Chapter 86: Reconciliation

When I came to the academy the next day… they were whispering again as usual, or rather, as expected. When I greeted them, they just ignored me and ran away. It was exactly the same as before. Everyone’s responses were too predictable.

It didn’t feel good, but, when I thought that this was normal, I didn’t really care about it. I also didn’t care since I had lots of cute friends now.

“Satsuki-chan, greetings.”

“Sakuya-chan, greetings.”

Satsuki-chan, who arrived earlier than me as usual, greeted me and I responded. It didn’t matter how many people I didn’t care about were ignoring me as long as I had people I cared about with me. 

The cheerful Azami-chan also arrived and we greeted each other like usual; it was just normal, uneventful daily life. It wasn’t anything different than when that incident with Azami-chan happened at the Konoe family’s party—it was nothing. And I had everyone in my group with me, unlike that time. That gave me strength.

I think it bothered me more before, but I didn’t really care now. I could bear it. If everyone was there, then…

　　～～～～～～～

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“Xb! Fyjwuy-nbyd! Eykv!”

“Twb? Iyuy-pyd? Ebu’al usw blal?”

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“Ebyv?”

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“More importantly, let us have lunch?”

“Huh? Kaya-san, would you like to eat with us?”

Didn’t you just happen to decide to eat at the cafeteria today? Or were you thinking of eating with us?

But I couldn’t decide that alone. The seven of us were eating together, so I couldn’t suddenly decide that Kaya-san could join us.

“Everyone, you are fine with this member of the Five Norths Association, Oogimachisanjou Kaya, eating with you, yes?”

“Y-Yes!”

Oi oi… wasn’t that a threat? The other four, apart from Satsuki-chan and Azami-chan, were shaking… The Saionji and Tokudaiji families ranked above the Oogimachisanjou family, but there was their difference in age and that the Oogimachisanjou family was the biggest faction in the Konoe monryuu, so there was actually only a small difference in power.

At the very least, Kaya-san was their senior, so as students, she was in a higher position than them. In the real world, the Saionji and Tokudaiji families were of higher status than the Oogimachisanjou family, but when you thought about how they were backed by the Konoe Corporation, they weren’t in a bad position.

In the end, the Oogimachisanjou family held enough status to enter the Five Norths Association, so the difference in status between them was easily replaceable. I didn’t know how I’d be dragged underfoot if I insisted that I was superior because I was from the Kujou family.

“Now, Sakuya-chan! Your seat is here! Big sister’s seat is here! Everyone else, sit down where you want to.”

“Yes!”

What a difference in attitude! Treating everyone roughly! And that difference in attitude!

But in the end, they couldn’t defy the strong-willed Kaya-san. So, for some reason, I was sitting at the seat for those of the highest status, Kaya-san was sitting beside me, and everyone else was sitting somewhere. From what I could see, Kaya-san was on my left, and there was a little fight for the seat on my right, but it seemed like Azami-chan won in the end. Satsuki-chan was sitting calmly beside Kaya-san.

What was this? Kaya-san was being this overbearing when sharing a table with us… this wasn’t something usually seen at the cafeteria, but…

“A scoundrel may appear at any moment from anywhere. Big sister will protect you until the situation calms down, Sakuya-chan.”

“…huh?”

Maybe… Kaya-san thought that I was being bullied by the people around me, so she came on purpose? She didn’t use the cafeteria often herself, but… maybe she thought I was in trouble, so she went on purpose?

“Hm? What is it?”

“…”

When I looked at Kaya-san, she smiled at me. What was this… this… my heart felt warmed… this very happy, light feeling… Kaya-san’s kindness and care were flowing into me.

I wasn’t alone. I had people who worried about me, worked together with me, and protected me.

“Ufufu… Sakuya-chan… you’ve fallen in love with big sister? Right? You’ve fallen in love, right? Right? Right? Shall we stop by my house? If we can’t do that, big sister can also go to your house, Sakuya-chan. Right? That’s fine, right? Haa, haa…”

“Wait! Kaya-san!”

Scary! She suddenly got strange! I was feeling good too, but! I was feeling really thankful, but! I felt like everything was ruined!

“More importantly, what are we going to do from now on? Let us start our strategy meeting immediately.”

“…and our lunch?”

“Of course we will eat! But as everyone is gathered like this, we must think about how to protect Sakuya-sama and how to save her!”

Everyone nodded at Azami-chan’s words. Everyone really were amazing friends… We couldn’t think of an effective strategy, but it made me really happy to see everyone seriously discussing “Oh, this and that wouldn’t work”.

　　～～～～～～～

I went to the salon after school, and Ibuki and Enju came up to me.

“Sakuya, are you okay? Did anyone do something to you? If something happens, tell me immediately! I’ll punch them!”

“Thank you for your concern. However, this matter is not at the level to bother you, Konoe-sama…”

Stop… people were trying to calm down and fix things somehow, but what would they do if you made a big fuss?

The reason I didn’t want to make a big fuss wasn’t because of the boys in class or Hagiwara Shion. If I thoroughly questioned my opponent or whatever and drove them to withdraw from the school, I’d be heading straight towards Lady Sakuya’s route in the game “Love Flowers”.

“Kujou-san, are you really okay? If something happens, tell me too. We’ll cooperate the best that we can.”

“Thank you, Takatsukasa-sama.”

Enju also said that, but… well, I didn’t intend to borrow these two’s power. It wasn’t that much of a problem right now, and if we steadily spread the truth, there was a high possibility that the rumours would decrease too. The worse of a fuss they made, the more antagonistic future developments might get.

