Chapter 2: First Love Interest Found

I had knowledge of “Love Flowers” that Lady Sakuya didn’t. Continuing to chase after this guy would be the worst move. 

According to the setting, Kujou Sakuya had met Konoe Ibuki in elementary, instantly fell in love with him, then snuggled close to him as his marriage candidate. The original game started when they were in high school, though, so this wasn’t directly shown. However, it was clearly written that Sakuya and Ibuki “met in elementary”, so this was our first meeting. But, as you could tell from the earlier conversation, our parents knew each other.

Obviously the Konoe Conglomerate, the group reigning at the top of Japan, and the Kujou Group, a world-famous distinguished old family, would know each other. Both sets of parents enthusiastically planned to marry Sakuya and Ibuki with merging both large conglomerates in mind, making them marriage candidates for now.

Although they weren’t officially engaged, they were still each other’s marriage candidates. Sakuya increasingly devoted herself to chasing Ibuki around, which he hated. He reluctantly entered the advanced course at his parents’ request, met the protagonist, and then fell in love with her. At that point, Ibuki was really tired of Sakuya disturbing him and the protagonist, so he decided to destroy her.

Obviously, Sakuya didn’t die in the Ibuki route, but the Kujou Group’s wrongdoings were exposed and the company collapsed. The family that owned it – the Kujou family – took responsibility for the debts and got all their properties repossessed, then they were thrown out because of the large amount of money they owed. That was the Ibuki route.

The important point here was that Sakuya had instantly fallen in love with Ibuki and started chasing him around, which made their parents enthusiastically make them become marriage candidates. From the adults’ perspective, it was very obvious that the young Sakuya was deeply in love with Ibuki. If they got married, then it’d provide an opportunity for the Konoe Conglomerate and the Kujou Group to merge, giving birth to an absolutely gigantic conglomerate. The adults were using the children’s emotions to plot dirty schemes.

But if I didn’t fall in love with Ibuki, then our parents wouldn’t try to marry us, right? At the very least, they couldn’t use children’s feelings as a pretext for their plans. If they tried to marry us off but I wasn’t in love with him, then I could tell them to respect our feelings.

I would never fall in love with the ‘Arrogant Prince’ Ibuki. Rather, I just thought of him as a nuisance who interfered with Sakuya and the protagonist’s relationship. So, I could thoroughly appeal to Mrs. Konoe and my mother that I don’t like Ibuki. Then, they wouldn’t get wrapped up in absurd delusions of Ibuki and I getting married.

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“Zswa oyu sq prlyjkdt kp iwkvl wdynnlrvyczl.”

“Gyb? Ebyv’e usw pyu?”

R eked’v pvlr ypkel yde bywtbvkzu pyke vbyv. Rcwjk tzyale yv xl byapbzu, yvvlxrvkdt vs vbalyvld xl. Fsaau, cwv ds xyvvla bso byae y jke zkjl usw vaklp vs cl kdvkxkeyvkdt, uswa bktb-rkvnble hsknl xyjlp kv pswde akeknwzswp.

“Uswze usw dsv blya xl? Ps usw byhl cye blyakdt? Xa es usw pkxrzu byhl zso kdvlzzktldnl?”

“Ebyv oyp vbyv?! Zsw!? Eyddy alrlyv obyv usw fwpv pyke?! Psd’v usw jdso vbyv R’x Isdsl Rcwjk?!”

Xsb, ssb. Tl alyzzu oyp yd yaastydv rakdnl, alprsdekdt vs yd schkswp rashsnyvksd zkjl vbyv… Ebyv eke Fyjwuy lhld zkjl ycswv vbkp twu… Gduoyu, bl tsv rashsjle, yp rzyddle, ps obu dsv xyjl bkx qyzz shla y zkvvzl?

“Zsw yal vbl psd sq vbl ekpvkdtwkpble Isdsl Usdtzsxlayvl, ycswv vs ldvla Mswjy Gnyelxu, nsaalnv? Zlv usw nyddsv qszzso vbl awzl sq ‘zyeklp qkapv’? G uswdt xypvla wdyczl vs es yduvbkdt cu bkxplzq kp xkpwpkdt bkp qyxkzu dyxl vs yvvynj vbl olyj, qwavblaxsal, y olyj tkaz; bso pbyxlqwz. Ps usw dsv alyzkpl bso ryvblvkn usw zssj aktbv dso?”

