Takes place right after the scene where Reishin talks to Houju.

You Shuu, throwing just a glance at the door through which the two Finance Ministry officials had gone, turned back to Reishin.

“…..Really, you are quite an idiot. There’s nothing to be done with you. Are you really older than I am?”

While pushing up his glasses, he rotated his stiff neck. It made quite a noise. You Shuu tiredly tapped his own shoulders with the documents he had in his hand.
“Huh, thanks to you, my back has gotten terribly stiff here. If you’re free, please massage my shoulders.”
“Hmph, didn’t you expect nothing from me?”
“Yes. I was just saying that. There’s so much work that if I don’t complain about it, I won’t be able to do it. If you feel like massaging my shoulders, I’d rather you go and massage Prime Minister Tei’s.”

At Yuushun’s name, Reishin’s brows shot up. You Shuu sighed again.

“…..That’s why you’re such an idiot.”
You Shuu strode across the desolate room and went up to the Minister’s desk.

“I’m going to borrow your seal.”

It seemed he had been using some important documents which needed the Civil Administration Minister’s seal to pound his shoulders.

Unlike the bothersomely punctilious Kouyuu, You Shuu had always been on this point fairly casual.

The wind came in from the open window. You Shuu’s short hair made a rustling sound.

While You Shuu familiarly inked the ministerial seal with red ink, he narrowed his eyes in pleasure.

“Ahhh, what a good wind. Before I knew it, it’s become autumn. The sky is clear.”
“Yeah.”

“Speaking of that, you love plum blossoms and autumn about as much as your elder brother.”
“….How is it that you know that?”

“Because I’ve been with you long enough to dislike you. You probably don’t know what I like, though.”

Reishin took out his fan. Upon it, one of the dancing red leaves which had fluttered into the room landed.

“The fruit of the loquat, and the willow in winter. The bell-ringing crickets of autumn. Gingko leaves about to fall. The rainbow in summer. My biwa, and Kouyuu.”

You Shuu’s eyes grew round. He was surprised.

“How is it that you know that?”
“Because I’ve been with you long enough to dislike you.”

“Come to think of it, that may be true.”
You Shuu looked up into the sky, and suddenly smiled. There was always something malicious about You Shuu’s smile, but people who could distinguish whether this was truly the case or not were rare. On this point, people often said he resembled Reishin.

“I’m not joking, it’s really true. Of all things, to have gotten even to know your favorite things, what kind of bothersome relationship is this? It’s too horrible.”

“Don’t say that before me. That’s my line.”
They had spent a long time within this hierarchical relationship, longer that Kouyuu had been at the Ministry. And most of that time fighting. Make no mistake about it, Kou Reishin was definitely the worst superior You Shuu had ever had in his life.

You Shuu pressed the stamp onto the document.

“Please don’t have any uncharacteristic regrets. Because that’ll just make me want to kill you.”
“You fool. The word regret is not in my dictionary.”
“Ah, my ears must be deceiving me. You liar.”

Reishin was irritated by how easily You Shuu snorted at this.

“You are certainly a genius. However, as for regrets: even though you have such talent and foresight, you are always regretting things. 神様もシャレがきいてますよ。[I don’t know what this is. Is it something like ‘the gods also jest’?] With that god-given genius, there is nothing you can’t get, and from your birth, you’ve had wealth, power, status, and lineage already resting in the palm of your hand, so there’s never been any need for you to go out and get them. But the thing you wish for the most is somewhere that, even with all of your talent, you cannot reach.”

You Shuu, without even looking at Reishin, stamped another document.

“What you desire the most is something that ordinary people can do easily. To please the people you love. The way to make them happy. What you should do to make the things you hope for the most happen in the best possible way. To understand the hearts of others. [心をはかる] –-But, no matter how much you think about this, even now you still don’t know. When you figure it out, you’re always too late. That’s why, you leave things till the last moment like this, hunted down by someone like me, and end up only protecting that single last important thing.”

You Shuu’s words did not contain a hint of sarcasm.

