Chapter 1 / The Null Hypothesis, Part 2
"Please hurry. We're running late."
"I know, I know! You don't need to remind me!"
He didn't realize that the distraction today made him return later than he had expected. Murasame could get himself ready in well under thirty minutes, but he never liked some of his suits. He thought that those ones were too stuffy for their own good, but it probably didn't mean much from a guy who wore his outer 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 his pride wouldn't allow them to help. He felt like he needed to be as capable on his own two feet because of his past.
"Come here. Let me help out."
"I got this! It's fine!"
Despite his complaint, a black-haired girl in a white dress reached out and straightened out his tie for him upon his arrival at the base of the stairs. He could only resign himself to defeat, but he was clearly the only one who saw it as such. The girl was softly smiling, helping without a second thought.
"I had it right there already!"
"I'm sure you did, but could you let me do this for you?"
"If you really want to do something this small, then fine. Do what you want."
"Thank you, Brother."
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."
When Murasame's combat aptitude concluded with poor results, the future of the Houou's successor became dire since that person needed to be a shinobi. His father had immediately scouted the smaller branches of the Houou Clan and found a promising child to adopt into the main family. Murasame had sworn to hate that child because of what she had stolen from him, including the family heirloom, but once Murasame crawled out from his hatred, he realized that he wasn't the only person that was suffering.
The past year had been spent trying to mend the broken relationship between the two siblings. While he didn't know how Ikaruga would have acted at first, he was surprised to see that she had really wanted to spend time with him. She had been wanting to express her sincerity about their circumstances, but Murasame would be an idiot to blame it all on her.
In other words, their parents were 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. The only times that they would regularly show up was to check on Murasame's shinobi progress.
His father had made his sincerest apologies when Murasame confronted him about their circumstances, but it made it even more obvious that their parents weren't trying to be bad on purpose. This lifestyle caused the ripple to naturally form, so when family events like this one happened nowadays, Murasame and Ikaruga had never hesitated to clear their schedules.
After all, they needed to make up for their lost time.
"Lord Murasame? Lady Ikaruga?"
The chauffeur opened the door after their ride came to a stop.
"We have arrived at the restaurant."
"It is appreciated. Thank you."
Murasame scoffed. "The traffic was worse than expected, so we'll need to hurry in."
"Indeed. We wouldn't want to keep Mother and Father waiting for too long."
The restaurant was one of the fanciest 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.
"Come right this way, the both of you," a waiter called out. "Your parents have already arrived."
"Tell us something we don't know."
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, but there might have been another reason for such isolation in their personal circumstances.
Once they walked in, 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? All that international business has been eating up your time lately."
"You can hardly blame us." Their father's voice was firm and powerful, but that was what was expected from the head of a shinobi clan. "Not only do we have to help oversee the shinobi council and our clan's affairs, it's not very easy to expand into international waters."
"If it was, everyone would be doing it. It isn't easy and that is exactly why it must be done by us. The Phoenix Conglomerate may perhaps be one of the bigger zaibatsus in Japan, but we can always strive for better. Why the hell would our family crest be a phoenix if we can't be damned to follow in its spirit?"
"That's why I ask that you do not hold it against us." Their mother bowed, speaking in a delicate tone. "We've been trying to be better as your parents over the last year."
"And why would we have a grudge over this? I suggested the idea to Father to begin with." Murasame shrugged. "How can I hold you accountable for something that was my idea?"
"It is not as if you've been keeping away on purpose." Ikaruga added. "You've been keeping your due diligence in regular contact with us and it is greatly appreciated."
Their father nodded. "I would rather not have the family suffer through my mistakes. Not again. Communication is important in a family just as it is in business, perhaps even more so, and I should have known that before even considering our shinobi lineage."
"A little lightheartedness here and there wouldn't be bad," their mother giggled. "Let's not talk about the business or anything related to that while we have this chance to be together. Family meals happen once in a while and I believe your father would agree these conversations should not be about what could be sent over an email."
Murasame and Ikaruga took their seats as their multi-course dinner were starting to come out from the kitchen. Everything they spoke about as the night went on was nothing more than catching up with some banter here and there, nothing more than what could be voiced out during a phone call, but there was an essence in speaking before them.
Murasame and their father drank a healthy amount of sake as their lips loosened to speak over his mother's wishes, but they were enjoying themselves in talking about the business so much that his mother had to let it slide. It gave her some peace as she wanted to do in depth as to how Ikaruga was doing at her university.
"Murasame!" their father exclaimed while being slightly flushed, but he was still holding his alcohol very well. "You haven't decided on who you should elect as your personal assistant? Have I not provided to you a selection of carefully-selected applicants that could fulfill the role?"
"Screw off, old man." Murasame sighed. "I haven't seen anybody that I feel like they could work well with me. That isn't my fault!"
"Have you considered that you might have to be the one that needs to work well with them, Brother?" Ikaruga awkwardly laughed. "Is the main reason as to why you've been rejecting many of the applicants is because they don't satisfy your personal criteria?"
"And what would this personal criteria be?" their father asked. "I'd like to know in order to send you more appropriate candidates."
