School Girls' Stories - New Generation

Chapter 50 – Family Business

“Fuji…” Amatsu entered the study to find his wife pouring over books and ledgers. Her hair was pushed up into an extreme bun that was pulled too drastically from her face and her glasses were set at the tip of her nose as she squinted to read through them. She barely even acknowledged her husband’s existence as he walked into the room.

“You need to stop,” he said, placing a cup of cocoa in front of her and hoping it would coax her to look up. “Your mother is doing the best she can to help us.”

“By putting her little shit in charge,” Fuji steamed. She turned her face up to her husband, her eyes bloodshot, her temper worn thin. “Waza humiliates Yuna and then disappears for days, only to reappear to have my mother tell him he is ready to take over the business. ‘He’ll be eighteen soon enough’,” she mimicked. “She’s putting him in charge of our business, ours. We built it to make it an empire.”

“Right now our clients are more inclined to trust a seventeen-year-old without a jail record than two parents who have a disappearing, reappearing son and a man up for child molestation charges,” Amatsu said flatly. “I know this was not how you pictured our future, but right now it is best. If we lie low for a while Noriko and Waza should be able to bring things back under control.”

“That child has no business sense at all,” Fuji nearly screeched. “Waza does not know what he is doing.”

“No, he doesn’t,” Amatsu admitted. “And it most likely is going to be Noriko who is doing all of the string-pulling and marionette dancing for a while. She’s saving this company for you, after you nearly pushed her completely out of ownership. She owes us nothing, but she is doing it for you anyway."

The pen shattered in Fuji’s hand and ink shot across her blouse. She barely acknowledged the mess, a sure way to know that Fuji was not in a complete sound mind at that moment. “Damn it,” she finally said and stood up, reaching for a Kleenex to start wiping away the ink. It only made the stain worse and she dropped the Kleenex to the floor. “Damn it. We were supposed to be taking care of them. How are we supposed to take care of them if we can’t take care of ourselves?”

“We were too focused on work to pay attention to our children,” Amatsu said, stepping over to his wife and grabbing her hands to keep her from further blotting ink over the silk chemise. “This is a blessing. If we let Noriko and Waza do what they will, to bring this company back from the brink, we have this time to spend with Rhapsody and Ashe, and hopefully understand what we can do to save them.”

“So you are saying this is a blessing?” Fuji asked of him.

“In a way, yes,” Amatsu agreed.

Fuji slid back into her chair behind the desk and looked up at her husband through stray strands of auburn hair. “I don’t know how to be a mother.”

“Hey, neither do I,” Amatsu laughed. He dodged the flying pen quite nicely and tried to be serious, but he never lost his jubilant smile. “Well, that’s why we are here. To learn. From here on out: we’re parents.”

“Damn,” was all Fuji had to say, but she was smiling as she said it. Before Amatsu could hug her she added, “I really hate that Waza is going into business so young and I had to go to school for it.”

Amatsu tried to hold back his laugh. “I’m telling you it is just for show, a young genius is impressive nowadays.”

“Yeah, well…” Amatsu silenced her with a kiss and Fuji was done complaining, for one evening.