i have come back from the dead to drop the final chapter (i skipped all the middle ones lol) of renaissance, my totsuki legacies headcanon babies or whatever. feat arato-hayama daughter and nakiri-yukihira daughter mostly
“It’s about time I redesigned Legislation,” Kaede said through the pencil between her teeth, her broad draftbook propped open on her knees. “This looks absolutely horrendous.” She was sitting on the decadent rug in Hikari’s office at Administration wearing boardshorts and one of Hikari’s crop tanks with old sketches of Totsuki’s current Legislation building spread around her.
Hikari sighed resignedly. “So you’ve said.”
Dropping the pencil to her lap, Kaede closed her draftbook and said, “I’ll have blueprints for you by next week. But that’s not important right now. Hikari, what’s wrong?”
“Why would something be wrong?” asked the chef. “Other than the fact that I forgot your 18th fucking birthday two months ago.”
Kaede rolled her eyes. “Since when have you ever remembered my birthday? You’re wearing a shirt with sleeves. There is most definitely something wrong.” She set aside her drafting materials and scooted over next to Hikari. “I know you only called me here to talk. If this was an actual commission, the current fourth seat would’ve contacted me. Did you even tell Eissan that you’re diving into Totsuki’s budget? He’ll go loopy if the monthly statement doesn’t match his record books.”
“Oh, yeah. About that. I’m not really on speaking terms with him right now.”
All traces of her typical badass nature lost to the winds, Hikari rested her head against Kaede’s shoulder. “I broke up with him.”
There wasn’t anything she could say that would give justice to the overwhelming gravity of the statement, so Kaede pulled Hikari closer and held her in silence for a long while.
“So… you mind telling me what happened?”
“Nothing, actually. I realized I don’t want to narrow my field of vision just because he seems like the right person… right now. What was it you said? Better to break his heart now rather than later when he’s too far in.”
“I don’t want Seiya to not be in my life.”
Kaede smiled gently and shifted to face her. They were both cross-legged and their knees were touching. “Of course. But it’s going to take a while for Eissan to realize he can’t call you his girlfriend anymore. You have to give him his grace period. But don’t linger.”
“Of course not,” Hikari replied, leaning back on her elbows. “I don’t change my mind.”
“I don’t mean to pry, but I just want to know… why did you and Tsukasa break up?”
At this the architect gave Hikari a long look, her heterochromatic eyes suddenly full of recollections. “We were incompatible,” Kaede replied finally, and her voice was clipped.
“You must’ve hurt him pretty bad,” Hikari said, knowing this girl only spoke like that when she was feeling regret.
It occurred to Kaede then that she would give up any commission to see Hikari. She’d choose this silver haired chef with a mutant nose over the New York Times, the prime minister of Finland, the governor of California, a thousand awards and infinite accolades. Every day, any day, she would come back for Arato-Hayama Hikari the second she called.
“You’re thinking aloud again,” Hikari chuckled.
“Would you really, though?”
“Give up your work for me.”
Kaede gave her a look and remained silent for a long moment. “Of course.”
At this, Hikari sat up and leaned forward. “And what if I told you I want you around all the time?”
“Then… I guess I would stay.”
If Kaede had been a chef, tonight would’ve been her gradfest. Following the graduation ceremony in the morning, the legacies of Totsuki’s 90, 91, and 92nd generations were now gathered in the ballroom of Nakiri Mansion with their parents to celebrate the end of another era of jewels at the academy.
Despite their typical inclinations to network and hold court, Kaede and Hikari hovered in the periphery of the area, staying within a few meters of the bar.
There was something different between them — it was foreign but not unwelcome. Something passionate, vibrant, and utterly charged.
Hikari looked up at Kaede over her champagne flute. She was wrapping up a conversation with Erina and Hisako about designing a building for their first joint venture because seriously what the fuck had taken them so long. Her strawberry blonde hair was tied in a high ponytail, her angular face framed with loose strands. God, her eyes. The light from the chandeliers overhead glanced off those dangerous panes of glass, more electric than lightning.
“Is it weird,” Hikari asked the three of them once the flow of words had more or less stagnated, “that I find my childhood best friend ridiculously attractive? Like… hella fucking cute?”
Kaede frowned, and for a second Hikari thought she registered a flicker of disappointment in her eyes. “I mean, not really. He’s gorgeous. Isn’t he taken, though?”
Erina said, “I thought he was dating Marui Sena.”
“Aren’t you talking about Auden?” Hisako asked.
Hikari shook her head. “I’m not talking about him.”
Kaede finished off her mimosa and gave an eyebrow raise. “Who is this childhood friend? Do I need to interrogate someone to make sure they deserve you?”
“I’ll help,” Hisako put in. “Private Investigator Arato is a little rusty but back in business.”
Without another word, before she could register the fact that everyone — their parents included — was watching them, Hikari leaned in and kissed Yukihira Kaede.
It was a fucking war. Blazing, intense.
And yet it was like the ripples in a pond. Quiet, serene.
Hikari noted with moderate amusement that Kaede was one hell of a good kisser. Whether this was due to her inherited god tongue was up to debate, but she had no time to wonder because it hit her then that Kaede was kissing her back. She set down her flute and swiveled to pin the architect against the bar, threading her fingers through her hair, closing a distance between them that did not exist. It was rare for Arato-Hayama Hikari to be more in tune with her tongue than her nose, but Kaede’s lips were warm and soft, sweet and salty at the same time, rendering everything else insignificant. Spices, mint, champagne.
When they finally came up for air, Kaede’s eyes were glazed over, the flaring purple and amber lights dimmed to a glossy ambience. But then she blinked and her expression cleared, and she commented drily, “I guess no vicious interrogation session?”
Hikari smirked as Kaede placed her glass down with all the acute precision that her occupation demanded.
“Hayama, what if I break your heart?”
“You won’t, Nakiri,” she replied, and then she kissed the architect again, ignoring their mothers’ ecstatic whooping and the congratulatory racket of everyone else in the ballroom. And that was more than enough.
This was the renaissance of emotions they’d tamped down—
No, that wasn’t it. That wasn’t it at all.
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