This was a surprise to Hana, but Kikyou and Kiriya were candidates to be clan lord for the Nijouin clan, which specialized in crafting talismans. They wouldn’t be on the short list if they were losing a competition to fellow students.
“That’s why we’re really lucky to have taken Kikyou for our team this year, because the overall winner is decided by the sum of our scores in each category. Campus Two might mourn the loss of their greatest asset, though.”
“I heard from Suzu that you guys lost to Campus Four for the past two years. Is that right?”
Hana spoke as though she had zero connection to the Campus Cup, which now exasperated both Hazuki and Nozomu as well.
“How do you not know about it?”
“Because I didn’t go to the school festivals for the last two years.”
“What did you do?”
“Stayed home and played video games.”
Hazuki and Nozomu heaved heavy sighs in response to Hana’s sunny smile.
“I’ll bring Hana up to speed,” Hazuki said. “Campus One and Campus Four always end up neck and neck, but we just haven’t been able to pull ahead in the end.”
“Why’s that?”
“The final event is a battle using our shikigami, but we haven’t been able to beat Botan… The final category comes with a large-point bonus, so even if we’re in the lead, Campus Four always stages a comeback against us.”
Hazuki recited the Cup history with a gloomy expression—an expression Nozomu shared.
“Who typically gets sent out for the final event?”
“It’s a tournament bracket with two students from each campus. Nozomu and I have entered since we were first-years.”
“You lost even with you two on the team?”
Hazuki’s shikigami, Hiiragi, had a human form. Those were the highest level of shikigami, so one would think Hiiragi would win the whole tournament with ease, but based on Hazuki’s explanation, it sounded like that wasn’t the case.
“Botan’s shikigami in particular are hard for Hiiragi to fight. And to make matters worse, she has multiple shikigami, just like you.”
“Huh.”
Student practitioners with multiple shikigami were almost unheard of. It probably hadn’t helped that Hazuki and Hiiragi were not used to that kind of fight.
“I’m giving up my spot to you this year, so you better make sure you take that woman out!” Nozomu said, pointing at Hana for emphasis. He sure was bossy. Knowing Saku, she determined it must run in the family.
“He’s exactly right, Hana. Let us march to war!” Kikyou said, gripping Hana’s hand.
“Why are you two getting so aggressive?”
Hana had been dying to know the whole time. Hazuki chuckled and provided an answer.
“Nozomu has never been able to win against Botan, and every time she won, she’d insult him by comparing him to the clan lord.”
“Ahhh.”
Hana now looked at Nozomu with a twinge of pity, to which Nozomu frustratingly clicked his tongue.
“If that wasn’t enough, those Campus Four students heard her and joined in to talk trash. That woman was the only thing stopping us from winning, too!”
Nozomu stomped his foot. That loss must have cut deep. He looked like he did when Hana poked fun at him, but this was like a burst of some much stronger feelings.
“And Nozomu is far from the only victim. She always demeans me, too! She has the nerve to say that anyone can make talismans, that it’s nothing to be proud of!”
Even Kikyou was slamming the table in frustration.
“Mind you, the Nijouin and Yotsukado clans have different specialties, yet she knowingly mocks the weakness of my powers. She said that if it were my powers that were strong and not my skill at making talismans, I could have become Lord Ichinomiya’s wife.”
That was back when Kikyou was still in love with Saku, so it must have been a critical hit.
“Curse that phony princess! Waaah!”
She seemed to be over her feelings for Saku, but that was a whole other issue than Hana’s problems with this girl.
Kikyou now had her face buried in her arms atop the table, so Kiriya gently patted her shoulder from the next seat over. It didn’t seem to accomplish much.
“I gotta say, the more I hear about this, the more I don’t wanna do it.”
This sounded like heavy, personal grudges were involved. Hana wished for nothing but peace and tranquility, so she had no desire to be dragged into this or even be involved at all.
“I beg you, Hana! You’re our only hope!”
“Uhhh.”
Hana looked revolted at the thought, but Kikyou wasn’t going to let her escape.
“Hana!”
“Hana.”
“Hey.”
With the combined pressure of Kikyou, Hazuki, and Nozomu against her, Hana slumped her shoulders and gave in. Despite her act, Hana was weak when it came to these people she’d let into her life.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it.”
Hana sighed deeply and admitted defeat.
That evening, Saku returned home from work and entered Hana’s room.
“Welcome baaack.”
“Yeah, I’m home.”
Hana was lounging on the sofa, and Saku entering didn’t spur her to change her posture. Saku didn’t mind; the two of them acting like this really spoke to how close they’d become. But who could say if Hana realized that herself?
“You’ve been comin’ home late a lot.”
