November 6, AD 2095

Yotsuba Main House

Parlor

Miyuki rose at a knock on the door.

“The Yotsuba Guardians aren’t special at all,” said Tatsuya. “Even with my conceit, Yanagi crushed me soon after that, and I still can’t defeat my master.”

Tatsuya and Kazama were talking about what had happened after the story Miyuki had thought back on.

“I don’t think you were acting conceited to begin with,” answered the captain, “but I still can’t beat my master, either.”

It seemed like Miyuki had been lost in her mind for only a short time. Still, it felt to her as though she’d remembered quite a few things.

Another knock came at the door—this one firmer.

Miyuki permitted the person entrance, and a young butler entered with an “Excuse me.”

He was very young—in fact, he was still a boy. He didn’t look very much older than Tatsuya. Still, there wasn’t a hint of irritation on his face. His training must have been effective.

“You’ll have to forgive me,” said the boy, suddenly apologizing. “The business with our previous guests ran a bit long… The madam has given me a message: Would you mind waiting just a little longer?”

The madam—that meant Maya Yotsuba. She had never been married, so in a sense, the title madam wasn’t exactly right. However, neither Kazama, nor Miyuki, nor Tatsuya made a hobby of splitting hairs over customary titles. To add to that, none of them cared about the way the butler spoke, which was, while polite, offered from a position above them.

“I don’t mind,” answered Kazama to the boy after Miyuki and Tatsuya looked at him.

“Thank you very much, sir.”

The boy didn’t ask after Tatsuya’s or Miyuki’s opinions, either.

Tatsuya aside, the reason he hadn’t tried to ask whether it was convenient for Miyuki was probably because he considered her family or, at the very least, a fellow member of the Yotsuba.

He wasn’t mistaken. Tatsuya didn’t consider a millimeter of himself part of the Yotsuba, but Miyuki couldn’t afford to feel the same. She could deny that she was the eldest daughter of Tatsurou Shiba all she wanted but not that she was Miya Shiba’s daughter.

Therefore, she also couldn’t deny the fact that she was Maya Yotsuba’s niece.