My Happy Marriage (LN) - Volume 6 - Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4  

The First…

From beyond the window, the songbirds’ airy warbling tickled her ears.

The few remaining lumps of snow melted and fell from the branches of the shaded garden trees. Somewhere along the line, the sunlight filtering in had begun to shift from its winter frailness to the warmth of springtime.

The sterilized smell filling the hospital room flowed out from the window, thrown open temporarily to air out the room, mingling with the fragrance of the springtime sunlight.

Sitting in a chair beside the bed, Miyo cleanly peeled the skin off the vivid tangerine in her hands, even removing all the white fibrous pith, before breaking off the slices to be easier to eat and setting them on a plate.

“Here you go.”

She passed the plate to the man sitting up in the bed, who happily took the fruit from her.

“Thank you, Miyo.”

“Not at all.”

The man, Arata Usuba, placed the half-read newspaper beside his pillow, picked up the tangerine slices, and brought them up to his mouth. He still seemed to be taking extra care of the section of his stomach where he had been wounded, but his complexion had improved.

It had been about a month since everything happened.

Although the names Usui and Gifted Communion were still popping up in newspaper articles, and attention was still focused on every single move the military or the government was making as they worked to deal with the aftermath, the incident was gradually winding down, like the ebbing of the tide.

Daily life had returned to normal with unexpected ease.

That was true even in the military hospital, which had been an utter mess a month ago, packed to the gills with soldiers wounded from the fighting. At this point, things had quieted down, and not many patients were left.

While many people had been hurt in the conflict, Miyo heard that there were very few deaths or life-threatening injuries.

Arata was one of the few to have sustained a grievous wound.

He’d taken a deep stab to the stomach, the kind that would kill under normal circumstances.

Fortunately, Arata had the sturdy body of a Gift-user, and because Unan immediately treated him with his healing Gift, he managed to escape death.

Although he certainly wouldn’t be back to 100 percent for some time, things could have been much worse.

“I almost can’t believe it…,” Arata mumbled to himself.

Feeling the same way, Miyo casually gazed at the scenery outside.

Those days she’d spent struck by so much despair and gloom, struggling to figure out what she was supposed to do, seemed as if they had never happened at all.

Naoshi Usui was dead.

The Gifted Communion had been sustained almost entirely by his Gift and his animosity, and it immediately collapsed in the wake of his passing. For a time, they had boasted of so much power and influence, yet ultimately, they vanished in an instant.

Nevertheless, it was, in part, a natural course of events.

The only thing propping up the Gifted Communion had been Usui’s emotions, his enthusiastic negativity.

Usui ruled aloof as their Founder, Hojou didn’t have much power of his own, and Arata hadn’t actually been working on behalf of the Gifted Communion in the first place.

The people who had been bestowed with artificial Gifts believed that they would dominate mankind with their newfound powers, yet the battle against Godou’s unit forced them to realize that their superficial abilities couldn’t touch those of a true Gift-user. This revelation, along with the passing of their leader, caused many of them to lose heart.

The same was true for the important figures in the government and the military who Usui had brought over to his side.

Essentially, they’d never had any faith in his message to begin with and were just trying to satisfy their desires and gain an advantage in his new Empire. Once Usui was actually out of the picture, none of them could possibly take over control.

Usui was the core of everything, and as the sole and irreplaceable foundation for the Gifted Communion, there was no path left for them once he was dead.

The remnants and collaborators—including Houjou, the Minister of Education, his secretary—were all arrested without exception and were currently awaiting sentencing.

“But everything worked out,” Miyo said quietly, her true feelings escaping her lips.

She had thought things were over on countless occasions. But now that it had all passed, everything had settled in an unexpectedly felicitous way.

“That’s true. Commander Kudou isn’t facing any punishment, either, right?”

“Yes… They determined that the crimes he was charged with were fabricated by the rebels.”

Apparently, the government been on the verge of total paralysis.

Both the politicians and the bureaucrats had been split between Usui’s faction and the imperial family’s faction, and they took up arms using any troops their authority could muster. They had been squaring off, trying to charge the other side with crimes and apprehend them.

The imperial family’s faction, led by Ookaito and others, wrested control in this squabble, taking the government out of deadlock. Naturally, they dismissed all the charges that Usui’s factions had brought against Kiyoka.

I’m glad he was shown to be innocent all along, but…

The accusations against Kiyoka were dropped so easily that Miyo had actually begun to wonder if things could really just be wiped away like that.

“I can tell from the look on your face that you’re not totally satisfied.”

Arata immediately saw through Miyo’s inner worries. It was the same with Kiyoka, but Miyo wondered if she was easy enough to read that Arata could pick up on her emotions just by the look on her face.

“That’s not quite true. Um, may I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Were you supporting the Gifted Communion with the intention of shooting Usui from the very beginning?”

Miyo knew her question was inconsiderate, but she couldn’t help asking it.

Although she had been coming to visit Arata in the hospital like this for days on end now, given the terrible state of his injuries, she hadn’t felt it very appropriate to have a long conversation. This was the first time she had been able to settle down and talk with him since everything concluded.

“Well…” Arata nodded, not seeming to mind at all, and stared off into the distance. “Usui invited me to join him. That’s when I thought to myself, Ah, he hasn’t actually managed to break free at all.”

Arata smiled at Miyo, who cocked her head in confusion.

“Usui cut ties with the Usubas and fled after they married Sumi off. He should’ve felt an urge to rebel against them. Yet instead, he conspired to kill the emperor, wishing to install you and him—the Usubas—at the top. In other words, he believed that the Usuba Gift-users were the strongest in the Empire. Even after separating from the Usuba family, he hadn’t been able to break free from their way of thinking.”

“…Are you saying that he was soft on his own family?”

“That’s pretty much it. This isn’t just limited to Usui, but since the Usubas live in a unique closed-off environment, everyone more or less has that type of mentality.”

Miyo felt that Arata had a point when he put it like that.

Usui had never stopped trying to win her over with offers of the Empire and the world, no matter how many times she refused him.

The only people who knew the solitude of Usubas—and the family’s true power— were the Usubas themselves.

Arata was trying to say that Usui was driven by an unconscious belief that anyone related to the Usubas would obviously understand his thinking and agree with him.

“He must have earnestly believed that I would come over to his side if he invited me. I bet it never even crossed his mind that I would only pretend to ally myself with his cause while waiting for a chance to kill him. Either that, or he saw himself in me.”

Given that Usui had spent several years scheming to overthrow the government, Miyo had assumed the man would have been far more meticulous and cautious.

Arata looked down at the plate where the tangerine rested.

