Yukikaze

Chapter 1- Trust

"I want to take you out of this family, to let you be able to live happily."

That sentence was a moment Shiori couldn't help but doubt. A lot of misters and mistresses had told her those words so many times, but none of them did it in the end. Incapable of being able to trust anyone, Shiori just drove herself to a corner and look away. "Never again." She thought. Never would she let anyone sway her mind again. Who wouldn't blame her though? After all, she had been deceived and manipulated so many times that she lost count. However, she thought. "This is the attendant who was genuinely sad when my sister died." the girl thought.

Hesitantly, Shiori let herself trust those words and asked,

"...How...?"

The attendant looked relieved, and patted the girl's head, calming the nervous mind. " By magic, dear."

Magic. That word lit a spark in the girl's eyes and she came out of her corner for a minute, only to realise she was being a little too excited and redrew back to the corner. She remembered reading huge books related to magic with her older sister, and how her sister would say that magic was a legend that seemed to be near to humans more than one thought it was. "If anything could save the Ayuzawa family, it would be magic. Imagine, a dashing man being summoned by either one of us, and taking us out of this house! The elf whispers sweet notes of love, and will make you his wife~" Ayane would tease her. Shiori remembered, how she would talk back to her sister then, saying " Sister, I don't want to have a boyfriend! After all, I have you, my dashing sister! No men or women could replace you, o' beautiful lady!" and afterwards both would laugh about their silly fight and continue reading the books late to the dusk and when dawn greeted them, they would sneak out of the house of Books located at the North-West part of the mansion and sneak into their bedrooms that is in the Main House, which was located at North.

"Do you want to see magic, Shiori?"

The voice took her attention back to reality and the boy, Masao-kun, looked into her eyes the same way he called out her name that morning. "Ah...." the shy girl retreated to the nearest lady she could see, still surprised by the sight of a person who was wearing a yukata. "Ah... Mistress Shiori, this is my son, Masao. He is your new Kyūji, remember?"

Shiori nodded and looked at Masao-kun.

The boy looked at her and seemed to remember something. He went to his bag to retrieve something and came back, showing her a coke-flavoured lollipop. The girl looked very puzzled, as she had never once encountered commoner's sweets at that time. Masao took one for himself and showed Shiori how to eat it. Afterwards, he unwrapped a new lollipop and handed it to her. Reluctantly, Shiori took it, and sucked on it, only to be swept away by the taste of the lollipop. Unable to contain her excitement, she hugged the attendant and danced exhilarated.

"So good! What is this! Ah..." the girl realised that she was acting too immature and blushed. The attendant giggled and squeezed her little hands. "Let us help you, Mistress Shiori. Then, you can eat lots and lots of those sweets."

"Ok... I will trust your plan...."