Without missing a beat during her spat with Kikyou, Botan turned to catch Hana out of the corner of her eye. Hana had a bad feeling.
“And you must be that new member selected for the Campus Cup team. Hana Ichise, was it?”
The marriage paperwork had long since been turned in, so Ichise was strictly Hana’s maiden name. Right now, her family name was Ichinomiya. This girl knew that, of course, and choosing to call her by Ichise was a clear sign to Hana that she didn’t accept her as the Ichinomiya bride.
But Hana was already far too used to that sort of disrespect for it to have any effect, so she brushed off the Ichise remark.
“Well, yeah, I guess.”
“…………”
When Botan didn’t seem to get the rise out of Hana that she wanted, her eyebrows twitched for a moment in disgust, but she plastered a smile back on her face pretty quickly.
“It certainly is something for a Class C washout to be chosen for the Campus Cup team. Is this a new record? After being chosen as Lord Ichinomiya’s partner, you must be quite skilled at winning lotteries!”
Hana had no idea what was making this girl act so hostile to her, so her only response was a lifeless “Gee, thanks…”
However, it seemed Botan took even more poorly to this, as her expression twisted more with anger. Suzu, who was sensitive to that sort of thing, started to slink back.
Hana couldn’t do much about that, nor did she feel compelled to try. She only thought about how she’d really like this girl to go away, as her eyes were already locked on to the crepe stand behind her.
Not knowing that Hana was already plotting out her next destination on her food tour, Botan continued to lay it on.
“I believe I said as much already, but if you lack the confidence, you’re always free to run off and hide. Really, why did Lord Ichinomiya accept such a bland boor as his wife? I struggle to understand the fellow.”
Even now, Botan wasn’t seeing Hana as anything more than a washout. It reminded Hana of how Yukizasa called her “green” before. Even when she was standing right next to Hana, Botan seemed to lack the skill needed to properly gauge Hana’s power. That made things easier for Hana, but listening to this girl’s one-sided yapping was starting to get on her nerves.
“If it’s such a big deal to you, cut me a check for three billion yen, and maybe I’ll start thinkin’ about divorce.”
Hana flashed a wicked grin.
Three billion was the amount Kikyou had proposed in exchange for Hana to divorce Saku. Kikyou’s eyes started to water at the embarrassment of remembering that incident, and she pathetically whined “Hanaaa!” to the person she considered her best friend.
Botan seemed to take it as being made fun of; her face went red, and she stared daggers at Hana.
“It seems that being plucked from the bottom of the barrel into becoming a clan lord’s wife has given you some grave misunderstandings. Listen here. You are nothing more than—”
“Hey now, is that Botan and Seiran over there?”
The voice that interjected made Botan stop in her tracks. They were approached by none other than the man known as the strongest Obsidian-rank practitioner, Kazura Shidou, whom Hana had met the other day.
“Oh, Hana and her friends are with ya, too! Hello there.”
Kazura wore the same gentle, soothing smile as he did before, casually brushing away the thick tension that had been hanging in the air and replacing it with pure sunshine.
Hana had to wonder if his body released negative ions or some sort of aromatherapeutic stress reliever. Or maybe that was just another part of what the strongest Obsidian-rank practitioner was capable of. Whatever he had, not an iota of it existed in the personifications of egotism, selfishness, and hubris that were Saku and Yukizasa.
“You all having a good time together?”
Hana tried to answer the question Kazura posed with his beaming smile, but Botan beat her to the punch and swiftly put herself front and center.
“Oh my, Kazura! It’s been quite some time!”
Botan greeted him with rosy cheeks and starry eyes. Gone was the thorny attitude she’d had a moment ago; she was now putting up the facade of an adorable young girl. Even her voice sounded like it went up a pitch.
“It’s been a while, Botan. You been holding up all right?”
“Yes! I made certain to mind my health, as I thought we might meet today. Your body is important, and I couldn’t bear the thought of spreading any harmful germs to it.”
“Ha-ha-ha. Come now, I don’t catch colds that easily. But I deeply appreciate the consideration you show for me. You really are such a kindhearted girl, Botan.”