“I get where he was coming from. Everyone born into a family related to the Usubas finds their treatment unreasonable. We often direct our discontent at our lots in life at the world outside the Usubas, coming to believe that we can only trust, or mutually understand, our own family members. Usui’s thoughts sounded quite appealing on their face. I can understand why one might want to stray his way and why he thought anyone connected to the Usubas would drift toward him.”

From the beginning right up to the very end, Usui’s world revolved around Sumi and Sumi alone. He wanted to make everything bend to his will for her sake.

As long as he fixated on his relationship with Sumi, Usui could never hope to uncouple himself from the Usubas’ values. On top of all this, Usui was a powerful Usuba Gift-user in his own right, so he had even less reason to.

Regardless, Usui restrained from using his Gift on Miyo and ushered Arata into his ranks because he was a member of the Usuba family.

He was a very pure person…

This type of immaturity was an intrinsic part of Usui’s mentality.

“And so, with all that in mind, I took advantage of Usui’s naïveté and joined the Gifted Communion. If he found me out, I figured I’d deal with it somehow when the time came. I made sure to inform Prince Takaihito that Usui had invited me to join him, at the very least.”

“What?”

Takaihito had known that Arata had been asked to join the Gifted Communion?

“He simply told me that it was up to me whether I accepted the invitation or not.”

Arata shrugged. Even though there was absolutely nothing to laugh at, Miyo found this so comical that she broke into a faint smile.

“By the way, can I ask you something?”

“Yes…?”

Arata slowly began to speak, fixing a probing stare on Miyo.

“When you used the power of Dream Sight to lock Usui and me away in a dream, were you trying to protect us?”

Miyo gazed back into Arata’s eyes with a start.

He was absolutely right. In truth, Miyo had wanted to go down a path where no one had to die and where Usui could atone for his crimes. It was for that reason she never stopped trying to get through to him.

However, the fate that Dream Sight had showed her was cruel, with Arata shooting Usui and being attacked simultaneously, eventually dying himself. That was the future she had seen.

“You said those things to me during the confrontation in the administrative building not to stop me from aiding the Gifted Communion, but to try and prevent me from shooting Usui, right?”

More accurately, she had been trying to do both of those things.

Arata had identified her goals. Miyo had succeeded in getting her intentions across to him. Yet it felt a bit embarrassing to hear him say this directly to her face.

“Y-yes…that’s right.”

Miyo hadn’t wanted anyone to die or get hurt, so she’d tried locking Usui and Arata in the dream world, free of violence or harm. She’d wanted to believe that this would change something about the future.

Ultimately, while she had been able to avert Arata’s death, she hadn’t been able to change Usui’s fate.

It really taught me that no matter how strong the power of Dream Sight may be, it’s difficult to use well.

Knowing the future was one thing, but what was she supposed to do to try and change it? How much of the future was she allowed to reveal to others? Peering into what lay ahead wasn’t enough to give her all the answers.

Now she understood just how incredible Takaihito was for seeing the same future and skillfully making use of it. Miyo was still very inexperienced and hadn’t given everything enough consideration.

“I’m sorry for ignoring your words of warning.”

Arata lowered his head, prompting Miyo to wave her hands in a fluster.

“Not at all. I made plenty of mistakes as well…”

“I’m not trying to make excuses, but the truth is that I only realized what you meant after it was all over.”

Arata frowned regretfully. Unfortunately, she hadn’t conveyed her intentions at the critical moment.

“When I was reflecting on everything, it occurred to me that you never once asked me why I had taken Usui’s side.”

Arata was right—Miyo had been too focused on the exchange of blows between Arata and Usui that she’d seen in her vision to question him.

“It appears you’ve fully awakened your Dream Sight powers, then.”

In Arata’s slightly sad comment, Miyo sensed a complex array of emotions stemming from his experiences as a member of the Usuba family.

“Yes…but, if possible, I would prefer to never have to use them again.”

Normally, one would take full advantage of a power they had worked hard to awaken.

Miyo had no intention of neglecting her Gift training, of course, but even then, she’d had enough of the strife she’d just gone through.

Every time she had the tip of a sword directed at her, every time she had a gun barrel pointed her way, it felt as if icy hands were gripping her heart, and she shrank back, unable to move.

Whenever she recalled how Usui had died—having a hole blown into his forehead—she felt disgusted, and tears welled in her eyes.

Using a Gift meant throwing oneself into battle.

Miyo had gained too many things that were precious, her very sense of self included, to comply with that philosophy.

“Like that man said…I am a foolish woman, fully dependent on Kiyoka and satisfied with my tiny bit of happiness. But I think that I’m okay with that.”

The happiness she had so longed for was in her grasp. Wasn’t that more than enough?

Even if the Gift of Dream Sight could possibly save many more people, Miyo felt like she didn’t have the personal capacity to do so now that she’d read the memoirs of the Usubas’ past.

It was quite evident to her that she wasn’t clever enough to dedicate herself to saving people while maintaining her own happiness.

“You don’t need to give any of Usui’s words a second thought.”

Arata told her this to encourage her, but Miyo silently denied it.

His words wouldn’t sway her. She simply thought that Usui’s analysis had, in fact, gotten to the heart of the matter.

“This may be selfish of me, but I’d like to live my life to the fullest rather than use my Gift for myself or others.”

Miyo was probably a failure as a Dream Sight Medium. She would leave spectacular accomplishments to Kiyoka and other Gift-users like him.

Usui was gone, the Usubas were beginning to change, and Arata was safe and sound. There was no longer anything that Miyo needed to get involved with.

Thus, she wanted to live a life filled to the brim with bliss for her and those she cared about, without being caught up in having or not having Gifts and their worth. That was how she wanted to live.

This was what she wished for the present and the future.

The hospital room went quiet as Miyo and Arata hit a lull in the conversation. Just then, they heard two people talking out in the hallway.

“If you ever change your mind, you should let me know as soon as possible. Immediately, got it?”

“That day’s never coming, so please find someone else for the job soon.”

It was Ookaito, pressing his subordinate for an answer, and Kiyoka, giving his superior an exasperated reply.

Miyo and Kiyoka had come to the military headquarters together, but they had gone their separate ways, as Miyo needed to visit the hospital, and Kiyoka had business at central command.

It appeared Ookaito was the person he needed to speak with.

From what she had heard, the military was suffering a severe personnel shortage because of Usui, and central command was requesting Kiyoka to fill one of the holes.

This may have been related to what Ookaito was discussing with him.

“Are you done?” Kiyoka asked from the open hospital doorway, lightly dressed in a casual kimono with his hair untied and dangling down. Miyo looked between her cousin and her fiancée and nodded.

