'You suggest I send strangers to eavesdrop on my own family?'
'Of course not. No need to send anyone. We have servants to do that.'
'You're a cynic, father.'
'You're wrong. Learn to ask questions rather than eavesdrop. Let's talk business. First, tell me your opinion of what you heard.'
'That's an abstract request. On which particular issue do you want to know my opinion?'
'If I am a cynic, Sen, you are a bore. Tell me what you think about the guy.'
'He would be useful to us in the clan. And given the 'kamontoku', the ancestral lands, and his finances, it would be no shame to give him the coat of arms. Only I don’t think we should. It'd be a better idea, in the long run, to use him to improve our relationship with the Koyama. It's time to put an end to a hundred years of cold war. Nothing good will come of it. He could help us with that. It can't get worse, anyway.'
'Maybe not,' Dai muttered, pondering. 'And we might miss out on a promising young man with his new ancestral lands.'
'I have a plan. It's pretty simple. Even everything turns out the way we want it to, and then we'll still have the chance to get him into the clan.'
'Tell me more.'
'Okay, simply put, the Koyama give him the coat of arms, and we give him a wife from the family.'
The father almost choked on his tea, 'Warn me before you say something like that. Where are we gonna find a wife for him? Only Aniko is the appropriate age. The rest are 11 and 12-year olds. He'll find a wife for himself sooner than they grow up. Or the Koyama will do it for him.'
'Aniko is a good fit. She knows what debt is, and I don’t think she’d mind.'
'Aniko is already engaged,' the man grumbled.
'To whom? To a coward who is afraid to live in his own country? It's just too disgraceful even for my broad views.'
'He'll be back any day.'
'After his father forces him to? And after you have talked to his father? We'll be laughed at in society. Everyone will say that we...'
'Alright, that's enough. You know perfectly well that I can't simply break off my daughter's engagement with the son of Daimyo from the province of Simosa. Even if this Sate Shinichi was really hunted, then yes, his escape to Germany was officially a cowardly act. I would have options then. But in our case...'
'That's not entirely nonsense, but pretty close to it. Even I can think of a few ways to break off an engagement.'
'Are they solid?'
'We don't need solid. Father, maybe, Daimyo is a worthy man, but his son was born completely rotten. Even if we ignore the stain that will fall on our family, think of Aniko. She will belong to a cowardly nonentity,' the son began to tug on his father's feelings, which, despite the mask of the cynic, were very, very strong. 'He'll be able to do anything to her, anything, and this type of moral freak has quite an imagination. You won't be able to help her then.'
'We have time yet. A whole year,' Okhayashi Dai said holding the expression of a wax mask. 'Let's see if he has changed. People change, do they not?'
'You don't believe your own words.'
'I said, let's wait and see.'
'Father...'
'I said let's see. For now, let's just say that your plan to end the cold war with the Koyama is accepted for development. What should our actions be?'
'Aniko as his wife?'
'Do we have a different candidate?' the father said getting louder and more annoyed.
'Excellent, one more step forward,' Sen thought. 'Half a year, and he'll be ready.' She'll owe me forever. I just have to hope that this Sakurai is a worthy man. I'm running out of time to convince father of it. The benefit for the clan under the current scenario is pretty significant. '
Chapter 11
I didn't go to bed. When I got home, I sat on the couch for five minutes, slapped myself on the cheeks, and prepared myself for another day or, perhaps, a night without sleep. I had to make something simple for breakfast first. A traditional Japanese breakfast would do. I was getting sick of brownies and juice. Rice, miso soup, tamagoyaki, which was a rolled omelet, fried fish, and tsukemono, or canned vegetables. It was going to take an hour at the most. Finally, I had some normal food although I made too much rice as usual and couldn't finish it all. Then I sat down in front of the TV to watch the news and think through my future plans.
