Am I Making a Mistake?

Akari was making morning coffee. It was a ritual and it was a must. Still, she was as confused as ever. A few days had passed since the debate with actor Toma Shirakawa. Tomorrow she was going on a date with him. What was I thinking? Akari thought. She was wondering how she agreed to this date and was wondering how it would go. She didn't expect him to be as he was, and she didn't even know anything about him, really.

While watching her cup of coffee, she was in her head going over the backstage talk that happened just a few days ago.

"Please go on a date with me," the question that came out of Toma's mouth and caught Akari off guard.

"You are joking, right?" Akari asked, a little bit lost and flustered.

"No, I am serious. Go on a date with me," Toma confidently said without any sign of joking.

Akari was holding her arms close to her body and lightly squeezing the sleeves of her blue jacket, trying to find words. "You know that I know how old you are, and you know that if this goes out to the media, we will have issues? Also, don't you know how old I am?"

Toma just said, "I don't care about stuff like that. Besides, I am of legal age. Ha ha, you don't need to worry. I think I like you. Please go out with me, on a dinner date."

"I appreciate the directness and openness, but I am not sure that it would be the best idea for our images and publicity. Maybe you don't care about the age gap, but the media will shred me apart if they see me on dinner with you," Akari said unsurely and with not much confidence, which was totally not herself.

"I don't want you to have trouble with the media, but I would really love to go on a date with you. I think it would be fun to get to know each other more." I smiled and was waiting for her to accept. I thought that there was a chance that she actually wanted this as well.

"Okay, next Friday we can do something after I finish my work. Send me the details. Here's my number." Akari said, bowed, and then left.

I clenched my fist, and as she was walking away, I said, "Looking forward to it."

All this was going through Akari's head on repeat while she was watching her coffee swirl slowly in the cup. She looked at her phone, and Shirakawa's message was there: "Meet me in front of the old noodle shop called 'Tapakipo' at Friday at 9 p.m."

Akari replied only with "OK."

I was happy with her reply. Usually, I would get more than "OK" from some girls I dated in the past, or from my friends I would usually get more than just "OK," but this is fine. She will meet me. We are going out. It will be fine, I hope.

Akari knew this place. She would go there often after work or when she didn't have time to eat at home, so a lot. It was down the dark alley stairways where an old, sweet man was working and making amazing noodles. It is not crowded. It is really low-key and sheltered from the crowd and people. At 9 p.m. in the night, there should not be many people. Akari thought that this was a good proposition by Toma. The media would probably not notice them there or look for them there.Akari glanced at her watch and realized she now needed to go to the office and do the work. In the office, she was talking with one of the colleagues from her political party.

Her brows were making the weirdest of shapes. "What you want to tell me now is that the analysis for this quarter is not done correctly?"

"More like it is not done at all," her colleague Sugawara said with blinking excessively.

"What are you smoking, Sugawara? What are you taking? What do you mean by 'not done'?" Akari raised her eyebrows as high as possible.

Stuttering, Sugawara started, "I can, I caaaan, I caaa, I caa..."

"Sugaaa, focus, please. I need it done. Go to your team and press them on it. I need it tomorrow before 9 p.m. I am out tomorrow at 9 p.m."

Still stuttering and blinking, rubbing one palm against the other, "I will try, Mrs. Asahina. I will give my best."

"Thanks, Suga. You got this," Akari said and patted her colleague on the shoulder as she was going on her way to the office.

She was sitting and thinking. She went a little bit hard on Suga, but he wouldn't do it any other way. It was the best decision in the moment. You can't change it now. It was the best way to get it done.

Knock, knock.

Into her office walked a serious yellow suit. The unexpected and important guest would be an understatement.

Akari bowed with her whole body.

Slowly walking around the office, the big figure of a man stopped at the table where a little vase with a few branches was sitting. He touched one branch for some reason and then took a closer look at the branches.

"Is this a real plant?"

Akari put her chest up, stood straight, and gathered all her confidence. "Yes, it is something my staff got me."

"Very nice. You should water it more, I think."

"I will, sir. Thanks for the input," Akari said seriously and a little bit stiffly even.

"Oh, relax, Mrs. Asahina. No need to be so formal all the time. I am here to let you know that I will take you into consideration for the minister of finance next year. I am thinking, you know what I am thinking?" Without even letting Akari say anything, he continued, "I am thinking of letting the current minister go. When I say 'go,' I mean replace him, you know. And I would consider you."

Akari bowed. "Thank you, sir, for your consideration. I am honored. Is there any issue with the current minister?"

"I don't know. Is there?" the Prime Minister asked with a slight smile.

"From my information, I am not aware of any misdoings by him or any errors that he made."

Sachiko smiled, or it was maybe more of a smirk. "Diplomatic as ever, Asahina. I will be a little bit more open if you allow it."

Asahina nodded. "Yes, of course, sir."

Sachiko adjusted his elegant yellow suit—that was a bold choice to say it like that—and started to walk slowly around the office. "I hate his guts, Akari. The old fat bastard is just making everyone else do his job. His stupidity, incompetence, fatness, and dodging of responsibility will eventually be a problem for me. Do you understand?"

Asahina nodded, a little bit surprised by this much strong and open hatred from the Prime Minister of Japan.

Sachiko continued, "I will replace him, and I will appoint you, but you need to find a man that you can rely on. I can't have the media talking about your family life, and me ruining your family life. Is that clear? Find someone, marry, or whatever. You have three months. Also, I need the quarterly analysis tomorrow by 2 p.m. Send it directly to me, not to the minister. That old fatass, just skip him. Send everything to me. Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir," Akari said, not really sure what was unfolding right in front of her.

"Great, then three months. Be ready, got it? And maybe even we could have dinner earlier. You, this man of yours, and my wife. Let's say next week, okay?"

"But I am not in a relationship at the moment," Akari said quickly before the minister left.

Sachiko tilted his head, and it looked like he was going to get angry again. "I know. That's why I said find him. Am I making a mistake by considering you for this position, Akari?"

"No, sir. Next week is fine. Me and my boyfriend will be there."

"Great, then everything is settled. I have great expectations from you, future Finance Minister Asahina." Sachiko said and left her office slowly, now completely relaxed.