InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Don't make me use my numchucks"

Ito Keiichi (伊藤慶一) (keiito) wrote in disappear_rpg,
@ 2010-01-10 00:54:00

Entry tags:

keiichi, kozue

WHO: Kozue and Keiichi
WHAT: Lots of discussion of things.
WHERE: Kozue's room, at a time when Kiriko is Not Present.
WHEN: Today!
WHY: Because it's long overdue?

Keiichi knocked on the door of his ex-girlfriend. As had become his wont lately, he had a small tray of cookies with him. With lots of time on his hands due to break, he filled it with baking. These cookies happened to be of the peanut butter variety.

"Kondo-san? It's me, Keiichi. I'm here."

Lots of time had passed, but Keiichi still felt a tad awkward around her. After all, his virginity was hers, and all that. Considering her reputation, one could be mistaken for assuming it was on a jar with the others she'd claimed.

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keiito
2010-01-20 12:32 am UTC (link)

"Oh." Keiichi had never really known anyone who had, except for Ikeda-san. The entire concept bothered him.

"Part of me wonders why people still do it," he admitted. It was perhaps a bit insensitive, but Keiichi was little if not honest. "It seems to create a lot of issues, if what we saw in Paradise with Ikeda-san was any indication."

Keiichi was generally not a fan of things that forced people's hands on matters. This, probably, explained his lack of belief in most religion, though he did have a passing interest in Shinto that he really should have been paying more attention to.

"Is your family forcing you into it, too," he asked, figuring the answer to the question was somewhat obvious, but he wanted to make sure.

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anthesphoria
2010-01-20 01:13 am UTC (link)

"Relationships that people get into all on their own cause issues too," Kozue responded, "like we saw in Paradise with Akuba-senpai and Aoi-san." Was that a bit much--a bit of a fast, defensive response? She shrugged, as if to divorce herself from the immediate defensiveness. "And the Ikeda family was…well, they didn't handle things very traditionally, from what I saw, although I don't think it's my place to talk much beyond that." For one thing, engaging their fifteen year old daughter was a bit much. Even in the house Kozue was raised in, that was a bit much.

"Forcing is a strong word," although it was an accurate one, though she didn't particularly want to admit it, "but yes, that's what my family has decided for me."

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keiito
2010-01-20 01:56 am UTC (link)

"They do. Believe me, right now, I'm sympathetic to relationships causing problems." He chuckled a bit, but then frowned almost as quickly.

"But they're *my* problems, you know? Aoi and Akuba have their problems because of their own decisions, not someone else's..."

The frown remained on Keiichi's face. "You deserve better than to have someone else make a decision like for you."

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	anthesphoria 2010-01-20 03:13 am UTC (link)
	She shrugged again. "But that's the way it's going to be—I get some say in it, you know, it's not entirely my grandmother running the show like in some horrible movie." She turned and looked at her desk; "I think that's one of the reasons people feel so weird about it; they don't know how it actually works." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	keiito 2010-01-20 03:17 am UTC (link)
	Keiichi had a question on the tip of his tongue, but the least he could do was, you know, wait. "How does it work, then," he asked, trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice, directed far more at her grandmother than at her. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

anthesphoria
2010-01-20 03:27 am UTC (link)

"We'll… hire an intermediary, and my grandmother will compile a list of interested candidates with acceptable backgrounds and credentials, and I get to go through all of them with her and tell her what I think. Any of them we all like, we get to meet—that's actually the miai part—and then we see which families work best together, and..." She waved her hand a little. The rest should be obvious.

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	keiito 2010-01-20 04:39 am UTC (link)
	"So it's like a...job search," Keiichi reasoned. "Though, what do you mean by "acceptable credentials?" Really, as practical as Paradise had made Keiichi in many areas, he was still about as naive in equally many. "It seems like a lot of work," he continued. "And it sort of assumes the whole "you wanting to be married" thing." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

anthesphoria
2010-01-21 12:38 am UTC (link)

"I wouldn't be doing all the work, I kind of get to sit back and relax," she said, leaning backward just to illustrate the point. "And credentials like his family and his ancestry, his career and what kind of advancement he's expecting, health profiles, personality, what he's looking for—I mean, pretty much what you'd expect."

She avoided saying that it was very much like a job search, indeed. "And I don't mind the idea of getting married right out of high school. It'd be better than going back home to live."

