Chapter 95 - The Old Homura House

"Ara, you bought a lot."

Suzuki Ara smiled sheepishly as the others looked at the shopping bags she was carrying. They had toured the souvenir shops the whole morning until midafternoon, and she got three sets of each item she bought: One for Aki, one for Gin, and one for Kou.

Her brother and Kazehaya both looked like they enjoyed eating sweet snacks and Kou seemed to like wagashi a lot too, as he had lots of them at his apartment in Gaienmae when she stayed there. She got them almost all the rice cakes and sweet snacks she found, even the western sweet called sagamiya , a chocolate bar filled with different types of nuts.

When they passed by Gora, Hakone, she bought some Hakone Silver Maple Pancake as well, which was a very fluffy pancake made with soy milk from the Gindofu  or Silver Tofu. It had delicious maple or custard filling. Last but not least were the black eggs she got for the three busy men. The bag containing the eggs was her biggest.

"Yeah," Ara answered shyly.

"Why so many eggs Ara?"Yashiro eyed the three packs containing a dozen black eggs each.

"Well, I have two older brothers and the other one is for my boyfriend. They all work hard so they need them."

"That's so thoughtful of you," the girls cooed, and Ara's embarrassment increased. She was the only one who bought a lot like a real tourist.

"Your boyfriend's so lucky," Yashiro added. "You have to tell us more about him later at the baths okay?"

"Alright," Ara promised. She had told she would be joining them at the female hot springs later.

They were all already seated on the bus, going to the last itinerary of their trip. Tomorrow morning, they would be going back to Tokyo. All of them had no idea where they would go, however, as the itinerary said the place would be a surprise.

Ara wondered where Kou wanted them to go that had to be kept secret. She was thinking this when the shuttle bus entered a private road leading towards a huge oak gate. It was a pretty old one – one that you could only see in period dramas.

Several servants wearing traditional Japanese clothing came out to greet them as the gate opened. They lined up respectfully as they watched Ara's group descend from the vehicle.

"Whoa…"

Echoes of appreciation resounded in the otherwise quiet place as the students eyed the magnificent yard in front of an equally impressive palace-like house.

The teachers who accompanied them hurried to meet the person in charge. It was a handsome, yet solemn-looking young man who wore a black Kimono in contrast to the others' lighter colored ones.

Suzuki Ara didn't know why, but this man looked a bit familiar to her, although she couldn't pinpoint where she'd seen him before.

Wait a minute…

Scrutinizing the young man, Ara suddenly remembered a memory from the original – the one of when she first saw Kou in middle school. This young man looked like the boy who came out of the dojo looking for Ryuu and it was from him that Ara heard the name 'Kou'.

"Good afternoon," the young man greeted. "I am Kazehaya Aoi, welcome to Homura House," he continued and Ara was dumbfounded.

Homura House? In Hakone?

But of course! Homura House's history went back up to five hundred years. The Cedar Palace had only been around for a hundred and fifty – they had to have come from somewhere before that.

That naughty Siberian Husky…

Suzuki Ara wanted to pout, but couldn't as it would be totally weird. She didn't want to tell anyone about her connection to the Homura House yet, and so she remained quiet as she followed the others when their group was finally led inside.

As she walked past, the servants bowed their heads in her direction which was weird, since Ara was in the middle. It looked obvious to the others who the servants gave deference to, but since she acted like she had no idea and returned their greetings, her schoolmates who thought that they were being rude by not giving a bow followed suit, even if they already passed, and so everyone thought it was only a greeting.

Her group was led into a great hall where they were asked to seat themselves on the floor pillows, and servants came with snacks and drinks prepared for them.

Ara's food, however, was personally served by the serious-looking Aoi, much to the others' surprise.

Big brother, please stop making me the focus of attention okay?

Ara inwardly groaned. As before, she just chose not to acknowledge the special treatment and acted like she had no idea what was going on, thus making the others think it was another coincidence.

Soon, Kazehaya Aoi took his position in front of the elevated platform and made an announcement. "Dear guests, as we were instructed, we will be giving you a tour of the original Homura House. But before that, we will be guiding you to the Glass Museum next door. Please form a line after thirty minutes."

Aoi then left to let them enjoy their food. But as soon as he did the room started buzzing with excitement. 

"Oh my goodness! Ara, your brother's so cool!"

Ha? Why is Aki cool?

"Yes, I can't believe your brother's friends with the Homuras to give us a special tour like this…"

Oh, that.  

Ara just smiled, not bothering to correct their assumptions. She let them chatter to themselves as they ate, while she took out her phone, planning to send a message to Gin and Ryuu, scolding them for not telling her they were from Hakone when she saw that Midori had sent her a couple of text.

She wondered what happened as she opened the messages. Usually, Midori only sent her messages about the trip before sleeping, to update her about the burriko. Since it's only mid-afternoon, something big must have come up. 

"Ara, that Koharu was trying to sneak into the prince's private quarters again and got caught. Also, we are not sure yet, but we think she stole my wallet and set Rin up to make it appear that she did it. That girl's gone totally nuts."

Ara scowled at the first message and hurriedly opened the other one.

"Ara, we're now being brought to another room with the principal and teachers by the prince's brother. I think we're totally in trouble. Koharu kept saying she's not at fault – we're going crazy."

With this, Ara's silver-grey orbs glittered dangerously.

That wild girl! She didn't even  let Rin, the one who stuck to her and defended her a lot off. 

Now, she understood what kind of trouble Kazehaya was talking about earlier. She excused herself and stood up to get out of the room for a while. The servants who saw her bowed as she went past. They must have detected her need for privacy as they slowly dispersed, leaving her alone in the empty hall outside.

Ara quickly rang the prince's brother's  number, which the owner answered almost immediately. "Big brother Kaze, destroy her mask. Kick her out…"