“…You’re not going to peel any more tangerines for me, Miyo?” Arata murmured with a note of mischievous dissatisfaction. Kiyoka promptly approached his bed and smacked Arata’s hand.

“Ow!” her cousin groaned, glaring spitefully at Kiyoka. “You realize I’m a patient, yes? Honestly, Commander Kudou, that hot-blooded temper of yours is quite a problem.”

“I’m conceding enough to you already by letting Miyo visit you every day.”

His tone was extremely bitter.

Kiyoka wasn’t particularly happy about the frequency with which Miyo saw Arata. He would always see her off with a reluctant, “You’re going today, too?”

Perhaps his irritation stemmed from the fact that his injuries weren’t quite bad enough to warrant being confined to bed rest.

Kiyoka is acting a bit needier than before.

When the thought crossed her mind, her normally stiff, beautiful, and valiant fiancé suddenly seemed adorable.

Miyo broke into a smile as she stood up from her chair.

“I’m sorry, Arata. I have to go now.”

Taking her purse in hand, she drew close to Kiyoka. Finally, Miyo turned back to her cousin and bowed slightly.

“Kiyoka and I are going on a date after this… I’ll be sure to stop by again.”

“Until next time, then.”

Arata waved goodbye, and Miyo turned to leave the hospital room with Kiyoka.

After Miyo and Kiyoka left the hospital, the first stop on their date was the kimono shop, Suzushima’s.

The storied business stood on one of the imperial capital’s most prominent high streets, which was flanked by major storefronts. They stopped in front of it to find that there were already people inside.

“Welcome, Mr. Kudou.”

“I appreciate this.”

The proprietress of Suzushima’s, Keiko, greeted Miyo and Kiyoka with a smile right as they entered. Then they heard a pair of bickering voices come from farther inside the shop.

“I’m telling you, why can’t she just wear an evening dress at the banquet?! A white kimono, a colorful wedding kimono, and an evening dress. What’s wrong with that?”

“Wedding kimonos are so old-fashioned! She should wear a white kimono for the ceremony then change into a dress for the rest.”

“She can’t participate in a tea ceremony in a dress.”

“Then there should be a Western-style garden party instead of a tea ceremony. This is all being held at Imperial Hotel anyway, so they’ll surely have the space for it.”

“Are you planning to have the guests faint?! Almost all the arrangements have already been made anyway. You’re asking for the impossible, okay?!”

Miyo and Kiyoka exchanged glances when they heard what the verbal tussle was about.

Hazuki and Fuyu were arguing with each other about wedding clothes.

Miyo hadn’t been informed of this until recently, but Kiyoka had asked Fuyu and Hazuki to move forward with planning the wedding a while ago.

Normally, Miyo and Kiyoka should have taken the initiative on the preparations since they were the ones getting married, but they really didn’t have the spare energy for it. Fortunately, Kiyoka had seen this situation coming.

Although two families usually made the arrangements together, and it was normal to reflect their preferences more over those of the marrying couple, both Fuyu and Hazuki had agreed to Kiyoka’s request.

As a result, the venue had been pinned down, the invitations were already sent, and even the ceremony arrangements had all been decided on.

Miyo had been a bit shocked by the two women’s amazing efficiency, but she was grateful for it all.

“Hello, Mother, Sis, and Yurie. Forgive us for being late.”

At Keiko’s direction, Miyo and Kiyoka entered the reception room reserved exclusively for Suzushima’s biggest patrons. Hazuki’s expression instantly grew cheerful when she saw them while Fuyu crossly turned her head to the side.

Yurie looked on both with a charmed and slightly stern smile.

“We were waiting for you, Miyo.”

“The audacity of making the mother of your fiancé wait.”

“Be quiet, Mother. Okay then, today we’re double-checking your outfits for the ceremony.”

Cleanly cutting down Fuyu’s nastiness, Hazuki stood up and waved Miyo over.

“Okay then, Miyo. Come over here.”

At Hazuki’s urging, Miyo turned to the clothes rack, laying eyes on her bridal outfits for the first time.

First was a white kimono. Embroidered with silver thread on the pure white silk bridal robe was a gorgeous and elegant pattern of auspicious Chinese phoenixes and large peonies.

The luster of the needlework and silk sparkled and glittered in the light.

It was so very beautiful that Miyo’s cheeks flushed.

“It’s stunning…”

“Isn’t it? This was what Mother wore when she was married to Father, and I actually wore it myself… Are you okay with that?”

Miyo was at a loss for words and could manage only to shake her head.

The outfit Sumi wore when she was married to the Saimoris, unfortunately, didn’t exist anymore.

Miyo hadn’t inherited any of her mother’s belongings, and just a year earlier, she had completely given up on ever having the chance to wear such a magnificent piece of clothing.

Moreover, she couldn’t have been any happier to have the dress Fuyu and Hazuki had worn passed down to her like this.

“My, my, my, it’s too early to start crying yet.”

Miyo couldn’t help being moved to tears. Hazuki noticed this and smiled hastily.

“How utterly disgraceful to start sniveling over a simple piece of clothing, I swear.”

“Missus.”

Yurie immediately reprimanded Fuyu for her usual verbal abuse. Fuyu went silent without making any attempt to hide her reluctance; it appeared her harsh treatment didn’t extend to Yurie.

“Your hair is so long that I wonder if we’ll be able to tie it up into the shimada-style coiffure with just your real hair on your wedding day. Or perhaps a wig would be more comfortable…? What do you think, Kiyoka?”

“…I don’t know. I’m stepping out for a bit.”

Kiyoka looked uncomfortable in the reception room surrounded by women, and he departed with a frown to exit into the shop proper.

“He’s so hopeless, I swear.”

Hazuki widened her eyes in exasperation, but Keiko immediately returned to the topic while ignoring Kiyoka’s actions.

“I can prepare a wig for her.”

“Hmmm. Why don’t we do that, then? Mother is jabbering nonstop about evening dress this and dress that, so a wig will make it much easier to style your hair when you change into the Western outfit. What do you think, Miyo?”

“Th-that’s fine. Thank you.”

“Okay, this is next.” Hazuki urged her along, and Miyo shifted her gaze to the next clothing rack.

Next was a colorful wedding kimono she would change into later in the ceremony.

This kimono was of similarly brilliant craftsmanship. Hemmed in gold threads along a glamorously colored fabric, which slowly grew deeper in color from a light pink to scarlet descending from the shoulders to the sleeves, were two brilliant white cranes, flying through a patterned background of running water and fully blooming cherry blossoms.

With a bright shade of light pink, the pattern was elegantly brought together with gold thread, lacking any frivolity while still managing to be brilliantly beautiful.

“It’s very, very pretty.”

