Chapter 19 (Patreon)

I set aside another A4 sheet with a complaint. This time, it isn’t petty nonsense. Sports equipment has been disappearing from the gym storeroom, and the disciplinary committee has been asked to investigate.

Interesting… Someone is stealing from the school, which means they’re stealing from the House of Sitri. My Lady’s property. I’ll find the thief and punish them. How severely…

“Sona-san.” I look up at my Lady, who, like me, is busy with paperwork. “How harshly should I deal with whoever’s stealing school equipment?”

“Hmm?” A hint of puzzlement enters her eyes. “No deaths. No crippling injuries. Not on school grounds. No publicity.”

“Understood.” I bow my head, taking in her instructions. She’s right: the Academy doesn’t need a scandal or rumors.

The student council room falls quiet again, disturbed only by the rustle of paper and Tomoe tapping at her phone. Our peerage’s usually cheerful, talkative Knight is unusually quiet and glum today, which surprises me a little.

“I’ll be away for a while,” my Lady says suddenly. “A couple of hours. I need to meet with my father.”

“About the Fallen?” I take the liberty of asking the head of our peerage about her business with her esteemed father.

“Yes.” As always, she neither rebukes me nor shows any displeasure.

A slightly tired look and a gentle smile—that’s her entire reaction. I’m still surprised by how gently Sona-san treats all her servants. I’ve grown too used to the way rank governs relationships among cultivators.

Then again, perhaps that kind of atmosphere exists only in the peerages led by the daughters of Houses Gremory and Sitri? According to Issei, Rias-senpai is quite lenient with her pieces too. She even lets the school’s biggest pervert get away with a lot. I’ll know more once I’ve properly met other demon peerages. So far, I only know the Sitri and Gremory “chess teams,” and I barely know Sona-san’s opponents from that mock Rating Game.

To give the other Houses their due, though, even my first impression of the Curley peerage suggested that its pieces could speak freely and their Lady treated them fairly gently.

“Just say the word, my Lady…”

“Oh, Taro-kun.” Sona-san’s smile widens as she shakes her head with gentle reproach. “I remember that you want to… put the Fallen in their place. Believe me, so do I. But first we need to find out how much trouble dealing with those insolent fools might bring.

“When you beat up the man in the hat, you weren’t part of my peerage yet. Besides, that Fallen had attacked a member of a House allied with ours. That madman and Sister Asia are mortals who tried to harm you and a client of House Sitri, so taking them into custody won’t cause us trouble either. Even Sister Argento’s Sacred Gear gives the Fallen no grounds for a serious complaint.

“So yes, Raynare’s audacity in coming to me and demanding things deserves punishment. I agree. But first I need my father’s permission to take direct action. Matters like this require the approval of the head of House Sitri.”

“I’ll pray that Sitri-dono gives us permission to punish those scumbags.” I bow my head to show that I understand Sona-san’s explanation. She’s explained the situation a couple of times already, glancing my way as she spoke. Now she’s clearly trying to cool me down again.

And with good reason. The memory of that big shot among the local Fallen barging in on the student council president today still makes me want to tear out her heart. She messed with the heads of the people she passed on her way here—and Genshirou’s too—then behaved with staggering arrogance and rudeness. Only my Lady’s order kept the girls and me from spilling blood then and there.

“No need to pray. You said yourself it burns,” Sona-san says with an amused snort. Then she glances at Tomoe, who hasn’t paid our conversation any attention. She’s still frowning at her phone.

That’s strange. Our resident giggler isn’t herself today, and I’m not the only one who’s noticed. Momo, Tsubasa, and even Tsubaki have tried to get our Knight talking throughout the day, without success.

My Lady gives me the faintest nod toward the gloomy Tomoe. I nod back. A teleportation circle flares, and Sona-san vanishes from behind her desk.

“I’m fine,” Tomoe says suddenly with a heavy sigh.

“You noticed?” I ask with a snort, directing a stream of qi into the electric kettle with a gesture. The water boils almost instantly.

