Chapter 15: Apology

I thought it was a good thing that I had met Azami-chan in front of the salon, but it wasn’t at all. It looked like Azami-chan and Satsuki-chan were still on bad terms. I didn’t know how to help the both of them get along.

In the game “Flowers Blooming in Love”, Azami-chan and Satsuki-chan were Lady Sakuya’s close aides from the start. Their personalities were opposites, but they were friends who could rely on each other. When someone went against Lady Sakuya, they’d cooperate and thoroughly defeat them.

But, you couldn’t look at the current Azami-chan and Satsuki-chan and say they were getting along. They probably hated each other. There was no way you could think of them as good friends.

How did those two even become friends? Would they just naturally become friends if I left them alone? They’d be spending the seven years before high school together. We were still six-year-old kids, so the time they’d be spending together in the future was longer than they’d been alive right now. Since there was that much time, maybe the two of them would just naturally get along.

Anyway, it couldn’t be helped if they fought in front of the door forever. While they were glaring at each other and not entering the salon, I opened the door and went inside. The Five Norths Association upperclassmen, who I’d seen after the entrance ceremony, greeted us.

Well, I had already finished introducing myself and I didn’t want to stand out much. So, I walked past them and sat down in the corner with a cup of tea. I could get one boiled for me if I asked, but I was the type to boil my own tea, so I did it. I arrived at the seat and enjoyed the scent.

As expected of the Five Norths Association. It was good tea. It was the same that my family used, so I understood the brand, make, and price. I thought it was a waste for an elementary schooler to drink this, but I was a former lower-middle class commoner after all. Well, maybe not even lower-middle-class, but still…

Taste and the ability to distinguish the real thing were only developed when you were exposed to something often. Even though I had occasionally gotten some small luxuries and eaten good food, I didn’t truly understand how it tasted. If I were served fake food, I probably wouldn’t have been able to distinguish that and would’ve said it tasted great.

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Rd vbyv pldpl, R nswze wdelapvyde lmrspkdt y nbkze vs vbl alyz vbkdt yde zlvvkdt vblx tlv wple vs kv. Gqvla yzz, R nswze wdelapvyde psxlvbkdt sq vbkp vly fwpv qasx kdbyzkdt vbl pnldv pzktbvzu. Jlkdt lmrsple vs vblpl jkdep sq vbkdtp oypd’v wplzlpp. Rv oyp fwpv ldezlppzu nspvzu…

R eked’v oydv vs pvyde swv, ps R pvyule kd vbl nsadla yde jlrv vs xuplzq, obkzl vbl wrrlanzyppxld olal esvkdt sd Ggyxk-nbyd yde Fyvpwjk-nbyd. Gp lmrlnvle, lhlausdl jdlo lynb svbla… Rq vbkp oyp vbl tyxl, vbld vbl nbyaynvlap R jdlo oswze yzps cl vblal, cwv pkdnl vbl tyxl bye clnsxl alyzkvu, vbl sdzu rlapsd R jdlo kd vbkp osaze oyp xu casvbla.

Yu casvbla bye yaakhle y zkvvzl zyvl. Grryaldvzu, bl’e tsdl vs xu nzyppassx vs zssj qsa xl. R nswzed’v fwpv wr yde zlyhl sd vbl qkapv eyu, ds xyvvla bso xwnb R oydvle vs. Rd ydu nypl, kv’e vyjl iwkvl y obkzl wdvkz y nya oswze yaakhl vs rknj xl wr. Fkdnl R bye vs jkzz vkxl yduoyu, kv’e cl y zsv clvvla vs yvvlde vbl pyzsd yde dsv pvyde swv vbyd ekpsclu saelap yde xyjl xsx xye yqvlaoyae.

R eked’v alnstdkpl ydusdl, yde R eked’v oydv vs pvyde swv, ps kq R pvyule iwklvzu kd vbl nsadla, ds sdl oswze nsxl yde yddsu xl. Gnvwyzzu, ds sdl nyxl shla qasx vbl xsxldv R pyv blal. R nswze qllz tyglp yv xl qasx y ekpvydnl, cwv R fwpv ktdsale vblx. Rq R eked’v alynv, vbld vbspl yaswde xl rascyczu oswzed’v vaswczl xl.

“Tlu! R yaakhle!”

“Isdsl-pyxy.”

