"To Ishimaru-san!" A loud voice called out.
"To Ishimaru-san," several other voices repeated.
There was a clinking of glass against glass, and a chorus of claps and cheers, and then the former chatter resumed.
The bar was nearly crowded. Everyone on Kiyotaka's floor had stopped by to celebrate his promotion. He knew that most of them were just there to drink and gossip and catch up with their office friends, but he supposed it was nice enough of them to put in the effort of pretending to like him.
There was Chihiro, at least. And a few of his future "supervision comrades" that had proven to make for decent company. Chihiro herself was the first to admit that she was a lightweight, so she was avoiding the alcohol in favor of a glass full of cola. Kiyotaka had opted for a very light beer. He didn't want a repeat of what had happened the last time he'd gone drinking with his coworkers— getting that plastered again could cost him the promotion.
He could hardly hear himself think. He twisted his engagement ring around on his finger. People occasionally teased him about how antisocial he was being, considering the fact that it was technically his party. He laughed the comments off and explained that he was just thinking.
Chihiro sat down in the barstool beside him. She now had a little basket full of potato wedges.
"Would you like one?" She slid the basket in his direction. He frowned at it for a moment. He normally avoided greasy bar food, but it looked strangely appetizing.
"...Sure," he agreed, picking out the smallest one. "Just one can't hurt."
Chihiro stared at him as he ate his snack. Her expression was uncharacteristically firm.
"I'm going to start force-feeding you if you keep skipping your lunches." Kiyotaka laughed, both incredulously and fearfully, and her brow lowered. "I wasn't joking."
"Okay, okay," Kiyotaka relented. "I won't do that anymore if it upsets you that much. It's just hard to work up much of an appetite with so much going on, you know?"
He adjusted his ring again. Chihiro glanced at it.
"How's the engagement going? I haven't actually heard you talk about your fiancée."
"O-Oh, well... It's sort of a private thing. She's a bit more recognizable than I am, to put it lightly. She's from an upper-class family."
"Is she nice to you?"
"Very."
"...That's good."
Kiyotaka tried not to laugh at that. It was a strange question to ask. Why would he marry someone who wasn't nice to him? He wondered that, for just a moment, before he realized that that didn't mean much coming from a gay man who was planning on marrying a straight woman.
Chihiro convinced him to have a bit more food after that. She'd been right, apparently— Kiyotaka had not been eating enough, and once he did so, he felt a lot better. He managed to be more sociable.
Everyone was being kind to him. He was able to smile and laugh. He had just enough alcohol to get a very slight buzz, and in that state, he was able to convince himself that he was doing the right thing. He could become friends with Chihiro, and Sonia would make an excellent fake wife, and his new job would be great and his parents would leave him alone, and certain men that he refused to name would be better off moving on and forgetting about him.
Everything was fine. Everything was just fine. That was what Kiyotaka told himself as the party entered its full swing. People danced and giggled and watched games and played pool and threw their arms around one another. He switched from beer to soda and had a basket of fries smothered in cheese— the sort of decadent junk food that he never allowed himself to have.
"Come on, Ishimaru!" A coworker prodded, tugging him toward one of the pool tables. "Tonight's your night! Play just one game, will you?"
"...Oh, alright," Kiyotaka laughed. He allowed himself to be pulled onto his feet and followed the other man. The girls around the table clapped and greeted him cheerily. Even if they were faking it, it was nice.
Kiyotaka cleared his head of all other thoughts and moved to line up his shot. And that was when he spotted a familiar face in the doorway. A very solemn face that he had not expected to see.
"Hey, isn't that your dad?" One of the women asked. Kiyotaka gulped and nodded. It certainly was. And Kiyotaka had no idea why he was there. It couldn't possibly be good news.
"...Hang on a moment." He handed the pool cue off to someone else and hurried to the door.
Takaaki Ishimaru was usually serious. He rarely smiled. But Kiyotaka knew how to recognize anger in him. The sight of it gave him pause. He approached the man as politely as he could. He tried not to think about the fact that the last time he'd seen the man so angry, he'd earned himself a slap across the face for an embarrassingly low test score.
"...Dad, what are you doing here?"
Takaaki stepped into the bar and slowed the door behind him without answering, not commenting on the not-so-friendly greeting, took a few steps forward, and quickly eyed the crowd before turning back to his son.
"Dad, you're not answering me. If you're here, where mom—"
"I need to speak with you. It's about Sonia."
Kiyotaka's blood ran cold. He tried to send a signal with his eyes. He tried to tell his father that they should have this conversation elsewhere, where others couldn't hear. Takaaki completely ignored him.
"...What about her?"
Takaaki stared at Kiyotaka, for a long and tense moment, before he sighed heavily and shook his head.
"I don't know how to tell you this, son, but... That fiancée of yours is an adulteress."
Oh god.
"Her parents caught her with another man, and in their own home."
Oh no.
"Right under our noses... How can a person be so disrespectful?"
Oh god, Oh god, Oh god.
