Published at 31st of August 2019 1:24 pm

Volume 11, Chapter 02: The Flower that Bloomed in the Rain

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

—Stop raining.

Looking up to the rainy sky through the window, the little girl mumbled quietly in the broad room without any warmth.

The little girl had received cheers from the villagers. She no longer could play with her friends like before. The villagers worshipped the little girl, made her wear pretty clothes and gave her a gaudy residence.

But hardly anyone came near her residence, so it was a partly shut off world of solitude. The one and only place, where she was allowed to belong. Unable to go back to her real home, the little girl didn’t show any tears despite that and kept granted the wishes of the villagers.

When she felt sad all by herself, the little girl watched the children through the window. The children, who were allowed to play around innocently. Her friends. Even if she couldn’t join them, the little girl really liked to see their smiles.

Therefore she hated rainy days, where the children didn’t come outside. She kept hating them and even after she broke out of this shut off world at some point in time, the little girl eventually kept crying all by herself on rainy days even now…

* * *

Since when was Elni considering to leave our house?

I can’t become your family, Shinobu. Someone like me can’t become Machina’s older sister. I won’t come back to a place that I once left— Many of Elni’s words crossed my mind.

I was sure it was different from Hijiri, Kaorun or Machina’s case.

When Kaorun tried to leave Hijiri, when Hijiri tried to take her distance from me and when Machina tried to go back to the demon realm, in either case the girls had hesitation themselves. And I was able to sense that. However, I couldn’t really sense it with Elni.

She might have planned to leave us from the very beginning.

It was nonchalant early afternoon on a holiday. I came to Machina and Elni’s shared room to check upon them. Machina sat happily on the bed together with me and eagerly talk to me with a fashion magazine in one hand. On the other hand, Elni wore her usual expression and built a plastic model on the table, showing triumphantly showed off the finished model to Machina.

“Look, Machina! Isn’t it done cool? I’ll give it to you!”

“Eh? I don’t really want it. Anyway, come talk to Shinobu too.”

Machina easily ignored the plastic model, whereas Elni puckered her lips and replied dissatisfied.

“Shinobu this, Shinobu that. My model is really well made, you know? You really don’t want it?”

“I mean, you already forced— cough, gave me various plastic models. I don’t have enough space for it. If you want to boast with them, why don’t you set them up at the front door?”

“…I’m not giving it to you when you want it afterwards.”

As she wanted to present it to Machina, Elni mumbled “I’ll ask Tomoe-san, so that I can put them up at the front door” somewhat sulking and also a bit regretful.

However, on a closer look, the room had quite a lot plastic models for a girl’s room. The models took all kinds of poses. Did Elni make all of them?

While such thoughts crossed my mind, I casually shifted my gaze back, whereupon Elni excitedly took out the game console and now Machina puckered her lips a bit upon seeing that.

“Elni, you can play that game anytime. But Shinobu came all the way here to play with us. Don’t you want to talk with him?”

“I’m happy with just having him here. So it’s fine. Besides, I’m burning for some gaming right now! I’ll become a master monster hunter! Then boast about it to the kids!”

“A master monster hunter? Boast to the kids? What the?”

Machina titled her head doubtfully, whereupon Elni put the game console aside for a moment and explained with her arms crossed.

“I believe I already told you, Machina, but I’m working part-time at a nursery school these days.”

“Reminds me, you said ‘I graduated from being the personal guard!’. I think my sister’s Boss referred it to you…”

“Yeah, right. But there’s another girl besides me working part-time at the nursery school. Her name is Minami. She seems to be your classmate, Shinobu, Machina.”

“…Minami is working part-time at the nursery school?”

Minami Ouka. Having huge breasts that were rumoured to be F-Cups, she was a slightly erotic girl with adorable features and my childhood friend. But I never knew that she worked at a nursery school. When I interjected a bit surprised, Elni nodded with a serious expression for some reason.

“All the kids call her ‘Minami-sensei’ and love her. In contrast, I’m simply called ‘Elni’ by the kids and there’s even a mean boy that says ‘Hey Elni, you have forty seconds to buy me some fried noodle bread’.”

“Could it be, they’re taking you for an idiot?”

“Or rather, they believe I’m an idiot. Yesterday a kid flipped my skirt and the other boys reacted like this: ‘Hey! What’re you doing! You can’t do that! If anything, do it with Minami-sensei!’…”

“…That’s too sad, I’m at a loss for words.”

“I feel sad too. I want to get along with the boys like Minami too, not just the girls. Therefore I need to become a master monster hunter.”

“Mh? How does a game come into this?”

When I doubtfully interjected again, Elni lightly held out the game console to me and replied.

“As a matter of fact, a hunting game is popular with the boys right now. They once let me join them, but one mean boy told me ‘You suck! I’m not playing with you anymore, Elni! We’re through!’ and got angry.”

Looking sad again, Elni raised a bright voice with “But” and the console in one hand.

“Once I raise my skills in the game, I’m sure I can play happily with the kids. We might get really close. I’m good at RPGs, but not with action games, so I’m training now. Shinobu, watch me grow from over there.”

“I can help you, if you want?”

While saying so, I leaned forward, whereupon Machina pulled on my sleeve for some reason.

“Ehm, what’s up, Machina? Do you want to play the game too?”

“N- No. You’re only caring about Elni. Weren’t you reading a fashion magazine with me right now? I guess you aren’t interested in these?”

“To be honest, I don’t know much about girl’s clothes, but… I think these clothes would look good on you.”

“Really? Actually, I liked them too. You have a good eye.”

When I pointed to a page of the magazine with a crease, Machina animated her voice with “What about these clothes? Do you like this kind, Shinobu?”, as her mood was fixed right away.

But even while I listened to her, I unconsciously snuck a peek at Elni.

Elni was engrossed in her game. She wouldn’t change. What would I have to do to stop her? …Such thoughts crossed my mind and at some point, I kept coming up only with reluctant answers. Due to that, Machina peered into my face a bit worried.

“What’s the matter, Shinobu? You’re so absent-minded for a while now. And you’re making such a serious face.”

“W- Woman fall for this face.”

“…You stammered a bit just now. Why’re you trying to brush it off? Are you worrying about something? If you like, I can hear you out.”

Apparently I couldn’t flinch from it anymore. I certainly was worrying about Elni. But, was it alright to reveal that Machina, to the others?

—For the last expression to be a crying face… that’s too much for me.

Suddenly Elni’s words floated in the back of my head. When I slowly shifted my gaze, Elni stopped playing her game and looked at me straight while putting on a somewhat sad smile.

What would happen… if I were to speak about everything? Elni might disappear then without waiting for Christmas, so that she wouldn’t have to see everyone’s saddened expression.

Befallen with that worry, I was stuck for words, whereas Machina alternative looked at Elni and me, then puffed up her cheeks a bit for some reason.

“Shinobu, why’re you only looking at Elni? Are you two hiding something?”

“No, we’re not hiding anything…” I lied so right away, but not believing it, Machina leaned over her body further and brought her face closer.

Upon that, her long eyelashes and glamorous lips were really close and furthermore, her sweet fragrance tickled my nasal cavities, so my heartbeat accelerated regardless of the inappropriate situation.

At that time, I could hear the faint DING DONG of the front door’s intercom.

“M- Machina, someone’s at the door.”

“Right. But my sister will get it. Anyway Shinobu, why’re you averting your eyes? If it’s not something you feel guilty about, look into my eyes and tell me.”

“O- Okay, I just have to look you into the eyes, right?” with that I looked into Machina’s amber eyes as prompted to, whereupon Elni, who had stayed quiet so far, faintly flushed her cheeks and commented.

“Somehow, it feels like you’re going to kiss.”

“H- Hey, Elni! That’s not what I got close to Shinobu for! Don’t get any weird ideas! I was just worried about him…”

Shaking both her hands, Machina denied, whereas suddenly a small knock resounded and following, Luna showed up in the room. She seemingly fully recovered from the cold she had the other day and opened her mouth with a smile.

