Side Sixty-Two – Fukumoto Hinata
“So, the angles can be calculated by…” the female teacher was explaining, quickly drawing up the equations on the whiteboard at the head of the room. Hinata made notes, but her heart wasn’t in it, as she had other concerns. It never really bothered that I couldn’t have my phone during class, as per the school rules, but now that I have things I need to talk about… She frowned, rembering the conversation she had with Akio-kun that morning. Having spoken to commoner girls in his hotown, they are very different, especially at school.
Apparently they were allowed mobile phones on them at all tis, and while they weren’t able to use them in classes, the two blonde girls, Yae-san and Rika-san, they admitted to idling on them during class and not paying attention. Her frown turned into a small grin as she rembered Motoko-san being shocked that they would break the rules that way. A typical noble response. After all, the rules, our family, noble pride and traditions… all are to be obeyed without question. Hinata considered herself the most worldly-wise and normal of the nobility, though normal carried the sort of negative connotations she didn’t appreciate. Of course, up until recently I wasn’t considered a true noble, but now… Unbeknownst to her, her facial expression changed again, her shocking display of animation unnatural and drawing attention. The teacher fumbled over her words for a second, before rembering her training, and resuming the lesson as if she had seen nothing.
And that’s another thing! The teachers in their school weren’t just won and older, married n, but they had young n too. It made sense, in a way, since girls and boys were taught together, even so… Yeah, a lot of the girls here only know their brothers and fathers as the only n in their lives. It’s stupid and unfair. My brother gets to have all the fun he wants, but us…
As she glanced around, nobody was paying her any attention, all staying impeccably focused on the lesson, their noble poise perfect. All except for one girl, anyway. She was eyeing Hinata with a disapproving expression on her face, and when she noticed her, Hinata also struggled to contain her emotions.
Sakura. Her cousin, daughter of the Takatsukasa house and thus one of the four most important girls at school, was watching her, her delicate features and refined bearing at odds with the way her hands were gripping her pencil, knuckles white with effort. On seeing that, Hinata looked away, focusing on her lesson as best she could. There’s no point getting upset about it. Sakura is… well, Sakura. Sakura was always lecturing her about the ‘proper way to comport herself as a mber of the Takatsukasa bloodline’ and that she should be ‘less brash and excitable, always elegant and quiet’. Which is a joke. How is it that I’m expected to behave as a mber of nobility, as a relative of grandfather Itsuki, yet I am constantly being told by everyone that I’m not a mber of the nobility, and that mother can’t be considered a true Takatsukasa ‘after marrying outside the nobility’. It simply isn’t fair!
A part of her knew that Sakura wasn’t to bla, that her cousin genuinely ant to help her with her constant chastisents, and that Sakura had problems of her own, considering the dire state of Takatsukasa finances, only the support from the other great houses and charity from the nobility keeping their estates intact, but even so… Considering without the money my father and grandfather give to them every year, they would have had to sell priceless ancestral lands and heritage… it just isn’t fair. After all, Sakura was loved and respected by everyone simply for being Takatsukasa Sakura, while she was looked down on and considered lesser, despite her bloodline being the sa.
I hate unfairness. After all, my grandfather built Nichibotsu out of nothing, yet his value is denied just because our family doesn’t have a hundred years of legacy…
Once more she wished she had her phone. Akio-kun had agreed to her request, to help her grandfather. And sure, she did want her grandfather to recover. He wasn’t as young as he was, and that old injury was a source of pain to him, though he tried to hide it. But most of all… Father and mother care about rejoining the nobility, recovering mothers’ status as a Takatsukasa, but grandfather, he just wants us to be happy and successful. As the teacher put up another equation, Hinata rembered the ssage Akio had sent her. Marriage eting, huh? So, is it on his mind?
It was on her mind too. Father and mother were very happy since Fujiwara-sama had decreed that the Fukumoto house was now the Fifty-Eighth house of true nobility, no longer one of the Three-Hundred. Still, that just makes them hungry to go even further, and to that end…
Fortunately at that mont the bell for lunch rang, so Hinata was able to sigh in relief, looking down, her face hot. What… what do I actually want? Before, all I expected was a marriage to one of the lower sons of the Fifty-Seven, or if very lucky, a marriage to a second or third son of one of the upper nobility. And then… Well, one just had to look at poor Motoko-san. She was looked up to by so of the girls from the Three-Hundred, for having her own dream and desperately trying to stick to it, as well as still managing to retain the poise, charm and behaviours expected of her. I want the praise, the respect, to be treated fairly. But that isn’t all I want. Grandfather built up a colossal company from nothing… I want to be the one who builds up sothing new from this new paradigm. When people look back in fifty, a hundred years, I want them to say ‘Oh yes, the founder of that company, Fukumoto Hinata, she did it with her own hands and wits…’
She didn’t notice Sakura, who looked as if she wished to speak to her, and she left the classroom, heading for the dining hall, where girls from every year and class would be gathering. Untapped lands, healing of injuries and diseases, longevity… how much more can this strange world Akio-kun has started to conquer offer? There’s so much I want to ask, so many questions I want answers to. But… how can I persuade him to give what I want? The training is great, and I admit it’s a large concession, but to allow to go further, to know more, that asks for a lot of trust.
She rembered the brilliant, mischievous smile of Shaeula, and the thorny defensiveness of Eri-san, yet when talk turned to Akio-kun, they both looked the sa, full of trust and love. The sister too. That painted a very clear picture. If they asked for anything, he’d give it to them without hesitating a second…
********
“Hinata-sama, are you well? You look a little flushed.” Kazumi observed, approaching her as soon as she entered the dining hall. Despite there being well over a hundred girls within, ranging from elentary schoolers right through to the final year of high school, there was none of the energy and loud conversation that the commoner girls had told her about. No, everyone was in small, quiet groups, mostly within bands of status, the Three-Hundred sticking together, while upper nobility had daughters of vassals with them, but few others.