“We asked Suzushima’s to make this, and they tailored this cute kimono with you in mind. I’m glad you like it.”

From there, Keiko explained to Miyo the necessary items for the ceremony.

A white under-robe. A long under-kimono. A bridal silk hood, a decorative under-collar and obi belt, tabi socks, Japanese-style sandals, as well as smaller items like her ceremonial dagger and squared purse—Miyo was told they had all been made brand new.

She felt like it was a bit of a waste to prepare all this for just a single wedding ceremony, but she nevertheless expressed her gratitude toward Keiko, realizing this was one occasion where she wasn’t supposed to show any reservation.

“I think this should be all we needed to check. Apparently, Mother ordered your dress for the banquet from a Western-focused store, but I’m sure they’ll need to fit you, so we’ll save that for next time.”

Hazuki cast a sidelong glance at Fuyu, whose lips were bent in a surly pout, and gave a small sigh.

“Thank you very much. I’ve left you to handle absolutely everything…”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Miyo can do the same thing for the next generation of children, okay?”

Miyo blinked.

By the next generation, that would mean Miyo’s own daughter or an incoming bride. It was still difficult for her to even imagine such a far-off future.

Seeing Miyo at a loss for an answer, Hazuki lowered her voice and smiled wryly.

“Mother would never say it, but I mean, just look at how insistent she’s being about everything. I’m sure that, deep inside, she’s really looking forward to this. You don’t need to be so concerned about causing us any trouble, okay?”

To this, Miyo firmly nodded back.

It was impossible to say Fuyu had a kind personality, even in flattery, but Miyo strongly believed she wasn’t completely incapable of showing consideration for others.

She understood very well what Hazuki was saying.

This dynamic, along with everything else, was a part of the family she was marrying into. And Miyo thought the Kudous were a family filled with warmth and kindness.

“Um, I’m getting a bit excited for the ceremony myself.”

Miyo gazed once more around the reception room, brimming with brilliant colors, and put words to the warmth that was in her heart.

While looking at the different outfits and items was somewhat overwhelming, it also made her realize that this was really happening. There was only a short time left until she would join the Kudou family.

She was nervous, and she did feel some degree of reluctance and loneliness at the prospect of no longer being Miyo Saimori. Even then, she was genuinely delighted to become a member of the Kudou family.

“What, only a bit?”

Miyo refuted Hazuki’s impish smile in a fluster.

“N-no! Very excited, really!”

“Really? I’m glad. Isn’t that good to hear, Kiyoka?”

“…Yes.”

Kiyoka had returned to the reception room at some point, and deep wrinkles formed on his brow at his older sister’s teasing.

Nevertheless, Miyo could sense that he was faintly relieved. That, too, made her happy.

She understood that Kiyoka was looking forward to the ceremony and to the day of their marriage.

“Oh, that’s right, did you look over the arrangements and the list of guests for me?”

“Yeah. There didn’t seem to be any problems.”

At Kiyoka’s reply to her question, Hazuki continued.

“Yes, but if you have any requests, be sure to tell me. I’ll do what I can if it’s something that we can still work out in time.”

Miyo recalled when Kiyoka had shown her the list of invited guests.

As to be expected for the wedding of the head of the prestigious Kudou family, all sorts of names trailed down the page, from familial acquaintances to people he’d formed relationships with as a Gift-user and as a military officer.

With the exception of the Usubas and the members of the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit, Miyo knew almost none of them.

When at last she had finished looking over the list, she felt a truly tiny bit of relief.

The name Saimori was nowhere to be found.

It was shameful that not a single member of her family could come to her wedding, but at the same time, part of her felt relieved that she wouldn’t have to see them on the big day.

She was disgusted with herself for still being such a coward.

This was the correct choice, though, right?

In all honesty, she had her doubts, even now. Miyo didn’t possess the courage, however, to request that the names of her father, stepmother, and stepsister be added to the list.

Kiyoka placed a hand on Miyo’s shoulder in her moment of indecision.

“As long as the ceremony doesn’t have any problems, that’s enough for me.”

“Oh heavens! Young Master, it’s quite unbecoming for a man to make such insensitive remarks!”

“Yurie’s absolutely right!” Hazuki chimed in, agreeing with Yurie’s comment. Fuyu, too, shot Kiyoka a look of exasperation, her face saying a thousand words.

It was a rare moment when all the women’s opinions were aligned.

However, if Miyo was being honest, she shared the same feelings as Kiyoka. She was looking forward to the ceremony Hazuki and the others had put so much care into preparing, and it made her happy that they were working so hard. But the truth was that no matter how the ceremony ended up, being able to wed Kiyoka was more than plenty for her.

Being able to live together with Kiyoka was itself Miyo’s happiness.

Miyo softly smiled at Kiyoka as he sullenly went quiet.

“My, my, they’ve really grown to be a true husband and wife, wouldn’t you say, missus?”

“…I don’t care.”

When Yurie looked at the two of them together and brought up the subject, Fuyu averted her eyes with a look of displeasure just like Kiyoka.

Although she wasn’t supposed to laugh in front of her customers, Keiko couldn’t suppress a giggle after listening to that entire back-and-forth.

Once the conversation broke off for a moment, Hazuki lightly clapped her hands together.

“Okay then. Let’s leave things here for now. This is the first time in a while you two have had a day to relax, isn’t it?”

She was right. Their date had only just begun, and although they hadn’t decided on where they would go from here, Miyo was ready to let her hair down with Kiyoka.

“Make sure you get your rest, okay? If you don’t…”

Suddenly, Hazuki’s expression turned serious as she made an unbelievably threatening remark.

“There’ll be a whole bunch of guests on the day of the ceremony, and I’m sure journalists will be there to report on the event, so you’re going to be exhausted. You need to mentally prepare yourself while you can.”

“What?”

Not just guests, but reporters, too? Apparently, the weddings of prestigious families were reported in the papers. A cold shiver ran down Miyo’s spine.

“Miyo.”

“Oh, yes. Sis, Mother, Yurie. Miss Keiko as well, thank you so much for today.”

As she unconsciously felt herself grow timid at the last moment, Miyo departed Suzushima’s together with Kiyoka.

The wedding preparations weren’t over. There were still a number of things that needed to be worked out, but the pair was practically chased out of the shop.

As warm sunlight mixed with wintry air, the people seemed to sense the rousing of spring, imparting the streets of the imperial capital with a slightly cheerful atmosphere.

While springtime wouldn’t arrive for a while, the sunlight had long since melted the snow and dried out the roads, and it was now making the world anticipate the upcoming budding of the bare trees alongside the roads.

Nevertheless, the blowing wind was still cold.

“Haah. Sorry for everything being so hectic.”