"They've got to click with me." Murasame snapped his fingers. "Capability isn't what I'm looking for, especially since I'm already extremely capable of handling everything already, but if I can't immediately think that they can be my assistant, the assistant of Murasame Houou, then I can't ever imagine working with them for any longer than a week."
Ikaruga tilted her head, not exactly understanding the explanation.
"It is rather vague criteria," their mother sweatdropped.
"If you're going to continue in this business," their father continued, "I do have to recommend that you find yourself an assistant to make your life easier sooner or later. Without your mother helping me out, I wouldn't be able to be as efficient as I am now."
"But it's not as if you can't follow my thinking," Murusame shrugged. "It's because I know that you have Mother as your assistant, you know how important it is for an assistant to be able to click well with me. They could be the best assistant in the world, but if we can't get along, it's as good as nothing."
Murasame refilled his sake cup from the bottle.
"Knowledge can be taught. Personalities cannot."
"Are you sure you're not excusing yourself because you've been too dismissive of this idea?"
Murasame leered away from their father.
"Oh, Murasame…" their mother sighed, but she turned to their father. "I suppose it's not as if he is in the position where he absolutely needs the assistant right now, so there isn't any harm in letting things move on like this. Besides, Murasame has been taking care of himself very well with the business, so rushing things isn't necessary."
"I've offered to step in to be Brother's assistant already, but…"
"I'm telling you that you shouldn't," Murasame grunted. He softly slammed the cup on the table. "You barely have enough time to become my assistant as it is between your academics, your social life, and the missions you take as a shinobi. I haven't even mentioned the volunteer work you've been doing under the name of the conglomerate. I can't allow you to smear the Houou name out there by overworking yourself."
"Murasame, I…"
"Actually, if anything, you would be further besmirching your own name by being my assistant. Showing yourself to be overworked is like raising a white flag to your enemies, showing that you're incapable of taking care of yourself. You're the one inheriting Father's seat, so it would be unwise for you to start off in the company like that."
Murasame scoffed.
"Know your place a little more!"
Ikaruga could only laugh at her brother's response. Despite his tone and choice of words, it's evident that Murasame was only looking out for his little sister in the best way he could.
"Murasame does have a point," their mother responded, smiling as well. "You won't do anyone any favors if you task yourself with too much all at once. You don't even need to physically help out with our volunteer events. Having our representatives there is good enough."
"I offered it because I wanted to. I know what my limits are."
Murasame scoffed. "Sometimes, I have to wonder about that."
"As if you have the luxury to say that," Ikaruga softly giggled. "Please remind me who chose to pull multiple all-nighters in order to resolve those issues regarding the database mishap as soon as possible. While I used the word 'chose', I feel like it is more accurate to say that they 'forgot to sleep'. Am I correct to assume that?"
"Wait, was that how that was resolved?" their mother gasped in surprise.
"And I was capable of doing that. I ended up fixing all of those mistakes those interns made before the week's end! I even got a higher shareholder approval rating out of it! You're worrying too much about things that happened in the past! I get enough sleep, Mother! You don't need to start caring over my sleep schedule so suddenly! I'm an adult already!"
The family started to laugh over Murasame's antics. A cheerful atmosphere covered the room and any onlookers to the scene would never have guessed that more than a year ago, this family had been fragmented right down the middle. They had to make up for the precious time in some capacity and if this was how they needed to go about it, then it shall be done.
Their normalcy as a family was as important as ever.
Murasame would never have thought to see days like these ones, but it wasn't a bad scene to enjoy. A subtle smile escaped from his lips.
"Is something wrong, Brother?"
"Nah, it's nothing special."
Murasame continued to bite into his meal.
"Yeah. This really shouldn't be anything special."
-/SK-EV/-
Once the course was finished, Murasame and Ikaruga said their goodbyes to their parents.
They were already set to leave for the airport for another overseas business trip. Murasame stood by the side as he watched Ikaruga give hugs to their mother and father. For someone like him, a handshake was more than enough. While they sat back down in the limousine en route to their home, Murasame heard Ikaruga leave out a big sigh.
"You're already missing them? 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 entered 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 in our family."
"Hey. 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 until one of my classmates opened my eyes a bit. 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 old man. After talking with his father and everything was cleared up, his anger let go of itself. When the broken siblings were able to meet up, he apologized for the first time in his life.
It was enough for Murasame and Ikaruga to start over once again as siblings and from there, their parents got better at being parents once they discovered they were responsible for how everything transpired. Everyone had their own part to play to rebuild their familial bond.
"Why are you suddenly reminiscing?"
"Having a family dinner again made me think about the past. I can't help it."
"There's no point to the past. All that really matters is the future. 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 my past and my present, I feel a flutter in my heart, a happiness that I thought I could never obtain. I always thought it was something that was out of my hand's reach. We've only met up like a true family like this a handful of times ever since the reconciliations, but I can never get over these moments of bliss."
"Looks like I was right then."
Murasame knew 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.
A soft chuckle escaped from Murasame.
"You are far too soft, Sister."
The siblings kept their peace as their vehicle drove off into the night.