Chapter 44: Success?

Azami was at a complete loss.
She thought she’d just be going over to big sister Sakuya’s house to see her room, look at the accessories she used, and secretly slip into her bed if she could, but… how did it become like this?

Everyone was happily discussing the tea party, but Azami wasn’t in a festive mood at all.
She had also learned some tea ceremony etiquette, but her teacher always got mad at her.
They often advised her about it and said that she absolutely wasn’t fit for a tea ceremony.

She had to display her etiquette in front of everyone in an unpredictable tea ceremony .
She had been refusing all invitations, but she had to attend now.
This was the worst timing…

She couldn’t look clumsy in front of her adored big sister Sakuya.
There were less than two weeks left; she could do something in that time.
Maybe she should practice more since the situation had become like this.

Big sister Sakuya wasn’t the only one who’d see her.
Her followers would also see her etiquette.
If the girls who’d been following her around going “Azami-sama” and “Azami-chan” saw a clumsy side of her, they’d probably be dumbfounded and go off somewhere else.
Those worries appeared inside her.

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But her biggest salvation was… when she took a look around, Akane was acting suspiciously too.
She had noticed that Akane seemed bad with tea ceremony etiquette, which calmed her.
It’d be a problem and an embarrassment for her if she was the only one who couldn’t conduct herself properly; it was a relief that one of her friends couldn’t either.

While that might be true, there was also the possibility that Akane could also perform proper tea ceremony etiquette.
Maybe she just wasn’t confident, so she thought that she couldn’t do it.
Azami should definitely practice now to make it look like she knew something, even just the basics… As she was thinking that, Tsubaki had become the topic of conversation. 

“I will be wearing my new semi-formal kimono at the tea party.”

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“Rp vbyv ps?”

“R’zz rlabyrp cl olyakdt vbl pyxl vbkdt yp zypv vkxl…”

Mpwcyjk pyke pbl bye y dlo jkxsds pbl oydvle vs elcwv, yde lhlausdl lzpl, ldvknle cu vbl vsrkn, pvyavle vyzjkdt ycswv jkxsdsp.
Ggyxk qlzv ekpblyavldle yv vbyv vss.
Fbl oypd’v tsse okvb jkxsdsp lkvbla.
Fbl twlpple vbyv ds sdl yxsdt vblx nswze rwv sd y jkxsds cu vblxplzhlp, cwv Ggyxk yzps qswde jkxsdsp kvnbu yde byae vs xshl kd.
Ohlausdl pyke vblu olal tskdt vs vbl vly ryavu kd plxk-qsaxyz jkxsdsp, ps pbl blpkvyvle vs cl vbl sdzu sdl olyakdt Elpvlad nzsvbkdt.

Elyakdt Elpvlad nzsvbkdt oypd’v vbyv cye.
Jwv, pkdnl lhlausdl lzpl oyp vyzjkdt ycswv olyakdt jkxsds yde pbl jdlo vbyv vblu olal vyzjkdt ycswv kv, pbl nswzed’v ts vs vbl nlalxsdu olyakdt Elpvlad nzsvbkdt.
Fkdnl vblu olal vyzjkdt ycswv kv clqsalbyde yde pbl bye blyae vblka nsdhlapyvksdp, pbl nswzed’v cl vbl sdzu sdl dsv olyakdt y jkxsds.

“Ggyxk-pyxy okzz schkswpzu cl vbl xykd twlpv, aktbv?”

“Ebwb…”

Ggyxk pvkqqldle yv obyv Mpwcyjk pyke kd pwnb y xyvvla-sq-qynv vsdl.
Mbl xykd twlpv alralpldvle vbl svbla twlpvp; vblu blze vbl rspkvksd sq twlpv sq bsdswa.
Pwakdt y vly nlalxsdu, vbl xykd twlpv bye vs vyzj okvb vbl bspv.
Idsozletl, yoyaldlpp yde nsdpkelayvksd olal dlnlppyau ewakdt vbspl vkxlp.
Mly ryavklp olald’v ycswv vbl bspv ldvlavykdkdt vbl twlpvp, cwv olal kdpvlye yd lmrlakldnl vbyv vbl bspv nalyvle okvb vbl twlpvp.
Mbl xykd twlpv, obs oyp vbl twlpvp’ alralpldvyvkhl, bye yd lprlnkyzzu nbyzzldtkdt aszl.

“Mbyv kp nlavykd.”

“You can’t make Azami-chan not be the main guest.”

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Everyone immediately agreed with Tsubaki.
She was planning to make the faction leader, Azami, look good, but instead brought her into an even worse predicament.
And, since everyone wanted her to be the main guest, Azami couldn’t ask someone else to take on the role because she didn’t have the skill or experience for it.