“It’s probably that you really just don’t know. You’re always, with all sincerity, giving your all for the few special people you’ve come to like. But everyone dismisses it as just the bizarre behavior of a genius. It’s because since it’s something everyone can just do naturally, they’ll think ‘there’s no way you don’t know this.’

[天つ才] (eh, now that I think about it, I’m not sure how I should be translating it. I translated it before as ‘god-given genius’ but now I’m wondering exactly what is grammatically going on here) But You Shuu had, as he had sometime due to his working as Reishin’s deputy, come to view Reishin more objectively and carefully than others. In other words, he saw deeper into Reishin than his family or friends would know.

Thinking back on the various results of his observations, You Shuu scoffed making his glasses flash brightly:

“Well, though when I put it in words, it’s like a tragedy, in practice it’s a completely like a comedy, so that has saved you. I’ve already foolishly come to like seeing you always doing these stupid things so seriously.”

“Sh-Shut up! Damn it— Shut your mouth. That’s why I hate you!”

Since he was so close to him, he had understood things Reishin did not want to have known about him. That was why he always chased him off.

“Oho, a rare occurrence of us thinking the same thing. I also really dislike you.”

The wind blew, and the red leaf that had landed on Reishin’s fan flew away.

You Shuu raised his head, and caught the bright spot of scarlet. He smiled as if towards Reishin.

“…Though, if you wished for ultimate power, you wouldn’t leave any gaps where others could get you.”

Simply, in feeling alone he was unbelievably incompetent, but Reishin’s actions were all a result of this.

For the sake of his beloved brother, he had taken the national exam, for the sake of his dear friends, he had become the Civil Administration Minister, for the sake of his adopted son, he had stopped working. If he had worked for anything other than this, he would have become a great official. But, he didn’t. At heart, he was always like this, and as a result, did the most unskillful things. That was why, without reading the course of things to come well, he always put things off. So much so that he had even been trapped by You Shuu.

“Ultimate power? What foolishness. Is that what you wanted?”

“Well—No, as expected, I find all of that extremely revolting. [人生ナメてんじゃねって、私の才能と人生すべて使って全力でつぶしにかかったんじゃないですかね。I can't really figure out what he's saying. ]

You Shuu carefully placed the scarlet leaf upon the desk, without crumbling it.

”Although I really hated the genius who had everything I wanted, but didn’t use it, and arrogantly only thought of himself, doing as he pleased, I probably didn’t hate Kou Reishin, who didn’t try to hide his single weakness, which, to others, wouldn’t be a weakness.” [I need to revise this sentence. I’m not even sure what he really means]

When it came to what they were thinking about, probably they understood each other the best. [revise] Having finished stamping all of the documents, he slowly put the Minister’s Seal down. Even now, You Shuu understood well why Reishin was acting like this.

That was why You Shuu had given up on Reishin. He had realized that Reishin would no longer change. Even though he understood him, he could not acknowledge him. When he left the room You Shuu would have only one thing to do.

“I’m angry, you know. I didn’t make Li Kouyuu your deputy to see this stupid result. Even though that child has such talent, even now, he isn’t even trying to understand what’s going on. He only thinks of you. …Pushing for that child to be the Vice Minister was my sole failure. Although I…..was always waiting.”

The autumn wind blew, rustling You Shuu’s short hair.

“….Please, show me you can seriously protect at least the last important thing you have left. If you don’t, everything will really end without anyone being able to understand what you are doing. Really, both child and parent are thoroughly troublesome.”

Then, You Shuu left the room.

When he came into the corridor, he suddenly stopped, and looked up into the vast azure sky. Somewhere birds were singing.

“The fruit of the loquat, and the willow in winter. The bell-ringing crickets of autumn. Gingko leaves about to fall. The rainbow in summer. My biwa, and Kouyuu.”

…..The only thing that he hadn’t expected was that Reishin knew his favorite things. Even though he had thought that Reishin wouldn’t have changed. Perhaps he had also made other misreadings. Even so, Kou Reishin, who only used his power for the sake of the people he loved, could never become You Shuu’s master. That alone was certain, so You Shuu, as expected, regretted nothing.

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