“Ehm, Hijiri-san and Kaoru-san came over to play just now… But why are you three all red?”

Luna tilted her head midway in her sentence, whereas Machina pointed at me with still red cheeks and replied.

“Listen to this, Sister. Shinobu seems to be hiding something, but he won’t tell me what. Elni even covered for him by making a weird joke. The two of them might be plotting something.”

“Is that so, Shinobu-san?”

“Ehm, well, what can I say…”

When I was stuck for words again, Luna mimicked Machina for some reason and got close to me with a smiling face. The sweet fragrance doubled involuntary. Moreover, Luna stared at me, then kissed my ear, as she just wanted to play around unlike Machina.

“…Hey, stop it. Why would you— wait, why’re you kissing me as well, Machina! Don’t do it if you turn this bright red! Actually, you two just want physical contact, don’t you?”

“I am sorry. That is actually true.”

“Th- That’s not my intent. I thought it would be the most efficient way to make you confess. If you don’t tell me, well… I’ll kiss you again.”

I got the feeling that Machina partly forgot about the initial goal. I leaned back to escape from them, but due to my agitation, I lost my balance and flopped face-up onto the bed like that. In regards, Luna and Machina looked at me by hanging over me.

In front of my eyes and nose tip were clear emerald green and deep amber eyes. Pink and light red lips. Their voluminous breasts at a hair length. Their sweet fragrance that chipped away at my reasoning.

I had fallen into a pinch in no time. While my face became hot at the same time I panicked, suddenly a shutter sound resounded. When I glanced over, there stood Elni holding a digital camera.

“…What’re you doing?”

“Mh? Imitating Kaorun. It’ll be a nice keepsake.”

The keepsake of being pushed down by two beautiful girls. I wasn’t too sure about that.

Replying to my question indifferently, Elni pressed the shutter once again, whereupon both Luna and Machina turned red and I used that chance to escape. I got off the bed, rushed out of the room and down the stairs, whereupon I could hear Luna and Machina’s voices with “Please wait, Shinobu-san” and “We’re not done with the physical contact yet!” from behind, but I moved to the living room unconcerned.

There were Hijiri and Kaorun sitting on the sofa, as they had come over to play like Luna had said earlier. As soon as Kaorun noticed me, she tilted her head doubtfully.

“What is the matter, Shinobu-sama? You look a bit flustered…?”

“Yeah, I’m being chased by Luna and Machina right now. Can I hide somewhere? I want to wait for their feelings to calm down.”

“Your question troubles me a bit, since this is not my house, but I do have an idea.”

Kaorun beckoned me with her hand while smiling roguish for some reason. A bit of worry spread in my chest, but urged by Kaorun with “Over here”, I crouched down at Hijiri’s feet, whereupon

“K- Kaoru-san? What are you— Yahn!”

At the same time Hijiri raised an adorable shriek, my vision fell into light blue panties. Kaorun had flipped Hijiri’s long skirt with attitude, only to put her hands onto the back of my head right afterwards. Next she pushed my head into Hijiri’s skirt.

“This ain’t working, Kaorun! They’ll find me! For sure!”

“Uhn… Shinobu-kun, if you rub there… Iyah…”

Leaking a bewitching voice and twisting her body, Hijiri tried to press her thighs together.

However, it ended up pinching my cheeks in-between her smooth thighs.

Upon that, a proper elasticity was transferred from her thighs and I felt fluffy sensation on my nose tip through her panties. A nice sweet-and-sour fragrance. Moreover, every time I took a breath, Hijiri shivered her body with “Mm…”, gradually increasing the pressure of her thighs.

“…This might have been too much for the sensitive Hijiri-chan.”

Before that, it was strange for a hiding place anyway. Retorting to Kaorun in my mind, I tried to get out of Hijiri’s skirt at once, but at the worst timing faint footsteps reached my ears and next I could hear Luna and Machina’s voices.

“Hey Hijiri, Kaoru, have you seen Shinobu?”

“He does not seem to be here… wait, huh? Hijiri-san, your face is somewhat flushed. Is something wrong?”

“It’s… Mm… nothing… Mm… Don’t worry, I’m fine…”

“Really? Like my sister said, your face is really red. Maybe a cold?”

“M- My body… Uh… certainly feels a bit hot… But I’m fine…”

Even while replying to Luna and Machina, Hijiri leaked seductive moans. Moreover, from her thighs I could sense that she was wriggling her body… It might be only a matter of time until I was found.

Even I was about to tremble from the fear of getting found and the guilt towards Hijiri, whereupon Kaorun interjected helping.

“You two, Hijiri-chan is only feeling a bit horny, so you do not need to worry. Anyway, about Shinobu-sama, he was mumbling ‘Why are boobs round?’ earlier, then blurted out ‘I’m going to look for and find the true boobs.’ and rushed out without paying any attention to the confused us.”

“…I don’t think Shinobu would say something like that, but is it true that he left the house?”

“Maids do not lie. I have a lead, so let us have a date while we look for Shinobu-sama. You accompany us as well, Luna-san.”

“Eh? But I have plans with Hijiri-san— wait, Kaoru-san, please do not pull!”

Apparently Kaorun dragged out Machina and Luna. Their voices gradually became more distant, so I slowly peeked out my head from Hijiri’s skirt.

Upon that, Hijiri had dampened her eyes a bit, flushed her cheeks and was breathing roughly. Feeling guilty, I timidly reached out my hand towards her with “Ehm, are you okay?”, but

“S- Stop, Shinobu-kun! Don’t come closer!”

“…I am sorry, Hijiri-san. I was a fool. Please forgive me.”

She must have been angry after all. My extended hand was completely rejected and I inadvertently lapsed into respectful speech all depressed, whereupon Hijiri hastily shook both her hands.

“N- No, Shinobu-kun. I’m not really angry. It’s just that I think I’ll leak a weird voice if you touch me now…”

Weird voice? Like what? A bit interested, I tried touching her ear, whereupon

“IYAHN! HAHN…”

Aw, now I have done it. I had only touched her lightly, yet Hijiri shivered her body by bending backwards as soon as she leaked a bewitching voice and laid down face-up on the sofa, dampening her eyes even more.

“Hah, Hah, Shinobu-kun you meanie. Don’t do it again or I’ll leak an embarrassing voice again.”

…Not good. My prankish nature was awakened. But I somehow managed to stop my extended hand, whereupon there was yet another sudden shutter sound. When I turned around surprised, there stood Elni with a smile like expected.

“This’ll be a great keepsake, Shinobu.”

The keepsake of pushing down a beautiful girl. It made me want to cover my eyes. Returning to my senses, I lowered my head and repeated apologies to Hijiri…

After that, Elni started to talk with a smile while getting under the heated table when Hijiri had calmed down.

“So, Hijiri, why’re you here today?”

“Ah, right. I wanted Luna-san to teach me knitting, but… that’ll have to wait until the three of them are back. Luna-san, Machina-san and Kaoru-san went out together.”

“I see. But why do you suddenly want to knit?”

On Elni’s casual question, Hijiri faintly flushed her cheeks and replied while sneaking a glance at me for some reason.

“Y- You know, it’s Christmas soon.”

“Yeah, it means chicken. The Holy Night of chicken.”

“Ehm, isn’t it more like a night of death for the chicken? And while there’s certainly chicken for dinner, Christmas means giving presents, right? So I want to knit mufflers or gloves for those that have been taken care of me…”

“So that’s the reason. You’re amazing, Hijiri.”

Elni grinned, then suddenly crossed her arms and pondered with “Presents, huh”. Watching her with a side-glance, I continued to chit-chat with Hijiri for a while.

Then Elni pulled out the game console from her pocket, as she was done with her pondering, and started to play again. Hijiri must have been a bit curious, as she reserved peeked at Elni’s hands.

