Sorry for this update literally taking forever. If you want to hear the explanation, I'll have it down below after the chapter. For now, I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 13

"Nanako!" A short woman who had the same violet hair as Nanako, only pulled back into an elaborate bun, said excitedly as we entered through the front door of Nanako's house. Actually, house would be a complete understatement, because Nanako lived inside of a gigantic mansion that made my jaw drop at its sheer size and impressiveness.

"You can stop staring now." Maya whispered in my ear, as I realized that my mouth was still hanging open in awe at the sight in front of me, and I quickly clamped my lips together, watching as Nanako greeted the woman, who I realized immediately was her mother.

"Nice to see you again, Maya-chan. Same to you, Ami-chan." Nanako's mother said, with an exuberance that made me think of my own mother, before she turned her attention to me.

"This is Takasu Ryuuji." Nanako introduced, "He's Ami's boy-, I mean, our friend from school!" She quickly corrected, just barely catching her mistake. We had just barely made it through the front doors, and we had almost revealed the truth to Nanako's mom. Things definitely could be going better.

However, it seemed like she barely noticed her daughter's misstep, and merely shuffled over to me with a smile, "Oh, it's nice to meet another one of Nanako's friends from school. I'm Kashii Azumi, Nanako's mother."

"Nice to meet you, Kashii-san." I replied, marveling at how youthful the woman looked, with her elegant features bearing more than a slight resemblance to Nanako's own.

"Mother, do you know if Father is home from his trip yet?" Nanako asked, as Azumi shook her head.

"Sorry, his flight got delayed, so he won't be back until tomorrow morning." She sighed, before she quirked an eyebrow at Nanako's question, "Did you need to talk to him about something?"

Nanako shook her head vigorously. Yeah, I know, it wasn't exactly the most subtle move, but Azumi didn't really seem to pay it much heed.

"Well, since your friends are already here, why don't they stay for the night? I'll have someone prepare the guest rooms, and some spare clothes." She suggested, giving us no time to protest before we were carted off by a small army of servants down what seemed like an endless maze of halls, finally arriving at a set of ornate doors that opened up to reveal the most luxurious room that I had ever seen in my life.

Seriously, what had I gotten myself into?

"Hey, Mom, I don't think that I'm going to make it home tonight." I sighed into my cell phone, having already changed into clothes that Azumi had provided me, which included shorts and an incredibly comfortable t-shirt. I really did have to ask the servants about what type of fabric softener they used, and whether or not I would be able to find it on sale…right. Off topic.

"I think that we should still have some leftovers from last night in the fridge, so heat them up if you need to eat something before your shift." I began rambling on, making sure that I covered everything that she would inevitably forget to do. I swear, it was like I was the parent here.

"All right, have fun, Ryuu-chan!" Mom replied in her usual bubbly tone, before hanging up the phone, cutting me off mid-instruction. Well, at least I could trust her to remember to lock the house when she left. The rest, I could probably handle by myself tomorrow.

As I stuffed my cell phone into my pants, I looked towards Ami, who was busy with a phone call of her own, but almost as soon as our eyes met, she suddenly looked away and walked out of the room, leaving me alone with Maya, who was busy drying off her hair, having just taken a shower. Not that that detail really mattered. No really, it didn't matter.

"So, you're wondering what's going on with Ami, aren't you?" She asked, dropping the towel from her hands, revealing her damp hair, sticking together in clumps.

"Am I really that obvious?" I said absentmindedly, my thoughts now stuck on Ami's secretive calls. Who could she be calling, and why couldn't she talk to them when I was around? Was I just being paranoid here?

"You're not very good at hiding your expressions. Or lying." Maya added, as my throat went dry at her second comment.

"Maya-san…" I trailed off, not knowing what to say. What could I say? That I was sorry for trying not to hurt your feelings, because I can't possibly think that you are as beautiful as your best friend? I'm pretty sure that would have been a real downer of a statement to make.

Maya shook her head, a few stray droplets of water smacking me in the face, "Don't apologize. Really. I'm just teasing you."

"You could have made that clear." I grumbled, internally relieved at her words.

Normally, I would expect Maya to laugh or something at my tone, but instead, she just sat in place, and looked down into her lap, "You probably hate me, don't you?"

Shocked at her words, I immediately shook my head, "That's not true."

Maya studied my face for a minute and sighed, "I'm sorry. Sometimes, it just feels like no one wants me. Not my father, not Kitamura, not you. It's hard to feel confident in yourself when you're constantly being rejected."