“Not at all,” Miyo replied to the apology Kiyoka gave as they walked.

The fun and uplifting mood from previous moments had cooled, and now there was a stillness between the two of them, like the night after a festival.

Miyo knew that Kiyoka meant many things with his choice of the word “hectic.”

First, he was referring to how he and Miyo had frequently missed each other as of late, as his involvement with cleaning up from Usui’s failed coup often took him out of the house.

But he was also referring to the wedding ceremony.

Because Kiyoka had asked Fuyu, Hazuki, and Yurie for help, they would be able to hold the ceremony during the spring, just as he had promised Miyo. But without any time left in the winter to settle down and prepare, she couldn’t deny feeling anxious and restless.

Miyo was also a member of the Usubas and someone Usui had targeted. For the past month, she hadn’t been able to ignore the various requests to cooperate in government investigations and to answer questions from the authorities.

In the end, Miyo and Kiyoka were both so busy that today had been the first time they were able to have a full day to themselves since Usui’s death, and normally, this would be no time to think about a wedding.

“Don’t be.”

Repeating the sentiment once again, Miyo then gently touched Kiyoka’s hand.

“It’s because we’ve been so busy that right now, being here with you…um, makes me so happy.”

He was glad she tried saying it, but she grew bashful midway through and ultimately tapered off at the end.

She felt self-conscious, ashamed of being in such high spirits. She hung her head, thinking that her terribly loud heartbeats and reddening cheeks were pathetic.

Kiyoka gave no reply.

When she timidly upturned her gaze at him, curious as to why, she was astonished.

Her fiancé, who was always cool, composed, and rarely ever agitated, wore the same faintly pink shade on his cheeks that Miyo did.

The man she knew was embarrassed.

“Wh-what’re you…”

“Y-yes, I’m sorry…”

When she thought about the fact that Kiyoka already knew her heartfelt feelings for him, standing there with him felt almost too much for her to bear, even though they were simply talking to each other side by side.

Ah, this is all because I said something unnecessary…

She regretted carelessly getting ahead of herself a few seconds ago and letting her feelings out.

After causing this slight awkwardness, the two walked along with no particular destination in mind until they stopped at a confectionary café.

Miyo and Kiyoka had stopped by this shop on their very first outing together, after paying a visit to Suzushima’s.

This brings back so many memories.

The day in spring of last year, when Kiyoka invited her to go out together with him. The day his kindness had touched her, and she had hoped to herself she could stay at his side forever.

Passing through shop curtain just like that day, Miyo seated herself opposite Kiyoka inside the bustling confectionery café interior.

“Anmitsu again?”

Miyo ordered an anmitsu, as if replicating the past while she thought back to last year, while Kiyoka again didn’t order any type of sweet treat and just asked for tea.

“Yes. Honestly, last year when I had it…I didn’t really taste it.”

Miyo, feeling a bit nervous, confessed the truth.

She remembered the day very well. Just sitting across from her proposed marriage partner like this, who she had only just met, had been enough to put her on edge. Yet to make things even more trying, Kiyoka’s beautiful features were capable of captivating anyone—man or woman, young or old—and they had drawn sharp and terrifying gazes from the other women around Miyo.

Kiyoka’s furrowed brow suggested that he didn’t recognize what she was getting at.

“…Everyone’s stares made me feel uneasy back then.”

She assumed that Kiyoka, having received constant attention from a young age, no longer gave a second thought to the eyes of the unacquainted masses he passed by on the street.

But Miyo had scarcely left the house she grew up in, so the glances made her feel out of place and awfully uncomfortable.

“Stares?”

“Yes. So I wanted to get a good taste this time.”

Back then, she hadn’t even imagined that she would ever be able to return to this place with Kiyoka again.

She had no Gift, not even Spirit-Sight. Therefore, she believed her life was worthless.

Miyo had been filled with such feelings of inferiority, she had been convinced that when the truth was made clear, she would be chased out as an unsuitable fiancée.

Even if she could go back in time to tell herself that she would not be chased out and she would be able to spend time with Kiyoka with such peace of mind, Miyo knew that she wouldn’t have believed it.

“Well, there are still stares today.”

Particularly from the male customers.

But Miyo was so fully immersed in her recollections of the past that she missed what Kiyoka had murmured.

“What?”

“…Forget it.”

Shortly after that, the anmitsu was brought over to their table. It was delicious.

The jam, with a texture that was slightly lumpy from the red beans it was made of, had an elegant sweetness to it. It absolutely delighted Miyo when paired with the white rice flour dumplings. Then the taste of the agar jelly tied the flavors together neatly.

She hadn’t known that anmistu was this good.

“It’s very tasty.”

When Miyo let out a dreamy burst of admiration with her spoon still in hand, a beautiful smile slowly spread over Kiyoka’s face.

“Glad to hear it.”

“Yes. Tee-hee.”

While some things were still the same as they were last year, ultimately more had changed than not. For some reason, Miyo found this so amusing that she couldn’t hold back her laughter.

“…You really never smile.”

Kiyoka had told her that back then while wearing a wonderfully sullen look of his own.

Miyo was sure that neither her expression nor Kiyoka’s right now had the slightest shade of last year’s on them. From then until now, the distance between them had shifted drastically.

It was all thanks to Kiyoka being patient and persevering in his relations with Miyo. This happiness was far more than she deserved.

“What are you laughing about?”

“It’s nothing.”

The way Kiyoka looked at her with suspicion was funny somehow. Miyo covered her mouth and laughed once more.

When his teacup and her glass bowl filled with anmitsu were emptied, they settled their bill and left the confectionery café, beginning their walk anew.

It feels nice and toasty.

The afternoon sun was high in the sky, and the warm open air made it feel even more like spring. With it getting this warm, it seemed like plants would start blossoming any day now.

“Kiyoka.”

“What?”

Miyo told Kiyoka the next place that she wanted to visit.

Kiyoka seemed curious about why she would want to go there, but he granted her request without any objection.

The shrine they had visited together at New Year’s was, of course, in a much different state than before, and there were only a few scattered patrons coming to pay their respects.

The stone pavement approach to the shrine was awfully quiet.

There wasn’t a single remnant of the tumultuous and strangely barbarous atmosphere from before. The place now was extremely serene, as if the Gifted Communion or their peacekeeper squads had never existed to begin with.

Society at large would slowly forget that the Gifted Communion had ever existed, or that it had caused a major incident.

Even though the event they precipitated would stay with Miyo for the rest of her life.

In that sense, we really are taking it easy, aren’t we…?

Miyo strained her ears as she walked, listening to the faint sound of the wind and feeling the spring sunshine.