“That looks fun, Elni. What game is that?”

“Fufu, it’s an action game, where you enjoy passionate battle against monsters.”

Elni replied with a bright tone to answer Hijiri’s question.

According to Elni, in the game the player was a hunter in a fantasy world and could hunt monsters or animals on plateaus, in the desert, on snowy mountains or even in the water. Moreover it had a multiplayer modus, where skilled players good help out other players.

Listening to these game explanations, Hijiri said “Sounds fun” and dropped her gaze onto the game console, whereupon Elni said with a smile and her still bright tone.

“Do you want to try it, Hijiri? I’ll teach you how it’s played.”

“Really? Then I’ll give it a try, but I have rarely been playing any games, so I might be really bad at it. Could you please not laugh at me?”

Hijiri flushed her cheeks, whereas Elni gave an instant “Of course” answer and handed her the game console. Hijiri started playing right away, but she really wasn’t used to games.

“Wah, Uwah. Wh- What do I do, Elni? I can’t get out of the water anymore…”

While holding the game console, the flustered Hijiri kept moving her hands restlessly left, right, up and down. Her behaviour was just so cute that both Elni and I couldn’t suppress a small outburst of laughter.

Hijiri instantly turned bright red on our reactions and looked down embarrassed.

“D- Don’t laugh, you two. I said I wasn’t good with it.”

“…My bad. I’m sorry, Hijiri. But it’s an interesting game, albeit a bit difficult, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. It’s really fun. So I can play with it for a bit longer, Elni?”

“Don’t be so reserved and play all you want. I’ll tell you a trick now that will let you enjoy the game some more. Listen, Hijiri, this monster is…”

Surely she was happy that Hijiri showed an interest in the game she liked herself.

While giving advices to Hijiri, Elni smiled really pleased. That expression bloomed like a large-petalled flower, smiling really vivid. So… So I wanted to see that smiling face forever. I wanted to please her more, make her wear this smile.

But I still hadn’t found a way to stop Elni. At the same time I pain suddenly ran through my chest, an impatience spread. But I put on a smile like I didn’t notice it and watched over Elni and Hijiri for a while, then I left my seat, telling them I was going to the toilet.

…If I were to make a gloomy face, Machina might get suspicious of me again.

Glancing at the mirror, I washed my face and left the bathroom with renewed feelings. Speak of the devil and she shows up. The front door opened in that very moment and everyone came back. Luna, Machina, Kaorun and even my mother. Most likely my mother met the others midway.

For now I called out to them with “Welcome home”, but for some reason, Luna and Machina wordlessly embraced me and gentle stroked my back in sequence, then disappeared into the living room together.

Just what was that? I doubtfully threw my glance at Kaorun.

“Did you say something to these two?”

“Yes. The two seemed concerned about your worries, so I told them: ‘Shinobu-sama seems to have awoken to cross-dressing from the repeated experiences. But he is confused about himself, since he feels pleasure from cross-dressing, and surely is worried about that.’.”

“…Don’t tell me, Luna and Machina accepted that?”

“Yes, through my eloquence. Now they will not question you any further, I believe. Good for you, is it not, Shinobu-sama? Well, you do not need to thank me…”

“I‘m troubled how I can‘t thank you honestly. Even if you were deceiving them for me, couldn’t you have found a better way? How am I going to face these two from now on?”

“I believe you should just act like always. Once your worries are solved, you can laugh it off as a joke. And, Shinobu-sama—”

Midway in her sentence, Kaorun tightly embraced me and kept stroking my back gently just like Luna and Machina had done.

“Should you be unable to resolve your worries by yourself, please rely on me. I will always lend a hand. While I am Hijri-chan’s maid, I like to think of myself as your maid as well, Shinobu-sama.”

“You’re already cute enough… yet you get even cuter sometimes. That’s not fair.”

I couldn’t utter the least complaint. When I petted her head out of gratitude, Kaorun turned red and got away from me right away, heading to the living room in an escape. On the other hand, my mother, who had watched silently, looked at me and smirked teasingly.

“Lately, you’re starting to look more and more like your father.”

“Don’t group me together with that gigolo. If anything, I want to resemble you.”

“You surprisingly have a mother complex, huh.”

While saying so, my mother softened her expression and adjusted her tone a bit.

“So, it seems you’re worrying about something, but how’s it going? Think you can manage?”

“…I’m afraid I haven’t come up with an answer yet.”

I replied with a sigh, whereupon my mother lightly shrugged her shoulders and replied.

“Even if you’re looking for it, answers aren’t something so easily found.”

“Then what should I do?”

“It’s simple. Set out with your own feet to find the answer. Hammer out a plan by opening a path with your own hands or something. Of course you can always ask someone for help too.”

“…Set out, open a path, that sounds like Buddhist concept.”

When I answered with another sigh, my mother softly embraced me like the others and leaving me only the words “I’ll always help you too if you need it”, she then slowly headed for her own room.

…The meaning behind my mother’s words. It wasn’t like I understood everything of it. But I believed it was important now to try everything possible. For now I was looking for what I could do.

Watching after my mother’s back, I went to the living room too, where Luna, Machina and Kaorun were peeking at the hands of Hijiri, who enjoyed the game, while listening to the advices from Elni, as they were probably filled in about the game from Elni and Hijiri…. The living room was flourishing with smiling faces.

My vision fell on Elni, who had the happiest smile from all of them. While I watched her expression, the feeling in my chest that had sprouted earlier began to well up.

…I really wanted to please her more and make her smile.

I didn’t know if that would lead me to a way to keep Elni here. But if that was what I could do right now, then I had no time to waste. I hurried over to the girls and started to talk as soon as I entered the living room.

“Hey, wanna have a game tournament with everyone next time?”

Most likely due to the sudden proposal, the girls asked back “A game tournament?” like a parrot, whereas only Kaorun slapped her hands together to whatever conclusion she came.

“I see, certainly. In other words, Shinobu-sama, you want to say: ‘It’ll be a treat from the great me! The winner will get a reward from me! Rejoice and participate, girls!’, correct?”

“Yeah, a party sponsored by the great me!”

“An unexpected full approval!?”

“…No, wait, Kaorun. I didn’t agree to everything.”

Retorting to Kaorun, who had widened her eyes, I looked at everyone’s faces with “But”.

“It’s certainly better to have some kind of bet for it, right? A time attack or a team battle, any way’s fine. The winner or winning team can order the loser anything— how does that sound?”

While saying so, I threw a glance at Kaorun, smirked and cracked a joke.

“By the way, if I win, I plan to make you wear cat-ears instead of your maid headband and let you end your sentences with ‘meow’.”

“I do not want that, meow. Please refrain from doing so, meow. It is embarrassing, meow.”

It was no longer a penalty. Kaorun ended her sentences with “meow”, softly rested her hand on Hijiri’s shoulder and filled her tone with passion.

“Hijiri-chan, this is a good chance.. If we win at the game tournament, let us make Shinobu-sama cross-dress. And then he will be the maid at our house for one day.”

“Sh- Shinobu-kun will be a maid at our house? We can do that? Then is it possible too that I pet his head all I want?”

“Not just that, you could also embrace him, kiss him and sleep next to him at night.”

“It’s like a dream coming true…”

Th- This had gotten out of hand. Whatever they were imagining, not just Hijiri, but even Kaorun started to look dreamful. When I felt an impatience, Machina timidly called out to Luna in the corner of my vision.

“Hey, what would you do if you win, Sister?”

“I want to take a bath together with Shinobu-san.”

“Th- Then let us three take a bath together if we win.”

…Now I couldn’t afford to lose anymore. If either Hijiri’s team or Luna’s team were to win, I feared that my reasoning wouldn’t last.