This was exactly what Kiyotaka had been terrified of. Sonia had told him so herself— Gundham Tanaka was not an easy man to sway. Of course he wouldn't just stand by and let some other man steal his woman.
But what the hell had happened? How had they both ended up in the Nevermind mansion? What, exactly, had they been doing? Sonia wouldn't have ruined the engagement on purpose, so something must have spiraled out of her control. And this must have just happened, or she likely would have called him about it.
Kiyotaka noticed just then, a bit too late, that a few of his coworkers had heard him and had stopped talking in favor of eavesdropping.
"...Can't we discuss this somewhere more private?"
Once again, he was ignored, and he wasn't about to grab his father and drag him off somewhere. He didn't want to get berated or smacked in front of the people he worked with.
"Is that all you have to say? ...I'd think you would have noticed, son. That girl isn't trustworthy. She never was. Your mother and I have always thought so."
Kiyotaka laughed and rolled his eyes. That wasn't true, and he knew that it wasn't, but Takaaki and Satsuki always had to pretend that they'd seen something coming just so they could scold him about it.
"Oh, did you? I didn't exactly get that impression from you—"
"Need I remind you of to whom you are speaking?" Takaaki's voice was sharp. Kiyotaka fell silent and pursed his lips. He waited. "...In any case, we can't allow this marriage to continue. You are henceforth forbidden from seeing her."
"You don't get to make that decision for me!"
"...What did you say?"
Kiyotaka flinched. What had he just said? Was he finally running out of patience for the way that his father always spoke to him? Even if he was, old habits died hard. He bowed apologetically.
"I-I mean no disrespect, of course, I just... can't stand the thought of never seeing Sonia again! I would at least like to hear some sort of explanation from her!"
"Have patience, and you'll get one. Your mother is on her way to the mansion to get some answers. She's not fond of the idea that the girl intended to swindle us from the beginning—"
"I'm not talking about any of that! I'm talking about me! Why would she do this?!"
Takaaki shrugged.
"If you couldn't hold her full attention, you've only yourself to blame. Perhaps in the future you should put more effort into securing your woman's fancies."
Kiyotaka clenched his jaw shut. Somehow, of course, Takaaki had found a way to make it his fault in a scenario where he'd been allegedly cheated on. If he could somehow get away with, he'd just love to punch the man in the face. Just once. Just to know what it would feel like to turn the tables.
The bar was slowly becoming a bit too quiet, now, as more and more people tuned in to the conversation. Kiyotaka knew that if he scolded his coworkers and told them to mind their own business, he'd never hear the end of it. But the added pressure and the humiliation made him want to crawl into a hole somewhere and never come back out.
"...I guess it's my fault, then," Kiyotaka grumbled. "But at least tell me this— what was going on when they found her?"
"I... beg your pardon?"
"The other man! Gundham! How did he get in? What were they doing? Did he confess to who he was, or say anything about a long-term affair, or was he just doing whatever he could to try and win her back?"
"How exactly do you know his name?!"
"Just answer me, please! I want to understand what's going on—"
"Hold on." Kiyotaka stopped, choking on his words. Takaaki's expression clouded. "...If you absolutely must know, the man came in through the door of her bedroom's balcony, allegedly as an intruder, by climbing up the foliage on the outer wall. Her parents interrupted some kind of quarrel in which he was trying to convince her to stop the wedding and run away with him to some cabin in the woods. ...She's been cheating with some low-born animal rancher."
"He's not a rancher! He runs a rescue." Where did Takaaki get off, describing people as low-born? Kiyotaka had never heard such classist nonsense in his life.
"Once again, you apparently know more about this than your mother and I. And after I came all this way to tell you. ...I have to tell you, son— your reaction is not what I'd have predicted for a man who's been told that his engagement is doomed. I'd have expected you to cry. Do you not even care?"
You'd like to see that, wouldn't you?
"O-Of course I care! It's just—"
"Then why don't you seem surprised?!"
"I-I just want to be sure—"
"Aren't you taking this seriously?! We're talking about a marriage here!"
"I know! I know that it's a big deal, but—"
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you never planned to follow through on your proposal to her!"
"There WAS no proposal! There was never any proposal!"
Kiyotaka couldn't take it any more. His voice had risen to a screech. The entire bar, even the people who had been there before Kiyotaka's office party had arrived, fell into stunned silence. Somewhere, a glass shattered against the floor.
"...Excuse me?"
"You heard me!" Kiyotaka felt tears stinging the corners of his eyes. "We faked the entire thing! We were never even dating! We just wanted to be left alone!"
Takaaki didn't react right away. He gawked, puzzled, at his son, like he was just then seeing him for the first time. And maybe that was true. He seemed to have no real awareness of how much he'd hurt his own child.
"Why..." He paused to collect himself before he tried to speak again. "Why would you do something so absurd? For all this time? Are you telling me that you lied straight to your mother's face? Don't you know how happy she was for you?!"
