The rooms were indeed ridiculous, at least in both Kei and Yuji's opinions. They spent the first five minutes making fun of the Zen'in taste in decor and their clear preference for wealth over tasteful decor.
Once they finished getting some of their childish insults out, Kei sat on the edge of the bed, gesturing for Yuji to do the same.
"How are you feeling?" Yuji asked, eyes full of concern.
"Frustrated already," Kei admitted, tipping his head back and allowing his body to fall back onto the overly plush bed, "I never wanted to be involved in Zen'in politics, you know that, but I knew the minute Gojo mentioned it that it was a good plan."
"And it saves Megumi," Yuji added quietly.
"And it saves Megumi," Kei agreed softly, "I'm glad. I-He shouldn't have to grow up worrying about that contract."
Sensing Kei's mood, Yuji tipped himself back onto the bed as well, staring up at the way too opulent ceiling beside his friend. He was quiet for several minutes, letting Kei process probably, but eventually he had to ask, "So what now?"
"Now, we go to dinner," the black haired teen replied, "Sorry, but you're going to have to wait to eat. They won't allow you to sit at the table with us, I'm sure. It won't be like this every meal time though. The clan only eats together once a week normally, otherwise most of them take their meals in private. I'm being forced to go to dinner so Naobito can parade me around and use my existence to stir shit up amongst the other possible heirs to the clan. He thinks they've gotten complacent, so he's planning to use my technique, lineage, and grade 1 status to kick the others into gear."
"So I know Toji was your dad, but how exactly are you related to these people?" Yuji asked.
Figuring Yuji should probably have at least a basic idea of the Zen'in family tree, Kei explained, "The last clan leader had two sons, my father and Zen'in Jinichi. When he passed, technically the head of the clan should have been my uncle, Jinichi, but due to the fact that he joined the Hei and swore off marriage and children, he was passed up in the line of succession. After that, the head of the clan should have been my dad as he was married and had a child on the way, but due to his lack of cursed energy and the fact that he'd already left the clan by then, he was also bypassed in the line of succession. The next option was Naobito, the current clan head as he was my grandfather's second son, was married, and had a child, my cousin Naoya. Naoya is assumed to be the next clan leader even though he's Naobito's youngest son as he manifested an inherited cursed technique, but there's the possibility that it could pass onto someone else if they have a stronger technique or already have an heir. For example, Naobito has a younger brother with a strong cursed technique that's already married and has two heirs, however his heirs are Maki and Mai, both of whom are women and considered to be extremely weak since Maki barely has any cursed energy and no cursed technique while Mai has a cursed technique, but her cursed energy is barely strong enough to be a sorcerer."
"So Naobito is your great uncle, which means you're closely related enough to him to be a threat to the line of succession?" Yuji asked, trying to clarify while he rubbed his forehead.
"Basically," Kei confirmed, "It's especially true since Naoya just turned 17 in February of this year and I'll be 16 about a month. If I were to get married right out of school and get to work on making an heir it'd basically be a done deal for me to become the next clan leader."
Yuji suddenly sat up on the bed, "...You aren't planning to go that far, right?"
Resisting the urge to kick his friend off the bed, Kei rolled his eyes, "Of course not. Besides, it'll hardly matter since even I happen to know that unless something really drastic happens, Naoya hadn't managed to convince some poor girl into marriage even in 2018. I doubt that's going to change just because of us."
Considering that, Yuji seemed to relax somewhat, then hummed, "So you'll be 16 in about a month? Guess we aren't keeping our original birthdays, then?"
"Probably shouldn't," the other responded, "I'm going with May 22nd. Same day, just adjusted the month to more closely match my physical age since we jumped from November to March."
"Guess I should go with July 20th then?" Yuji muttered, a strange look on his face.
"Are you doing okay with all this?" Kei asked, looking at Yuji in concern.
His friend simply shrugged, "I don't know. It's all so weird. I can still barely believe we're in 2007, but making all these changes, pretending to be people we're not, it kind of feels like we're just pretending our future doesn't matter."
