A/N- I took a bit too long with this one. I wasn't able to come up with many things so I really hope its good enough for everyone. Thanks to everyone who read this story, especially to the people who followed and favourited it. It makes me really happy to see that my stories are good enough for people to like.
Yuriko's funeral was attended by Hoshi and Hoshi alone. Not because people didn't want to attend, no. The wake*, the day before, was attended by several hundred people, most of them were there to mourn. There were also many who were there to maintain face in front of the media, for which many journalists had attended. The only one to not attend the wake, was Hoshi.
Hoshi had been to the funeral house alone because he didn't want to be with anyone at that time. After the cremation and the burial, which was at the Tanabe Family burial site, besides her parents' graves, Hoshi stayed, sitting near the grave for a long time. Hoshi was devastated. It had been just three days ago that Hoshi was planning on a new product along with Yuriko, laughing and making jokes with that.
He didn't know that it had been six hours since he was sitting there. He was thinking the same thing he had been since he sat, while teardrops flowed down his cheeks little by little. 'I don't think I can take never meeting you again; talking with you, playing with you and having fun with you.'
Hoshi still had red marks all over his face but they were fading slowly, except for the particularly nasty one on his right cheek. His cheek was still covered in bandages as that had still not healed, even with the amazing medicine and healing quirks, and even if it did it was going to leave a scar.
He thought, 'I always wondered why people would believe in an afterlife. Why couldn't people just accept that people die, never to 'be' again? But now, I guess I understand it. They want to meet their loved ones. I want to meet you again. I can't take being without you, onee-san.'
That was when someone tapped on his shoulders. Hoshi, who was traumatised by what had happened, jerked forward as fast as he could and started crawling away at his best speed when a voice sounding like a little girl called out, "I-am-sorry-for-scaring-you", she(?) said without stopping in between.
So Hoshi stopped and looked behind, still a bit scared. He saw just as he had expected a girl, probably his age. She was wearing traditional black kimono one would wear at a funeral. Her raven-black hair was done in a ponytail with a loose band framing her right side. Her hands were clamped around her chest, as someone would when they were afraid that they had messed up. She opened her eyes slightly to look at him before completely opening them, Her eyes were, like her hair, black in colour, thin and sharp. She started jogging towards him and then help out her hand.
"I am so sorry for scaring you like that. I should have called you out before doing that." She said as Hoshi took her hand and got up from the ground.
"Its…. fine. May I ask who you are?" Hoshi said coldly, as he wasn't in the mood for talking with anyone.
The girl looked at him with concern before asking, "Were you crying? I am sorry but my parents didn't tell me everything about why we are here" She said with childish innocence.
Hoshi, who had quickly started wiping his tears, replied with more venom in his words than anyone his age should put, "I may have. Now can you please tell me who are you and what are you doing here? As far as I can remember you aren't allowed in here."
The girl flinched at first but quickly put up as much confidence as she could. She was afraid, of messing up and of upsetting a person. She was also afraid of Hoshi, as the taller boy had balled his hands besides him, seemingly ready to hit her.
"I..I am Momo Yaoyorozu. I.. uhh… came here with my parents because they asked me too, but they didn't tell me why. They are at the office building right now and asked me to bring you there. They told me that you would be the only one here and to tell you that they have something important to discuss."
Hoshi was actually a bit surprised when he heard her family name. The Yaoyorozus were Saisho's rival company. Nite Corporation, as their's was called, was the biggest company in Japan, whose second was Saisho itself.
They were also one of the only few companies in the world co-owned by a couple. The husband and wife were a frighteningly capable duo in the industry and rose to the top almost as soon as they were married.
They were also really good friends of Yuriko, mentoring her in her early years after her parents' car crash, though Hoshi had only met them once and he didn't even know they had a daughter. The reason for this was that even though his withdrawn nature had changed a little over the years, his quirklessness still made him shy away from others.
As soon as Hoshi regained his focus he said, in a polite, professional tone, while dusting his black suit "I am sorry for lashing out like that. I am Hoshi Tenshin. I am afraid I also don't know what your parents might have to talk to me about but I do have a guess. You said they were at the office building?"
Momo, a bit startled with the quick change in nature, just nodded. A second later as she comprehended the conversation, she frowned and then turned around to their destination. She looked sad the whole way over.
