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 Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2026 7:36 pm
Reina shouldered her kyudo bag and stepped out into the intense summer sunlight...or at least, what was left of it. As usual, she'd stayed behind after kyudo practice to clean up after the rest of the team, as even the other first years would rather make a halfbred like her do the onerous work of tidying up. As petty and childish as this form of bullying was, if nothing else, it gave her some peace and quiet to herself. True, she lost time she could have spent on homework, but it was also time away from her extended family, too. Which was, on aggregate, hard to view wholly negatively.
The sun was already starting to set behind the growing cloudbank of an early summer storm by the time she approached the Amenomori estate. Dinner time already. No matter, the housekeeper would have already set aside a tray for her.
Because, as usual, she entered from a side gate, she had no idea unfamiliar cars were parked at the front gate. As it was, Reina made a beeline for her shabby little bedroom toward the rear of the complex, pausing only long enough to remove her shoes, and slip into the old, beat up slippers that were hers. Which she fished out of her bags; she'd long since learned that anything she didn't carry on her person or hide from extended family members had a tendency to have something done to them. Given that her slippers couldn't afford to be hidden, it was better to stash them in a school bag or sports bag.
She had almost gotten to her room when she was stopped by the housekeeper. "Reina," the housekeeper said. "She's called for you to attend to her."
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Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2026 7:41 pm
Reina froze for a fraction of a second before sighing, and unslinging her kyudo bag. "I will be there shortly," she replied, stepping past the housekeeper to set down her bags in their accustomed hiding place when unattended. Her obaa-sama had guests, and her obaa-sama was feeling too poorly to play the shamisen for them. Dinner would have to wait til later, until after Reina was released from her duties as musician. Fortunately, her hair was already neatly tied back, and, as the housekeeper had brought no yukata for her to change into, these guests probably didn't mind her still being dressed for kyudo practice. Nothing a stick of deodorant couldn't fix.
In no time at all, she was kneeling outside the shoji screen to her obaa-sama's quarters, and making her presence known. Under such circumstances, Reina's actions had to be perfect and proper.
"Enter," her obaa-sama called, and Reina entered, head bowed, silver-and-gold hair falling down her back, eyes lowered.
A small group of people sat on cushions arrayed before her obaa-sama, and they turned to face her curiously. Reina felt herself stiffen and the breath in her body stopped for a heartbreaking second as two strangers who were quite visibly not Japanese turned around.
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Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2026 7:47 pm
The woman, she recognized from CD covers for an American-born jazz pianist, Shams Lyon, who smiled warmly with bright emerald eyes, a name she thought she also remembered seeing on the periodic list of performers at jazz festivals in Japan back before her kaa-chan had passed.
But it was the man who sat with her that held Reina's attention longer. For a painful moment, it was all Reina could do to not whisper, "Tou-chan?"
For the man looked very like her tou-chan, albeit with a warmer, more chocolatey skin tone, his hair was a deeper, richer shade of gold than that of a creamy gold, and his eyes were the green of apples, instead of a minty green. But, no, for all that his smile closely resembled his, this man was not her father. But, oh, how he looked like her tou-chan....
Reina wrenched her eyes and mind off the couple with effort to focus on her grandmother, and the other strangers, who appeared to be regular government officials.
"Reina. These people," her obaa-sama said in halting English, nodding to the couple, "are your father's family. They wish to adopt you."
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Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2026 8:01 pm
Reina stared, as it felt like the world around her at the same time froze, and shattered. Shams Lyon and her husband were Reina's family. On her tou-chan's side. And they had come to take her away. It couldn't be true. No way would such an easy escape from her maternal family present itself. Not with the smiles and warmth that this couple had already given her, smiles and warmth that had never extended past her parents and their co-workers since she'd been orphaned. This had to be a dream, and waking from this dream would hurt more than almost any other dream she'd ever had, because, somewhere deep down inside, Reina wanted this to be true. She wanted these people to be her father's family, and for them to take her away from a cold and abusive estate that didn't even want her.
