Work Text:
The thing about arranged marriages is….
Well, to be frank, there are a lot of things about arranged marriages, and we don’t have time to delve into all of them. Not right now, anyway. Right now, we’re just going to delve into one of them, because it’s relevant.
And it’s this: what if you find yourself falling in love with someone who isn’t your fiancée?
Which is not to say that you don’t love your fiancée. You do, clearly. She’s pretty cool, most of the time, and the more you get to know her, the more you’re…let’s say friends. But there’s a difference between friends and falling in love – and while, yes, you can fall in love with your friends and fall a little bit more in love with them every day, this isn’t….
There’s a difference between how you feel about your fiancée and how you feel about Kirumi Togami, one you can’t really put words to or pin down, other than you’re falling in love with Kirumi and you…aren’t sure that you are with your fiancée.
(Not that it can’t – or won’t – happen eventually, in time. But that right now, your heart says—)
Class introductions aren’t a bore exactly, but you’re not sure you need them. You know who most of these people are already – a little bit of research goes a long way, of course, and you’ve overheard your parents talking about the pros and cons of a lot of potential spouses before they landed on your current fiancée.
The Ikusaba twins are a joy, but your parents considered them a little too aggressive for you. They’re good as friends – maybe good as allies, eventually – but not the sort of people they want their only son to marry. Also, there’s that whole Ultimate Soldier tradition, and they don’t want an eventual heir of the Amami fortune to be…that.
A few of the other girls you recognize, and the boy who introduces himself as the Ultimate Maid before instructing you to call him the Ultimate Butler instead. He has the blood of a Togami in him. You’ve never met the current Togami head – or most of the Togamis, honestly – because your parents don’t like their practices. Given how this guy acts, you’re inclined to agree.
(You see nothing wrong with referring to a boy as a maid, but you see the grit of his teeth and the glint in his eyes. He thinks there’s something lesser in being referred to as a maid; he thinks there’s something naturally more superior in being referred to as a butler instead. This bothers you. From now on, you intend to refer to him as nothing other than the Ultimate Maid. Maybe, on occasion, you’ll use his name, but if he’s going to be that uppity about it—)
Then she stands.
You’ve never seen a woman this refined in your entire life. Which is saying something, because you’ve seen a lot of women in your travels, and your future spouse is one of the most reserved people you’ve ever met. But this woman isn’t just reserved, she’s refined. It’s in her entire aura – the steel calmness, the razor sharpness of her back. She could be draped in a potato bag patched with old plastic sacks, and she would still be this.
Before she even says a word, you’re smitten. Fascinated.
Then she introduces herself – “Togami Kirumi, the Ultimate Affluent Heir.” – and although her voice soothes the wanderlust in your soul, the words disgust you.
Togami.
No wonder your parents hadn’t considered her.
Despite all of this – or perhaps because of it – you corner her the next chance you get, making sure that Ultimate Maid jerk isn’t hovering around her the way he nearly always is.
(Is he only the Ultimate Maid because he’s her maid? Or is there something else that makes him better? You’re curious, but you’ve never asked, and you probably never will. You suspect he’ll say something sickening like, My Togami blood makes me superior to all of you insipid mortals. Yes, in your mind, he uses the word mortals, as though he isn’t one himself. If you actually asked, he’d probably say commoners instead. Even to you. You’ve heard him use it with Ryo-chan. It’s likely he thinks of everyone who isn’t a Togami as a commoner.
Funny, the way that should extend to himself. Polanski.)
You find her alone, sitting on the outer edge of one of Hope’s Peak’s many fountains. She clasps her hands together in her lap, and her eyes are closed, her head lowered just enough that she appears to be dozing. The slightest of breezes ruffles her ashen grey hair; she reaches up, runs her gloved fingers through it, then sets her hand back in her lap.
After a few seconds, you sit next to her. “Togami-san.”
“Amami-san.” She doesn’t open her eyes. Maybe she doesn’t see you as a threat. (You’re not one, so she shouldn’t.)
You wait to see if she’ll say anything more, if she’ll ask you why you’re there, but there’s nothing. Just silence, and the rustling of the breeze between the leaves of the nearby trees. It’s nice out here, at least. You can see why she’d want to sit here. If not for your questions, you would be quite content to sit here with her, enjoying the nice spring day.
But.
“You’re a Togami.”
You know that isn’t phrased like a question, but it is one.
She understands that well enough.
“Yes.”
“The Togami heir.”
“Yes.”
You try to think of the best way to word your next question, realize there’s no way to do so without being offensive on some level, and broach the subject regardless.
“As a woman, how will that work out?” You press your lips together. “The multiple possible heirs fighting for each other…it seems like that was made specifically for a male heir. I hope they don’t expect you to—”
A smile curls the edges of her lips. “The expectations the current head of the Togami family has for me are the same as he would have for any of his male heirs, I assure you.”
Your hands clench on the edge of the fountain, your knuckles lightening. “That sounds…horrible.”
“That depends on your perspective. I’m sure that—”
“Being pregnant all the time won’t get in the way of your life?” you ask, eyes narrowing. “You would end up raising all those kids, involved in their lives the way your father wasn’t involved in yours. He just got to sweep in, mess with your mom, and then leave, but you—”
“I will have servants who can raise them for me.”
“That doesn’t change that—”
Kirumi hums, interrupting him, and the softest of laughs purrs in the back of her throat. “I’m only the heir,” she says, “so I’m in no position to change anything. Yet.” She opens her eyes and glances at the sky above her.
The words unsaid linger between them.
After a few seconds, Kirumi nods to one of the clouds above them. “Amami-san,” she murmurs, voice soft, “what does that cloud look like to you?”
You don’t say anything. This feels like a trap. Looking at the cloud, you could imagine it as a hundred different things. But finally, you say, recalling someone else’s words, “A cloud.”
“Mm.” Kirumi’s smile lingers, and she lowers her head again. “I believe it looks like freedom.”
You spend more time with the Ultimate Affluent Heir after that.
Maybe it’s luck. Maybe it isn’t. But it feels as though she enjoys spending time with you as much as you enjoy spending time with her.
It’s a complicated thing, falling in love with a woman who isn’t your fiancée, and it sits wrong with you. This isn’t how your story is supposed to go. Sure, yes, it happens often with arranged marriages, but it hadn’t happened with your parents (as far as you know), and you don’t want it to happen with you.
No matter how you feel about Togami Kirumi, you are engaged to Pekoyama Peko. This doesn’t change that. When the time comes, you will be a good husband to your wife. You will.
But until then….
Until then, perhaps there is nothing wrong spending time with the woman you think you love.