Chapter 28: The Incident

Kujou Sakuya’s dancing, which was so incredible that others wanted to look at it forever, ended with Ibuki, Enju, and Yoshizane. There were a few people thinking that it was unfortunate and hoping she’d dance after a little break, but there was no sign of that happening.

Some children called out to Sakuya, who wasn’t planning to dance with anyone and had retired from the party, but she hadn’t accompanied them. In the middle of that, a lone girl approached Sakuya.

　　～～～～～～～

Azami chewed on her fingernails. Sakuya and Ibuki’s dancing was an amazing thing. She had forgotten about her own dancing midway through and looked at theirs instead.

Azami had to marry Ibuki. No matter what happened, and no matter what anyone said, she absolutely had to marry Ibuki. She was prepared for that. She vowed that she would never give that up to anyone. Even so…

She thought that Ibuki and Sakuya looked good together. She was no match to them. She had acknowledged that she couldn’t stand a chance against Sakuya. She couldn’t forgive that part of her more than anything.

No matter what happened… She had to marry Ibuki. She had sworn that, but…

That was why she walked over to Sakuya who had retreated from the party. Azami barged in, having no room to care that she was walking unlike how a young lady would.

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“Iwfsw Fyjwuy!”

“Xb… Ggyxk-nbyd, tallvkdtp.”

“Twb…?”

Jzsse oldv vs bla blye, yde pbl ealo nzspla vs Fyjwuy, wvvlazu qwakswp… cwv obld Fyjwuy tallvle bla okvb y pxkzl, pbl nyzxle esod qsa y xsxldv.

Ebyv oyp pbl rzyddkdt vs es? Ebyv oyp pbl tskdt vs es aktbv yqvla pbl ealo dlya Fyjwuy?

Eyp pbl tskdt vs pzyr bla? Xa oyp pbl tskdt vs aykpl bla hsknl yde bwaz ycwpl yv bla? Fyjwuy byed’v esdl yduvbkdt, vbswtb, aktbv?

Ggyxk elqkdkvlzu zspv vs Fyjwuy. Ysal vbyd yduvbkdt, pbl blaplzq bye ynjdsozletle vbyv. Gde Ggyxk nswzed’v qsatkhl vbyv. Gzz bla alpszhl ekpyrrlyale… Fbl bye lypkzu alnstdkple bla elqlyv, ayvbla, nlzlcayvle kv, yde oydvle vs pll obyv byrrldle dlmv. Fbl nswzed’v qsatkhl vbyv ryav sq blaplzq.

Jwv oyp vbyv psxlvbkdt vs yttalppkhlzu iwlpvksd Fyjwuy sd? Mbyv oyp bla sod rasczlx. Rv oypd’v psxlvbkdt pbl pbswze vlzz Fyjwuy.

No matter how much she’d ignored or acted cruelly towards her, Kujou Sakuya… always looked at Azami with that tender smile. To do that to her was…

“Huh?”

Azami staggered backward, and… the food on top of the table fell on her with a thud. It then got on her dress, dirtying it.

“Oh…”

That was a huge mistake. Spilling food on a dress was a major blunder that should not have been committed by the daughter of the Tokudaiji family.

She couldn’t think of what she could do. She should’ve had some countermeasures for these times. But her mind was blank and she couldn’t perform her next action. While spilling food was a large mistake, that didn’t mean it absolutely never happened. Everyone did it sometimes. That was why countermeasures were important. Even if, in the worst-case scenario, food did get spilled, not many points would be docked if the appropriate countermeasures were performed afterward.

But Azami’s mind was blank and she couldn’t think of what she had to do next. She had learned these procedures many times, but couldn’t move instantly. There were many reasons for that. She would’ve been able to use the countermeasures like usual during normal practice. But Azami was currently not calm.

Fury had consumed her at seeing Ibuki and Sakuya together. She went to question Sakuya afterwards, but regretted her own actions after Sakuya smiled and greeted her. She had spilled food in the middle of that, so she couldn’t remain calm and perform the countermeasures. She didn’t know what to do. 

