Rules Were Made to be Broken

‣ scene 23 [the tanaka empire expands]

Kiyotaka spent just about the whole of the next day pacing back and forth in his apartment.

He didn't have to go to work that day. He was grateful for that— the fact that he'd have some time to think before rushing back into the hectic office life. At the same time, he worried about what his coworkers would say about the incident and wanted to just get it over with.

He'd done some research on his laptop in his few moments of clearheadedness. He'd googled narcissism and the therapy that Mondo had mentioned, and he felt he had a good enough logical grasp of the concepts. But there was a difference, of course, between knowing something and pushing oneself to act on it.

He decided that if he couldn't make any real progress just yet, he could at least relax. He knew that he had to learn to do that. So he retrieved the book that Chihiro had given him and that he hadn't had time to finish, made himself a cup of warm tea, and settled in to read.

Kiyotaka had gotten through a few chapters when he heard a knock at his door. He almost never got any visitors. He feared that it was one of his parents. He crept carefully to the doorway, where he made sure that the chain was fastened before he opened it just a crack.

"Kiyotaka! Please let me in!"

"S— Sonia! Oh, thank god."

Kiyotaka laughed and breathed a sigh of relief. He'd been worried about her. He closed the door and undid the chain, allowing his former fiancée into the apartment. She gripped him in a bone-crushing hug as soon as the door was closed and locked behind her. Once again, she was talking too fast for him to understand anything she was saying.

He made her a second cup of tea and had her sit at the kitchen table with him. A couple of sips seemed to calm her down. He couldn't quite read her expression, as it was a mixture of so many conflicting things. She set down her cup before speaking.

"I have ruined everything, haven't I? I ruined our engagement!"

Kiyotaka smiled at her and shook his head.

"Technically, Gundham is the one who broke into your home. And I'm the one who admitted it was all a lie. ...Did you hear about that?"

Sonia giggled and politely covered her mouth.

"I certainly did! And I am quite proud. How hard did you hit him?!"

"Hard enough to leave a rather nasty bruise, apparently, but I didn't draw blood or knock any teeth out or anything. I only got in one punch."

"Oh. ...How disappointing."

"I know."

Sonia smiled down at her teacup for a moment.

"Still, I... cannot believe that it was all for nothing. Perhaps if I had been more firm with Gundham, he never would have come to get me, and we could have continued the charade long enough to break it off in a far less explosive and confrontational manner—"

"No," Kiyotaka interrupted. "I-It should never have..."

He paused to clear his throat. He couldn't help but feel ashamed when he thought about it now— the fact that he had allowed his fear of his parents to nearly ruin both of their lives. It now seemed completely insane. It had been easier to see that when he was looking up at it from rock bottom.

"It never should have gotten so far," he continued. "It was absurd from day one. I-I mean, how far would we have carried it? What if we had just kept getting dragged further and further into it? Were we supposed to fake an entire marriage? A home? Children? If we'd gotten married, our families would have just changed the end goal. They would have started pressuring us to have kids next. And even if we had gone through with the plan and gotten the divorce, who's to say that they wouldn't have gone right back to their old routines and demanded we find new spouses?"