The Null Hypothesis, Part 2

"We're running late."

"I know, I know! You don't need to remind me!"

With the commotion that stirred up, it made Murasame forget about what was happening tonight. All he could theoretically get himself ready in well under thirty minutes, he never really liked his white suit. He knew he should find some that are more liked to his manner, but these ones were way too stuffy for their own good. Though, it probably didn't mean much, coming from a guy who constantly wore his business jacket unbuttoned from top to bottom.

Murasame stumbled down the stairs as he tried to straighten his tie. He couldn't get the angle right. Some rich families might have attendants to focus on such finer details, but he couldn't really care much about having people help him out. While it might have been useful, past circumstances made things rather awkward for him to suddenly start having an attendant help out.

"Come here. Let me help out."

"I got this! It's fine!"

Despite his complaint, the person in a white dress waiting for him reached out and straightened out his tie for him. He could only sigh in defeat, though he was the only one that saw it like that. She likely didn't see it as such, but while Murasame could see that, there was still some pride that he needed to keep here.

"I had it right there!"

"I'm sure you did, but I like helping out when I can. Is that so wrong?"

"Ugh. We'll mark it up as a collaboration effort then…"

"That sounds great."

They both walked out from the manor as a limousine was waiting for them.

The chauffeur opened the door to allow them to enter.

"Alright, let's head out, Ikaruga."

"Of course, Brother."

When Murasame's aptitude for being a shinobi turned out badly, the future of the Houou's successor became a dire situation. Even if Murasame had the grit and the intelligence, he didn't have the experience or the skill in order to take the place as the head of the Houou Clan. Quickly then, his father scouted the smaller branches of the Houou Clan and found a promising child to adopt into the main family. Murasame swore to hate that child because of what she stole from him, including the family heirloom, but once Murasame started to focus on the Phoenix Conglomerate, his hatred started to subside.

It opened his eyes to see that he wasn't the only victim here.

Needless to say, the past year has been spent trying to mend the broken relationship that the two siblings have. While he didn't know how Ikaruga would have taken it, he was surprised to see that she wanted to spend time with him as well. She had been saying how much she wanted to apologize about the circumstances, but when it came down to it, Murasame would be an idiot to blame it all on her. All Ikaruga was doing was what she was tasked to be by their parents.

In other words, their parents were… kinda bad at being parents. It wasn't too unexpected though. Even in Murasame's childhood, his father and his mother were often away in dealing with the company, rather than spend time with their first-born. It was always left to the hands of the caretakers. The only times that they would regularly show up was to check on Murasame's training to be a shinobi.

He even came to the conclusion as to why being a shinobi felt so important to him; it was merely because it would have bridged the gap between himself and his parents, but considering how hands-off they were with Ikaruga as well, he realized that passing the entrance exam himself wouldn't have done so. It didn't change his aspiration of being a shinobi nowadays since he has a new reason.

In any case, nothing much has changed for what kind of people they were. His father did make his sincerest apologies when Murasame confronted him about the previous circumstances, but it made it even more obvious that their parents weren't trying to be bad on purpose. The manner of the job caused the ripple to naturally form, so when events like this one happened, both Murasame and Ikaruga wouldn't hesitate to take their parents up on the offer.

"Lord Murasame? Lady Ikaruga?"

The chauffeur opened the door after their ride came to a stop.

"We have arrived at the restaurant."

"It's appreciated. Thank you."

"Yeah, whatever." Murasame scoffed. "The traffic was worse than expected, so we need to hurry in now. We can save the pleasantries for afterwards. He'll still be here."

"We wouldn't want to keep Mother and Father waiting for too long. Though, I wouldn't have phrased it in such a way, Brother…"

The restaurant was one of the fancier ones in town. A person couldn't simply walk in and take a seat; a reservation must be made in order to sit down at a table and on top of that, the courses were rather expensive. However, this was a restaurant that Murasame and Ikaruga have gone to many times already, so the restaurant staff practically know them already, as well as their parents. It was difficult not to when their family name had much prestige.

They didn't even have to do any identification checks; the workers already knew what they were here for.

"Come right this way, the both of you" a waiter said, guiding the siblings through the building. "Your parents have already arrived a few minutes prior."

"As expected…" Murasame sighed.

