A sleek black S-Class Mercedes rolled to a halt in front of Koharu High's gate.
The paint was as black as a black hole. If you stared at it too long, you'd half expect your soul to get sucked in and disappear into oblivion.
From every angle, triangle, and circle, it screamed old money.
Dressed in spotless, crisp white uniform, Mr. Toma, the personal chauffeur of the Shirogane family, stepped out of the car. Upon seeing his young master and young miss, he bowed respectfully.
"Young Master Blake, Lady Nina."
Blake acknowledged him with a nod. With his school bag slung over his shoulder, he casually strolled toward the car before slipping into the back seat.
Following behind him was none other than his sister Nina, who couldn't be bothered to hand her bag to the chauffeur and simply tossed it into the car. It landed next to Blake, scraping his hand.
He frowned but wordlessly picked up the bag and set it aside, creating space for her to sit.
Nina sat beside Blake. The space between them was so wide that she might as well have dug a grave big enough to bury two grown men and still leave room for flowers and a tombstone.
The humble car moved along the road like a lone tiger. Inside, the atmosphere was chilly, so cold the air might freeze mid-breath and fall down like a popsicle. Despite the frostiness, Mr. Toma drove at a steady pace, conveniently ignoring the cold war between the siblings.
After twenty minutes of smooth travel, the car entered the Shirogane family estate. The mansion, of course, was built humbly just like their humble car.
One only had to overlook the towering walls built around it like fortresses meant to repel enemy invasions. At the front stood two ancient pine trees, each older than any living elder in the Shirogane family.
Every corner of the mansion glittered with gold and silver, its architecture resembling that of a royal castle. The butlers and maids roamed about in tuxedos and garments that could easily outshine the ceremonial robes of the ancient era.
Other than those minor details, the people in this humble mansion had two legs, two eyes, and one mouth just like any other ordinary human in the world.
The Shirogane family is one of the oldest in the city, a lineage of people known to wear capes even indoors.
They do not work for the law. They are the law.
From ancient scrolls to Supreme Court hearings, every generation of Shirogane has carried the gavel like it was their birthright. Even the newborns in the Shirogane family don't cry at birth rather they object.
"Your honor, I find the slap on my rear excessive. I demand a retrial."
There was a tale, one passed down like gospel. Wherein an ancestor of the Shirogane family once sued the king.
Yes, the king. The ruler of the nation. And he won!
The reason? The king failed to visit his noble consort on the night allotted to her. That noble consort just so happened to be the precious daughter of the Shirogane family.
The poor lady lit incense and waited the entire night in her chamber, eyes fixed on the glowing moon and heart full of expectation, only to be met with crushing disappointment. Her delicate, pitiful tears were more than enough fuel for the Shirogane patriarch to file a case.
"The emperor, though sovereign of a thousand hearts, lets his favor fall like rain upon one flowerbud—what of the others? Must they wither like neglected shrubs?"
"His Majesty is as radiant as the sun, yet blesses only one patch of land while the rest languish in eternal darkness."
"The dragon of a nation must remember: Even the moon shines on every corner of the earth."
The ancestor's fierce and eloquent criticism was so scathing that it was inked into royal scrolls and passed down like sacred scripture through generations. To this day, the Shirogane children recite those lines like a holy poem, each word flowing off their tongues with inherited ease.
The poor king? He was simply suffering from the bowels' betrayal that night. But could he say that loud?
Of course not.
Unable to lift his head in shame, the king eventually amended the court records and as a compensation, he allotted two days a month to visit the noble consort of the Shirogane family.
The noble consort was elated and blessed the royal family with three children, with the eldest becoming the king of the nation later.
Coming from such a graceful family, Blake and Nina were raised under rather strict rules.
As the car came to a halt, Mr. Toma swiftly stepped down from the driver's seat and opened the door for his young master and young miss. The air around Blake grew heavier, his aura grim. Though his face always remained stoic, as if everyone in the world owed him a penny each, now one could tell the debt had increased to five pennies apiece.
Nina, on the contrary, loosened the muscles on her face, with great great effort, and pulled what she believed to be a soft, gentle smile onto her lips.
The maids of the mansion, however, upon receiving that smile, had to suppress the urge to shiver. After all, Nina's smile resembled that of the cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. The kind of smile that looked as though it might drag out a dead fish from three years ago and tuck it under Alice's pillow, just to irritate her.
With years of practice they smiled gently and bowed to welcome their masters home.
Just as the siblings stepped inside the mansion, a stern voice cut through the air, halting them in their tracks.
"Stop right there!"