I even started to get a cold sweat, but Elni laughed with “Sounds fun!” while listening to everyone, so I prepared myself for the possibility of my loss and after we discussed it with everyone, we decided to have a game tournament in the living room of Hijiri’s house around this time next week…

* * *

—A lot had happened from the day last week, where I proposed the organisation of a game tournament, until today.

First, Nazuna and her best friend— Miichan aka Sakurarai Mizuki had heard the story from Elni and showed smiling faces that said that they wanted to participate in the tournament too. Then Miichan, surprisingly skilled with games, gave Luna, who was bad with machines, Hijiri, who was a beginner at games, and Elni, who was fired up for some special training, some fierce coaching, but… would that really pay off?

Finally we welcomed the day of the game tournament. In the broad living room of the Gogyou Household, Luna, Machina, Elni, Nazuna, Hijiri, Kaorun, Miichan and I had gathered with each a game console in one hand.

However, since we were so many, we decided after a short discussion that we would split into two teams and compete about which team would finish the same quest faster. We formed the teams by drawing lots.

Also, the team battle would produce too many winners, which would increase the penalties on the losers, so only the surviving players of the winning team were given the privilege of the winner. Furthermore the condition was added that the members of the team, which cleared the quest, that died during the competition would be treated as losers.

And the result of the lots was the set-up: “Elni, Nazuna, Miichan, Me VS. Luna, Machina, Hijiri, Kaorun”. Kaorun exchanged looks with Hijiri, Luna and Machina, then they secretly started their strategy meeting with small voices.

On the other hand, Elni, Nazuna, Miichan and I formed a circle to push up our morale and when both teams had finished their preparations, the game started.

I was worried about what kind of scheme Kaorun had plotted, but my team had no beginners like Luna or Hijiri. Just playing normally, we should have the game in the bag.

And in fact, my team smoothly advanced the quest, whereas Kaorun’s team probably had a hard time. Kaorun suddenly raised a panicked voice during the match.

“Kuh! This does not look good. Hijiri-chan, Luna-san, Machina, we have to use that now! Like we have discussed— Please protect at least me with your lives!”

“Got it, Kaoru— wait, I never heard of this! What’re you thinking?”

“It is a joke to boost our teamwork.”

After replying brazenly to Machina’s tricked&retort combo, Kaorun said “Operation, start!” with vigour, whereupon the girls from our opponent team suddenly started to raise bewitching voices.

“Yahn, the monster’s thing is really stiff, Iyahn” said Machina.

“Uhn, if you do that, Ahn, I’ll be done for right away.” said Hijiri.

“Ahh, please stop it. You meanie. I am really weak against that.” said Luna.

“Hah, Shinobu-sama you pervert. Please do not tease me only there. Ahn.” said Kaorun.

Machina and Hijiri were somewhat bashful, whereas the natural erotic big sister Luna gave of the feeling of a wife. Moreover, the perverted maid attacked my mentality by mentioning my name.

Due to that, my concentration was greatly disturbed and while even the innocent Miichan and Nazuna turned bright red, Elni looked at me and raised her voice to overcome this crisis.

“Shinobu! We can only oppose them now with your special cool remark! We have no other choice, but to battle their sexy with your dandy! Show them the skills of the natural gigolo!”

“To my great regret, roger that. Sorry, but I’ll leave the fighting to you guys. I’ll retreat from the frontlines for now.”

Suppressing my embarrassment, I looked over to the opponent team and resounded my voice as best as I could.

“—Three minutes. That’s all it takes me to hunt monsters, or woman. By the way, Kaorun, give me five minutes and I can strip a girl butt-naked.”

“Wh- Why are you boasting about that only to me!? Or rather, this tactic is unfair, Shinobu-sama! Myself aside, it is a bit risky for Machina! And Hijiri-chan and Luna-san are already off in their dream world. This is too much!”

“—Now that it has come to this, only a God can stop me.”

“And I, a Goddess, have no intentions at all to stop him! The perfect brains come up with the perfect tactic! The schemer fell into the snares of schemes, Kaorun! Show them the power of the natural gigolo, Shinobu!”

Strongly urged by Elni, I once again made a nice voice to hassle them.

“If every day was a Friday, I could hold you every night.” “Like a prince on a white horse? I hear that a lot.” “I zoom in to your eyes.” “—Ah, I forgot to record Dorae*on.”

To be honest, I was quickly running out of ideas and I changed my remarks aimed at Kaorun into gags, whereupon she finally burst out in a laughter and for some reason, Luna, Hijiri and Machina flushed their cheeks. It had an unexpected great effect. This should lower their morale.

Even while feeling a bit guilty, I shifted my gaze back to my team-mates at once.

But, apparently Miichan was spellbound with “So wonderful, Shinobu-oniisan…” like Luna and the others, whereas Nazuna turned teary with “Uwah! Because neither Brother or Miichan are playing, I died!” and Elni raised an agitated voice with “The natural gigolo is a double-edged sword!?”.

It might have been us, who fell into the snares of schemes. Looking at each other, Elni and I broke out into a cold sweat, whereas Kaorun, as she was taking this as her chance to win,

“Girls! Now! Operation Part 2!”

suddenly raised a voice, then she, the announcer, rested her well-formed breasts onto my head first. Next, Luna and Hijiri clung to me from both sides, albeit reserved.

D- Damn, so unfair. Kaorun’s bouncing beautiful breasts on my head. Hijiri and Luna’s soft and delicious breasts that sometimes pressed on both my elbows. On top of that, the sweet fragrance from all three of them came over me and while I was losing my head, I could hear Machina’s sad shout from behind me.

“Hey! There’s no place for me! That’s not fair! And my character is about to di— Aww!”

“…It appears that Machina passed away.”

“I’m afraid Luna-san and my character died as well, Kaoru-san…”

“Why!? Why out of the blue!?”

Kaorun widened her eyes, whereas Hijiri and Luna each flushed their cheeks and replied.

“Ehm, Shinobu-kun’s body was just so warm and pleasant that I inadvertently got immersed.”

“Same for me… It does not affect you, Kaoru-san?”

“What are you saying, Luna-san? There is no way that it does not it affect me. As a matter of fact, my character is ascending to heaven right now.”

Pulling back her breasts that rested on my head, Kaorun nonchalant replied so. In that moment,

“Wh- Why! Wasn’t the plan that you slay the monster while we agitate Shinobu-kun!?” “Besides, only I can’t hug onto him! That’s not what we arranged, Kaoru! This is totally different from your plan!” “E- Even I did not expect that Shinobu-sama’s body would make me this nervous!” “It is only natural, since Shinobu-san is so wonderful.”

Like that, Hijiri, Machina and Kaorun started to make a ruckus, but only Luna still seemed to be spellbound and when I my attention was attracted to the girls,

“—Yay! I defeated the monster, Shinobu! We won!”

Elni raised both her hands while I had my eyes off the game, and declared victory. When I dropped my gaze again there, the screen of the game certainly displayed the words “Quest Cleared”.

…Fufu, I didn’t participate in the battle at all.

Unable to immerse myself in the joy of victory, I felt a faint emptiness, whereupon Elni, either happy about the victory or just enjoying playing with everyone,

“Ahaha! Shinobu and I won! Thanks for your support, Nazucat, Miichan! Let’s take a picture, so that I won’t forget this day!”

rejoiced innocently, took out a digital camera and stored everyone’s appearance within the camera like she had said. Amidst that, Luna, Machina, Hijiri and Kaorun looked at each other, then smiled softly, as their earlier noisy voices had disappeared somewhere, and gave Elni and me, the winners, a warm applause.

Also, Nazuna and Miichan each hugged onto Elni, despite their own loss, and said “Congratulations, Elni-chan!” “You did it, Elni-san!” with a smile. I also faced Elni and lightly changed my tone.

“Hey Elni, if you want, I can give you my winner privilege.”

“Eh? Really? Don’t you have something you want them to do too?”

…If it makes you happy, I’m fine with that.