Perhaps as a result of their recently hectic lives, their silent walk to the shrine felt very comfortable. Neither of them was particularly loquacious talker, but it seems like their emotions were being conveyed to each other without saying a word.

“I told you that the Kudou family was originally in charge of Shinto services in the old imperial capital, right?”

“Yes.”

Kiyoka suddenly murmured as he gazed toward the main shrine building.

“The truth is, it’s bit of a headache, but…the people comprising what you could call the main family line of the Kudous live in the old capital even now. They’ve been watching over shrines and Shinto rituals for many generations.”

“Does that mean the Kudou family isn’t the main family?”

“No, our familial split happened a long time ago. Several centuries have passed since then, and each side has maintained an unbroken line. At this point, neither side is going to assert themselves as the main family or a branch family.”

Miyo couldn’t conceal her surprise at this unexpected revelation.

While their split several centuries back may have made the two families essentially strangers, it shocked Miyo that the prestigious Kudous, who had produced many powerful Gift-users and were well known to anyone who had dealings with supernatural powers, had originally been a branch family.

“That said,” Kiyoka continued, “up until the last generation, weddings have been held in that old capital shrine.”

“Does that mean we’ll do the same?”

If that was the custom, then they couldn’t ignore it. At the moment, the ceremony was going to be held in the imperial capital, but then…did that mean they would hold another ceremony in the old capital as well?

Kiyoka shook his head at Miyo’s question.

“For the time being, we don’t have the time or energy to spare on visiting the old capital and holding the ceremony there, so we can postpone it for now. Though we can’t get away with doing nothing, either. At some point, we’ll need to visit or hold a tea ceremony of some kind. Just keep that in mind.”

“I see, so that’s the situation… I understand.”

Although the topic of visits and tea ceremonies was put aside for the time being, Miyo’s mind drifted to thoughts about what the old capital was like

She only had a vague impression of it, and she imagined that it had a refined and unique character, but she was looking forward to seeing it for herself.

Her chest filled with excitement simply from picturing the sights she would see with Kiyoka and the experiences they would share together.

Not only that…

That was where Kouji currently was.

How exactly her childhood friend was living his life right now had long been on Miyo’s mind, since she’d received neither letters from him nor the slightest hearsay about his current situation.

Even if she couldn’t actually see him, perhaps she would at least be able to get an update about how he was doing.

Before anything, we need to get through the wedding, though…

The visit to the old capital was still a bit of a ways ahead.

As their conversation finished, the two passed under the big torii gate and set foot onto the shrine grounds. Standing side by side in front of the main shrine, they offered their coins and prayed with two bows and three claps of their hands.

As she brought her hands together and closed her eyes, many emotions passed through Miyo’s mind.

On her New Year’s shrine visit, she had cast her inner doubts to the gods—how was she supposed to confront her feelings? Was she allowed to give a name to her feelings of love?

But after thinking it over and racking her brain, she had finally been able to organize her thoughts and feelings.

There were still plenty of things she needed to mull over, and her worries were never ending. Nevertheless, she could talk? safely with Kiyoka about the future once more because she had managed to find her answer.

Thank you very much.

Since there were far fewer visitors today than there had been at New Year’s, she could keep her hands together in prayer for a long time without troubling anyone.

Miyo prayed motionlessly, and after gazing into her heart for a few minutes, she gave a brief bow, uttered a short thank-you in her mind, and ended her prayer.

“Visiting a shrine when there’s nothing going on isn’t too bad,” Kiyoka said, turning away from the shrine after giving his final respectful bow, prompting Miyo to nod.

“It’s very calming. Can we come by again?”

“Sure. Now, where to next, then?”

After sharing a small laugh together, they simply departed the shrine without any set destination in mind.

They took in the winter breeze and the warmth of spring on their aimless walk.

Boarding the occasional streetcar to continue their stroll, Miyo and Kiyoka eventually arrived at a bustling business district that was slightly different from the capital’s central area.

Informal candy shops and variety stores lined the road in disarray, almost like street stalls.

Hawking voices echoed from every which way, and countless colorful banners were displayed outside the shops. The people passing to and fro were equally varied, and the air was different from the downtown area in the center of the capital, where the atmosphere was faintly formal and stiff.

“Oh, how about there?”

“Where…?”

When Miyo questioned Kiyoka, who appeared to have come up with an idea of some kind, he pointed at a building visible far in the distance.

Far off in the hazy early spring sky, Miyo could make out a tall tower that seemed to reach straight up to the sky between the buildings lining the road.

Miyo had caught sight of it from afar many times; however, she had never gotten close to it before.

“It’s what they call the ‘Twelve-Storied Tower.’”

Supposedly, getting to the top was quite an endeavor, but the view was truly stunning and gave a sweeping look over the entire imperial capital.

Miyo had never climbed up somewhere so high in her life before. This was also the first she’d heard of an average citizen being allowed to enter such a tall building.

She wondered how it would feel to gaze down at the capital from above.

After hearing she could look out over the city, she couldn’t contain her desire to see it for herself.

“I’d love to visit.”

She advanced through the crowd toward the tower, gently grabbing Kiyoka’s hand from his indigo haori coat fluttering in the snow-melting breeze.

The Twelve-Storied Tower was so tall that she had to crane her neck to look up at it. When she considered that she was about to climb up, her body unconsciously tensed up a little.

The high-rise building, twelve stories tall as the name implied, was built out of brick until the upper stories, which were made of wood.

Paying the entrance fee and stepping inside, Miyo discovered that it was different from the Western-style tower Miyo had pictured in her mind; each floor had its own shops and kiosks, and there was a sprinkling of customers here and there.

On the whole, however, there was far less foot traffic than she had imagined.

Since the elevator wasn’t operating, they were forced to climb up the stairs to the top floor just as Miyo had mentally prepared herself to do.

…There probably aren’t many customers because climbing up the stairs is too much trouble, Miyo thought as she tried to ignore the fatigue building in her thighs.

Kiyoka was moving very slowly ahead of her, climbing the stairs while turning back to check on Miyo from time to time. Unsurprisingly, his steps didn’t betray the slightest bit of fatigue.

Right as Miyo began to grow worried about how much farther the stairs would continue, the view of the top floor opened up in front of her all at once. Just then, a cold wind caressed her cheeks.

“Wow…”

There wasn’t anyone else in the top-floor observation room. They could clearly see outside the small room through the large windows furnished on all sides.

It was surrounded by a fence about Kiyoka’s height to prevent anyone from falling. And beyond that…

The imperial capital’s cityscape stretched out far off into the horizon. The heads of the people going along the streets below were no bigger than a grain of rice, and Miyo found it quite intriguing to watch them squirm about over the terrain.

