By the time I made it to Kiriha and Kyo’s house, the sun had completely set. There wasn’t much in the way of lighting in their neighborhood, so it was often completely dark. But it was easier to navigate the paths today thanks to the bright light of the moon. I arrived at their house and gave the front door a light knock.
“Coming!” said Kiriha, who opened up the door to greet me. “You’re just in time, Nack. Dinner is almost ready. Come in and sit down.”
“Thank you so much for having me today,” I said, taking a seat at the table.
“Come on now, no need to be so uptight.”
A moment later, Kyo walked into the room, yawning.
“Oh, Nack,” he said. “You came.”
“Yes, but it took a bit longer than I thought,” I replied.
“Looks like your talk with the headmistress went well.”
I nodded.
“Yes. We talked about a lot of things, but she’s okay with me leaving the school.”
“Glad to hear it.”
Kyo took a seat in front of me and rested his head on his hands. I could tell by his smile that he really was glad. We chatted for a bit, and then Kiriha brought dinner out. It was much more luxurious than anything I’d been served when I was living with them before.
How much did they spend on this?
I turned to Kiriha with a worried look. She smiled.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “We spent a little extra but nothing that will break the bank.”
“To be completely honest,” added Kyo, “we used the money Usato gave us, so we didn’t even-hurk?!”
Kiriha punched the chuckling Kyo as she put the food on the table.
“Not another word out of you,” she said, sighing. “Sometimes I wonder if my little brother will ever grow up . . .”
“We’re twins!” he said. “We’re the same age!”
“I’m not talking about age. I’m talking about behavior, you twit.”
When all the food was on the table, Kiriha let out another sigh and took a seat next to Kyo. There was so much more variety than usual—soup, bread, meat, and salad—and it all looked delectable.
“Um, are you sure about all of this?” I asked. “You won’t be left starving after I leave because you splurged on this, right?”
“Don’t worry about it,” said Kiriha.
“What she said,” added Kyo. “And anyway, you think Kiriha’s the type of weakling to collapse because she doesn’t have enough to eat? Get out of town!”
Kyo cackled with laughter as his sister shot him a death glare. It was true, though—Kiriha didn’t look at all weak. In fact, she gave Kyo a very strong elbow in the ribs as I turned my attention back to the table.
“Looks great,” I said as I took a sip from the soup.
Delicious as always.
“N-Nack . . . aren’t you a little too calm and collected? I’m suffering here . . .”
I had elected to indulge in the food while Kyo groaned in pain.
“Well, you only got what you asked for,” I said. “Speaking to Kiriha that way was always going to land you in hot water.”
“Yeah, you tell him, Nack,” added Kiriha.
Kyo shifted in his seat, recomposed himself, then began eating like nothing had happened. We were all just used to conversations playing out this way.
“I heard from Kyo that you’re leaving for Llinger soon?” said Kiriha.
“Yes. The headmistress said she’d organize transport for me, so I’ll head out as soon as preparations are complete.”
“The headmistress is going to do that for you? But why?”
“Um, she said she wanted to thank me.”
It was a little complicated, but I gave them a quick rundown. Kiriha nodded, impressed.
“Well, it does feel a bit quick, but if you’ve made up your mind, then we’re behind you. Just make sure you don’t leave with any regrets, okay?”
“No problem,” I said. “This is the path that I chose for myself, after all.”
“Well, if you can say that openly and honestly, I think you’ll be fine,” said Kiriha with a smile. “And it means we can see you off without any worries.”
“You’re like an old woman,” murmured Kyo, only to once again receive a hard elbow to the ribs. His moans filled the room as Kiriha dug her elbow in and looked at me.
“By the way, what are you going to do about your luggage?” she asked. “Are you going to box it all up and send it?”
“Oh, right. My things,” I muttered.
I hadn’t even thought about it.
“Well, I’m only taking the bare essentials,” I said. “All I have at my house at the moment is a change of clothes and my class textbooks.
“Ah, I see . . . Wait. House? Did you say house just now?”
Kiriha’s eyes went wide.
“My parents abandoned me completely, but they were still worried about their reputation,” I explained. “They didn’t want me living in the dorms because they didn’t want people getting the wrong idea. So, my dad ended up getting me a massive house.”
“All in the name of appearances?”
“Yep.”
For the nobility, keeping up appearances was paramount. If my parents sent me to Luqvist to learn magic and I didn’t live in a manner befitting of the nobility, rumors would start to circulate about my family’s wealth. So my dad, conceited as he was, spent an exorbitant amount of money to get me a house.
“But after he got me the house, he didn’t do anything else at all,” I said. “I do all the washing, cooking, and cleaning myself. I would have been better off living in the dorms.”
My father provided me only surface-level support. When I thought about it now, he really was completely ridiculous. Who buys a teenager a house?
“It’s been rough for you, huh?” said Kiriha.
“I guess even nobles don’t always have it easy,” added Kyo. “Not that I thought much of them to begin with.”
“It really is a struggle,” I admitted. “There’s no future to speak of, learning all the etiquette is a major pain, and you always have to put up a strong front for appearances. I wouldn’t think much of it either.”
“Oh, uh . . . are you okay, Nack?” asked Kiriha.