First, I had to visit Tarot at the hospital, check up on him, and come up with some work for him so that he wouldn't get out of hand. I already had an idea. In this case, first, I had to go to the main office as all the necessary information was held there. Funtik was smart enough to rent the car for three days, so I had a way of getting there. I needed to start thinking about getting my own vehicle though. That was, of course, if I had time. It'd be good to ask around about Yamashita because I was assuming we weren't going to be on good terms after what happened. As for Chesuje, I had to put together a whole case on him. I foresaw us ramming each other. I should look for new people to hire for my security team. Right now, they're more like regular security guards, and I need a more advanced unit. What else? Hmm, after buying Yamashita Corp, I had another idea for a different project, so I should remember to grab that too. Should I or shouldn’t I? I don't want to wear Tarot out. These projects are extensive, after all. Okay, I'll just email him the information, and he can let me know.
I looked at the clock, just to double check — I already had a good sense of time. My neighbors ought to be up by now, and I could go consult them about the ancestral lands I had won. I wasn't going to sell them, but I wanted to find out how I could arrange everything so that I would suffer fewer attacks from others. I doubt I’d really have any, but you never know. My own plans were reaching a dead end because of all the other things I had to deal with. Anyway, I was here now, and it was a good time to meet with the Koyama.
The news had just finished covering the visit of the German Imperial representative in Tokyo and started on the release of a new bestseller written by a famous fantasy author from Misima, which was located in the province of Izu. I liked his books and made a note to buy this new one. In fact, the Chesuje family was involved in the book business. That's as much as Aniko knew about them. I knew a little bit more though. First of all, I knew that Chesuje was one of the two leading book suppliers for Tokyo bookstores. They were distributors. Ho-ho, as the old man Kenta would say. Why would I remember that now? His first direct competitor was Akemi Nakata, who was the owner of the wholesale and retail enterprises Hon no sekaj', or 'Book world.' He made good money, but Chesuje was leading. I could mess with him by getting into the business with Akemi or supporting it in other ways.
The doorbell rang and startled me. Who is that, Shina or Mizuki? I opened the door and, to my surprise, saw Akeno.
'Hello, tramp! Did you enjoy the noble games?'
'Hello, Akeno-San, please come in. The games were costly. To me, it doesn't make sense... Have you ever been?' Akeno nodded. 'The Prince gave a speech before the game, saying that money was nothing, and that the only thing that mattered was the game. That's why it doesn't make sense to me: why spend such huge amounts if that's not what is important.'
'Hehe, try playing poker without money. It’d be pretty boring. For the Prince's guests, these small sums equate to what ‘free’ is for the likes of you.'
'Would you like coffee or tea? I'm not going to offer you sweets. You’ve probably had breakfast already.'
'Coffee, please. Your tea isn't that good, to be honest.'
'Finally, someone has said it.'
'Hehehe!'
I made coffee and brought it into the living room. After that, I sat down across from my guest.
'It's good that you stopped by, Akeno-san. I was planning on visiting you this morning.'
'Did you want to consult or do you have something to tell me?'
'The first.'
'Well, you can ask me first, and then we can talk about my idea.' I took a sip of coffee and deliberated on where to begin.
'Chesuje... Chesuje Yas
uo. What do you know about the family?'
'Chesuje, Chesuje... Are they involved in the book business?'
'Yes.'
'I know nothing about them.' Is he kidding me? 'Don't look at me like that. I really don't know anything about them. The Chesuje family, the Pamyu clan, are engaged in the book business. That's all I know.' Pamju... I had encountered them quite a few times already. Chesuje was the third member of that clan who was now familiar to me.
'Have you heard whose ancestral lands I won?' I wonder what he's going to say. After all, I just got home. They haven’t had that much time to find out unless they took care of it beforehand.
'Yes,' the man snorted back. 'Someone shared that information with me.' Hmm. By flattery or spying? Oh well.
'Weren't you curious who Chesuje was? You knew who I won the lands from, right?' Akeno didn't know what to say to that.
'Yeah,' he spread his hands. 'It was enough to know that he wasn't a member of a strong clan or line.'
