Miyo hadn’t considered the possibility. However, Kiyoka was right that shrines weren’t only inhabited by gods or Grotesqueries. After all, shrines were originally meant to accommodate a large number of people at once.
When she turned to Kiyoka and looked up at him, there was an ineffable, pained look on his face.
“Kiyoka?”
“Ah, sorry. I was just remembering something a bit unpleasant. You can’t always judge whether a person has evil intentions or not from how they look, nor is the person themself always self-aware of their own evil deeds or intentions… I just thought that, was all.”
Where exactly had that come from all of a sudden?
Miyo hadn’t the slightest idea, but since Kiyoka had worded his statement so ponderously, she had reservations about probing further, and they continued forward past the shrine. Whatever Kiyoka was talking about, she was sure that it wasn’t something of any importance to her, as he hadn’t brought it up to her before. That was what Miyo had decided to silently convince herself.
After walking once around the whole park, Miyo and Kiyoka headed home.
She had used up her physical stamina walking around, but she now felt like all the thorniness that had long settled in her chest—the intractable tension, the exhaustion—had been wiped clean.
A bit of an incident happened right as Miyo and Kiyoka arrived back at the main estate.
“Kiyoka?”
He abruptly stopped right after they had stepped inside the entryway.
“They’re being awfully noisy.”
Miyo didn’t immediately understand what he was saying, but perking her ears up, she could hear people bickering about something, just as Kiyoka had said.
Kiyoka frowned with utter contempt.
“It must be her again.”
“Do you mean Mother?”
Though Kiyoka did not respond to Miyo’s question, his expression was answer enough.
He pondered something for a few moments before heaving a sigh.
“Sorry. I’m going to go see what’s going on. In the meantime…you must be tired. Go on ahead and wait in our room or the parlor.”
While Miyo was tired, it wasn’t too much for her to endure, and she was curious what was going on herself. She shook her head at Kiyoka’s proposal.
“No, I’ll go, too.”
“…All right. Let’s go, then.”
The voices seemed to be coming from the second floor. Miyo and Kiyoka exchanged glances and climbed the stairs.
It was then, right as they had climbed the last step—
“Ugh, enough!”
—they ran into Hazuki just as she tore out of a room, a scowl on her face.
“Sis.”
Hearing Kiyoka’s voice, Hazuki softened her expression.
“Oh, hello you two. You were home?”
“We just got back in. We heard voices from the entryway and came to see what was going on.”
Hazuki headed over to Kiyoka and Miyo wearing an apologetic frown.
“Oh, sorry about that… Mother’s in a bit of a mood.”
According to Hazuki, someone had broken a ceramic doll in Fuyu’s room without her knowledge. It was a beautiful, foreign-made, pure white doll of a woman resembling the Holy Mother, standing on a small music box.
The doll had fallen to the ground and had broken while Fuyu was away from her room.
It was one of the many gifts she had received from Tadakiyo; her distress had already gotten out of hand, as no one could get through to her.
“Though perhaps it would be more accurate to say she’s not mourning but upset and taking it out on others.”
Hazuki slumped.
“See, the doll itself? It’s not that expensive or even that rare. Father told her that to try soothing her, but…no luck.”
It was a tragic twist of fate. Miyo hugged close the doll that Kiyoka had given her.
Gifts from one’s beloved, no matter how cheap or common they may have been, or how many of them one may have received…still contained precious memories and emotions. By gazing at the many, many presents one received, one could recall the moment they had been gifted, and indulge in the happy emotions around it.
It was only natural Fuyu wouldn’t be able to keep a level head over such an item breaking.
Hmm…?
Thinking that Kiyoka must have felt a bit of pity for his mother, Miyo looked at him to find, contrary to her expectations, a rather strange look on his face.
If she had to compare it to something, it was a bit like how he would look when she would tell him she was going alone to visit her grandfather or cousin Arata at the Usuba estate. A mix of wanting to pleasantly see her off, while also wishing she would stay by his side… It resembled his face in those moments.
“What did the former family head say, then?”
“Is that how you refer to your own father…? Anyway, Father isn’t particularly mad or saddened by it from what I can tell. I haven’t heard yet if he’s going to look into the reason why it broke or anything.”
“He’s probably not going to dig too deeply into it.”
“I bet not. So, for now, just leave in her peace. It’ll be dinner soon, so if you wanted to get changed beforehand, you should go do so,” Hazuki said as she descended the stairs to the first floor.
Even now, they could faintly hear Fuyu’s angry, woeful cries. Hazuki was right that nothing good would come from Miyo or Kiyoka getting involved.
However, there was one thing that stood out to Miyo from listening to her conversation with her husband.
“Kiyoka.”
“What?”
“Why is it that Father isn’t going to follow up on how the doll was broken?”
“Ah, well…”
“With how deeply Father cares for Mother, I figured he would try to pin down who broke the doll if she’s that upset over it…”
Kiyoka furrowed his brows at Miyo’s question, looking a bit conflicted.
“…That’s fair. It could be he’s not following up about the doll because he cares for her so much.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, since he cares for her so much, he might find it more important to attend to Fuyu instead of expending his energy on finding out what happened to the gift.”
Miyo wasn’t sure if she fully understood what he meant. Slowly processing what Kiyoka had told her, she questioned him further.