Over at Moon Riverhills, Nanako dashed out of her room, phone in hand as she exclaimed excitedly, "Father! Charlie's coming later for dinner!"

Yahiko was just tending to his Japanese white pine tree in the garden of his new villa.

It was the finest species of tree in Japanese horticulture, and had been moved here from his old home in Kyoto. Robust and lush, it was worth at least several million dollars and was Yahiko's most prized possession.

He couldn't plant anything back in the attached ho