Saku hadn’t returned home in time for dinner, so Hana ate with Mio and Nozomu. And it wasn’t just that night—it’d happened the past several nights, too.
As the lord of the clan, Saku led others from within the mansion relatively often, so it was rare for him to miss so many family dinners in a row. Hana practically never saw him at home when she first moved into the Ichinomiya mansion, but that was a different situation. He’d been preparing for their wedding and handling the mountain of work that came with being a newly appointed clan lord.
“The school festival is coming up, after all…,” Saku said.
Something about him seemed odd for a moment, but Hana figured it must have been her imagination, and she dismissed it.
“You’re involved with the school festival?”
“Of course. It’s an event held under Ichinomiya jurisdiction, so I have to take the reins and direct everyone. There’ll be plenty of powerful clan members and Association bigwigs coming to see the Campus Cup, after all.”
“Are that many people coming to watch the Campus Cup?”
“Of course there are. It’s the main event. Heck, you could say that the school festival exists just for the Campus Cup.”
“Ugh.”
Hana was already regretting giving in. She started wondering if it wasn’t too late to quit.
“What’s that groan for?”
“It’s ’cause I got picked for the Campus Cup team…”
“I heard. Nozomu was glad to tell me all about it the second I got home. About how he’d been chosen for the team for another year and how he offered the final event to you.”
“Why, that brother-loving…”
He just wanted to subtly hint that Saku should come see because he’d made the team. If I made a Venn diagram comparing Nozomu to a dog wagging his tail and begging to be called a good boy, I’d get a single circle.
“I never thought the Hana I knew would actually agree to it.”
“Hey, I never wanted to be involved in any part of it. But come on, I had Kikyou and Hazuki asking me to do it. Ahhh, what do I do…? Those two probably want me to go all out in the fight, but that’d be such a pain…”
Hana puckered her lips in annoyance, to which Saku had to chuckle. His expression was relaxed, even playful.
“All that complaining, yet you still agreed to join. I never knew you were so kindhearted.”
“What do you take me for?”
Hana pouted, but Saku approached her and gently patted her head as she lay on the couch.
“No, I was just thinking that you’ve really let yourself relax. You had such cold eyes when we first met, like you saw everyone else as your enemy.”
“I did not…”
“Oh, you were quite the thorny rose. In fact, had this happened just a bit earlier, you wouldn’t have agreed to use your powers in front of others no matter who begged you.”
“I mean…”
Hana couldn’t deny it, so she was at a loss for words. Saku was right. The old her never would have accepted a request that didn’t benefit her in some way.
“Have I…really changed that much?”
Hana didn’t think she’d changed, but it seemed Saku saw things differently.
“Compared to before, yeah. In a good way, I think. Go break a leg up there. I’ll have your back for whatever comes after.”
Saku patted her gently on the head a few more times. It made Hana feel fidgety all around; because if she really had changed, then the biggest catalyst was probably Saku. She felt that meeting Saku had prompted her and her surroundings to change.
“I wonder what I’d be doing if I never met you,” Hana pondered aloud.
“That’s a waste of energy to think about.”
“How come?”
Curious, Hana looked up to see Saku’s smug grin.
“Because it wasn’t chance that brought me to you, but certainty. Even if I hadn’t found you in that park, I guarantee you would’ve caught my eye somewhere down the road.”
Hana was immediately embarrassed by Saku’s confident, doubtless, and straight-to-the-heart expression of love.
“You jerk!”
Saku chuckled with glee at how Hana was too embarrassed to come back with any more insults to throw at him.
The eyes Hana saw looking back at her were gentle, brimming with endearment; she couldn’t bear to look right at them, so she instead buried her face in a nearby cushion.
“Hana, just be honest already. You’ve fallen for my charms, no? I haven’t forgotten how you said you loved me before.”
“Sh-shut up!”
Hana walled herself off and shouted that she’d never say it in a million years, but the words didn’t seem to do much convincing. They only made Saku even more delighted.
Saku lay down next to Hana, idly wrapping her hair around his finger, anticipating Hana’s next reaction.
Stuck on the Campus Cup team, Hana attended a team meeting after school. She’d been planning to skip like she would any other day, but Kikyou beat her to the punch and captured her just in time. Kikyou was as fired up as she could get.
Nozomu led the meeting, and his own fervor rivaled Kikyou’s. The extraordinarily competitive spirit within him against Botan was painfully apparent, and Hana was already exhausted. She did not see herself working up the sort of energy that Nozomu and Kikyou had.
The other team members were catching their leaders’ flame, and before long, the meeting was wholly focused on taking down Botan. The team was composed of first-years through third-years; the first-years had no experience with the previous festivals, but everyone else seemed to have some sort of chip on their shoulder against Campus Four, and the fervor they were working themselves into was a force to be reckoned with.