8

I can’t take Yano anymore.  I saw him hitting Nino’s head, so I attacked him “Stop!!!” I gave him a strong punch.

            Of course that was a dream; I didn’t have much courage to do that.

            At school I often saw my brother, even during break time. One time I asked Chen and Maki to take our lunch in cafeteria 2 to see how Nino’s doing. To my surprise I saw him with his new hair style.

 “What happened to his hair?” asked Maki as she saw Nino with Yano’s group (with Yui).

  Nino spotted us  “Mao-nee!!!”

“Don’t call them!” Yano commanded. “I’m not allowing you to mingle with others here at school, understand?”

  “Hai.” Nino had no choice but to follow Yano.

That evening I heard a bad news from my brother.

“What? He asked you to find him a girl friend?”

“You’re right nee-chan” said Nino telling what happened. “A while ago Yano told that his father wants him to marry a fat girl, he said no saying he has a girl friend, but he doesn’t really have a girlfriend.”

“That’s why he asked you to find him girl friend, to solve his own mess? He’s really cruel!” I bit out cursing that Yano.

“Its okay nee-chan, I think it’s easy to do, actually he gave me list of his criteria.” Nino showed me the list.

“I only have two days; do you think I can make it?”

“I don’t have any idea” I responded. “But don’t worry, I’ll help you.”

“Hontou nee-chan? Arigatou!” exclaimed Nino, hugging me.

“Of course Nino, I’m your sister, I must help you” I said. “By the way, what happen to your hair?”

“According to Haruma having new hair style is cool, what do you think?”

I didn’t reply.

The next day, during break time I and Nino looked around to find the perfect girlfriend for Yano.  We asked the help of Shun.

“Here’s the list of Yama gakuen’s top girls” said Shun giving a piece of paper.

I first read it. “As what I expected, Rina Sawajiri is the no. 1, next is Yui Aragaki and the 3^rd one is… Mimi Aoyama?”

“Yeah, it’s Mimi, our cousin” said Shun.

“This is a big help” I uttered. “Thank you so much, President Shun.”

“Anytime.”

*

 “Yano, we found you a girl friend” I said as we entered their designated room. Yano was there together with Jin, Haruma, Yamapi and Rina.

“Pardon?” uttered Yano, giving creepy stare. I remembered he told us to call him BOSS.

“I mean, Boss…” I corrected. “We’re here to tell we found you a girl friend”

“Really?” exclaimed Rina, excited to hear our news, “Who is she, tell us.”

“It’s you!” I said.  Everybody became silent and then laughed together.

“Nee-chan, why do you choose Ms Rina?” asked Nino.

“Because according to the criteria, the perfect girlfriend must come from top bosses family, must be intelligent, kind and pretty- Ms. Rina has it all.”

“But I don’t have knowledge in archery.  If I’m not mistaken it is included in Yano’s criteria.” said Rina.

So I checked it. “Yeah, you’re right.” I can’t believe I didn’t notice it.

“It means you failed” Yano insisted.

“Wait” AKanishi Jin interfered “I heard you are Hiroki Matsuzawa’s relative, so I guess you know archery, right?” Jin was talking to me.

“Yeah, Mao-nee is good in Archery, she belongs in Archery club” responded Nino.

“That’s good” said Haruma “Maybe Mao can pass Yano’s taste.”

“I agree!” said Rina with a smile.

“Oi-Oi! Stop talking non-sense” Yano was annoyed. He started to mock me and Nino. “Stupid siblings!”

A minute later, the BOSS - with some of his body guards entered the room. Everybody became silent. and took a bow. Nino and I forced to do the same.

“W-what are you doing here, boss?” asked Yano.  He was so nervous.

Like Yano, the boss was handsome. He had a muscular body-just like an action super star.

“I drop by to see your girl friend” he said.

Yano turned blue “M-my girl friend?”

“Yes, where is she?”

“Actually boss –she is…” Yano didn’t know what to say.

“Don’t tell me, you lied when you say you have girl friend…”

“NO! Of course not!” Yano was out of words. To save him Jin faced the boss. “Boss, forgive Yano if he’s not comfortable, it just happen that his girl friend is from Village 3.”

“That’s right! That’s right!” Rina, Yamapi and Haruma nodded, then all of a sudden, grabbed me. “She’s Yano’s girl friend- she’s Mao Matsuzawa”

The boss gave me intense look, “She’s Matsuzawa?”