As they got into the room, Hoshi saw Minato and Misaka Yaoyorozu sitting at the sofa, the patriarch wearing a black suit similar to his and the matriarch wearing a black kimono, similar to her daughter's. There were two bodyguards wearing stereotypical black 'bodyguard' suits.
"Hoshi, it has been so long since we last met you. I really wish we could have met on a positive occasion." Misaka Yaoyorozu said with a tearful look.
"As do I Yaoyorozu-san, but I have to ask, how did you all get in here? The security shouldn't have let you in as I have given them no notice of others arriving." Hoshi was angry at them arriving without a notice but he couldn't show that, so he kept his professional face up.
"Hoshi, please call her Misaka and me Minato otherwise it will get a bit confusing." Minato said pointing at Misaka first and then at himself. "Anyway, you should know that we come here regularly. Yuriko's parents were really close friends of ours even though they were a bit older than us. And when we found out about Yuriko" a tear flowed down his cheek which he quickly wiped up, "well we had to come, we couldn't leave you alone in this situation." Minato smiled a tearful smile.
Momo at the moment looked confused but she quickly figured out the reason behind their meeting. Hoshi just for an instant looked ready to burst, but before anyone could figure out, he stopped himself. The others were confused, wondering if it was a mistake on their part or if it had actually happened.
"You could have left me alone, Minato-san. I would have been alright without your assistance in this matter."
Minato frowned at Hoshi's reluctance, "You know, we helped your sister go through this when her parents died as well. We taught her a lot of things regarding business and everything, really. We want to help you."
"And I do not want you to assist me, sir. And as far as I know, Yuriko didn't really need your help with business back then. She was well taught in the subject. Though I do appreciate your willingness and persistence." Hoshi said with a fake smile.
After taking a deep breath Misaka said, "Hoshi, I am not sure what to do exactly, in this situation. As for an answer to your questions, we were here to attend Yuriko's funeral, but it seems you completed everything a lot sooner than we had expected."
"Yes, of course. Yuriko-nee-san had a deep fondness for the night sky, the star Vega was her favourite. So I made sure that she was cremated when it was at its brightest." Hoshi said matter-of-factly before wiping his eyes, threatening to break the dam that held his tears.
"That was very thoughtful of you, Hoshi. We are sorry for impeding you here but we… uhhh…" Minato stammered a bit while scratching his head, "We did something that you might not like, we though that was a good idea before but now I think we made a mistake."
Misaka's face betrayed shock, as if she just remembered something she had forgotten, "Oh, oh no. We are very sorry about this, Hoshi. We called the lawyer who overviewed and has Yuriko's will here, before coming here ourselves. We told him to come here because we thought you might like some company while he reads it. We thought that you wouldn't like to be alone."
That was the last straw, Hoshi who had been listening this with a stoic face all along, stood up and walked around to his chair before shouting, "WHY? WHY CAN'T YOU LET ME DO THIS ALONE? Why can't you let me do this how I want to? Why would you come here, doing all these things like we are all friends when we haven't even talked before this? Why in heck would you do any of that? And on top of that you bring your daughter here? Why did she have to be here?" Hoshi pointed at Momo, while tears poured out of his eyes, the dam holding them earlier nowhere to be seen.
While Momo looked hurt and felt awkward, Misaka stood up to hug Hoshi, before stopping and lowering her head, "We are so sorry Hoshi, we didn't even ask you anything. We were treating you like a child when we shouldn't have. We thought that you would connect better with us if Momo helped and was here to talk to you. You are about the same age so I figured you would like to talk to someone your age. We… we will take our leave." "Again we are very sorry." The last part was said by both Minato and Misaka while slightly bowing their heads. The Yaoyorozus and their bodyguards started towards the door.
"Wait…" Hoshi took a deep breath and exhaled a great sigh before putting his hand at his forehead, "You can stay if you want. Nee-san liked you, so there must be something that I could like too, just never do anything like that again. And I would really appreciate if you could stay silent during the meeting until necessary."
Hoshi had no idea why he was saying these things, his rational brain told him that it would be best to let them go right now as they were in the wrong this time and no connections would be worsened in this scenario. The Yaoyorozus would even owe him one and as cruel as that may seem, it was the perfect way to handle this conversation for his benefit but he didn't do that. Instead he opted to give them some kind of closure or something. He didn't know why or what he was doing, just that his gut told him to do it.
The Yaoyorozus were surprised at what Hoshi said but they quickly nodded their heads, their eyes leaking and mouths smiling except for Momo who didn't like how Hoshi was talking to her parents but even then she didn't say anything as they had all silently decided to not interrupt anymore.