“Out of the corner of my eye.” She sighs again. “Besides, everyone’s been asking why I’m so gloomy today. Everything’s fine. It’s just… we had a little trouble at home yesterday.”

“Knowing you, that ‘little trouble’ must be the size of a hippo.” A few tea leaves fall into the teapot, followed by boiling water. I’ve never been a fan of all those strange rituals. Besides, a cultivator doesn’t need all that fuss to brew tea properly. Unless we’re talking about masters of the tea ceremony, of course. They can turn what is essentially a simple, healthy pick-me-up into something close to a miracle elixir.

“Just a nasty one,” she disagrees, shifting on the sofa. She isn’t as devoted to tea as Tsubaki, Momo, or Akeno-san, the Occult Research Club’s vice president, but she never turns down a cup or two.

“Chocolate or caramel?”

“Uh… chocolate.” She waves a hand, tosses her phone aside, and moves closer to the table. “Going to grill me?”

“We’re worried about you.” I set a dish of sweets and a cup of tea beside her, then sit down next to her.

“I know…” She grimaces. “I just… I guess I needed a little time.” Tomoe takes a small sip of tea and pops a piece of chocolate into her mouth. “And something sweet.”

“Ready to tell me now?” I tilt my head with a smile, watching her munch her chocolate. She looks adorable.

“Well, if the girls and our Lady have brought out the big guns by sending you…” Tomoe sighs again, and the faint smile fades from her face. “You know I come from the Meguri clan, right?”

“The ones who fight evil spirits.” I nod. I know the life stories of everyone in our peerage, though some I know better than others. A few I barely know at all.

“Yeah. That’s where it all starts.” She takes another sip of tea, then spreads her arms like a circus ringmaster. “Here’s the short version: Mom came from outside the clan; Dad was born a Meguri.

“Sometime after I was born, he fought a powerful spirit that had taken control of almost an entire city block. Dad defeated it, even dispersed its form, but just before it ceased to exist, the evil spirit cursed him. The curse wasn’t strong enough to latch on to Dad, so it attached itself to me—his own daughter.

“At first, it could still have been lifted. But Dad thought he’d beaten the spirit’s curse, I was still weak and had only just begun learning the clan’s arts, and neither the clan head nor the elders were in our neighborhood that day. No one noticed a thing.

“So for a few years, everything seemed fine. I grew up, trained, went to school. Mom and Dad were doing well too. Then, on one… particularly bad day, the curse grew strong enough to stop hiding.”

Strange. Though she stumbles over her words a couple of times, Tomoe talks about her past with ease. There’s no regret or pain in her voice. If anything, she seems to be having fun and looking for a reason to laugh. How else can I explain all the faces she pulls during her… performance?

“Well, I just started feeling like absolute shit.” She scratches her nose thoughtfully. “At first, everyone thought I was sick. Mom and I spent a couple of days going from hospital to hospital. Then the clan head came back from another fight with malevolent spirits and decided to examine me.

“I think Dad would’ve noticed too—that the old curse had stopped hiding and started killing me—but he’d gone to an allied clan for two weeks, so only Mom was home. Anyway, everyone started running around, trying to get rid of the nasty thing inside me. The clan couldn’t do a damn thing.

“Don’t get the wrong idea, Taro-kun. The elders really tried. Dad called in every favor he was owed. The clan head brought in healers and monks. Mom even found some charlatan posing as a witch, who’d been fooling women by cracking chicken eggs. The women of the Meguri clan beat her up afterward, by the way. The con artist, I mean. Not Mom.”

Tomoe snorts with laughter, chews another piece of chocolate, and washes it down with tea.

“Even I giggled at Mom afterward. Dad just sighed and rolled his eyes… Mmph… Anyway. We tried everything. By then I was thin as a reed. My arms were this thin.” She holds up her little finger. “All skin and bones. I couldn’t walk at all anymore.

“And… well, I went to school here. The Meguri knew demon peerages ran the school, but we’d never really been enemies. Our clan didn’t like people from the Underworld, but neither side caused the other trouble. House Sitri had even helped us a couple of times at our clan head’s request.

