Chapter 93: Back to Everyday Life

I rolled in my bed while hugging my futon.

“Agh! Enough already!”

I remembered something embarrasing I did yesterday. There was no way I had cried again, especially in front of a crowd that large…

An unexpected series of events had occured at the whole-school assembly in the auditorium. Everyone appeared… and the person who was said to be the mastermind, Touin Aoki or whatever, was barely involved in the matter… why would Touin Aoki and Kuwahara Katsura be aiming for me…

Well… I could take a guess. My mom and the others hadn’t said anything, but it was probably something like this. When I thought about someone who’d look down on me and gain the Kujou family’sresentment… the only possibility would be the Ichijou family, who was the head of the Touin and Kuwahara families.

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The Ichijou family had almost the same status as the Kujou family. The Kujou family was apparently superior, but in reality, they were almost equal. The Kujou family was far behind the Ichijou family in terms of monryuu. The Konoe and Ichijou families had the largest monryuu, so when thinking about the whole family’s power like that, the Ichijou family could be called number two.

I didn’t know why the Ichijou family would want to pick a fight with me and the Kujou family, but when you thought about the monryuu related to this matter, there were no other possibilities. The lower-ranked Touin family couldn’t have done anything to gain the ire of the Five Norths families without permission from the head of the monryuu.

*sigh*… there was no point in thinking about this. On top of my parents not telling me any information, I didn’t have a way to know it. The problem was if this fight with the Ichijou family would end or if it would still continue… that was probably the problem.

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Ohlausdl nakle, cwv… vbspl olald’v cye ulyap… vblu olal hlau ralvvu vlyap yde ol bye yzz zywtble yp ol nakle. R bwttle lhlausdl… kv oyp y pwrlac vkxl. R oypd’v y zszknsd sa y r*es, cwv… usw nswze nzlyazu vlzz vbyv R zshle lhlausdl.

“Jwv pvkzz! Gyyyyyyyb!”

R nsdvkdwle oakvbkdt kd ytsdu sd vsr sq vbl cle. Mbld…

*cydt*!

R’e qyzzld qasx vbl cle…

“Sakuya-sama, it is morning.”

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“Yes…”

Momiji looked down on me unamusedly. How strange. Before, she’d say something like “Are you alright!? Sakuya-sama!?” and help me up, but…

“Momiji… are you sulking?”

“I am not sulking…”

She suddenly turned her face away. But she was clearly sulking. Momiji was really easy to understand. Well, that part of her was also cute though.

“Then, please help me up.”

“Sakuya-sama, you are already a superb adult, yes? You should be able to do such things by yourself.”

Still fallen over, I raised my hand and asked Momiji to help me up. But Momiji still turned away and her cheeks puffed up. She really was cute.

“Momiji… pleasee.”

 “—mm!? …I-it cannot be helped… My word… no matter how much time passes, you are still a child, Sakuya-sama…”

Momiji muttered that as she pulled onto my hand and helped me up. As usual, she wasn’t look straight at me, but I could immediately tell that Momiji, face red and turned away, was hiding her embarrassment. 

　　～～～～～～～

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“Huh!? What… what is this!?”

When I’d come to the academy’s entrance lobby, I yelled that.

“Sakuya, you’re acting a little immodest.”

“I am sorry… wait, that’s not the problem! Brother! What is this!?”

When I looked around the lobby… posters of Azami-chan, the others and I crying while laughing and hugging each other were posted here and there. They were all different compositions and distances… some showed the eight of us from afar hugging each other, some had only Azami-chan and my faces, and some were slightly far away with a couple people hugging each other.

Those posters were stuck up here, there, and in various other places; those posters with many different shots were stuck up. Who had made and stuck up all these posters…

“Oh, haven’t these been captured really well?”

“Wow! They really have been~… wait, no! That is not the matter at hand!”

My brother had sent them out! What was he doing!? Was he acting out a skit?

“Aren’t all these posters of nice pictures? What’re you dissatisfied with?”

“That is what I am dissatisfied with! You do not have the right to use my likeness, yet you have taken embarrassing pictures of people crying and hugging each other, even making them into a poster!”

“These posters was made by Konoe-sama, who received permission to make them from mother. Yes. There’s no more problems now, right?”

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“Uuuu!”

When he said that, I couldn’t say anything back… if the Konoe family made them and my mother gave permission, I had no basis or reason to complain. But I couldn’t agree. 

“Woah… these are beautiful posters~…”

“Oh! Look, look! It’s Sakuya-chan!”

“The real one! She’s so cute~! Sakuya-cha~n! Greetings.”

“Oh, greetings.”

As I was talking with my brother in the entrance lobby, other students arrived at school. Then they looked at the posters, said those things, and even greeted me. I was confused and couldn’t process the situation, but I had to return their greetings. When I did, they said “So cute~!” again, waved bye, and headed to their own classrooms. What was that…

“It seems to have gone well.”

“Huh?”

My brother, watching that exchange, looked kind as he said that. Gone well?

“These posters were something that Konoe-sama planned to somehow restore your image, Sakuya, since it had gotten pretty bad. She had prepared all these in one day. Leaving aside thanking her, it’s not something to complain about.”

“That… may be true…”

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I wanted to hear that from the person herself. If she had thought of it for my sake, then I couldn’t complain. But were you planning to make me die in agony by taking an embarrassing picture of me and making big posters of it?