Even if this weren't a dream, Reina couldn't quite bring herself to believe that this impossible moment could last longer than it would take to get to wherever these people called home in the United States. And then she'd be alone on the streets of a foreign country.
At least it was better than freezing to death on the streets of Aomori, which is where she'd be if anything happened to her obaa-sama before Reina had a chance to finish high school. It was worth going along with this dreamlike event for the time being.
"I see," she replied gravely.
The thought suddenly occurred to her, as she watched her obaa-sama take a sip of green tea, that her obaa-sama might refuse. After all, the Amenomori clan prided themselves as bearers of the shamisen tradition in Aomori Prefecture, and, of all the currently living members, only Reina and her obaa-sama played the shamisen well. Her obaa-sama had never interceded on her behalf since Reina had first come to this house two years prior, unless the harassment of the rest of the clan affected the clan negatively in a public manner; however, her obaa-sama generally never called on Reina's aunts, uncles, or cousins for anything, either, just Reina, and always for her musical gift. Her obaa-sama had made her intention at a recent family dinner to will the gracious estate, the shamisen school, and the title of family head to any who could master the shamisen before her passing. And, so far, the only member of the clan who qualified was Reina. The least valued member of the clan, and the only musician left, now that her kaa-chan had died.
True, the rest of the Amenomori were now desperately trying to push themselves and their offspring to learn music, but the musical ear was proving rather elusive.
That was it, then. Her obaa-sama would never let the only other shamisen player in the family pass out of her keeping for any reason. These people would not be able to remove Reina from the Amenomori household. Reina would have to survive until her obaa-sama passed, unless her obaa-sama passed before Reina hit her majority. Even then, the rest of the family would have assembled lawyers to disinherit Reina.
And Reina would be stuck here, until the inevitable fallout of her obaa-sama's passing occurred.
"I have decided," the old woman began, "to let this happen." She took another sip of her tea.
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Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2026 8:11 pm
Reina stared. This wasn't happening. Nope. Still a dream, turning crueler by the moment. Or, otherwise, a moment in her life too good to ever last. After all, Reina had been orphaned at age 14 in a country where her beloved father's foreign blood had always, and would always, mark his only child as an outsider, a pariah, lucky to be permitted a place under the Amenomori roof, but never luckier than that. Any joy and security that was hers was destined to fail, sooner or later, probably sooner, rather than later.
"You are excused. Speak with the housekeeper and pack your things. Your new parents are boarding the shinkansen tonight."
With that dismissal, Reina excused herself, and removed herself from her obaa-sama's presence. America. While it wasn't a promise of a better future, it was at least a promise that she wouldn't freeze to death in Aomori. Unsure how to feel, Reina made her way back to her room, where a rolling suitcase sat on the tatami.
It wasn't big. It didn't need to be, Reina mostly had her uniform, her pajamas, and the bare minimum of clothes necessary to get her through school breaks, plus one threadbare yukata that she had partly outgrown; what she had worn to entertain guests had been borrowed from her obaa-sama's collection. They hadn't even been hers.
Pulling out her meager assortment of clothing from their hiding spot, she neatly folded everything and packed them away in the suitcase, including her school uniform. She wouldn't need it, but it had been one of the rare expenditures on her that her obaa-sama had been willing to make, and, as such, her school garments fit better than anything else she owned. A bit pathetic, really, but they fit her well enough to conceal her status within the Amenomori. Her father's family didn't need to know about how things had been under the Amenomori roof.
At which point, she found herself looking at her kyudo equipment. Her bag wouldn't fit. The bow would have to be restrung, and, from what she remembered, even musical instruments could be considered too big to take on the shinkansen. Musical instruments...Reina didn't presently have any of her own. The shamisen, like the kimono and yukata she'd borrowed, had only been lent to her. Most of her belongings had been confiscated by her obaa-sama shortly after Reina's father died, after she and her mother had moved onto the Amenomori estate. As such, what few keepsakes she had left were small things that fit in her wallet, or that she could carry on her person, or that she could affix to her school bag.
