achieve my goals first, that I would finish school and establish myself as a doctor before finding a woman to marry. But that was before I met Itsuki. My other goals have not changed, save that I cannot imaging pursuing them without her. I do not have it in myself to pursue that ambition while abstaining from my love for her. I knew this before I proposed to marry her. I knew it with every fiber of my being. I was already planning to propose to her before I did so, and only did so at that time and place I did because I could no longer keep it a secret in the heat of in the moment! For that alone, I ask your forgiveness and your permission!"
Gentarou remained silent for a while after that. Kazuki held his position as long as he could bear, but it became too much for him. What if the old man had fallen asleep? What if he had had a stroke? With that rationalization, he lifted his head and looked up.
Gentarou had not moved from his seat, but was awake and looking directly at Kazuki.
"Plans and passions are all well and good, but it is a rarity indeed for everything to proceed as planned. Absent my blessing, how would you proceed?"
"I would work hard to meet with your approval."
"Assume that is impossible, and that she will be disinherited unless you stop seeing her. What then?"
"That's-! I-" Kazuki falls silent for several moments, trembling as he contemplates such an ultimatum. "I would still marry her, if she would still marry me."
Gentarou closes his eyes and is silent for several moments, before responding: "I believe you both would. Fortunately, it need not come to that."
The old man rises and signals for Itsuki to be sent in. She enters the room dressed in formal clothing, then kneels next to Kazuki.
"It is important to recognize one's own limits," he says. "A relationship does not prosper by love alone. Among other things, it requires understanding, conviction, and effort. There will be times to come that will test the limits of your patience... but this is not one of those times."
He pauses, then withdraws a small box from inside his kimono. Inside are a pair of rings.
"My wife and I wore these rings for over fifty years. I will make them a gift to the two of you, so long as you wed before the year is out."
The winter cold does not penetrate inside the building. A black and white photo of Gentarou is on display above his cremated remains. In this somber atmosphere, Itsuki and Kakuki sit quietly, surrounded by family as the memorial service takes place.
She reaches out to her husband with her left hand, who silently takes her hand with his right. It is necessary for him to adjust his grip slightly, to avoid scratching his hand on her diamond ring, the same one that her grandmother used to wear.
Outside, it is the last day of the year.