All These Things I've Done (Birthright #1)(77)
‘Time for what?’ I demanded.
‘For you to accept your birthright and make the best of it,’ Yuji said.
‘What about Yuri? And Yuri’s son? Don’t they run the Balanchines?’
‘Not wisely. Not well. The other families perceive the weakness and the turmoil here. They see opportunities. And your uncle has made many enemies. He never should have become the head of the Balanchine family, and everyone knows it. Back when your father was killed, everyone thought your grandmother Galina would become the interim head of the Balanchine family, but she opted to care for you and your siblings instead.’
I had never known that.
‘It’s a very dangerous situation for you, Anya. More people will end up dead. Trust me. The Fretoxin poisoning will only be the beginning of it.’
‘I have responsibilities,’ I said. ‘The best way I can protect my family – by which I mean Natty and Leo – is by keeping all of us out of it.’
Yuji looked me in the eyes. ‘If I understand correctly, chickenpox is only contagious before the spots scab. You could have been at Galina’s wake today, but you chose not to be. It seems to me that you chose to spend the morning making out with your boyfriend instead.’
‘That isn’t true.’
‘Isn’t it, though?’ Yuji asked.
‘What do you want from me?’ I asked.
‘I’m here because I’m a friend of your family and that is why I was chosen to make a report to the other families on the dealings of the Balanchines since the poisoning debacle.’
‘What will you say?’
‘I don’t know yet,’ Yuji replied. ‘In my opinion, your family is on the verge of great internecine turmoil. On the one hand, what may be in the best interest of the other families is to allow this to occur, and once it’s over, we’ll all swoop in to divvy up the Balanchines’ share of the market.’
I wasn’t sure what internecine meant. I’d have to look it up later.
‘On the other hand, I believe that it is better for the chocolate business to have strong partners. Your father was a great leader. And I believe that you could be a great leader, too.’
‘You’ve become as warped as the rest of them. My father was no great leader. My father was a common criminal. A thief and a murderer.’
‘No, Anya, you’re wrong. Leonyd Balanchine was a simple businessman, trying to make the best of a bad situation. Chocolate wasn’t always illegal, and it could be legal again some day, too. Soon it may not even be about the chocolate.’
‘What will it be about?’
‘This is a longer discussion, I’m afraid. Perhaps child labour. But I believe, as do many others, that it will be water. We are running out of it, and the person who controls the water supply will control the whole world.’
‘I can’t do any of this!’ I said. ‘I’m just a girl and I have to take care of my brother and sister. I’d like to finish high school, maybe even go to college. What you seem to be asking of me is impossible.’
‘Here is something my father always said to me that I will now repeat to you: “Yuji, you can either be a bystander who lives his life in reaction to the decisions that others make, or you can be the leader who is making those decisions.” It may have lost a little something in translation from the Japanese, but you see my point. You say you want to protect your brother and sister above everything. I ask you, Anya, of those two people my father named, which one do you think is better able, better prepared to protect his or her family? The one who is running around trying to avoid conflict? Or the one who knows there will be conflict and embraces it? Do you know what my father said is the best thing in life to be?’
I shook my head. Yuji was clearly passionate, but I wasn’t sure I was completely grasping his point.
‘The catalyst. In a chemical reaction, the catalyst instigates the change but is not changed itself.’
‘Your father is dead, Yuji,’ I reminded him. ‘As is mine.’
At that moment, another Japanese man came out on to the balcony. This man was the most enormous person I’d ever seen in the flesh. He had a round belly and big arms like a sumo wrestler. He wore a black suit and his black hair was in a ponytail. He couldn’t have been anything but one of Yuji’s bodyguards. (He must have been waiting in the exterior hallway the entire time.) He spoke several sentences in Japanese, and Yuji replied in kind. Yuji bowed his head towards me. ‘I must go,’ he said in a much more formal manner. ‘I am leaving for Asia this afternoon. I have extended this visit as long as I could. Perhaps even longer than was wise. We won’t be seeing each other again very soon. If you ever need to speak to me, please don’t hesitate to call, though. Goodbye, Miss Balanchine. And good luck.’ He bowed his head again.
I walked him to the door, past Win and Scarlet and Natty again, and then I went into the bathroom to splash some water on my face before going back to the living room. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. All my welts were scabbed over, and though I was feeling better, my physical appearance was at its most gruesome. Some tiny part of me felt vaguely embarrassed that handsome, twenty-three-year-old Yuji Ono had been forced to see me looking so ugly. I would rather have not seen anyone in this condition, let alone my childhood crush. Still, I realized now that it had been more than a mistake not to go to Nana’s wake: it had been selfish and a sin. I should have anticipated that Leo might have reacted in such a way. Yuji had been right. Despite what I said before, it had not been a fear of infecting other people or poor health that had stopped me from going, but vanity.