Arranged Marriage

“Aki, you got this wrong again!” Ayano used her pencil to point at the incorrect answer in Akari’s notebook.

“No way! I double-checked this time!”

“You missed that negative sign there. Do you see it?”

“Ack—” The young gangster let out a sigh as he collapsed forward on the low table, fed up with all the studying. He still had no idea how the class president had managed to convince him to study on a Saturday morning.

“Honestly, it’s getting a bit impressive how many times you’ve failed,” Ayano stated with a slight nod. “Perhaps you’re actually a genius who’s purposely getting it wrong.”

“I swear I’m trying my best…” Akari cried.

Ayano took a deep breath as she brushed a loose strand of hair back behind her ear. “Would you like me to teach you?”

“Couldn’t we just move on instead?” He suggested, resting his head on top of the table.

“That’s no good, Aki,” Ayano insisted as she rested her chin on her hand. “You need to know this at least much if you’re ever going to pass the math exam.”

“It’s too hard,” Akari groaned as if he was a child.

“Come on, try it again. I’ll help you through it this time,” Ayano made her way around the table before sitting down next to him. Her shoulder brushed against his as she wrote a similar problem in the notebook.

“Alright Aki, you can do this,” she encouraged with a confident smile.

Unable to escape the challenge, Akari hesitantly picked his pencil back up before reading the quadratic math problem. Unable to determine the right way to start, he glanced at Ayano subtly.

“Do you remember the trick to solving this?” Ayano asked, aware of his glance.

“No…”

“You’re supposed to break the middle term down into two separate terms. In order to find what they are, you find two numbers that add to the middle term. Those two numbers should also multiply to be the same product of the two other terms,” Ayano explained.

“Terms… product… other terms…” Akari’s brain seemed to overload from those words alone.

“Let’s try this then,” Ayano picked up her pencil. She circled the first and last term in the equation and drew a box around the second term. On the side, she drew the corresponding symbols before writing out ‘Value 1’ and ‘Value 2’ next to each.

“We’ll start step-by-step,” Ayano reassured as she tapped the two circled terms. “What do these multiply to?”

“T-thirty,”

“Good! Now ignore the circled numbers and focus on thirty. What two numbers multiply to that?”

“Aren’t there several possible choices?” Akari hesitantly asked as he ran through the factors.

“Yep! But that’s where this middle term comes in,” she tapped the value that was in a square. “One of those options contains a pair of numbers that adds up to the second term.”

“Oh… Oh!” Akari’s eyes glimmered as he wrote down the numbers to fulfill the values.

“Can you do the rest from here?” Ayano asked, glad to see Akari had made a breakthrough.

“I think so!” Akari determinedly replied as he finished the rest of the problem. Once he was finished and placed his pencil down, Ayano gently clapped her hands together.

“Congrats, Aki. You finally got it right!”

As Akari swayed slightly, basking in his accomplishment, two knocks were heard on the door before it slid open. Misha was kneeling at the entrance with her hands on her lap.

“Please pardon my intrusion, young master,” Misha bowed slightly. “Your presence is needed in the main hall.”

“Right now? Could it wait?” Akari fell upon his mattress, letting out an exhausted sigh as he closed his eyes.

“I’m sorry but I’m afraid it’s urgent,” Misha raised her head to glance at the young gangster. “The Viper gang is here along with Lady Himeko.”

Akari sat straight up. “Himeko is here?”

“They want to discuss with you the situation from the recent battle,” Misha paused to take a breath before continuing, “and also the matters on the arranged marriage.”

Akari strolled down the corridor toward the main hall with Misha and Naoki followed behind him along with four other escorts. A single assistant followed closely behind them with Ayano by her side.

He had changed into a white dress suit with a dark gray vest on top. A black tie was laid on top with an abstract orange pattern meant to symbolize a tiger. With his white hair clip holding his hair back, Akari had an icy aura surrounding him that reflected his status as a young master.

As the group approached a set of wide sliding doors, two of the men rushed ahead to pull them open, allowing the others to stroll through uninterrupted. The suits gave their master a light bow as he passed through, which Akari acknowledged with a nod.

In the large tan room before the young master, a large tatami mat encompassed the floor. Small squared round tables were laid around the edges of the extended room with a parlor palm house plants situated in a brick pot at each corner.

Standing on the opposite side of the room were twelve members from the Viper gang forming a straight line. Most of them wore a black suit or jacket, some with a visible snake tattoo visible on their left arm or hand.

Two individuals stood out to Akari in the middle of the line. A gray-haired man in a black suit stood a step ahead of the others with a silver sword upon his belt. And standing beside him was the person he was meant to protect.

A young girl with long dark-blue hair had been tapping her foot impatiently. She had a portion of her hair tied into a flowing side ponytail which she whipped back with a flick of her wrist. She tugged at her gray cardigan that covered her long blue skirt before her eyes met with Akari’s.

“Took you long enough,” she huffed, crossing her arms. “You’ve kept me waiting!”

