1 - Noble Son, Boast

Tsunobeni, Inc. was a large company, one of the leading drivers of Japan’s financial world alongside Tsuwabuki General Trading and Tanaka Manufacturing.

Its president, Eikei Fuyo, had been blessed with a daughter while in his mid-thirties, and had raised her like a princess. Early in life, she had demonstrated an unparalleled talent for the arts.

That daughter, Megumi, had finally achieved her dream of starting up her own fashion brand, MiZUNO. Most of the apparel that they sold was designed by Megumi Fuyo herself.

She was a young female entrepreneur, single, in her late twenties, with no scandals to her name. This naturally led to many young businessmen coming to her boutique’s opening ceremony with flowers in hand. Megumi Fuyo greeted them all, and, with the dazzling smile of the born elite, as well as overwhelming charisma and not a word out of place, she dashed the ambitions of each of them in turn.

It was just around that time when...

“Congratulations on your new brand, Megumi.”

Our noble son appeared from the midst. For some reason, he was carrying a bag instead of a bouquet. Of course, he was the much-envied prince of the economic world, and the others could only gnash their teeth at his incredible aura of personal charisma.

For the first time that night, the smile on Megumi Fuyo’s face was genuine. “Ichiro! It’s been so long! So you really did come.”

“Yes, I did,” he said.

The smile that she presented him with — denied to the men who had offered her bouquets before — was a purely girlish one. Well, perhaps “girlish” was not the right description for a woman of 28 years, but... let’s not pry into that one any further. At any rate, Fuyo’s welcome for Ichiro was different than it had been for the others.

He wore his usual odiously composed expression, and he hadn’t brought flowers. The young heir was known as an iconoclast, so it came to no one’s surprise that he hadn’t prepared the standard offering. Yet this just gave the young, status-seeking hopefuls of the economic world all the more reason to scrutinize Ichiro’s gift to the woman of their designs.

“First, Megumi, I prepared this to celebrate your new business,” he said, presenting his gift.

“My!” With her hands pressed to her chest in delight, Fuyo was every bit the image of the charmed maiden. “I never thought the day would come when you’d give me a present, Ichiro. You’ve always been so... well... uncooperative.”

“Nonsense,” he said. “I possess the desire to celebrate a friend’s new venture, just like anyone else.”

Fuyo would have liked to say something about one particular word in that statement, but her upbringing had not been the sort that taught a person to say everything that was in their heart. For now, she simply accepted the item that Ichiro pulled out of the bag and handed to her.

It was a wooden carving with a tribal air about it.

“My...”

“It’s a god of prosperity worshiped in a small island country in the South Pacific,” he said. “I went there some time ago in pursuit of new bug species, and it was given to me by one of the locals. When I heard you were embarking on a new business venture, I decided I’d give it to you if we ever had a chance to meet.”

It was a gift in bizarre taste, and some might wonder if he was mocking her. But Ichiro Tsuwabuki was very serious. It was enough to make the young businessmen gathered in the hall back away a step.

“I’m so happy...”

But what was even more incomprehensible to them was the way Megumi Fuyo hugged the wood carving to her chest.