CH 25

It was finally the day of Ibuki’s party. I was riding a car with my brother now, heading to the venue.

“Uu…”

“What’s wrong, Sakuya? Are you nervous?”

I pressed down on my dully aching stomach as my brother asked that.

“Yes…”

Nervousness, or rather, stomachache… Well, you could say my stomach was aching because I was nervous, so it was still nervousness in the end, but… the fact that even first-graders could have stomachaches was…

“Mr. Momochi’s trained you for this past month, right? You can be confident in yourself.”

“Yes…”

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“Jasvbla…”

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“Elzz, ol’al blal. Psd’v cl vbyv dlahswp; usw nyd fwpv alzym. R’zz cl blal vs nshla qsa usw kq usw xyjl ydu xkpvyjlp, Fyjwuy.”

“Mbydj usw, casvbla.”

Me, a former adult male, getting encouraged and backed up by the sixth-grade Yoshizane-kun… it’d probably be the reverse normally, right?

But the past me was a commoner who didn’t have anything to do with high society. I’d never attended these parties, so it couldn’t be helped.

I got out of the car, and, with my brother acting as my escort, stepped foot into the venue of the Konoe family’s party.

～～～～～～～

“Woah…”

We hadn’t even entered the hall yet, but the venue building itself was amazing. We showed our invitations at the entrance and then were led inside. Something like this still existing in modern Japan was… to think that parties like the ones that royalty and nobility from stories held really existed. Well, this was a world similar to the one in “Love Flowers”, so I couldn’t really say modern Japan, but…

Even so, it was a world my past life had never stepped foot in; a completely different world, unlike anything I’d ever experienced. In no time at all my nervousness lessened and I looked around, absorbed in everything.

“Haha. When you do that, you really seem like a first-grader, Sakuya. You always act very maturely, like you’re older than me, but when you act like this you really feel like a younger sister.”

“Oh… I am sorry…”

As I walked around the venue, my brother acting as escort, I had become too engrossed and was looking around too excitedly. Acting like an improper country bumpkin was definitely embarrassing. Let’s restrain myself a little. I was looking at my surroundings with twinkling eyes and had suddenly become entranced.

I had lived for a long time, counting my past life, so I should’ve amassed plenty of experiences. I had never seen high society but I had more social experience, so it was a little shameful and embarrassing for a sixth-grader to tell me I was acting like a child.

“Then, once you pass through this door, it’s the party hall. Are you prepared?”

“Yes.”

If I didn’t behave properly from here on out… I really should’ve done that from the moment I entered the building, but I got a little distracted. I fired myself up, turned to my brother, and nodded.

“Then, let’s go. This is your debut, Sakuya.”

“…”

I thought he was wrong, but… Ibuki didn’t throw this party for my debut. The official reason was an informal social gathering that Touka Academy students were invited to. This year’s event was held mainly for the new students, but the upperclassmen were obviously invited too to strengthen the bonds between high-status families attending Touka Academy.

But I knew. This was unmistakably Ibuki and Enju trapping me to make the Kujou family and Kujou Sakuya fall. It was a party planned to make the obstacle that was Lady Sakuya die socially.

So I couldn’t make a single mistake today. I’d do everything perfectly, overcome Ibuki and Enju’s every scheme, and protect the Kujou family and Lady Sakuya.

I walked through the door that the bellboy opened, and…

A large crowd of people were dressed in gorgeous clothing, doing just as they wished. Their individual voices weren’t all that loud, but with this many people, it became its own sound. But when the door opened and my brother and I entered the party hall, it fell silent.

It was so quiet that you’d think the sound had disappeared for a moment. The only ones moving were me and my brother escorting me; everyone else had stopped moving and looked over at us, almost like in a hallucination.

I focused wholeheartedly on what Master Momochi taught me, being watchful of everything. I paid attention to everything down to the way I walked, my breathing, and the tips of my fingertips, not letting my guard down for a second. I didn’t look around restlessly, but instead looked around at my surroundings to a certain degree. I perfectly matched my brother’s stride and speed, and even matched his breaths.

“That’s the Kujou family’s Yoshizane-sama… so that means the girl he’s escorting is…”

“Is that the rumoured favourite child of the Kujou family…”

“Her name was definitely…”

“Kujou Sakuya.”

We slowly… walked inside the hall from the entrance, and people then started whispering to each other. I couldn’t hear everything they were saying, but I knew they were observing me.

Most of the whispered conversations were reacting to the fact that Kujou Yoshizane was walking with an unknown girl. That was true. Someone my age would’ve normally already debuted in high society. It was unavoidable that there’d be all kinds of rumours since I debuted this late.

People were paying attention to me, so I couldn’t make a single mistake. I’d show them perfection. I remembered my hellish training this month. This was nothing compared to that.

“Good evening, Yoshizane-san. Good evening to you too, Kujou-san.”

