Chapter Five

As the night grew darker, everything became blurry shadows before his eyes.

The trees swayed in the breeze and toss their leaves.

In sunrise, leaves would build upon the bottom. Somehow, Daisuke thought of the thin and petite figure of the girl who whisked away from him.

He couldn't help but smirk.

It seemed that she would be very active hereafter morning.

Like a rabbit hiding Suzue came out of the house to find her standing outside in the cold night, she asked, "Why are you standing here blankly? What are you thinking about?"

Daisuke exhaled his last whiff of the cigar and flicked it far away. The tip flew across the air at an angle and then docked on the patterned tiles.

Getting no response from him, Suzue grinned and leaned her head on his shoulder, her voice was soft as she asked him "Are you thinking about Mirai ?"

"No, not at all" The black-haired male gazed at the moon for brief seconds before he turned to his sister, genuinely shook his head and asked, "We have a new maid? What's her name?"

"Why are you asking? Her name is Y/n—Y/n L/n" Suzue became a little interested and eager since Daisuke was not the one to care about anyone. "Why do would you ask about her hmm?"

"Nothing. She seems to fear me and ran away at the first sight of me."

Suzue burst out laughing and gave him a punch on the shoulder "You always keep a straight face. Every servant in this house is afraid of you. Someone might have told her something about you, so she whisked away immediately after seeing you. Daisuke, the servants don't have a good impression of you!"

In all honesty, he was a man who seemed courtly rather than awful. He was just a man of few words and had a natural air of dignity and sovereignty, so that's why everyone feared him. He was typically kind to the servants... As long as he was in his room, the servants would tiptoe by the door for fear of disturbing him.

"Let's go inside." He turned over to her and raised his eyebrow as he questioned her. "Where are mom and dad?"

"They are eating some deserts, they really would like you to join them in the living room"

"If I didn't ask you, would you still tell me ?"

"What? That's because you seemed to mourn from lovesickness. If I begged you to go inside, you would be scolded by mom."

"Nonsense" Daisuke pushed his black hair back as he glared at her and entered the house since the atmosphere became a bit chilly outside, Suzue hummed softly as her arm still interlocked with her brother's.

Sayuri's eyes light up as soon as she imagines her handsome son and beautiful daughter coming in. She sighed recalled when they were children, little Daisuke would play with toddling Suzue in the yard.

Look at them now, They both reached the age of marriage, which replenished her with varied sentiments.

"Come here to eat some fruits. It is iced and tastes refreshing."She forked a piece of apple for her son and another for her daughter who accepted happily, her mother looked at her daughter straight in the eyes before she raised a question"I told you to fetch him, but you kept me waiting for so long. I thought you two had sneaked out again."

Hearing her words, Suzue grinned dismissing her mother while Daisuke just chuckled.

Sayuri forklifted a piece of fruits and handed it to Suzue "Would you like one more piece ?"

"No."Suzue stood up and stretched her body"I'm going upstairs."

"Then wait, I'll go with you." After putting down the fruit fork. The mother stood up and helped her daughter upstairs. As she strolled, she whirled around and mumbled to her son with a sweet voice. "Go to bed early, my honey."

Suzue turned to her brother who followed along and asked him with a smile, "Do you remember the day we sneaked out?"

"Of course," Daisuke said unhurriedly. "You were to scold, but I was chastised in the end. I shall remember it all my life."

He was quite serious because that night solved his long-held puzzle and enabled him to know his real thoughts. If any individual asked him when he lost his heart to Mirai Mizuki, he would say it was on that night.

It was on the night of the festival.

All his family members were invited to the Mizuki's estate to celebrate the festival.

After the feast, Daisuke, Suzue and Mirai sat together chatting. It seemed that his beloved that night mentioned there were shows of festive lanterns and dragon and lion dances outside. They all heard about the lively scene, but never saw it before. As soon as she mentioned it, Suzue suggested that they should go out to have a look.

Nonetheless, their parents didn't allow them to go to such crowded places. Since Suzue was disheartened but she didn't give up.

Among all the youngsters, she was the youngest but adventurous one. She declared that they could sneak out to have a look when their parents were playing cards. Nobody would discover it as long as they came back quickly.

Daisuke was then 18 years old and could be counted as an adult.

However, he accepted to tag along on their adventure as he saw the eagerness in Mirai's eyes. They sneaked out through the side door and climbed over the wall in the yard. Then they took a taxi to the most bustling place downtown.

The temple was the centre of the festival ceremonies that night, far more bustling than they had expected. Multiple lamps were lit up here and there, outweighing the stars in the sky. The boulevard sides were covered by several snack stands, stacked with people in between.

Daisuke purchased a dozen of snacks for the three of them. They squeezed into the crowds to watch the dragon and lion dances. Then they went to play some riddles and some festival games.

Those who unravelled the riddles would be rewarded with candies. As he was the eldest of them, Daisuke was a natural genius and hit the most and won every ready riddle like a piece of cake.

By the end of the night, they're stuck with sacks of candies.

He gave fewer to Suzue and more to his beloved, which made his sister pout unhappily, "It's unfair!"

"You have withered teeth. Don't eat too many candies," Daisuke tried to explain. But he knew in his heart that he was being unfair.

Mirai raised her head, her sparkling eyes reflecting the glittering lanterns. Her lovely face made his heart suddenly skip a beat. She looked up at him with fondness, "Oni-chan you're marvellous!"

Hearing that, Daisuke felt so delightful as if he had seen thousands of azaleas in bloom or had drunk ice water on a scorching summer day. He smiled faintly and snaked his way into the crowd, planning to win more candies, until Suzue came to alert him. "Daisuke, it's too late. Let's go home now."

But he insisted, "It doesn't matter. Let me solve a few more riddles."

He solved more riddles and got another handful of candies, which all went into Mirai's pocket... When they returned home only to find that their parents were anxiously looking for them. Although they were back safe and sound, all of them were harshly scolded. As the eldest and most responsible one, Daisuke was punished most heavily.

After going back to their own house, his father made him sit in the study and reflect on his mistake. However, sitting alone in the study room, he felt quite pleased because he finally realized his affection for Mirai—he more than liked her; instead, he truly loved her.

Daisuke felt lost after awakening from the memory. He turned around and found Suzue snickering. Knowing what she was going to say, he shortly turned to a current topic. "Did you visit your friend today? How about her?"

"Quite well," She got excited at once, "Can't be better. She is five months pregnant with a huge appetite for food now. You can't imagine how much she eats. Both her belly and face, even her fingertips, become round. She looks like a ball. Even so, her husband won't allow her to exercise much for fear that she may be too tired. He even wishes to carry her in his arms to where she wants to go so that she doesn't need to walk. And instead of using her name, he calls her baby this and baby that. Geez, I am sick to learn that."

She grumbled endlessly about her friend and finally became a little bit envious. "What a happy woman! How happy it is to have a baby! I want to have a baby too."

"Nonsense. You haven't got married yet. How can you have a baby? Be careful not to let Dad know."

"I'm just kidding!"Suzue became melancholy. "How can I get pregnant by myself? I'm not a parthenogenetic creature."

"According to my knowledge, many excellent men have a crush on you. It is you who rejected all of them. Why couldn't you forget Haru? He is unreliable."

"Why couldn't you forget Mirai then? She is more unreliable," Suzue retorted.

Daisuke glared at her. "Help yourself. I'm going to my wing."

"So am I." Suzue took a tissue to wipe her mouth, and then caught up with her brother both turned in a different direction meeting each other back as their mother was left alone.

"Kids, They're still kids"