Volume 2 Chapter 1 Return Of Kazuramichi Ako 1️⃣： Kazuramichi Conference
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
In winter, in Suita City, Osaka, 5 men and women were gathered around a table in a big traditional Japanese room at the Kazuramichi family home.
At the head of the table sat a small, elderly man with white hair, looking relaxed. Across from him was a young man with straw-colored hair──Kazuramichi Naoshi, the Acting Head of the Family, who looked a bit annoyed.
Next to him was his uncle Yoshiya, a middle-aged man with premature gray hair, looking sad. Beside Yoshiya sat his daughter, who looked about 20, sitting straight and beautifully.
She had bluish-silver hair and reddish-brown eyes, and her cute, baby-like face made her look a bit like a doll because of her serious expression.
Despite her youthful face, she was tall and curvy, and her blouse was tight around her chest, making her stand out even in a plain suit.
Her name was Ako. She was Yoshiya’s eldest daughter and a second-class exorcist.
She had been sent to train with her aunt in Kyushu and hadn’t been back to the family home since spring.
Facing Yoshiya and Ako was another middle-aged man, about the same age as Yoshiya.
Unlike most of the Kazuramichi family, who had delicate features, he had a strong, square jaw. His name was Tatsuomi, and he was also a second-class exorcist and a distant cousin to Naoshi.
The fact that the main members of the Kazuramichi family, excluding the head, Naoyuki, were all gathered showed how important this meeting was.
Yoshiya was the first to speak.
”Well, we’re all here today because of Yoshitada’s disappearance, which has led to suspicions about the Kazuramichi family’s involvement in the recent Umeda underground incident, and to discuss my future──.”
”Talking about your future, there’s no one else who can take your place, right?”
The old man with white hair interrupted while yawning.
Kazuramichi Yoshitora, a former first-class exorcist, was Naoshi’s great-uncle and his mentor.
He had been famous as the youngest of the skilled Kazuramichi brothers during his active years and had supported the family for a long time after his brothers passed away.
Even after retiring, he still had influence in the family as a consultant, and his smirking expression looked a lot like his great-nephew Naoshi’s.
”That’s not how it works, consultant.”
Yoshiya shook his head with a wry smile.
”Yo, I agree with you, but I get why Uncle Yoshiya can’t make a move. So, if we’re lookin’ ahead, I thought Ako could step up for now.”
”That sounds good! Ako can handle it well. After all, she’s way smarter than us, right?”
Naoshi’s words made Yoshitora’s expression lighten up, and he turned to his grandniece.
Ako, feeling a bit shy, bowed her head and seemed unsure how to respond.
”Uncle Yoshitora, are you drinking already?”
”Don’t be silly, I’m sober. But Ako, if you ever have trouble, don’t hesitate to ask me, okay? Naoshi can only be counted on for fighting.”
”Ugh. Ako, you can just say it clearly, you don’t need to rely on a grandpa who can barely use a smartphone.”
”Hey, you’re not much better. You’re just as bad with machines.”
”Huh? What are you talking about? I just can’t handle it because of my body.”
”Oh really?”
”What’s that?”
In the tense atmosphere, Ako, who had been quiet until now, spoke up softly.
”Thank you, both of you. Since I’m still inexperienced, I might rely on you two, so I appreciate your help.”
Her voice was soft but clear, and Yoshitora, who had been exchanging glances with Naoshi, suddenly smiled warmly.
”Sure, leave it to us!”
”Ugh, it’s tough to see old men gettin’ all soft over young people. I don’t wanna end up like that.”
”Ha, a guy’s jealousy is so embarrassing, Naoshi.”
”Was there anything to be jealous ’bout just now?”
Naoshi exaggeratedly shrugged his shoulders and looked over at his uncle next to him.
”Uncle Yoshiya, let’s get to the point quick. If we keep dealin’ with this old man’s nonsense, the day’ll end before we know it.”
”Ah, got it.”
Yoshiya nodded with a smile that looked kind but also showed he probably had a lot of troubles.
”First, about how we deal with the 8 families, it’s clear that the Umeda incident was an attack by someone. We’ll definitely take measures to prevent it from happening again, but we’ll also claim that we are victims in this situation. We’ve already coordinated this with the Shiun family.”
The 3 of them didn’t seem too interested in Yoshiya’s explanation because they thought they could just silence everyone with their strength if it came down to it, including Naoshi, and Ako.
”Well, we’ve already taken care of the big snake underground, so there’s no real damage. Basically, we can just say, ‘Sorry for the trouble.’ Plus, the Bureau of Onmyō has some weaknesses since they’ve passed the blame to the main suspects.”
”The families in Sakai are mostly just watching the situation. I don’t know how unhappy they are, but since they’ll have to rely on Naoshi if anything serious happens, it’s hard to imagine they’d want to blame anyone.”
”So for now, we’ll focus on dealing with the troubles from other prefectures.”
”──And that’s just our voluntary offer to help, right?”
”Yeah.”
Ako prompted Naoshi to agree, and he nodded.
Yoshitora grinned and spoke up.
”That info came from Kobe, right?”
”That’s right.”
”Ha, that sounds just like something Touin would say. They’ve always been like that; if they want help, they should just ask instead of pretending. Do they think bowing their heads would kill them?”
”They’re not that great anyway; Yuzura’s family has been better for generations.”
