27.) Kenichi's Birthday

Monday, March 1st, 2021

Mina spots Toru with Kaya, Sora, Atsushi, Kaname, Kosuke, and Hoshi and starts making her way over to them with a smile. "Hey, y'all made it. So good to see you." She tells them happily, pulling Kaya and Toru in for a hug simultaneously then hugging Sora. "Hey Mina, so nice to see you. This is my son Kaname, his husband Kosuke, and their little girl Hoshi." Sora introduces, gesturing to each one in turn.

"Hoshi, girl. You are so beautiful. We red headed ladies are always a sight to behold. Mina tells her with a large smile, seeing Hoshi hide a little behind Kosuke's leg. "Sorry, they said she may start to get shy around others she isn't familiar with as she became closer to our family but that most kids grow out of it when they are no longer concerned they may wind up back at the orphanage." Kaname tells her.

"Oh that's more than alright. I don't mind. It's very nice to meet you boys, I've heard nothing but good things. I especially heard that Kosuke is the best baker in all of Georgia." Mina smiles at him. "What? Me? I don't know about that. Better than my husband, sure." He says, giving Kaname a teasing smile. "You're the best in the world." Kaname replies, smiling at his husband's pink cheeks.

Toru who'd been watching the interaction with amusement suddenly notices that Kaya is fidgeting and looking around next to him. He frowns a little, thinking of the conversation the two had last night. He thought it might be best to finally discuss his father with her seeing as they were expected at both his company birthday today, where there were hundreds of employees, but later for family dinner as well.

He hadn't expected his father to want to meet Kaya for some time, not having bothered to meet Aimi until Toru said he was going to propose. Kaya, who already had a small fear of Kenichi from seeing his domineering stances in business magazine photos, only found herself more nervous to meet the man after Toru told her that while he loves and respects his dad, they've often butted heads and have difficulty getting along.

While it was true that Toru had come to admire some of his fathers old-fashioned ideals such as how to be a good husband or partner, doing your best to dress properly for each occasion, and even much of his business advice. It was also accurate that his father could be controlling and didn't like the idea of a man and woman living together if they weren't married.

It was the biggest reason he felt he should explain his father and his relationship with him to her, he needed her to understand that he's very happy to be living with her now, but his father mustn't know. This of course led to Kaya asking if there were any other things they'd fought about and bringing up how she'd noted he'd mentioned a few times his need to prove he could be CEO and even how he'd handled Tama's pregnancy.

He told her that their more recent arguments were things his father turned out to be right about, like the issue with Toru's drinking and whoring around town. He said the last big argument they'd had was about his prenup with Aimi. His father wasn't happy that she grew up in the public school system and only got into Aoba Joshi on a scholarship. He looked down on her and insisted she may only want Toru for financial stability rather than loving him.

Toru gave Kaya's hand a little squeeze, then shined a bright smile at her when she looked up at him. "It's ok." He mouths, happy that she seems a little more calm now. "Anyway, my long time best friend Shira is here with her husband Haru and Toru's best friend Hajime. Hajime mostly just wants to go home I think though, this is the first time he's left Hikari and the Ikigai." Mina tells them.

Kaya nods in understanding. "Hajime loves his family. I would imagine he'd much rather be back home with them." Toru lets out next to her, all eyes landing on him. "What?" He asks. "Nothing sweet Toru, just surprised one who avoids having babies himself would have thought of such an insight." His mother teases.

Toru pouts at her and mutters under his breath that he's not an idiot and knows Hajime and wants kids one day, but everyone ignores him. Following Mina across the park where Kenichi's corporate party is being held, Kaya looks around at the bounce houses and food stalls set up all free of charge for their employees and wonders if maybe Kenichi isn't so bad if he's holding a large party for his employees on his birthday.

Toru told her they have several such events for the employees of Seijoh Corp every year, and that he'd been known to skip them the last several years. Kaya tried to concentrate on this information as the reason everyone kept staring in their direction and not because they were judging her as not good enough to be there with him.

