Chapter Text
Prologue
Midorima pressed the button and heard the ringing of the bell. He didn’t have to wait long until the door opened.
“Oh, hello, Shin-chan. Right on time as usual.”
The young man groaned. “I have told you countless times not to call me that.”
“But I don’t understand why. It’s such a cute name. It suits you perfectly.”
“I don’t like it. Are you ready yet? We are going to be late.”
She frowned for a split second, but ultimately shrugged. “Give me a minute, I’m not done with my make-up yet.”
He didn’t reply and just stood by the door, hoping she would be done soon. Karasuma Kanako was a very proper and intelligent lady, with beautiful burgundy hair, elegant long limbs and smart obsidian-colored eyes. In Midorima’s opinion, she didn’t need any make-up to look beautiful (and he wouldn’t really care, even if she did), but she always took at least an hour applying expensive European miracle products to beautify herself.
“You know, Shin-chan, if you hate the name so much, I can start calling you ‘Darling’ once we’re married.”
He groaned again. Ever since the date of their wedding had been decided, she kept talking about how it would be when they finally got married, and he honestly didn’t want to think about it at all.
They had been engaged for a year and a half now. Kanako’s family was wealthy and influential, and his parents had been delighted to hear she was interested in their son. Marrying her would improve the Midorima family status, and become a great platform for their business -that was already very large and well-known locally- to expand and aim for the bigger national and international market. Shintarou’s father in particular was really eager to play with the business grown-ups.
“Remind me why do we have to do this?”
As could be inferred, Shintarou himself was not especially excited about his marriage prospects, and had never been. But he’d long given up on romance, and hoped he would be able to escape his unattractive future domestic life by immersing himself in work, just like he’d been evading everything related to their relationship by taking a three-year internship in a prestigious American hospital.
“Well, Sei-chan thought it would be a good idea.”
Kanako was Akashi’s cousin, and her family was just one of many branches of the corporative monster known as the Akashi Group. They had first met in Akashi’s 20th birthday party, in which he officially became vice-president of his father’s empire. The Karasuma family’s most important trade was traditional Japanese products, so when Kanako heard the Midorimas owned a large business in Tokyo that specialized in tea ceremony related products, from the cups and pots to the tea leaves, all cherry-picked from the finest producers in the region, she was immediately interested. Their marriage was mostly a formality to consummate the merging of the Midorima and Karasuma companies.
“Alright, I’m ready, let’s go.”
She was wearing an elegant navy blue short dress, ideal for a spring night out in Tokyo, a light gray cardigan and a black satin scarf, with dark-red high heels that matched the color of her hair. She had arranged a double date with one of her friends, whose family owned a large amount of tea plantations in Uji. Establishing amicable business relationships with him would give Midorima’s family the opportunity to get their hands on higher quality tea leaves at preferential prices.
They were supposed to meet at Ryugin, one of the finest Japanese restaurants in Tokyo. To make the meeting lighter and less business-like, they had agreed on a double date, and so Kanako’s friend would bring his boyfriend to the meeting.
“You’re okay with gay people, right?” Kanako had asked when the proposal first came up. “I’ve heard your family is a little bit uptight about that.”
If Midorima hadn’t been so thoroughly unamused by the scenario, he would’ve laughed at the question and how absurd it was. Not that she’d know.
They arrived exactly on time for their reservation, but their companions weren’t there yet, so they went ahead and sat down on a private booth to wait for them. Kanako’s friend showed up just a few minutes later.
“Kana! Sorry for the delay, I hope we didn’t make you wait too long.”
He looked around 25 years of age, was of average height, with short and clean brown hair and barely tanned skin. He had dark green eyes and was wearing an informal white shirt with black stripes and a brown jacket.
“Don’t worry Tou-chan, we just got here. Didn’t your boyfriend come? I was excited to meet him.” Kanako greeted cheerfully.
“Oh, he went to the washroom, he said he came on the Metro and his hands were filthy.” The man then turned his attention to Midorima. “You must be Kana’s fiancé, right? My name is Tozai Toujirou, pleasure to meet you.” He bowed and handed him his business card that listed him as Director of the Tokyo Branch of Toujicha company.
“Midorima Shintarou, pleased to make your acquaintance.” He felt a little self-conscious about his lack of a presentation card, so he bowed more deeply than he probably should. He really wasn’t interested in the world of entrepreneurs; even if this endeavor with the Karasuma took off, he had no intention of taking over the family business. He had studied hard to get into medical school and get a job in one of the most important hospitals in Tokyo, and he wasn’t going to throw that away and trade it for the life of a regular salaryman.
“Sorry Touji, I couldn’t find the restroom.”
Midorima’s ears rang when they heard that voice. It must be his imagination, he told himself, and he froze in his place when he saw the man that appeared behind Tozai.
“Perfect timing actually, I was starting to feel lonely with these lovebirds. You guys, this is my boyfriend Ka-“
“Takao?”
The raven-haired man snapped to look at him and his heart seemed to stop when his emerald eyes met the familiar silver pair.
“S-Shin-chan…”