Their table was more isolated than the others. They had their own room booked, specifically meant for privacy. When a rich family wanted to have some time together over a meal, being interrupted was something that wouldn't be desired. Although this may be the case, there might have been another reason for such isolation to take place.

Once Murasame and Ikaruga walked into the room, they saw their parents sitting down on the other side of the table.

"Greetings, Mother and Father," Ikaruga bowed.

Murasame rolled his neck. "It's been a while since we saw your faces in person, hasn't it? It's been a month or two? All that international business is eating up a lot of your time lately."

"You can hardly blame us." Their father's voice was firm. The words that escape would be able to conquer the entire atmosphere, but that was what the head of a shinobi clan was capable of. "Not only do we have to help oversee the shinobi council and our clan's affairs, it's not very easy to break into the financial space of international waters."

"If it was," Murasame smirked, "everyone would be doing it, right? It's because it isn't easy, which is why it should be done. The Phoenix Conglomerate may perhaps be one of the bigger zaibatsus in Japan, but with what we're dealing with, we can always go higher."

"Indeed. That's why I ask that you do not hold it against us, Ikaruga and Murasame." Their mother bowed, speaking in a delicate tone. "We've been trying our best to do what we can as parents."

"Why would I? I suggested the idea to Father to begin with." Murasame shrugged. "How can I hold you for something that I suggested?"

"It is not as if you've been keeping away from us on purpose." Ikaruga said. "Both Mother and Father have been doing your due diligence in keeping regular contact with us."

"Of course," their father nodded. "I would rather not have the family suffer through my mistakes of the past again. As it was brought to my attention back then, communication is important, just as it is in a business."

"Though, a little softness here and there wouldn't be bad, especially for the family," their mother said with a smile. "Now then, let's not talk about the business or any of that while we have this rare chance to meet like this. Family meals happen once in a while and I believe your Father would agree that conversations over it should not be about what could be sent over a business email."

Their father glanced at their mother briefly. "I personally cannot promise that over the next few hours, but while there are some topics I'll leave for another interaction, there is something that cannot be avoided. In any case, please take a seat, you two."

As Murasame and Ikaruga took their seats, a waiter came into the room to talk about the course that was being prepared for them. It was the usual introductory spiel that they would have to do for everyone who comes, so the family was already used to the language. Murasame was the one to cut into the waiter, telling him that it was fine to leave and come back once their first item was finished.

It left the family a little extra time to talk among each other.

"Should we have that one topic be covered now?" Ikaruga asked. "I think it might be best if we get it out of the way first."

"I suppose that is a good idea."

Their father rested his elbows on the surface as if he had been at the end of a boardroom table. He even gazed at his children with the atmosphere belonging inside a shinobi council meeting. Their mother simply stayed quiet, allowing her husband to take the floor, as did Ikaruga and Murasame.

After some silence, their father spoke.

"Ikaruga. Murasame. Do you remember who Dōgen is?"

"Huh? Him?" Ikaruga flinched after hearing that name.

Murasame mulled his thoughts. "Wasn't he that hotshot CEO of that one company…? What was it again…? Ugh, I can't bother to remember what he was in charge of, but that isn't the important part, right? I at least remember the news that announced his sudden passing and what would become of his company. The shady-ass fuck ended up getting all of his business schemes uncovered and revealed to the country and shortly after, the business went under."

"I see now. You only know what the average person was told about him and what was on the news. Ikaruga might know a little more."

"What else was there relating to Genji?"

"Murasame. His name was Dōgen," their mother sighed. "Though, I suppose you're not wrong to think that you don't need to properly remember his name since he's been deceased for a while now."

Murasame glanced over to Ikaruga as she answered.

"Dōgen is the one responsible for what happened in Kyoto and as an extension, for what happened with all the yōma around Japan at that time. Do you still remember how there were yōma crawling around the city when we crossed paths back then?"

"Yeah? I managed to luckily avoid—I mean, skillfully defeat—every yōma that came my way. Though, I do have to say they were starting to get annoying to deal with until I managed to ditch Kyoto behind me." Murasame grunted and crossed his arms. "So you're telling me that I have that bastard to blame for making me deal with all of that? I couldn't meet up with my, uh, friends because of it."