It didn't take a genius to see they were a couple, as they were holding hands and Toru insisted on dressing similarly for her first time going to a large event such as this with him. Though Toru didn't often wear jeans, today he was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans that matched Kaya's, and they both wore a white long sleeve turtleneck shirt under their Harry Potter couples shirts. Kaya placed her hair in a high ponytail and both decided to wear their glasses today.

Toru lifts Kaya's hand to his face and gives it a light kiss across the knuckles, a smile on his face when she looks up at him. Before she could say anything to him, she heard Mina introducing her family to the Iwaizumi family. She turned to look at everyone and spotted Hajime observing her and Toru with his arms crossed and a knowing grin on his face.

Once Mina stops speaking, Kaya closes the space between her and Hajime and hugs him. "How's Ikigai?" She asks happily as she releases him. "She's great! Looking around at things more and more everyday. Her cute little innocent face stares up at me when I feed her and she wraps her tiny fist around my finger and it makes me feel like the most important person in the world." He gushes.

"I want to feed her." Toru pouts, looking at Hajime with his bottom lip poked out. "And you better be happy you're my best friend or I'd kill you for touching my woman." He adds. Hajime just rolls his eyes and hugs Kaya again, this time giving Toru an 'I dare you to' stare. Toru pulls Kaya away and wraps his arms around her waist and places his chin on the top of her head.

"Mine." He says, a half joking air about the way he says it, the three friends laughing softly together. "Sorry, sorry. I'm not very good at pretending to be jealous." Toru chuckles, kissing Kaya's cheek but not letting go of her.

"Really Toru, PDA? What if your father sees?" Mina scolds. "Let him see." He huffs in reply. Mina just gives her son a pleading look and he reluctantly lets go of his girlfriend. "This is bullshit." He mutters under his breath. Kaya looks over at Mina with concern. "We were holding hands before. And what about me hugging Hajime?" She asks of Mina, nervously.

Mina smiles at her reassuringly and gives a little nod. "He has never minded a quick hug between family or friends, as long as it isn't lingering or two men hugging if they are straight. He's also ok with hand holding between married and engaged couples, but he knows his son well enough to know that he won't follow that and expects it so it shouldn't start a fight." She tells her.

Kaya swallows hard and takes a small step away from Toru and his face falls. "I'll make it up to you later." She whispers, and he brightens back up before leaning over to whisper in her ear. "Does that mean I can try to get you off three times this time?" He asks. Kaya's eyes go wide and she looks around to make sure no one heard what he'd said then gives him a small nod.

"Pretty sure we don't want to know what was just agreed to." Sora observes, turning her attention to Hajime. "It really is nice to meet you. Kaya and Toru talk very highly of you. But um, you got any pictures of the baby?" She asks hopefully. "Oh you've done it now." Haru chuckles. "He secretly wants people to ask to see pictures of her so he can show her off like the proud papa he is." He tells her with a light laugh.

Hajime ignores his father and pulls out his phone, He, Sora, Kaname, and Kosuke cooing together over dozens of shots of the newborn ranging from her sleeping, being fed by her father, in her mothers arms, even in her baby bath with a washcloth covering her lower half for modesty sake. "She's beautiful. As is your wife." Kaname compliments, a proud smile spreads on Hajime's face.

"I'm a lucky man. I wouldn't have met my lovely wife if not for being dragged to Macon by Toru. He wanted to go down there and bitch out this kid he used to know that would follow him around asking to learn volleyball techniques from him and when I tried to stick up for the kid her brother Koushi was nice enough to invite me over for dinner later, minus Toru.

"I was pretty pissed at Toru for the way he treated Tobio and wanted a little space from him so I accepted. I'd never seen someone so beautiful. I practically begged her for her number. It's why I went to college in Macon.

"She and I started dating, but she was still a Junior in high school my freshman year of college. Her father wasn't happy with it at first, but he relented when I insisted that anytime I spent with her be chaperoned in order to protect her virtuous reputation.