“So Dad came here, and Sona-san agreed to examine me. They didn’t want to let her into the Meguri district, so Mom and Dad rented an apartment and moved me there for the examination. That’s where we still live, by the way. Nice place, honestly. I like it better than the Meguri district. No old farts grumbling around the clock, just ordinary people for neighbors. And after school, work, and training, I can do whatever I want. It’s awesome.”

“I heard you’ve been beating up some gang in that neighborhood on a regular basis.”

“How do you know about that?!” Her eyes go wide. Then she coughs and looks away, wearing the expression of someone with absolutely no connection to such vile rumors. “I mean, what nonsense are you talking about?”

“Tsubasa-chan told me she helped you ‘teach a bunch of idiots a lesson’ a couple of times.”

“Tch…” Tomoe blushes. I silently apologize to my student, though in my defense, she never asked me to keep those stories secret. “We’re talking about the curse, not silly stuff like that!”

“Right, right. Sorry.” I dutifully place my hands on my knees.

“Pfft… Taro-kun doing as he’s told, even when our Lady isn’t around! No one would believe me if I told them!” Tomoe takes another sip of tea, barely holding back a smile. Then her expression turns serious.

“Anyway, Sona-san offered to reincarnate me as a demon and take me into her peerage. By then, simply removing the curse would have killed me, but that kind of filth doesn’t stick to demons. Well…” She hesitates for a moment, then goes on as if she needs to defend herself. “I didn’t know a single demon back then. I mean, I’d seen Sona-san at school, and Gremory-senpai too, along with some of the boys and girls from their peerages. But I’d never spoken to any of them.

“People in the Meguri clan said… all sorts of things about those from the Underworld. Bad things too. I was… honestly, I was terrified. Of becoming a demon, you know? But I really didn’t want to die either. I had so many plans, so many things I dreamed of doing.” For the first time since she began her story, Tomoe looks truly upset. “And I felt awful for Mom and Dad. They agreed to Sona-san’s offer almost immediately. We’d tried everything else by then, so…

“Anyway! I agreed too. Well, ‘agreed’… I couldn’t speak at all by that point. I just blinked…”

Tomoe falls silent for a few seconds, gazing into her cup of tea. Now she looks completely sincere, a little subdued and sad. There’s no despair in her eyes, though. I think she simply hates remembering a time when the most energetic girl in our little peerage couldn’t even say “yes.” Honestly, I can hardly imagine how hard that must have been for someone as restless as her.

Then the sadness leaves her face. A bright smile takes its place, and her lively, mischievous eyes meet mine again.

“I haven’t regretted my reincarnation once since my Lady placed the Knight piece in my palm. At first, it was because being healthy felt wonderful. No, that doesn’t even begin to cover it! Imagine you’re… practically a corpse. You can’t move a finger, you can barely breathe, and you can’t eat except through a funnel. Then, literally a minute later, you’re healthy again. Your strength comes back. Breathing is easy. You want to EAT AN ELEPHANT! Whole! Raw, even!” She laughs at her own words.

“You still look like a skeleton, but you know Death has stopped breathing down your neck. And you know for certain that, if you eat well, you’ll fill out again in a matter of days… So, regret surviving? Nah. I’m not that stupid.”

Tomoe takes another sip of tea, and I refill her cup, earning a grateful nod.

“Then I met the girls. Our Lady, Tsubaki, and Tsubasa. Momo and Reya weren’t with us yet. They were all so… warm. Well, you know. They welcomed me like a little sister, helped me with everything, treated me wonderfully.

“Regret joining a peerage like that? Pfft. I was a little scared at first, but even that little bit of fear disappeared almost immediately. I was completely happy with my new nature and the peo—demons around me. After a while, the rumors about natural-born demons stopped meaning much to me either. The demons of today, I mean. What more is there to say when the Four Demon Kings even gave the Underworld a day and night cycle to make life more comfortable for us reincarnated demons?”