“Qallvkdtp, Rcwjk-jwd.”

Mblal, Rcwjk yde Odfw yrrlyale pzktbvzu zyvla vbyd xu casvbla. Gzps, bso nsxl Rcwjk oyp vbyv yaastydv obld bl’e fwpv ldvlale y assx… nswzed’v bl cl fwpv y zkvvzl iwklv…

“Hello, Kujou-san.”

“…greetings, Enju-sama.”

Oi… why’re you standing right in front of me… read the room! I was talking with my brother in this corner, you know! We were having a private sibling conversation, so don’t you dare interfere!

“Hey, Enju-kun.”

“Yoshizane-san, could I borrow Kujou-san for a while?”

“—–ah?”

This guy… What was he even saying? Why was ‘borrowing’ me so necessary right now?! Don’t screw with me! Take a look around! Everyone’s paying attention to us, you know!? I was staying in this corner unobtrusive as a shadow, but look what you did! You made me stand out! Go flirt with Ibuki or something!

“Sure. Go on, Sakuya.”

“Kuh…”

Kill him!

Well, don’t… but that’s what I felt. Brother! Why’d you sell me to this demon!? More precisely, why’d God give me this kinda trial!? Best way to put it: who can I even trust, huh!?

“I brought her, Ibuki.”

“…”

I was brought to the middle of the room, standing right in front of Ibuki. Enju was beside me; the upperclassmen, Azami-chan, and Satsuki-chan were surrounding us, watching how our interaction played out. This was the worst… I was supposed to be completely invisible, but now everyone was paying attention to me. 

“Do you have any… business with me?”

The only thing I could do was finish this quickly and get out of here. If I didn’t, I’d be lying on a bed of thorns. Everyone would be wondering why Ibuki summoned someone like me, who they didn’t even recognise. I wouldn’t know what that crowd would say then, nor what I’d be forced to do. 

No way… was this revenge for the previous thing? Was he gonna say something like “Let’s settle this here!”? What should I do in that kind of situation?

Should I just let myself be KO’d by Ibuki? No… I refuse. Why would I, just a first-grader, need to do that?

Then, should I KO Ibuki myself? No, no… that’d rocket me straight to destruction… If I did something like that with everyone here present, then I probably wouldn’t be able to attend Touka Academy anymore. 

What to do? What should I do? It was useless… I was confused and my brain wasn’t working. I couldn’t think of a single good idea.

If this was just a fight between elementary schoolers, then it would be pretty simple. But my opponent was the arrogant prince of the Konoe family, the owners of a large conglomerate, and I was the young lady of the Kujou family. I didn’t have any knowledge or experience on what to do in this kind of situation.

What would Lady Sakuya do? No… that was a bad idea too. If I referenced Lady Sakuya’s actions, then I’d be hurtling straight towards destruction flags. So basically… I’m cornered, right?

“Oi.”

“—–!”

Ibuki extended his hand. He didn’t even give a start signal and just came at me, huh!? If Ibuki ever placed his hand on me, I’d grab it and twist it!

“Sorry about before… Have this…”

“…yes?”

I had thought about grabbing Ibuki’s outstretched hand and twisting it, but there was something already in his hand. I was bracing for Ibuki to attack me, but I still took and accepted that thing.

What was this?

“Wah!”

“Is this maybe!?”

“Hey? Hey? Ibuki-sama, what is your relationship with Sakuya-sama?”

The moment I held that thing, everyone screamed in excitement. I didn’t get it at all. I just stared dumbfounded at the object I’d received. Mhm… this was the packaging of a certain high-end chocolate brand… it looked like I had gotten chocolate from Ibuki. Why?

I didn’t get it at all. I’d said so earlier. But I’d say it over and over again. I didn’t get it at all. What even was this?

“That’s great, Kujou-san.”

“…”

I glared at Enju. It wasn’t great at all! What was this!? Why was Ibuki giving me chocolate in front of the Five Norths Association members? Was this some kinda punishment game? I didn’t get what he meant at all, but I knew that it wasn’t good.

“Were you plotting this, Takatsukasa-sama?”

“Plotting… I didn’t do anything, though? I’d just warned Ibuki a little, you know.”

Weren’t you plotting something with that warning of yours, though? Ibuki didn’t really listen to what other people said, but he listened to his best friend Enju’s words a little. This whole thing was probably Enju’s suggestion too.

