Kazushi Tatsuishi was the young head of the Tatsuishi family.
Though much of his twenty years of life had been quite restricted—a fact his unworthy younger brother surely would have vehemently denied should he hear it—he was currently living out his days comfortable and free.
As such, Kazushi’s mornings started late.
When he would awake atop the mattress in his room, the sun would usually be close to its zenith.
“Nwahhh… I slept too much.”
Sitting up, he gave a stretch. The alcohol from the night before had completely left his system, and he wasn’t feeling too bad. Now then, he thought in his freshly woken brain, it was time to figure out what he was going to do today.
At that moment, someone began banging nonstop on the door of his room.
“Master Kazushi! Master Kazushi, please wake up! It’s almost noon!”
A young boy, his voice unstably deep and prone to cracking due to puberty, yapped incessantly outside his room.
Once it came to this, the boy wouldn’t stop until Kazushi answered; he very well might force himself into the room.
“Good grief! What would he do if I happened to be in bed with a beautiful woman right now? Sheesh.”
Mumbling, Kazushi obediently opened the door.
“I’m awake. Ichi, can’t you wake up your master just a bit more quietly?”
“As long as you’re awake. Save your complaining and eat your breakfast already. I’m stuck waiting on you before I can clean up.”
The young boy said this curtly before turning on his heel. His name was Ichita Kainuma, and he was the only servant left in the now empty Tatsuishi household.
Ichita’s parents had worked in the Tatsuishi estate, so the boy had been coming to the place for ages. Now, however, he had taken on all the housework as a live-in servant for Kazushi, the lone remaining resident.
Incidentally, the majority of the servants employed by the Tatsuishi house up until then had been dismissed, with Ichita’s parents going off to work as servants for another wealthy family somewhere.
Kazushi took his combined breakfast and lunch under the glaring gaze of Ichita before getting himself dressed in his room and heading toward the entryway.
Until very recently, several servants would have already been silently cleaning around the manor at this time of day, but these scenes were absent now.
Still, Kazushi didn’t find the empty house lonely in the slightest. In fact, it actually felt refreshing to him. Previously, there had been a dreadful atmosphere hanging about the manor, largely due to his father.
“Yup, another beautiful morning.”
“I told you, it’s already noon.”
Ichita gave this cold retort from behind, a broom in his hand and looking ready to get some sweeping done.
“That was quite sharp there, Ichi.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. If you’re heading out, please hurry up and leave.”
With Ichita practically chasing him out, lacking one iota of deference toward his master, Kazushi once again strolled aimlessly out to the noontime capital.
He didn’t have any particular destination in mind.
Draped in a flashy haori coat, he strutted about as he saw fit.
Heading into town every day, regardless of whether he had any reason to, was a habit he’d formed back when he felt the need to escape the stifling atmosphere of his family’s estate.
“Where should I go today…? Hm?”
Squinting his eyes, Kazushi spied some men in a very familiar uniform slightly removed from where he stood. Why, one of them appeared to be an acquaintance of his.
Well, I can’t just pass by without teasing him a little, can I?
With a light spring in his step, Kazushi approached the person in uniform—a military uniform.
“…This foul curse only targets boys and girls in their teens, and—”
“Heya there, fantastic morning, isn’t it?”
“Ugh. Kazushi.”
The man he had called out to and interrupted was none other than Yoshito Godou, who gave him a blatant wince.
He appeared to be in the middle of a patrol, and there were three other unit members with him, but Kazushi had no interest in them.
His only target was his colleague, who he delighted in teasing.
“And it’s past noon, for crying out loud! Are you seriously wandering around looking like that in broad daylight?”
“There’s no harm in dressing the way I want. You’re really starting to resemble Mr. Kudou, the way you nitpick the small stuff like that.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. Buzz off.”
“My, aren’t you the serious one, Godou.”
“Tch, enough already! You’re interrupting our work here! Scram.”
Kazushi couldn’t suppress a smile, watching Godou wave his hand at him as if he was shooing away a bug. It really was hilarious to see a man so earnest at his core pretend to get worked up.
And that was what made teasing him so fun.
“All right, all right. But we should head out for drinks together again soon.”
“Like hell I’m going out with you!”
In a good mood from having seen Godou so indignant, Kazushi departed with an even lighter spring in his step and resumed roaming around without any real destination, window-shopping along the way.
After walking a little while, he passed by a young girl along the roadside wearing a rather well-worn kimono.
“Oh, Kazushi.”
The young girl, her hair braided and tied up into a loop, called out to him as they passed each other.
Who was this again?
He had encountered many a woman throughout his life. Kazushi racked his brain, sifting through the overwhelming amount of potential answers.
“You haven’t been coming by our place lately.”
Seeing her smile after saying this, he finally remembered.
She was a waitress at a café he had frequented. She was a sociable and talkative girl, and he had often enjoyed chitchatting with her.