“Very considerate of them,” I agree with a nod, privately annoyed that the Underworld’s “natural” daylight means I have to grow ingredients rich in solar qi on Earth—or scour the Underworld to find them.

“Yeah. And the Underworld itself is… well, you’ve seen it. You even have a house there, complete with your own personal nun!” Tomoe bursts out laughing.

“Asia is staying with me while we work on her problem. She’s not my ‘personal’ anything.”

“Asia? Just Asia?”

“She’s Italian. Calling someone by their first name without an honorific is normal for her. I’m just Taro to her, too.”

“Uh-huh.” Tomoe grins. “I remember Tsubasa-chan nearly choking when you two started calling each other by your first names in front of us. Our Lady looked surprised too, by the way. I thought she might even be jeal—”

“Tomoe.” I shake my head disapprovingly, cutting off the joker. “Don’t be silly. Sona-san is simply used to Japanese people addressing each other by family names and honorifics. That’s why she was surprised. In the Underworld, people can use first names even if they’re just good acquaintances. Only Houses that operate exclusively in Japan use honorifics, and even they do it mostly out of habit.”

“You’re such a buzzkill…” She sticks her tongue out at me. “Anyway, back to what I was saying. I joined our Lady’s peerage, started recovering fast, ate plenty, and then spent a week delivering ritual flyers like everyone else. At first, returning to the Meguri clan didn’t even cross my mind. I sometimes thought about showing my friends that I was well again, but only in passing. I was happy to be free of the curse, and I worked hard to repay Sona-san for saving my life.

“Then one evening, while I was sitting at home with Mom and Dad, I got hit with the news: we’d been expelled from the clan. Just like that. There was no place for a demon in the Meguri clan. It hurt… a little. No, that’s a lie. It hurt a lot. I mean, I caught that nasty thing because Dad risked his life doing his duty as a member of a clan that fights evil spirits. And how did they thank him? They threw us out!

“Oh, to hell with them, as Mom said at the time. She’s an ordinary human. She never fought spirits, so she was actually glad Dad wouldn’t have to draw his sword anymore, and that nothing nasty would latch onto me again. And even if it did! When Tsubaki-san was struck by a serious curse from a stray demon, Sona-san’s father healed her, you know? And if he hadn’t been able to, our Lady would have called Leviathan-sama herself!

“Ugh. Anyway, I think Dad was the only one who really had a hard time with it. You know, all that crap about clan honor, duty to ordinary people, how special the Meguri are for standing firm in the face of some terrible threat… Pfft…”

Tomoe rolls her eyes and makes an elaborate gesture with one hand. To me, it says, All that crap.

“You know, sitting here on the student council sofa, I’ve realized the world is much bigger than I used to think. And my old clan is practically a grain of sand in it. I mean, would anything change if every Meguri hung up their sword? Nope. They’d have to find jobs to earn a living, and other hunters would fill the gap at once. We demons, the Fallen, or the Church, for instance.

“Think every city has a hunter clan? Nah. People manage to live there, don’t they? Most don’t even know about the supernatural threats around them. Someone else deals with those threats and gets paid for it—ask Tsubasa-chan. All that talk about ‘duty’ is just pretty words dressing up a business. A supernatural business that can get you killed, sure, but a business all the same.

“And in my opinion, those stupid traditions only hold my old clan back. If they’d let me stay, I could’ve racked up more wins than the current head of the Meguri clan, just in the time left over from school and my duties to House Sitri. So I spat in those idiots’ general direction, Mom breathed a sigh of relief, and Dad now runs security at one of the Sitori Group’s companies without much risk to his life. In the end, everyone’s well fed, healthy, and happy.”

“Then why have you been so gloomy all day?”

“Hold on, Your Highness, Taro-kun, Dark Pwince. I’m getting to that.”

“My apologies, Lady Tomoe-chan, the Great Giggler.”