"On our wedding day, my father-in-law shook my hand and told me he was happy his daughter had fallen for a gentleman and that he was sorry he'd ever assumed I was just some sex crazed 18 year old after his precious daughter.

"Even though our ages were close enough I wouldn't have gotten in legal trouble, I never did try to get her to have sex with me. It was actually her that came after me late in her first semester at college." He chuckles.

Sora just watches Hajime, listening to his story with a soft smile while Atsushi sighes deeply. "Can you young good looking men please refrain from making my wife fall a little in love with you. Toru and the opening of the doors, pulling out chairs, always being so thoughtful of Kaya's feelings. Now you and your sweet how you met your wife story. She's already harping on this old dog to learn new tricks." He confesses, everyone laughing around him.

Haru places a hand on Atsushi's shoulder and looks him dead in the eye. "If it makes you feel any better, I had to go find Kenichi and beg him to help me learn how to woo Shira. She liked me well enough, but Mina here was already engaged to Kenichi and Shira would tell me that I didn't value her as highly as Kenichi valued Mina and maybe I wasn't marriage material." He confesses.

Atsushi nods seriously at Haru while Sora wraps her arms around her husband. "I'll always love you no matter what. I'm only saying it would be nice to have dates again and for you to open doors for me. Make me feel special." She explains while her husband snakes an arm around her. "I took you out for Valentine's day didn't I? I won't have it said I don't love and value my wife." He huffs, jokingly. Sora smiles at him. "It was a lovely evening." She soothes.

Soon everyone is sitting around, enjoying the grilled burgers and hotdogs provided for the party. Toru, Kaya, the Moniwa's, and the Iwaizumi's all sit together while Mina took off to be by her husband's side and Hajime left after getting a call from Hikari.

After eating Kaname and Kosuke take Hoshi over to play on the bounce castles, which soon finds everyone else from their table coming over to watch her enjoy her time with a smile on their face.

The employees of Seijoh Corp start to clear out around 3:00 and Toru decides with the park now being mostly empty to take off his shoes and join Hoshi in one of the bigger bounce houses she was unable to use when they were filled with larger kids. Kaya watches them with a smile on her face, bouncing and having fun, Hoshi opening up to Toru easily despite only having seen him a few times since she'd joined the family.

Kaname watches the scene before him and decides to go in as well, soon finding his husband and sister joining them. Everyone plays happily together for a few minutes, laughing and eating up how cute Hoshi is and her loud happy giggles while jumping around. The fun only stops when a deep voice is heard from the entrance of the bounce house. "Toru, you're nearing 30 and still behave so childishly." The voice calls.

Kaya whips her head over to see a tall slim man with short greying brown locks and large brown eyes. Despite his harsh tone he's smiling at the scene before him and gives a tiny wave to Hoshi. "Hey dad. Thought you might still be busy thanking everyone for coming on their way out." Toru greets, not moving to leave the bounce castle. Kenichi shrugs lightly and moves his eyes over to Kaya. "Everyone else has left." He informs him.

Toru follows his fathers gaze and takes Kaya's arm to help steady her as they make their way over to the entrance. He slides out then helps Kaya out and stands proudly next to her facing his father. "Dad, this is my girlfriend, Kaya Moniwa. Kaya, my father and the CEO of Seijoh Corp, Kenichi Oikawa." He introduces.

Kaya holds out a hand for him to shake, only to find him scooping her into a hug. "Thank you for taking a chance on my idiot son." He says just above a whisper, but loud enough for Toru to hear. Kenichi releases Kaya and she does her best to gather her thoughts, unsure of how to respond to his statement.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Oikawa. And I'm just happy he found me worth pursuing." She tells him with a nervous smile. Kenichi studies her with his large brown eyes and a smile creeps across his face. "Such a well-mannered young woman. My wife constantly sings your praises." He tells her with a smile.

