He hadn’t told his cousins.

He hadn’t wanted to give them the satisfaction of a farewell.

They had mocked him his entire life. His output numbers. His failed talismans. His place at the bottom of every assessment.

He did not want to spend his last night in the estate listening to them take one final turn at him.

By the time they found out he would already be gone. There would be nothing left to say.

His father would not tell them.

His father avoided speaking about Kaito whenever possible. During meals he sometimes went entire conversations without looking at him once.

His mother would not tell them either.

He was certain enough about that.

He folded another shirt and placed it into the suitcase.

Outside the shoji screen, cedar branches shifted in the wind.

Kaito had spent his entire life inside those walls.

The training grounds surfaced in his head immediately.

Cold mornings. Worn platforms. Instructors watching him restart sealing exercises from the beginning. Cousins whispering while he fixed another crooked talisman line.

Again.

Again.

Again.

His jaw tightened.

The shelves beside the desk still held stacks of manuals he had failed to understand properly.

Practice talismans hung beside them. Several ink lines were visibly uneven.

A crack ran through one floorboard near the wall.

Kazane had thrown him there during sparring years ago.

He never repaired it.

He was glad to be leaving.

His eyes still kept drifting around the room while he packed.

To the shelves.

To the desk.

To the crack in the floor.

Annoying.

He set another shirt into the suitcase.

The door slid open.

Kaito spun immediately.

Kazane stood in the doorway.

She was taller than him. Athletic.

Curvy in a way the formal exorcist robes did not completely hide.

Dark fabric wrapped tightly across her chest before falling straight past her waist. Silver thread formed the Reizen insignia over her breast.

Her black hair was pulled back tightly.

Not a strand out of place.

Her eyes moved through the room. The suitcase. The folded clothes. Then him.

"I heard you’re leaving," she said.

He turned back to packing.

"Yeah."

Silence settled into the room.

"Good," she said. "You finally realised you were wasting time here."

He placed another shirt into the suitcase.

"One way to put it."

"You gave up on being an exorcist."

"I did."

"Good."

Flat. Immediate.

"You did the right thing."

He looked at her over his shoulder.

"You must be glad."

She nodded once.

No hesitation. No performance.

"You won’t be here to remind me every day what a disappointment you are," she said. "That’s a relief."

He looked at her quietly.

She held his stare.

She always had.

A smile touched the corners of his mouth.

Nothing reached his eyes.

"I’m more glad to be away from my bitchy sister."

A few seconds passed.

Kazane did not react.

She also did not leave.

Kaito narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Do you need money," she asked.

He blinked once.

"I have enough."

"You can call if you run out."

Her eyes shifted toward the bookshelf instead of him.

"Don’t starve yourself because you’re too proud."

He watched her carefully.

She still was not looking at him.

"And you don’t want me coming home if I need money."

"Correct."

Silence settled again.

He turned back toward the suitcase.

Yet she was still standing there.

Still silent.

Still not leaving.

"Why aren’t you leaving," he said. "I have things to pack."

"I remembered what I came for," she said.

He heard her step forward.

Kaito turned immediately. His shoulders tightened on instinct.

Kazane noticed.

"You don’t need to tense." Her voice stayed flat. "You’re weak anyway. I don’t want to break your bones before you leave."

She kept walking toward him.

"I couldn’t fix anything even if I did."

She stopped directly in front of him.

Close.

Close enough that he had to tilt his head slightly to keep eye contact.

Kazane looked down at him without speaking. Her eyes moved slowly across his face. Chin. Jaw. Forehead. Back to his eyes again.

Kaito held still.

Barely.

The room had gone completely quiet now. No voices from the hall outside. Only the cedar branches shifting faintly beyond the shoji screen.

Then she put her arms around him.

His shoulders locked instantly.

For a second he forgot how to breathe properly.

The dark fabric of her robes pressed against his chest.

The structured collar brushed lightly against his neck when she settled closer.

Cedar clung faintly to her clothes from the training courtyard. Ink. Clean fabric.

The same scent that lingered through the estate halls after training sessions ended.

Kaito stood rigid in her arms and stared past her shoulder at the wall behind her.

His hands stayed at his sides.

He never touched her back.

Kazane held him there quietly.

Not tightly.

Not loosely either.

Just there.

Her arms were strong around him.

He could feel the muscle in her shoulders beneath the robes. The steady rise and fall of her breathing against his chest.

His fingers twitched once at his side.

Then stopped.

Kazane still said nothing.

That part felt more honest than the insults had.

After a few seconds she stepped back.

The loss of warmth felt immediate.

"Take care of yourself," she said.

Her voice stayed even. Controlled.

She turned and walked out.

Kaito listened to her footsteps move down the corridor outside his room.

Measured. Even.

Then they stopped.

A few seconds later she appeared in the doorway again.

The corridor light framed her silhouette against the dark wood behind her. One hand rested lightly against the doorframe.

"Drop the Reizen name," she said. "Get a new one."

Then she left.

The footsteps faded properly this time.

Kaito stayed where he was for several seconds after the silence returned.

Then his hand moved immediately to his collar.

His sleeves.

The back of his neck.

He ran both hands carefully along his shirt, checking for seal marks, anything she could have slipped onto him while she had been close enough.

She was Kazane.

He checked again.

Nothing.

Kaito exhaled slowly through his nose.

Then he looked at the wall.

Drop the Reizen name.

He had already thought about it himself. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

A new city. A new surname. No instructors hearing Reizen first and deciding what he should be before he even opened his mouth.

It had sounded clean when it was his own idea.

Now the words irritated him.

Kaito walked back to the suitcase and picked up the next shirt from the bed.

No.

He was keeping the name.

If the name embarrassed the clan, good.

Let people know the Reizen family had produced someone ordinary.

Someone weak.

He would carry the name into a city full of people who did not care about bloodlines or spiritual output numbers.

Students eating lunch together between lectures.

Small lives.

Ordinary lives.

Lives that belonged to the people living them.

Kaito folded the shirt carefully.

Set it into the suitcase.