Kaoru was unexpectedly calm. She predicted this, so it didn't come as a surprise. She just had to find a way out of it. She would meet this suitor to see how well he suited Lady Kaneko's tastes. And Kohana's, she added, after a thought. Her half sister's subtle change in behaviour didn't go unnoticed either. There was nothing to do now that she wasn't a slave anymore, so she wandered the mansion unfettered. Her wanderings led her to the first young master, Yuuko's rooms again, but she didn't go in. Susumu was seated with him discussing something, and she suddenly remembered she first saw him and his brother through her older half brother. It felt like ages ago when she had played for them and endured Koinu's merciless words.
Suddenly, a memory flashed in her head, and she winced. A scene played in her mind, and in that scene, she walked into Yuuko's room and his dream last night, but was kicked out by someone both familiar and foreign to her. The memory was so absurd that she barely believed it. Then she realised she had no recollection of things that happened after she returned to her room last night. Having decided, Kaoru left the door, knowing she would be back. However, someone had gotten sight of her.
As she hurried back to her room, she bumped into Kana. She was holding a tea tray, completely ignoring her. It wasn't a strange thing; back at the temple she sometimes felt Kana was Kana now and, at the next minute, another person. She used to tell Kohana her observations when she was still around, but she was too daft to believe them, so she started keeping them to herself. A bold idea began to form in her head as she remembered the salt poured around first young master Yuuko's room and took a detour to the kitchen, but he was one step faster. Sulky, she withdrew to her room. That night she slept, and to her most pleasant surprise, she woke up in Yuuko's dream—at least she thought it was—next to his bed and facing that mysterious person again. This time he didn't directly throw her out.
"I'm sorry for the intrusion," she began, but he cut in impatiently. "You don't look sorry." She levelled him with a look, "but I believe I can help you with whatever it is you're doing, like my brother is."
"How convenient," he mumbled, "it must be to offer your services to a stranger. A supernatural one at that. Please tell me, what is my problem and how do you plan to help me?"
Kaoru was stumped. She hadn't thought that far; she had just offered to help on the spur of the moment. Yuuko still sat on the bed, but he looked exasperated. Clearly, what he came to do took a lot out of him. Wait a minute... were they already done? The man stepped into the light, and she knew immediately that this was Koinu. She opened her eyes the following morning, fully invigorated and changed into fresh clothes. At the dining table, her suitor was already seated. He was invited so they could have some time to get familiar with each other before the wedding she hadn't consented to. He was the worst kind of vermin one could find, but Lady Kaneko thought he was okay because he had a sizeable treasury.
"You will be so happy!" Lady Kaneko held her hands with so much emotion and itched to shake her off, which wouldn't do her any good in this situation. She returned the emotional display with one equal or greater than hers, and they both knew it was fake. The lady didn't want her happiness as claimed, she wanted to grind her to her death slowly as she did to her mother. This time she borrowed hands to do so. Susumu wasn't at the table, and neither was Yuuko, she noticed. Kohana must have noticed too, as they stood up at the same time and went in search of them.