Kyoya was only seven years old when he met Masae Aoki.
Mr. Aoki was the type of man whose presence gathered crowds. And the meeting between the Aoki family and the Ootoris, which joined them together in partnership, was no different. Kyoya and his siblings had been asked to join the meeting, though they were forbidden from speaking.
Kyoya was only seven years old, but he was old enough how important this meeting was. The maids had been cleaning the manor for days in preparation for the arrival of the family, and they were being received in Mr. Ootori's private office. Kyoya had never been in his father's private office before.
Mr. Aoki had brought his family with him too. He, along with his pretty wife and his young daughter. They, like Kyoya and his siblings, were silent observers.
The Aoki girl resembled her mother almost perfectly, but had the quiet air of her father. She was so stern for someone her age. Kyoya, who was the same way, couldn't help but notice her right away.
"What will your company bring to the table?" Asked Mr. Aoki. He had the same no-nonsense way of speaking as Kyoya's father. The same deathly stare, too.
Mr. Ootori laid his hands out in front of him on the table. "The Ootori group has been considering branching out into insurance for years now. We have a large clientele, the Blue Tree group has the experience. Plus, the Blue Tree group will insure all our future resorts."
For just a second, the Aoki patriarch looked positively gleeful. Not without reason; the Ootori Group had a fleet of businesses for Mr. Aoki to profit from. His poker face was a tad slow, but it fell into place effectively enough.
At the same time, Mrs. Aoki spoke up. "Yoshio," she said, addressing Kyoya's father. "Your youngest son is my daughter's age, isn't he? How about we excuse them from all this shop talk."
Normally, Kyoya's father wouldn't stand for that. But normally he wouldn't let someone address him so casually, and Mrs. Aoki had already done that. So he just nodded his head and gestured for Kyoya to leave.
The Aoki girl looked between her two parents nervously. "Mother?" She asked in a high, quiet voice.
"Go with him, darling," Mrs. Aoki said softly, smoothing down her daughter's light brown hair. "Make a friend."
At her mother's behest, the young girl followed Kyoya out.
"What do we do now?" The Aoki girl asked. She looked around the hall helplessly. She was tiny, built short and thin as a whip. The twin braids in her hair certainly didn't make her look any older.
Kyoya sighed. He knew that he had to entertain this girl somehow, but...
"I don't know." He had no clue how to do that. He'd never had a friend before.
"Do you just want to sit on the stairs until they're done?" She asked. It sounded better than anything Kyoya had considered, so he agreed.
They sat down together, Kyoya on a higher step than the girl. She looked up at him with big brown eyes. "I'm Masae," she said.
"Kyoya." He offered a hand and she shook it.
"I'm sorry my mom made us leave the meeting. She's always doing stuff like that. She doesn't like me sitting in on business stuff." Masae stamped her foot lightly, not hard enough to disturb the stairs. "Even though I'm going to take over the family business some day."
Kyoya glanced at her. "At least you have a shot at the business."
"I'm sorry you're the youngest," Masae replied. "I'm an only child, so I don't know what that feels like. Do you want to be friends? Maybe we can go into business together someday so you'll have something to do in your company."
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Comes up Roses
Fanfiction[OC x various OHSHC] || Seventeen year-old Masae Aoki doesn't believe in love; and why should she? Her mother ran away, leaving her to be raised by her father and his much-younger second wife, and she works as the secretary to a club false adverti...