Conveying that to Elni by the heart, I opened my mouth with a wry smile.

“I certainly have, but I didn’t do anything this time. Not participating in the battle, I made coaxing remarks, agitated Miichan and didn’t even notice that Nazuna was in a pinch.”

But even so, I was set on my wish for when we won. I would give Elni my winner privilege. And that feeling hadn’t changed even now.

“I can’t really say that I won this, because I didn’t do anything. So I would feel bad to get the winner privilege. Thus, I’m giving it to you. Well, consider it a present from me.”

A present from me— At least these words were meant sincere. I believed that I hid that, but she might actually have noticed it.

“Thanks for the wonderful present, Shinobu.”

With a bright smile, Elni tightly hugged onto me. Elni’s small and soft body. Even while I got quite agitated from that sensation, I clad myself in composure and quickly changed the topic.

“B- By the way, Elni, everyone came with all kind of hopes into this contest, but what about you? Is there anything you want to do?”

“Mhm~ I can’t really think of anything, but I would like something that we all can do together.”

Turning her head in my arms, Elni shifted her gaze towards the others and animated her voice with “Okay!”, as she already came up with something.

“Let’s all take a nap together!”

“Okay, that’s not really something you do together.”

As expected, I couldn’t help but retort…

A nap with everyone. A really modest wish from Elni. Everyone responded to it with smiles and mattresses were spread in the broad living room of the Gogyou Mansion one after another to really take a nap.

…If anyone were to see us, they would surely widen their eyes in surprise. Actually, was Elni alright with using one of her wishes for something like that?

While I felt doubtful, a rock-paper-scissors tournament started over the two positions next to me after the game tournament. As a result, Luna, Kaorun and Machina laid in that order right from me and Hijiri, Nazuna and Miichan laid in that order left from.

And, of all things, Elni insisted on sleeping in my arms, asserting her winner privilege to her heart’s content. Since no one could say anything against it, she snuggled her smooth cheek against my chest and relaxed the corners of her mouth happily. She was so cute that I wanted to embrace her like that and pet her head.

But Elni’s waist was so slender that it seemed that I would break her if I embraced her too tightly, and her breasts of moderate size, proud of a marshmallow-like softness, pressed squishy on my body for a while now. Moreover, she emitted a sweet fragrance.

…Not a situation in which I could sleep. Time passed without the tension leaving my body and while everyone else’s peaceful sleeping sounds filled the living room at some point, Elni suddenly straightened up her upper body.

When I raised my head doubtfully, she put up her index finger with “Ssh”, took out the digital camera from her pocket and took pictures of everyone sleeping.

A keepsake photo shooting á la Kaorun. After she was done with that, Elni nodded satisfied and leaned her cheek against my chest again, whereas I casually opened my mouth.

“Can’t you sleep, or what?”

“Thinking about my wish was just so fun that I got wide-awake.”

“I see. So, how’s it, Elni? Settled on a wish yet?”

“Yeah, it was a bit difficult, but I decided to play together with everyone after all.”

Replying affirming to my question, Elni might a bright smile and continued.

“I’ll ask Miichan to keep up the game coaching. With Hijiri and Kaorun, I’ll go star gazing. I know a good spot for that. And together with Luna, Machina and Nazucat, I’ll go somewhere to have fun. By the way, I’ll have you accompany me on everything, Shinobu.”

“Haha, that’s gonna be great.”

Forgetting to joke around, I smiled faintly, Elni said quietly after a short pause.

“Shinobu, thank you so much for today.”

“Mh? Where did that come from?”

“I mean, you held the game tournament for me, right? So that I would get better at it and have fun together with everyone.”

“…Did you enjoy it?”

“Of course. I came to like everyone of you even more. I’m really happy.”

Her heartfelt words slowly filled up the entirety of my chest.

“Hey Elni, the fun things will still keep coming from now on.”

I naturally spoke out my feelings.

“First we’ll have a Christmas party with everyone. Then we’ll eat traditional dishes with everyone on new year’s eve and on new year, we’ll all go together to the first shrine visit. And should it snow, we could have a snowball fight with everyone.”

“…I’m sure you’ll make everyone laugh again then.”

“Yeah, I’ll try my best. The winter can be annoying due to the cold sometimes, but it has lots of fun things too. And right after the winter comes the spring anyway, so we can go watch the cherry blossoms with everyone.”

“Luna’ll surely make a delicious lunch pack. And maybe Machina’s cooking skills will have improved by that time…”

“Machina’s a hard-working girl after all. If you teach her properly, she’ll be able to cook in no time. I think we’ll be able to eat Machina’s cooking when we watch the cherry blossoms next year. Also, Elni, once spring is over, it’ll be summer, so let’s go to my gramps’ vacation house again like this year.”

Along with my words, I softly stroked through Elni’s hair while still holding back the feelings in my chest.

“You came along too, Elni. I don’t want you alone to be missing in the memories we create from now on. With you here, with everyone together, we make memories like before, then we all should be able to smile forever.”

The days with everyone together that seemed so easily to forget, yet were so precious. If such days kept occurring, if we all spent precious ordinary days together, then surely…

Wanting to convey my welling up feelings, I slowly embraced Elni.

“You said before that you don’t want to see crying faces, right? Sure, some day everything might turn into just memories. But if you make a lot of memories like today, then no matter how painful or bitter it gets and even if there are crying faces, I’m sure everyone will smile at the end as long as you have memories together.”

Still embracing her, I peacefully spun my words with “Therefore, Elni,”.

“Stay with us for longer. Let’s make memories together. There’s still so much I want to do for you. So much I want you to do. It’s too early to leave us.”

“…Being next to you is like bathing in the sun, Shinobu.”

How did my feelings affect her heart? Letting faint tears dwell up in her red eyes, Elni trembled her voice a bit.

“I keep having the same dream. A small, yet warm house. My beloved mother by my side. I want to return to that sunny spot. I keep having this dream that will never come true. But when I’m with you, Shinobu, I seem to forget about that dream. So…”

Tightly clinging to me, Elni showed a soft smile while still teary.

“I like being by your side. It’s so warm here. I really don’t want to leave. I want to stay with you…”

Her heartfelt words and her warmth I felt from her body made me stupidly happy and a bit teary. I felt that I had reached her. I was sure that if I kept making memories like this, Elni would stay by my side.

Therefore I slightly increased the strength in my squeeze onto her and feeling Elni within my arms, I sunk into a peaceful sleep like being guided by her warmth…

What I felt along with a weird voice was a soft warmth that filled my chest. A sweet fragrance swept over my nose tip. Except the weird voice, it was probably from Elni. It reminded me, after the game tournament, we all took a nap together… Just when I recalled that,

“…Shinobu-sama will come to love maids. He will want to pet the maid’s head. He will want to embrace the maid. And he will come to love Hijiri-chan too…”

A weird whispering reached my ears again and when I doubtfully opened my eyes a bit, my vision fell onto Elni still sleeping in my arms. Yeah, she was really cute. Next I shifted my gaze, whereupon I saw the side-profile of the perverted maid that had her lips close to my ear. Yeah, what was she doing?

“…Could it be, you’re trying to indoctrinate me?”

“No, please consider it a hypnopaedia. For you information, at first I whispered ‘Maid, Maid, Maid…’ near your ear, but how was it? Did you have a sweet maid dream?”

“No, not at all, but why would you do that?”

“Because I wanted you to have a nice dream. But during my whispering, Luna-san leaked a sweet ‘Shinobu-saan’ voice in her sleep and clung to you, so I got a bit jealous and switched over to the hypnopaedia.”

“For now I’ll ignore the stuff about hypnopaedia. More importantly, Luna seems to be gone already, but look, Elni’s still on me. That doesn’t make you jealous?”

“Elni-san is a different matter.”, Kaorun gave an instant reply.

“…Aren’t you a bit lenient on Elni?”

“Well, I do owe Elni-san a lot, so of course I will be lenient.”

