A Match Made in Heaven
I coughed violently. “Cough, cough…!”
“Oh my! Young Master, are you all right?!” The housekeeper hurried over and held out a handkerchief.
Even while hacking through the painful fit, I somehow took it and wiped my mouth. It was a relief that I’d turned my face away before anything sprayed out, so neither Father nor the housekeeper got hit.
“Are you okay?”
“……What did you just say?”
Setting that aside, I asked again, doubting my own ears. Marriage? Out of nowhere? I wasn’t sure I’d heard correctly.
“I asked if you were okay.”
“No, not that. Before that…!”
My voice rose without my permission. In reply, Father simply took a calm sip of his milk tea. For a man telling his seventeen-year-old son to get married, he looked far too relaxed. Inside, I half convinced myself, I must have misheard him…!
But then.
“The person waiting in the first-floor reception room is your fiancée. I told you to marry her.”
Father finally lifted his gaze from the teacup and spoke in a perfectly level tone.
“……”
It didn’t seem like a joke. He wasn’t the type to joke in the first place, and we had never once exchanged playful banter. In other words, Father was completely serious about telling me to get married.
The realization left me dazed.
……He does sometimes blurt out random things.
Even so, ordering me to marry someone out of the blue? This went far beyond “out of left field.” If someone asked me to list the most absurd moments of my life in order, this incident would definitely make the top three.
Though panic swirled inside me, I kept my outward expression calm and asked carefully.
“That paper… or is it a business card…?”
“It is a Saju Myeongsikpyo.”
“Ah… Ahem. Yes. A Saju Myeongsikpyo. You’re telling me to marry the person listed on this chart? …Me?”
“Is there a problem?”
“……No.”
Was that even a real question?
“There are problems. Plenty of them…!”
“What problems?”
“Well, I don’t know her. How am I supposed to marry someone I don’t know?”
“You have her saju and fate in your hands, yet you claim you don’t know her?”
“……Pardon?”
Clack. Father set his teacup down.
“The paper you are holding. The Saju Myeongsikpyo. On it—”
“No, what even is—”
“Everything is written there. Her name, the exact year, month, day, and hour of her birth, the heavenly stems and earthly branches, and even the five elements.”
“……”
I see. I had been about to argue, but instead I peered more closely at the chart in my hand. As obvious as it sounds…
How on earth do you read this?
No matter how long I stared, none of it made sense. I had zero expertise in this area. To my eyes it was simply a string of intimidating, old-fashioned characters.
“It is said to be a match granted by the heavens. Between you and that child.”
Father spoke as though he assumed I had understood the chart. In truth I hadn’t grasped a single thing, but my pride wouldn’t let me ask for an explanation, so I gave an awkward nod.
“Yes. Well… I more or less understand. Still, don’t you think this is a bit sudden? I might already be seeing another girl—”
“Bring her, then. We will forget this marriage talk ever happened.”
“…I’m not seeing anyone. But marrying a total stranger whose face I’ve never seen is a little much. At the very least we should know what each other looks like.”
“You can go downstairs and see for yourself.”
“……Even if I see her face, our personalities might not match. The language difference could cause communication problems.”
“Those concerns can wait until after you meet her.”
“………Putting all that aside, I can’t get married at my age. I’m only seventeen. Legally—”
“I told you to marry her. I did not say to do it immediately. That is why I referred to her as your fiancée.”
“……”
“……”
His eyes asked whether I had anything else to say. I had nothing. Or, more accurately, I could say nothing.
“Two hours and thirty minutes.”
“Yes?”
“That is how long the child has been waiting for you.”
“……”
The words I wanted to speak caught in my throat. Not twenty-three minutes—two hours and thirty minutes. That wait had to be because of my lateness…?
“It has now become two hours and thirty-one minutes.”
“……Ah. Understood.”
I set my teacup down with a clack.
“I just have to go down, right? I’ll go down.”
Muttering complaints under my breath, I stood. Honestly, he could have just told me to go instead of making it sound so dramatic.
“One more thing.”
I paused at the door and whipped my head toward Father.
“You know my personality, Father. I never do anything I dislike. Since you said she waited a long time, I’ll at least see her face. But if she isn’t to my liking, I will not marry her—whether now or later.”
I fired the words off in a rapid burst, then flung the door open. Halfway out, I added one last remark.
“I’d rather not release a new book and get cursed out than enter a marriage I don’t want. No matter what you say, Father. Got it?”
After spitting out the long sentence in a single breath, I slammed the door shut.
Bang!
From beyond the closed door came a small mutter.
……Takes after who? He’s your son, Dad! I swallowed the retort. Our father was pettier than people realized; he remembered every little thing.
First floor. The formal reception room.
“……”
I stood in front of the door and swallowed hard. In front of Father I had boldly declared, “If she isn’t to my liking, I won’t marry her.” Yet now that my actual marriage partner was right on the other side, I couldn’t bring myself to open it.
It wasn’t intentional, but I had made her wait two hours and thirty minutes. Well, to be exact, it was now two hours and thirty-three minutes. Thirty or thirty-three didn’t really matter.
“Ah, seriously. If only I had known…”
I would have come down earlier. Why hadn’t Father told me in advance? It really felt like he had done it on purpose just to mess with me.
“……Huu.”
Enough pointless blame. I took a deep breath and raised my right hand. The moment I went in, I would apologize first. Sorry for being late.