“Sakuya, do you think those are “embarrassing pictures”?”

“That is…”

They were embarrassing. I was crying… I was hugging the other girls…

“Konoe-sama, who picked the photos, me, mother, the other students watching and even the parents; none of us thought that those were embarrassing pictures. They are very beautiful and spectacular photos. And yet you’re saying that it was embarrassing, Sakuya?”

“Hm…”

When he said that, I couldn’t say anything back. Azami-chan and the others weren’t embarrassed. But… no, even so, it’s not true. Yep! That’s right! They weren’t embarrassing photos. I was definitely crying, but those weren’t sad tears. They were happy tears. What was embarrassing about happy years and everyone’s smiles being photographed? These were really stunning posters.

“They are stunning posters. Everyone’s faces have been captured well.”

“Yep. That’s true.”

Was Yoshizane-kun really a sixth-grader? What was up with him admonishing me when I’d already reached a good age… But… Thanks to my brother, I was able to head to my classroom with these warm feelings. 

　　～～～～～～～

When I entered the classroom… everyone was there; not just the usual Satsuki-chan, but also Azami-chan, Akane-chan, Tsubaki-chan, Yuzuriha-chan, and Renge-chan.

“Oh! Good morning, Sakuya-sama!”

“Good morning, Sakuya-chan.”

“Sakuya-chan, morning!”

“Good morning, everyone. …what on earth are you doing?”

Everyone, who usually still weren’t here at this time, had all gathered. Was something happening?

“Actually!”

“Oh! Wait! I’ll say it! …*cough*, Sakuya-sama! I have been given permission to hold our previous outing!”

“Huh!?”

Our previous outing… the outing where all seven of us would go? That outing? We could do it?

“Me too!”

“Everyone, everyone can go!”

“This time, all seven of us!”

“Oh… oh…”

“Woah! Woah! Sakuya-sama! Have you not been crying a lot recently!?”

“Sakuya-chan, you okay?”

Everyone worried about me, but I couldn’t stop crying. We could go… everyone… on an outing!

“Aha! Ahaha!”

“Fufu.”

“Ahaha!”

When I looked up… tears were pooling in everyone’s eyes as they laughed. Everyone could go. Everyone else was happy. How nice. How nice… 

“Oh, enough already! Since you’re crying, Sakuya-chan, I’m crying too. Even though we’re having lessons!”

“Oh? I am happy. I have been shown this many of Sakuya-sama’s varied beautiful expressions.”

“Fufu. Let’s continue at lunch.”

“Okay~.”

Everyone went back to their own seats in a crowd. Even though we were earlier than usual this morning, it didn’t mean that this was the right time. We’d be disturbing other students…

“Hey, Sakuya-chan? Has someone been forgotten?”

“Aaaaah!”

From behind my desk, I heard a dark voice that you’d hear in hell and jumped. When I slowly looked back…

“Sa~ku~ya~-chan~…”

“Aah!”

A mon… or not, Kaya-san was standing behind my seat looking dispirited. I hadn’t noticed her at all. She blended in too well… my heart was still racing.

“I-I have not forgotten, Kaya-san.”

“Hmm? Even though you were having that much fun with those girls? Do you think of this big sister, who also helped those girls, as nothing?”

Woah… she really was feeling down. I would’ve felt more comfortable if she was just super happy like usual. Kaya-san was really sad that she was the only one excluded. Just her…

…*cough*!

“I have not forgotten about you, Kaya-san. That outing was planned before, so…”

“Even though big sister worked hard too… Sakuya-chan, you just don’t care about big sister…”

Kaya-san started acting like she was crying. She wasn’t actually crying, but she still looked gloomy.

“What should I do?”

I didn’t know how to make Kaya-san feel better. Since that was the case, I should just ask the person herself.

“Then, let’s do this! Go play with big sister? Just the two of us is fine. We don’t need any other attendants. That… absolutely do not bring that maid from before. Ok? Okay? That’s fine, right?”

“Aaah!”

Kaya-san coming at me so smoothly was scary! It was like that video of the person coming out of a well and crawling towards you just from being involved with the house! She was seriously scary! 

“I cannot overlook the fact that the two of you will be on your own.”

“My my, one must constantly be on guard.”

“Satsuki-chan! Azami-chan!”

My saviours had appeared. I was now sa…

“Don’t disturb us.”

“Oogimachisanjou-sama, what about playing with those your own age instead of just playing with first-graders?”

“It is disgraceful to put on airs while socialising with those younger than you.”

The three of them fought and insulted each other.

“W-Wait! Everyone, calm down!”

They weren’t my saviours! They were adding fuel to the fire! Someone save me!

…in the end, I wasn’t saved, the girl sitting behind me had to wait with tears in her eyes because Kaya-san occupied her seat, and when the bell for homeroom rung and the teacher came, Kaya-san still didn’t leave, causing a big fuss, until I’d finally promised to play with her and she left, satisfied.

In the end, I promised to play with Kaya-san, Satsuki-chan and Azami-chan had folded and given it up as a lost cause, instead forcing me to promise that I’d play with them at a separate time from my outing with everyone… in this day alone, I’d made three different plans to play.

I was fine, but… I wasn’t banned against playing, but… at the very least, I had to get mom’s permission…