It was true that we hadn’t taken any major measures yet, but Azami-chan and the others had already talked about the newspaper’s contents to the other groups. At the very least, my classmates had seen it too, and they could immediately prove that there was a mistake in the picture taken of the class. If that spread, then the other stories would slowly disappear too.

“Sakuya-chan, being here is polluting you. Won’t you talk to big sister over here?”

“Kaya-san…”

I was still talking to Ibuki and Enju, but Kaya-san took me and led me to our usual seats. It looked like she didn’t want the two of them to accompany me any longer.

And also, saying that I was being polluted when I was talking to Ibuki… I thought that was something Kaya-san couldn’t say with her position, but… This person was too carefree… At first she was going “Konoe-sama! Konoe-sama!”, but… where’d she go off the right path with her life?

Thanks to Ibuki refuting the rumours, none of the Five Norths Association members were critical of me at the salon. Maybe they didn’t believe what the newspaper said, maybe they stayed silent because Ibuki wanted them to, or maybe they just didn’t have anything to say.

It wasn’t like they were going to be unconditionally on my side because of that. Kaya-san, Ibuki, Enju, and Mizuki would protect me, but the others were just indifferently, neutrally protecting me.

Well… they didn’t view me as an enemy like before, so maybe this was better. I spent time at the salon, went to my lessons, then went home.

　　～～～～～～～

The moment I went home, my parents called me and I sat in front of them. What on earth was going on?

“Sakuya, you’re a smart child. That’s why I’ll tell you the whole truth. The truth is… we know who the culprit is.”

“What!?”

I was surprised at my dad’s words. They already knew? What on earth was he saying?

“It’s obvious if you see this.”

“This… is…”

At my dad’s signal, a video was replayed… It showed the lobby at the entrance of Touka Academy. It looked like it was security camera footage. Watching it, you could see various students walking. They were holding their bags and entering from off-screen; this was probably in the morning when people were arriving at school. Then…

“——what!?”

A single male student entered the lobby with a person that looked like a maid who was putting up a large item on the wall. No matter how you thought of it, that was the newspaper.

“This student is…?”

The video quality was bad, but, most importantly, I didn’t know that male student. I hadn’t interacted with any male upper elementary schoolers. The only ones I’d encountered were salon members.

“Kuwahara Katsura. A fifth grade student.”

It looked like my brother knew who he was by sight. Then, my dad nodded.

“We have obtained proof. It is unmistakably Kuwahara Katsura.”

“You’re kidding…”

Wait a minute… really? This simply… Something you knew from a method this simple… was our opponent stupid? Were they not thinking of a method to counter the security cameras? Even though they made such an elaborate newspaper?

“Let us contact Touka Academy and have them punish the Kuwahara family in some way.”

“Hang on! P-Please wait!”

Something was off. Something was clearly off! It was too simple, too clean.

“Sakuya… this isn’t just our problem. On top of making this clear to Touka Academy, we can’t remain silent. If those students run wild, it’ll also affect Touka Academy’s reputation. That’s why we’ll contact them about that newspaper and confirm the contents of the camera footage together so that they cannot escape punishment.”

“Th-That is…”

I understood that. I wasn’t covering for this guy named Kuwahara Katsura. I was annoyed that he did that too. I felt a little like I wanted him to teach him a lesson. But that wasn’t it…

“This simply… this straightforwardly… is this an incident where we could really capture the culprit this straightforwardly? Even though they had planned so much!? This was… I do not think that this incident is that simple!”

The actual culprit was definitely Kuwahara Katsura. That was irrefutable. It was certain since it was recorded clearly on the security cameras. But… was Kuwahara Katsura really the culprit?

For example… was someone operating in the shadows? Though the real culprit may have been Kuwahara Katsura, if there was someone pulling his strings from backstage… We couldn’t end it by just easily punishing Kuwahara Katsura, right…

“Sakuya… that’s the end of this matter. Okay? The culprit who put the newspaper up, Kuwahara Katsura, will be punished. The contents of the newspaper will be corrected and the corrections will be publicised. With that, your honour will be restored. That’s good, right?”

“Y-… you can’t! Father!”

“This has already been decided.”

“——guh!?”

My dad’s expression was… something that said he couldn’t be convinced. But he was saying that the curtain would be drawn here… it was that, right?

Punishing the real criminal as a sacrifice, and revealing the truth about the people who were involved… even if the academy didn’t dispense any punishment, would the boys and Hagiwara Shion be able to attend this school after rumours of their bullying spread?

Did my dad know something? This matter had another layer. That was clear to anyone… Even so, my dad stopped investigating any deeper.

The real criminal was definitely Kuwahara Katsura. Since he was clearly shown on the pictures, he was just paying for his own mistakes.

But… ending it all here?

Only a few people were cut off like a lizard’s tail… Probably… the true mastermind must’ve made Kuwahara Katsura do this so that there’d be clear video evidence. So that they’d put all the blame on one person…

Unforgivable… my anger was simmering. I didn’t really care about the guy Kuwahara Katsura. I wasn’t going to let the guys at class and Hagiwara Shion get away with it; they were paying for their own mistakes. But… even so… I would never forgive the way this mastermind did things.

Looking down on me, using other people, placing the blame on others, and throwing them away. How inhuman… I couldn’t forgive this mastermind.

My dad said not to investigate the matter any further. And there was a limit to what a kid like me could do. I couldn’t use my dad’s power to resolve the situation like right now.

Even so… just the mastermind…