“Not funny at all.” She snorts at me, making her opinion of a certain Chiba Taro’s talent for nicknames quite clear. “Even though we got kicked out, Dad kept in touch with the Meguri clan. He was somebody there—a Master, mind you. In another ten years, he could’ve claimed a seat on the Council of Elders. A real talent, you know. A polished diamond! Even the clan head asked his advice now and then.

“The head’s a decent old man, actually. The clan head, I mean. If it had been up to him alone, I’d still be a Meguri in more than name. I’d still be part of the clan.

“Anyway, about three days ago, all the senior hunters went out of town to deal with trouble somewhere in the sticks. Yet another evil spirit sealed away by yet another bunch of idiot ancestors had started wreaking havoc. We’ve got those lovely little gifts coming out of our ears, by the way. Every ten or twenty years, some of them are bound to cause trouble.

“That left only the youngsters and the really old farts in Kuo. And then another thing appeared in the south, right on House Sitri’s territory. It was the Meguri clan’s problem to deal with. But it started causing trouble and knocked a squad of young hunters around, nearly killing a couple of them. My former clanmates, scared shitless, rushed to call the clan head. He suggested asking House Sitri for help. But!”

Tomoe raises an index finger toward the ceiling, irritation written all over her face. There’s a fair amount of venom in her voice, too, as she describes what happened yesterday.

“Those assholes went to Dad instead of coming to me or our Lady. At work! He has a job, you know? He’s not just some employee—he’s the boss! And they started feeding him a load of bullshit about duty to the clan, the honor of the Meguri, blah, blah, blah.

“And my old man, who apparently still believes all that crap and keeps his hunter’s sword on a ceremonial stand in pride of place, couldn’t think of anything better to do than agree. I would’ve… Ugh, Taro-kun, honestly, I wouldn’t have said a word if those pigs had simply asked him. Sure, let Dad take a day off, go put that spirit down, show he’s still got it. I probably would’ve thanked them! He’d have had some fun swinging his sword, and he’d have been on cloud nine for weeks afterward. But!”

Tomoe clenches her fists, grinding her teeth. This is the first time I’ve seen her truly angry, with no joke behind it. Usually, when our Miss Sunshine acts upset, she’s just fooling around. Now… honestly, I’m a little at a loss. I’ve never seen this kind of anger from her before.

“But those snot-nosed bastards kept feeding Dad bullshit throughout the hunt.” She slams both fists on the table, making the teapot and her cup rattle against their saucers. “About what a loss he was to the clan. About how I’d stained the honor of the noble Meguri by becoming a demon. About how Dad had already disgraced them by marrying an ordinary woman who knew nothing about the hidden side of this world.

“I overheard all that when Mom and Dad thought they were talking in private, by the way. I ran into those bastards when I got home yesterday. You should’ve seen their faces! The moment they saw me, they looked like they’d swallowed a mouthful of shit! And I knew every one of them, you understand? I was even friends with one of those bitches! No wonder she never answered a single letter or call! She thinks I’m disgusting!!!”

“Trash,” I say, carefully setting my cup on the table so I don’t accidentally crush it.

“Right?!” Tomoe grows even more animated, grabbing her cup so fiercely that tea splashes onto the table. “Stuck-up bitch! But that’s only half of it. Sure, it stung that those assholes didn’t even say hello, but that was all. I’d already made up my mind about them. What got to me was how upset Dad was.

“He tried not to show it, but I know him. He’s as straight as an arrow and as honest as… as… I don’t even know who. He talked to Mom when he thought I couldn’t hear them… Ugh! I’m still shaking! Our family disgraced the Meguri clan by saving my life!”

“So the Meguri clan considers your joining House Sitri a disgrace?” I ask evenly. Or… perhaps not evenly enough.

“T-Taro…” She freezes for a moment, even forgetting the honorific. “Could you… calm down, please?”

“I’m perfectly calm.” I lie easily, taking a careful sip of tea.

“Uh-huh. Perfectly.” Tomoe tilts her head toward her left shoulder, smiling crookedly. “So calm that I can feel it weighing on my shoulders.”