“O-oh, you jest…”
Botan placed her hands to her cheeks, blushing, like a picture-perfect lovestruck maiden. Did that haughty, sneering attitude that she’d shown until now get chucked into a garbage can when they weren’t looking?
Hana and Suzu had blanked out, the whiplash making them want to ask who this person even was. Kikyou seemed like she was ready to complain at a moment’s notice. But Kiriya just patted her shoulder and said, “Easy, girl,” to stop her.
“I see,” Hana whispered. “She’s easy to read…”
Their conversation before had made Hana think of Botan as impulsive, and this proved her read was on the mark. It was just that blatant from her attitude.
“I’m still on security duty, so I’ve gotta go. Seiran, make sure you take care of Botan without leaving her side.”
“I will.”
Kazura had that typical gentle smile on his face, but Seiran’s expression was stony, her highs and lows of emotions hard to read. The same could be said about Kiriya, but he was just kind of an enigma, so he gave a different impression. Seiran seemed more like a knight who actively suppressed her emotions out of loyalty to her duty.
That said, it was only Hana’s impression.
“Well then, Hana, Hana’s friend, and the two Nijouins, until we meet again.”
“Sure.”
Kazura waved, and Hana waved back. She soon saw him vanish into the crowd of people. With no thought in her head beyond Security must keep him pretty busy, Hana continued to stare intently in the direction Kazura had left, until Botan interjected.
“How long do you intend to ogle Kazura?! D-don’t tell me you’ve taken a fancy to him… Do you not have Lord Ichinomiya already?! What scandalous behavior from one who claims to be the Ichinomiya bride!”
“No, no, I didn’t even say anything.”
Seeing Botan jump to conclusions made Hana think she and Kikyou had something in common. No wonder they got along so poorly; people didn’t always like what they saw in the mirror.
Hana didn’t need these misunderstandings to give Botan any more ammunition, so she firmly denied it.
“Look, I think absolutely nothing of that guy, okay?”
“So you claim that Kazura has no charm?!”
“What a pain…”
Hana let her habitual grumble slip out. Did this girl want Hana to deny it or not?
“W-well, no matter what you may think of Kazura, you can rest assured that a man of his caliber would never be attracted to the likes of you.”
Botan stuck up her nose to signal the return of her haughty princess attitude from earlier. It took a lot for Kikyou to do anything other than fret while hiding behind Kiriya, but at Botan’s response, she took a step toward her with a sinister smile on her face.
“A shame that a certain someone isn’t even on his radar. Kazura wouldn’t want anything to do with some two-faced phony princess, I assure you.”
In an instant, a gong rang out somewhere, signaling round two of the rich-girl rumble.
“Ah, speaking as an expert of not being on people’s radar, I presume? How else could you have come on so strongly to Lord Ichinomiya, only for him to be swiped from under your nose by this homely, ho-hum commoner? I will only pity you more for any insults you make.”
“Hana is neither homely nor ho-hum! She’s a fitting partner for Lord Ichinomiya. If anything, there’s nobody who could take her place!”
“Fitting for Lord Ichinomiya? Perhaps you should be fitted for a pair of glasses. Or maybe your skill as a practitioner has withered away just that much? Ah, right, you hardly had any to begin with, of course.”
“Oooh, you just don’t know how strong Hana iiis!”
The battle between the clan ladies continued, and Hana was already sick of it.
“Hey, can you quit bickering over nothing already? I wanna go back to checking out the food.”
Hana wedged into their fight and immediately became the new target of Botan’s glare. She wondered if maybe she shouldn’t have done that, but it was too late for regrets. Botan was already locked on.
“You there. It appears you’re participating in the final event, but are you certain you don’t want to switch out before you humiliate yourself? I’ve heard those fanciful rumors of you having human-form shikigami or inugami or whatnot, but I can’t feel a smidgen of the power needed to control more than one from you. Your measly insect of a shikigami suits you well.”
Botan giggled mockingly at Hana, but despite being unfazed by everything until now, Hana finally twitched.
She didn’t give so much as a passing thought to people making fun of her or calling her a washout. She’d grown numb to that after hearing it for so long.
But bringing her shikigami into it was a different story. All of Hana’s shikigami, including Azuha, were like family to her.