“Ah… ah…”

“My apologies, Tokudaiji-sama. The food has spilled due to my carelessness. I am truly sorry.”

Sakuya suddenly said that loudly while deeply lowering her head.

“…huh?”

Azami didn’t know what just happened. She had stumbled, and so food had spilled on her. Sakuya hadn’t done anything. But then why was Sakuya lowering her head?

“What happened?”

“It looks like the Kujou family’s daughter spilled food on the Tokudaiji family’s daughter.”

“Why, again?”

“See… the Tokudaiji family and the Konoe family’s Ibuki were…”

“Oh… she was the number one marriage candidate, so…”

Azami heard the whispered conversations of the surrounding adults… and turned pale.

“Th-That’s wro…”

Why had Sakuya apologised that loudly? She wasn’t covering for Azami’s mistake, but rather taking responsibility for it. And the conversations were going in an unexpected direction.

The things the adults were talking about weren’t true at all. The Tokudaiji family wasn’t actually Ibuki’s top marriage candidate. That was a rumour the Tokudaiji family had spread. It was a ploy to make others think that way. Azami hadn’t approached Ibuki and gotten a good response from him ever since her debut in high society. The Tokudaiji family and Konoe family’s marriage talks also hadn’t continued. 

Azami lost her cool at Sakuya’s appearance and the quick intimacy she’d garnered from Ibuki. Therefore, she got furious at her many times, even at Touka Academy. So they were wrong… Sakuya wouldn’t have any reason to intentionally spill food on her. 

But for the surrounding adults who didn’t know that, it was the source of an interesting rumour which they’d dramatised to make even more interesting and strange. They spread their conjectures, no, delusions that couldn’t even be disguised as conjectures that didn’t hold any basis in fact. These were things like “This is a conflict over being Ibuki’s fiancée,” or “Sakuya stole Ibuki away, but since Azami was one of his marriage candidates, she still saw her as an enemy”.

Even so… Sakuya should’ve been able to hear what they were saying, but… she didn’t utter a single explanation. She wouldn’t even need to explain herself; the food spilled because of Azami’s carelessness. Sakuya didn’t do anything. Even so, why…

“I am very sorry, Tokudaiji-sama. Please, let us withdraw and clean…”

Sakuya lowered her head and accompanied Azami in separating from the crowd. Azami needed to say that it wasn’t Sakuya’s fault, but she didn’t know what to do. She was already upset and couldn’t form a proper response due to the increased commotion. This wasn’t Azami’s fault. She was still about six years old, after all. It’d be much weirder if she could perfectly respond.

“Excuse me! What are you doing!?”

“Mother…”

Sakuya, accompanying Azami, was forcefully pushed away by a woman who took Azami’s arm.

“You! You did that to my Azami! If you think that you’ll be forgiven for anything just because you’re part of the Kujou family or the Five Norths families, you are very wrong! If you truly behave like that, I’ve got some thoughts for you!”

“Oh… mother, you’re wro…”

If she didn’t explain… Sakuya did nothing wrong. On the contrary, it was all her own fault. If she didn’t explain that, Sakuya would be attacked based on that false charge. But a first-grade kid couldn’t calmly respond to an adult at times like this. 

If she were to be completely honest in the first place, she’d have to mention why she wanted to question Sakuya. It was harsher for a kid to admit to being driven by envy and wanting to question someone because of that rather than admitting a mistake like spilling food.

“Sakuya! What did you do!?”

“Mother… Tokudaiji-sama, I am sorry. Azami-sama’s dress has been soiled due to my carelessness. First, let us withdraw and clean the stain…”

The place dissolved further into chaos with the arrival of the Kujou family’s wife. But Sakuya still said that as she lowered her head, which made both Azami and Sakuya’s mom understand everything. Azami’s mom was already there, so she got the general idea of what was happening from hearing the others talk, but Sakuya’s mom had just arrived. She had been thrown into such a disturbance the moment she got there.

“Sakuya! What did you… Tokudaiji-sama, I am sorry about my daughter. Let me reimburse you for the dress.”

“Don’t touch her! Azami! We’re going!”

“Wa-, mother! You’re wrong!”