“Oh…” She’s right. I lost control without noticing and let a little spiritual pressure escape. “Sorry, Tomoe-chan… but I’m going to beat them up.”

“Don’t…” She stops herself. Silence settles over the student council room. “Oh…”

Tomoe watches my face as I draw back the spiritual power I let spill out and try to calm myself.

Most of what she’s told me has nothing to do with me. I’ve learned about my comrade’s past, and that has brought us closer. I’ve found another reason to like Sona-san. But the Meguri clan’s views, voiced by its younger members, are no longer just a matter between that clan and the family it expelled.

I respect rules and traditions. All else being equal, I can accept decisions grounded in them. Tomoe’s family has to live apart from the clan because demons aren’t welcome among the Meguri? According to her, no one has suffered any real harm. The Sitris are generous. They look after the families of their pieces and help when those families need it: medical treatment, money, work, even support in disputes among mortals. Tomoe says her parents are doing well. Her father may miss fighting, but he chose his daughter.

But… Tomoe dishonored the Meguri clan by joining my Lady’s peerage, and therefore House Sitri? In other words… those pieces of trash who run around chasing supernatural farts think the House I belong to is beneath them? Those scumbags actually think THEY are above ME?

“Oh, hell…” Tomoe gives up trying to hypnotize me with her stare and rubs the bridge of her nose. “Taro-kun, please… Oh…”

“Please what?” Now it’s my turn to stare her down. “Are you saying they don’t need to be taught a lesson? That you wouldn’t love to beat those scumbags’ faces in yourself? That we should take insults in silence?”

“Oh…”

“All that sighing—you’re starting to sound like my dear old grandma.”

“Wha-a-at?! Are you immortal or something?!” An instant transformation. Yep. A second ago, a sad girl who didn’t know what to say was sitting in front of me. Now there’s a fury with fire in her eyes, grabbing at her belt for a sword.

“Oh, so you do want to fight over being compared to my beloved grandmother?” I ask, giving her my most innocent look.

“Taro-kun, listen.” After glaring at me for a few seconds, Tomoe grows serious again. “Just don’t kill anyone, okay? And don’t cripple them.”

“You didn’t have to tell me.” I smile and shake my head reproachfully. “I understand. Your parents wouldn’t be thrilled if a member of their daughter’s peerage went on a killing spree in the Meguri clan. No one will die. But I will beat their faces in.”

“O-okay.” Tomoe sighs again and leans back against the sofa, closing her eyes. A few seconds later, a wicked little smile appears on her face. “And yes, I’d love to beat their faces in myself. But Dad would be upset.”

“Then that’s settled.” I glance at the wall clock. “Time for me to entertain some clients. After that, I’ll do a little educational outreach.”

“Oh!” Tomoe’s eyes snap open. “Will there be a video?”

“You girls are hooked.” She really is remarkable. A minute ago she was in pieces; now she’s switched gears in an instant.

“Well, it’s funny!” the demon girl giggles. “Watching three grown men squeal in terror like little piggies never gets old.”

After Taro vanished from the student council room in the scarlet flash of a teleportation circle, Tomoe sat motionless for a while, staring at the tea left in her cup. Silence stretched on. The only demon girl in the room made no move to break it.

A minute passed. Then two. Then three…

“Phew.” At last, Tomoe stirred and broke into a broad smile. “Wonderful!”

With the room to herself and knowing none of the boys would be back anytime soon, she stretched out on the sofa without worrying about her skirt riding up.

My sisters and our Lady won’t scold me for this, so I can misbehave a little, she thought with a giggle, gazing at the ceiling with the satisfaction of a job well done.

A few seconds later, though, a shadow crossed her face.

“I do feel a little guilty,” Tomoe admitted to the empty room.

Yes, she REALLY wanted those idiots to get their asses kicked. Properly! The thought made her grind her teeth. Her anger had kept her from sleeping well last night and hadn’t left her alone all day.

Honestly? She didn’t give a damn about the looks on her former clanmates’ faces. Tomoe no longer cared what the people who’d thrown her family out thought of her. She had a new family. A better one. Warmer. Closer.