Mina stands next to her husband, nodding her agreement and he moves to take her hand into his, raising it to his mouth and planting a kiss on the back of it. "I wanted to come over and say hello before we headed out to change and get ready for tonight. I look forward to seeing you again later and properly meeting the rest of your family." He tells her, giving a small wave and turning to leave.

Everyone else clamors out of the bounce house and stares as Toru's parents walk away. "How old did you say your dad turned today again?" Kosuke asks. "59." Toru answers plainly. "Man, them are some great genes. You look a lot like him." Kaname observes, the rest of the family nodding their heads around him in agreement. "Every bit of handsome, though with a much more intimidating aura than yours." Sora adds.

Kaname snickers as Toru shoots his gaze towards his mother. "Trust me mom, Toru's is just as bad, he just is a lot more relaxed with our family since he's outside of work. The man can be extremely intimidating. Though I guess those of us who've spit in his coffee never felt that intimidation." He teases, placing a hand on his sister's shoulder. "Shut up." Kaya laughs. "It's true though, Toru's just as much a predator as his father." Kaya adds.

Toru and the Moniwa's make their way out of the park back towards their cars and everyone follows Toru's car to the hotel they were staying at for the night, where an event room was also rented out for the dinner party later. They all get checked in very quickly and make their way up to their rooms so they could all shower and change into something more befitting the dinner party.

An hour later Toru smiles at Kaya when she emerges from the bathroom, wearing a simple white knee length wrap dress with quarter length sleeves. Her hair is in a braided bun that sits on the top of her head and she's wearing her pandora as a necklace with a pair of simple diamond studs in her ears. "You look stunning." He compliments, making his way over to her and kissing her lips.

"Thank you, you look handsome as ever." She compliments, looking him over in his all black suit with a black shirt and a black tie. "Enjoy it while you can. I hate this much black." He tells her. Kaya shakes her head softly letting out a little sigh. "It does look nice my heart, but I like the suits you typically wear a lot as well." She soothes, leaving Toru to smile at her. "We should get heading downstairs." He tells her, kissing the top of her head.

The couple make their way downstairs, hand in hand with a smile on their faces. The elevator stops along the way allowing people on and off, finding Kaname and Kosuke joining them in time. "Where's Hoshi?" Kaya asks. Kaname sighs and looks down at the floor. "Kidnapped by grandma I'm afraid." He says with a fake dread that makes everyone on the elevator laugh at the conversation.

He turns and looks at his sister and smiles softly at her. "You look lovely." He tells her, before his eyes land on Toru as well. "Both of you. This black and white party really looks great on both of you." He tells them, fidgeting with his tie. Kaya moves to fix her brother's tie and plants a kiss on his cheek. "You look very handsome." She tells him, the two pulling one another in for a hug.

Toru just watches the pair with a smile, thinking of when was the last time he'd seen his sister and feeling excitement to be able to do so in just a few more minutes. Kosuke jumped a little when he suddenly found Kaya's arms wrapping around him, but he soon smiled to realize it was her. "I married into a good looking family." Kosuke tells her, taking her in in her dress. "I'm glad my beautiful sister in law has a kind and handsome man at her side." He adds smiling at Toru.

Toru takes Kaya's hand again and smiles at the small statured man. "We're both very lucky to get the attention of the Moniwa's." He agrees as the elevator doors ding open to the second floor, where the event halls were located. The two couples step off the elevator together and make their way to the door for the room the party was in, a man with an earpiece standing out front with a clipboard.

"Ah, Toru. You made it. These three are also guests?" He asks. "Yes, I know you have to cross off the names so this is Kaya, Kaname, and Kosuke Moniwa." He informs the security guard. "Thank you sir. You may enter now." He tells them. Toru takes Kaya's hand and enters the room. His eyes land on Takeru first, then Tama sitting at his side and his smile brightens.

Before anything else, he heads right for his sister who stands excitedly when she spots him. The two embrace with bright smiles and Toru lifts his sister from the ground a bit. "I've missed you." He tells her with joy in his voice. "I missed you too." Tama coos back, her feet hitting the floor again. "Tama, this is my Kaya. Kaya my love, this is my sister Tama and her husband Tatsuya." He introduces.