So stupid. History and tradition is important, I get that. But as the world changes, we have to change with it. I think Fujiwara-sama and Ichijou-sama realise this. Akio-kun surely won’t be the only key to this new world, I hear that the Military has so people too, or so Motoko-san says, and I wouldn’t put it past so of the Three-Hundred to hide their own. There are the shrines too, but… could any be as good as Akio-kun is? After all, he has Shaeula, he’s helping us train… he controls a chunk of Tokyo in this Boundary…
As Kazumi repeated her question, Hinata snapped out of her reverie. “Yes, sorry Kazumi, just thinking. I have a lot of my mind.”
Glancing around for an open table, she quickly saw the usual demarcations. The Fujiwara girls were alone with their bodyguards. There was Honoka-sama and Miyu-sama, both sitting alone, just with their bodyguards. As always, seeing the sisters who guarded the two Fujiwara daughters made her smile. Rumours are they are from an old ninja family. A load of nonsense, I would have thought, but now… perhaps there is more truth to it than I thought. In any case, they were considered the strongest bodyguards in school, though both Sakura and Mayumi-sama would disagree, extolling the virtues of their own guards.
Speaking of, Mayumi-sama was sitting at the centre table, as gorgeous and bright as ever, her bodyguard beside her as always. I’ve never t Mayumi-sama alone, even when I visit her house, her bodyguard is always there. Still, everyone kept their distance, as Mayumi-sama was queen of the school. Only three other girls matched her, but Sakura and Honoka-sama were younger, and Sakura had other issues, and while Miyu-sama was the sa age and of equal lineage, she was… too ek.
“Anyway, I think I want to talk to Mayumi-sama. Follow .” As she began to cross the cafeteria to the table, not even stopping to get food from the exceptional buffet the school put on each day, she was hailed by Motoko-san, followed as always by Natsumi.
“Ah, Hinata-san. Good afternoon.”
We exchanged greetings, and it seed Motoko-san wished to talk. Hinata hesitated, torn between heading over to Mayumi-sama as planned, when a third person interfered. Sakura, trailed by her own bodyguard, had co to talk to her.
“Sakura-sama.” Motoko-san said as a greetimg, and Natsumi bowed politely to her and her bodyguard, who was trailing along behind her, constantly alert for danger. Seriously, the bodyguards need to relax. Nothing is going to happen here at school…
“Motoko-san.” Sakura replied politely. “Can you excuse for a minute, I wish to have a talk with my cousin.”
Before Motoko-san could agree, Hinata shook her head in denial. “No, I’m sorry Sakura, but I need to talk to Motoko-san and then I plan to spend lunch with Mayumi-sama. So whatever it is can wait.” She said loudly. I’m not in the mood for a lecture today. I want to keep my feelings of excitent and promise.
At her flat denial, which was not sothing a noble should have been able to get away with, facing Sakura, a buzz went around the room. The girls who were daughters from the Three-Hundred looked away, while the nobility showed interest, usually paired with disapproving looks. Except for Mayumi-sama of course, who laughed loudly, as if she didn’t have a care in the world. Though she still looks gorgeous doing that.
Sakura’s bodyguard made to intervene, but Sakura held her back with an upraised arm. Before she could ask again, Mayumi-sama’s bodyguard ca over, dressed in a sharp male version of the school unform, which made her stand out from everyone else like a blade amidst flowers. Although the ninja sisters are equally eye-catching…
“My apologies. Hinata, Motoko-sama, Sakura-sama, Mayumi-sama asks you to join her, she has sothing she would like to discuss.”
“Well fine. If that’s all right with you, Motoko-san?” she asked, pointedly ignoring her cousin, though Hinata felt a little bad doing it. Maybe spending a little ti with commoner girls has given a fresh perspective. Sakura can be really annoying, but she does care for in her own way, as much as the bounds of nobility will allow. But… The idea that perhaps Akio-kun could be engaged to Sakura flickered through her head. It made sense from a certain standpoint. The other higher nobility would look down on her massively if that happened, just as they did for Hinata’s mother, but she had a younger brother to inherit Takatsukasa house, and if, no, not if, but when Akio-kun made a na for himself, earned wealth and power and offered wonders that only he could provide, then his support would bolster Takatsukasa house, freeing them from the shackles of their decline since the war.
It's a good plan… from the standpoint of upholding the nobility. But, no, I don’t like it! Not only would Sakura suffer like her mother had, although likely for far less ti, as she was sure with the right advice, Akio-kun would soon build up enough power to make even the nobility hold their tongues, but she also didn’t like the idea for reasons she couldn’t fully understand. No way, Sakura isn’t right for Akio-kun anyway. She’s too trapped in the noble world. She won’t be able to train and support him like Motoko-san could, or . Besides… Eri-san will never allow it. Sohow that thought made her smile.
“It is fine.” Motoko-san agreed. “If that is acceptable to you, Sakura-sama? I believe you have likely been told about Akio-sensei and the work we are undertaking, considering you are a daughter of Takatsukasa?”
Sakura nodded, looking like she wanted to sigh but was too refined to lower herself. Approaching the table, they all sat down.
“Why don’t you grab these girls so food?” Mayumi-sama gave a gorgeous smile, but it was clearly a dismissal. “With my guard here, nothing will happen.”
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