Huh, I hadn't had even the chance to get back my senses from the few bombs like news that kept falling on me, when she seemed to be dropping another bomb at me all of a sudden, I didn't know what to think of at first, I had just joined the family .
She had agreed to grant me my freedom, that was already plenty, it made me grateful already, but then I got a new identity as the prince of the Yotsuba Family, not only that but I was even described by the Yotsuba Family Head as one of the family's heirs .
And if that wasn't surprising enough, she actually summoned the two siblings from before and introduced me as their cousins, I for the first time was at a complete loss of what to do or think, it seemed that I wasn't the only one who was feeling like that .
I saw the uncertainly in the eyes of the two siblings, one was completely confused about what was going on and it was being displayed on her face, the other guy expression was still as stiff as before, but I was still able to tell that he was confused and even shocked .
I also couldn't help but wonder to myself that this move she pulled, was with the intention to annex the military, but the message I had just received seemed to imply that everything was still good, so what in the world was going on with her all of a sudden .
Seeing that we all were confused about what to do or even think, the grin on her face become even wider and more brilliant, which for some reason annexed the two siblings, the girl even went directly and hid behind her brother while the guy she took cover in, spread his hand to the said in as if protecting the little girl for something .
Seeing them reacting like this, I couldn't help but turn my head towards the woman who seemed to be still quite uncaring about what was going on, she said after she stopped smiling :
I know you are all confused, but how ill-mannered of you to not be greeting your lost cousin, so how about you reintroduce yourselves to him, then we can chat more thoroughly about everything else .
At her words, I saw that the girl seem to come back to her senses and she straightened her figure then looked at me and blushed a little which for some reason ended up in making me earn a deathly glare from her older brother, she then bowed her head slightly and took the posture of a fair lady and said :
Welcome back Ryuu-san, I'm Yotsuba Miyuki, your cousin from your aunt Yotsuba Miya, nice to see you .
Seeing her introducing herself again like this but in a more refined manner, I once again turned my gaze to the woman that was the instigator of all of this and couldn't help but wonder what she was really having in mind, but all I saw was her motioning me with her hands to go ahead and respond to the greeting of the girl, it felt a bit awkward to be saying the same words I said before, so I instead improvised, saying :
" It's nice to see you again, Miyuki-san .
This isn't a proper way to greet a lady, you lack of manners and your voice is also quite loud, look at how Tatsyua-san will introduce himself and learn .
I was harshly reprimanded by her for the lack of manners, I wanted to already lash out, but reason got the best of me and in the end I just looked at the guy who seemed to be still glaring at me to see that he bowed slightly like Miyuki while holding his shoulder with one hand and his waist with another then he said :
It's good to see you back, I'm Shiba Tatsyua, I'm the older brother of Miyuki and also your cousin, nice to meet you .
Why do young men these days lacks of proper manners, I was telling you to introduce yourself formally to him, but you still went and introduced yourself with your father's family name, do it more properly one more time .
Just as she finished saying those words, the room completely fell into silence, I saw no problem with the way they both had introduced themselves, they were giving out the air of well-mannered young man and woman, both their introductions unlike mine, were quite graceful .
Yet, she was still pointing out that something was missing, her words made the room fell into silent for some unknown reason, I couldn't help but turn my head back and looked at the two people now in front of me, I saw that Miyuki was covering her mouth with her hand and looking shocked, as if she just heard the most incredulous think in the world .
Tatsyua wasn't even looking at me, he was as expressionless as before, but he was staring intently at the woman that just finished talking, but after a few seconds, he still introduced himself to me again, but this time he didn't call himself a Shiba, but called himself Yotsuba Tatsyua .
If I was guessing before that there might some internal trouble regarding the name, I was now completely certain of my previous guess being correct, something fishy was indeed going on here, as he finished saying this, I not wanting her to criticize me again, I imitated the movement he did a bit stiffly, then thanked him for the kind welcome and introduced myself in similar way, then I heard her applaud and her saying :
Much better than before, now since introductions are over, you three should sit on the couch .
Clueless about about what was going on, I still complied and was the first one to set at the couch, I waited for the two to join me, but they didn't sit beside me nor do they seem to be doing that anytime soon as well, just as I was about to turn my head telling them to hurry up, I heard a cold voice sounding behind me, Tatsyua was saying :
Aunt Maya, could you cut the chase and tell us what is going on here already ? .
It could be my imagination but I felt that his tone was more cold than usual, my actions of hurrying them up halted and I instead looked at the woman on the desk and saw that she had already turned the back of the chair towards us, what was that about, just as I thought like that, I heard her saying :
That's what I was going to do if you were to sit down, I will explain some of the things that will be changing from now on .
As she said this, the two of them didn't say anymore unnecessary words and they began to take a seat on the couch, I was sitting in the middle but once he sat down beside me, he told me to move a bit to make a room for Miyuki, I not wanting to waste more time, so I just moved and made enough space .
We sat there, all wore the same confused expression on our faces looking at the back of the chair in front of us, she sensing that we already had taken our seats, she began to say :
From now on, Tatsyua-san can introduce himself as a Yotsuba family member without much of a problem, as long as you wanted to .
