"Good, good. Mother's restaurant is going swimmingly, it got covered on Monthly in May, can you believe? She was so proud. And Hikaru recently presented her first solo flute recital, it was beautiful, you should've come."

Well, he didn't get invited, did he.

...

..........

Augh, if Dai is doing this on purpose he is doing it masterfully, Tōkan is having a lot of trouble holding on to his anger and contempt here when Dai insists on, on, on being so human. How can he possibly blame Dai? Tōkan's tried to escape his father's clutches all his life but his own future has never been in doubt, even a disowned Kokonoe heir is still a Kokonoe, in some cases being disowned would even be a plus, and meanwhile Dai is... Dai just wants to have what Tōkan has always taken for granted.

Goddamnit, Kokonoe.

Goddamnit, Father.

"What about Ichigo-san, his company doing alright?"

Dai looks—surprised, genuinely surprised, and it takes him a second or two to recover his composure and cheer. "Father is doing good, too, yes. His company's most recent evaluation put it at seven hundred and eighty million American dollars in their stock market."

"...that's very impressive. Do you think he'll get to that so-called unicorn status by next year? He's been growing very quickly, hasn't he?"

"He has! And, well, I don't know, I wouldn't want to jinx it, but it looks very promising. He got a few new investors willing to bet on him after this latest valuation and—" He stops himself and settles back down, having noticed midsentence he was almost halfway to standing up. "Anyway, have you been here before? If not I have many recommendations, this is one of my favourite places."

"I haven't, no! Please, just tell me what I should order to have the best experience, here, I am but your humble kōhai."

These teas here are his favourite and depending on which Tōkan chooses Dai has different suggestions for what to have with it, like these rice crackers here or those cakes. He can go on at length about what he likes about each option and combination.

Truly the son of a professional restaurateur.

"And what are you doing next year?" he asks after they've ordered.

"—as in, university, you mean? I got accepted into Yale Management and Stanford Business and I'm not sure which I should pick, and also I've been rethinking leaving the country..."

Tōkan hates his father so much, this is fucking heartbreaking. This boy is trying so hard, has tried so hard all his life, and then Kokonoe Tochima dangles this conditional offer in front of him with the full understanding that Tōkan himself could just snatch this from him, and does Dai even want to be the Kokonoe heir or is this just his parents?

"Getting to pick between Yale and Stanford is also very impressive, being an overachiever must run in the family."

"Oh, it's not all that, you know, family connections help a lot, too."

"That I know. And are any universities here in Japan also vying for your brains, then?"

"...well, uh, a couple, but I'm not sure exactly which I'll pick if I stay..."

Sigh. "Fine, elephant in the room: I'd love it if you became my father's heir."

"—what?"

"I do not want to be his heir, I've never wanted to be his heir, and I know what it looks like from your perspective, but just—you'd be a much better pick. Stanford Business and Yale Management? Seriously? And Father is still even remotely considering me? This is extremely stupid, I've done nothing to deserve this except being a result of his not so happy accident, you deserve it more."

"I, I mean, you're his son—"

"Fuck that."

Dai winces at the outburst and looks away.

"No, look, Dai, this is shitty. My father is doing a shitty thing to you, because he is a shitty person—"

Dai actually gasps and looks around to make sure no one's heard this. They're in a booth behind closed doors so of course no one did, but still.

"No, look, he really is. He goes, 'hey, you can be my heir if my unruly son doesn't shape up but if he does then bye bye I guess, by the way put your plans to go to the States on hold while I play this game'. That's shitty. That's a shitty thing to do. I think you should go to Yale, or Stanford, or wherever you want to go to, and then come back and be his heir instead of me."

Wow uh Dai was not prepared to get a faceful of Kokonoe Tōkan like this and he's not sure what to... do... or say. "H-have you, um. Told him. You feel this way?"

"Only my entire life."

"Isn't it a bit early to, uh. I mean, you. You're young, are you sure this wouldn't be a mistake, you can't really reown someone you disowned..."