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Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2026 8:28 pm
A knock on the doorframe caught her attention, and Reina looked up to see the housekeeper watching the teenager sympathetically. Sometimes, Reina wished she'd never nursed the housekeeper through that bad fever a year ago; it was during the nursing that the housekeeper had learned that Reina, unlike the rest of her cousins, could claim real musical skill. It was also at that point that the housekeeper had begun looking out for Reina; while that often meant making sure that Reina got decent food set aside for her that the rest of the clan couldn't sabotage, it had also resulted in her obaa-sama calling on Reina as a student of the shamisen, which had worsened the harassment by the rest of the clan, and made it unlikely that Reina could just make a run for it as soon as she graduated high school. Kindly toward her as the housekeeper was, the woman had inadvertently more or less very nearly trapped Reina in the Amenomori orbit as the most probable heiress to the entirety of the Amenomori clan.
"Miss Reina," she said softly. "You can't take your kyudo equipment on the shinkansen."
Reina's heart sank immediately. Sure kyudo was different from modern archery, but, somewhere deep inside, she realized she'd been hoping that the Lyon family would be kind enough to let her practice music and kyudo in peace in the States. Without her equipment, that hope was gone, as gone as were her mother's stringed instruments, confiscated after her kaa-chan became too sick to play.
"If you can unstring the bow, I can mail everything to you in America. Her ladyship has promised to give me your new address."
Reina stared at her as the woman made her way inside, producing from her apron what looked suspiciously like a very well-crafted bento box, one that cost good money, lacquered and decorated with mother-of-pearl.
"You can purchase food for the shinkansen at the station, but it's cheaper to bring your own. Also...I just..." the housekeeper trailed off, suddenly looking slightly misty-eyed. "We will miss you, Reina-ojyou. Your obaa-sama won't say it, but I will. We're losing the only real Amenomori ojyou-sama left under this roof, and I'm not sure it isn't better for you to leave the Amenomori behind you."
Reina numbly took the exquisite bento box, as the housekeeper retrieved her kyudo bag from its now-exposed hiding spot, unzipping it so the teenager could retrieve the bow to unstring it. She'd see it again, and restring it properly, when it was safe to be restrung. She'd just have to wait for it to be shipped to her.
The housekeeper wordlessly helped Reina finish packing, and then walked her to the door, where her shoes were waiting. Reina tapped her shod feet against the floor, to make sure that the shoes were settled on properly, before stuffing her slippers into her suitcase. The housekeeper watched, a trace of regret clouding her eyes. "Sayonara, Reina-ojyou," she murmured. "Live well, be happy, and, if you return to the Land of the Rising Sun, do it on your own terms."
Her obaa-sama watched this final exchange before stepping forward, and pressing an envelope into Reina's hands. It felt heavy, and Reina's name was written in fine calligraphy down the front in red and gold inks. "Open it only when you are on the shinkansen," she said curtly, before searching Reina's eyes for a long moment. "Sayonara. I do not expect to see you again in this life. Live well. Play well. I will be watching, even from hell," she said cryptically, before stepping back.
Whatever moment had fueled the statement had clearly passed, and Reina turned to make her way down the walkway to where a dark blue rental car sat, smelling of nothing but lightly used leather. Above her head, the sky was filling with clouds, and thunder rolled in the distance.
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Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2026 8:36 pm
Shams Lyon hurried to take her suitcase, and her husband packed it neatly in the trunk. By the time the first drops of rain began to fall, they were all in the rental car, heading for the local government office, to complete the paperwork necessary to adopt a "foreign" child, even though they claimed that child was already legally their own flesh and blood.
Shams looked over her shoulder. "Reina? Are you okay? Do you need to say good-bye to anyone else?" she asked with a worried expression on her face. It seemed sincere. It was difficult to believe in.
