"What do you want?... What were you planning on doing in my room?" she asks me.
I don't know how to reply to her well since I've been caught red-handed. I don't know what's behind this door, so I can't say anything involving what's inside it. If I do and end up being wrong, that might just get me into more trouble than I already am.
"I saw someone go in your room," I say hesitantly, while hopefully hoping that she might open the door and let me see what's inside.
Curiosity got the best of me.
During my dream, I only saw an open space filled with nothing, and I took that as some sort of clue or hint to why I can't remember anything about my past days before I regained consciousness, or maybe how I lost them.
What do I hope to find if she opens the door? I need to know why it was this room though—why the same girl I was chasing in my dream also appeared here for real.
As I was talking to myself in my head, the lady opens the door and goes inside, leaving me standing in the hallway.
After a few seconds of looking around she calls me in.
"Hey, servant girl, come in," she says, addressing me as such.
As I enter the room, I notice she's just standing in the center, checking if someone might have gotten in or not. From the looks of the room's setup, I can tell this room isn't for a normal person—I mean, not a person of low standard. So then, who is she really?
I think Akane might've said something about her, but I don't remember.
"So now that you've interrogated my room and have no other business here… everything is the same way I left it. You can leave now," she says.
Is she the bride? I ask myself in my head.
"You're not leaving? Perhaps I can help you with something else?" she asks.
"No. No, nothing else. I was just called by the madam, then I saw someone run into your room. I'll go now," I say.
She has this cold personality vibe that feels chilly to talk to. She looks like the type who hates tolerances in nature.
"You're probably seeing things because of your head injury when you fell from the tree," she says.
"I guess so. I really don't know if what I saw was real or just an illusion from my injury," I say to her, but she just takes a deep breath.
"Look, I'm also worried about your memory loss, but be careful with what you believe in that head of yours, ok? Now please leave me alone." She grabs my shoulders and pushes me outside the door.
After arriving at the door and just as I'm about to start walking away, she stops me.
"Oh yeah, by the way, let me remind you of my name since you forgot. You can address me as Ms. Sakura Kōchō. Don't forget it," she says as she slowly closes the door behind me.
Later, I find myself standing in the Madam's office.
"Ms. Haru, I'm Ms. Mirai Tokiwa, but you will address me as Madam Tokiwa, or just Madam is fine. I called you here to discuss an upcoming event that requires immediate attention. To that end, I want you to deliver the news to the rest of the residents of the Zaikai manor," she says.
"Ok, Madam," I say.
"So this is your message," she says, then gives me the details. It was shocking to find out what message she wanted me to deliver, but it didn't take long to explain, and it wasn't that complicated to understand.
"That will be all. And before you go—how are your memories? Have they returned yet?" she asks.
"No, Madam. I've just been having illusions… I think…" I say.
"Really? Is that ok? Does it bother you in any way, or during your work perhaps?"
"No, it doesn't bother me. It happens rarely, so it doesn't bother me at all," I say.
"Ok, good. You may go now," she says.
"Ok." And with that, I leave the building.
When I arrive at the main entrance of the mansion, I notice Akane Komori, whom I first told the message.
"So that's it?" says Mr. Lila Kusa no Kokoro. His name is way too long. "If that's all, you can leave now," he says.
"Ok," I say. Then I turn around and start walking out of the garden. But I can't help but feel that he's too serious about his flowers.
All he cares about is his flowers, it seems, and nothing else from the looks of it. But who am I to judge when I barely remember how he normally is?
As I walk away from the garden, another figure enters.
"It seems you haven't changed a bit, huh, Lila Kusa," says the stranger.
The next people I decide to tell are Mr. Rin Kōjin and his granddaughter Akira Kōjin.
"Thank you," says Mr. Kōjin.
After that, I go inform Akane Nozomu, but she isn't in the area, so I proceed to the mansion's farm and inform the Kaze brothers.
"I guess that's their house over there," I say after spotting a house at the end of the road that passes through the farm.
After arriving, I softly knock at the door.
"Give me a sec, I'll be there!" says the person inside, but it isn't Mr. Kenji, Mr. Shinjiro, or Mr. Sora from the sound of the voice. It sounds like a woman. Who might she be though? One of them has a wife maybe… but whose wife? I marvel to myself in my head. Then the door suddenly opens.
"Sorry, I'm still working inside, can I—oh, it's you Haru. Welcome. Please come in," she says.
"Ok, thank you for having me." It doesn't hurt to show class, right?
"You can sit over there," she says, but I want to hurry up since the message needs to be delivered to everyone, and I honestly don't want to be a bother while she's working.
"Thank you, but it's ok, I'll be leaving soon. I just came to deliver a message to you—well, actually to Mr. Sora, Mr. Shinjiro, and Mr. Kenji as I was ordered to—but I found you instead," I say.
"Oh, is that so? It's ok though, you can tell me what the madam said, and I'll be sure to tell them, as I'm their mother, you see," she says with a smile. "So it's true that you lost your memories. That's sad to hear. I hope they come back to you," she says as her face turns sad.
"It's actually not that bad, since I can still do well without them," I say.
"Ok," she replies.
A moment later, after telling her the message, I find myself outside her door heading to my next location.
"I see, well, I'll be sure to let them know then," says Mrs. Ruri.
"Thank you." And with that, I leave the area.
"I guess I'll head to Akane next… or the gate man, if he's back from his break," I say as I walk through the farmland, hoping she might have returned from the market.
Suddenly I see someone waving at me from afar. It's Akane, and it looks like she's finished with her job.
"Wow, really? I can't wait," she says after I tell her the message from the madam.
"She says I should tell everyone on the farm in advance so they can prepare to head out tomorrow," I say.
"A day at the beach really sounds nice, and speaking of nice, I was cooking rice for the town today," she says.
"Really?" I ask.
"While we're on the topic, I'm betting Sir Zaikai doesn't know because he would've told me during the event," she says. "So come with me." Then suddenly she grabs my hand and pulls me with her.
"So you see, she needs to follow you," she says once we're at the gate's entrance to a man on a horse-driven carriage.
"I see. I heard about your condition, so allow me to reintroduce myself. I'm Tsubasa Kōjin from the Kōjin family. An honor to present myself to you again, Mrs. Haru," he says. And I won't lie—it leaves me speechless. I start asking myself who I actually am, because I don't feel like I'm putting that much thought into the investigation.
"You can get in. I'll take you there," the man says.
"Go on, I'll take care of things here. Just go see what other people are doing there right now. It's just slightly past midday, so you'll get to see a lot of stuff," Akane says.
And just like that, I bite the bait—with zero knowledge of who I really am.
A few minutes later I can see the town from afar, and minutes after that we arrive.
"This way," he says. He leads me toward a shop, but honestly it looks more like a restaurant up close.
The bell rings as he opens the door for me. In the empty rows of seats, only one individual sits in the back row. He sits there giving a warm smile toward me, which I find rather strange, honestly.
"So you came to join me?" the person asks.