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The first time she meets him, she thinks nothing of it.
Asami Tatsuya is a stupid man. He won’t go far, but his heart is big. And she likes a big heart.
But she is a practical woman.
“Man, I hate suits,” he says. “What do you think, Miss…”
“Kurama,” Irumi says. “Kurama Irumi. Suits do look uncomfortable.”
“Classy, though,” Tatsuya says. “I’m leaving it, though. I think there’s more class in sticking to your principles.”
“I don’t often hear a philosophy like that,” Irumi says.
“Philosophy?” Tatsuya asks. “That’s too much.”
He laughs, and he grins, and she thinks some woman less focused than she is will fall for this boy quite happily. She despises the thought of marrying a perfect match.
She dream of being like him, openly hating her future, but the promises outweigh the losses.
She thinks she prefers, if she has to choose “right”, a man of ambition.
Asami has none.
She meets a driver and thinks nothing of it.
“Where to?”
She rattles off an address.
“You’re new,” she says.
“I’m a fill in,” the driver replies. “I work a lot of jobs - cool place, Tomorrow Research.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah,” the drive says. “We do odd jobs. All jobs are odd, if you’re comparing it to the future.”
She will later think the name is a clever cover.
“Where are you going?”
“Arranged marriage meeting,” Irumi says.
“Sounds miserable.”
“It is,” Irumi says. “I want to marry someone with a soul.”
The man hmms.
“How about we make a detour? If you can pay the charge.”
His face is neutral, calm, serious.
Irumi agrees.
This is the next memory she has of Asami Tetsuya, him piling in with a girl and some guys, and them all getting lunch on her card. She doesn’t mind because they’re…
There is a hint of ambition in Asami’s eyes, this time.
“This isn’t like Ayase,” the girl next to her says.
“Not doing his job?”
“Asking a woman out,” the girl says. “I’m Yuri. And you are?”
“Irumi,” Irumi replies.
The light haired boy smiles.
“It’s nice to meet you, Irumi,” he says. “I’m Sion, and this is Domon.”
The tall man waves. He looks like a brute and yet his smile isn’t particularly threatening.
What an odd collection of people.
They don’t bother her too much, but she listens. The atmosphere is warm - the two things she knows she will not settle for: she wants a daughter, and she wants a man with ambition.
These people have less of an ambition and more of a hunger. She isn’t sure for what.
She asks to keep the new driver. Ayase is a quiet one, but if she asks, he tells her stories.
Domon and his girlfriend. She thinks he’s someone else. He hungers for family then, she supposes. Just like her.
Tatsuya who ran off and once threw away a rental suit.
Sion who is from some other place and orphaned. Yuri who is on a hunt.
Naoto.
That name comes up a lot, over time. Takizawa Naoto - annoyance, ambition, smug and weak. Leader of the City Guardians.
“Don’t hire them, by the way,” Ayase says. “They’re a scam, except him… which sucks, because he’s a coward, too.”
“I won’t,” Irumi replies.
A woman bumps into her on the street, apologizing immediately.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “I’m new to the city.”
“So am I,” Irumi says. She helps the woman gather her pictures. “Did you take these?”
The woman grins.
“Yeah,” she says. “I work full time - I have a husband, but I think he’d break if we pretended it was a normal marriage.”
“I think my husband likes knowing we can pretend,” Irumi says.
“Well, it’s a marriage of convenience, really,” the woman says. “But I love him. And he says the travel is good for me and our son.”
“Oh, you have a son?” Irumi asks. The woman smiles.
“Mirai,” she says. “But Tatsuya calls him Domon Junior.”
“I have a daughter now, too,” Irumi says. “I’m picking her up from daycare, now, and it was too nice out to drive.”
“Oh, then I should let you get on your way,” the woman says. “See you!”
Asami Tatsuya gives in. Irumi is a little disappointed.
The woman with him is the photographer, and then Irumi understands. That crowd of figures, so light, so united and free…
He looks to her own husband.
“Naoto?” He asks. “Naoto, is that you?”
Kurama Kousei stares in confusion.
“Who?”