After being kicked out of his sister’s room, Masachika rode home with his father in a daze that lingered long after. He did neither chores nor any studying. He didn’t even surf the internet. He simply watched the sun continue to sink from his room until his father called him to dinner.
“What do you think? I feel like I did a pretty good job…”
“…Yeah, it’s good.”
Kyoutarou had confidently served dinner, boasting he had recreated the dishes of a certain famous British restaurant. However, Masachika ate mechanically, offering only terse responses as Yuki’s words churned endlessly in his mind. Everything that had consumed his thoughts before, even the one condition that Gensei had made, had dissolved beneath the weight of his sister’s unprecedented anger. The shock of witnessing her fury for the first time had left him utterly shaken.
I’ve never seen Yuki that angry before… I do feel bad for forcing her to take on that burden, because it has clearly been too much for her… I mean, she was crying in my arms last night like a child… There’s no denying that I sacrificed her dreams for my own, either…
He knew what he said had hurt Yuki’s pride, and it was only natural that she was taken aback after serving the Suou family for years to become the next successor. Put simply, he was essentially telling her, “You worked hard. Good job. Now leave the rest to me.” Nevertheless, he still couldn’t comprehend why she was that angry—furious enough to kick him out of the room. In fact, he thought she would be happy about living together again.
Obviously, I was in the wrong. She wouldn’t have been so mad, otherwise…but I have seriously been putting a lot of thought into this, and it took everything I had to do that…
Self-reproach and defiance flickered in and out of existence in his mind.
“What’s wrong? Did you and Yuki have a fight or something?” asked Kyoutarou with a warm smile, having noticed that his son was visibly distracted.
“…!”
Masachika’s eyebrow twitched, telling Kyoutarou everything.
“You did, huh? Nothing wrong with that. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Rather than accepting everything about each other, sometimes it’s better to just let it all out and have a good fight. Relationships work better that way.”
“…Really? Wouldn’t it be better to solve things without fighting?”
Though Masachika was skeptical, his father still spoke calmly, not admonishing him in the slightest.
“When two people both feel strongly about something, it’s not uncommon for them to clash over even the smallest thing, even if those feelings come from a place of love.”
“…Really?”
“Really. They say the opposite of love is indifference, right? And there wouldn’t be any conflict if you’re indifferent. The most peaceful people in the world are probably those who are indifferent and unconcerned about everything.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right about that.”
“Right? So in a way, a fight between siblings is an expression of love. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“Nah, I think that’s a bit of a stretch,” Masachika calmly jested, chuckling softly at his father, who was playfully shrugging.
“But…I guess they do say that people who are close to each other fight a lot…”
“Exactly. It means that, just like how Yuki means so much to you, you mean that much to Yuki as well.”
As his son’s eyes widened in surprise, Kyoutarou gently added:
“So it’s going to be okay.”