Saku’s grin made Hana aware of her slip of the tongue.
“So now all I need is consent, right?”
“Th-that’s not what… I was speaking generally!”
Hana got flustered and stopped in her tracks; Saku’s grin grew even wider.
“Saku!”
Hana chased after Saku with a beet-red face, but Saku wasn’t listening to a word she said.
She made a fuss all the way to the dining room table, at which point she quite naturally quieted down in front of Mio. Mio had a frigid air around her, and in fact, she was exactly as strict about manners as she appeared. She’d have some harsh words for anyone causing a fuss around the dining table. That went for Saku, too, so he also behaved himself in front of her.
All that said, Mio wasn’t exactly a cold person; she was just a tsundere, and Hana knew she had a kind side to her. It just didn’t surface that often.
Then again, maybe being the Ichinomiya matriarch required steeling oneself with that cold strictness. Her attitude was partly due to the fact that Hana was still a student and because Mio was essentially running the Ichinomiya household. But perhaps her mannerisms were the ideal that Hana, the wife of the current lord, was meant to follow.
Though, of course, Hana didn’t think she could manage the household’s affairs as smoothly as Mio did. She hadn’t been educated in that, after all. Hana would have been fine with Mio continuing to handle that job, but it seemed Mio planned to teach her thoroughly upon Hana’s graduation. Mio had said as much before, to which Hana tensed up in response.
Wanting to avoid that at all costs, Hana started sweating over whether she could manage to divorce Saku before graduation. Otherwise, her seat in Mio’s one-on-one course was going to be a certainty.
Hana considered slamming Saku with the divorce papers right this moment, but she’d become fully accustomed to her life as an Ichinomiya, and was even starting to feel comfortable in the mansion, so she couldn’t say absolutely nothing gave her pause.
Hana wanted to divorce Saku, work a normal job, and then enjoy a perfectly normal retirement. That goal of hers hadn’t changed once this entire time. But while it hadn’t changed…Hana could hear a voice from deep within her heart telling her to hold on just a bit. Asking her if she was really okay with that. She had been longing for a life far removed from practitioners, but the longer she stayed with Saku, the harder it became to leave. She couldn’t understand her own feelings anymore.
Hana was starting to notice how complex her emotions had become, and every time she did, she reminded herself of how much she wanted nothing to do with practitioners. It isn’t like me to be wishy-washy about my decisions, she’d say, and then she’d sweep her misgivings and hesitation under the rug, out of the way of the delightful meal in front of her.
Hana typically erred on the side of optimism, so any food put in front of her occupied every corner of her mind. Now this was more like her.
Hana took her seat for this meal that the whole family gathered for, a custom that had died off in the Ichise home. During the meal, Saku sat up and made an announcement to the rest of the table.
“I have something I need to tell you three about.”
His tone was serious; Hana, Mio, and Nozomu all stopped eating to focus on Saku.
“It hasn’t been made public yet, but the Skull of Nirvana members we captured have died. Their deaths weren’t natural. We think they were killed by someone else.”
“Didn’t you have them under surveillance?!”
Hana leaned forward in shock. She hadn’t been told the specifics of how they were handled, but she got the idea that they were being watched by the Association of Practitioners. Mio and Nozomu had been told the same.
These were terrorists who operated under the claimed goal of freeing Japan from the clutches of the five clans, so there was a high probability that the current Ichinomiya lord’s family—Hana, Mio, and Nozomu—were at the top of their list of targets. This was something they had to be warned about for their own safety.
“They all died? But…”
Of course, Hana hadn’t anticipated that. Sure, they were criminals with dangerous goals in mind, so it was only to be expected that they were punished for their actions, but by no means was she glad to hear about their deaths. She was simply shocked, and her face was stunned stiff.
“They died one after another while the security guards watched.”
Hana and Nozomu gasped. Mio, however, had a breadth of experience, so she asked Saku a question with no change in her expression.
“Is the cause of death known?”
“We assume it was by curse.”
“I see.”
Mio maintained her calm demeanor and blinked only after receiving an answer.
Realizing that Mio was done with her questioning, Saku turned to Hana and Nozomu.
“We’re investigating to find the culprit. There were already a lot of unknowns with the Skull of Nirvana situation to begin with. We still don’t know the locations of the Nijouin-affiliated practitioners who they bargained with to infiltrate the Association Headquarters, either. We’ll be investigating whether they were killed, whether they were the infiltrators in question, whether they were accomplices, or whether they were just a third party. But if they were allies of the Skull of Nirvana, then they must have held some hostility toward the five clans. So just make sure you two are careful.”
“Am I going to have to help again?”
After all the times that Saku had asked for her help already, Hana prepared for yet another request, but Saku unexpectedly turned her down immediately.
“No, if anything, I want you to stay far away from this.”
Hana’s eyes widened at his firm refusal.
“Why’s that?”
“Hana, if these deaths were caused by curses, then there’s no place for someone unaffiliated with the Association, such as yourself. Nozomu, that goes for you as well, of course.” Mio strictly admonished the two students.
“Mother’s right. This isn’t a case that people with no knowledge of curses should ever get involved with.”