"You have to know that people want you around. There are so many people who look forward to seeing you every day. Ami, Nanako…" I trailed off.

"But not you." She said pointedly, the icy words stabbing into my like daggers.

I shook my head again, "No, I didn't say it like that."

"But you were thinking it, weren't you? You were thinking that you hate me, because I'm hurting your relationship with Ami. That maybe I'm the reason why Ami can't let you listen to her calls anymore." Maya retorted with increasing volume, before she caught herself.

"I could never hate you." I said, completely earnest in my response. It was true. I could not hate Maya, no matter how much she laughed at my expense, or how badly she had treated me when we had first met. I knew that she was just like me, someone who didn't exactly have the best circumstances, who was making do with what she had. I couldn't hate someone like that. Not when I knew how alike we really were.

Maya paused a beat, "So maybe, I overcompensated for how much I hate myself. Because I know that I am a petty, jealous person who, for once, wants Ami to be the one stuck lusting after something that she can't have. Who hates being the supporting actress, and who wants the production to center around her, for once in her life."

"Who wants to steal Ami's boyfriend." She added in a softer tone. At this, a stifling silence came over us, the gravity of her words finally dawning on me.

"Anyways," She began, cutting me off before I could say anything in return, "I think that I'd better tell you some things for tomorrow."

"All right." I nodded my head hard enough to give a normal person whiplash, just glad to be on a different topic. However, even before Maya told me anything, I could tell that I wasn't going to like what I was about to hear, if her solemn expression was any indication.

"Nanako's parents are pretty traditional." Maya explained, "And she…isn't, I guess, would be the best way to put it."

"This already doesn't sound good." I muttered to myself, briefly wondering what had possessed me to agree to do this in the first place. Did I have some sort of death wish or something?

"Her parents have set her up with someone that she is supposed to marry when she graduates. Some kind of marriage contract, or something like that." Maya said, "And Nanako isn't happy about it."

"Has she talked to her parents about it yet?" I asked, remembering Azumi. If there was anyone who could help out Nanako, it would be her mother, wouldn't it?

Unfortunately for me, Maya shook her head, "If you knew her family, you would know that it's not that simple."

"So that's why she needs me?" I asked, almost afraid to hear Maya's answer.

"Yeah."

Just what I was afraid of.

"So…what is the meaning of this?"

I gulped.

Nanako flinched, but besides that, she kept her posture ramrod straight and cleared her throat.

"F-father, I need to tell you something." She began weakly, looking over at me for a second, before she looked back at the man seated across from us, now with a new confidence in her eyes, "I cannot agree to the terms of my marriage."

Kashii Hiroto glared at me with eyes that nearly seared my skin with their intensity. I think that I was starting to understand why Nanako would have needed help talking to a man like this. Throwing in the fact that he had a few inches on me height-wise definitely didn't help matters. The man was just flat out intimidating.

However, knowing that Nanako was now relying on me, I did my best attempt at a glare in return. This was probably the first time that I was ever thankful for my scary looks. Although, from the looks of it, my attempt to stare Hiroto down wasn't really having its intended effect. Instead, it seemed like I was making him more amused than anything else.

"You can't be serious, right now. Do you really expect me to budge for him?" Hiroto asked, barely holding back a condescending smirk, "This must be a joke."

From beside me, I heard a slight chuckle from a certain brown haired girl, and I briefly wondered why Nanako had insisted that Maya and Ami sit with us. It seemed like the two of them, especially Maya, were taking this as an opportunity to laugh at me. How exactly were they helping our case?

"Father," Nanako replied, snatching up my arm, and pulling it up against her chest, nearly making me fall over with the force of her action, "I am going to leave Japan with Ryuuji once we graduate from high school, and you will not stop us."

At Nanako's words, my eyes widened. Wait, she had never told me about this! She was planning to leave Japan after graduation? Evidently, she had not told Ami, because she had the same exact reaction as I did, although Maya did not so much as blink at the announcement.

Obviously, at the news, Hiroto did not look pleased. Actually, he looked flat out furious. Which meant that his opinion of me dropped even lower, if such a thing was even possible.

Yeah, I was really beginning to regret ever agreeing to Nanako's request.

"You are going to do no such thing! And you!" Hiroto jabbed a finger in my direction, "Don't think that you are just going to walk out of here with my daughter like this. Do you have any idea who I am?"