I didn’t know Enju’s aims or what he planned to do. I only knew one thing: Ibuki had clearly given me a gift in front of this huge crowd. I couldn’t let it go on like this. The people around me were making a fuss on what the gift meant, but I didn’t know either. 

He said “Sorry about before,”, so maybe this was some sort of apology. But had Ibuki done anything to me that deserved an apology? Remembering the stuff Ibuki and I had done… I had tripped him over and made him fall… ignored him… and said some pretty defiant things… 

Hmm? Shouldn’t I be the one apologising to Ibuki? Or maybe this was that kind of thing? Was Ibuki’s apology just him implicitly demanding my own apology? I didn’t get it at all!

Anyway, I couldn’t return the thing that I’d already accepted. I didn’t want to accept it in the first place, but I thought that Ibuki was doing something else, so I was planning to twist his arm. Then, I accidentally accepted it. I couldn’t say “I was planning on twisting Ibuki’s arm, so I mistakenly accepted it” now.

“That is all, correct? Then, please excuse me.”

I couldn’t just return the thing he’d given me. Then, I could at least get away from here. I walked away from the centre of the room. If I was going to stand out here forever, that wasn’t a good thing.

“Isn’t this great, Sakuya?”

Once I’d separated from everyone in the centre and returned to my seat in the corner, my brother called out to me. I could see that he was grinning slightly.

“Brother… is it possible that you had some knowledge of this?”

Once I’d thought about it, my brother said he even went to my classroom to look for me. Had he perhaps known that troublesome things would happen if I didn’t come today? He knew that Ibuki was thinking of giving me these high-end chocolates, so he thought of looking for me so I wouldn’t evade going to the Five Norths Association; that way of thinking was normal.

“Ibuki-kun and Enju-kun asked me to help.”

See… I thought that was what happened…

“I do not think that Konoe-sama has done something that warrants an apology. I have already accepted this item, so I don’t plan on returning it, but I am confused. If you have any inkling, brother, please tell me.”

This was the big problem. I had absolutely no idea why Ibuki would give me high-end chocolates. I was super nervous at getting caught up in a situation where my opponent’s intentions and aims were unclear. Also, said opponent was the arrogant prince who’d crush Lady Sakuya in the future. There was no guarantee that this wouldn’t trigger some kind of flag.

“Huh? I remember hearing that Ibuki-kun did many horrible things to you, Sakuya, so you wanted him to apologise for them… don’t you remember that?”

“Yes…”

Rather, I was the one who’d done plenty of things to Ibuki, so I thought the fact that he was apologising was strange. He had definitely said many horrible things, but that was mostly because of my own behaviour. I had ignored Ibuki and acted superficially polite towards him. We were the same on that front.

No… I was just selfishly thinking that we were both acting the same, but considering our family statuses, I should be the one apologising even if he had done nothing wrong…

And even though he’d done things to me and punched me, I, on the other hand, had tripped him, made him roll over on the floor, and made fun of him… Well, Ibuki was the cause of that, but I was the one who’d bullied him, so I thought that he’d be demanding an apology. 

And that opponent offered me a present and apologised… What even was this? Think carefully, me…

…aah! The Italian mafia would give gifts to the people they were thinking of killing. They did this so the other party wouldn’t realise their hostility. No way, so that meant…

“Brother… this is bad…”

“Have you remembered something?”

My brother was still nonchalantly smiling. But this wasn’t the time, you know! Be serious! This was war! 

“I have heard it said that the mafia gives gifts to the people they wish to kill so as to hide their hostility. Since Konoe-sama has given me this gift all of a sudden, with no particular meaning behind it… it is unmistakable that he is preparing for a war in which he is planning to kill me and crush the Kujou family!”

“Hahaha! Sakuya, you’re pretty funny. Did you see that in a movie or something?”

Agh! This nonchalant older brother! The “Arrogant Prince” Konoe Ibuki would really destroy Kujou Sakuya, you know! In the Ibuki route, the Kujou Group’s wrongdoings were revealed, the company declined, the Kujou family had to shoulder debts, and they collapsed. Ibuki helped destroy Sakuya and the Kujou family even in the other routes, and, depending on the situation, had even driven her to death! This wasn’t a laughing matter!

Something… I had to do something… if I didn’t focus, Ibuki would torture me!