"Oh, save it. She was just happy that I wouldn't be such an embarrassment anymore!" Kiyotaka's next shout was interrupted, briefly, by the sudden closing of his throat. He forced himself to cough before he continued screaming. "I had no choice because of you! Because you and my mother couldn't just leave me alone! You were constantly on my case! Don't pretend like you don't know— how many goddamn times do I have to tell you that I'm GAY before you understand that I don't want to marry some woman?!"
Kiyotaka felt a familiar sting across his cheek, as soon as those words had left his mouth, that he hadn't felt in years. The shock of it froze him in place for only a second before he reeled back, curled his hand into a fist, and socked his father across the jaw, just like he'd been imagining for years.
There was a gasp that spread through the room. Everyone had heard the thud of the contact. A few barstools screeched as people jumped to their feet to lend some kind of aid.
Time suddenly slowed to a near-stop. Kiyotaka turned, wide-eyed, to look over his shoulder at the silent crowd. He realized two things at once.
One: he had just punched his own father in the face in front of all of his coworkers. Takaaki was still on the ground, where a couple of people were assisting him.
Two: he had accidentally come out of the closet. He'd never told any of the people he worked with, not even Chihiro, about his orientation. And now they all knew.
"...Ishimaru-kun?"
Chihiro's voice. She sounded afraid and confused. Kiyotaka didn't want to wait around to hear any reprimands. He didn't want to give his father an opportunity to strike back or embarrass him any further. He didn't want to be here, surrounded by people he hardly liked, as they judged him for something they couldn't possibly understand. So he left. He fled the bar and crossed the street and ran down the sidewalk. A few voices shouted after him, but no one moved to follow.
He could barely see where he was going, so it came as no surprise when he bumped into someone. He stammered an apology and tried to keep running. Instead, someone gripped his shoulder.
"Little Taka? What're ya doin' out here all by yourself?"
Kiyotaka groaned. Akane. Akane Owari. Mondo's coworker. She was wandering around town with some hulking giant of a man. They both looked concerned. She forcefully turned Kiyotaka to face her.
"Hello, Owari-san. I'm in a bit of a hurry, if you don't mind—"
"You don't look so hot. Where are ya headed?"
"I'm..." He blushed. "I'm just walking!"
"You're in a hurry to walk around aimlessly?" The man pointed out. Kiyotaka glared at him.
"I really have to go."
He wriggled his way out of Akane's grip and bowed. She grinned.
"...Yeah, y'know... I guess I'm not the one ya wanna talk to right now."
Kiyotaka didn't wait for her to elaborate on that. He continued his determined march down the sidewalk and heard the two chuckling fondly at him as he left.
He made it another couple hundred feet. The bar was now far away, a distant spot of light, and he could safely say that no one was coming after him. It was quiet. It was quiet until the silence was interrupted by the loud revving of a motorcycle engine. Kiyotaka turned to glare at the intrusion, and then he noticed the bike slowing to a halt beside him. He stopped walking.
As soon as the motorcycle ceased its movements, the driver kicked the stand out and moved to unbuckle his helmet. He shook out his long hair, tied back in a low-hanging but right little bun, and waved.
Mondo. Akane must have called and sent for him.
"...You're here."
Kiyotaka's voice was small and disbelieving. Normally he greeted Mondo in a scolding tone. The trucker— or, rather, the biker— smiled warmly at him. Friendly. No ulterior motives. At least, not any that plainly showed on his face.
"I am." He shrugged. Like it was nothing. Kiyotaka didn't understand.
"Th-The last time we saw one another, I more or less told you to fuck off and leave me alone."
Mondo laughed at the way that profanity sounded coming from Kiyotaka's vocal chords. It was still a bit unnatural. He'd have to work on it, he supposed.
"Ya kinda did," Mondo agreed. So he did remember that. Temporary amnesia was dismissed from Kiyotaka's list of Mondo's possible motivations.
"...And you're here."
Mondo snorted and rolled his eyes.
"In case you forgot, I told ya to call me if ya needed anythin'. And, uh..." Mondo looked back towards where the bar was to make sure that no one else was following, and then he gave Kiyotaka a concerned look. "I'll be honest: ya look like shit. The fuck happened? When was the last time ya slept?"
At any other time, Kiyotaka would have protested Mondo's crude description of his appearance. But he had come all this way even knowing that Kiyotaka probably wouldn't return his advances, and his motorcycle offered a way out of this hell. An escape from it all, however temporary. He could get away just long enough to clear his head, at least.
Kiyotaka took a deep breath, steadying the pounding of his heart, and nodded.
"You're right. I'm very tired. ...Let's get out of here." God, I've missed you, he added in his mind.
Mondo patted the seat behind him.
"Well... Come on. Got a spare helmet in the side bag."
"What am I supposed to hold on to?"
Mondo grinned.
"Me, of course."
Kiyotaka sighed. Of course.
Despite the awkwardness of it all, Kiyotaka took a seat and secured his helmet, and then he wrapped his arms around Mondo. He could feel his chest rising and falling, steady and even and comforting.
And then they drove away, leaving everything else behind.