Kael's POV
My mother had bypassed me entirely.
This was not a new behaviour. She had been bypassing me strategically since I was approximately fourteen, when she had determined that routing certain things through me produced unnecessary friction and that the more efficient path was to simply do the thing and inform me afterward.
What was new was the specific target of the bypass, which was Akira, whom she had apparently located through the ramen shop's contact information and invited directly to dinner without mentioning to me that she was doing any of this until the invitation had already been accepted.
I found out from Reiss, who found out from the scheduling update she had submitted to the household calendar, which she had access to and used as a communication tool when she wanted documentation of her decisions.
The calendar entry said, Family dinner, Thursday, seven o'clock. Guest: Akira Renshi.
I read it at nine in the morning.
