CH 12

Ibuki brought me to the Five Norths Association’s salon, where my brother told me a shocking truth. What was he even doing…?

He obviously must’ve done it with good intentions. He heard that Ibuki and I weren’t on good terms. Because of that, he wanted to create an opportunity for us to directly meet so we could get closer; that kind of thing. But, to me, that was an unwelcome favour. I didn’t want to come into contact with Ibuki and Enju. I didn’t have to be friendly with them, so I didn’t plan to interact with them much.

Even so, my brother had gotten the wrong idea. Thanks to that, he increased the amount of opportunities for me to meet Ibuki and Enju. I didn’t hope nor ask for this kind of thing. I should’ve endured it since it was out of a kid’s goodwill, but I still couldn’t hide my anger, amazement, and shock.

“You may have thought I was doing unnecessary things though, Sakuya.”

Geh! My brother privately told me that. But he was right… Maybe my emotions showed on my face… I was more or less trying to do a poker face, though…

“This year is still fine. But I’m graduating next year. It’d be a big problem if you, Ibuki-kun, and Enju-kun didn’t get along, right?”

“That is true…”

I could understand what my brother was saying. Or rather, my brother was so sharp that I was wondering “Was this guy really an elementary schooler?”. But I was planning to completely ignore the Five Norths Association once my older brother graduated, so there was no reason to needlessly get closer to Ibuki and Enju. I was surprised my brother had thought that far ahead, but I still wished he would’ve asked me first. And if he had, I would’ve immediately refused.

“Fyjwuy-nbyd, nsxl shla vss. Nlv’p yzz vyzj vstlvbla.”

“Zlp. R okzz cl blyekdt vblal dso.”

Fkdnl R oyp nyzzle cu vbl wrrlanzyppxld, R nswzed’v alqwpl. Mbl qyxkzklp kd vbl Wkhl Lsavbp Gppsnkyvksd olal yzz sq vbl bktblpv nzypp kd Kyryd. Mbl Iwfsw qyxkzu oyp yzps kdnzwele kd vbyv nzyppkqknyvksd, cwv pbl eked’v bsze yd ycpszwvl rspkvksd fwpv clnywpl sq vbyv. Nyeu Fyjwuy eke obyv pbl oydvle oyu vss xwnb yde oyp y cwaeld vs vbl Wkhl Lsavbp taswr kd-tyxl, ps, kd vbl aswvlp, lhld vbl svbla Wkhl Lsavbp qyxkzklp cwzzkle bla.

Mbl vaknj oyp vs dsv shlazu ekpsclu sa ydvytsdkpl vblx, cwv vs psnkyzkpl okvb vblx xselayvlzu yde kdnsdprknwswpzu. R elnkele sd vbl rszknu sq jllrkdt ekpvydv qasx vbl Wkhl Lsavbp Gppsnkyvksd, yde dsv tlvvkdt shlazu kdhszhle okvb vblx. Gduoyu, vbl rlsrzl kd vbl Wkhl Lsavbp Gppsnkyvksd olal yzz Rcwjk yde Odfw’p rwrrlvp, sa ayvbla, vblu eke obyv Rcwjk yde Odfw vsze vblx vs, sa ayvbla… vblu olal yzz vbspl twup’ puxryvbkplap.

Jypknyzzu, Nyeu Fyjwuy oyp kd y bspvkzl alzyvksdpbkr okvb Rcwjk yde Odfw; xsal ralnkplzu, pbl oyp plld yp y cwaeld vs vblx. Fbl bye qyzzld vs vbyv rspkvksd. Fkdnl vbyv byrrldle, dyvwayzzu usw nswze wdelapvyde vbyv vbl Wkhl Lsavbp Gppsnkyvksd qszzsole vblka zlye yde ynvle bspvkzl vsoyaep Nyeu Fyjwuy yp olzz.

“Fyjwuy-nbyd, usw’al alyzzu nwvl~. Zsw byhld’v esdl ydu xyaakytl xllvkdtp, aktbv? Yyucl usw byhl y csu usw zkjl? Xa y twu usw’al kdvlalpvle kd?”

“Ls… R byhl dsv ulv lmrlakldnle pwnb vbkdtp…”

Ebyv oyp vbkp twu pyukdt… esd’v aydesxzu iwlpvksd xl. Uyd’v ol fwpv tlv qya qya yoyu qasx vbkp vsrkn yzalyeu? R oypd’v kdvlalpvle kd twup. Rv bye clld elnkele vbyv yzz xu xyaakytl xllvkdtp oswze cl alflnvle. Rd vbl qkapv rzynl, xu xsx eked’v oydv xl vs ts swvpkel xwnb. Yu xsx xyel xl, obs oypd’v bla kelyz uswdt zyeu, eked’v ts vs vbspl rzynlp xwnb.