"It matters," Kei stated immediately, "It matters a lot. Because of everything we went through we know what we need to change, who we need to save and when. Our future, our past, whatever you want to call it, it gave us experience and memories. I'll never forget how things could have turned out without this chance to change things, and I'll never forget what our friends and fellow sorcerers were willing to do for us, the kind of people they became and how they cared for us."
Mouth dropped open, Yuji stared at his friend, causing Kei to blush and turn away.
Deciding to spare his best friend, Yuji simply smiled at the other, "You're more caring than you give yourself credit for, Meg-"
Immediately, he slapped a hand across Yuji's mouth, "Kei. You can't use that name. No one can hear you call me that, Yuji. Don't risk it, even when we're alone."
"Sorry," he muttered as Kei dropped his hand, "I'll get used to it, promise."
Grimacing a bit, Kei gave Yuji a sympathetic look, "I know it's hard. My full name changed so you can't even use any part of my real name like I can use Yuji. I'll probably slip up and use your first name more than I should as well.
"Come on, we need to get ready for dinner. Are you okay with standing behind me? I wouldn't make you go, but I want to make sure everyone sees your face so they don't think you're just a new servant they can mess with," Kei prompted Yuji to stand up from the bed.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," Yuji dismissed the concern immediately with a small smile, "I don't really like the idea of letting you face down the clan without at least some back up anyways."
"Let's work on that list while we wait for the servant," Kei suggested, walking towards the desk in the room he'd spotted earlier and picking up a notepad and pencil.
Following quickly, Yuji immediately started spouting off various products he normally used to bathe, Kei writing them down quickly as well as his own. He also requested basic clothing items, thankful that the two of them were close enough in size to be able to share some clothing at least until they got to Jujutsu Tech and could get Gojo to help them buy clothes for Yuji assuming the Zen'ins refused to pay for Kei's bodyguard's clothing or give him access to some sort of allowance.
Such plans, thankfully, turned out to be entirely unnecessary. The same servant from before, Asami, came to collect them and informed Kei that she had inquired as to whether or not his bodyguard was to be allowed to request supplies for himself or not.
Naobito must have been feeling generous, as he had ordered the servants to treat Yuji as they would any other guest sorcerer visiting the clan rather than an employee. This allowed Yuji more freedom than either of them had dared to hope for, but then again, Kei figured he probably should have considered that possibility when Naobito ordered Yuji to be placed in the northern wing where they commonly housed important guests rather than in the servants quarters. In his defense, Kei had only been clan leader for about a week before he was thrown into the past and he'd been actively avoiding anything to do with the clan.
Asami led them to the main dining room in silence. Upon reaching the dining room, she curtsied and left the moment Kei nodded to dismiss her.
"Remember," Kei said, "Just stand along the wall behind me and say nothing unless I give you permission."
"Got it," Yuji agreed and then opened the doors for Kei to enter.
Immediately, Kei was relieved to see that the entire clan was not present at dinner, however the ones currently sitting at the table were arguably the worst of the clan, so the relief was minimal.
Naobito stood from the head of the table and greeted him.
"Welcome, Kei. Come, sit next to me on my left. I'll introduce you to the family," he said, surprising probably everyone by the fact that it was now past five p.m. and he was still sober.
As requested, Kei walked towards the open seat on Naobito's left, ignoring the scowls and glares tossed his way as well as the openly curious, yet non hostile looks as well.
The moment he sat down, Naobito began introducing him.
"Listen up, everyone! I have no doubt that you've already heard the rumors, but I'm introducing him anyway, so none of you idiots can claim ignorance later on. This is Zen'in Kei. He's Toji's eldest son that even Toji never knew existed. We all figured that was a possibility, that Toji had another brat out there none of us knew about yet, but now it's a reality. I've welcomed Kei into the family in place of his younger brother, Megumi. Kei bargained with me to cancel Megumi's contract, so he'll be taking his place. Fushiguro Megumi is to be left alone, provided he doesn't wish to join the family of his own free will and that Kei here follows through on his part of our deal.
"Now, I know you're all probably wondering why I would make such a big deal out of his introduction to the family, but I'm doing it because you've all become complacent. You all think being born into your positions in the family or having a strong cursed technique is enough to secure your position in the clan, but now that Kei's here you're all in for a surprise," Naobito ranted, looking seconds away from cackling eviling and rubbing his hands together like a stereotypical villain.
