Chapter 63: Celebrating the New Year in Kyoto

Ori's hometown is Kyoto, a city in western Japan that is one of the important cities in the Osaka metropolitan area, one of the three largest metropolitan areas in Japan. It is also the city with the largest land area among all the prefectures and cities in Kyoto Prefecture.

This city has a long history. Kyoto has always been the capital of Japan from 794 AD when Emperor Kanmu moved the capital to Heian-kyo until 1868 AD when Tokyo was established as the capital.

This ancient city is famous for its historical buildings such as shrines and Buddhist pavilions, gardens, paintings, traditional activities, Kyoto cuisine and other things that represent the characteristics of Japanese culture. It can be said to be a veritable "Millennium Capital".

In countless works in Japan, Kyoto is usually the location of most of the activities such as school trips. It can be said that this ancient city has a high status in the hearts of Japanese people.

Nanaya felt a little strange that Ori suddenly invited him back to his hometown to celebrate the New Year.

What Ori meant was that because Nanaya had always taken care of her in Tokyo over the past few years, she planned to invite Nanaya to spend the New Year with her as a return gift.

But Nanaya always felt that Ori invited him for other purposes.

Because Ori was not very interested in the journey, but considering that he really had nowhere to go during the New Year, Nanaya packed his luggage and followed Ori to Kyoto with the idea of traveling during the New Year.

After getting off the train, Ori took Nanaya out of the train station. He put his hands on his chest and looked around as if he was looking for someone.

"Ori, how do we get to your house?" asked Nanaya, who was following Ori with his luggage.

"Someone from home will come to pick you up... ah!!"

Pop.

A white-gloved hand rested on Ori's shoulder, causing him to jump in fright.

"Welcome home, young master." A man in a black suit and slicked back hair bowed to Ryougi Ori, "The master and the mistress are waiting for you at home."

Ori bared his teeth at the man and said, "Sugai, you're scary!"

"No, I just happened to see you so I came over to say hello." The man called Sugai by Ori bowed to Nanaya again and said hello, "This must be Master Kiryu Nanaya, I am Morikawa Sugai. I am the butler of the Ryougi family."

"Hello."

Nanaya quickly returned the gift.

"Please follow me, young masters."

Morikawa Sugai took the initiative to pick up Nanaya and Ori's suitcases, and then led the two of them in front.

"Are you disappointed that Sugai didn't call Mikiya Ryougi, senior?" Ori jumped in front of Nanaya, whose eyes were a little dull, and said with a smile.

"I'm not a child, how could I not be able to distinguish between stories and reality." Nanaya quickly turned his face away, he coughed twice to cover up, "I just didn't expect that you are actually the eldest son of a wealthy family."

Because she usually walks around wearing a kimono, Nanaya had more or less guessed that Ori's family must be wealthy, but he still didn't expect that Ori's family could be so rich.

"It's okay, I'm just averagely rich." Ori scratched his head embarrassedly.

"Having a housekeeper is not considered rich! Ori, you have learned bad habits."

Morikawa Sugai walked a distance and found that the two had not caught up, so he turned his head and said to them: "Two young masters, although I know that you have a good relationship, I hope you still catch up quickly. Otherwise, it will be past dinner time when we return to the mansion."

"..."*2

Nanaya felt that the butler named Morikawa Sugai must have read a lot of gossip magazines related to Ori.

Under the guidance of Morikawa Sugai, Nanaya and Ori got into a black car bound for Ryougi's house.

In the car, Ori told Nanaya about the situation of his family.

The Ryougi family can be said to be a very old family in Kyoto. They have been a family that has been making kimonos for the nobles of Kyoto for generations.

Even Ori himself didn't know how long the Ryougi family had lived in Kyoto. In the past, the nobles and the aristocrats trusted the craftsmanship of his family. Even now, if these nobles needed handmade kimonos, they would still come to the Ryougi family to entrust them to make them.

