The Yakuza's flower

Announcing

Ume's POV

After confirming our wedding plans, everything for the next few days felt... different.

Lighter.
Warmer.
More real.

Hanayama and I spent the next few days telling the people closest to us about our engagement and wedding

Only the ones who deserved to hear it from our own mouths.

Hanayama handled his side like it was nothing.
Direct. Simple. No theatrics.

He told Baki first.
Then Doppo (who practically screamed "FINALLY!" in the middle of the dojo).
Then his grandfather again , who he had a huge meeting with.

He even told a few of his men, the ones he trusted most.

After

They would bow to me when they saw me.
Awkwardly.
Sweetly.
Like I'd already become someone important to them.

And I told my people.

Kozue cried — obviously.
My grandmother went absolutely feral — in a happy way.
Retsu bowed deeply and said something poetic that made me blush.
Dr. Rize hugged me, gave me a five-minute health lecture, and threatened Hanayama if he stressed me out.

The girls at the cafe squealed so loud the customers thought we were dying.

It was good.
all good.

But I still had two more people to tell.

The two who mattered in a very different way.

My godmother — the wife of the Serpent Cartel boss- She became someone important in my life. She treated me exactly like a daughter... except without the cartel expectations wrapped around me. She made me feel seen, in a way I can't explain.

But anyway, the next person I thought about telling was

My brother, Rey.....

I feel he would absolutely have a heart attack when I tell him I was pregnant with twins and getting married to hanayama.

I figured I should tell him last.

Just to brace myself emotionally.

And physically.

————

I waited until nighttime to call my godmother — because of the time difference, and because she was more likely to be awake anyway.

Hanayama noticed immediately.

He always did.

I was sitting in the living room with my phone in my hand, bouncing my knee without realizing it. Hanayama walked in, fresh out of the shower, hair still damp, towel slung over his shoulder, in some sweatpants.

His eye flicked toward the clock, then to me.

"You're still up," he said.

I shrugged lightly, trying to play it off. "Yeah. Just... waiting."

"For what?"

"My godmother," I said, tracing the rim of my phone with my thumb. "She lives in another time zone, so I can only catch her now."

Hanayama stopped in front of me, arms crossed, head tilting slightly.

"You nervous?" he asked.

I looked up at him.

He already knew the answer.

"...Yeah," I whispered.

He walked over, sat beside me on the couch, and placed a heavy, warm hand on my thigh — grounding me without a single word.