'Underestimating people will never amount to anything.'
'Umm...hmm. Yes. Well, whatever.' I was always amazed at how easily the Koyama men agreed with what I said. In a sense, the patriarchal structure of this world should suggest that I was too young to teach anything to an adult man. I was thinking that this might be a good moment to ask him my questions while he was baffled and we were on my territory.
'Could you tell me something, Akeno-san,' I began, rubbing my right eye, still tired from the night, 'Were my parents the last surviving members of their clan or part of another one?'
The question was a bit strange, considering that Kenta took away the coat of arms from my parents. If they were part of another line, he wouldn't have the right to do so as only the head of the line can do that. The only exception was if he was the one who gave them the coat of arms in the first place. In that case, I had another question: what would former commoners be doing living next door to the head of the clan? And why would they be given the coat of arms in the first place? The question was highly provocative and, by asking it, I'd learn a lot more than simply what I was asking about. Otherwise, I'd have the right to ask a different question.
At first, Akeno was taken aback by the twist in our conversation. Then he started sipping his coffee while deliberating about something. If he started going round in circles or rambling while answering the question that would be an answer of a kind. Even the fact that he was thinking about it now was something.
'You’re not quite asking the right question, Shin, but I understand what you want to know,' Akeno started with a thousand-yard stare, tapping his finger on the side of the cup. 'I don't like recollecting this story. I'll tell you what happened without holding anything back and without being too subjective.' He took a sip of coffee and continued, 'Perhaps, it's worth starting with the fact that your father and I were friends. Just to make it clearer for you. It all started when your father fell in love with a commoner woman. That's no big deal, really, but then he married her without obtaining permission from his father, your grandfather. His old man loved him and managed to let it go. Your father was the youngest of his three sons, and, from time to time, they had disagreements but in the end, it looked as if everything settled down, until it turned out that your mother was unable to control Bahir. For an aristocrat, that was... Okay, let me explain something.'
'You don't have to, Akeno-san, I know what a 'kamontoku' is and ... the consequences that come with it.
'Is that right? Okay. So she couldn't use Bahir. When they found that out, it all blew up. As Rafu told me later, they tried to force him to leave your mother, but he was stubborn and refused. He even moved away from his family to this house. That's when your father made his first mistake. As soon as he settled in his new place, he declared to his father, who was still raging, that Sakurai Etsu was his only love and he would never marry anyone else. It’s not surprising that the old man lost it. Immediately after making that statement, your father was excommunicated from the family and banished from the line.
'Of course, I did not abandon him. With the help of my old man, I was able to give him a coat of arms. Because he hadn't been banned from the clan, he was able to founder a new line within it. After a while, it turned out that your mother was able to use Bahir, after all, which was devastating for your grandfather. With three grown-up sons, his first grandson was born of the one who he had excommunicated for no reason.
Meanwhile, the new family was happy with their life full of travels, joy, and love. When they were away traveling, they left you at home, or rather at our house. That's why you were raised in our household. You no doubt remember that part. Neither Kagami nor I were against it. I keep telling you that you are much more than just a neighbor to us, Shin.
What happened afterwards was insane. I don't know why they had to do it. An attempted theft escalated into a robbery and an attack on a member of the clan. They were saved only by the fact that they could not cope with the man, and the fact that I stood up for... them. For the last time. You know the rest. They lost their coat of arms, were banished from the clan, and given the boot.'
'How curious. It seems I am the son of twice-banned parents. What a fascinating twist.'
'Not that curious.'
'Your problem is that you haven’t accepted it yet. I did a long time ago. I'm more worried about how society perceives it. There is definitely a ring to the phrase 'son of twice-banned parents,' but everyone will read it differently.'
'Don't worry about that. It'd be different if you were exiled from the neighborhood. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.' They used their name to protect me for which I was undoubtedly grateful for, but it didn't make me feel as of I owed them. Fortunately, they didn't feel that way either.