The wintry breeze that blew against her was a bit chilly, but the panorama in front of her was so utterly captivating that she didn’t mind.

“It’s so high up, isn’t it?”

When she looked back at Kiyoka, seemingly uninterested in the view himself as he stood one step behind her without looking down, he squinted.

“It sure is.”

“I didn’t know the imperial capital was so vast…”

Miyo pressed down on her hair, flowing in the wind, as she voiced her heartfelt impression.

Miyo had lived her twenty years of life here in the imperial capital, yet the world she had known was so very small. Although she had experienced a great many things in the past year, she hadn’t ever gotten a bird’s-eye view of her home.

The imperial capital she saw in panorama was vast, and the Empire’s whole territory was even more immense.

“It almost makes me feel like nothing really matters at all.”

Each individual was really so very tiny, no different from a fly struggling in a spider’s web. That was how the view began to make her feel.

“Like it’s all futile?”

“No,” Miyo replied to Kiyoka’s question, which was spoken forlornly. “Not futile. It’s simply…I may have had things all wrong.”

Buffeted by the cold wind, she felt like her own state of mind was changing by the minute. Different from when she had confronted Usui and different even from when she had spoken with Arata earlier that day.

There were times when she disclosed her feelings to another or the times when she experienced new things like she was now.

On those occasions, her muddied, secluded heart was washed clean and reborn anew, giving her new realizations.

“You had things wrong?”

Smiling at Kiyoka’s questioning look, Miyo returned her gaze to the boundless view.

“Yes. It’s hard to explain… Ever since my Dream Sight powers grew stronger, I’ve let myself feel like I’ve had this burden placed on me.”

“…”

“But I did think I wanted to shoulder it. That was why, to live with a normal idea of happiness, I felt like I needed to make efforts to abandon it, with the considerable amount of resolve that would require.”

With her Gift of Dream Sight, Miyo had seen many things.

The past, the future, the present—it felt like she was meant to shoulder all those incoherent fragments, even though she had made her reluctant choice to view them only to save Kiyoka.

But that’s far too much weight for me.

This was what she had meant when she told Arata she was ready to abandon using her Gift. It would require a considerable amount of resolve to do.

“But that’s not right.”

Listening to Kiyoka’s response, Miyo nodded.

“Yes. Just now the thought came to me… Perhaps there aren’t even that many things I’m meant to shoulder on my own in the first place.”

She just needed to live like she normally did. No matter how great a power she possessed, in a world that held such a great number of people, the influence of a single individual was no doubt very small.

It was presumptuous to think about achieving something magnificent with her Gift or to really make the most use of it. So, too, were the efforts to throw away such a power.

Kiyoka took a step forward and stood beside Miyo. He wrapped his hand around her shoulder and slowly brought her in close.

“You should live how you want to live. That’s how it’s been from the very start, hasn’t it?”

“…Yes.”

To keep warm, she leaned her head against his arm and cuddled in close. She could hear Kiyoka’s heartbeat; for some reason, it brought her to the verge of tears.

“Because the woman who does that is the person who everyone’s come to care for.”

The “everyone” he was talking about encompassed so many people that she had met after leaving the Saimori house.

She’d obtained a blessed, almost miraculous reality which would have been hard to even imagine a year ago.

Miyo felt truly relieved that she had been able to protect the warmth and everyday life that she wished to hold dear for the rest of her days.

“Is it the same for you, Kiyoka?”

“Yeah. Me too, Miyo.”

She was relieved to hear his honest reply, since she wouldn’t have been able to go on without hearing it for herself. Kiyoka calling her by her name once was enough to make her happy forever.

After meeting Kiyoka, she was able to feel fondness for her own name for the first time in her life. She could finally believe that it was okay for her to be herself and to go on living exactly as she was. She had been given courage.

Miyo was unable to hold it all back, and a single teardrop tumbled from the edge of her eye.

“Actually, I’ve been thinking about taking some of the load off myself,” Kiyoka abruptly declared, and Miyo placed her own hand atop the one he had on her shoulder.

“I’ve spoken with the major general, too. Eventually, once the crisis in the military gets sorted out, and everything settles down, I’m going to leave.”

“What?!” Miyo looked up at her fiancé in surprise. His sights were aimed straight out ahead, as if he was gazing out into the far-off future.

“Why…?”

Miyo had only ever known Kiyoka the military officer. Nor did she know of anyone who the military relied on more than him. That was especially clear to her now that she had seen how Godou had reacted after Kiyoka’s capture.

Gift-users had a duty to fight against Grotesqueries, even if they didn’t belong to the military.

She had vaguely surmised that there must have been a compelling personal reason for him to join the military anyway, and she hadn’t ever considered he would talk about leaving.

“I wasn’t cut out to be in the military to begin with.”

“But you’ve been working there for such a long time.”

It seemed to Miyo like all his efforts would go to waste.

Kiyoka held a high position within the military. Although he was a mere commander of a platoon, Ookaito still wanted to promote him to a higher position, he had accumulated quite a list of accomplishments, and he was widely known within the armed forces as well.

If he left, that would all come to nothing.

“I don’t mind. At first, I wasn’t even thinking about joining the military anyway.”

Kiyoka slowly looked down at Miyo’s face below him.

Godou had once told her before that Kiyoka had felt responsible for the death of Godou’s father in the line of duty, changed his career path, and joined the military instead.

In which case, perhaps he had reached some sort of inner peace with himself.

From here on, she wanted to hear so many things from Kiyoka. The bygone dreams he saw when he was young, what he thought, what he felt.

“…Or maybe you’re thinking that if I’m not a military man, I wouldn’t be suitable for you anymore?”

“No, I don’t think that at all. If you feel like that’s what you want to do, I’ll support you completely.”

“Support me, huh?”

“Yes, I’ll support you.”

When Miyo summoned all her strength to stare back into Kiyoka’s eyes, he suddenly turned away from her and burst into laughter.

“Why are you laughing?”

“There’s not anything I’d need your support with, really. Though I’ll gratefully accept the offer either way.”

Suddenly, he unexpectedly drew away from her.

Miyo hurried after Kiyoka, turning around toward the viewing deck exit ahead of her.

They descended the twelve floors, leisurely looking around each story as they went, and when the two exited from the first-floor entrance, they found that the sun had begun to set, and the sky was changing to a light indigo.

“Let’s head home.”

“Okay.”

Tightly gripping each other’s hands once more, they advanced down the narrow streets of the business district. Then they hailed a streetcar on the main road. As they rocked back and forth, familiar landscapes slowly began to come back into view.

Streets they had walked down countless times, shops they often visited, and the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit station. It was fun visiting unknown places, but Miyo ultimately felt comforted by seeing the parts of the city she knew.