Giving a surprising reply, Kaorun shifted her gaze to Elni’s sleeping face.

“Elni-san is such a mysterious person. Usually she is innocent like a child, but sometimes she appears so mature and I get the feeling that she sees through everything. I assume that I will never be able to win against her.”

“Reminds me, didn’t you say something similar before?”

If I remembered correctly, it was when Kaorun ran away from home and came over to us, where she played a prank on the sleeping Luna by making her wear a cow-patterned swimsuit. As Kaorun recalled that time too, she showed a small smile and opened her mouth.

“Elni-san knew right away that my prank on Luna-san back then was my way of fawning over someone and told me: ‘You can play pranks on me too. Because I like you, Kaorun.’. Back then I escaped due to my embarrassment, but I was actually happy.”

Gently narrowing her eyes, Kaorun lightly flushed her cheeks and continued.

“Therefore I believe that I cannot match Elni-san.”

“You don’t just love Luna and Machina… but Elni too, huh.”

“Yes, that is correct. Because she pushed my back at that time.”

“…That time?”

Not hiding her embarrassment on a rare occasion, Kaorun affirmed honestly. However, unable to understand the meaning behind her words, I asked back like a parrot, whereupon Elni slowly opened her eyelids, as she woke up from our voices, and faced me with her silver hair swaying.

Upon that, a smile bloomed on her face with “It’s Shinobu…” as soon as she recognized me and then she burrowed her cheek into my chest spoiled.

“Hey, what’s up, Elni? You seem rather happy.”

“Yeah! I didn’t see that dream today. I’m sure it was because you were so close by, Shinobu.”

“…I was here too, you know?”

When Kaorun interjected reserved, Elni turned her smile towards her.

“Right. It’s thanks to you, Kaorun and everyone else for staying with me. It’s been a while since I slept so well!”

While saying so, she stretched herself luxuriously, then knitted her eyebrows a bit.

“…I’m kinda hungry.”

“Then I will go prepare dinner now. Please stay for dinner here as well, Elni-san.”

“Then I’ll help you! And Machina too!”

“…Machina as well?”, with that Kaorun showed a slightly surprised expression, but unconcerned about it, Elni proceeded excitedly and lightly shook the shoulders of the cheerfully sleeping Machina.

“Wake up, Machina. We’re going to make dinner with Kaorun now. C’mon, wake up, Machina. You asked me to teach you how to cook before, right?”

…We really might get to enjoy Machina’s cooking at the cherry blossom viewing next year. Elni pulled the awakened Machina on her hand with a smile. Machina, with drowsy eyes, was dragged away by Elni. Watching their backs that made them look like sisters, I thought:

I hope Elni will be with us under the cherry trees next year…

* * *

—Stop raining.

Looking up the rainy sky through the window of the classroom, I absent-minded thought so. The rain that started last night, still hadn’t let up. The pattering of the rain resounded in the quiet classroom after school and I shifted my gaze with a sigh.

There were Machina and an unknown female student sitting on the classroom’s chairs. Apparently the girl had something to discuss with Machina, the student president, and kept talking with her with a serious expression for a while now.

“…So, like I told you before, I’m the vice-captain of the female karate club. The captain is a bit scary and clumsy, but everyone knows that she’s really good at taking care of others and kind, so we all loved her, but…”

Midway in her sentence, she, the vice-captain of the karate club dropped her voice and continued.

“Lately the captain is somewhat on her toes and started, well, to put us all to hard work by saying ‘You’re slacking off’. I pointed it out to her numerous times, but she isn’t listening at all and even when I consulted our advisor or the seniors, they all just seemed scared of the captain… At this rate the captain will be hated by everyone.”

Tearing up a bit, the vice-captain looked straight into Machina’s eyes.

“So I came here, thinking you might be able to help me, President Orangelo.”

“…Why didn’t you come to me first?”

“Well, making you help out for something this trivial is…”

The vice-captain beat a bit around the bush, whereas Machina declared softly.

“It’s not trivial. It’s an important matter for you, right? So I have no reason to turn you down. I believe that’s exactly what a student president exists for.”

Softly grabbing the vice-captain’s hand, Machina smiled gently.

“Don’t worry. Leave it to me. I’ll do what I can.”

Her smile was really kind and quite pretty. Seeing that, the vice-captain stopped blinking as she was fascinated, but

“I’ll come by later, so wait a bit.”

“…Ah, yes. Thank you very much.”

When Machina called out to her, the vice-captain returned to her senses and said her thanks, leaving the classroom with red cheeks. On the other hand, Machina shifted her gaze towards me and knitted her eyebrows a bit.

“Sorry, Shinobu. I got something to do, so I can’t go home with you today either.”

“Well, it’s too bad, but there’s nothing we can do about it. Still, being the president sure is hard work.”

“But I’m happy when I’m thanked for the hard work, so it’s worth it. Besides, I heard rumours about the female karate club anyway and was a bit concerned about it. This is a good chance.”

“Right. It might indeed be, but are you going there alone? It’s about the captain of the karate club, right? If you want, I can go with you.”

“I’m happy that you worry about me, but I’ll ask Hijiri for this. It should be easier with just girls, right?”

Gentle turned down, I dropped my shoulders with “I see…”, whereupon she peered into my face and flushed her cheeks somewhat.

“You look down, Shinobu. Did you want to go home with me that bad?”

“Well, that too, but I thought about dropping by the nursery school with you today. Elni’s working there, remember? I want to go pick her up, but it’s a bit difficult for a guy to show up at a nursery school all alone.”

It would be bad if I were taken for someone suspicious. While I showed a wry smile, Machina now dropped her shoulders and sighed.

“…It’s really too bad. It doesn’t seem like I can make it today. But properly go pick her up, even by yourself, okay Shinobu? I’m sure Elni will be delighted.”

While saying so, she shifted her gaze to beyond the window and after a moment, Machina said isolated.

“Elni has changed a bit these days.”

“Mh? Really? I can’t really tell.”

“She did. How can I say it? She’s not so distant as before anymore.”

Brimming with a smile, she started to speak peacefully.

“Elni… doesn’t talk about herself at all, right? We don’t know how she was like as a kid, why she’s calling herself a Goddess, nor what kind of life she lived before. But she can get along with anyone and gets liked by anyone… So it sometimes makes me think.”

Dropping her gaze a bit, Machina filled her voice with a bit of sadness.

“That Elni actually might not need us. That she can live on without us just fine, will get along with someone else and leave for somewhere else before we know it… At times, I get such a worry.”

“…She might actually give off these vibes.”

“But you know, Shinobu, these days Elni comes into my bed with ‘It’s cold, so let’s sleep together’ every day. Until now Elni had troubles falling asleep, often cried from nightmares and cried worried about my possible return to the demon realm. She would easily wake up even in the middle of the night, yet she soundly slept together with me until morning yesterday again.”

Smiling happily, she made a tenderly voice.

“And in the morning she smiled with ‘When I sleep together with you, Machina, I don’t have that dream’, so now I think that Elni will stay with us like this…”

“Yeah, I think so too.”

Letting my the corners of my mouth from a smile, I agreed, whereupon Machina averted her gaze from the window and smiled a bit bashful.

“Now we have prattled away. I have work for the student council left, so I’ll go now. Take care of Elni, okay?”

Replying “Yeah, leave it to me” to Machina, I parted with her and left the school, then I spread my umbrella amidst the light rain and slowly headed for the nursery school.

Reminded me, Elni said the boys were making fun of her, but her gaming skills increased, so she should get along with the kids now?

While listening to the mild sound of the rain, I proceeded with these thoughts in mind, whereupon I suddenly ran into a familiar girl on the roadside.

Big eyes that drew you in and a smooth bridge of the nose. A body line with intense up and downs. Maybe they were even bigger than F-Cups? This girl— Minami brightened her expression upon noticing me, came rushing over, linked arms with me, still holding the umbrella, and snuggled up to me like that.

