𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄 | 𝐁𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 [MINOR EDITING]

²² ʙʀᴏᴛʜᴇʀ

I must've had a strange look on my face for Inari to react so rashly upon my return. I am bombarded with questions the moment I'd returned to the manor. Apparently, it had been several hours more than what I'd said I'd be gone for, and that the men who traveled with me to the North Gate had forgotten to tell him my itinerary for the rest of the day.

I sigh at him at the end of his ranting. "Inari, would you calm down?" I say, and he shrinks back. "I'd been asked to go to the First Division by the Head Captain; I was just in a meeting with him."

"I-I see," he says. "I apologize, milady, for my outbursts."

"You don't need to apologize," I say, thinking back to what Tanuma has said earlier. "You were just concerned for me. It's your job."

"Thank you, milady. Oh, that reminds me: There was... um, a young Soul who tried getting into the manor grounds this afternoon. The guards just informed me before you arrive that they've since then detained him in one of the cells beneath the manor, and disarmed him, but the thing is, milady, he is actually--"

"What? Why didn't you tell me of this sooner?" With a deep sigh, I stomp out of the room and begin walking to the east side of the manor, ignoring Inari's calls.

As I've been told several times already, my mother was a very narrow woman. Beautiful and generous, she'd taken a lot of pride in clansmen and division men, and always put their safety first, despite it being their sole duty to protect her. I can understand why Inari and the others took such measures by placing him in one of the cells underneath the grounds, but just by looking at him... I can tell he isn't harmless. He is innocent incarnate, with his fluffy, chocolate brown hair, puffy cheeks, and maroon eyes... Hold on...

Wary, I enter the cell, and kneel before him. "What is your name?" I ask the boy. He looks up at me, his dark eyes glistening under the hanging Hotaru Kazura.

"... are you saying you don't recognize me?" he says.

Frowning, I stand back up and grab the lantern above my head before bringing it back down between us. My lips part, and I begin to shake.

"Am I supposed to?" I ask. "Have we... met before?"

"More than just that," he tells me. The boy suddenly smiles, and I take note of how three wrinkles gather by the corners of his eyes in the process. My suspicions are confirmed. But how is it possible? And why... does he look this way?

"... you're right" I say. "I do recognize you. Keishō... My brother."

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