"Oi! Stop with the dramatics old man!" the blonde teenager across from Kei called out, "Get to the point."
Sighing, Naobito looked at the teenager in despair, "This is the kind of arrogance I'm talking about, Naoya. But very well.
"Zen'in Kei is in the running to become the next clan leader."
Immediately, the clan members present roared. Behind him, Yuji tensed, stepping away from the wall and towards Kei before Kei shook his head at him briefly.
"Shut up!" Naobito shouted over the others, once again gaining everyone's attention, "You've all brought this on yourselves! Maybe if you all weren't such a bunch of sad sacks I wouldn't have even considered letting someone raised outside the clan become the next leader, but you are and I know talent when I see it.
"Kei is Toji's eldest son, only 15, and he informs me that he currently has the skills required to be given the rank of a grade 1 sorcerer. And more importantly than all of that, he inherited the Ten Shadows technique."
Chaos erupted once again, shouts of disbelief and accusations flying wildly and most of them vaguely in Kei's direction. Knowing the quickest way to put at least some of the shouts to rest, Kei quickly summoned his shikigami.
"Divine Dogs!" he whispered quietly.
Slowly, the other clan members seemed to notice his shikigami and most of them quieted down, immediately recognizing their clan's favored inherited technique on sight. The shikigami did nothing to stop the glares, not that Kei particularly cared about those.
Once most of the shouting died down, Naobito spoke again, "Now, you see the proof right in front of you. I understand you don't like it, but I don't care. I'm clan leader and until I die what I say goes. Once I'm dead you all can do whatever you want for all I care, but until then you'll have to get over yourselves. If you want a shot at being the next clan leader, you're going to have to convince me that you're a better choice than this kid, a grade 1 sorcerer at 15 and holder of the Ten Shadows technique.
"I'll hear no further arguments on the matter. For now, we're going to have a nice family dinner. I'm going to introduce all of you to Kei so he knows exactly who it is that's going to attempt to stab him in his sleep tonight and can tell me the next morning when you inevitably fail due to your own incompetence."
There were many grumbles, but the clan members all quieted down to glares and mutters under their breath or to whispers quietly to their neighbor.
Personally, Kei wanted to slam his head through the table. He'd known going to the Zen'in clan would be a pain in the ass, but he was already regretting the decision more than he'd thought possible.
Naobito went around the table, starting with Naoya, and introduced each clan member. Kei knew almost all of them already thankfully, though some looked extremely different. He noted that neither Maki nor Mai were present during the dinner and felt rather envious of them.
When Naobito got to Ogi, Kei decided that since the rest of the clan already hated him, he might as well have some fun at their expense. As Naobito began to move on to the next member, Kei spoke up.
"I thought you had children, Ogi? My tutor knew I was a Zen'in so I was kept updated on the family, but I swear I was informed you had children. Twin girls, I believe it was?" Kei asked, letting a look of mild confusion come over his face.
Ogi scowled, "It's true. I have two daughters, useless though they are."
"Useless?" Kei asked, brow furrowed, "How so? I would think having heirs would strengthen your position?"
He threw a glance at Naobito, ignoring the knowing smirk on the elder man's face, and then returned his attention to Ogi.
Gritting his teeth, Ogi was forced to admit, "They're weak. Maki, the eldest, has the same amount of cursed energy as a non-sorcerer and no cursed technique. Mai, the younger, has barely enough cursed energy to become a sorcerer, and if she has a cursed technique she's yet to show it."
"Strange," Kei commented idly, "It's rare enough for someone to be born into a sorcerer family without enough cursed energy to become at least an assistant manager, and to have no cursed technique is just as rare. But still, they are heirs. My own father is proof that they could have children of their own with powerful cursed techniques and strong cursed energy. I would think that'd still make them useful. Or perhaps you're just squandering your resources."
It was cold and Kei tried his best to avoid perpetuating any stereotypes, but he wanted to try to protect his cousin from the mistreatment she'd told him she'd gone through in the clan as much as possible. Perhaps, if Ogi realized the twins held at least some usefulness, he'd treat them better.