"He was first defeated at the hands of two friends, Asuka and Homura, but he was ultimately vanquished after Kagura eliminated him from this world while he fused with Orochi."

"Alright? So he's dead, right? Six feet underground? He's not coming back for round two?"

"Round three, actually," Ikaruga corrected. "The Kyoto incident was his second attempt at openly dealing with yōma, according to a close friend of mine."

"He came back already!?"

"Brother raises a good point though," Ikaruga continued, ignoring Murasame's shock. "If Dōgen is already dead with his plans being foiled several months ago, for what reason is there to bring him up here, especially during dinner?"

"I want to give you a warning," their father answered. "While Dōgen's death is confirmed, it does not appear that his ambitions had ended there. The shinobi council has recently received word that there might have been another experiment that Dōgen was leading during his research of yōma. There was a raid on one of these facilities that was uncovered, but there hadn't been anything that could be recovered."

"Well, that sounds obvious enough. If an experiment's lead suddenly died," Murasame said, "there's no way that the experiment could continue. It's not a stretch to imagine that Dentō was financially supporting the entire operation."

"How did you get further away from Dōgen's name?" Ikaruga wryly asked.

"We did have the evidence that the experiment was still active, even after Dōgen's death," their father continued. "In fact, the shinobis sent there encountered resistance, strong enough for them to retreat. The entire facility went under during the encounter and whatever experiment had been there was left to be destroyed."

"So then, why couldn't anything be recovered?"

"Allegedly, despite confirming that the presence of the experiment was there during the raid, they couldn't find anything after it went down. The researchers there were diligent in covering their tracks, even within a small time frame, but nothing could be said for certain. The only thing the shinobis discovered was evidence of infighting between the raid and the return."

"Infighting…?"

"Damages done to the building that were not caused by the raid."

"Hold on, hold on." Murasame raised his hand. "This is cool and all, but this is bothering me a bit. Why the hell are you telling us about this? Where's the warning? We're not deeply involved with this operation in the slightest. The only connection we've got is Sister's knowledge of Sōtō."

Ikaruga and their mother thought Murasame was misremembering the name on purpose.

"I don't even think she fought the damn guy to begin with."

"I'll skip ahead to the point I want to make. While that is true, to which you two barely have any relation to Dōgen, we need to cast an open net for whatever other experiments have been going on through Dōgen's legacy. If the experiment is still running, someone else must have taken up the mantle and that is what I wish to inform you two about."

Their father grasped his own hands and held it down to the table.

"I personally believe something big is happening in the shadows, but strangely, the council isn't making any active moves towards it. I wish to ensure that you two are taking your steps carefully because whoever took up Dōgen's position must have similar wealth and ambition as him. Not to mention that if something does happen, we won't be able to make contact with you as quickly as we would hope."

Their mother nodded. "In other words, please keep in mind the possible dangers that may come from this possible underground operation. As long as we know them to be active, there are threats that can come at any moment without any warning."

"Possible dangers, huh…?"

Murasame rolled his eyes to Ikaruga.

"If this person is on the same status as Daishi, even being his successor…" Murasame stared back at his parents. "Then doesn't that mean anyone who foiled his plans in Kyoto would be someone considered to be dangerous to them? I mean, they stopped the yōma once, so they can do it again if anything happens. It should be easy for them."

Ikaruga stiffened. "So Asuka and the others are…"

"Indeed. That was one of the main points I was getting to. We can't have anything confirmed for certain, but considering how one of their facilities was situated in Tokyo, with more locations possibly hidden, we must assume that they aren't going to let the same thing happen twice."

"Did you already tell—!?"

"Of course. We've already informed Sensei Kiriya about this and he has ensured that your friends are knowledgeable about this. The council has also reached out to your fellow graduate about the possible threat."

"And what about those at Hebijo?"

"There is no jurisdiction, nor will the council be so keen on telling those of the evil shinobi fraction," their mother answered. "However, you keep in contact with one of them, correct? We're not restricting you on what you should or shouldn't do."

Without any hesitation, Ikaruga was already taking out her phone. While it might have been considered rude to text at a family dinner, the implications were more than enough to allow for this specific circumstances. In the meantime, Murasame rolled his eyes with a heavy sigh.

