Reiko, a formidable matriarch of the Hōjō family, balances her roles as Saito’s fiercely devoted maternal aunt and Shisei’s protective mother with calculated precision. She nurses a seething contempt for her younger brother, Saito’s father, dismissing him as spineless and inept, unworthy of basic respect. Her affection for Saito borders on maternal, driving her to vehemently oppose his arranged marriage to Akane—a union she views as a betrayal of Shisei’s happiness, believing Akane usurped her daughter’s romantic prospects.

Blinded by loyalty to Shisei, Reiko weaponizes her influence against Akane, exploiting Saito’s parents’ financial desperation. She brokers a cold agreement to erase their debts in exchange for their cooperation in dismantling the marriage, coercing Saito’s return to their household. Though repulsed by aligning with those she deems beneath her, her resolve to shield Shisei outweighs her pride.

Time erodes her hostility. Despite simmering resentment, Reiko appears at Saito and Akane’s wedding, a silent concession to their bond. She vows to abandon her schemes, her rigid principles yielding to fragile family unity. Shisei remains her unwavering priority, her every action anchored in securing her daughter’s future.

Reiko’s past is shadowed by a fractured relationship with her father, Tenryū Hōjō, whose machinations—engineering Saito and Akane’s marriage to rekindle an old flame with Akane’s grandmother—echo through her choices. While not complicit in his agenda, her maneuvers mirror the Hōjō clan’s tangled loyalties. Her arc bends from cunning antagonist to a reluctant pragmatist, trading personal vendettas for the brittle peace of kinship.