It was a longshot, but Kei couldn't resist the urge to try.
Sure enough, Ogi scoffed at Kei's words, snarling back, "That's an unproven theory. You may have been born lucky enough to have strong cursed energy and inherit one of the clan's techniques, but you could be an outlier. There's no proof that either of them would be able to provide useful heirs."
"Except it's not just me," Kei reminded the older man patiently, "Toji had another child and Megumi has already proven to have strong cursed energy, though his cursed technique hasn't manifested yet from what I understand.
"I think two different strong children, both with two different non-sorcerer mothers and a father with the Zen'in lineage despite having no cursed energy himself is proof enough that Maki and Mai might be able to prove strong heirs despite their own limited cursed energy and techniques."
The table was silent when Kei finished speaking, the atmosphere even more tense than it had been just minutes before. After another moment, Naobito began cackling, drawing everyone's attention.
"Well Ogi," the cackling man began, "the brat has a point. His existence alongside young Megumi's certainly does prove the possibility of strong heirs coming from clan members not blessed with strong cursed energy or cursed techniques. So what are you going to do about it?"
Gritting his teeth, Ogi glared at his older brother and Kei, "I suppose they could prove to be...useful. Potentially. If they secure strong marriages."
Shrugging as though it didn't really matter to him, Kei turned back to Naobito, indicating his readiness to move onto the rest of the introductions.
The rest of the introductions went smoothly as Kei wisely decided not to push his luck and remained silent. Once everyone was introduced, Naobito gestured for the servants to finally bring out their dinner. Which was for the best as by the time all of the Zen'ins deemed important enough to be included in this dinner were introduced Kei was starving. He felt terrible for his friend whom he knew had to be just as hungry. Yuji wouldn't complain though, and Kei couldn't deny he felt better knowing Yuji was only a few steps behind him, watching his back.
Light conversation began over dinner. Various members of the clan asked Kei probing questions into his past, some of which he deflected, but most of which he answered with a mix of the truth and fiction. Many glares and thinly veiled insults were thrown his way, but Kei ignored them all as if he was blind and deaf to them, not letting any of them affect him.
Of course, it was Naoya who finally asked, "So who's your shadow?"
Chancing a backwards glance, Kei caught a glimpse of Yuji who was watching him intently, golden eyes scanning the room, but flickering instantly to Kei the moment he sensed his gaze.
"I assume you mean my bodyguard," Kei replied blandly, "His name is Kasuga Yuji. He is my personal employee. He answers to no one except myself."
"And you felt the need to bring him to a clan dinner?" Naoya asked, brow raised tauntingly, a sneer across his face, "Expecting to be attacked in the dining room or are you just that easily intimidated?"
Several other clan members had picked up on the conversation and were now listening in. Naoya seemed to take this as encouragement, giving Kei a nasty smile.
"I trust Kasuga-san with my life," Kei stated, aware of the boldness of his claim, "I'm an outsider coming into the clan with no allies and unaware of internal politics. Kasuga-san is my ally and the only person I know without a doubt that I can trust on the estate. I brought him for two reasons.
"The first is the obvious. Of course I'm expecting to be attacked. Perhaps not in the dining room, but soon enough. I don't trust any of you, and I doubt any of you besides Naobito-san are going to welcome me into the clan with open arms. Kasuga-san is here to help make sure I don't get a knife in my back.
"The second reason is because I wanted all of you to see his face and know that he is mine. Anyone who bothers Kasuga-san answers to me."
His shikigami, still present despite their silence, suddenly perked up. White Divine Dog, Suki as Kei had named her as a child, suddenly stalked over to Yuji's side and sat at attention beside him. Together, she and Taiyo, Black Divine Dog which still sat on Kei's other side, growled quietly, though no less threateningly.
Admittedly, Kei hadn't asked his shikigami to do this, but he knew that they felt his protectiveness of Yuji and had responded to his feelings. Undoubtedly, this was a dead give away of his feelings for Yuji, something which probably would have bothered Kei if it wasn't for the fact that he was confident in Yuji's ability to handle himself.
