"Yes, well, what lie are they telling that'll be face-saving when they're going all-in on this like that?"

"It was just an investigation. They wanted to make sure nothing untoward was happening. The kids got a bit too agitated in their ruts, you know how it is, they'll grow up and get over this. Everyone has an embarrassing story from high school."

"Those are face-saving for their families, not themselves."

"Oh, come on, they use their hormones to get out of shit all the time, not taking responsibility is a specialty of theirs."

"Ice cold, man."

"I tell it like it is."

Unfortunately Kokonoe Tochima is, actually, richer than God, which means that he can, actually, find a prosecutor who'll look at the case, and do so at the very end of the deadline so that Inori will 100% have to spend at minimum two days in detainment. The Ōtas try to get him out on bail but the judge refuses because Inori committed the alleged crime repeatedly and might commit it again if released; arguments that it's not yet been determined that what he did was a crime at all as opposed to self-defence and/or a misdemeanour fall flat, because in case it is a crime it's a pretty serious one.

("Bullshit," says Kaiyō in a rare moment of outward irritation. "If he were an alpha he'd have been released on bail, it's understood that alphas just get into fights and that's how it is, but because it's an omega it must be so serious. ...ah, my apologies for the outburst.")

("You have nothing to apologise for, Ōta-san," says Harutsugu. "I'm very aware of how rigged this system is in my favour and in my opinion it requires more rather than fewer colourful words to be properly appreciated.")

Which means that nothing stops Tōkan from having his chat with cousin Dai on Wednesday after school. Dai is already waiting for him there at the upscale tea house they're meeting, and Tōkan is directed to him when he mentions his name.

"Tōkan-kun! It's been so long," says Dai, genially. He looks like a Kokonoe alright, branch family or not, tall and black-haired and broad-shouldered but not too strongly built, in a suit that would make Kokonoe Tochima proud. "How have you been?"

"Well enough, all things considered. How are Taemi and Hikaru doing?" Those being his mother and sister, because of course Tōkan wouldn't be interested in Dai's father, who is not a Kokonoe and who married in.

"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."