”That’s true.”
The great-uncle and great-nephew chuckled together. It was hard to believe they had just been bickering a moment ago.
”Let’s keep the advisors and representatives to that level.”
Yoshiya scolded the two with their titles.
”Okay──so that’s fine for the outsiders, but the problem is with Yoshitada-kun.”
He was missing, supposedly leaving his phone at home, but his mother Mizuho, who dotes on him, was calmly waiting at their family home in Niigata, which made it obvious something was off.
”About that, Naoshi. Once everything is settled, I think I’ll go over there first. Yoshitada is my son too. The problem is…”
”Nah, I’m against it.”
”That’s too naive.”
”No way, papa.”
”Stop it, stop it.”
Yoshiya was interrupted as the 4 of them all denied his idea. The face of the hardworking man twisted in pain.
”B-but──.”
”It’s like sending a duck with green onions on its back. Plus, they won’t even be grateful.”
”If we hold Yoshiya, they’ll just pretend they don’t know anything.”
”Yeah, probably end up as a tasty meal for ’em.”
Naoshi’s words were agreed with by Tatsuomi. Yoshitora nodded in response.
”They’ll do it without even thinking it could lead to a war.”
Of course, if anything happened to Yoshiya, a clash between the families would be unavoidable.
Considering the size of both families, it could even escalate to a regional conflict.
Normally, they wouldn’t go that far.
But given Mizuho’s past actions, it couldn’t be completely ruled out.
Maybe because she was raised as a lady, her outlook was a bit too naive.
It was dangerous to measure things by the exorcists’ common sense.
”From the very beginning, his ambition was clear with how he named Yoshitada. And the family is way too lenient about it.”
With a fierce look as if the person was right in front of him, Tatsuomi spat out his words.
In the Kazuramichi family, it’s a tradition to use the character “Nao” in the names of boys expected to be heirs.
Most of the time, it’s given to the eldest son of the head of the family, but it’s not absolute, and there have been past heads without that character.
However, for the last 3 generations, the names have been Tadataka, Tadayuki, and Naoshi, all given to the eldest son of the main family, and the next should have been Naoshi’s child.
The fact that a younger cousin, who is 2 years younger, also has the character “Nao” is because Mizuho changed the birth registration without asking anyone.
It was pretty outrageous to put the character “Nao” after the sound “Yoshi,” which is a tradition for boys who aren’t the heir.
In the Reiwa era, it wasn’t enough to force a divorce over just that, but people still looked down on Yoshiya for not being able to control his wife.
The only reason Ako was accepted was because she had given birth to great kids like Yoshitada, and people respected her for that.
However, Mizuho, who had complicated feelings after having a boy, decided to stop having kids because she didn’t want to spread her feelings any further.
When this was brought up, Yoshiya’s face turned even whiter as he bowed his head.
”I really have no excuse for that…”
”I’m not blaming you. It was just that old lady’s bad judgment when she suggested the match──more importantly, I think it’s a problem that I’m still just acting in place of Naoshi.”
”Hey, Tatsuomi, that’s a different story, right?”
”No, let it finish, Uncle. It’s been 5 years, right? No one is complaining about Naoshi taking over now, so let’s just say it──everyone here feels the same way.”
No one spoke up after Tatsuomi’s words.
Of course, their silence didn’t mean they disagreed.
”If Tadayuki comes back, that’s fine. But we should really be clear about who the top person in Kazuramichi is. If we keep hanging in the air like this, other families will look down on us.”
”I think what Tatsuomi is saying makes sense.”
”Then──.”
Naoshi raised his hand to stop the excited Tatsuomi and bowed his head.
”I’m real sorry. I just wanna be a little selfish for a bit longer.”
”Naoshi, you…”
Then, Naoshi looked up with his usual smile at the dissatisfied Tatsuomi.
”Well, if you still ain’t cool with it, I’ll just have to make you understand, even if it means a fight. What’s it gonna be?”
”You’re being so fake, Naoshi!”
”Ah, it hurts my heart.”
”Haha, you lost, Tatsuomi. Just back off.”
”Uncle, is that okay?”
”It doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad. Right now, Naoshi is basically the head, and what’s our family rule?”
”The strong are the respected──sigh, if it had to be like this, I should have taught you to respect older people more when we were kids.”
”Back then, that would’ve just made the revenge visits worse.”
”That’s not cute at all.”
”I wouldn’t be happy gettin’ pampered by some cranky old man.”
”Okay, okay… but I have to ask this, acting head. What are you going to do about your cousin?”
With a sharp look, Tatsuomi asked, and Naoshi also stopped smiling to respond.
”As soon as I find him in Umeda, no matter where he is, I’ll bring him back. I’ll make him spill everything he knows, then we’ll settle things. It’s a done deal.”
”Alright. If you’re set on that, I won’t say anything more.”
Reluctantly, Tatsuomi backed down, and Ako raised her hand to ask for permission to speak.
”To get back to the topic, for now, Papa and I will move to the main house. Officially, we’ll be under my cousin’s watch, but it’s easier for us to help from here.”
”Ako will go out for negotiations, but I’ll stay at the mansion under house arrest, so contact me here.”
”Got it.”
”Understood.”
”Well then, if there’s nothin’ else──we good? Alright, let’s wrap this up for today.”
With that, Naoshi clapped his hands, signaling the end of the meeting.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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