“…Hey, what’s this all of the sudden? Can’t you back off a bit?”

“Iyah~ We only just met, Shinobu-chan you meanie.”

When I softly pushed her aside, Minami leaked a rather enchanting voice and bounced her huge breasts. She most likely did it unconsciously. She got away from me and started talking like nothing had happened.

“So, where are you going today, Shinobu-chan? Your house is the other way, isn’t it?”

“Well, some stuff… wait, speaking of, I heard you’re working at a nursery school?”

When I suddenly brought up the matter I remembered hearing from Elni, Minami replied with a small “Yeah” nod.

“I’m just heading there now, but did you hear it from Elni-chan? By the way, I heard a lot from her. Like how awesome you usually are.”

“Oh? You two are close buddies now?”

“Yep. I mean, Elni-chan came to school a few times, remember? Like bringing you your lunch. And I spotted her at the culture and sports festival too, so I got a bit interested. I want to get even closer to her and talk about a lot of things from now on.”

“Hee…Incidentally I also heard a lot about you from Elni. Seems the kids quite adore you, Minami-sensei.”

“…I put in a lot of work for that, you know?”

When I called her with a title, Minami-sensei aka Minami replied with a wry smile.

“At first the boys called me ‘Boobie Girl’ and when I tightly squeezed them onto my breasts for a test, they all fled with red faces. After that they completely avoided me, you know? I don’t know why, my little brother quite liked it.”

“No, no, of course the reactions will be different when you’re an ‘older girl’ for them and an ‘older sister’ for him.”

“Mhm~ I don’t really get it, but when I consulted the other teachers at the nursery school, they told me ‘Be a Tsundere’, but I don’t know much about being ‘Tsun’. I’m just telling them ‘Want to take a bath together?’, ‘Do you like boobs?’ or ‘You’re so cute’, because the kids like it.”

“…From today on, I grant you the title ‘natural erotic’.”

“I, I’m not erotic! I just like kids!”

She replied to my joke with her cheeks puffed up and while I headed to the nursery school side-by-side with her, I told her that I was going to pick up Elni, whereupon Minami suddenly showed a smile and opened her mouth.

“But I have to say, Elni-chan’s amazing. It took me so much time, but she already gets along with the boys.”

Must have been thanks to the game tournament. While I relaxed my expression, Minami animated her voice with “And you know,” and continued.

“Elni-chan plays games together with the boys, gets the girls to join these days too and tells original stories while playing the guitar. The kids are super happy. I want to be like Elni-chan too.”

“I’m sure you can change in a better way. After all, you got cuter again… and your breasts even bigger.”

“I, I don’t want them to get any bigger than this!”

Midway I got embarrassed and brushed if off with a joke, but Minami had really changed.

As a child, she was a withdrawn girl that cried easily, my childhood friend. Over the years, she had become even more charming than before.

…The future was unknown, but people surely changed bit by bit. Luna and the other had changed favourably too. And while it might be small, there had been a change in Elni as well.

—Elni has changed a bit these days.

Recalling Machina’s earlier words, I smiled faintly again, whereupon Minami stared at my face and softened her expression for some reason.

“These days, you have changed a bit, Shinobu-chan.”

“…I got more manly, right?”

“That too, but how can I say… It’s like you’re back to your former self.”

“My former self?”

Hijiri and the others told me too that I had changed a bit, but what did she mean with back to my former self? When I asked back doubtful, Minami smiled and continued.

“In the past, you were really popular. It’s like you’ve changed back to that. Your look is still a bit fierce, but your aura resembles the one from back then. A soft and warm one.”

“Guess I really have become mild.”

Well, I couldn’t really tell myself, but… my aura changed back to that of my former self, huh. Still unaware of my own change, I continued to chit-chat with Minami and moved to the nursery school. After entering the school and explaining to the teachers that I was a relative of Elni, I parted with Minami and peeked into a classroom.

“Hey Elni, tell us another story.” “Geez, Aki-kun, that’s Elni-oneechan now, not just Elni.” “No wait, it’s Goddess. Elni-san seriously is a God, man”

Apparently Elni still wasn’t called by the teacher title.

However, she was surrounded by a lot of children in the middle of the classroom and replied to the children with a smile while playing her guitar, which she probably brought with her from home.

“Okay, like you requested, I’ll tell you a story. One, Two, Three~ Once upon a time~ Urashima saved~ a turtle~ and was eaten by it~”

“EHH!? What a scary turtle!” “Hey, Elni! You made Sanae-chan cry!” “Wicked. Nothing less of Elni-san, she goes way beyond our expectations. Seriously a God. Respect, man.”

Hearing Elni’s joke, there was one kid that repeated the somewhat famous “Seriously a God” phrase, but all the children seemed displeased. Seeing that, Elni cleared her throat with a small cough to pull herself together.

“Ehm, then it’ll be Aladdin and the magic lamp! Through some happenings, Aladdin was flying through the sky by riding a magic carpet! This carpet amazingly— costs only 10k yen now! And the lamp comes with it too for 10k yen! You can’t miss this chance!”

“This isn’t an infomercial, Elni!” “Ehm, Elni-oneechan, I want to hear the usual story about the stupid girl now.” “I want that too, God aka Elni-san. Please tell us the usual story about the stupid girl.”

Begged by the children, Elni made a bitter face with “Strange. I thought this was funny. I came up with it together with Nazucat yesterday…”, but she reached out her fingers to the guitar while the children still begged her, and started to play a gentle melody, different from before.

“…Once upon a time, there was a stupid girl. She was a really stupid girl that made her beloved mother cry. At some point the girl wasn’t wanted by anyone anymore and was all alone. The girl was really sad and went on a trip to look for a place to belong to.”

“…Somehow Elni’s story always starts from there.” “Ssh, be quiet, Aki-kun.” “Obey Sanae-chan, man. The story’s getting good now.”

The children spoke with small voices. Elni watched over them with slightly narrowed eyes and continued the story soft and calmly while playing the guitar.

“Will she find a nice place? The girl continued her trip cheerful. And one day, the girl met a pretty female musician. That woman had lost her husband and daughter early and was always crying…”

As they were captivated by the story, all the children closed their mouths and listened to Elni.

“Seeing the crying woman, the girl remembered her own mother. Therefore she wanted to cheer her up. But the girl was stupid, so she could only make her laugh by telling stupid jokes. Even so, she did not leave the woman.”

I too was captivated by her story that I inadvertently was about to dismiss the raining sound.

“It happened one a certain warm day. The half-asleep girl thoughtlessly called the woman ‘Mom’. At that time, the woman smiled at her with ‘Yes?’. The girl would never forget that expression. Because it was the first time that the woman showed a smile.”

…Strange…

“After that, the woman loved the girl like her own daughter. They took baths together, eat meals together and slept together at night, living a happy life with the two of them.”

Elni’s tone was gentle and peaceful the whole time. And along with the sound of the guitar, she continued the story.

That she learned how to play the guitar from the female musician. That the woman sung her a lot of pretty songs. That the woman said that she wanted to stay with her forever. That the two of them participating in a town event with a song. Elni spun the story with the same tone. But I got a strange feeling.

“…And their performance was a great hit. The residents gave them cheers and applause. The girl and woman smiled at each other and return to their home while holding hands. The end…”

When Elni peacefully ended the story, a little girl timidly raised her hand amongst the children.

“Hey, Elni-oneechan, what happened to the stupid girl and woman afterwards?”

Hearing the innocent question… Elni deepened the sadness she had for a while now for some reason, and just replied with gentle words.

“The crying woman… didn’t cry again. She kept smiling the whole time and lived together with the girl.”

Hearing Elni’s answer, the girl said “I see” and faced a boy next to her.