Sakuya’s mother pressed down on Sakuya’s head as they stood right in front of Azami. Her chest twinged in pain. But even so, Sakuya didn’t utter a single explanation. As Azami’s mother was dragging her away from the venue, she watched Sakuya till the very end.

　　～～～～～～～

The Kujou wife, who was holding down Kujou Sakuya’s head until the Tokudaiji mother-daughter duo left, finally removed her hand from Sakuya’s head, letting her lift her face.

“Sakuya… go home already.”

The Kujou wife’s voice didn’t contain a fragment of emotion. It wasn’t the voice a parent would use to address their child. It was a voice free from anger and astonishment, free from everything; a completely, cuttingly cold voice.

“Yes. Everyone, I am sorry for the disturbance.”

Sakuya said that to the surrounding crowd, head lowered, then exited the party hall. The hall had fallen silent; the only sound being Sakuya’s footsteps and the door opening and closing.

The hall, still silent after Sakuya exited the hall, now buzzed with a little noise.

“I thought she was an amazing young lady at first, but…”

“She was like the rumours said, after all.”

“Then maybe that’s why the Kujou family didn’t let her debut in high society.”

“Something like that…”

The current situation had instantly become a hot topic. The Kujou husband and wife were earnestly apologising to various people, but that wasn’t enough to cleanse the dishonour.

A series of unthinkable things had happened at this party; it was a night filled with unprecedented scandals. The story that the Konoe family and the Takatsukasa family were fighting over the Kujou family’s beautiful princess had already taken off.

People loved scandals about others. They liked scandals better than moving tales and rapidly spread them. This night’s events had thrilled anyone interested in exactly those things. 

Antagonism between the Kujou family’s Sakuya and the Tokudaiji family’s Azami. A bloody battle between first graders for the position of being the Konoe family’s fiancée. Sakuya intentionally stained Azami’s dress at the height of the party and they dragged each other down, which was completely unbecoming of elementary schoolers. That was hugely interesting, so it was dramatised and people conversed about it.

It wasn’t like that. It wasn’t like that, either. Maybe it happened like this. People added in their own wild ideas, sped up the story, and they cheered on a conflict that didn’t exist.

In high society, the rumour that Kujou Sakuya hid under the umbrella of the Five Norths families to bully Tokuadaiji Azami spread through the upper class.

Because of what happened that day, two rumours spread about Kujou Sakuya: the Konoe family and the Takatsukasa family were fighting over her, and she’d do any dirty deeds to make others fall.

　　～～～～～～～

When Azami and her mom, who was gripping her arm, entered a waiting room, she opened her mouth to tell her mom what really happened.

“Mother! Please listen! This is not something that Kujou Sakuya…”

“I don’t care about that! You will say nothing!”

“…huh?”

Azami, clutching her mom’s arm to desperately plead her case, gulped when she saw the grin on her mom’s face.

“Okay? Azami. I don’t care about who dirtied your dress or why. The Kujou family apologised to the Tokudaiji family in front of all those people. That truth is what is important. Azami, don’t tell anyone what happened tonight, alright? Spread the rumour that Kujou Sakuya threw food on you and stained your dress on purpose. Yes?”

“Wh…at?”

Azami couldn’t understand the sounds the body in front of her was making. She could only hear unpleasant noises. Her brain refused to understand what those sounds meant.

“Maximise what happened tonight! Use it to the best of your ability; in your marriage with the Konoe family, your relationship with the Kujou family, everything! If you can use it, do so! Who cares about the truth?! Those intolerable Kujous lowered their heads in front of a crowd that large! How refreshing! Use this incident more, so much more! Remember this, Kujou family!”

“Ah… ah…”

Azami… couldn’t understand what the sounds the body was making in front of her meant. But she was seized by fear and couldn’t say anything. She couldn’t disobey. She wouldn’t. She had to marry Konoe Ibuki in the first place. That was why… even if Sakuya, who was falsely charged, fell… Her own opinion was the exact opposite of her mother’s, but she had to do as her mother said.

Just that… when Sakuya’s tender smile and laugh flickered into Azami’s brain, her heart squeezed in pain.