Decisions Completed, Home Schooling
Dinner, it finished peacefully. Well, kinda peacefully, sorta.
“Uhh.. still tired.”
“Are you still feeling worn out, Seiren-sama?”
“Yeah, a bit.”
I relaxed on the sofa to help with my exhaustion, while Minoa-san spoke as if she couldn’t figure out what happened. Yes, dinner itself finished simply enough. Even Saryuu sorta, he looked to be pleasant enough. Regardless, I was very worn out.
I mean, how could I properly adjust to these extravagant dinners, while under his scrutiny? To begin with were small open faced sandwiches, made with various toppings such as cheese placed on a cracker bed, serving as an appetizer. It was served with plenty of consomme soup, containing a generous portion of shioyaki, sliced up and added like it was beef steak cutlets. There was a small sample of citrus sorbet to clean off our palates, followed by what looked like roast beef, as far as I could tell. Then, a fresh vegetable salad was served along with bit of cake for dessert, finally followed with tea.
It seems a lot of this extravagance is to celebrate my return, as it usually wouldn’t be expected that they go to such measures for such a lavish feast. Even the dishes used for the meal were clearly much more expensive and lavishing than the ones used earlier for breakfast and lunch, even the knives and forks were so extravagant. They even swapped out the usual tablecloth and napkins with a matching set that had beautiful patterns on them. It was overwhelming, and just made me more tired. This was on top of concerns regarding displaying proper manners that I was still trying to learn.
“However, this is a good opportunity to adjust to such dinners for the future. It will be important to become familiar with this sort of thing. One day, it won’t just be your own family present at the table.”
“… before that happens, I’ll have to perfect the manners expected of me.”
Of course, Minoa-san was completely correct. After all, one day I should be prepared to be invited to another dinner table too. It was just a lot to deal with, getting accustomed to all these important changes. However, I understand that getting something like proper manners taken care of now will reduce a lot of panic later.
Kan-kan, a light knock could be heard from the door. While Minoa-san was preparing tea, Alica-san was still busy working in the bedroom, so Minoa-san gave a “oh, yes” as she headed for the door. After checking who it was, she quickly turned back to me.
“Please wait a moment, Seiren-sama.”
“Huh? Who is it?”
I thought it was Yuzuruha-san, or maybe even Kaya-san, but it seems neither were accurate.
“Well, it seems the private teacher Kasai-sensei has came to pay Seiren-sama a visit. Would you be interested in such?”
Ah. Well, even though my father had worn me out all dinner with constant conversation, it seems I will have another conversational guest. I was very tired, but this is a conversation I did not want to miss. Certainly.
“Oh, yes, sorry, please welcome her inside.”
“Of course.”
With that, Minao-san went to pa.s.s on my invitation to enter. Still sitting at this point, I stood up myself in antic.i.p.ation of a guest.
“Nice to meet you, Seiren-sama.”
She said such and bowed, her dazzling light brown hair flowing over from the nape of her neck, moving from a height that was fairly close to my own. She was wearing a simple deep blue dress, which didn’t offer much exposure. At that point, I also noticed she wore gla.s.ses. Not exactly rounded, they were very horizontally long… so then, more like oval gla.s.ses? The gla.s.ses also seemed to have a very thin frame. I was at a loss regarding her chest. Mine were clearly not as heavy … … no, I think I was outmatched there.
“My name is Kasai Kuon. I’ve been charged with teaching the children of the Shiya family, so that they learn proper behavior and manners.”
“Ah yes, I’ve been told about such before. I heard from my father that I should ask for your help with learning reading and writing, as well as proper etiquette.”
“Yes. If everything goes well, I will be in charge of such lessons starting tomorrow. Please allow me to guide you with such learning.”
“Thank you very much.”
At that, we both bowed to each other. But at this, I became concerned with what to call her. Earlier I was referring to her grandfather as Jigen-san, so I wonder if I should be using her first name? Usually, I just call people by their last names, but that’s mostly what I learned growing up. At that, I discovered the answer to my question.
“Oh, and since there are the two Kasai here, feel free to just call me by my first name.”
“Ah, so Kuon… …-sensei.”
“Yes, that’s correct. Please, feel free to sit down.”
“Oh, excuse me.”
That worked. Okay, it’s decided. I will simply just refer to her as -sensei instead of -san. After all, naturally she’s going to be teaching me. After concluding such, I sat down on the couch, with Minoa-san and Kuon-sensei in front of me. It was at that moment that the tea was ready for me and my new teacher. There were savory cakes that came with the tea, which were truly a treat since it was so close to being after that diner.
“I’m sorry to ask such, but I would like to converse with just the two of us. Would it be fine if your maids were to leave for a time?”
Kuon-sensei made such a request with a bit of a stiff tone. By two people, she was wanting to have a conversation with just me. I wondered what she wanted to talk about. Minoa-san’s brow creases, but she turns an expressionless reply.
“…. So then, we can not be present for this conversation?”
“It is a very serious conversation, unfortunately.”
“I understand. Alica, we have to leave for a while.”
“Oh, I will be right there.”
