Yanagi, wearing a navy kimono, came to fetch them. “Father, Mother, it is time for us to be off.”
“Ah, you’re right,” their father said. “Let us go, then.”
“Hazuki, you must do everything you can to catch Master Saku’s eye. If you earn his favor, you will hold the power and privilege of the Ichinomiya clan, and as the lady of the house, you would be second only to the lord.”
“Yes, Mother,” Hazuki said with a determined nod.
Their parents seemed satisfied by Hazuki’s show of resolve and led them out of the house.
Since their parents saved their expectations for Hazuki alone, Hana was well aware that she was unneeded. She was seriously considering making an escape, when something touched her hair.
She started to turn on instinct but froze when Hazuki said sharply, “Stay still!”
She thought Hazuki was going to fix her hair for her, but her sister soon stepped away.
“Can I move now?” Hana asked.
“Yes,” Hazuki said.
Hana turned around slowly and locked eyes with Hazuki, who was wearing a vaguely dissatisfied expression.
“What were you doing?” Hana asked.
“Nothing,” Hazuki replied and moved ahead of Hana.
Hana was going to interrogate Hazuki further, but Azuha flew next to her and said, “There are more pretty flowers and clips in your hair now, Master.”
“What?”
Hana touched her hair delicately so as not to mess up her updo. As Azuha had said, her hair accessories had multiplied.
Furthermore, Hazuki was unmistakably missing a few clips.
Hana didn’t know what had brought about this whim.
Perhaps Hazuki had thought Hana’s appearance was too plain, and so she had given Hana some of her own ornaments.
Hana couldn’t quite name the emotion welling up within her.
She thought Hazuki hated her.
And why not? Hana was no more valuable than table scraps—a pest. She had been positive that she was just a source of Hazuki’s displeasure.
Wasn’t that why the two of them had stopped talking…?
Could it be that she had been wrong this whole time?
She didn’t understand Hazuki’s feelings.
Without a word of gratitude to Hazuki, Hana followed her family to the Ichinomiya residence, her heart heavy.
It was Hana’s first time stepping foot on the grounds of the Ichinomiya residence, which was a sprawling and resplendent traditional Japanese estate.
Since Hana’s family was a branch of the Ichinomiya clan, their house also tended to evoke adjectives like grandiose and lavish with its spacious garden and grandeur. However, it was incomparable to the Ichinomiya residence.
Their car pulled through the front gates of the property, but the grounds were so large that they continued for quite a while before reaching the entrance. The residence certainly befitted one of the five former financial titans. The main family lived on an entirely different level than the rest of them.
At last, the Ichises pulled up in front of the main entrance, where cars of other branch families and related personnel were already parked. Hana and her family disembarked, and their driver pulled their car into a free space.
Hana was dumbfounded by the sheer opulence of the residence.
“You must be from the Ichise family. Welcome,” a person who was most likely a servant greeted them. “Please follow me.”
As they were led through the halls, Hana gawked at the interior, fascinated.
Hazuki nudged Hana with her elbow. “Stop gaping. It’s embarrassing,” she rebuked, wrinkling her brow. Hana probably looked like a country bumpkin with the way she was gaping.
But Hana was far from contrite. In fact, she doubled down. “Come on. Don’t you think this is amazing? This is the first time I’ve been in such a luxurious estate.”
“Yes, well…,” Hazuki said hesitantly.
“This could be the last time we set foot in here. I have to get my fill while I have the chance,” Hana said.
“That’s true,” Hazuki admitted despite herself, but she immediately regained her senses. “Wait, no. No, you can’t. As a member of the Ichise family, you must project composure.”
“You are free to play the part of the proper lady, Hazuki. I will be enjoying myself,” Hana said. “Anyway, Mother and Father aside, Yanagi’s rather calm, isn’t he?”
“Of course he is. He comes here often for practitioner business,” Hazuki explained.
“Really?”
“Yes. You didn’t know that? Didn’t you ever stop to wonder where he is and what he’s doing all the time?”
“Not at all,” Hana replied. Sae would have told her, but Hana wasn’t the least bit interested, so she’d never asked.
Hazuki’s expression soured. “Why not? You should’ve known! Aren’t you his little sister?!”
“But we never talk. Never. And it’s not just me and him. You…”
That was right. The last time she and Hazuki had talked like this was several years ago.
Despite the long gap in their history, they had been able to jump right back into conversation without a hint of awkwardness. That was proof of the special connection between twins.
Hana hadn’t finished her sentence, but Hazuki must have known anyway. Hazuki looked uncomfortable all of a sudden, but to hide her uneasiness, she blurted out, “Yanagi is the youngest practitioner ever to have earned the Lapis rank. I heard he’ll be promoted to Obsidian soon. That will make him a Fifth Color practitioner.”
Practitioners enlisted in the Association were divided into five ranks, with First Color as the most junior and Fifth Color as the most senior. Each rank was assigned a different color: White, Gold, Red, Lapis, or Obsidian. The Association distributed pendants as licenses. The color of the pendant corresponded to a practitioner’s rank.
Hana had known that Yanagi had started working as a practitioner, but because they met so rarely, she had never seen his pendant and had no idea what his current rank was.
“Neat,” Hana responded indifferently.
Even with Hazuki’s explanation, she could only muster up a perfunctory interest. It was an impressive feat, to be sure, but that was all it was.
To Hana, it had nothing to do with her.