“I-it's nice to see you, Himeko,” Akari greeted as stood at the other side of the grand hall. Misha and Naoki stood beside him with stern glares toward their rivals.

“I’ll cut to the point,” Himeko took a deep breath. “Your members had assaulted us a while back. What is the meaning of that?”

“Us? We did not start the battle. Clearly one of your men must have instigated it,” Akari replied without batting an eye.

“That’s absurd! Why would one of my men do that?!”

“Oh, I don’t know…” Akari sarcastically said. “Perhaps someone was mad that our last date was canceled.”

“Young master, what are you doing?” Misha muttered beside him. Akari ignored her comment, keeping his gaze upon the Viper gang’s young lady.

“M-mad?!” Himeko gawked in disbelief. “Who would be mad about dealing with an imbecile like you?!”

“So you don’t want to marry me?” Akari asked with a smirk.

“As if!” The young lady rolled her eyes. “If it wasn’t for the arranged marriage, I wouldn’t even be here!”

“That’s perfect then because I have no plans of marrying you too,” Akari pulled Ayano forward from the crowd, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. “Because I’m already dating someone else!”

“Preposterous!” The bodyguard stomped his foot. “You mean to say that this civilian is to be your bride?! Do you dare insult our young lady?!”

“Goro, stand down,” Himeko ordered, her hand raised slightly. The man hesitated but noticing her stern glare, he lowered his head.

The young lady crossed her arms as she returned her attention to Akari.

“What a relief. But for my father’s sake, you need to prove that you two are dating!” She shot an arm out at the pretending couple.

“Is proof of our love not enough?” Akari tried to excuse her comment.

“It most certainly is not!” Himeko declared. “I-if you two really are dating, t-then you must do things couples must do! Like… night stuff…”

“N-night stuff?” Ayano flushed red from such a thought.

“Are you hearing yourself?” Akari stuttered, also taken aback by the comment. “You want us to prove ourselves with that here?!”

“T-then a kiss! A kiss should be fine if you two are a couple!” Himeko declared while shooting her finger toward them. “That’s right! Prove you’re dating by giving each other a kiss!”

“T-t-t-that’s…” Akari stuttered with his words as he was unable to come up with an excuse.

“I’m sorry but I can’t do that,” Ayano confessed in a solemn tone. Members of both parties swiveled their heads toward the class president in shock.

“A-Ayano?!” Akari shot a surprised glance at her.

“So you admit it! You’re not a real couple!” Himeko tried to hide a genuine smile under a smug one.

“No... it’s not that,” Ayano began to explain as she met the young lady’s eyes. “Himeko, a kiss is a very delicate thing. It’s a sign of love from one person to another meaning something significant. If I were to simply kiss Akari just to convince you, that would betray the meaning of a kiss. And I can’t do that.”

Himeko fell to her knees with her hands against the floor.

“My lady!” Goro bent down to help her up while Himeko stared at Ayano.

“Who is this angel standing before me..?” She muttered under her breath. “It’s not fair at all…”

“Please do not concern yourself with her, my lady! You are clearly a better match for Akari!” The bodyguard reassured. Himeko ignored his comment as she regained her composure.

“Alright. You’ve convinced me,” she admitted. “I’ll accept you two as a real couple.”

“Himeko…” Akari beamed at the young lady.

“As if I would allow someone like you to become my partner in the first place!” Himeko scoffed. Erupting out in what seemed like forced laughter, the young lady quickly hurried out of the building with her back facing everyone.

“My lady, please wait for us!” The bodyguard shouted with a worried expression on his face. He quickly turned toward Akari and the other Tiger members.

“This isn’t over yet!” He declared before chasing after Himeko. The other Viper members followed suit, leaving the main hall in a rushed but organized manner.

The members of the Tiger gang let out a relieved sigh as soon as their enemy had left with Naoki resting an arm on Akari’s shoulder.

“Okay! It’s all over, folks! Get back to what you were doing! Thank you very much for your time!” Naoki announced with a wavering hand. The members of the gang gave a quick bow toward their young master before returning to their previous tasks.

“So that was your plan,” Misha stated, catching Akari’s attention. “Two birds with one stone. You can free yourself from Lady Himeko while also sending the Vipers away from the battle situation. As expected of our young master.”

Akari hadn’t thought that far but instead of admitting it, he simply gave the stolid gangster a sheepish grin.

“I’m glad that turned out alright,” Ayano let out a relieved sigh as she held a hand close to her chest.

“It wouldn’t have worked out so well if it wasn’t for you,” Akari acknowledged with a large grin.

“Of course, don’t underestimate your class president, Aki—”

“Thank you, Ayano.” Akari gave a quick peck on the top of Ayano’s head before childishly strolling out of the main hall. She stood there a bit shocked by the sudden gesture but let out a disappointed sigh.

“Sheesh…” Ayano placed a hand where his lips had touched her. “And right after all that talk about the meaning of a kiss…”