"Wait, so I'm a third wheel in this interaction!? There's actually no reason to be telling me any of this! I mean, those guys don't want me dead, do they!? What did I do!?"

"You did report to Kyoto for a short while during the yōma attacks, so…"

"It's better to cover all of the bases here, Murasame." Their father firmly answered over their mother's attempt at a gentle resolve. "Even if you were only there for a short time, it takes only one scouting report to conclude that you may have been involved in some capacity."

"Wow, geez, thanks," Murasame grumbled sarcastically. "I feel so important."

"I'm telling you the truth."

"Yeah, whatever."

Murasame already decided that the topic wasn't related to him. Whatever further that their parents wanted to say about that situation, the information went through one ear and out the other for Murasame, regardless of what their parents said. There wasn't anything else their parents could do about it, but that type of stubbornness doesn't fall far from the tree.

Once Ikaruga managed to get her text through, the waiters knocked on the door and started bringing out the first item of their multi-part course. Serious topics like before would eventually be kept to the side, allowing the family to have a meal together for the first time in a while.

A year ago, Murasame would never have thought to see days like these ones. For them to look like a normal family for once, it wasn't a bad scene to enjoy.

"Is something wrong, Brother?"

"Nah, it's nothing special."

Shrugging it off, Murasame took a bite of his meal.

-/SK-EV/-

Once the course was finished, Murasame and Ikaruga had to say goodbye to their parents.

They were already set to leave for the airport for an overseas business trip. They had their own private jet to get from place to palace at their own schedule, but it was the meetings and conferences that had to be respected. Murasame stood by the side as he watched Ikaruga give hugs to their mother and father. For someone like him, a gesture like that was too much, so a farewell handshake was more than enough. It wasn't as if they were going for good, only for another month or two.

As Murasame and Ikaruga sat back down in the limousine en route to their home, Murasame heard Ikaruga leave out a big sigh. Although Murasame was confident it was nothing, there was no harm in checking up on her. He couldn't be too obvious though.

"You're already missing them? Heh. You're far too soft, Sister."

"It's not that. I thought peaceful days like this one would never come."

"What are you talking about?"

Ikaruga glanced out the window, but Murasame could see her eyes in the reflection. "When I was entering Hanzō Academy, I thought it was my presence that shattered the family apart. I always blamed myself for being the one to cause the rift between our parents and you."

"H-Hey, now… Don't think that you're the only factor in that equation here. Father wasn't doing a good job talking with us, Mother wasn't really taking care of us, and me…" Murasame turned away, glancing out his own window. "I guess my attitude didn't really help the situation out."

"The problem is that I didn't do anything to resolve it. All I did was be sorry for everyone and move onward, thinking that all I could do was feel sorry. It made my first year into the academy rather bleak and empty until one of my classmates helped me out. Even then, it didn't really fix anything concerning my situation, just how I acted towards it."

Murasame could still remember the day that he was given advice by that weird old man. After talking with his father and focusing his efforts on the business, his anger naturally let go of itself. The rest of it was history once the broken-apart siblings were able to meet up once again and for the first time in Murasame's life, he was the one who apologized.

Though, he wasn't intending to make it a habit anytime soon.

It was enough for Murasame and Ikaruga to start over once again as siblings and from there, their parents got a little bit better at being parents once they discovered they were partly responsible for how everything played out. While Murasame might have once wished for it, the family's downfall wasn't something that he truly desired.

"Why are you suddenly reminiscing?"

"Having a family dinner made me think about the past again. I can't help it."

"There's no point to one's past. All that really matters is the future, isn't it? If someone like me can move on already, it makes me surprised that someone like you hasn't."

"It's not that I haven't moved on per say, but…"

A soft smile escaped from Ikaruga.

"When I compare the differences of the past and the present, I feel a flutter in my heart, a happiness that I thought I could never obtain. We've only met up like a family like this a handful of times ever since the reconciliations, but I can never get over these moments of bliss."

"... Hmph. Looks like I was right."

Murasame smirked, knowing exactly how she's feeling, but that wasn't something he was ready to admit. For now, playing the role of the prideful older brother was the calling card meant for him.

"You are way too soft, Sister."

The siblings kept their peace as their vehicle drove off into the night.