Of course, that aligned with what I wanted, so our interests matched. Mom thought that if I went outside, I would lower the reputation of the Kujou family, so she didn’t want me to go to those places. I thought that acting like a lady was tiring, and I didn’t want guys approaching me, so I also didn’t want to go to those places. Both our interests aligned excellently, so in the end, I still hadn’t shown my face at a single high-society party.

“In that case, what about dating me?”

“…what?”

Was this guy an idiot? Sure, we were both in elementary, but a sixth-grader trying to hit on a first-grader? Had he gone mad?

“Oi, Mizuki… you know what’ll happen if you lay a hand on Sakuya…”

Brother… it’s nice that you’re trying to protect me, but something’s up with you too! What even is this atmosphere!? I want to go home now!

“Mizuki! What’re you doing?!”

“What? Ibuki, you’re interested in Sakuya-chan too? But I booked her first.”

Oi… what did you mean, booked? Booked… Saying that to a girl, even as a joke… isn’t there another way you could’ve put it? And also, I didn’t remember being booked by you in the first place; who even were you…?

“Sakuya, be careful of that guy. He’s Hirohata Mizuki. He’s known as someone with a very bad appetite for women. Don’t be deceived by those kinds of boys.”

“*sigh*…”

Wait, were there actually… any girls out there deceived by this guy? Well, he looked alright, I guess. He didn’t appear in “Love Flowers”, but he looked good enough to appear as a love interest in “Love Flowers”. However, he was too flirty. He was a little too far removed from my image of a Five Norths Association member.

“I wouldn’t be interested in someone like her!”

“So can’t I date her, then?”

The guy called Mizuki lightly handled Ibuki. No way, a playboy like this did that… there wasn’t a single person in-game who’d go against the arrogant prince. Enju could caution Ibuki, but even so, he couldn’t perfectly control him – that kind of relationship. But even so, was it okay for this guy named Mizuki to tease Ibuki?

It wasn’t like I was worried about him. But I wouldn’t stand it if the arrogant prince got even madder and went over to me. I wanted him to leave me alone and not do anything unnecessary.

Well, they only showed the highschool portion in-game, though. When my brother and his classmate, Hirohata Mizuki, went to middle school, they wouldn’t be in the Five Norths Association any longer. It may not have appeared in-game, but it’d be weird if there wasn’t a person who could mouth off to Ibuki just a little in reality. 

“The Hirohata family and Konoe family have a close relationship. They’ve known each other since they were young, and because of the age difference, Mizuki became like Ibuki’s older brother.”

“Aah~… so that is what happened.”

Well, to put it simply, he was like a blood brother. They knew each other from when they were little, but there was quite a big age gap. So, when they were small, Mizuki was an unbeatable existence. I didn’t know if they kept that relationship as they grew up, or if their family’s status became a factor and their relationship changed. But, right now, the pseudo-brother 5 years older than him was still someone he couldn’t win against.

After that, a few people came up to chat with me. We introduced ourselves and talked a little. Ibuki and Enju were at the center of everyone, but I was in a slightly further away area, drinking tea while examining the situation.

As expected, Ibuki and Enju were famous everywhere. It felt like they knew everyone, in contrast to me, who knew no one aside from my brother. And also, Ibuki and Enju were on good terms with my brother too.

I could understand that they adored Ibuki and Enju. That was probably because making Ibuki hate you was the same thing as making an enemy of the Five Norths Association. From my point of view, the game’s arrogant prince was rather troublesome and irritating, but maybe he wasn’t like that in real life. Or maybe it was because he was still in first-year elementary.

Anyhow, I couldn’t stand out badly here, nor make any enemies. I should quietly… become a shadow and spend my time in a small corner. They were only introducing the kids from the Five Norths families today, but once school started, Azami-chan and Satsuki-chan would also show up at the Five Norths Association. If possible, I’d be alright just peacefully drinking tea with those two in a corner.

Well? Among the Five Norths Association upperclassmen, there were one or two cute girls. There were a few unfortunate ladies among them, but that couldn’t be helped. It’d be stranger if everyone was beautiful. There were some gaudy-looking kids and some old-fashioned homely ones, but I didn’t mind them.

Most of the families who entered the Five Norths club Association were old distinguished families, so it was unavoidable if their faces were slightly old-fashioned. Also, there were those who weren’t quite nouveau riche, but close to it, so it couldn’t be helped if they looked gaudy. Among them, there were a few girls who were future beauties. I really wanted to become friends with them…

“Sakuya, what do you think? Were you able to become friends with everyone?”