With a light sigh after such, Minoa-san gave up and spoke to Alica-san in the back. Only the two of us, so that means even Alica-san couldn’t stay. Alica-san quickly rushed out, bowing deeply to Kuon-sensei. She then said “excuse me” as she left with Minoa-san.
“Okay..”
I heard the door close with a batan, so then again turned towards Kuon-sensei. A conversation, with just the two of us. I wondered, what was it about?
“Well, uh. First of all, I mean Seiren-sama no harm. Do I have your trust in such?”
Suddenly, for my teacher to say such a thing. It made me feel a bit uneasy, but I made sure to answer quickly.
“Yes, though I myself haven’t seen enough for much certainty.”
“I’m sorry. It was just important to take a moment to start with such declaration.”
I noticed worriedly at this point as she replied, Kuon-sensei’s eyes looked a little like Jigen-san’s. Kuon-sensei’s grandfather, the magician who pulled me from another world. That jisan, I felt he was a very nice person. His granddaughter, I really felt something similar in her eyes. I’ve felt the same trustworthiness before, from people such as Minoa-san or the director. In all consideration, I should just hold on such conclusive thoughts, and just wait for Kuon-sensei to finish speaking.
“With such, being a family teacher for their children, I feel responsible to act as a sort of counselor. I have an obligation to protect your confidentiality, so that helps too.”
Ah, so she is also acting as a counselor. Considering such, both Saryuu and I, we otherwise only have our maids, which might not be the best for such emotional support. No, Saryuu is a guy, all things considered. Being a counselor like this, as Kuon-sensei is trying to do. Would it even be alright, taking care of two people at once by herself?
“For example, what was Seiren-sama’s experiences like in the other world as a guy?”
“Huh?”
So she knew about such a thing. I suspected even the maids did not know about this, and there were only three people present when I had arrived at this world.
“I had heard about such from my grandfather. If at any time you need someone to talk to about such problems, I’ve been a.s.signed to be here to help you with such. Also, I will keep secret anything you share about such problems.”
“… ah. Thank you for your support.”
I guess.. maybe Jigen-san had made such a request of Kuon-sensei, in addition to my lessons. Well, this was a great relief. Moreover, this is very good news. Having Kuon-sensei there for me, an emotional supporter for the unusual experiences I had gone through. It might have all happened due to sorcery, but I still felt that my past had still left me with a lot of things to think about. But, having a friend, someone who I can talk to about all that. I felt working out such confusion would be really good for me.
“Speaking of such, there is something I would like to ask. Regarding such stuff too, if you willing to listen to such a request.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“So I was really born a girl? I mean until just yesterday I had lived 18 years as a guy, so there is a lot that I still uncertain about.”
I could still remember, growing up a guy over 18 years, being named Shikino Seiren. Then without warning yesterday, suddenly I’m a woman named Shiya Seiren. As evident by the ring I had carried, in the bag I had sowed, I was originally a girl. It was a fact I had to accept in simplicity.
“Yes, I have no doubt it’s true.”
After asking such, Kuon-sensei answered forthright. So that’s that. Me, in spite of being born a girl, arrived in the care of the director as a boy, and had to grow up as such. But who caused this, and why?
“I do not know why you had to endure such, nor do I know who was responsible for doing this to you. The Shiya family’s security has grown much more strict, because of that incident.”
“Also, that’s why I’ve been given three exclusive maids, because of that as well, right?”
“Yes, Saryuu-sama also has three maids attending him. I’ve not been told many details regarding the security here, but my grandfather did let me know something about that.”
Oh, so he also had three maids looking after him. Oriza-san was also very young as far as I could tell, so it might be interesting to meet his own maids sometime. Considering it, what sort of security would Jigen-san have came up with… I was certain about one thing, it would involve sorcery. Oriza-san had said that she was learning magic herself, was that something to do with it?
“While my sofu worked to help this family, I heard stories from him about what happened. When their only daughter went missing, he was called upon to be part of the investigation as well as to take good care of the family castle’s security going forward. I am here helping my grandfather, to help take good care of your family.”
“I see… interesting.”
Well, one thing still unclear. I vanished from here 18 years ago. Even considering the resulting panic, I wasn’t exactly clear why it took them ten years to hire Jigen-san. Thus, Kuon-sensei came with Jigen-san to help, working together to take care of the family. She would have still been fairly young, having to travel together here to help with all of this, that would have been hard on her.
“… Excuse my asking, but exactly how old are you?”
“I’m about twice your age.”
“What?”
Kuon-sensei reply, smiling at my gaping expression as I stared involuntarily. Twice my age, that puts her at 36. That has to be a lie, she didn’t look anything over her twenties. Not a single wrinkle, with such smooth skin. Her hair so shiny and smooth, I couldn’t help but think she was joking about her age.
“Wow, you seemed so much younger than that.”
“Oh, thank you very much. Seiren-sama seems skilled with flattery. Is that something you learned during your time as a guy?”
“No no, not at all.”
I never was very good at being all that flattering. For one thing, I wasn’t exactly popular enough to even have someone to call a friend. Other than helping the director once and a while, I typically kept to myself doing things like sowing. In that case, maybe, I was just always kept in the dark about such stuff.