Yukino's Considerations

The evening glow washed the school building's windows in warm orange. Yun Lan glanced at the time, his fingers tapping quickly across the screen.

"Where are you now, Honami? I'm done here."

The moment he sent the message, a reply came almost immediately—as if someone had been holding her phone in her hands, waiting.

"In Brother Lan's dorm."

Another message popped up right after:

"I'm all alone."

At the end of the text was a kitten curled up on a pillow, its tail tip swaying gently.

Yun Lan looked at the two lines, the corners of his mouth lifting unconsciously. He put away his phone and walked through the thinning crowd toward the dormitories. The hallway was quiet, with only his footsteps echoing. The key turning in the lock sounded especially clear. As soon as the door opened a crack, he caught the faint, familiar scent of citrus.

The curtains were half drawn, leaving the room dim. Honami Ichinose lay on her side on his bed, wearing a simple light-colored knit top and a plaid skirt, her legs together and slightly curled. At the sound of the door opening, she turned her face toward him, her soft hair spread across the dark blue bedsheet.

"Welcome back." Her voice was soft with the drowsiness of someone just waking from a nap. She patted the empty spot beside her. "Did everything go smoothly?"

Yun Lan closed the door behind him, shutting out the setting sun. "It went faster than I expected." He walked over to the bed and naturally smoothed the stray hairs beside her cheek. "Have you been waiting long?"

"Not long." Honami rubbed against his slightly cool fingertips, her eyes curving into crescents. "I just happened to... miss you a little, Brother Lan."

From outside came the distant whistle of a club activity, making the quiet of the room feel all the softer.

The two of them looked at each other in the dorm room.

"Isn't there something you want to tell me, Brother Lan?"

Honami Ichinose asked curiously.

"Silly girl, your curiosity about what I was doing this afternoon is written all over your face."

Yun Lan ran his fingers through Honami Ichinose's hair and spoke with a helpless sigh.

"Well, I went and made a deal this afternoon and earned some points. That way, I can take good care of my little sister Honami."

"Just your little sister?" Honami Ichinose muttered softly.

"What did you say?" Yun Lan asked curiously. He hadn't heard her quiet mutter.

"Here's your key card. I'm going back now. Let's have dinner together later. Text me."

After saying all that at breakneck speed, Honami Ichinose set down the key card and hurried out.

Yun Lan watched the pink figure hurrying away and smiled. "She's still the same as when she was little, isn't she? She can't take any teasing. And just wait a little longer for me. Once I've dealt with this fiancée of mine..."

Just then, Yun Lan's phone lit up with a new message.

Yukino Yukinoshita: I was wondering if you might be free to go out with me this Saturday, Yun Lan.

Yun Lan: Miss Yukino, there's someone I like. I'll say the same thing I said before: if you also dislike this kind of arranged marriage, I'll explain things to both our parents. I promise it won't affect you.

Yukino Yukinoshita: ...Thank you for being considerate, Yun Lan. But I think we should still try spending some time together.

Chiba Prefecture, Yukino Yukinoshita's apartment.

Yukino Yukinoshita put down her phone. The screen dimmed, reflecting her unsmiling face. She walked to the window and gazed at the lights twinkling in the distance, her fingers unconsciously brushing the cold glass. The words "There's someone I like" echoed in her mind. She closed her eyes and sighed softly, the sound quickly fading into the silence.

Yukino Yukinoshita stood before the apartment's floor-to-ceiling windows. Outside, the garden had been meticulously trimmed, as immaculate as the image her family presented to the public. The tea in her hand had gone cold, but she hadn't taken a single sip.

"The Yukinoshita Family needs a son-in-law, or a husband who'll marry into the family." The thought lingered in her mind, clear and almost cold. "Simply put, it needs a man. Otherwise, all its wealth and support amount to nothing more than castles in the air—showy, but hollow."

Night settled over the windowpane, reflecting her profile, devoid of a smile. Her mother's struggles in business, the seemingly respectful yet appraising gazes of the board members, and the vacant seat in the legislature that the Yukinoshita Family hoped to fill... All that pressure ultimately fell on her shoulders as the eldest daughter. The family's businesses needed to continue, and they needed a representative recognized by traditional society—a "head of the household." No matter how shrewd she was in business or how decisive she was in her decisions, in some people's eyes, she was always just "a daughter waiting to be married off."

Yun Lan's rejection still sat in her messages. He had mentioned "someone I like," with such calm certainty that it almost stung. Not because she felt hurt—she and Yun Lan were nowhere near that close—but because the freedom to choose, the luxury of putting personal feelings before family needs, filled her with a deep weariness in that moment, and a trace of... envy she didn't want to admit even to herself.

Did she have the courage to refuse the engagement, like Yun Lan? She didn't have that privilege. She—or rather, the Yukinoshita Family—needed this engagement. They needed this son-in-law.

Yun Lan had something she didn't: the freedom to choose. His family might have expectations too, but clearly they weren't so overwhelming that he had to sacrifice his personal feelings. He could refuse because he "liked someone," and calmly say, "I'll explain." For Yukino, that frankness was almost a luxury.

"Courage..." Yukino murmured, her fingertips tracing the cold tabletop. She had used her courage elsewhere from childhood, from the moment she realized the weight carried by her surname—in fighting her way through the business world, in dealing with all kinds of people, in protecting her younger sister's still-fragile resistance, and in keeping the family machine running, its polished exterior hiding an interior that had already begun to creak.

Refuse? That would put the family at unforeseeable risk, mean her mother might have to bear even more pressure, and leave Yukino facing harsher scrutiny and fewer choices in the future. What rested on her shoulders wasn't just her own future, but the weight of an entire system—and, above all, Yukino's future.

So she had replied, "I think we should still try spending some time together." It was a way to give Yun Lan an out, and an answer for herself and her family. This wasn't surrender; it was a change of battlefield. If marriage was a transaction she had no choice but to complete, then at least she would ensure its terms were as favorable as possible for herself and the Yukinoshita Family. She didn't just want a "son-in-law," but a reliable partner, someone who might... understand the weight she carried someday.

Yun Lan had someone he liked? In a way, that was better. It would keep their relationship clear and at a necessary distance, reducing unnecessary complications.

Yukino turned off the living room lights, leaving only the computer screen's faint blue glow against her placid face. Outside, the city's neon lights still glittered, outlining a prosperous yet lonely skyline. She had no right to be willful, no right to live only for herself. Her battlefield was here, among spreadsheets, negotiations, calculations, and strategizing. And "marriage" was merely another stronghold she had to conquer and use on that battlefield.

Her courage had long since become the cold resolve to keep walking down the road she had no choice but to take.