"Being honest." She knew it herself. How little those words suited her. Tachibana Yukika sat alone at the edge of a twelve-person oak table on the morning of April 15th, thinking exactly that. It was too spacious. No matter how she looked at it, far too spacious. Twelve chairs lined the table, but only one was occupied. Beyond the window, the cityscape of Aokikawa spread out, and the view of the south bank looking down from Midori-ga-oka in the north was somehow beautiful in the morning light. The Aokikawa River reflected the light east and west, and the outline of the Sakura-tsutsumi Bridge along the riverbank appeared hazily obscured. She turned eighteen today. Because it was her birthday, she felt like something might change. She knew it was just a feeling—that probably nothing would change at all. But she wanted it to change. "…Today's the day." Her voice echoed strangely in the dining hall. The ceiling was high. The main building of the Tachibana estate was a wooden two-sto