Chapter 19: 19: Story Of The Past

Letting the other three walk ahead, Erina whispered to Yuiko, “How is your left arm, Yuiko?”

“Yeah, I’m fully healed up by now, Erina,” Yuiko murmured with a resigned expression. Before explaining, “I get nightmares every once in a while, but the new machines that the Yoshida Family made stitched me up quite well. I only have a few nasty scars, how about you? Might as well ask now as our families don’t want us mentioning that attack at all.”

“That’s true. We shouldn’t talk too much about it, only till we get to the dinner area,” Erina agreed, clasping hands with Yuiko. “I’m well, recovered from poison without issue! I don’t have any lasting problems, so all is well for me.”

Meandering their way through the halls, trailing behind Krystina, Vlad, and Hiroshi, Erina and Yuiko traded some jokes with each other, lightening the mood. Before Erina confessed, “I actually don’t remember much from the event… I was quite feverish from all the poison that entered my body...”

“That might be for the better, to be honest,” Yuiko pondered, opening a door after it had shut behind Krystina and the others. Striding through at a brisk pace to catch up to the other three, Yuiko then asked, “How much do you remember anyway? If you want to share, of course.”

“I don’t mind sharing,” Erina replied, before falling into silence a bit to gather her thoughts. Taking a deep breath while keeping pace with the three ahead, Erina began, “I remember it was us 5 at an open area preserve about a month ago. We were just training our survival skills, learning how to camp, how to hunt, that type of stuff.”

“The first sign of trouble should’ve been when we ran into other people,” Erina murmured, looking at the paintings on the wall. Squeezing Yuiko's hand, Erina muttered, “At first we didn’t realize, but there shouldn’t have been people there other than us. Supervisors were nearby, but not close enough that we’d bump into them.” 

Nodding, Yuiko agreed, “So far, you’ve hit the nail right on the head. Do you want to keep explaining, or not?”

“I can keep going,” Erina reassured, slowing down to maintain the gap to the three people ahead. “They offered us some water, and from there, my memory is hazy. As I fell into a feverish state, I remember they attacked us… Three people, if I recall correctly, trying to kidnap me.”

“It was only 2 actually,” Yuiko corrected with a sad smile, squeezing Erina’s hand. “We’re lucky they only wanted to kidnap you, had they gone for the kill I’m not sure how it would’ve turned out.”

“Yeah, I’m glad we’re all okay without lasting consequences,” Erina nodded, running her hand along the railing as they made their way upstairs. “After that, my memory is practically gone… until I woke up in bed with Mama and Suzuki leaning over me. I’ll tell you later what small things I remember, as we’re about to reach the dining hall.”

“Sure, don’t feel pressured though~,” Yuiko reassured before breaking into a light jog to catch up with the other three, “I can’t remember for the life of me the layout of this mansion… Somehow you managed to memorize my house’s layout after two trips though.”

“I don’t know either,” Erina giggled, covering her mouth to stifle her giggles while keeping pace with Yuiko. “I’m the one who has a bad sense of direction, not you! Yet you can never get a handle on this house. The layout just walks circles around you~!”

Coming to a stop a few steps behind the other three, Yuiko snorted, “Yeah, that’s what it feels like, I could spin in a circle and immediately lose where I am in this house!”

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Opening the door, Vladimir interjected with a relaxed smile, “We’re talking about Yuiko’s one navigational weakness again? Erina’s house?”

“Yes! Krystina and I are great at navigation, yet this mansion is the only place I’ve run into where I can’t memorize or get a handle on the rooms!” Yuiko exclaimed with an indignant expression, “C’mon, though, we’ve dawdled long enough, our parents are going to be yelling at us before long.”

Holding the door open for the others to walk through, Vladimir asked, “Well why are we just chatting in the doorway, let’s move~!”

“Yeah that’d be a smart idea,” Hiroshi chuckled in amusement, jogging on ahead to get to the next door, “It’s just over here so we should be fine~!”

Letting everyone through the door, the five were dazzled with the copious amounts of food sprawling across the tables.

“They… really went all out…” Erina murmured, stunned at the display before her, “There’s so much cake…”

“Of course, that’s the first thing you notice,” Yuiko whispered with a sigh, pulling Erina along to take a seat, “No cake until you eat at least a plate of ‘normal’ food first! After that go bonkers if you want, though~!”

Relaxing into one of the many cushioned seats, Erina let out a sigh of relaxation, before pulling her chair to the table. Taking a moment to enjoy her seat, running her hands along with the tablecloth, Erina stood up with her gleaming plate, making her way to the food tables following Krystina. 

“What do you plan on eating, Krystina?” Erina asked, catching up to Krystina, “Your food tastes seem to constantly change…”

Stroking her chin, Krystina answered, “I really don’t know… the ham on the table near the window is looking really nice though… I’m just in the mood to eat some meat, to be honest. How about you, Erina? Are you going to be eating the usual?”

Nodding while putting minimal amounts of food on her plate, Erina explained, “I’m just going to eat a little food and just… start on the cake I guess~! I won’t eat too much, though, tomorrow’s an important day so I want to be at 100 percent!”

“Smart, smart, definitely don’t want to be bloated tomorrow during the ceremony,” Krystina agreed, putting some food on her plate before putting a little more on Erina’s. “You should eat a little more, I know your stomach has more space than that~!”

Sighing in resignation, Erina surrendered, “Fine… I’ll eat some more…”