“Enju-kun, good evening.”

“Takatsukasa-sama, greetings.”

When we were about in the middle of the hall, Enju greeted us. He was planning to embarrass me and then destroy me. I was the center of attention, so that’d definitely be effective if I failed. If the young lady of the Kujou family, who’d just entered the room, had suddenly made a mistake, it’d surely make her a laughingstock.

Unfortunately for you, I was different from myself one month ago. I’d zealously trained and choked up blood for a full month. I wasn’t joking or making a metaphor with the choking up blood. There were really times when I’d done that; even I was surprised. I’ll show you the results of that training!

“Oh! You’re here! You’re late!”

Ibuki also came with Enju. They were planning to begin immediately, huh? Alright! Bring it on! 

“Konoe-sama, thank you for inviting me today.”

“Yep!”

…this guy said ‘Yep!’ for everything… I thought the “Arrogant Prince” Ibuki would have a slightly better vocabulary, but… maybe it was because he was still a first-grader?

“Today is Sakuya’s debut into high society, so please ignore the small things.”

Brother! Why were you saying pointless stuff? This was a war! A war between the Kujou family and the Konoe-Takatsukasa alliance! Don’t ask the enemy for mercy!

“My, my! Welcome, welcome, Sakuya-chan! I’m so happy you accepted Ibuki’s invitation.”

“It has been a while, Konoe-sama.”

Ibuki’s mom came too. I didn’t know how to deal with her. She was extremely enthusiastic, but the fact that she could so coolly say that she wanted Ibuki and me to get married was frightening. Maybe she was trying to destroy the Kujou family by getting us engaged: she would ostensibly say it was to bring both families closer but she instead wanted to investigate our family’s state of affairs.

The Konoe mother and son, Enju, my brother, and I – a combination rarely ever seen – were standing in the middle of the hall talking. We were having a conversation in a conspicuous place with such a conspicuous lineup. Of course the people around us would be paying a lot of attention. I couldn’t make a single mistake, so I focused on every muscle in my body and didn’t allow a single opening to show. I’d been able to do that much after Master’s training.

“Oh, I’m sorry for keeping you here. There’s time until the dance starts, so enjoy the food until then. It’s superb.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Mrs. Konoe said that, ending our conversation and going somewhere else, so Ibuki and Enju also walked away. I moved close to my brother. I wasn’t going to camp out in the middle of the hall forever.

Mrs. Konoe commanded me to eat the food, so I had to take some. If I didn’t eat or drink anything here, people would know that I had no confidence in my manners. Do it perfectly! Remember my training with Master! It didn’t matter if the Hundred Earth style etiquette was generally considered strange. Anything could look spectacular if you mastered it.

“Should I get food for you?”

“No, I am alright. Thank you.”

My brother didn’t know how to identify poison. I needed to do that myself. Even if there wasn’t any poison before I’d taken the food, I was scared that there might be poison dripping from the ceiling. I couldn’t trust my carefree brother with this.

I had planned to pick the foods that weren’t poisoned, but none of them looked poisoned in the first place. However, I had to be on my guard. There might have been poison dripping from above, or a person near me, while I was taking food, might drop some in.

There were many guests invited, so it was unlikely that the food was randomly poisoned. If that was the case, they’d have to somehow make sure that I got the poisoned food. So I didn’t just need to check if there was poison while I was getting the food; I also had to check for poison once it was on my plate.

…but there was no poison. Was it too early? Even if someone did want to place poison, they’d be wary of me, so it’d be hard to do. Maybe they were waiting for time to pass and I got tired and relaxed my guard. I cautiously delivered the food to my mouth.

“…as expected of a party the Konoe family has prepared. The food is rather spectacular.”

“That’s true. If you like it and it makes you feel less nervous, that’s great.”

I didn’t feel less nervous. But the food was definitely spectacular. I wasn’t the only one invited – other families had come too – so they couldn’t host a party that’d displease them.

The people mainly invited to this party were kids from high-status families who attended Touka Academy. Many parents from other families attended as well. My parents, unfortunately, couldn’t come today, but they said that they’d show up if they could.

Places like these were used to create connections with other families. Therefore, almost all the families just showed up if they could. The parents made the rounds, made connections with other families, and strengthened relationships; that was their job.

The invitations to this party were sent out to other families undoubtedly late. Some families had to run large businesses. Parents from those families were invited, but sending an invitation a month in advance was probably too late for them. Because of that, my parents were only able to show up when their schedules allowed.

The Konoe family’s party was still so important that many adults from different families showed up. Instead of an informal social gathering for kids, it was really more like a party for adults to socialise.

“Sakuya-chan, greetings.”

“Satsuki-chan! Greetings.”

I made myself invisible in a corner of the venue, inconspicuously spending my time there, until Satsuki-chan, wearing a cute dress, came up to me