Father passed away early, leaving not a single close relative in sight...
Yet to emerge from the sorrow of my father’s passing, I heard that the girl I’ve cherished is to marry another man...
Both family and love are faced with devastating changes...
To be honest, that the ‘Original Tachibana Aoto’ managed to maintain a somewhat normal mental state after experiencing such a series of dramatic life changes is quite remarkable.
Fortunately, the ‘Original Tachibana Aoto’ found his way back.
After Ozuki Minoru got married, he finally saw through her malicious nature, decisively cutting off contact with her, showing some of the backbone expected of a man.
In any case, I am now one with the ‘Original Tachibana Aoto.’
For Ozuki Minoru, who cruelly toyed with the feelings of the ‘Original Tachibana Aoto,’ Aoto naturally holds no affection.
Simply ignore this unfaithful woman—Aoto contemplated this issue earnestly.
However, after hesitating for a while, Aoto dismissed the idea of ignoring her.
It wasn’t to reminisce with this unfaithful woman.
But to ask her a question.
“...Ashi, long time no see.” Aoto said flatly, without expression, “What brings you here?”
After marrying Ozuki Changci, Ozuki Minoru moved with her parents to Nara, no longer residing in Edo.
“My husband and his friends came to Edo for business.”
Ozuki Minoru smiled with upturned lips, but there was no cheer in her eyes.
“So I accompanied my husband, making a long-awaited return to Edo.”
“It coincides with the day the fireworks festival is held, a rare opportunity, so I came with my husband and his friends to visit the park and watch the fireworks.”
When mentioning the words “husband” and “business,” Ozuki Minoru’s tone carried a faint sense of pride and superiority, as she subtly pushed her quite full chest forward.
Aoto was not at all concerned about the kind of life Ozuki Minoru was currently leading.
After indifferently responding with an “I see,” he quickly raised another question.
“How is your father? Is he well lately?”
This was the question Aoto wanted to ask Ozuki Minoru.
If not for concern for Ozuki Minoru’s father, Aoto might well have ignored her and turned to leave.
Even though Ozuki Minoru’s attitude towards the ‘Original Tachibana Aoto’ was awful, her father, Miyakawa Shunzao, had always treated his old friend’s only son very well.
The ‘Original Tachibana Aoto’ owed Miyakawa Shunzao a great debt of gratitude.
Back then, after Tachibana Ryuzo passed away, Miyakawa Shunzao provided a lot of support to the ‘Original Tachibana Aoto.’
He helped organize Tachibana Ryuzo’s funeral, secretly slipped cash and provisions to help the ‘Original Tachibana Aoto’ through financial difficulties...
Miyakawa Shunzao also put in a lot of effort to ensure that the ‘Original Tachibana Aoto’ could smoothly succeed Tachibana Ryuzo at the North Guard Station.
This elder was good in every way, except he was not adept at handling family relationships or knowing how to interact with family.
Miyakawa Shunzao had no idea how to educate his children, so he adopted a completely hands-off approach, letting Ozuki Minoru ‘grow wild.’
And Ozuki Minoru rarely had any close interactions with her estranged father.
As far as Aoto knew, it wasn’t until Ozuki Minoru was discussing marriage with Ozuki Changci that Miyakawa Shunzao learned his daughter was with a Nara merchant.
Aoto thought: Perhaps Ozuki Minoru’s extremely egocentric and self-serving nature was related to the lack of family education.
After Miyakawa Shunzao moved with Ozuki Minoru to Nara, Aoto hadn’t heard any news of this mild-mannered elder.
Out of concern for this elder who had shown him kindness, Aoto asked Ozuki Minoru this question.
Ozuki Minoru’s face suddenly lit up with a look of astonishment.
She scrutinized Aoto from head to foot with a gaze as if assessing a stranger.
After a while, she softly replied,
“My father is well. He’s in good health and spirits, practicing calligraphy every day to enrich his life.”
“I see... That’s good.”
“Tachibana, are you here to see the fireworks as well?”
“Yes. I came with friends to have fun.”
“You... seem a bit changed.”
Ozuki Minoru once again cast that gaze as if observing a stranger onto Aoto.
“After all, we haven’t seen each other for more than a year; it’s natural to have some changes in appearance. You’ve changed too, your hairstyle has changed.”
“I didn’t mean changes in appearance, I meant... the feel you give off seems to have changed a bit...”
Aoto raised an eyebrow slightly.
“You... don’t know what’s been happening in Edo lately?”
“I just returned to Edo yesterday evening.” Ozuki Minoru blinked in confusion, “Has anything major happened recently in Edo?”
“...No. Nothing.” Aoto smiled faintly with a deeper meaning, “If you don’t know, then let it be.”
——Almost forgot this is an era where information exchange is inconvenient...
Now that the whole family of Ozuki Minoru has settled in Nara, which is almost halfway across Japan from Edo. Though Nara is also a big city, its flow of people and information exchange speed is nothing compared to super cities like Edo, Kyoto, and Osaka.
In this era, if you didn’t deliberately seek it, you might not even know what major news had happened recently. It made sense for Ozuki Minoru, who was residing in Nara, to be unaware of Aoto’s various deeds over the past few months.
Having learned about how Miyakawa Shunzao is currently living, the purpose was accomplished, and Aoto had completely lost interest in talking to Ozuki Minoru again.

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