As if on cue, someone knocked at the door of the room. Hoshi went to open it to see none other than the Saisho Corporation's lawyer. "Aah Tenshin-san you are here, just like the Yaoyorozu-san had said. I am sorry for your loss." The lawyer said with a genuine grief. She had liked working with Yuriko and she would miss that.
The lawyer and Hoshi came to the centre of the room, as Hoshi took the single sofa and the lawyer took the only remaining chair.
"I guess I should just start?" She said with hesitation, figuring that something must have happened here earlier based on the tear stains on everyone's faces.
"Yes, that would be quite alright" Hoshi said keeping a stoic face like before.
"Got it" She cleared her throat, "The will states that and I quote, "I devise and bequeath all my properties, both real and personal, wherever situated to Hoshi Tenshin, my, as in Yuriko Tanabe's, adopted brother. That includes, the 12 mansions around the country, all the other various apartments and houses all over the world, all my liquid assets, all the factories and office buildings in the country as well as any other items of real and personal value to me." End quote."
All the people stayed in silence for several seconds before the lawyer spoke again, "I also have a letter that was supposed to be given to you personally when the will in announced. It has been kept in multiple envelops and should be read in private as I was told." She gave the letter to Hoshi was quickly took it and put it in his pocket, which was smaller than the envelope so it stuck out of it.
At that she smiled sadly at Hoshi before she continued, "There's also the matter of your young age, see the will was made considering that you would be about 21 before such responsibility was handed to you and even if we go to the extreme, you would have to be at least 16 to own everything, so I believe we would have to appoint a regent for you until you are 16."
Minato interrupted with a sharpness in his voice that Hoshi didn't think he could even manage, "You are not telling him about the test. Did you forget that Yuriko was also under 16 when she took over?" He smiled apologetically at Hoshi afterwards.
Hoshi was going to mention that but it seems Minato beat him to that.
The lawyer now nervous said with a bit of hesitation, "But Yuriko was 14 not 9 and she had multiple diplomas and a master's degree in business. I didn't think Tenshin-san could pass the test."
"I am sorry but you don't get to remove important information just because you 'thought'" Hoshi spoke keeping his stoic face but anger was clear in his voice. He knew he could pass the test easily enough, within 6 months even. Yuriko had taught him well.
"I am sorry, I will contact the government to get permission for you to take the test. When would you like to take it?"
Hoshi, under all the stress and anger he had after Yuriko's death, spoke with all certainty, "If possible I would like to complete all the formalities of it in about 3 months from today. If not, then as soon as it is possible after that."
The test referred here was a test made after the quirk era's complete establishment. Before this it wasn't allowed for people under the age of 18, or children to be exact, to own properties outside of the expense limit specified by each country but quirks made it possible to have it so that even a 10 year old could be more mature than a 40 year old under the eyes of law.
So a test was devised for anyone who wanted to own something more expensive than their age limit specified. The disadvantage however was that it could only be taken by a person every 4 years, so if someone failed it, then they would probably be old enough to own what they wanted anyway the next time they were allowed for it.
The test was considered to be the hardest test devised in the country for all country as it basically proved someone's maturity. It had questions of all types; word, MCQs, MSQs, situational and more. It was always made with consideration with who was taking it. The questions were personalised for each and every person. And all who took the test gave themselves at least a year before they gave it. Also only about 2 to 3 people took it every year as it was hard to get the permission for it and even then it wouldn't exactly be useful to most as in most situations as the parents could simply just 'lend' their children the things.
So it was to the surprise of everyone, when Hoshi said that he would take it in 3 months.
"O…Okay, alright. I will make all preparations for that and contact you about this as soon as I can. I hope everything works out fine and I should probably go now. I have to make a lot of calls now because of this. Goodbye." With that the lawyer went out of the door as fast as she could, probably to work out all the things necessary for the test.
"Are you sure about this, Hoshi? 3 months is very close, even for you." Misaka worded her concern but Hoshi just smiled as he faced them.
"Don't worry about me. What kind of a wise man*, or I guess boy, would I be if I can't even pass a test. I am Yuriko's brother after all."
A/N- 1) A wake is kind of like what would be called a Viewing in U.S or Canada.
2) The joke was basically because Hoshi means something like a wise person.
And thanks everyone for reading this all the way. Hope you liked it.