The two of them had one major advantage over anyone else in the room: experience. They had fought in Shibuya against more powerful opponents than most others in the room had ever faced before, and both Yuji and Kei had come out alive from their fights. Kei knew they could handle themselves, even against the grade 1 sorcerers of the Zen'in clan. They wouldn't necessarily win in a fight, but they would at least be able to handle themselves.
And if Kei also wanted to publicly show Yuji his support, well that was his business.
"That's quite the claim," Naoya eventually replied, giving Yuji a much more critical look than before, "He doesn't look like much."
"He has the skills to be a grade 1 sorcerer, if you're inquiring about his skill level," Kei commented idly.
"And his family? I've never heard of any sorcerers with the last name Kasuga," inquired Naoya, looking smug like he thought he held a trump card that Kei couldn't care less about.
"His mother was a sorcerer, but his father was not. I don't think it matters much though," he continued, scanning the Zen'ins at the table for their reactions and cataloging them for future reference, "He's a bit like my father in a way. Excellent at close range combat, able to take anyone in a fight without cursed energy."
"What's his cursed technique?" Naobito asked, looking consideringly at Yuji.
See, the thing about Yuji was that Gojo was right. With just a week of training, Yuji was able to use, though extremely inconsistently, Sukuna's cursed techniques. It wasn't perfect yet, and Shibuya had taught them all that the history books had forgotten much when it came to Sukuna. They knew Sukuna used Cleave and Dismantle, but Shibuya had revealed his ability to use yet another technique, one Sukuna had called Open, which was some sort of fire based ability.
"If it has a name, we don't know what it is," Kei answered with a casual shrug, not giving anything else away.
They'd briefly discussed what to tell the clan about Yuji this morning while cleaning, but ultimately had decided to keep their cards close to their chest for now.
"His cursed energy is very interesting," Naobito said after a moment, "I'd be curious to see how he fights."
"You promised to evaluate both of us before we attend Jujutsu Tech. You'll see then," Kei said dismissively.
Naoya's attention suddenly returned to the conversation, "You'll be attending Jujutsu Tech then? Which school?"
"I've been invited to attend the Tokyo branch," he replied, knowing that Naoya attended the Kyoto branch as was desperate to avoid the possibility of staying on the same campus as him.
"By who?" Naoya sneered, "No one knew you existed before today or we'd have been informed."
"Gojo Satoru," Kei answered, ignoring the sneers of disgust thrown his way at the mention of the Gojo clan heir, "I met him the other week, not long after my mother's death, and he informed me of a few things he thought I should be aware of."
"Like what?" Naoya asked, brow furrowed even as he sneered with the rest of the clan.
But Kei was done providing his cousin answers, so he simply shrugged and returned to his food, glad when Naoya surprisingly let the subject drop.
There were more questions throughout the rest of the meal, but thankfully none were quite so invasive or important enough to warrant the same level of discussion. After dessert, Kei was thankful to be dismissed by Naobito and didn't hesitate to leave immediately, Yuji trailing obediently behind him.
The moment the doors of Kei's room were closed behind them, both teens let out a sigh of relief and Yuji groaned.
"That was horrible!" he complained, "I'm pretty sure just about all of them started plotting to stab you before you even sat down!"
"Don't worry," Kei replied evenly, "I'm sure at least a few of them are planning to stab you as well."
"Cause that's so much better," Yuji retorted, rolling his eyes as he walked towards the bags sitting on top of Kei's desk, "Oh, hey, they already bought a bunch of the stuff we requested!"
Walking over to inspect the supplies, Kei couldn't help but admire the efficiency of the Zen'in clan servants, "This is almost scary. I have no idea how they were able to find so much in the what, two hours, that we were at dinner."
"Three," Yuji replied, looking as though he'd experienced every minute as a personal assault, "But yeah, they're good. You should give them a raise when you become clan leader."
Kei simply rolled his eyes in response, but he knew he would do as Yuji suggested. If he became clan leader.
After a few more minutes, they uncovered two cell phones as well as cases and screen protectors. Without hesitation, Kei passed one to Yuji and tore into the packaging on his own.
An hour later, struggling a bit to set up a phone with such outdated (in his opinion) technology and needing to create many new accounts as he was now years in the past, Kei managed to send Gojo a cryptic text.
