Hana’s parents were finally out of the picture. Yanagi’s succession as the Ichise family head was soon reported to the Ichinomiyas, and with no one voicing any objections, the matter was resolved without issue.
Even if there had been protests, the Ichinomiya lord, Saku, would surely have snuffed them out. After all, it was by his own designs that Yanagi was set up to become the Ichise family head. Some underhanded tactics had been involved, but the other families didn’t know the details, so that wasn’t a problem, either. Yanagi took to the position as though he had been the family’s head from the start.
With that, Hazuki ended her stay at the Ichinomiya mansion to return home with her brother. She certainly hadn’t expected to be back so soon after her dramatic exit; it was hard for her to hide her discomfort at returning to a place where she had resolved never to set foot again.
A home without her parents felt…quiet. It wasn’t long ago that she had dreaded going home every day and wished she could run away without ever turning back, but now she couldn’t feel even a trace of the tension that used to hang heavily in the air. The only thing different was the absence of her parents. The mansion and its furniture were just as she’d left them, but there was a noticeable change in how she felt.
“They really are gone…”
As Hazuki looked around the house, her parents nowhere in sight, the situation finally felt real to her. Those parents who had bound both Hazuki’s body and spirit were now, according to Yanagi, most likely never going to see her again.
But whether Hazuki was happy about that news was another question altogether—a question she couldn’t answer. Her parents had controlled every part of her life up to that point, but she didn’t exactly hold a grudge against them over it. That’s why her feelings were so complex. If Hana were in her shoes, she’d shout about how they had it coming and cackle with glee, but Hazuki couldn’t bring her feelings to that point quite yet.
Still, she was incredibly relieved to be released from her parents’ stifling authority. There was nobody left to bind her. She was a free woman.
As Yanagi had mentioned to her earlier, all the servants who were close to her parents had been replaced, so Hazuki saw several unfamiliar faces around the mansion. It was a bit jarring, but it was nowhere near the effect her parents’ absence had on her.
“Are you all right, Hazuki?” Yanagi asked, turning to Hazuki with a look of concern.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Hazuki laughed his question off, but deep down, her emotions were tangled in a complicated knot. Yanagi, likely picking up on that, offered support in a gentle voice that was far different from his usual unconcerned tone, which often veiled his true feelings.
“If anything’s bothering you, then please discuss it with me. There’s no need to bottle it up. Those people are gone, so you’re free to do what you like.”
“Okay.”
Being free to do what she liked wasn’t as simple as it sounded. Until now, Hazuki had been forced to follow her parents’ every whim, while her own opinions had been ignored, so it was only a matter of course that she didn’t quite know what she should do going forward. Her stay at the Ichinomiya mansion left her so busy dealing with Hana and Nozomu that she ended up never having the solitude to even notice this issue, but now that freedom was in her hands, she was presented with a new dilemma about what to do with it.
“I’ll be making sure to come home more often, too.”
It was only recently that they learned of the grudge her father held against Yanagi, and it came as a surprise to Hazuki and Hana alike. The two had no memory of Yanagi sharing any pleasantries with their parents, but there certainly had to have been plenty of hints; it was just a matter of Hazuki and Hana not noticing them. Then again, despite how much Yanagi had thought of his sisters, the two had had their hands full simply dealing with their own problems.
“I have to go to work for now, but I’ll be sure to come home by night. I know you must still be a bit shaken by everything, but I think we should start by having our morning and evening meals together from now on.”
A family gathering together for meals, which seemed so normal at the Ichinomiya home, was foreign to the Ichise house. It hadn’t been like that at first, of course. But despite meals being a time for families to come together, like the Ichinomiyas did, the Ichises had eventually found themselves eating separately. Hazuki couldn’t even remember why it happened…
Given how loose this family’s bonds had been, Hazuki could tell this was Yanagi’s way of attempting to rebuild those bridges. However…
“Yanagi, will you be all right with work? You don’t really have time to humor me, do you?”
Yanagi had set the record for being the youngest practitioner to ever reach the Fourth Color, Lapis, and his skills had earned him the full trust of the clan lord, Saku, so Hazuki had heard that he was kept busy day in and day out. A student like Hazuki had no way of knowing the details of the work her brother was tasked with, but she remembered how often he was away from home. His job clearly wasn’t the type that gave him the time to relax at home.
Then again, she had a feeling one of the reasons for his frequent absence was that he didn’t want to see his frigid parents. Still, she had no doubt he had plenty of work on his plate.
“If you’re trying to be considerate of me, don’t worry. I’m not a child anymore; I’ll be fine on my own.”
Hazuki, herself, had a bad habit of being overly considerate, which was why she didn’t want to cause her brother any trouble. But Yanagi, seeming to understand her worries, chuckled, and with no hesitation, he reached for his wallflower of a sister’s head.
Hazuki’s eyes opened wide in surprise; she had no memory of even her own parents patting her on the head.
“This is what I want to do. So I don’t have any regrets. Though I won’t force you if you’d rather not have me around…”
“I—I would never think that!” Hazuki hurriedly denied after seeing the lonely look in Yanagi’s eyes. The tension in Yanagi’s expression eased just a bit.
“In that case, at least let us have meals together. That’s what I want.”
“Okay.”
If Yanagi insisted that much, then Hazuki could never turn him down. She saw her brother as distant, but he was still someone she deeply respected. She was more delighted than anything.