Group Call
It took a moment for Grandpa Shirogane to get to his computer, noting that Yakushiji already left it on for him, ready for the pre-organised call with his children, Skype was already opened but he noticed that the others hadn't arrived yet.
"Interesting…"
He mused as he hit the accept call, the retractable microphone rose from his desk as a boardroom style camera whirled to life, instantly raising its lens barrel and then turned itself towards him. It only took a second for his large screen to display his face. By the time it did he heard the ping notifying him there was someone else now in a call. Making his window smaller the face of his youngest appeared, the reflection of the light in his office reflected off his glasses giving him a temporary mysterious look before he readjusted his posture.
His much more navy blue hair was a little messy but it was tied back in a simple ponytail, his fair face barely showed his age as the light from his desk reflected off his glasses in the Skype video window. He quickly switched them, his eyes coming into view, his expression showing exasperation than anything else.
"Morning father." He said simply, Matsuda noting he only recently got out of bed considering how tired it sounded. Must have been a late night for him.
"Morning Enji-kun," The eldest Shirogane said happily. Enji couldn't help but sigh at his dad's rather bright tone. Out of all of the siblings, he was not the morning person.
"I'm assuming the others are on their way?" He sounded a little apprehensive due to his dad's tendencies but as soon as he shook his head two extra windows popped up, both of them having the small buffering icon around it. It took a second longer before they both appeared almost in sync as a well dressed man, with the ever confident smile plastered on his face. His eyes had the trademark sharpness of a Shirogane. He looked on from his display window, curious at the scene ahead of him. Noting the calm but reserved look his father had. His younger brother seemed indifferent but it's a trait of his that he didn't like the mornings at all.
"Morning everyone, hope everyone is good this morning." His voice of bravado only made Matsuda's eyes roll but Yuzuha sighed at her older brother's antics.
"I'm ok, I had a lot of leftover paper work from Enji-kun's last case. Things are going as well as they can be but involving government figures is bringing more headaches than I would like."
Ryusuke laughed, noting his sister's disposition as entertainment.
"Well I'll keep that in mind and send that to your assistant, I'm sure she won't complain after finally getting more work to do."
All Yuzuha could do was stare daggers.
"Anyway!" Enji called out, getting everyone's attention. "We are here for a specific reason. Father, what is the plan going into next week?" The youngest asked pointedly, everyone now remembering the reason why they are here today.
Matsuda's posture changed, he sat forward, his hands intertwined. Looking through his webcam intently.
"Well as I've said before, I've cleared Seta-san to marry Naoto-chan so as far as I'm aware, everything will go as planned." Once the words left his lips, he could feel the tension coming from everyone. "It may have taken some time, but like I said in my report he was fully cooperative with the process."
"I was wondering about that…" Ryusuke said, himself leaning forward, making his expression clear through the lens of the camera. "How come this did not go through us? I thought for grandchildren we would have a say due to how delicate the family matters are."
"Well…" He started, pondering his words carefully. "Given the circumstances of my granddaughter and her partner I gave an exception. She requested that we keep it just for me for a multitude of reasons. While she disclosed them to me, it wouldn't be my place to explain."
He noted the collective expression on his kids were not impressed. Matsuda was well aware outside of some cases, she kept Souji well away from family matters because of reasons like this. They only tend to hear his adventures in passing or by other employees of the Estate. So other than the weariness of their lack of personal knowledge about him, the fear of how much he knew the Shirogane internal systems in case he had nefarious motives set off the paranoia in their minds.
"Are you sure he's not a safety risk? The fact there is information he can't disclose is worrying. I'm assuming he has no criminal record or anything like that?" Enji asked, feeling like he could reason with his father on why this was a bad idea. It's not like they haven't had internal leaks in the past, but Naoto's partner was more of an unknown entity to the rest of them. He wasn't able to make it to multiple family gatherings, as well as meetings. There was always a feeling that he dodged a situation where they could interact with him.
"We are never able to see him? If it wasn't for the case files, I wouldn't even believe he was real." Ryusuke mentioned "Personally I think it's risky to even do this with this guy. What happens if he's just waiting for the marriage to go through before he could spring something up?"