Knock, knock.
“Excuse me.”
I knocked lightly and waited. If I heard any movement or an invitation to enter, I would open the door. Even though this was my family home, a guest was inside, so it was only polite.
……
Silence. No sound came from within. I considered opening the door anyway, but knocked once more just to be sure.
Knock, knock.
……
Same result.
There’s no way she didn’t hear the knock…
Maybe she was deliberately ignoring me. Maybe she was so angry about being kept waiting for over two hours that she refused to answer. Was that it?
Honestly, if someone made me wait two and a half hours, I’d be furious too. If our positions were reversed, I’d be boiling mad. What does she think I am?
“……I’m screwed.”
I hadn’t even seen her face yet, but my first impression was already in the gutter. Even while thinking that, I opened the door. I’d look at her face first and apologize. If things went badly, I could always do a proper Japanese apology. You know, the one where you kneel on the floor. I think it’s called dogeza.
Creak.
“Sorry I’m la—”
I froze mid-step.
A girl was leaning against the sofa backrest with her eyes tightly shut.
“……”
“……”
She wasn’t… dead, right? Her skin was so pale I had a momentary, ridiculous thought. I licked my lips, tension written all over me, and stepped closer.
“Um…”
“……”
“Excuse me…?”
“……”
Not a single movement. I had suspected as much when I entered, but to be absolutely sure I waved a hand in front of her face.
“Hello~?”
“……”
“……Wow.”
She was genuinely asleep.
“……Mm.”
“……”
This girl—Tachibana Hana, if the name on the chart was correct—had apparently dozed off while waiting for me. No wonder she hadn’t responded to my knocks. I straightened up awkwardly and glanced at her peaceful sleeping form.
……She’s in uniform.
She wore the uniform of the girls’ foreign-language high school located a short distance away. I had seen students from that school a few times while walking by, so I recognized it.
“Anyway…”
Should I wake her? I scratched my cheek while looking down at the gently breathing Tachibana Hana. If she were only lightly asleep I would have shaken her awake without hesitation, but she looked so deeply out that it felt wrong. Especially since part of the reason she had fallen asleep so soundly was probably my lateness.
“……”
Yeah. Well… I could wait a little. Having made up my mind, I sat down across from her. She had waited two and a half hours for me. I could manage a few minutes.
“……Mm.”
Right then, almost the instant I sat, the girl let out a soft, adorable murmur. And soon after—
“……Umm. …Haaam.”
She stretched into a big yawn. Then her long lashes fluttered open. Still half-asleep, she looked at me with hazy eyes.
“……”
“……”
We simply stared at each other.
One second. Two seconds. Three. Four… Five.
“……Huh?”
Her mouth finally opened. She fumbled with her lips as if she couldn’t tell whether this was a dream or reality, then stuttered.
“Um… since… when… have you been here…?”
“……”
Since when? I had only just arrived.
“Have you… been waiting long…?”
“……No. I only just got here too.”
“Ah… really…?”
“Yes.”
“……”
“……”
“……Um, what time is it right now?”
“Now?”
I pulled out my phone. The display read 12:34.
“It’s 12:34… Ah. Just turned 12:35.”
“……?!”
The girl frantically dug her own phone from her skirt pocket. It was the latest model from Father’s company, encased in an adorable rabbit cover. Girls really did like those cute phone cases…
That thought lasted only a second.
“Gasp, it’s true?!”
She covered her mouth with both hands. Her round eyes trembled as they met mine. Even without words, it was obvious how terribly sorry she felt.
“I-I’m so sorry! You waited a long time, didn’t you?!”
“No, I didn’t wait long.”
“Agh… That’s not true…! You waited forever. I slept for more than two hours…!”
“……”
She really slept more than two hours here? I tilted my head slightly, wondering if she was serious. Seeing my reaction, she bowed her head in a panic.
“I-I’m sorry! I’m truly sorry! They said you might be a little late, so I thought I’d just rest my eyes for a moment, just a tiny moment… but I ended up sleeping way too long…!”
“You can fall asleep here?”
I asked out of genuine curiosity. She hadn’t even lain down—she had slept sitting upright on the sofa for two straight hours without waking once. Was that even possible? Even if our sofa was exceptionally soft.
“……I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry! Even if I had a hundred mouths I wouldn’t know what to say!”
“No, you really don’t have to apologize. I was just honestly curious whether you could fall asleep here…”
But then.
“……Sob.”
Her eyes grew watery.
“I was just aski— …Huh?”
I had been about to say I was just asking, but I flinched. Why did she suddenly look like she was about to cry?
“I-I’m sorry… Hic… I’m the kind of girl who can’t even keep a simple promise… so you must have lost all interest, right…?”
“Uh… yes?”
“I-I… hic… stayed up all night last night… Sob, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…”
Plop. Plop.
Fat tears began rolling down her cheeks. The possibility I had only half-believed was now reality; my eyes widened in shock. The girl—
“Hic…! Hng… S-sorry… Sob, hnggg…!”
—couldn’t hold back the flood and broke into full sobs.
“……?!”
I went beyond surprise and straight into panic. Wait, why was she actually crying?!
“Um, excuse me…?”
“Hnggg… Sorry, sob…! Hic… Sob, hic… Hnggg, hic…!”
“……Uh, uhh?!”