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keiito
2010-01-21 03:41 pm UTC (link)

Keiichi thought about this for a moment. "That sounds...really complicated," he said, face screwing up in concentration.

It had been a...rather dizzying list of factors, all told. But one thing bothered him.

"It's sort of...why did you mention personality so late," Keiichi asked, the look on his face now somewhat sheepish, as if he was expecting to be given a "you are SUCH a dunderhead" look for his questions. "Health profiles and career seem important, I guess, but family and ancestry? What does any of that matter? Isn't personality most important? I mean, you have to live with him for the rest of your life and all."

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	anthesphoria 2010-01-21 05:31 pm UTC (link)
	"I guess you haven't heard much about my grandmother," was Kozue's only reply. Keiichi was lucky that he didn't know, maybe—it seemed like the concern over what percentage Japanese her great-grandchildren were would rub Ito the wrong way. But maybe that was just Kozue guessing. She frowned slightly. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

keiito
2010-01-21 08:29 pm UTC (link)

Again, he paused, trying to reason her way through everything. "Not really, no," he admitted. "We didn't really speak about our families much when we were...you know."

Something came to his mind at that moment. "Are you from an older, wealthier family? "Aristocrat" probably isn't the right word, but...like that? I know in history they usually used arranged marriages more than other groups."

He often forgot just how much money it took to get into Nanakamado unless you were on scholarship. Between a combination of his own scholarship, and subsequent hiring of his father to work as gym teacher (and a few backroom deals related to that), his room and board and tuition were virtually entirely covered. A good chunk of the school was beyond simply wealthy.

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	anthesphoria 2010-01-21 09:01 pm UTC (link)
	Kozue nodded; "You didn't know that? I--well, there's no way I'd have gotten in here on merit. I mean, come on. My family has been old money in Iburi for generations. I think I was related to someone in the first graduating class of Nanakamado or something," she added, with a thoughtful look upwards. Like, a couple-greats uncle or something? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

keiito
2010-01-21 09:14 pm UTC (link)

"My family hasn't even been on Hokkaido for fifteen years," Keiichi replied. "Sort of puts things into perspective."

As did the whole discussion, really.

"I'm one-eighth American," he said. "My great-grandfather on Dad's side was born in California. Even if we'd...not have fallen on our faces due to me being an idiot.."

He left the "I wouldn't be good enough" unspoken.

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anthesphoria
2010-01-21 09:32 pm UTC (link)

"Oh, I didn't know…" If it hadn't been rude, Kozue would have started squinting right there, trying to pick the American-ness out of his features. But people had done that to her (more times than she liked to count or recall) and wouldn't inflict it on anyone else.

She shook her head instead. "She'd have lost it if she found out we were even dating, in that case. I mean, the explicit reason my brother and I are having miai instead of romantic marriages is so that she ends up with a family line that's less mixed, not more so. She wants one-eighth great-grandchildren and… Well, she's very detailed about it."

Detailed like the day that Kondo Fumiko had explained that her soul would find no rest until her family line had expunged the Western blood to no more than one percent—1/128th American or less—and until then she would suffer constantly in some version of naraka that Fumiko had made up specifically for the purpose of cowing her family members. (Kozue had only recently become aware of the fact that the Hell of A Million Betraying Children was, in fact, not real.)

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	keiito 2010-01-21 09:43 pm UTC (link)
	"That's..." More dots ensued from there. "Forgive me for putting this bluntly, and I know I am, but why does she care? What actual difference does it make to her if your husband is Japanese or American or Chinese or Arabic?" Keiichi looked some combination of annoyed, confused, and feeling like he was missing a justification for this. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	anthesphoria 2010-01-21 09:48 pm UTC (link)
	Kozue shrugged and picked up another cookie. "I don't know. I never asked." The words were blunt, too, quickly said, as if they had just strayed from uncomfortable into entirely forbidden territory. She bit down and chewed and tried to look far, far less tense than she felt. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	keiito 2010-01-21 09:59 pm UTC (link)
	That, it seemed, was as good an excuse as any for Keiichi to vacate the premises. She seemed perturbed, somehow, and her chewing looked annoyed and uncomfortable. "Sorry for bringing it up," he said, immediately, rising to his feet. "Enjoy the cookies. I'll see you soon." With that, he was up and out of the room in a rather Tom like fashion. (Reply to this) (Parent)

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