No feared his American girl’s good nature was contagious. He’d found himself smiling much as of late. Not only at the beginning and ending of the work day, but in between, too, at just the thought of the woman he’d left in bed and would be coming home to.

He was also appreciating the little things in life more than he ever had before. Like how Riyu greeted him brightly when he walked into the office that morning and every morning, and the subsequent text from Miyuki saying she was on her way to retrieve Ana, and had scheduled a car to arrive at Ana’s apartment to drive her to dinner.

After Riyu left to set up for the presentation, No even got a kick out of viewing the surveillance feed at the apartment Ana referred to as the “love flat”—not a declaration of her feeling for him, but a reference to to the short-stay “love hotels” one could find all over Japan, used primarily for sexual encounters. The camera was supposed to be a surveillance tool, put there so that he and Miyuki could ensure his Osaka Charm mistresses weren’t breaking the rules he’d lay down for the flat.

But this morning instead of going over his summit notes, he watched Ana as she watched one of her favorite J-dramas, even though she didn’t speak enough Japanese to even partially understand what the characters were saying.

Weak, his father would say of No’s decision to not spy on, but tenderly observe Ana instead of reviewing his notes.

In fact, No couldn’t help but wonder if his father somehow knew about his American Osaka Charm girl a few hours later. Because when he slid into the back of the limo he would share with his father and Hayato to the summit, Kazuo returned No’s bow with a sour look.

But as it turned out, No’s choice of mistress wasn’t what was on his father’s mind.

“Our enemy will be at the conference,” Kazuo pointed out as soon as the driver returned to his seat and began to move the car forward. “He is able to walk again and will present for his own company this afternoon. He dares to come to our country, and make us seem weak. If you had listened to me…”

And so it went. All the way to the summit. Only No’s deeply ingrained respect kept him from pointing out that RoTeku continued to thrive without GoBotics under its umbrella. Or from repeating his assertion that he believed Nakamura Worldwide should concentrate on using robotics to make their cars more practical, rather than cuter as his father wished.

Even if he had said any of this, No knew his father wouldn’t listen. Maybe when they were younger, when he’d bragged about how his son, Norio, planned to take the company into the future. How he and Hayato were the company’s future, so smart, the board would most likely vote one of them into the director position after he died. Died, not retired. Everyone knew the Nakamuras weren’t so weak as to stop working until the day they died. Nearly every Nakamura, including Kazuo’s father, grandfather, and brother, had died while still under the company’s employ.

Listening to his father rant about how Go’s presence at the Osaka summit was affecting their family legacy, it was hard for No to believe Kazuo had actually started out as the family rebel. The younger of the Nakamura heirs, he’d married a Chinese girl he’d met while in the (back then) generally poorer country on business. The younger Nakamura brother had married for love instead of family duty. But then his older brother died unexpectedly, Kazuo had been required to step up.

His Chinese wife who’d only given him one hafu son had been replaced by a much younger Japanese girl from a prominent family who’d given him two, within three years of their wedding date. Overnight it seemed, Kazuo Nakamura had gone from being the shame of his family to the man who would carry on its legacy. And he’d been proud when Norio—his oldest, legitimate son—had been appointed to head of the RoTeku after returning from the U.S. with an advanced robotics degree. Even going so far as to quote a Tokyo newspaper article about how Norio would “carry the company into the future” when he formally announced his appointment at that year’s shareholder meeting.

But all that changed the day Norio and Hayato’s mother died. Ever since that time, Kazuo been nothing but cold and disrespectful to No and his brother, as if their mother’s death had not only hurt their family, but destroyed their bond.

He’d groomed No to be his successor. But Kazuo’s disenchantment with his oldest son seemed to grow by the year. And the situation with Go…it had become a particular bone of contention between them. With his father gnawing at it like a hungry wolf, even as the Robotics Division continued to grow and develop without the addition of GoBotics to their holdings.

Since his mother’s death, no matter what No did, no matter how hard he worked to put his initiatives in place, nothing seemed to please Kazuo.

How does that make you feel? Ana would certainly have asked him now with concern filling her large anime eyes.

But feeling was weak. Being sad that he would never have the same relationship with Kazuo that Go had with his dad was weak.

And Nakamuras were not weak.

No took his father’s verbal beating with a strong jaw, his eyes carefully cast downward.

However, even he couldn’t mask his surprise when his father finished with, “And this is why I have decided you are no longer fit to lead at RoTeku.”

“Father, no!” the words leapt out of his mouth, harsh and angry, before he could stop this.

But Kazuo shook his head. “The board was overly excited about your visions for the company. As I suspected, they were wrong to appoint you to this position at such a young age. You need more seasoning. So I have decided you will present at this conference, but Hayato and I will not attend as planned. And then at the Tokyo board meeting, I will announce your resignation. At which time you will begin work under Hayato in the Marketing Division.”

No’s eyes narrowed. “Work under Hayato,” he repeated. The words “my younger brother” implied, if not explicitly stated.

No looked over at Hayato. Had his father said anything to him about this? But Hayato answered No’s silent question with a discreet shake of his head. And No knew his brother. Hayato was on his very short list of people No truly felt he could trust.

“Father…” No began again.

But then the limo slowed to a stop beneath the Rihga Royal Hotel’s carport. They had arrived.

“We are done with this discussion,” Kazuo said, cutting off his older son’s attempt to reason with him. “This is not the time for emotions. Do not make our family look weak in front of the driver.”

Iie, they couldn’t have that, could they? Kazuo could basically fire him from RoTeku during the car ride, but ancestors forbid No actually have the opportunity to defend himself.

However, Kazuo was right about one thing. This was not the time for emotion. No needed to get out of the car. Calculate his next move. And create a plan of action that would convince his father that he was mistaken.

No stepped out of the limo. Only to have things go from bad to worse.

Riyu was waiting for him at the doors of the hotel, wringing her hands despite the fact that his presentation time slot was still an hour away. Her anxious demeanor and the fact that she should already be in the conference space setting up made alarm bells go off in No’s head.

And then his stomach completely knotted when upon seeing him, Riyu rushed over, barely taking the time to bow before saying, “Nakamura-sama, I’m afraid we have a problem. You are being spied on.”