Engagement and Impending Sickness

Right back at the Sakamoto Residence------------

" What exactly are you planning?"

" Tell us what you have in mind."

" Curiosity kills the cat. You'll know tomorrow what exactly it is that I'm planning to do."

…

…

Josiane was evasive regarding what she had planned to ruin Ryuji's engagement party. At night, Josiane lent her friends a change of clothes to wear.

Early in the morning, after having breakfast with Josiane, they left ahead of time.

" See you at school, girls!"

" Why don't we go together?"

" Why do you insist on staying behind so much?"

…

" There's something I have to do before heading to school. Don't stall here and go. I promise not to take too long."

…

…

" We'll be waiting for you."

Although they didn't want to leave ahead of time, they had to anyway.

" Let's do this! I can't believe what I’m just about to do as a means to help out someone in need. God, please forgive me for this!”

Several hours later at lunchtime, Ryuji was waiting for Josiane on the roof to arrive as planned. Josiane arrived at the meeting place five minutes later.

“ Sakamoto-San, you’re here!”

“ Yes, I am! Sorry for keeping you waiting. I needed some time to prepare everything.”

“ Prepare what?”

…

“ Don’t freak out when you see this, okay!”

?

I sat up with Ryuji and handed him his lunch box. Looking at the lunch I had put up for him, he was delighted, except for one thing.

“ Sakamoto-San, the fried rice you made for me is good. Just by the aroma, I can pretty much guess how delicious it might be, but—------------------------”

…

“ But, why did you add eggs in there?”

…

“ You know I’m allergic to it, right?”

…

“ Knowing that, why did you—---------------------?”

….

“ Wait a minute! Did you add the eggs in there on purpose? You didn’t do that right, Sakamoto-San?”

…

“ What if I did, Ryuji? What then?”

…

“ But—---------------------”

“ There are no buts, Ryuji. There were no other effective ways to help you. You asked me for help in avoiding your engagement, so there it is.”

…

“ With this, you won’t get to attend at all.”

“ But if I eat this, I’ll get extremely sick, you know.”

“ That’s the whole point of it, isn’t it?”

….

“ The choice is yours to make, Ryuji. You can either eat it or not. It’s up to you. I won’t force you.”

…

Ryuji looked at his lunch box and reminisced about his father’s expectations, which were starting to weigh too much on his shoulders. His decision was made.

“ I’ve made my decision.”

…

“ Before I eat the dish, could you call my chauffeur? The number’s inside—-------------”

…

“ Sure!”

Looking through his contacts, Josiane found the number she was looking for. When she was calling it, Ryuji started eating the fried rice.

“ Hello! It’s about Ryuji.”

…

Several minutes later, after finishing the fried rice, Ryuji started feeling discomfort in his stomach. Seeing him in pain, Josiane started to have regrets about what she had done.

“ Ryuji!”

“ It hurts—-------- It hurts!”

…

Ten minutes later, the chauffeur reached the roof where we were. Looking at the state he was in, he ran to him.

“ I’m—--------------”

Before I had any chance to articulate anything, he stopped me and uttered the following: “Let’s talk later, Josiane-San. He left with Ryuji after saying just that.

(Will he be okay?)

Meanwhile, my friends as well as Anthony were wondering where I was and what I was doing. Lunch break came to an end on the brink of an eye.

“ So today, we’re going to study—---------------”

I was inattentive for the remainder of the classes. I was constantly thinking of Ryuji and wondering if he was okay.

At the end of it all, my friends as well as Anthony caught up with me, asking for an explanation from me.

“ We saw Ryuji earlier, and he was in pretty bad shape. Do you mind telling me what happened?”

…

Anthony questioned me and I had no answer for him whatsoever. Sabrina and Patricia followed next.

“ Weren’t you supposed to meet Ryuji today over lunch?”

…

“ Josiane, why aren’t you saying anything? We’re anxious here, you know—-------”

…

“ Listen, the thing is—-------------”

I told Patricia, Sabrina, and Anthony everything that had happened in the previous hours. They were all stunned.

….

“ Don't you guys have something to say to me?”

…

…

…

“ Why don’t you shout at me and tell me how dumb this whole thing was? Say something!”

I wanted them to reprimand me instead of just staring at me quietly like they were doing.

…

“ Ryuji consented to this, didn’t he? It’s not like you forced him or anything, right?”

“ No, but—---------”

“ He took the decision himself. He knew exactly what he was doing. If it had been the opposite, I would have reacted differently and even shouted at you, but that’s not the case here.”

….

“ My friend, Ryuji, has been putting up a farce all these years to not disappoint the expectations his father had of him. Between expectation and happiness, he went for the second option. For the first time in a very long time, he chose his happiness above all.”

…

“ I’m very content right now, and I owe it all to you, Josiane-Chan. Thank you so much for showing him where his happiness lies.”

…

“ He’ll be fine, I’m sure of it, and more importantly, he won’t get to show up at the engagement at all.”

…

“ We agree with Anthony on this—--------------”

“ What you did wasn’t for your self-interest but someone else’s—--------”

“ Thanks, guys!”

“ Don’t embarrass us, will you?”

“ Let’s go home!”

…

Several hours later, at Fujimiya’s Estate—----------------------------

“ How are you feeling now, young master?”

…

“ Not too well, Albertini-San!”

“ Should we go to the hospital?”

“ There’s no need to go to the hospital over such a trifle. I’ll be fine after a good night of rest.”

“ Okay, young master!”

“ You didn’t reprimand Sakamoto-San for my state, did you?”

“ Don’t worry, young master! I didn’t say anything to her, you have my word on this.”

“ I trust you, Albertini-San.”

In the middle of the discussion, Tatsuki Fujimiya showed up unexpectedly in Ryuji’s room.

“ What’s going on here? Why are you laid down? Why aren’t you ready yet?”

…

“ Master, the young master isn’t feeling too well at the moment. Attending the party is merely impossible right now. The engagement might need to be postponed, if not annulled.”

…

Tatsuki Fujimiya looked at his son’s state and asked something that left both of them shocked on the spot.

“ Are you truly that sick?”

…

…

“ You can make an effort to attend, can you?”

…

…

“ I promise it won’t take long at all. Once the engagement’s finalized, you can come back home and rest. Do it for your father, will you? I’m sure you’re not that sick, to begin with, or, are you?”

…

Ryuji was out of it and all. Thomas Albertini was in the same state of being as he was. At that very moment, Ryuji accepted what he didn’t want to see all these years, which was the indifference in his father’s eyes.

Gathering his strength, Ryuji uttered the following very painlessly,“ This engagement is very crucial for our two families.----------------- Give me a couple of minutes to get ready!------------ I’ll be right downstairs.”

“ Okay, don’t take too long! We don’t want to arrive late at your engagement.”

“ Yes, father!”

Tatsuki Fujimiya left Ryuji’s room. Thomas Albertini went to close the door and returned to Ryuji soon after.

“ Young master, I don’t know what to say about what happened.”

…

“ There’s nothing to say nor is there anything to add, Albertini-San—--------”

…

“ As hard as the truth is, I’ll have to accept it and live with it.”

“ Young master—--------------”

“ I’ll have to cope with the fact that my father has no regard for me whatsoever, nor does he have any concern for me at all.”

…

Ryuji was uttering all that with extreme sadness. Thomas Albertini was pained seeing him broken.

“ I’ll go get ready, Being late for my engagement would be embarrassing and intolerable, wouldn’t it?”