Atonement [Bakugo Katsuki]

🤍 Chapter 38 🤍

Kimitsuki took in the room that was in front of her – it was just any old traditional Japanese room as she expected, but it seemed to be serving as the study room. There were books and scrolls, and the walls were decorated similarly with wisteria. At the head of the room, however, sat an elderly man on a tatami dais, slightly elevated from the ground. It was clear that this room was designed to hold more intimate meetings and that burdened Kimitsuki.

The man had long white hair but it was clear that his were from old age rather than having them like her. His eyes were darker in colour and his posture seemed to give away that he was not as frail as he looked in appearance – certainly not surprising to her. He was himself dressed in silk, royal purple kimono, contrasted with his preferred gold.

Before the man was a rectangular table set with cooking tea and its utensils – the aroma told Kimitsuki that it was, in fact, lavender tea – and behind the man was byobu folding screen, featuring the same gold dragon from outside with a large wisteria tree.

On the left of the man was a large purple zabuton cushion on which a long-haired black cat was fast sleep, looking not the slightly bothered by her presence.

To her left, the windows were left open and allowing cool breeze travel inside. The engawa was overlooking the wonderful garden and the sun was descending rapidly, and in the distance, Kimitsuki could see someone throwing feed to a pond alive with nishikigoi fish, and in the distance, the wisteria seemed to be glowing with the moonlight.

"Good evening," Kimitsuki greeted, bowing herself as low as she could and staying put for a second or two before straightening up, her hands locked in front of her. "My name is Kuroyanagi Kimitsuki, and I was informed that you wanted to... meet me,"

"Please take a seat," replied the elderly man.

Kimitsuki nodded and walked forward, feeling the warm tatami floor as she walked to the table and took the open purple zabuton laid for her. She took the Seiza posture, not wanting to look rude and was suddenly glad that it was something she was used to because she felt like she was going to be sitting here for a very long time without moving an inch.

"I am very pleased to see that you chose to come," started the man. "You may or may not know me so I must introduce myself to you. My name is Mushanokouji Ryunosuke, and I am the father of my dear Tsukichiyo, your mother. That must make me your grandfather, hm? Dear girl, it's okay to be relaxed,"

For a moment, Kimitsuki stared at his face, surprised as she processed what he had just said. And when she saw that he was smiling encouragingly, she relaxed her posture slightly but still opted to remain formal – because she didn't know him personally.

"I was not... aware that you were my... grandfather," Kimitsuki said carefully, her hands folded on her lap. "I must greet you properly, in that case..."

"It's okay," Ryunosuke replied, and Kimitsuki remained still. "I understand your desire to do so but I must earn your respect, should I not? Especially since, I understand, we were meeting for the first time and clearly, I have failed to reach out to you. There are several things that I must justify to you, and explain everything that you may be questioning,"

"Yes..." Kimitsuki spoke quietly.

"I suppose I must introduce myself to you," Ryunosuke continued. "I'm the current head of the Mushanokouji Family. I have been one since the last thirty years. However, I haven't been working as a Hero from the past few years, I'm sure you've heard that?"

"Yes, I heard about it in the news," Kimitsuki replied, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Um, everyone was talking about it..."

"That is right," Ryunosuke confirmed. "Tsukichiyo was my eldest child, and I had hoped that she would take over my position. She was very talented and collected, at times more than myself. She was still quite young when she passed away,"