“—obwb!? Zsw!”

His face turned bright red when I hit the bullseye, and he lifted his hand. As expected, he tried to end it with not a punch, but a slap, since I was a girl. But I didn’t have any reason to take the hit. There’s no way I’d let a slap from a guy who hadn’t even entered elementary hit me.

“*dodge*”

“Huh…?”

I avoided the slap and tripped Ibuki, watching as he immediately fell over and looked stunned. I had physically become a six-year-old, but there was no way I’d get slapped, punched, or kicked by another six-year-old unless I’d been caught by surprise and closed my eyes. And was almost no physical difference between men and women at this age, so Ibuki was an easy opponent.

“Y-You!”

Ibuki just had one of his slaps dodged, been tripped, and then fallen over. His face turned bright red and he stood back up.

“Wow, not crying even after a fall? How remarkable~.”

“Sh-Shut up!”

This time, he tried to punch me, but once again I nimbly dodged. Wahaha! What’s wrong, arrogant prince?! Is that all you got?!

“Ibuki! Stop this nonsense!”

“B-But, but she…”

Oh, uh-oh… Mrs. Konoe was here too… I had done way too much. I wanted to provoke Ibuki to destroy our marriage flags, but by provoking him too much, I might’ve raised different ones. I should’ve refrained from doing anything that might make the Konoe Conglomerate my enemy. Doing this somewhere our parents weren’t watching would be alright, but definitely not right now, right in front of our parents…

“I am sorry, Sakuya-chan. I’ll be sure to talk to Ibuki about this, so please forgive him.”

“……huh? Do you know who I am?

According to my memories, this was my first time meeting Ibuki’s parents. So then, why…?

“Mm. I have heard rumours about you for quite some time now. I didn’t think you would be such a tomboy, though.”

“Oh… I cannot refute that statement…”

Right… of course our parents would talk about their kids since we were both about the same age…  and an adult would immediately be able to guess that I was a daughter of the Kujou family, since I’d accompanied my parents.

“It’s not that I blame you. Ibuki has grown up a little selfish… It’s very rare to find a girl who can speak that clearly to him. …ah, right! Kujou-sama, let us marry my Ibuki and Sakuya-chan. It’s a very good idea, is it not?”

“Huh!?”

Hold up! What’re you proposing!? I provoked the arrogant prince so that I wouldn’t raise those flags, but there’s absolutely no point if he still becomes my marriage candidate!

How’d this happen? Where’d I go wrong?

I wasn’t in love with Ibuki. I didn’t think that any parent would make me and Ibuki marry each other, unless I’d gone around saying “Ibuki, Ibuki!”. But then why was Mrs. Konoe… 

Is this the compelling force of the world? No matter how I moved, I couldn’t deviate from the main storyline… 

“I must refuse!”

“Exactly! I really hate you!”

Ohh… no way, the day me and the arrogant prince agreed on something had come… but, well, we agreed that we hated each other, so…

“Weren’t you two both in sync, though? The suddenness of this may be disconcerting at first, but in time, I think you will both grow to love each other.”

What was this auntie saying? I’d grow to love Ibuki? Don’t talk nonsense. Why would a guy like me want to be with another guy? Even if I had died and reincarnated into a woman, there’s absolutely no way! 

Wait, I’d already died and reincarnated into a woman…

“Konoe-sama… Sakuya is also surprised at such a sudden declaration…”

“Hmm… I thought it was a very good idea, but…”

Oh! Was my mom going to refuse!? In the game, my parents were actively working to merge with the Konoe Conglomerate, but now, it looked like their positions were reversed.

“Well, it’s certainly not a decision we have to make at this moment. Then, let us resume this discussion later.”

“*sigh*…”

Somehow, I’d managed to avoid becoming Ibuki’s marriage candidate for now… maybe? I had no idea. The game didn’t mention or portray Mrs. Konoe being this aggressive. Was it a reaction to my behaviour that was different from the game, or backlash from the world’s will?

“You… I’ll remember this!”

“Wow, scary.”

“Tch!”

Ibuki clicked his tongue loudly, and his mother led him away somewhere. Hey, wait! In the end he went in front of her! What happened to ‘ladies first’?! Well, I didn’t really care, but still.

“In any case, I thought you would be happy about a marriage with the Konoe Conglomerate, mother, so why did you refuse?”