I was beginning to. Maya mentioned something to me about an investment corporation, and I could clearly picture the man in some board meeting, commanding the respect of everyone in the room.

Clearly, I had made a wrong choice in choosing to oppose him.

"Nanako, what made you think that I would ever agree to let you out of your marriage for this…worm?" Hiroto asked, while I took the insult lying down. It wasn't like arguing was going to get me anywhere right now. Regardless of what I had to say, the man hated my guts.

"He isn't even your boyfriend, is he?" Hiroto said, sizing me up with his eyes. His narrowed, piercing eyes that sent a shudder down my spine.

I exchanged a brief look with Nanako, whose eyes had widened at Hiroto's words. It was clear that our "plan," ill-conceived as it was, had fallen apart, especially now since Hiroto had seen through our fake relationship. Not that I had thought that we were very convincing in the first place.

However, to my surprise, a voice behind me spoke up next.

"So what if he isn't?"

Ami stood up from her seat, a ferocious glint in her eyes that I had never seen before, except for one other time. And that time had only come when she had been pushed to her limit by her stalker, far before any of this craziness had happened.

"You can see that Nanako is not happy with things. She was willing to go through the trouble of pretending to have a boyfriend, just so she could confront you about forcing her to live a life that she has no say in. Is this really what a loving parent would do?" Ami asked pointedly, as Hiroto fell silent at her words.

Nanako followed Ami's lead, and stood from her seat as well. She glanced at me for a second, before she took a deep breath and composed herself, "Father, I am sorry for this, but I intend to live my own life for as long as I can. Perhaps one day, I will be ready to marry, but that day will not come until far after my graduation, and it certainly will not be through a contract."

Hiroto and Azumi both stared at Nanako, then at me in shocked silence. Nanako breathed deeply, sitting back down, a defiant look in her eyes. After what seemed like an eternity, Hiroto cleared his throat, and instinctively, I flinched at his action.

"Your mother and I need a moment to talk about this." He said slowly, almost as if he were cautiously measuring out each words as he spoke.

As we nodded and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind us, I realized that my hand had been clinched into a tight fist for the entire exchange. I hadn't realized exactly how hard my heart had been beating either. It felt like I had a jackhammer pounding away in my chest.

"Wow, I can't believe I did that." Nanako breathed out shakily, gasping a sigh of relief.

"I have to be honest. I really didn't think that you had it in you." Maya said, placing a hand on Nanako's shoulder, "But I think that you couldn't have done a better job of telling them how you felt."

Nanako nodded softly, looking to me and Ami, "Thank you for helping me with this. I really couldn't have done this without you two."

Before any of us could reply, the door creaked open, revealing Hiroto, with a grimace on his face that made my heart sink. Had we failed? What was he going to do now?

With a pained demeanor, he spoke, "Nanako. Your mother and I spoke about what you said…and I can understand your feelings. It was unfair of us to plan your life like we did, so we've decided that we will postpone the arrangement indefinitely."

At this, I felt a sense of relief wash over me. While it didn't seem like Hiroto had completely abandoned the idea of an arranged marriage for Nanako, at least he was willing to put it aside and talk about it before moving forward. It was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

"Thank you, Father. I apologize for lying to you and involving everyone else. I should have spoken to you when I first felt uncomfortable with it." Nanako said, as Hiroto shook his head.

"No, without seeing your friends and how much they cared for you, I probably would not have wanted to listen. I didn't realize the kind of life that I would have been taking away from you without knowing them." He said, with most of his words directed at Ami.

I smiled at her, and Hiroto placed a hand on his chin in thought.

"So, the two of you are dating, aren't you?" He asked, gesturing at me and Ami.

"H-how did you know?" I stammered, surprised by his sudden observation.

"There was something about the way that you two were looking at each other. And how she came to your defense back there. It didn't seem like you were just friends." He replied.

"No, they aren't." Maya said, half wistfully, half bitterly.

And instantly, I felt my heart drop.

Sorry for how long that chapter took. I'm a high school student, and I've actually been working on my applications for college for the last few months, something that hasn't given me any time to write, or even think about updating my stories. It was a really long and arduous process, but luckily, I heard back from my early application last week, and I found out that I had been accepted into Georgetown University!

So now, I will (hopefully) have more time to write again, and update more frequently, although I might find myself swamped from time to time with the whole college thing.

With that in mind, if you guys have any thoughts on what you want to see, or what I can work on, please let me know! I've still got a few more chapters to go after this, so hopefully you guys will stick around with me!

Thanks for reading!