Matsuda was about to answer before Yuzuha braced herself on one arm against the desk nonchalantly.
"Well if he plans on doing anything like that, I can take care of him legally. A lot of the wedding documentation can be changed or altered between now and the wedding. I can get on that to close any loopholes he may find. Also anything post marriage…. Let me take care of it."
The coldness that she approached the subject made something in Matsuda's chest churn. The things Naoto confined in him that she was worried about were coming into fruition.
"We could always confront him just before the wedding, while I don't know much about his background I do know where he works; it would be the easiest way to solve this." The eldest brought forward getting a nod from his sister.
But Enji shook his head.
"Well by that time it might be a little early, I wouldn't be surprised if he speaks to Naoto-chan about it and makes the wedding difficult. She would lose trust if that happens and it would look bad on us. We would only be justifying her reasoning if we do that then and confront him on his own. I say let's just sit down and talk with him at the wedding itself. It might be easier to ask what the hell is going on with both of them around."
Ryusuke put his hand under his chin in thought as he mulled over Enji's idea.
"That might be the smarter choice but I'd rather have this sorted before the wedding ceremony even starts… Yuzuha-chan?"
She perked up at her name being called. Her look of boredom phased away a little.
"Yes?"
"Is it possible to reverse things legally if there is something compromising about him?" She shrugged nonchalantly,
"It's not something outside of my personal ability…"
"Great!"
"Ahhem!"
The sound of the fake cough was enough to attract all of their attention to the Elder Shirogane, who didn't seem happy where this conversation was going.
"I'm assuming you are creating this scenario because you do not trust my judgement?" There was a sharpness in his tone that wasn't there before. He was starting to lose his patience.
"N-no…" Ryusuke stuttered as the other two kids frowned at the push back.
"Well if my ears were still working, and I know for the fact they do, I'm hearing the contrary." He took off his glasses to give them a clean with the cloth on his desk.
"How about this…" He slipped them back on. "We take 20 to 30 minutes out of the ceremony time so we can introduce him to you all and clear the air, in a very polite manner that doesn't make us Shiroganes come off as cold and heartless."
There was a small bit of hesitation before the three agreed.
"Good… Now with that, all I want everyone to do is to enjoy ourselves and celebrate for her sake. As the heir and the first niece of the family, it would be nice if we supported her." His voice commended over the three, making sure there was no misconception about his words and their meanings. "We will have a good time, and I will not allow anything to disrupt that. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes father!" The three said in unison. Their compliance caused him to nod.
"Excellent, with that, I do have some more things to sort out but it will be in your best interests not to interfere with the proceedings. As much as I love my granddaughter, the aspect of family image is at stake too." His voice was firm in his warning.
"Do not disappoint me."
The three younger Shiroganes nodded as they looked on with some concern at their father's behaviour, but decided to say anything against it.
"Does anyone else have anything to say on it?"
"No,"
"Nothing Father…"
"Nothing from me…"
Giving them the best smile he could, he paid them his goodbyes.
"I will phone each of you individually before the ceremony to go over some minor details. I'll speak to you all soon."
With that he clicked the end call button on screen, quickly cutting off the connection to the conversation. He let out a small sigh as Yakushiji appeared to drop a freshly brewed jasmine tea onto his desk, the steam still emanating from the small cup. Taking a small hold of it, he looked at his assistant and best friend with a small frown.
"The worrying thing was that maybe Naoto-chan was right…"
"What do you mean Matsuda-sama?"
The eldest sighed as he leaned back in his chair, taking the first small sip.
"The concept of paranoia and lack of trust was so evident in them. It was just like she said and it's something herself she'd been battling for a while. Have they forgotten the basic concept of compassion I tried to be still in them even while working on such sensitive cases?"
Yakushiji almost faltered as he looked up at him, almost looking for justification. He shook his head.
"You have done what you can, you can only guide them so much with your teachings. But maybe…"
He poured himself a glass of tea as well.
"Maybe they just need to learn from your granddaughter. She's the heir for a reason."
Matsuda blinked, considering his friend's words for a moment before leaning forward and placing the drink on the table.
"Maybe you're right…"
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