When he first saw Hoshizuki Hyuga as a child, he was dazzled by her beauty and fell for her at first sight.
Back then, he had the strange feeling that the girl belonged with him by birthright-that she ought to be with him, Hyuga Hiashi.
Tiny yet already exquisitely pretty and utterly adorable, Hoshizuki Hyuga had sweetly called him "big brother."
His heart had nearly melted on the spot.
For her sake, he had defied everyone's objections and pleaded with his father not to brand Hoshizuki with the Caged Bird.
He had gone without food for several days and cried and made a fuss for ages.
It was then that his father asked whether he wanted Hoshizuki Hyuga to become his wife someday.
Though he had not understood what a wife meant back then, he had agreed without a second thought.
"If she's your wife, you'll have to protect her."
His father had given him a meaningful look.
He had not understood the meaning in his father's eyes then.
All he cared about was that his father had agreed not to brand Hoshizuki with the Caged Bird.
He had been ecstatic.
From that day onward, he had followed Hoshizuki Hyuga everywhere.
From going to school and coming home to training within the clan, he never left her side.
Everyone laughed and called him Hoshizuki Hyuga's bodyguard, her little tagalong. He accepted it calmly, smiling without a word.
Let them call me a tagalong.
He was not afraid of the gossip around him. From beginning to end, the only thing he cared about was how she felt.
Yet what he feared had come to pass in the end.
Hoshizuki Hyuga had grown colder and colder toward him.
From "big brother" at first, to "tagalong" later, and finally to "Young Clan Leader."