Tama looks at Kaya with a large smile and pulls her in for a hug as well. "You're even prettier than Takeru described." She exclaims. "I'm so happy my little brother finally found love again." She exclaims, pushing Kaya back again to look at her. "Mom just adores you by the way. I would have come to meet you sooner, but Tatsuya and I went to England to be with his ailing grandmother before she passed." She tells her.

Kaya looks over at Tatsuya and gives a gentle look. "I'm sorry for your loss." She tells him. Tatsuya smiles gently back at her and holds out a hand for her to shake. "Thank you. It was good to at least have that time with her before she went though, so it really helped. It's great to meet you." He tells her with a bigger smile. "It's good to meet you as well. Toru has told me about you both and I've been looking forward to meeting you." She beams.

She turns her attention to Takeru standing next to his uncle now and the two playfully shoving one another with their shoulders. "It's good to see you again." She tells him. Takeru takes this as his que to pull Kaya into a hug and sticks his tongue out to Toru as he does so, his uncle only rolling his eyes at him. "So little brother, I hear you may have some legal trouble again?" Tama asks.

Toru sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Can we not talk about that right now?" He asks. "Sorry, but I know for a fact dad tends to address it tonight. I thought I'd try to ask you about it first." She tells him gently. Toru looks over at Kaya and sees the mix of fear and guilt on her face and gently places an arm around her.

"Kaya's asshole ex showed up out of nowhere wanting her back and he forced his way into her apartment and…" He pauses looking at Kaya, who pulls herself closer to him for comfort. "Anyway, he deserved way more than the ass beating I gave him for what he did." Toru finishes, not wanting to upset her. She was doing a lot better, but she still didn't like thinking about that day.

Tama nods in understanding, looking at her husband whose jaw is tight holding back his anger. "Can't say I blame you Toru. I can take over your case now that I'm back if you'd like." He offers. "No it's ok. Your junior attorney has been doing a good job. Let him prove his worth to you." He reasons, Tatsuya letting it go. "I'm glad you're ok Kaya." Tatsuya adds, giving her a soothing smile.

Soon everyone is seated and eating, laughing, and talking as they do so. At the table with Toru and Kaya are Tama, Tatsuya, Takeru, Kaname, Kosuke, and Hoshi. Another table seats Kenichi, Mina, Shira, Haru, Sora, Atsushi, and two women Kaya had not met and Toru says he is uncertain as to who they are. Though he did say they seemed familiar and were likely good friends of his father.

With dinner finished up, everyone got up and started moving around and talking with one another. Kenichi seemed to make it a point to ask Kaya several questions about herself, to which she figured was him taking an interest in getting to know his son's new girlfriend better.

However, when Sora told her away from everyone else that he was asking them a lot of questions about their family and pasts, pushing them to answer even if they were reluctant to, she wondered if he didn't approve of her dating his only son.

After some time Kenichi got everyone's attention and stood in front of them. "Thank you all for coming to my birthday dinner this year. I have some things to share with all of you, many of you may not like what I have to say, and I only ask you to at least think things over. Next year I plan to step down as the CEO of Seijoh Corp. At that time I'd very much like my son Toru to replace me as the head of the company.

"Something I'm quite positive at this point Toru is unable to recall, seeing as he's not brought it up and was still yet to enroll in rehab at the time, is that I expect him to be married by the time he takes over." Everyone stares at him in stunned silence, Toru's jaw clenching tightly as he stares at his father with a seething anger. "Toru gave me his word as a man, that he would take a bride no later than three months before his time to become CEO.

"Now, as you can all imagine, I assumed my son would not actually put any effort into finding a bride so I took it upon myself to find a suitable match for him. Fuyuki Kita and her mother are here as my guests, whom I wanted Toru to meet as his future bride. Fuyuki is the sister of the CEO of Kita Farms, under the Inarizaki AgriCorp. group in Dallas and she and Toru actually met when they were both awkward young teens.