Miyuki-san , after considering your suggestion about attending First High School, I decided to allow you to do so without a problem, but under two condition, you will entering First High School as a Shiba not as a Yotsuba, you will also need to have Tatsyua-san enrolled in the school as well .
As for you Ryuu, allow me to ask you first, how much do you know about the world ? .
Noticing the weird expression of the two siblings as they were being told this, I couldn't help but wonder whether what she was suggesting good or bad, they seemed to have mixed feelings about what they just heard, hearing her asking me a question, even though I was a bit startled by her mentioning my name, I still said :
" I had knowledge of how to interact with other people, I also had a basic understanding of the world around me from the teachings I got back in the institute I was in before .
So how do you feel about attending school then to get more knowledge about this world and who knows have fun ? .
Her sudden question caught me off guard, it seemed that the same went with the siblings, we were staring wide-eyed at the back of that chair, all perhaps wondering about the same thing, what exactly does she have in mind .
" I don't have much feelings about doing this, does going to school the only way you can increase your knowledge through ? .
It's not the only way, with your wit, I believe that you could be able to acquire the same knowledge without needing to go to school, but I'm asking if you would like to go or not ? .
I kept shaking the idea around in my mind a few times and no matter how many time I did believe that I found the answer, it seemed to be slipping off my hand, in the end I decided to refuse, but the screen that was still there, suddenly the program which was on it returned to broadcast, but the woman before was no longer on screen, in place of her was a guy wearing a Black suit .
He had some cards on his hands and I heard him beginning to say something about the prince of the Yotsuba Family will be attending First High School, starting follow this year, hearing him say this, I couldn't help look at the back of the chair and I heard her voice saying :
If you don't like the arrangements you can say it directly and I will order your enrollment to the school to be called off, now tell me what you truly think, do you want to go or no ? .
Even though I was still a bit indecisive about how I should respond to all that just happened, I still approved of going to school, after thinking that it might be a good experience for me, hearing my approval, she continued to say :
You should have understood with what identity will you be going to the school by ? .
You will be the representative of the Yotsuba Family in the First High School, you might not understand currently what responsibility that may implied but once you enter the school you will be able to understand .
" If you had the plan of me attending that school from the beginning, to as per your words increase my knowledge, then why you exposed my identity like that, instead you could have just given me any other identity, I'm beginning to think that I'm not being asked to go there just so that I could increase my knowledge .
Oh, why did you think so, I indeed want you to attend that school to expand your knowledge, but there was indeed another task I wanted you to do .
I expected as much, she will still try to use me as a tool in the end, as I was thinking like this, I heard her next words and I was unable to react for a while, she continued to say :
As the prince of the Yotsuba Family and one of its supposedly heirs, I want you to represent the family as best as you could, for that in the next period of time, you will rehabilitated and you will be taught of how you will act properly from now on and untill you join the school, I want you to be at your best when you arrived at school .
After hearing what she said, I really kept looking at the back of that chair absent-mindedly, unable to understand what might her words mean, she wanted to rehabilitate me and mold me into someone better than what I currently was, but why, why will it even be my turn to represent the family when she literally had two people that were already enrolling in that school .
You are wondering why would I chose you to be the person who will represent the family, let me tell you this first, just so that you are aware, you will be the first formal Yotsuba Family member to step into that school grounds, you might also not be aware of this, but I actually chose you because you meet the requirements of the criteria that I set for what I could see the representative of the family look like .
I also wanted to make use of this opportunity to remind the world of the Yotsuba Family, thinking of it as me following your advice and trying to steer the family towards a new destination and I believe that you will certainly do well, after learning all the skills that being a representative of us Yotsuba required, do you understand now .
After hearing her saying this, I couldn't help but open Spatial Eyes and look at her expression and saw that she was actually genuinely smiling, for some reason that put me at ease and I no longer cared about whether was that the real reason for making such arrangements or not, since she wanted me to do it, then I will do it, I was also beginning to become a bit curious about that First High School as well .
What is wrong with you onii-sama ? .
Hearing Miyuki asking Tatsyua this, I couldn't help but turn my head and look at him, he wore a stunned expression on his face while staring at the back of the chair, just as I was just doing, so he seemed to be doing exactly what I just done, using his superpower to see what she was currently looking like, he was probably stunned at her smiling, or maybe something else, I'm just guessing here .
He hearing the concerned tone of Miyuki, he came to his senses, he calmed her first telling her that he was fine, then all of a sudden he turned towards me and nodded his head .
I was confused at why he was exactly nodding at me for, but I still replied his nod with me nodding back, I'm still not completely certain of what was going on, but what I was certain about was that I might have achieved one of my goals, getting a home .
Now, I hope you both will wait me outside the room, Tatsyua-san will stay, I had some things that I wanted to discuss with you, Miyuki-san you have the freedom to go back to your room or giving him a tour of the house, but be sure to bring him here in utmost 15 minutes, if you think it's a bother, don't worry yourself much about it .
I WILL DO IT .