I really wanted to know why. Maybe I could reference it for future love interests.

“Well, you know… I can’t send a tomboy like you to be part of Konoe-sama’s family!”

“Aah, yes… I see…”

So that was it… Even now, she couldn’t marry off a young lady who’d fought against a boy to the venerable Konoe family, a large conglomerate. I completely agree with that… actually, it’s more unusual for someone to respond like Mrs. Konoe.

Afterwards, mom and I finished Touka Academy’s interview. It was just a formality since I would almost certainly get in anyway. Then, we went home.

　　～～～～～～～

“Oh! Konoe-sama’s wife, huh?”

“Yes, indeed… we cannot send a tomboy like Sakuya to become part of Konoe-sama’s family…”

At the dining table… mom was telling dad about Mrs. Konoe. Of course, she didn’t say that I’d fought with Ibuki. She probably wouldn’t be able to say anything like that to my father.

“Being a little energetic is good for a child, right?”

“Dear! Sakuya grew up like this because you spoiled her!”

Oh no… it looked like mom and dad would start fighting again. Well, I call it a ‘fight’, but it was really just dad getting criticised by mom… I didn’t remember mom getting this angry originally, but she got angry really easily now. Was it menopause?

“Kids are still growing up. She may be a tomboy now, but in the future, she’ll surely grow into a beautiful wife. More importantly, the project I’m working on with the Konoe Conglomerate can advance further if they both get married. It’s a very, very, good thing for both our families!”

Geh! Dad was supporting me and Ibuki getting married!? I couldn’t let this go on any further. If dad got interested in the idea and it affected how he managed the company, I’d be rocketing straight to a bad end!

“Father! Please don’t say such things, even as a joke. I dislike him. Or, father, are you a man who disregards your darling daughter’s feelings and uses arranged marriage as a tool?”

“Ah, oh~, no, no, that’s not true, Sakuya. Your papa wouldn’t do that, you know~? So, please cheer up.”

So gullible… I’ve heard that fathers dote on their daughters, but this was a different level of doting. He was more gullible than the demure innocent heroines in light novels, acting even sweeter than lugduname¹ lugduname is one of the strongest sweeteners in the world. It’s about 220,000 to 300,000 times sweeter than normal table sugar. .

“Then, please don’t casually decide on my marriage candidates, or marry me off, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Sakuya’s going to marry papa, right?”

Huh? What was he even saying? This stupid dad? Why would I have to marry him…

Oh… was he… was he the type of guy that hoped his kids would say “I want to marry mama~!” or “I want to marry papa~!”?

Was he an idiot…… I’m an uncle who reached a good old age inside, you know? Well, maybe not old enough to be called an ‘uncle’, but… did he really think I’d say that to someone who was also an uncle?

“*glance*…”

“*glance*…”

Hey! Don’t just sneak glances at me! No way I’m saying “I’ll marry you, papa!”!

“Anyway, please don’t mention getting married into the Konoe family, or marriage at all! Please don’t mention it in a place where strangers could overhear, even if you’re just joking!”

“I know, I know. I won’t say anything, so don’t be so mad.”

Oh dear… did he really understand? Was he thinking that just because he’s dealing with a kid, he could just say the right-sounding words?

“Thank you for the meal.”

There was no point in staying any longer, so I quickly went back to my room. I left the dining room and, accompanied by Momiji, returned to my own room. After arranging a couple of things here and there, I got ready for bed.

“Lady Sakuya, are you going to retire?”

“Hmm… if you sleep beside me tonight…”

I said jokingly, and, when I glanced at Momiji…

“…”

Aah….. that was it. When my parents glanced at me earlier, that was definitely the face I was making… I now understood how father felt, just a little. Maybe I’ll be a little bit nicer to him from now on….

“Good night.”

“Good night. Then, I will take my leave.”

As I checked to see if Momiji exited the room, I thought. My objective was to flirt with other girls in this world of “Love Flowers”. But I couldn’t aimlessly pass the time. I understood that just from my exchange with Mrs. Konoe.

I didn’t know if it was this world’s compelling force or something else, but if I deviated from how the route was supposed to go, the same results would occur anyway like the backlash against it. So I had to take down all the flags being raised and spend my time productively so I could go all lovey-dovey later.

What should I do and how should I act from now on? Those thoughts swirled in my head, and before I knew it, I fell asleep.