Her Lady was kind and calm, always ready to help in any way she could. Sona-san was extraordinary. Gentle. She always seemed a little tired, but that was because she took her responsibilities so seriously. She gave everything she had to becoming a worthy successor to her father, the head of Great House Sitri.

Everyone in the peerage trusted her completely. Their Lady would never betray them, never abandon them. If her servants needed her, she would solve their problems.

Yes, servants. Sona-san called them all family, but Tomoe—whom her Lady had practically brought back to life by tearing her from the curse’s grasp—had never taken the liberties a real little sister might. A little mischief, yes… but she played along with her Lady, just as the others did.

Tsubaki, Tsubasa, Reya, Momo—her dear sisters. Every bit as warm and close to her as Sona-san. Some stricter, some gentler, some shyer or quicker to anger. But they were all dear to Tomoe. She shared EVERYTHING with them: what had happened at home, which boys she liked, what underwear she’d bought and where and for how much, which cosmetics worked best for her skin.

Genshirou and Taro… they were like brothers. Genshirou was the slightly goofy younger one. And Taro… perhaps he was the older brother she’d always dreamed of. Serious. Stern. Tough. A little mean, but only to people outside the family.

Today… today she’d been sneaky, yes. She hadn’t told anyone about yesterday. Not her Lady, not the girls. On purpose. She felt a little guilty about it, but only a little.

Tomoe would have loved to catch those assholes herself and show them what for, as Taro liked to say. But Dad would never approve. And the girls… they would have calmed her down. They could have soothed her anger. Tomoe didn’t want to be calmed down, though. She wanted revenge. Punishment.

She wanted BLOOD! No deaths, no crippled… Meguri scumbags. But in her mind she could see their faces beaten to a pulp, their expressions twisted with fear. For Dad. For the man who had given everything to that damned clan of evil spirit hunters, only to be thrown away because he’d saved his daughter.

The Meguri clan was trash. Tsubaki got angry when Taro called people that, but Tomoe thought the ugly, degrading word suited some of them perfectly. Her former clan stood first in line for that thoroughly dishonorable title.

That was why she’d kept quiet today, letting her anger build. It hadn’t been easy. With her temperament… keeping her resentment bottled up was hard. But she’d done it for Dad. And for this conversation with her big brother Taro.

Was she ashamed now? Yes! She was. But she hadn’t lied to her Lady’s Rook. Not one word, not even half a word, had been a lie. She’d told him everything she’d heard—and softened it considerably. Because Chiba Taro would have killed those idiots if Tomoe had repeated it all word for word. Even Dad, devoted as he was to the ideals of the Meguri clan, had told those assholes yesterday that he wanted nothing more to do with his former clanmates.

So yes, Tomoe had deliberately waited until Taro was alone. She’d tampered with the demon summoning spell to take her big brother off the list of available demons, and Sona-san had definitely noticed. But she hadn’t said anything. What did that mean? It meant her Lady had given her approval.

Tomoe couldn’t be sure whether Sona-san knew what had happened yesterday. But she was certain that, if the head of their student council and peerage scolded her at all, it would be without… without… without much conviction. And Taro, stern and tough, even cruel, would try to take all the blame himself.

“Taro. The Dark Prince,” she said, pronouncing every syllable clearly.

If anyone scolded him for whatever he was going to do tonight, Tomoe wouldn’t keep quiet or lie. She would tell them about her scheme, explain honestly why she’d done it, and bow low before her Lady and Taro-kun, taking full responsibility.

And if no one did…

Her big brother Taro badly wanted to show everyone just how strong he was. And Meguri Tomoe was perfectly happy to let certain members of her former clan help her new brother satisfy that urge…

“Wait!” A thought struck her, and she sprang up from the sofa. “He doesn’t know who he’s supposed to beat up!”

Tomoe ran a hand through the hair at the back of her head.

“He won’t beat up everyone, right?” There was hope in her voice… but no confidence.