It's October 4th,1986 and the wealthy Hiragi family is gathering for their annual reunion at Rokkenjima island, in order to discuss what will happen to Hiragi Tenri's inheritance, since it's rumored that he will die soon. Yuichiro, a 16 year old boy...
"Oh Yuu-san, you were screaming quite a lot" Shinoa teased. "I should have taken a picture".
"Ah, shut up. That thing was shaking too much".
We split and took different taxis from the airport to the harbor, there, we are taking a boat to the island. The trip will just take around 30 minutes.
By the time we start approaching the boat, we see a silhouette waving a hand.
"Kimizuki, Yoichi, Shinoa" the person shouted. "It's been so long".
"Mitsuba-san, it's been a year already since we saw you" Yoichi greeted.
"Yo, Mitsuba" Kimizuki said. "What's up?"
"Mii-chan" Shinoa waved at her.
"Hey, you've got to be kidding me" I said with amuse. "That's really Mitsuba?".
"Eh, wait. Shinoa, is that..." she said surprised. "Is that, Yuu?".
We stared at each other for a while. She really changed a lot.
"Ah. Yo, Mitsuba" I greeted. "You seriously look more mature"
"Hehe, he means that you look more like a woman now" Shinoa whispered to her.
"Shu-shut up Shinoa" a slight blush filled her cheeks.
"How cute" Shinoa laughed teasingly.
That girl is Sangu Mitsuba. She is Mahiru's older brother's sister-in-law and because of that, a direct heir of the Hiragi family. She tended to easily get mad at me, she even kicked me several times.
"Oh, what's happening here?" a woman with a kind voice started approaching.
I stared at her, wondering who she was, until I remembered. Her name is Sayuri, she's a servant at the Hiragis mansion.
"You remember her right, Yuu-san?" Shinoa asked me in her always mocking voice. "She's one of the servants, Sayuri-san"
"Ah, of course" I replied. "She used to have a crush on stupid Guren, right?"
"Don't say that, Yuichiro-sama" her face turned full red. "It wasn't like that".
"What's wrong Sayuri?" Guren asked. "Your face is red".
"Huh, there's no doubt those two are alike" Goshi muttered. "Both are very dense".
After some chat, we all are getting into the boat.
"Oh~" Shinoa exclaimed. "Are you going to cry here too, Yuu-san?"
"Shut up" I waved her away. "That's just on airplanes".
With everyone on, the boat started going. Mitsuba is confused about what Shinoa meant about me crying, so she starts explaining.
Suddenly, the boat sped up.
"Whoa! It's shaking, it's shaking!" I screamed as I hold tightly onto the railing.
"Hey Yuu" Guren called. "Maybe you should just swim to the island".
"Hehehe~" Shinoa laughed. "Good screams, Yuu-san"
"You should take a photo, Shinoa" his sister added.
Mahiru is just like Shinoa, sarcastic and is used to tease everybody, the difference is that she tends to be quite arrogant and does everything to get what she wants, no matter what she needs to do. Somehow she gets scary sometimes.
"Shut up, stupid Yuu" Kimizuki groaned. "Just get inside and stop crying"
"No way!" I responded. "During shipwrecks, the victims are usually the ones inside".
By the time we are about to arrive at the island, the speed starts to slow down. I calm down.
"Oi, Mitsuba" I called her. "How are Kureto and your sister doing?"
"A-Ah, they are fine, they just got married two years ago" she replied. "Now everything is annoying because they want me to always look and act as the heir of Hiragi family".
Shinoa knew that that's a thing Mitsuba doesn't like to talk about, so she turns the conversation into another topic.
"Oh~ look, we can see the harbor" she exclaimed.
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The island's silhouette in front of us had gotten quite close. The island's name is Rokkenjima, it's located on the Izu Archipielago and it is property of the Hiragis, so just the Hiragi family and people connected to the can enter it.
Now... I suppose you wonder what we are doing here. Well everyone is gathering for the annual "family conference", yeah I know, not all of us are family or have the Hiragi name attached to us, but we are somehow linked to them. The main purpose of this conference, is to decide who is going to inherit all the fortune the Hiragi's head, Hiragi Tenri, owns.
This is a deep topic between the adults, but us young ones don't really care. I used to come here with my parents before they died, that was because their company have some business with the Hiragis and eventually got called for the conferences, but I lived quite such a common life. Yoichi and Kimizuki got adopted by people of really important families, but either way, they don't mind money at all. Mitsuba, she was born in an already prestigious family, but even if she complains about not wanting to be the next successor, she is proud of her family. Shinoa is a Hiragi by blood, but because she's still young, she's not qualified to be a successor yet, either way she doesn't seem to be interested in that at all.
Somehow, all of us are like a family.
"Oh?" Kimizuki is looking towards the horizon, confused.
"What's wrong Kimizuki?" Mitsuba asked.
Even though I haven't been here for years, I know what he's looking at.
"Ah, right" I joined them. "That was the place of the old shrine right?"
There's a big rock located near the island, and there used to be a tori on it. A shrine for the god of the region.
"Maybe it was washed away by the waves" Shinoa added.
"Or perhaps a huge lightning bolt fell and smashed the shrine" Sayuri joined the conversation.
If there's something she likes doing, is telling us stories, such as legends or myths.
"The fisherman used to say that having a thunderbolt fall upon that shrine would be a great sign of misfortune" she continued.