"Her father very much liked the idea of his daughter marrying into the family and she agreed to do so even without meeting Toru with a promise to remain by his side for a minimum of five years or until such time as giving birth to a son, whichever came first." Kenichi continues, seeing the angry daggers that Kaya's eyes are shooting now at both him and Fuyuki. He smirks at her when he catches her gaze and continues.

"Now, again, I made these preparations some time ago, so please don't take it personally Ms. Moniwa. I assure you that I in no way foresaw my son having a girlfriend at this time. Even when I'd first heard of you it was my understanding he was interested in you while you wouldn't give him the time of day. I only just learned 10 days ago that you're dating and it would have been rude to recede my invitation to the Kita's.

"Moreover seeing as I had no way of anticipating what you may say to what it is I'm about to propose, it would have been risky to call things off with Fuyuki." He tells her gently with a smile that makes her stomach turn. "Kaya, I dug into everything I could about you after learning of your relationship with Toru. On paper you seemed like you may well be a decent match, albeit not as befitting as Fuyuki.

"However, in the interest of my son's happiness, and after meeting you and your family and finding you to be rather charming, I thought it prudent to at least give you and Toru an option in all of this. If the two of you can agree to be married by Toru's 27th birthday, I'll cancel everything for he and Fuyuki's wedding which is set for August 1st. I realize this is a lot to take in and consider. So I'll give you until the end of the week to give an answer." He finishes.

Kaya stands frozen in her spot, her mind trying to reconcile what her ears had just heard. "You controlling fucking prick." Toru yells at his father by her side. "What difference does it make if I'm married or not?" He screams. Kenichi calmly settles his eyes on his son's angry figure.

"Because, as CEO of a family company you need to be seen as a family man with his life in order, not some 27 year old playboy." He replies in a tone that let's Toru know his word is absolute in this.

"And what if Kaya isn't ready to get married yet and I refuse to marry the Kita girl?" He asks haughtily. "Then I'll hand over the company to Takeru." Kenichi tells him, his eyes giving Toru a warning to calm down.

Toru, in his anger, pushes on anyway. "Bullshit. He doesn't even have a girlfriend. You expect me to believe you'd let a 20 year old bachelor run the company and not me?" He asks. Kenichi, having had enough of his son's attitude, grabs him by the front of his shirt and pulls his face to his.

"At least your nephew never had me covering his prancing around with a bunch of whores. Your nephew was never involved in a hit and run. Your nephew has never lost his cool and broke some guys ribs." Kenichi yells.

Toru grabs his father's wrists and tries to take his hands off of him. "That's not fair! That asshole hurt my girlfriend. If someone had come and tried to rape mom you mean to tell me you wouldn't have done the same?" Toru throws back in his father's face. Kenichi's face softened to hear his son explain what happened, as he'd been avoiding his father's calls and never explained himself.

"Fine, that I can understand. But you could have told me the reasoning a lot sooner. You're a loose canon Toru. I love you, I do. But I won't let you take over the company without a smart sensible woman by your side to help keep you in check when you're no longer afraid I may not appoint you to CEO." He explains, before letting go of his son's shirt and giving his wife an apologetic look.

"I didn't think it would be that big a deal. You have only been dating a month and already live together. I figured you'd just pop the question and we'd all move on with our lives." Kenichi defends. "Don't give me that look. You really thought I wouldn't know. I told you I looked into her. As in I hired a private investigator. I know all about your little love nest and that you're staying in the same room together here." Kenichi tells Toru cockily.

Sora puts a hand on Kaya's back, seeing her daughter starting to panic at all that's unfolding. "You ok Kaya?" She asks. Kaya looks over at her mother, a single tear falling from her cheek and she shakes her head. "I, I need some air." She tells her mother, walking out of the room.

Toru tries to follow after her, but she stops and shoves his hand off her. "Alone." She stresses and walks out, leaving him behind with a broken look on his face.