Haruno Yukino was in the middle of an argunt with her mother.
For Yukino, that would've been an almost impossible task but for Haruno, it was just another day.
Haruno had always been the type of child who said what she wanted without hesitation. She was brave, confident, and never afraid to speak her mind. As she grew older, that directness didn't fade. She still voiced her doubts and desires promptly but now, she did so with more tact, more polish.
She couldn't even rember the last ti she'd argued with her mother this intensely.
"Haruno, let's talk about this when you're thinking more clearly," her mother said from the other end of the line, voice calm and composed as always.
She sounded like a perfectly programd machine every word and every action executed with ticulous precision, like she was following a flawless routine. She didn't just live that way herself; she'd turned the entire Yukinoshita household into an extension of that sa rigid will.
Haruno didn't mind being a piece in that well-oiled machine but Yukino couldn't beco one too.
"I'm thinking very clearly, Mother," Haruno replied, doing her best to sound respectful. "But the fact is, Yukino is only seventeen. She's still too young not even close to being a qualified fiancée for an elite family."
In the past, whenever she tried to convince soone, Haruno always spoke in a gentle, deliberate tone. But now, her words spilled out rapidly.
—She was losing her composure.
And facing her mother Yukinoshita-san, the woman who had pulled their crumbling household back from the brink and rebuilt the Yukinoshita legacy alongside their father Haruno knew she wasn't handling this perfectly.
No matter how smart or capable she was, she was still nearly two decades short of her mother's experience and insight.
"Making Yukino engage now won't bring any significant benefit to the Yukinoshita family. You know that, Mother. Yukino has potential far beyond what she's showing now. She just needs ti to grow."
"And once our family makes it through the next two years, we'll be able to aim even higher. When that ti cos, then—"
A soft chuckle interrupted her from the other end.
And that sound, faint as it was, made Haruno's heart tighten.
"Is that really how you see , Haruno? As soone who would trade her daughter away for profit?"
Haruno hesitated. "...I'm sorry, Mother."
But Yukinoshita-san didn't sound angry. If anything, her tone was neutral maybe even mild.
"In the past few days, you closed a deal with Arakawa Corporation, acquiring Japan's fifth-largest publishing company at a bargain. Just over a week ago, you reached a dia partnership with one of the Shinomiya Group's subsidiaries."
Her voice remained calm as she continued, "Arakawa's distribution channels, Shinomiya's dia connections, the Yukinoshita family's funding and you, my exceptional daughter. It seems that even in an industry as unforgiving as this one, you've carved a path through sheer force of will."
"I'm proud of you, Haruno. Truly."
She almost never praised anyone. Even toward her brilliant firstborn, Yukinoshita-san rarely expressed approval in such clear terms.
"Are you trying to convince that the Yukinoshita family can thrive without needing a marriage alliance because you alone can take it higher?"
Before Haruno could respond, her mother went on, almost like she was speaking to herself.
"I see. That's always been your goal, hasn't it? It never changed."
Haruno fell silent. "...Mother..."
"But Haruno," she continued, "after weighing every possible option, this marriage is still the best path for Yukino."
"Yukino is quiet and reserved. No matter how much she changes, she'll always be kind and principled. She's not suited for psychological warfare, nor for wading into the filth and cutthroat world of business."
—That was sothing Haruno had always known.
"She needs soone to protect her. Just like you always protected her."
Haruno's fingers clenched tightly around a pen on her desk, almost snapping it in half.
She forced her voice into a calr register.
"Can't we wait another year or two?"
"You're too smart not to see what's happening across Japan right now," her mother replied.
The Shijou family, once exiled by the Shinomiya clan, had returned to Japan in full force, bringing a storm with them. Conflict lood on the horizon. The entire country was turning into a battleground between those two families.
So were eager to throw themselves into the chaos, hoping to make a fortune. Others were desperate to flee, terrified of getting caught in the crossfire and being reduced to nothing.
But once the war began, there would be no easy way out. Families and corporations caught in the storm would no longer have the luxury of choice whether they rose or fell, it would all be out of their hands.
"Yukino isn't like you, Haruno. That's why, as her mother, I must make sure she has a way out."
"A second son of the Spencer family in the UK, far from this chaos that is the future I've chosen for her."
Haruno didn't even notice when her mother hung up the phone.
She leaned back in her chair and let out a long breath.
She hadn't expected to change her mother's mind. That was never going to happen.
But even so, that didn't an she would give in.
Opening her phone, she found a ssage from Hayama.
The photo showed Yukino, just as Haruno rembered pure and luminous, like a crystal pulled fresh from a stream.
But compared to before, Yukino now carried a subtle warmth, a trace of sothing human and grounded. She was turned slightly to the side, speaking to the pink-haired girl beside her, probably giving her so quiet instruction. Her expression was as serene as a still lake but there was a softness in her gaze, a quiet indulgence that sent ripples through the water.
Haruno stared at the photo for a long ti before opening the editing tool and cropping the pink-haired girl out. Only Yukino remained.
And now, that quiet, indulgent gaze her little sister's gaze felt like it was fixed solely on her.
Haruno had always known: the one thing Yukino resented most was her perfect, omnipotent older sister.
But the one she admired most… was also her.
That was why Haruno never let her see the other side of her.
The part that was cruel and petty toward others. The part that harbored sothing twisted and possessive toward her little sister.
That side of her
—Must never be seen by Yukino.
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