Each guest received the tea prepared during the ceremony and some teacakes. The tea bowl was a wide flat-style cup, perfect for summer, with a lovely bellflower design.
Making sure that she conducted herself properly, Miyo immediately took a sip of her tea.
How delicious.
The taste of the tea, pleasant and with just the right amount of bitterness, spread through her mouth. The wide vessel she was drinking from cooled the tea faster, ensuring it was just the right temperature on the tongue.
She had been taught more or less all the etiquette needed for the event, so Miyo didn’t have any trouble keeping up with it.
Miyo felt the mood soften slightly as she sipped her tea with calm and practiced etiquette. She briefly imagined what would have happened had she slipped up—the Miyakoujis furrowing their brows as she left a bad impression on them—and her blood ran cold.
It was only at the outset of the tea ceremony when everyone enjoyed their beverages in silence. After that, they wasted no time in moving their seats and chitchatting with each other.
“It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Kiyoka’s wife, Miyo.”
Miyo introduced herself again and again to all the people she met. While there were some who gave her rude looks, she managed to generally be friendly with everyone.
Nevertheless, her Usuba family lineage came as a novelty, and she often heard comments like, “I didn’t think the Usubas actually existed,” and “I’ve never met a relative of the Usubas before.”
It makes sense, I suppose.
She imagined a fair number of people would have recognized the name Tsuruki or would have told her they’d interacted with the family before, but even now, with the existence of the Usubas out in the open, few knew the Tsurukis and the Usubas were one and the same.
Indeed, the Usubas were still akin to phantoms.
Even the Usui affair from last winter didn’t appear to feel very real for the residents of the old capital, and no one brought it up. It was possible they were unaware the Usui family was a branch of the Usuba family.
Had this information been more widely disseminated, Miyo would have surely been met with harsher looks.
After everyone had finished introducing themselves, the men and the women split off into separate groups and began to hold animated conversations.
A nice middle-aged lady even invited Miyo to join the conversation with the other women.
“It’s like this every year, but it’s too dang hot during summer to hold an outdoor tea ceremony, even in the morning.”
“Right? Still, we all get together for New Year’s, so this is the perfect time to host another gathering.”
“Stop it, I swear we had this exact conversation last year.”
“Last year? This comes up every year.”
The women all chuckled peacefully among themselves. The conversation flew from one topic to the next, and while most were beyond Miyo’s understanding, she was relieved just to be a part of the friendly gathering.
“Miyo, dear, are you enjoying yourself?”
All of a sudden, the woman next to her addressed Miyo directly.
“Yes… Um.”
“Oh, I know, how could you hope to remember all these names that quickly? I’m Miyako. Miyako Miyakouji is such a ridiculous name that I’m sure you’ll have no trouble remembering it now.”
Miyako was several years older than Miyo, likely in her mid-twenties. Miyo recalled the woman mentioning she was the wife of Komon’s cousin during her introduction.
She was a beautiful woman, with spotless, lily-like glamour.
“So this here’s your first visit to our city?”
“That’s right… It’s a wonderful and refined place.”
“You said it. The imperial capital doesn’t have a temple or shrine on every other block, that’s for sure.”
Miyoka was friendly and easy to talk to, even for someone as clumsy at interacting with others as Miyo.
While they talked, Miyo realized the other women were staring at them with intense curiosity.
“Why, you are truly such a pretty little thing.”
“The head of the Kudous never fails, does he? Snagged himself a right pretty young lady.”
“And such perfect tea etiquette, too. You must have learned from a young age, no?”
As the women spoke to her from all sides, it took Miyo everything she had just to politely smile back. She was ashamed that, after all this time, she still wasn’t accustomed to socializing, but with so many friendly people, she never felt uncomfortable.
Master Komon said I would need to be mentally prepared, but…
At this rate, all his fears would end up being totally unnecessary. That was how it felt for Miyo as she enjoyed conversing with the other women.
After watching Miyo safely mingle in the women’s circle, Kiyoka turned his attention to the men’s group he had joined.
Though this was ostensibly a tea ceremony, refreshments and alcohol were being passed out, and some of the men were already drunk, shouting as they spoke, while others had lost any premise of etiquette.
This wasn’t supposed to be a completely informal affair, but it sure was approaching it.
“I got to say, I can’t believe you Kudous brought a girl related to the Usubas into the family. You’re sure doing well for yourselves.”
“The Kudous stand at the top of the Gift-user pecking order as is, and now you’re adding the Usubas’ blood to your line…?”
“There’s no one who can match the Kudous now, is there? Ha-ha-ha!”
Despite Kiyoka not saying a word, the men were carrying on a roaring conversation all on their own.
The reaction seemed sarcastic and not particularly friendly. Kiyoka assumed they had a slight inferiority complex toward his family, since the Kudous were in such good form despite not being part of the main Miyakouji line.
Though the families had split off a long time ago, there were still a few people who were greatly concerned about these power dynamics.
“Don’t let ’em rub you the wrong way,” Komon whispered to him. Kiyoka heaved a small sigh.
“Why would I get offended now? It’s been like this every visit for as long as I can remember.”
At present, the Miyakouji family produced almost no Gift-users. The Gifted children they did manage to bring into the world only had powers so weak as to be functionally useless. Those who managed to utilize their innate Spirit Sight at all were given an education in using arts in order to turn them into as much of a fighting asset as possible.