The next morning, Yukinoshita Haruno's powerful internal clock snapped her awake. Her eyes opened to the familiar ceiling of her bedroom.
She rubbed her head. Aside from a lingering fogginess, she didn't feel much of the usual hangover-induced pain.
The maids must have given her something for it.
Her clothes had been changed, and her makeup had been carefully removed.
Ah, the maids really went above and beyond again.
Yawning, Haruno wiped the tears from her eyes as she sat up.
After a quick shower and routine in her private ensuite bathroom, she also applied an emergency hydrating face mask.
If she didn't take care of herself after a night of drinking, Miss Haruno's dark circles would only get worse today.
Once her hair, skin, neck, and fingers had all been returned to their usual polished state, Haruno descended from her room with a leisurely grace.
When she reached the second floor, she saw Yukinoshita Yukino already seated at the breakfast table.
She was dressed in the Sōbu High School uniform, hair sleek and smooth, posture straight and elegant like a snow-covered pine, tall and evergreen.
It was just as Haruno had imagined countless times: her little sister, dressed in that uniform.
But the feeling of dissonance Haruno had tried so hard to ignore was growing like a shadow in the corner of her heart.
To most people, the blonde Yukinoshita was indistinguishable from Yukinoshita Yukino same face, same body. The recent shift in demeanor was easily dismissed as a belated rebellion in her teenage years.
But to Haruno, her sister and that person were nothing alike.
Yukino's frown when embarrassed, the way she looked even more serious when secretly happy, how she'd quickly change the subject when flustered, her smiling arc, her gait.
Yukino had grown up under Haruno's watchful gaze. Haruno remembered every little thing about her.
So why now... Was it just the hangover?
Why did this Yukinoshita Yukino seem exactly like the sister in her memories?
Haruno looked away. As the maids brought her breakfast, she pulled out her phone.
It was only 7 a.m., so no calls yet just a few more emails from company subordinates.
The messages had already started pouring in during yesterday's party excited, breathless updates. Everything had gone smoothly. If nothing unexpected occurred, those people would soon be formally prosecuted by the Public Prosecutors Office.
Yukino subtly pushed her glass of milk a little farther away.
After swallowing a bite of tamagoyaki, she asked casually, "Is the company really okay lately?"
Haruno snorted inwardly but kept her smile perfectly serene.
"It has been a little troublesome lately. I've been absolutely swamped~"
A lie.
Those arrogant fools, smug in their schemes, were certainly laughable but since they'd accidentally helped secure a few major contracts for the company, Haruno decided to let their impending jail time pass without further mockery.
Her attention had never been on them anyway. The real threats the ones with both power and intent to trouble her or the Yukinoshita family came from the factions truly aligned with the Shijō family.
Shirakawa, Eguchi, and Takeda.
While the architectural division of Yukinoshita Corporation remained highly profitable, several subsidiaries were veritable money pits. The group's books might look impressive, but its cash flow was precariously thin.
Normally, that wouldn't be a problem. But right now, if any of those three families made a quiet call to the bank, Yukinoshita's entire financial network could collapse.
That was why everyone in the family had been so busy lately her father flying back and forth to the U.S., her mother taking emergency red-eyes to Tokyo, and Haruno herself running around nonstop.
It wasn't just about averting disaster.
They were aiming higher.
While those parasites were still plotting in the dark, Haruno had already devised dozens of contingency plans to counter the Three Branch Families under the Shijō banner.
Still, Haruno had a habit of lacing her words with misdirection especially with people she didn't like.
Yukino glanced up at her.
Haruno felt, maybe it was just her imagination, that there was a touch of exasperation in her sister's eyes.
Just like her.
Yukino had never liked milk. But due to their strict upbringing, she'd never openly refused food either. She'd simply save her least favorite things for last, frowning as she finished them in one go.
Just like now, when she'd pushed aside the milk to eat her tamagoyaki and grilled fish first.
This girl rarely showed emotion. Even her occasional indulgences were hidden beneath a mask of calm restraint.
Just like Yukino.
Memories surged up like sediment stirred from the bottom of the sea cold, heavy, full of things Haruno never dared to face.
It must have been one of those years when Yukino had first gone abroad. Her first time away from home, away from her sister alone, vulnerable, deeply uneasy.
Haruno, meanwhile, had just entered the elite circles of Japan's upper class. In order to maintain the Yukinoshita name, she'd forced herself to memorize every name, age, preference, and photo in those suffocating circles.
There was so much else to do.
And because of that she'd missed Yukino's first birthday alone, far from home.
Haruno had been devastated.
Every year before, on Yukino's birthday, she would take her to Hokkaido to see the snow and set off fireworks just for her.
But that year, Haruno didn't get to see Yukino's smile under the night sky.
It was Yukino's birthday that had been forgotten, but it was Haruno who had sunk into despair.
Yukino, annoyed, had called her childish but then she'd smiled, rare and mischievous.
"Then this year, I'll set off fireworks for you."
She'd raised her hands high, and suddenly flared her fingers open.
"There. Fireworks just for you."
She beamed, like a child triumphant after a prank.
"I even gave you two."
They had been standing on a bright, sunlit street abroad but in that moment, Haruno had felt as if night had fallen all at once, and fireworks had exploded behind her sister.
Now, pulled back to the present, Haruno saw Yukinoshita looking at her with clear exasperation.
"Why do you look so out of it again?"
She rested her chin on one hand. "Want to see the five-finger fireworks again?"
Clack.
Haruno's chopsticks slipped from her hand and hit the table with a sharp sound.
The fireworks that had once lit up her world three years ago now burst into bloom all over again.
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