The gas lamps lining the street began to light up here and there.

Once the sun had set, the temperature dropped, and it grew chilly once more. Miyo’s breath came out in white wisps, and she rewrapped her scarf around herself.

In stark contrast with the time when she’d visited alongside Kiyo the familiar, the area around the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit station was silent, with no signs of anyone passing by.

They went inside the station and got into Kiyoka’s automobile, which was parked there as usual.

“Miyo.”

Starting the engine and gripping the handle, Kiyoka waited a few more moments after setting off in the car before gently calling her name.

“Yes?”

“…………Were you able to relax a bit?”

Kiyoka, in an unusual move, chewed on his words at first, going to say something before deciding against it, which had Miyo cocking her head as she agreed.

“Yes. I had fun.”

“That’s good.”

Just what had he wanted to ask her?

Miyo’s questions were finally answered when they arrived back at the house.

For Miyo, Kiyoka’s house outside the center of the capital, which came into view once they continued down the dark country road, had already become her home, a place she could feel at peace. They arrived back at the place where she’d first met Kiyoka, to the home filled with so many insignificant, yet precious, memories.

Kiyoka got out of the car and placed a hand on the front door, illuminated by lamplight, only to come to a stop.

“Kiyoka?”

“This isn’t really the best place for this, but…if I did this inside, um, it’d probably get a bit awkward.”

With this preamble, he ruffled through his breast pocket, taking something out and handing it to Miyo.

When Miyo got a better look at what was in her hand, her eyes widened.

It was a lovely hairpin. It was made of metal and was emblazoned with a modest silk crepe decoration of a vermilion cherry blossom. A perfect choice for the upcoming season.

It was so lovely that her heart fluttered just looking at it.

“It’s beautiful… Is this for me?” Miyo asked, trying to stop herself from getting too excited, and Kiyoka nodded.

“Well, it caught my eye in Suzushima’s…,” he stammered, finding it difficult to finally say that he thought it would look good on her. Had he secretly been wracked with anxiety all day about when he was going to give it to her?

Seeing her fiancé like this, she couldn’t help but compare him to Kiyo, the familiar modeled after his younger self. While she understood these weren’t feelings she should hold for an older man, especially the fiancé she was meant to revere, she found it very heartwarming.

He was a gentle, clumsy, unexpectedly needy, and occasionally adorable man.

Miyo was happy to have such a person for a fiancé.

“Kiyoka.”

“What?”

Miyo returned the hairpin to Kiyoka, who was wearing a sullen look to hide his bashfulness, and turned her back to him.

“Can you place it in my hair?”

“…Sure.”

Kiyoka’s eyes softened, as if breathing a tiny sigh of relief, and he gently placed the hairpin in Miyo’s hair with the familiar touch she expected.

The feeling of her fiancé touching her hair made her a bit ticklish, and her hands and feet fidgeted from the sensation. Then Miyo turned back around to Kiyoka and asked him how she looked.

“Is it cute?”

“Yeah. It looks as lovely as I thought it would.”

Kiyoka’s honest praise sank into her chest. Though it was unladylike of her, she couldn’t stop herself from grinning.

He had said she looked “cute” when she’d first worn a one-piece dress, and perhaps someone else would get angry at him for always giving the same sort of comment.

However, Kiyoka was normally clumsy with his words.

To hear even a simple “lovely” come from him made Miyo happier than she could handle.

“Thank you very much, Kiyoka. I’ll be sure to wear it every day from now on.”

“It doesn’t have to be every day.”

“No. I’ll wear it every chance I get during the springtime. Why, it’s already a new favorite of mine.”

After saying this, Miyo remembered that she had prepared her own item as well.

Every day. Kiyoka had indeed used the braided cord Miyo first gifted him every day since.

However, when he had been captured and wounded, his braid had been cut and ultimately lost somewhere.

“Here, this is for you.”

Miyo took out the newly woven cord she had hidden in her purse and stood on her toes slightly to tie Kiyoka’s hair with it.

“Light indigo this time, huh?”

“Do you not like it?”

“Of course I like it. Thank you.”

Kiyoka smiled with a slight sigh and closed his eyes. His long eyelashes, casting shadows as his eyes closed, were beautiful.

It wasn’t that Miyo didn’t think it was a bit silly that they were both exchanging hair ornament gifts with each other, but this, too, connected back to a precious memory of hers from when she first came to this house.

The night after their first date together, she had received a hair comb and reciprocated with a braided cord.

So she was sure this was simply what their relationship was like.

“Miyo.”

“Yes?”

His arm wrapped around her waist and gently pulled her close. Miyo let herself be snuggled in close and buried her face in Kiyoka’s chest.

“When I was in that cell, the longing I felt for the ordinary days I spent with you in this house was unbearable.”

His hoarse voice sounded slightly frailer than his usual firm and resolved tone.

“I had thought that being separated from each other for only a little while wouldn’t be any trouble at all. But it seems that I can no longer be without you.”

“Kiyoka…”

Miyo heard a throbbing, yet subdued, pulse and wondered to which of them it belonged.

She smelled Kiyoka’s scent, one she had long grown accustomed to.

Just as Miyo couldn’t live without Kiyoka, he, too, needed Miyo. She was sure that Kiyoka didn’t yet understand exactly how much joy these words gave her.

Nor the weight of her feelings, ready to burst from her chest.

I’ve fallen in love with Kiyoka.

She wasn’t scared anymore. Nor would she hesitate.

As long as it was for Kiyoka, she would become as selfish and willful as she wanted.

Even if these feelings hurt others, or left herself hurt, Miyo had decided that she would wholly and readily accept them all and love him.

“You’re the most important part of my life, Miyo. Please, I want you to marry me.”

Unlike the first time when he’d expressed this sentiment, and his words had poured forth like stardust, these words of his slowly melted away and sank into her like snowflakes—a soft, kind, yet definitive expression of love.

This time, Miyo could readily accept them.

“Yes, it would be my pleasure… I love you, darling.”

Miyo gently wrapped her own arms around his back.

Twilight had passed, and the darkness of night enshrouded and concealed the world around them, with the entryway light their only illumination. Nevertheless, no matter whatever darkness there may be, Miyo felt that as long as they had each other’s body warmth, then there was nothing to fear.

If Miyo was the most important part of Kiyoka’s life, then Kiyoka was absolutely everything to her. It was Kiyoka who had shaped Miyo into the person she was today and who had brought life to her heart again.

If they were ever separated, neither would be able to go on.

I love you, Miyo declared once more in her heart.

Eternally and together.

She wished to externally etch in her heart all of their previous happy times as well as each and every moment she shared with Kiyoka from here on out.