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By the time they returned home, night had fallen deep.
The Hanazono estate was quiet and luminous.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYziLmxO93I
Warm lights spilled softly across the corridor and floor-to-ceiling windows,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeGn4pd3fMA
drawing a cruel contrast to the damp, decaying gloom of Shadowtrace Alley.
The boy stood in the foyer, still dressed in that thin, dust-covered coat that smelled of mold.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5k6vT5b2um
Head bowed, he seemed unsure—17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzZ815D91gT
Unsure if he was allowed to step onto such a clean carpet.
Masaharu cast a sidelong glance at the butler standing beside him, his voice calm but unquestionable.
"Please take him to bath and change into clean clothes."
"Yes, sir."
Joseph, the head butler, gave a slight bow.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGl9DAtw8Bp
He stepped forward and spoke with a kind voice that held quiet authority.
"This way, young master."
The boy remained silent, his eyes wary,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT3ybznOW99
but he nodded slightly and slowly followed.
Suzuran stayed where she was, watching the frail figure disappear around the stairwell.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTlrxNnskF
Her brows furrowed slightly.
"Papa..." she couldn’t help but speak,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtg5epVjt8Q
"Has he really always been alone?"
Masaharu paused at the entrance of his study,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMEOiJWD4xI
then finally replied in a low voice:
"I had someone look into his background."
He paused again, as if searching for the right words to share a heavy truth.
"His mother worked at a bar on the peninsula—a hostess."
"She’d been ill for months, too poor to see a doctor.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHL2JOFM2oo
Her debts piled up. The debt collectors cornered her.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWiYYQY8nXT
In the end, she died alone in a rented room."
Suzuran stared at her father, eyes wide with shock and disbelief.
"No one wanted to adopt her child.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBss9MgjpJU
He was passed around…17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXHXVBkhb5R
and eventually, he ended up on the black market.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCdNnwTvJxl
Labeled as a ‘product.’17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt16DTx2xSt
Put on an auction block. Waiting for someone to bid."
Her lips parted, but no words came out.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJu5O6bD5mv
Her mind flashed back to that moment in the car—17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXyfTRrRzKl
that boy, sharing a sandwich, eating with such desperate urgency.
Was it because… he truly hadn’t eaten for so long?
"So… he’ll live here now?" she asked softly.
Masaharu looked at her, voice not raised, but firm as steel.
"Since you asked for him yourself, I’ll make proper arrangements."
"He will never return to that kind of place again.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ06t8lzMh3j
And he will never be treated like merchandise."
His words were few, but each one sounded like a promise—17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZDdcAEsOOu
the kind that carried the quiet weight of the Hanazono name.
"From today onward, he is Kimijima Kouichi."
Suzuran lifted her gaze, asking gently:
"Papa, why give him the name ‘Kimijima’?"
Masaharu stared off into the distance, his voice low:
"He has no surname, no legal identity.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0uvtvch2Z7
Legally, he doesn’t exist."
"‘Shima (嶋),’ for the island he came from—Shadowtrace Alley on the Rother Peninsula.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡly3q880eUd
‘Kimi (君),’ a word of respect."
"I want him to live like a real person, with dignity."
He paused, the weight of his words subtle but firm:
"This name is his beginning. Not charity—but recognition."
Suzuran nodded quietly. Her voice was soft as a breeze, yet clear as a bell:
"…I’ll remember it well. Kimijima Kouichi."
Kimijima Kouichi would live with the Hanazono family’s head butler—Mr. Joseph—in the detached residence, far from the main house.
It was a quiet estate nestled deep within the garden,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7mGk83FOnP
lined with rows of white orchid trees.
Each morning, mist draped over the veranda like silk,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡul1VtqRuvl
and the air always carried the scent of rain-washed wood.
This place raised him, silently and gently.
Mr. Joseph was about forty, born into an old noble house,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7eKUd2wtqW
and trained under the most rigorous standards of butlery.
He never married. Had no children.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtmjZZLCcJm
Steady and self-disciplined, he was one of the Hanazono family’s most silent, dependable pillars.
He never openly spoke of the boy,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkN82WKN6OR
but those who knew him understood—17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfgJ8jbeZLI
he treated Kimijima Kouichi as his own.
Under Joseph’s personal instruction, Kouichi mastered every aspect of formal butler training:
From ironing garments to polishing silver,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDGX7RWjuUa
from mastering walking rhythm to controlling facial expressions—17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRkDXNOcK1p
even the precise sequence of pouring morning tea was performed like ritual.
But it was more than just occupational training.
It was a rebuilding of identity.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwr0c9Q59xy
A reshaping of spirit.
Kouichi let down his guard around Suzuran much faster than anyone expected.
They grew up together.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNt9zRBT8tU
Different as night and day, yet inseparable.
She was lively, warm, a little clumsy.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbe8tVDjylm
He was calm, quiet, always one step ahead to contain the chaos.
They would chase butterflies in the garden until their collars soaked with sweat,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoTQeAGiSG9
or sneak roses from the bushes before they bloomed, giggling behind the gardener’s back.
One was innocence.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhgqKsPo5cD
The other, silent protection of that innocence.
He would gently remind her before her emotions exploded.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOvBmJ05MtZ
He would hand her a spare hairclip before she realized the first one was missing.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi6x2s52tH9
And when she cried in silence—17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtDC5jAN2E0
he would offer her a cup of hazelnut cocoa, warm and ready.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJLGtDBCYZT
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These things were never asked of him.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW5JqoSKOp6
Never instructed.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnsuWuSIQDu
And never done for thanks.
Until one day, at the age of twelve,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbICGBnlKoD
Kimijima Kouichi stood in a crisp uniform he had pressed himself,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOtKzOhUVbm
knelt on one knee, and made his request directly to Hanazono Masaharu.
"I wish to stay in the main house to serve the young lady—until the day she no longer needs me."
It was not a command.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZIxgIUfPAS
Nor a plea.
It was a vow.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeTh9poMzDH
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And behind the door, Suzuran had been eavesdropping.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjlr5Wt4eU8
Her eyes were already red with tears.
She burst into the parlor, flung her arms around her father’s arm,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMWlDRZDtU6
and cried out:
"Papa, please! Let Kouichi stay!17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPaA6ztqAy
He’s really good to me—I don’t want anyone else!"
Masaharu silently looked at the two before him:
One kneeling, iron-willed.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv3OJ9H1xoN
One begging, fiery and unyielding.
He let out a long sigh—17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgNR2ejwJYV
and nodded.
From that moment on, Kimijima Kouichi was no longer “a rescued child.”
He became—Hanazono Suzuran’s personal butler.
He came from nowhere, but chose to live for the smile that once chose him.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSCi6BR0qMV
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17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkQt5BsvECL