Reina looked out the window, watching the summer rain begin to cover the landscape. "No. All my good-byes have been said." No friends at school to worry about her, her teachers and coach would be glad to be rid of a student who could never look like a proper Japanese schoolgirl, her teammates would be only too glad to lose a potential source of competition within the team, the rest of her family resented her as an eyesore who seemed to receive more of her obaa-sama's attention than a foreigner's orphan who bore that foreign blood so visibly on her skin ought to receive. The only good-byes that needed to be said had been said.
The rest of the evening passed in a haze of car rides and bureaucracy, though, apparently, some of the paperwork needed to be filled out by the American embassy in Tokyo, where she would be furnished with a temporary passport.
By the time they reached the train station, it was fully dark, a light rain was still falling, and thunder rumbled sporadically in the distance. Reina was vaguely aware of helping her paternal relatives interpret their train tickets (they had apparently purchased a third in the hopes of being able to retrieve her) and acquire something to eat before they bunked down on the train. It was only after the couple had stepped away to a shared compartment for the night to get some sleep that Reina remembered the envelope, which she'd stuffed in her school bag, as well as the bento the housekeeper had packed for her.
She'd changed into the complimentary pajamas supplied by the shinkansen and opened the bento (full of food the housekeeper knew Reina loved the most), taking a few bites of the food before she even reached for the envelope.
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Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2026 8:51 pm
Reina opened it, and a small key landed on the bed where she was seated for her dinner. Cautious, and confused, the teenager picked up the key, and placed it back in the envelope, retrieving the letter, also noting the presence of a sachet full of konpeito in shades of blue, purple, green, and white. Her favorite festival snack from when she was little. How had her obaa-sama known...?
The letter turned out to be a brief note from her obaa-sama, and paperwork for a storage facility in a place called "Destiny City" in a place called "VA" in the United States.
Reina,
I have done very little for you as my favorite child's child. I suppose I could have done more. But it is not in me to live with regrets, as it was not in your mother to live with regrets, either.
I placed your valuables and your mother's valuables in a storage facility two years ago, along with that man's remaining possessions. That man's family reached out to me a month ago, and I deemed it time to release this regret. The contents of the storage unit have been sent to the storage facility indicated in this envelope, and I have given you the key. The fees for the storage unit have been paid for the next ten years.
I expect you to continue to practice the shamisen, and kyudo. I expect nothing less from the only heiress to my chosen heiress. I will follow any news of your career in America with the highest expectations.
--Amenomori Benika
Reina stared at the letter for a long moment before hastily digging the key free again, bento forgotten. The family belongings. Consoles. Musical instruments. Her mother's costumes and original compositions. Her father's game notes. Their respective collections of game merchandise and memorabilia. The collection of manga and anime and games. All of it. It hadn't been thrown away, after all. She'd been so sure her obaa-sama would've disposed of the whole lot of it. No. Instead, their belongings had been properly placed out of all harm's way, and were now waiting quietly for Reina to come and reclaim it all in the States.
She must've started crying, because she found herself sniffling, and her food tasted a little saltier than it had before the letter. But Reina couldn't stop clinging to it, afraid, more than anything else, of waking up to find that today had been a dream. There could be no crueler way to end such a dream than with that key. By the time Reina curled up under the covers, the storm had finally abated, and revealed a starry sky. She watched the starlit skies pass above her train compartment, and she still clung to the key, terrified of the future, terrified of being rejected again, terrified of losing everything all over again, and, more importantly, terrified of ever waking up from this dream.
But, unfortunately, she needed sleep. Not for the first time in the last couple years, Reina wished for her large Fat Cat plushie to hang onto. But, now, as she felt herself drifting asleep, watching the stars, she felt something resembling hope. If tonight hadn't been a dream...Fat Cat was waiting for her. Somewhere, in a dusty storage unit on a different continent, hopefully properly bagged to protect him from damage, Fat Cat was waiting, and she wouldn't have to wait too many more nights before she need not sleep alone anymore.
The stars seemed to twinkle in silent promise, and it was only with that promise that Reina allowed sleep to claim her.
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