It can be said that although the Ryougi family is not a ancient family, they are closer to the top ancient family than those low-end ancient family.

Although the Ryougi family is famous for making handmade kimonos, they have opened kimono factories in modern times and started to make kimonos in an industrial way. However, the Ryougi family still maintains the tradition of handmade kimonos, but now only those powerful people can enjoy this treatment.

It is also for this reason that the Ryougi family has always lived a very good life in Kyoto, and even has a large villa in the suburbs of Kyoto.

"Your family actually has a villa in Kyoto. You are indeed rich." Nanaya looked at Ori with envy and jealousy.

It has been Nanaya's dream for two lifetimes to own a detached villa with a yard. After his rebirth in this life, he does have a detached small building, but unfortunately the building does not come with the yard of his dreams but a piece of farmland that he needs to cultivate.

"It's not that good." Ori showed an uncomfortable expression on his face. "Those old houses look big and grand, but the living experience is very bad. I remember when I was a child, there were often water leaks and power outages in my house."

Ori's expression became more and more gloomy as he spoke, as if he was recalling something unpleasant.

"I remember when I was a kid, I often saw mice running around in the corridors, and sometimes I could hear the sound of mice gnawing on things when I was sleeping at night."

Nanaya's face turned pale as well: "Are there still mice in your house now?"

"Not really. Later, my father couldn't stand it anymore, so he ruthlessly renovated the entire house and added a natural gas pipeline, which made it much better. But even so, it is still very hard to maintain. Every year, our family spends a lot of money on the house. If it weren't for this house being left by our ancestors, everyone would probably prefer to live in the city."

"I always feel that you are not complaining, but showing off." Nanaya looked at the smug Ori with a frown on his face.

"No way. Look, we're here." Ori pointed out the window.

Sure enough, at the foot of the mountain not far away, Nanaya saw a large villa built against the mountain. However, it was different from the villas of wealthy families that Nanaya had in mind, which were magnificent and incompatible with the beautiful scenery of the mountains. This slightly quaint house was perfectly integrated with the surroundings, as if the villa itself was part of the scenery.

If we really have to make a comparison, it's probably the difference between a nouveau riche and a true aristocrat.

"That's amazing."

Looking at this house that clearly bears the mark of history, Nanaya couldn't help but sigh.

"The villa and the nearby land currently belong to our Ryougi family. When our family started the factory, grandpa took advantage of the money he had and simply bought all the nearby land."

As Ryougi Ori introduced herself, the car slowly drove into the manor.

"Senior, you will meet my family soon. I hope you won't be too surprised then." Ori's expression was a little hesitant, and the closer he got to the house, the gloomier his expression became. He did not have the excitement of a normal child going home at all.

"What? Are all your family members man-eating monsters?"

Ori didn't say anything, just kept shaking his head.

The car drove along the gravel road until it stopped at the door of the villa.

"Miss, Master Kiryu, we're here. Please get off the car first. I'll take your luggage to your room."

As soon as the car stopped, Morikawa Sugai spoke to Ori and Nanaya in the back seat.

"Miss?"

Nanaya was a little confused. He clearly remembered that the other party called Ori "Young Master" before getting in the car.

Ori gave Nanaya a look that said "I'll explain it later", then pulled Nanaya out of the car.

"Oh, it's Shiki who's back!" As soon as Nanaya got off the car, a middle-aged woman came out of the villa. She opened her arms to Ori and said, "My precious daughter is finally back! Are you doing well in Tokyo? Nothing happened, right? I've been worried about you."

The woman didn't care about Nanaya who was beside Ori, she just held Ori in her arms and rubbed him hard.

"Yes, mother. Shiki is back."

Ori gently hugged the woman, but Nanaya still noticed the unnatural expression on Ori's face.

[I always feel like there is something wrong.]

Nanaya suddenly felt a little regretful about following Ori to his house to celebrate the New Year.