“Yes, I was…”

If only Ibuki and Enju weren’t here… my worry was those two, but from what I saw today, they wouldn’t come over to me if I didn’t approach them first. Those two were in the middle of everyone, talking and having a great time. So, it seemed that they wouldn’t have anything to do with me, who was slightly far away.

Thus, I had unexpectedly shown my face to the Five Norths Association for the first time, and with that, the entrance ceremony ended. 

～～～～～～～

The entrance ceremony ended, and I had finished debuting at the Five Norths Association too, but this day wasn’t over yet. Master Momochi told me to come right after the entrance ceremony ended since the day would end soon. If I disobeyed Master, he’d increase my training, so I had to attend.

“Um… Master Momochi… what is this?”

“Training.”

Well, yeah… that might be true, but why was I doing it? Right now, a bowl filled with boiling water was resting on my head. He told me to walk with that on top of my head, so I was walking, but I was scared it’d spill. If it did, I’d get soaked in boiling water.

“Too slow! Walk faster!”

“Agh!”

If I walked slowly and carefully, he got mad. I was walking as fast as I could, but I couldn’t go any faster than this. If I tried too hard, then the water would spill.

“Go faster!”

“I-If I hurry any more than this, the water will spill…”

“What? Spill? Then there must be a mistake in the way you’re walking. Alright, watch carefully! Like this!”

Master put a bowl on top of his head like me and started walking swiftly. Really unreasonably swiftly. What was this? And the bowl wasn’t shaking at all. It didn’t move up or down or to the sides, to the point that you’d think it wasn’t moving as he was quickly walking. 

“Is there any meaning to this?”

“A lot!”

Aah… he cut the explanation short. Master didn’t really explain the meaning behind his training. Well, there was some training where you suddenly got stronger after you waxed stuff and painted things, so there must be some meaning behind it.

Before this, I was just in seiza and brewing tea, but then he hit my head with a bamboo sword. Then, for some reason, he got mad that I couldn’t avoid it. It looked like Master was trying to tell me that I should be able to rapidly move, no matter what situation I was in, but even so, I’d like him to say that directly.

He suddenly hit me as I was thinking about whether he’d get mad because I was brewing the tea wrong. If I should’ve avoided that hit, then say so. Well, I knew I should’ve avoided after that, but even so, I couldn’t dodge a single hit. Master’s attacks, or rather, hands, were way too fast. It was impossible for me to see that and avoid it.

“Too slow! Another 10 laps!”

“Agh!”

When I’d reached the end of the dojo where Master was, he changed out my bowl. He did that because the water had cooled, so he added hot water and switched the bowls to make the water warmer. But, this time, I had to balance bowls on my shoulders too. I was worrying enough with just a bowl on my head, and I was concentrating so much that I couldn’t walk. But, if there were bowls on my shoulders too, then I’d be too conscious of the half that I could see.

“Don’t shake! Don’t lift your feet! Glide! Bend your knees and lower your waist! Go faster!”

“That is too many requests!”

I was hurrying as fast as I could, but all that was impossible! And I’d walked from wall to wall in the dojo countless times without stopping, so my body was trembling. I had definitely said that exercising too much as a kid was bad, so I was only going to focus on swimming in the fitness club, but… was Master’s training really okay?

“You’re thinking too much, you know? Go faster!”

“Ow! Ow! Ow! Ouch!”

The bamboo sword hit my feet with a shing. The pain made me shake, so the hot water spilled all over my head and shoulders. Then, my soaked body instinctively moved, and I was getting even wetter. It was a vicious cycle.

“More hot water.”

“Aah!”

He had poured additional hot water since it had spilled. I had already suffered enough, but…

“Now, avoid the bamboo sword. Here! And this!”

“Aaaaah! Nope! I cannot do this! Please wait!”

Master swung the bamboo sword with a swish! and swoosh!. Of course, he went easy on me, so just evading them wasn’t too hard. But, if I tried to dodge the bamboo sword, hot water would spill on me. If I tried not to get water to spill, I’d have to get hit by the bamboo sword. That speed and power were superb. Master definitely understood my limits, and, on top of that, changed the power behind his swing.

If I avoided it, I’d get water on me. I had to get hit so it wouldn’t spill. Then, my body would react from the pain of getting hit, and I’d still get soaked in the end. Then, once the hot water all spilled, he added more and the bowl was full again. What was this? This was torture! You probably shouldn’t do this to a grade 1 student, you know!? Abuse!

“Are you still overthinking?”

“*sniff*! This is impossible!”

“When you think you can’t, that’s when it really starts.”

In the end, Master, like what he said, made me walk until I couldn’t stand anymore.