Arranged Marriage

C6: It's You!?

It was a fine evening, in the wide dining room, seated a family of Hoshimachi. The family of four was having dinner in a comfortable atmosphere. The daughters talk with each other, telling their days without making too much noise while the elder of Hoshimachi just sat there enjoying the meals. Only the clicking sound of chopsticks with a low hum from them.
When their dinner was about to finish, the head of the family cleared his throat loudly, making the others pay their attention to him. The mother just nodded and the father decided to start talking.

"As you two already know, I do have some important stuff to discuss."

"It's rare for you to make such family meetings like that. I suppose it's about the company?" ask the oldest daughter, Anemachi.

While the father and eldest daughter are talking back and forth, the second daughter, Suisei is currently enjoying her dessert. Pudding. Oh how delicious it is, I would like to try it. She doesn't really like getting involved in the family company. Rather than that boring stuff, better stuffing herself to death with delicious pudding.

"Sui-chan." Her mother called.

"Hm?"

"Pay attention. This is about you honey."

"Me?" Her ears perked up as she heard what her father was saying.

"I'm already making some promising deals with my friend, making Sui-chan marry his granddaughter. I'm sure the old geezer from another company won't bother Sui-chan anymore." He explained with a little cough in the end. This makes Suisei's jaw drop.

Say what? Marriage? Granddaughter? Wait- a girl??

The first one who screamed isn't Suisei though, rather it was her older sister.

"What!? Marriage!??"

Seeing her older sister's reaction, strangely making her calming down as she waits for her father to elaborate more. There must be something. Something that makes her father do something... uh.. Extreme? Like this. Yeah, she's sure, so she's waiting. Waiting for a good reason coming out of her father's mouth.

For one hour straight (not really) Suisei stayed calm, while her older sister kept fidgeting beside her, she knew her father tried to explain in a simple way. Making sure she can understand it fully.

Suisei stared at her father's eyes, he looked so desperate, trying to convince his daughter that he did this because he treasure her. Her mother chipped in from time to time. The tone they use, the desperate looks, the nervous eyes, her parents don't want her to hate them. Simply short, this is for her own sake.

After the long explanation in the dining room, she bid everyone a goodnight before all of them went to their own respective room. Suisei sits on her bed, pondering for a moment before making her way to her study table. Taking out a notebook, she began to write a simple yet important details.

- Old geezer wants me (prob age around 30s - 50s) → for family fortunes
- Marriage. Father's friend's granddaughter??
→ Making sure ugly old geezers from other Co. won't bother me
→ The girl is around my age
→ Live in a shrine...?
- Marriage in name
- Can get divorce after things calm down
→ This is quite nice
- No force feelings → act like friends

Suisei closed her notebook as she looked at her ceiling. She sighs.

"No worries, it's for me. All for my own sake. I can do it."

______________________

Miko planned to stay for 3 days only but with the sudden turn out of event, her parents forced her to stay for more days. As for the reason behind it? They're gonna meet her soon-to-be-husband.. Husband? She's a woman, so um.. bride? ARGH THIS IS CONFUSING.

'BAM'

Miko slammed her hands on her table. Miko's mother, who happens to be passing by the living room, scolds her.

"Miko! Go get changed quickly, we have to be there in 30 minutes!" Before Miko can retort back, her mom chipped in.

"Also, wear some nice clothes, not those baggy shirts."

"... Fine"

To the room she goes to, now rummaging through her closet, Miko wonders if her old clothes still fit her. After a while, Miko fished out a nice pink long skirt. Oh it's nice, it's nice. The fabric is nice to the touch, she can wear it along with her new blouse she just brought from the apartment. Miko stands in front of the standing mirror in her room. She just needs to style her hair a little bit, and..... there. Good. Miko smiles to herself as she twirls in front of the mirror.

"Not bad for me."

After fixing her bang, Miko went downstairs. There she saw her mom putting on high heels.

"Let's go." she said

"Okay." came Miko's replies.

The car ride was uncomfortably quiet. Miko doesn't know what to do as she felt awkward sitting beside her mom, looking outside the window feels wrong too, like she can feel her mom gaze at the back of her head. Miko shook it off and decided to play with her phone. She scrolled YouTube and decided to watch Fubuki's stream. The girl was collaborating with Mio. They're close. Both Fubuki and Mio act normal in the office, with a safe distance between them but hey, everyone knows that they're dating. Anyone can tell when they literally looked at each other lovingly.

When the car came to a halt, Miko looked outside and her jaw dropped. They're outside a fancy looking restaurant. Ok, that's a businessman for you. He's rich alright. They all stepped inside the restaurant, the atmosphere was quiet and nice, with the decorations implicating a 5 stars restaurant, they really went all out. The restaurant was lit up with a light orange light, making the restaurant seem a bit more fancy. It also has unique feelings. Miko gulped down, she wondered what the price looked like in the menu book.

Miko and her family walked past all the tables, the customers were all good looking and pretty too, with their own clothes completely different from them. A high class restaurant alright. They make their way to the back of the restaurant, stepping inside the VIP room, presumably where her partner's family is. She was nervous, who's not gonna be nervous at times like these!? Meeting your partner, a rich partner at that! Not to mention they're a girl. Ugh..

As they got inside, Miko saw their hair colours. Oh, a family of blue with one of them being pink. The blue reminds her of a certain girl in Hololive but she quickly shakes her head, getting it out of her head. Why the heck did she suddenly imagine those stupid business partners of hers!? Miko was ready to bow her head out of respect to the other family but before she could, an eye met the eyes. Miko stopped on her track as she directly made eye contact with Suisei. Both Hoshimachis and Sakuras were looking at them, confused as to why they paused. Silence in the room before both of them point at each other and Miko yell out,

"IT'S YOU!?"