[Completed: Bring My Beloved Back to Life, Still Trying: Natsume's Cat Meals, Farming Tales from Beika Town]
When Mr. Kurosawa was nineteen, he was betrayed. Thanks to his partner shielding him with their life, he barely managed to escape.
As he rested in an alley, he met his future wife, who came bursting in with the sunshine.
Eri was eighteen that year. She had just lost her parents and was being hunted by relatives who wanted to seize her inheritance.
Eri took him to a clinic run by one of her classmates, where they hid until Mr. Kurosawa recovered from his injuries.
While he was recuperating, Eri and Mr. Kurosawa came to an agreement: he would help her reclaim her family estate, and the two would marry, with Eri providing him with money and an identity.
Once he had recovered, the two worked together to resolve their respective problems, then quietly went to register their marriage.
His wife always knew there was something questionable about the nature of Mr. Kurosawa's work. But she didn't hold it against him. Instead, they worked out a suitable explanation, and she continued to believe in him.
Ten years into their marriage, at his wife's urging, Mr. Kurosawa agreed to her idea of adopting a child.
As a thoroughly bad man, Mr. Kurosawa didn't really want anyone else joining his and his wife's life, but her opinion mattered too.
His wife chose a shy child with hair and eyes the same color as Mr. Kurosawa's.
But on their way home with the child, she also picked up a pretty child who looked eight-tenths like her.
The shy child was surnamed Natsume, and the pretty child was surnamed Nakahara.
His wife, who also had the surname Nakahara, said, "To keep our family from having three different surnames, you should take the children's surname!"
Mr. Kurosawa sneered. "You were the one who refused to change your name. And now you're blaming me?"
His wife crossed her arms and said unhappily, "Who wants a surname as dark as Kurosawa? You should change it to Natsume!"
Mr. Kurosawa looked at his unreasonable wife. He was just about to teach her a lesson when he met the shy child's hopeful gaze.
Thinking about why his wife had chosen this child, he felt his resolve quietly begin to weaken.
Then he accidentally caught the pretty child's equally hopeful gaze. He could already imagine how the two children would plead with his wife once they got back to their room.
He sighed helplessly and, in the end, agreed to his wife's unreasonable demand.
Mr. Kurosawa had lost his surname.
Now surnamed Natsume, Mr. Kurosawa took the children to get a new nameplate for the door. There, he ran into his chubby scientist neighbor and a curious little boy.
The chubby scientist said, "Oh, these must be your children. Hello!"
The two kids obediently introduced themselves.
After hearing their names, the two men exchanged complicated looks. So this is what you're like, Mr. Kurosawa! Oh, right, you're Mr. Natsume now!
[PS: Takashi is depicted with white hair and green eyes, as in the manga.]
[My take on Gin, because, really, who would marry the real Gin?]
Theme: Love helps people grow flesh and blood.