“Hai!” said Jin “Mao is the long lost relative of our Hiroki Matsuzawa.”

“”So, it’s you-“The boss turned excited. He clutched my shoulder. “I want you to know, your uncle was a great adviser. I’m glad because you’re my son’s girl friend.”

“It’s a misunderstanding” I thought.

“If you have time, see me in my house, I’ll be glad to tell stories with you” the boss said then he faced his son. “Yano, I’m sorry because I doubt you- don’t worry, I’ll cancel the engagement.”

In the end, the boss left the school with smiling face.

“WHY DID YOU SAY THAT?” I and Yano grumbled.

“This girl? My girl friend? Is this the end of the world?” exclaimed Yano.

“Me too, I don’t like you- I HATE you!” I yelled facing Yano.

“I HATE YOU TOO!” Yano responded.

“QUIET!” shouted Nino. It worked, we stopped talking. “Ah, I mean let’s talk about this in low tone.”

“Nino is right” said Jin “and besides what’s wrong in pretending? This is our only way to save you Yano.”

“Gomen Yano!” said Rina. Actually we’re thinking about this since yesterday because we thought Mao can please our boss since she is connected with Hiroki Matsuzawa.”

“I get the point…” said Yano “I left with no choice but to agree, right?”

“Wait-Wait!” I interfered. “Why are you deciding without my consent?”

“You too have no choice” Yano insisted, “Our boss invited you, you need to accept that or else he’ll discover our lie and punish ALL OF US.”

“This can’t be happening!” I cried.

I narrated what happened to my friends.

“Don’t worry Mao, I’ll be there when you visit our boss” said Chen

“Arigatou, Chen! But I’m still nervous.”

“Daijoubu, our boss is kind hearted”

“But what if he figures it out?” I mumbled.

“Don’t worry Mao, we’ll pray for you!” said Maki.

I was really nervous until the day of visitation. Yano picked me in our house. My parents were shocked.  They can’t imagine my boyfriend to be the next leader of the clan.

When I arrived at Village 1, I found myself loss of words. Yano’s home was huge and old style.

“Are you amaze?” asked Yano

“Yeah, maybe” I said, doubted. As I entered and face the boss, I had a feeling of having heart attack, but became relieve when we started conversing.

I was about to go home with Chen when I noticed a big portrait on the wall.

“Who is she?” I asked.

“She’s Yukie Matsumoto, the adopted daughter of our boss” Chen answered. “She‘s also the daughter of our old Boss”

“She’s pretty, where is she now?”

“She’s studying in Europe but don’t be fooled Mao, she’s not really gorgeous. Most of the people here are saying she became insane after the death of her family. Actually he burned their entire family picture that’s why she had quarreled with Yano.”

That was the first time I heard history about the clan. I became interested and asked Chen to tell more.

 “The previous leader of the Clan was assassinated together with his wife and two children. According to the investigation it was an outside group who did it.  As of now they were brutally punished. Although the crime was close Ms Yukie is obviously not contented, maybe because she can’t move on.”

I also wanted to ask why Yano and Ms Yukie had quarreled but I felt I wasn’t in the place to dig it up so I kept quiet.

“Oh, my bag!” I remembered, I left my bag at the leaving rom.

“I’ll get it for you” Chen offered.

“No, let me get it.”

“Are you sure? Then I’ll wait you in the car.”

I thought I could remember where the living room was, but I found myself lost.

“Where am I?” I continued in walking until I found a room with many stuff toys, dress and jewelries. “Is this a department store?”

“What are you doing here?” Yano showed up.

“Ah Yano, I mean Boss I forgot my bag and happen to lost here.”

“Here’s your bag!” Yano threw it to me “Let’s go, I’ll bring you home.”

“Wait, where are we? I mean this room…”

“This is Erika’s room” said Yano.

“Erika?”

“Erika Yamato, the daughter of our previous boss.”

“She was dead, right?”

“No she isn’t! She’s just missing” Yano insisted.

Because of his answer I realized the reason why he and Ms Yukie had a quarrel.  Yano still believed Erika was alive, unlike Yukie who burned all of her pictures.

“Boss, is Erika your best friend?” I was curious so I asked.

“We’re more than that” replied Yano. “Erika is pretty, intelligent and good in archery. I wanted to keep her memories but everybody stopped me so I created this room.  These are my gifts for her.”

That day, I learned about Erika Yamato, Yano’s IDEAL girl and FIRST LOVE.