'At least tell my grandfather's... my father’s father’s last name.'
'Bunja. Bunja Daisuke. You know, the expression on your face is saying, 'How can I make use of it?' The man smiled, and I became a bit embarrassed.
'Well, why not? He and I... I don't mean any harm,' I muttered.
'You're a dangerous person, Shin,' Aniko laughed. 'Very dangerous. You want to seize the advantage in everything.'
'Not everything.' Well, even if that is so, is it bad? The main thing is how I go about achieving it. I can simply come up and ask. If the answer is no, then so be it. I don't take offense.
'Alright, I hear you,' Shina's father smiled and waved his hands.
'Khm. How do you think society will react to my winning at poker?'
'Pf-f,' the Master exhaled. 'Good question. If we weren’t friends, then you would have said goodbye to Shidotamoru by now. Trying to pressure you financially would be pointless. I mean, leaving you without a shirt on your back to force you to sell the lands would be dumb. Wasting resources for someone else to take advantage of? Blackmailing is also not an option. There are all sorts of things that can be done.' I knew all this, but I saw that he needed to get it off his chest, and it was not difficult for me to listen. 'Shin! Show some respect and change your expression to something less sour-faced. So, financially, you might be vulnerable, but that's a dangerous tack. The only other option is force, after which, they won't spare your life. No one wants any witnesses. Considering this, two-thirds of the clans and lines can be removed simply because the Kenta name gives you an element of protection.'
'I get it. I have a different question. Could those two-thirds try to mess with Shidotamoru out of desperation?'
'And come in for a lot of trouble from the other third who had missed out on the advantage? Only if they were 100 percent certain of succeeding.'
'I see.'
I was more concerned that those two-thirds might find out about The Swallow. I don't care about the establishment, but what if they took someone hostage? It was unlikely, of course, but what if? No. Everything was too obscure there for outsiders to see through it. Although a little political awareness raising on the phone might be worth doing.
'Okay, let's keep going. The hunt would be
organized by the strongest clans and lines, which you can hardly deal with. Therefore, the only solution is to get rid of the lands.' Yea, sure. Whatever. 'You have three options: sell, gift, or lease.' Lease? Now that’s interesting. 'We can eliminate sale. One reason is that you’ll never do it—I know you too well. Secondly, according to the legislation of the Empire, ancestral lands cannot be sold for another 100 years after purchase,. Although you could give them to someone as a gift. In that case, you would have to find someone who you could trust completely. Do you know anyone who fits that description?'
'Umm... only you.'
'There. However, in this case, we'll have to deal with your hypertrophied feeling of duty. For some reason, you refuse to understand that we expect nothing in return.'
'The fact that you don't expect anything in return is not what concerns me. It's what I expect of myself. The more... Never mind,' I waved my hand. 'Let's talk about the third option, Akeno-san. What about leasing? Hold on a second.' I paused, anticipating. If my idea works out, the problem would be solved. 'I could give the lands to you as a gift, and then you could sell them back to me. Hunting me would be pointless then. I would feel less obligated because it would take less than ask you to preserve the lands for me. That would be doable from my point of view.'
'Not from mine, though. An aristocrat selling lands is a manifestation of ill manners. Not one person in my family would agree to that, and nobody would approve of it.' That's too bad. 'If anyone agreed, that would mean that they had been forced. You’d have to be prepared to deal with Imperial investigators in that case. As a result, the Emperor would become the owner of the lands. You can't prove anything to anyone. You could also join someone's line. You could join mine, but I don't think that would be appropriate on the basis of our conversation. However, we'd be happy to accept you into the family.'
'I... appreciate your offer, Akeno-san.' The offer was bad timing, but it got me thinking. 'I'm very flattered, and I'll definitely think about it. Later. Let's get back to the leasing option.' After hearing my question, Akeno put down the empty cup on the table, crossed his legs, and made himself comfortable in the chair.
Changing Masks Page 33