“Who shall be the tea master…”

“Hmm…”

Everyone fell silent once the topic had turned to who would take up the role that was just as difficult as the main guest—the tea master.
The faction leader, Azami, was the main guest.
Others would serve in the positions of second guest of honour and tea master, but who would they be? No one wanted to assume those troublesome positions.
It’d be another matter if someone was confident in their abilities, but no one else had much confidence with tea ceremonies. 

Anyway, everyone was thinking that they themselves couldn’t perform those important roles, so they wouldn’t do anything but agree with others.
So, when it came to someone needing to perform a specific role, they all drew back slightly.

“Then I shall be the tea master.”

“You, Tsubaki-chan?”

“By all means, go ahead!”

Since Tsubaki had volunteered herself for tea master, everyone handed the position over to her saying “By all means”.
A tea master had to return tea utensils and tools to the host after examining them, so a certain level of knowledge was required for the role.
No one objected to Tsubaki volunteering herself for that troublesome role.

“Akane-chan will definitely be the second guest of honour.”

“Quite true.”

“What?!”

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Akane, who had looked relaxed since she hadn’t been selected as the main guest or the tea master, looked flustered at being selected for the second guest of honour.
But that wasn’t something she could escape from now.
She had become the second guest of honour after all.

It was preferable for both the main guest and the second guest of honour to have some experience and knowledge.
But Akane was still better off because she didn’t have to act as proper as the main guest.
Akane would’ve given up if she had to act like that.

But there was one person who wouldn’t give up.
No, problems would happen if she did give up, though she wanted to.
She had to practice her role as the main guest the moment she returned home… That was the only thing whirling inside Azami’s head.

　　～～～～～～～

On the day of the tea party, Azami went home after school ended, immediately changed into her kimono, and headed to the Kujou house.
She didn’t tell her mother where she was going.
She did say that she was going to a tea ceremony today, and she had also been repeatedly rehearsing the role of main guest.
She had to ask for help with changing into a kimono and needed the car to get there, so she had to explain the situation.

But she couldn’t tell her mom.
If she told her mom that she was going to the Kujou house, she didn’t know what she’d say.
If she were to get mad, she may even order Azami to do something to the Kujou family.
That was why her destination had to be kept a secret from her mom.

She selected people close to her dad and herself who would keep their mouths shut about her destination for the people in the know and her driver.
She had told almost no one, so she didn’t need to worry about whether the secret would leak to her mom.

She arrived at the Kujou family and met up with everyone.
After waiting a while, they walked to the teahouse gardens, washed their hands, and finally entered the tea room.

“Uwah… As expected to the Kujou family…”

“T-… true…”

At Tsubaki’s words, Azami felt like she was there in body but not in spirit.
It was pointless not to be worried because it was too fancy.

Even though they were the Kujou family, their family status wasn’t significantly different.
She had assumed they didn’t have very different statuses compared to the Seven Shining or Five Norths families.
She’d made light of it.
But what was this? She saw the world of difference between the Kujou and Tokudaiji family statuses when she actually visited.
It’d be pointless to say that it wasn’t overwhelming.
She felt swallowed up just from seeing it.

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They all entered the tearoom, Azami all tense, and bowed their heads to the hanging scroll and flowers.
Azami, her head suspended in that bow, absent-mindedly performed the actions she’d rehearsed.
Everyone took their seats, and their host, Sakuya, greeted them.
Everyone let out a sigh, captivated by the overly-beautiful action.

“Thank you for coming from so far away today.”

“…”

Everyone lowered their heads after Sakuya’s greeting.
Now it was time for the host and the main guest—Sakuya and Azami—to hold a dialogue.

“U-Uhmmm… the hanging scroll is~~…”

Azami, who was completely nervous now, had absolutely no idea what to do.
Her brain wouldn’t work at all as she was trying to think about what to say, so she didn’t know what to do.

“Haha… Azami-chan, today is practice.
You do not have to be nervous; let us relax.
Today is practice for everyone here as well.
We’re just displaying the things we’ve been learning in classrooms from our teachers, so there’s no need to be so nervous; please act as normal.
I think there are differences in the styles we are learning as well, so there’s no need to think about keeping your behaviour in line with someone else’s style.
I do not mind that we have all learned different things.”

“Oh~… thank goodness… It’s a huge help for you to say that…”

“Azami-chan, you’ve regained your footing way too quickly.”

“Ahaha!”

The place calmed down instantly.
Everyone had been more or less nervous.
That nervousness disappeared in a flash.
Since Sakuya had said that everyone didn’t have to act stiffly and could just act as usual, they had become somewhat relaxed.

