It's too much honesty and straightforwardness for the man. It's almost a foreign language.

He should've studied more diligently.

"Would you like more wine, father?"

"Yes, thank you."

Yutaka pours some more.

He might currently be thinking I was replaced by an alien. This is so much fun. I should've tried this earlier.

I hope it doesn't bite you. Is this your first interaction since your school transfer, maybe he'll just chalk it up to that.

I am greatly relishing the fact that the thing that set me right was the boy of, not even my dreams, I could never have dreamt you up, but a boy nevertheless. I used to sleep around at least partly to piss this guy off but I feel like being Haru's chocolate-covered crack idfic is so much better than that.

That phrase is going to haunt me forever, isn't it.

You can ask me to drop it if you want but you have no idea how much joy it brings me to be a desire so forbidden you hadn't even come up with it. I'm not gonna say I'm happy about having done fucked up shit but hell yes am I happy about being—well, yours.

Haru leans over and gives him an invisible cheek-kiss.

Locking my muscles so I don't wiggle in place and weird Iwasaki-san out even more than I already have.

Sorry not sorry!

You should definitely not be sorry for being the best boyfriend in the world. And I'm having so much fun tormenting my old man via being so unrepentantly happy.

As long as it is safe to do so I support you in this. 'Nother little kiss.

I love you.

As before, so again:

It was supposed to be a garden party but it's not warm enough so it has been hastily relocated to a swanky hotel's ballroom, which looks absolutely fabulous and is full of rented potted plants to compensate for the weather and which of course everyone is complaining about. Everyone is also complaining about the catering, because the hotel requires that you pick from their caterer list, and the fact that the food is objectively quite nice doesn't change that it isn't what they were expecting. Grouchy rich people and their cocktails taking it out on the hotel staff is the order of the day.

Iemasa steps out of the car first and doesn't wait for Yutaka to follow him before putting on his best smile and walking up the steps to go greet the Nakano family, who arrived just a moment before they did. "Hideyoshi-san, Akane-san, it's been so long," he says, greeting the parents and completely ignoring the daughter.

What déjà vu, Yutaka says wryly as he holds the door open for a few seconds longer than necessary, pretending he's gotten distracted looking up at the hotel.

Haru sneaks out to stand at his shoulder. He's just... totally ignoring their kid? Is she persona non grata or what?

Oh, no, she's just unimportant and has to make herself relevant for him to pay her any attention, as is the case regarding most other kids here.

He shuts the door behind himself and walks up to the Nakanos, bowing to them but mostly to Aiko. "Nakano-san, great to see you."

She bows back. "I'm so glad you could make it today."

"Aww, really? You're going to make me blush."

"If you hadn't managed to be here, I would be forced to imagine that you were somewhere worse. Prison, perhaps."

"I'll have you know I have never been caught committing a crime."

"Yet."