It read, "It's Zen'in Kei. I took your advice and went to the Zen'in clan in order to take Fushiguro Megumi's place in the contract Toji created with Naobito. This is my number if you wish to contact me further. My bodyguard, Kasuga Yuji, whom you also met last week can be contacted at XXX-XXX-XXXX. We are both planning to attend Jujutsu Tech beginning in two weeks time. I appreciate your assistance in securing a recommendation to attend the school. I hope you are doing well, I'm sure we'll soon see you again on campus."
Much to both of their surprise, Kei received a return text within minutes.
The first text to come through was a string of emojis that made Kei instantly regret giving Gojo his number, but the second made much more sense.
Gojo said, "Glad it all worked out!!! Sorry I wasn't more help, but I had a mission and the cursed spirit turned out to be much harder to track down than expected! I'm only getting back to campus now."
So that was the explanation for Gojo's extended absence. Both Kei and Yuji were just glad to hear their teenage sensei was alright. By the time Kei relayed the message to Yuji, another text arrived.
"I'll let the principal know to expect you both in two weeks. Looking forward to seeing my two adorable kouhai! Tell Yuji I say hi!!!"
Rolling his eyes, Kei watched as Yuji immediately took this as permission to text Gojo for himself, not surprised at all when Yuji's immediate reply was another string of emojis nor when Yuji replied with emojis himself.
"Remember to be careful what you say," Kei reminded him, "The clan bought us these phones, so they have access to all of our texts and calls. They also could have bugged them. We'll have to buy our own if we want to be able to communicate freely."
Nodding, Yuji smiled, "I know, I'm just so happy Gojo-senpai is alright. I was worried."
He was too, not that he was planning to admit it out loud anytime soon.
"You should take your stuff back to your room and unpack it all. Naobito mentioned something about sending a servant for us, well me, but like hell if I'm leaving you behind, in the morning. It'll probably be some hellishly early hour just to torture us," Kei grumbled, not thrilled at the idea of letting Yuji out of his sight in Zen'in territory, but accepting that they would have to separate sooner rather than later.
"Alright," Yuji said acceptingly as he began to gather all of his supplies into one place while Kei rang the bell in the corner of his room to summon a servant.
Within five minutes, a servant arrived, knocking politely at the door.
"Kei-sama?" she called.
It was Asami again, Kei noted absently, wondering idly if the clan had a sudden shortage of servants.
"Enter," he called back.
Asami entered the room, once again curtseying and asking, "How can I be of assistance, Kei-sama?"
"Are you assigned to Kei?" Yuji asked suddenly, startling Asami, "I'm curious why we haven't interacted with any other servants."
Briefly, Asami looked towards Kei, as though asking for permission to answer Yuji's question, but Kei simply waited to hear Asamai's response. He was also curious.
"That's correct, Kasuga-san. I'm assigned to look after Kei-sama's needs, though I still answer to the rest of the family as well, unlike yourself," she replied.
"So if Kei gave you an order and another member of the clan gave you a conflicting order, what would you do?" Yuji asked, a glint in his eyes Kei wasn't entirely certain he recognized.
Asami shifted her weight from one foot to the other, clearly uncomfortable, but still answered, "It would depend on who the conflicting order came from. As a potential heir, Kei-sama has the second highest ranking status in the clan. If anyone with the same status or below issued me a conflicting order, I would obey Kei-sama's order as I am to obey him before others. The only person I would be unable to ignore a conflicting order from would be Naobito-sama, as he has a higher status as the clan leader."
Knowing the servant was going to be around frequently, Kei took the time to memorize what he could about her.
Asami didn't have the typical Zen'in features, so it was unlikely that she was a low ranking member of the family. Most likely, she was one of the few outsiders hired to serve the family. She had golden blonde hair and light blue eyes that gave her the appearance of an angel. He estimated she was in her early to mid twenties. Her cursed energy was on the weaker side of the spectrum. She had enough that she could become a sorcerer if she so pleased, but it was likely that she would fit in better with the assistant managers. Of course, this said nothing of her cursed technique. Depending on her technique, her amount of cursed energy could matter very little, though judging by her servant status Kei guessed it wasn't anything special or she possibly had none.
