045. Banquet, Big Figure, Elderly Senior

The time of Friday after dismissal and Saturday flew by in a flash.

The first Sunday since Nanun Ugetsu transferred to the Tsukinomori Girls' Academy.

Nighttime.

The Wakaba residence.

Unlike the banquets of the past, only a very select few guests were invited to this evening's dinner party.

Vroom—clack.

The engine of a sports car stopped in front of the gate, and the guest inside pushed the door open, entering under the guidance of the servants.

Unlike previous banquets where the standards for guests were not overly strict and anyone with an invitation could attend, tonight's guests seemed somewhat extraordinary.

Click—

This guest stepped into the Wakaba residence.

Inside the mansion, the lights were similarly brilliant.

Gleaming lights cascaded down, yet beneath these meticulously crafted crystal chandeliers, one felt a warmth akin to gentle sunlight.

This was meticulously constructed at a great expense by Minami Mori, Mutsumi's mother. As the saying goes, details determine success or failure, and she believed this sort of place was the very essence of detail.

A well-placed beam of light, even on a stage, served as an exquisite highlight—an opportunity capable of turning a flawed performance into a triumph.

Most of the guests had already arrived, but the most important guest of all had yet to appear.

Minami Mori sat in her room, gazing into the vanity mirror before her, meticulously touching up her makeup.

As she applied her makeup, she softly hummed a tune:

"Has the comb snapped, has the hair grown tangled, leaving my lord to face such a disheveled and shameful sight..."

"The reflection in the mirror fades like morning dew, counting the teeth of the comb, dwelling on the parting from my lord..."

"Mirror, O mirror, reflect not my tears, leaving only a trace of rouge..."

...

Minami Mori sang with measured precision.

She effortlessly mastered the classical Japanese theatrical forms of Noh, Kyogen, Ningyo Joruri, and Kabuki, yet the lyrics she pieced together were thoroughly eclectic.

Jumping abruptly from the obscure and subtle lines of a Noh play to the exaggerated phrasing of Kyogen, and even weaving in elements of Ningyo Joruri, it was as if countless masters of classical Japanese drama possessed Minami Mori, showcasing their ultimate skills before the mirror in front of her.

Snip—

When Minami Mori finished perfecting the outer corner of her eye, her singing ceased as well.

She stood up and flashed a smile as radiant as a young maiden's at the mirror.

"Going a step further... today is the day it all comes together."

Minami Mori glanced at the window.

She had bolted it tightly shut, and with the heavy curtains blocking out the moonlight, the only illumination in the room came from the electric lights.

"Takafumi should have gone to greet the guests by now..."

"Just right. The master of the house has made his entrance, so it is time for me to go down."

"I wonder if Wakaba Mutsumi is ready."

"Heh..."

Toward her own "daughter," Minami Mori felt very little affection.

Is the bond between parents and children forged through bloodline, or through companionship?

Minami Mori had no answer.

Yet she knew that if a parent, from childhood onward, never managed to give their child the sense of being guided along the path of life, the emotional connection between them would inevitably grow quite cold.

After all, the greatest sense of accomplishment for a parent lies in taking a babbling child and guiding them onto a path of life that rightfully belongs to them, or to the family.

If this crucial link was missing, parents would feel a sense of frustration, and in the extreme, a sense of fear...

Minami Mori was precisely in this situation.

From childhood to the present, she had never known what she could possibly teach Wakaba Mutsumi.

Normally, an obedient and sensible child would give parents peace of mind.

However, if she displayed an excessive degree of talent in that regard—to the point of not needing parental guidance at all—it began to feel altogether terrifying.

Wakaba Mutsumi’s lifelong habit of "performance," which initially astonished Minami Mori as a popular actress, eventually evolved over time. As Wakaba Mutsumi grew capable of mastering all manner of "performances," nothing remained in her mother's heart save for a profound sense of dread.

*Scratch~ scratch~ scratch*

Minami Mori lightly groomed her eyebrows and turned, preparing to descend the stairs.

As a front-line actress who had clawed her way to the top among countless cunning rivals in the entertainment industry, she understood how to make use of "disposable assets."

Since Wakaba Mutsumi was capable of "performing," having her act in a banquet of this nature was also a rather fine choice.

Even as an A-list actress, it was impossible to wear a mask and project a flawless image every single moment of the day.

During a past banquet, the Wakaba family had inadvertently invited a fastidious foreign guest who nearly drove them into an awkward corner with his harsh demands.

In the end, it was the young "Wakaba Mutsumi" who used the advantage of her age to help defuse the crisis, successfully shifting the guests' attention entirely onto herself.

"That guest... what was his name again?"

So much time had passed that Minami Mori could hardly recall his name.

She shook her head, dismissing the thought, and brought her focus back to Wakaba Mutsumi.

Perhaps with age, however, Minami Mori felt that "Wakaba Mutsumi" had grown increasingly rebellious of late.

At times, she even refused to follow instructions, and her outward demeanor grew progressively colder.

Yet this banquet could brook no missteps whatsoever.

Ordinarily, Wakaba Takafumi and Minami Mori, as top figures in the entertainment industry, already commanded fame that spanned across Japan.

Yet competition among top-tier celebrities was ruthlessly cruel, and Japan was hardly lacking in rivals capable of matching the two of them in their respective fields.

If they wished to advance further, to become true superstars, or even the defining icons of an era, personal strength alone was not enough; the assistance of powerful patrons was indispensable.

Today, the Wakaba residence was about to welcome precisely such a "patron."

This was a patron whom the head of the Wakaba household, Wakaba Takafumi, had exhausted every ounce of effort to barely manage to invite.

This patron was a legendary senior figure in the Japanese showbiz world—the ultimate idol of that entire generation.

Later in life, however, she had studied abroad, and subsequent to that, she married and gradually faded from the entertainment spotlight.

This, however, did not diminish her fame in the slightest.

Following her marriage, she completely overturned her previous image in show business and fiercely carved out a formidable reputation in the commercial sector.

Today, contemporary Japanese entertainers no longer dared to view her merely as a senior colleague; after all, many crucial sources of revenue for stars and idols, such as brand endorsements, were now subject to her jurisdiction.

Wakaba Takafumi and Minami Mori had relied entirely on their connections within the entertainment industry, combined with their past ties to the Toyokawa family, to have business associates bridge the gap, only barely earning the qualification to invite her presence.

Indeed, given the vast gulf between the two sides, the distance was much like the gap between the present Yutenji Nyamu (Myamu-chama) and the two of them—not on the same level at all.

Originally, the couple had actually wished to invite an immensely influential figure often regarded as an underground emperor in the entertainment world.

However, this influential figure, a man named Inuyama賀, rejected their invitation outright upon receiving it, and even warned his goddaughter—who delivered the message—to be more mindful in the future and not waste his time so casually.

Consequently, the two had shifted their invitation target.

Minami Mori took a deep breath, readjusting her smile once more.

At the same time, she mentally compared how many fractions of "Mutsumi's" mastery this level of performance possessed.

Only then did she push open the door to her room and walk toward the banquet hall.