“The hanging scroll, yes? Today is practice; to make that easily comprehensible, I am using a scroll with “Go drink tea” written on it.”

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The host and the main guests talked about the hanging scroll, flowers, tea utensils, and tools to make them known to the participants.
The main guest didn’t stay silent because they already knew what said items were; they enquired about their meaning and the utensils so that the other participants could hear.
The main guest also held the role of casually inquiring about the gathering’s purpose and significance, as well as the host’s plans and concerns. 

If the host themselves blabbed on about that day’s plans and concerns, they’d sound too pushy.
Instead, the main guest would casually ask the host questions so that the participants were informed of the gathering’s goals, plans, and concerns.
That was why the main guest had to notice those points and turn the topics towards them.

The scroll today… the hanging scroll today had “Go drink tea” written on it.
The longer version of that would be “Go drink some tea” or “Go on and drink some tea”.
But, when used in a tea ceremony, it meant “What about having some tea?” or “Drink up your tea”.

After such conversations, sweets were brought out and tea was drunk.
Since a simple tea ceremony was being held today, weak matcha hard candies were served.

A proper tea ceremony would take hours upon hours and would continue as the participants ate their meal.
That was rather troublesome.
Compared to that, one could say that picking out a single aspect of the tea ceremony and rehearsing it was more relaxing.

Concerning opaque matcha and weak matcha tea, opaque matcha was more respectful, while weak matcha was more casual.
Opaque matcha was used in fresh sweets, while weak matcha was often used in hard candy.
The specific type of hard candy was something similar to rakugan1, so it wasn’t candy one would think kids would find really delicious.
No, maybe even adults didn’t like that hard, dry, tasteless, and slightly sweet candy.

After everyone finished taking the hard candy, they started eating.
Sakuya also started making the tea.

“Mm! It’s delicious!?”

“It really is…”

From experience, they thought it wasn’t going to taste good but they were betrayed – in a good way – by this hard candy.
It had just the right amount of sweetness, and its mouthfeel made it easy to eat.
The candy was supposed to be finished before the tea was served.
Azami, who had finished all her hard candy, had tea placed in front of her.

“Please receive this tea first.”

Azami bowed her head towards the second guest of honour.
Akane and the others returned the slight bow…

“I receive the fruits of your labour.”

She took the teacup in her hand and rotated it twice clockwise.
This was because the teacup was served with the front facing her.
She turned the teacup so that she wouldn’t be drinking from the front.

There were many ways to explain the reasoning why.
One brief explanation was that you didn’t drink the teacup from the front in order to show respect to the host.
But then that brought up the question of why you couldn’t drink from the front of the teacup.

Let’s say that the host chose those teacups for a tea ceremony.
There were many people who said that not drinking from the front allowed the front to remain clean, which was a subtle way of showing respect.

Alternatively, it was because the front of the teacup was the most ostentatious.
When drinking the tea, the front was facing outwards to focus on drinking the tea; when looking at the teacup, the front was facing inwards to focus on staring at the cup.
So some people said that it prevented distraction as they were drinking the tea.

Maybe there were some who said it was just that way because that was how it was done.
The reasons changed with the teacher, the person being taught, and the style.
The one commonality was that it was used to show respect to the host.

Once Azami had finished the tea in three sips, she made a slurping sound.
That wasn’t impolite.
It was a signal that she’d finished.
She wiped the rim of the cup with her fingers, then cleaned her fingers with her kaishi2.
She rotated the teacup and returned it.
Azami then let out a small sigh.
The weight was off her chest.
It wasn’t good to be too careless, but she couldn’t help but feel relieved.

Akane and the other participants drank their tea one by one.
“Speaking of…” Azami thought.
She was also bad with tea, but she was able to drink today’s tea easily.
Everyone else seemed fine with it too.

In a real tea ceremony… it was the main guest, Azami’s, role to ask about the tea and the candy.
The main guest had to ask about the tea and candy if the others were interested, and casually draw out information that the others wanted to know plus the host’s concerns.

But it was harsh to demand that much of Azami, who was relatively inexperienced.
Also, somewhat unexpectedly, maybe no one really minded.
That was because…

“Sakuya-sama is amazing…”

“She really is… I want to become like her…”

Everyone was captivated by the beauty in Sakuya’s conduct.
They may not have even remembered that the hard candy was easy to eat or that the tea was easy to drink.
This was all practice, anyway, so it was alright.
Maybe Sakuya was happy as long as everyone enjoyed their tea.
Even Azami was drooling as she saw Sakuya like that, her appearance burned – no, etched – into her brain.

Thus, time had passed in the blink of an eye, and the curtain dropped on Sakuya and Azami’s first tea ceremony.