He glanced at Yuji, curious to see what his friend was thinking, but finding nothing openly on his face. Kei was impressed at Yuji's apparent ability to hide his thoughts, up until Shibuya, he hadn't known Yuji had the ability. Actually, he wasn't certain Yuji had the ability before Shibuya, which was a grim thought, but undoubtedly it would be an important skill for him to have on the Zen'in estate.
"Will you obey orders from Kasuga-san as well?" he asked Asami curiously.
It would be good for them to understand the boundaries of their authority at the estate, and for now, Asami was the one best placed to explain it to them.
"Kasuga-san's status at the estate is still undecided. Naobito-sama ordered me to supply him with whatever materials he requires in order to prepare for Jujutsu Tech and fulfill his role as Kei-sama's bodyguard, but I've been given no other orders regarding Kasuga-san," she replied, glancing briefly up at Kei to gauge his reaction, "Most guests of the estate we obey as long as their orders do not conflict with our other responsibilities or orders. They are treated much like the lowest ranking members of the clan who are not servants themselves."
"I see," Kei replied thoughtfully, "And if I told you that Kasuga-san's instructions were to be obeyed as if they were my own?"
"That..." Asamai deterred uncertainty, "Would be tricky. Kei-sama would have to make it clear that Kasuga-san acts with his full authority. If Kei-sama ordered this, I could follow Kasuga-san's instructions as if they were Kei-sama's own, but only if Kasuga-san was acting on Kei-sama's behalf. If Kasuga-san acted on his own behalf, I would have to treat his instructions as that of a guest, unless Naobito-sama orders otherwise."
Well, they knew clan politics were going to be a bitch. Kei wasn't surprised at how this was turning out so far. Nevertheless, he persisted.
"Then Asami-san, I would like you to treat Kasuga-san's instructions as if they were my own. He has my permission to act on my behalf, with or without my prior knowledge," Kei informed her, ignoring Yuji's look of mild horror behind him.
"And Kei-sama will make it known that Kasuga-san has this authority?" Asami asked cautiously, no doubt imagining the potential trouble she could get in for following this order without Kei supporting it publicly.
Yuji snorted, "I'm pretty sure he already did that at dinner. Something about trusting me with his life and that anyone who messes with me answers to him."
Sputtering, Kei blushed a deep red, "You didn't have to say it like that!"
Raising a brow at him, Yuji grinned, "Oh sorry, should I have told her about how you called me 'your's' instead?"
Flaming red, Kei looked towards the ceiling as though hoping the hand of God would suddenly reach down to smite him while Yuji laughed at his embarrassment.
"I was making a point," he grumbled after Yuji's laughter died down.
Asami, looking entirely uncertain, gently interrupted to say, "I think that will suffice. I can obey Kasuga-san's orders on your behalf with your full authority backing him."
"Thank you, Asami-san," Kei replied quickly, thankful for any interruption to his embarrassment, "Also, when we're in private, there's no need to courtesy. You can also drop the -sama."
"And just call me Yuji," Yuji added.
"That would be improper, Kei-sama," Asami gently reminded him, looking as though she wanted to scold him, but horrified at the idea of being able to do such a thing.
"Frankly, I don't care," Kei responded, "You can do it if you want, but I don't expect it. You can treat me as an equal in private. I plan to treat you as one, at least whenever I can get away with it."
Looking caught between horrified and touched, Asami simply stared at Kei with wide eyes.
Well, whatever. Yuji would probably get to her with his infectious good nature before they left for Jujutsu Tech and get her to loosen up a bit. Kei would simply leave Yuji to it.
He had more questions he could ask Asami, but it was growing late and Kei was exhausted, so instead of questioning her, he simply requested, "Asami-san, would you find Yuji some food and show him to his room? I'll be turning in for the night."
Once again curtseying, Asami immediately responded, "Of course, Kei-sama. Follow me Kasuga-san."
Yuji immediately followed Asami out, pleading quietly with her, "Asami-san, please, please call me Yuji. If I have to hear Kasuga-san one more time tonight I think I might die."
The last thing Kei heard before he shut the doors was the sound of a gentle, feminine laugh.