“WELCOME home, Miss,” greeted the butler, Mizuno, several of the staff, and the rest of Satsuki’s attendants on standby at the mansion. She was met with their greeting upon setting foot in the entrance hall when she returned home.
“We were worried when we received word you were coming home early after all. How do you feel?” Mizuno checked with her.
Satsuki wanted to attend class, but Shindo adamantly insisted they return to the mansion.
“I guess my face must look tired. My strict retainer here chastised me, claiming, ‘If you intend to go around with a face like that all day, we’re going home,’” Satsuki revealed in a tattle-tale voice and shot the retainer standing beside her a sidelong glance.
“Honestly, he can be just awful!” she continued teasingly in a sullen voice reserved just for Shindo. She never even spoke this way with her own parents.
“You’re still going on about that? You know, this sounds like I was bullying you,” he shot back.
“You don’t say! Isn’t that precisely what you’re doing?”
“Miss!” Likewise, the gentle tone Shindo used to soothe the “bullied child” was reserved strictly for Satsuki. “Please stop this nonsense. All of the other attendants are going to gang up on me.”
“Then if you’re ever mean to me again, I’ll go tell everyone ‘Shindo’s being a bully,’ okay?” Satsuki teased, merrily turning to the other attendants.
In his late thirties, the oldest of the attendants replied with a smile, “Feel free to at any time,” inviting the bemused laughter of those around.
Surrounded by such a peaceful atmosphere, Satsuki and Shindo looked at one another and smiled. Satsuki gave her best smile filled with happiness, her cheeks slightly flushed. Seeing her smile so radiantly, a joyful smile overtook Shindo’s face. An extraordinary aura radiated from the two.
Probably the only one who recognized the warning signs was Mizuno, who knew both Shindo and Satsuki extremely well. His normally placid expression briefly clouded as he studied them.
“Miss, how would you like to handle lunch? Would you like to eat early today?” the elderly head housekeeper standing beside Mizuno asked the young lady. This was Shizuko, Mizuno’s wife.
Satsuki gave a little giggle before replying, “I’ll eat at the usual time. I have such a small appetite, I wouldn’t mind skipping lunch outright.”
“That’s unacceptable.”
She merely went to school only to turn right around and come back home, so she didn’t work up much of an appetite. Although the idea of sitting down for lunch seemed tiresome, her “strict retainer” quickly stepped in.
“...Make it light then,” she conceded, flashing Shindo a nasty look.
Shizuko lightly laughed and replied, “Certainly.”
Accustomed to Satsuki’s dirty looks, Shindo was unfazed by her dark glare. It didn’t bother him in the least. In fact, he was outright delighted the little lady followed his instructions. With a bright grin, he said, “Would you like to rest in your room until lunch? If there is anything you would like to do, please let me know...”
“Well, I haven’t played the violin in a while... It’s been long enough, would you mind tuning it for me, Shindo?”
“Of course not. I will go tune it in the music room. Would you like me to take it to your room when I’m done?” he asked, shifting his eyes to the attendants. Two from among the group stepped forward. Since he would head straight to the music room, they would be in charge of escorting Satsuki to her room.
“Oh, I know!” Satsuki burst out after taking a few steps with one attendant on either side and spun around to face Shindo. “I’ll play whatever you like today, Shindo. What will it be? Beethoven? Mendelssohn? Or Brahms like usual?”
Shindo gently replied, “In that case, I’d like to hear Brahms.”
“You love his music, don’t you? I l-love it too...” Although she was referring to the music, saying the word “love” felt oddly embarrassing. Stumbling over the word only made her all the more embarrassed. In a fluster, Satsuki turned away and resumed walking to her room.
The staff watched Satsuki until she reached the top of the spacious staircase in the center hall before returning to their own posts. Shindo was about to hurry off to the music room to tune Satsuki’s violin, but Mizuno grabbed his arm.
“...Akira,” Mizuno beckoned, making Shindo’s eyebrows twitch. When Mizuno called Shindo by his first name, it generally meant he had something unpleasant to say.
Back when Shindo first came to Tsujikawa mansion as a twelve-year-old lad, Mizuno was the person assigned to serve as his instructor. From proper grammar to etiquette, Mizuno taught the ignorant boy everything from the basics up. When Mizuno first laid eyes upon the shifty-eyed boy of questionable background, he had his doubts, but Shindo proved more dexterous and attentive to detail than he initially gave the boy credit for. He was willing to take initiative and above all else, he was bright.
Shindo absorbed things like a sponge, obtaining a normal degree of common knowledge. It didn’t take long for Mizuno to feel “it’s okay to let him out of my sight.”
As far as Mizuno was concerned, Shindo was like a son to him. Although he generally referred to him as “Shindo,” he would switch to “Akira” only when lecturing the lad about his position.
“Akira, you haven’t forgotten, have you...?” Mizuno’s tone came out harsh, reprimanding Shindo. “You are the Miss’s retainer... You realize what that means, don’t you?”
Shindo’s heart was thrown into turmoil, but he kept it from showing.
“I’ve warned you several times since you were assigned as the Miss’s retainer... Do you remember that warning?”
“I do,” Shindo quietly answered.
He was still just a boy when he was first assigned the position of retainer. But by the time Satsuki bloomed into a young lady, that boy would be a fine young man. Foreseeing the future, he told young Shindo time and again, “The Miss is your boss. You must never, under any circumstance, harbor unnecessary feelings for her.”
“I understand...” Did Mizuno notice that Shindo’s voice quivered ever so slightly? “She...is my boss...”
He must never harbor special feelings for her. She would always be out of his reach, just like an angel in the heavens...