“That was a nice story, wasn’t it, Aki-kun?” “Yeah, but how long is the stupid girl going to travel? The other day, she was taught how to cook and make accessories from a man and woman. Today it’s the guitar. She’s travelling a lot.” “…I’ll kill you, dude, if you diss Elni-san’s story. All stories are interesting, so what’s the problem? Specially the story about the devil extermination was really good. The part about the delinquent devil hunter’s growth was the best. Total respect to you, Elni-san.”

All the children loved Elni’s stories. All of them were smiling, where as Elni still had a gentle, yet somewhat sad expression, which bothered me greatly, so I entered the classroom with “Excuse me”.

In that moment, Elni dampened her wide opened eyes in no time upon noticing me for whatever reason, put the guitar on the ground and rushed over to me in a straight line, tightly clinging to me.

“…Huh? Eh? Elni?”

Just what was going on? Not saying anything, Elni trembled her body a bit in my arms. Getting this unforeseen reaction, I certainly was a bit bewildered.

“Ehm, Elni, what’s up with you? I came to pick you, but are you okay?”

For some reason, after the words “pick you up”, the trembling of Elni’s body became stronger. To be honest, I couldn’t really understand this situation, but for now I tried to pet her head, whereupon the children approached me bustling.

“Are you Elni-oneechan’s lover?” “EHH!? No way!? Elni has a lover!?” “Aki, it’s too bad for you, but it’s THE END for your first love. A boy and girl meet, then mature. Elni-san seriously is a god.”

Just how often did he need to say God until he was satisfied? I got a bit wearily, whereupon the children gathered near Elni, who looked like she was about to cry any moment, out of worry and each called her name with “Elni”.

There Elni got away from me, as she returned to her senses, wiped away the tears that had dwelled up in the corner of her eyes and coughed again to brush it off. She looked at the children with a meek expression for some reason.

“…Kids, it’s not ‘Elni’, right? Call me ‘Goddess’ like always. Or ‘God’ like Keisuke does.”

“Say that again and I’ll tease you by destroying your sand castle again, Elni.”

“Wh- Why are you saying that now! Shinobu is here! Why don’t you let me show off a bit in front of him— wait, Aki! Where’re you going with my guitar! It’s my treasure! Please give it back!”

“Nope! I’ll never give it back!”

Holding Elni’s supposed treasure, the guitar with his small body, the boy ran away with teary eyes for some reason.”

“Stupid Elni! You’re the worst for flirting with this cookie-cutter guy! Elni you twit!”

“M- Me aside, I won’t forgive you for badmouthing Shinobu! To begin with, Shinobu isn’t a cookie-cutter guy! He’s a cookie-eating guy!”

“Hey, what’re you taking me for? That’s not even helpful, Elni… wait, why are you girls climbing up my body?”

For some reason, a couple of girls were happily climbing up from legs towards my shoulders with all their might one after another. What was up with them? My body wasn’t a jungle gym.

I didn’t even had the time to retort like that.

“Uwah~n! Elni-oneechan disappeared, chasing after Aki-kun!” “I need to go to the toilet!” “Fufu, this pattering rain stirs my heart up. I’ll stop this wailing rain!” “H- Hey, you can’t go out by yourself.” “So what? I need no reason to rebel. That’s youth, man. I’ll never obey anyone but Elni-san.”

With their leader Elni gone, the children started to revolt in no time.

…It might be harder than I thought to deal with nursery kids. But still, this girl on my shoulders, what was she doing by lightly pushing out her lips?

Later, Elni came back with the run-away boy while preciously holding her guitar, and we somehow dwelled the children’s revolt.

Incidentally, Elni’s working hours were now over, and we gave Minami, the other teachers and the sad-looking children our farewell. Then we each spread our umbrella in the rain and left the nursery school behind us, but… for a while now, Elni was a bit strange.

Even while walking side-by-side on the way home, she was rather short-spoken, fleetingly snuck peeks at me, which made her blush, and when our eyes met, she hastily covered her face with the umbrella.

…What was up with these reactions? Was she bashful? But why?

Tilting my head clueless, I started talking, as I couldn’t endure the silence.

“I, I have to say, you sure are getting along with the kids now.”

“…Yeah. It’s thanks to the game tournament you organized the other day, Shinobu. While we were playing a game together, the boys opened up to me.”

“I don’t think that’s the only reason. You make a good older sister, so the kids came to like you. They were all seriously listening to your story and were having fun, making really enjoyable looks.”

“I’m happy about that… but I don’t really want to tell that story. Unlike Minami, I’m not good at telling normal fairy tales, so I unintentionally told that story. After that the kids pestered me about it…I always end up telling a lie at the end.”

“A lie? In that story?”

On my casual question, Elni dropped her gaze and replied.

“The story still goes on after that. The stupid girl made the woman, who taught her how to play the guitar, the precious person, who gave her so many things, cry in the end, just like with her beloved mother. And not just that woman. She always… made her beloved friends that she met, cry in the end… every single time.”

Lightly trembling the small hand that held the umbrella, she blurred her voice a bit.

“The stupid girl, you know, is actually a real cry-baby. She’s sad alone, wants a place to belong to and keeps looking for someone… then ends up making a precious person cry again. She actually noticed it, but since she’s stupid after all, she never tried to accept it.”

Hiding her expression that looked like it would constrict any moment, Elni squeezed out a cracked voice.

“She shouldn’t have looked for a place to belong to. She would never return to the warm house full of smiles with her beloved mother and herself. She can’t become anyone’s family— She never tried to accept that.”

…The rain fell. It surely would continue forever. It might have been raining all the time in her heart. Not stopping once, falling forever…

Therefore— Stop raining.

I desperately wished so, but it wasn’t enough, so I wanted to do something else for her. While I stopped to find words that would make flowers blossom in her heart,

“…When I’m playing with the kids in the nursery school, I remember the past.”

Still hiding her expression with the umbrella, Elni voiced out the pattering rain of her heart.

“When I was small, I was still allowed to play with my friends. Playing around innocently by running through the fields and making flower crowns, everyone always gets picked up by their mothers when dawn comes. But…”

Her quiet raining sounds gradually got fiercer.

“My mother is no longer there. So it was a bit painful for me and I was really envious. All kind of mothers come to the nursery school every day to pick up their children, saying let’s go home. That makes me remember the past and even though there’s no way she’ll come, I… I’m really stupid, right? I have always been looking for my mother.”

The rain didn‘t stop just from wishing for it. However,

“But today you came, Shinobu. You said ‘I came to pick you up’. It might be embarrassing, but I was so happy that I could cry.”

Because even someone like me could make her happy,

“When I look at your face, I’m reminded of everyone’s smiles. Luna, Machina, Nazucat and Tomoe-san. And even Hijiri, Kaorun and Miichan. When you came to pick me up, I finally realized that my most precious place had become my second most precious one at some point.”

I could no longer hear the rain. See, it stopped. The flowers bloomed, didn’t they? Elni slowly peeked out from under the umbrella. Her expression was… like a sunflower.

“—Shinobu, let’s go home.”

Slowly folding the umbrella, Elni clung onto my arm without hesitation. The warmth that slowly filled my chest simply made me happy. Elni looked grinning at me, who matched her walking pace.

“…It’s kinda nice. Really nice.”

Amidst the gentle rain, her whisper resounded quietly.

“I always hated the rain. I thought I would be all alone on rainy days, since no one would come out. But now everyone’s with me. The way home is so much fun. Therefore— I don’t hate the rain anymore.”

“…I’ll, come to pick you up again.”

Suddenly I realized anew. Even when you were happily, your voice was quite trembling.

“Then let’s go home together again, Elni.”

“Then I have to keep working.”

We slightly embarrassed shared an umbrella. Elni smiled right next to me. In the rain bloomed a flower, namely her smile.

The unrest in my chest was slowly disappearing. It was alright now. Without doubt, we would be able to welcome Christmas this year with everyone smiling. I hoped that one day we would laugh about her parting words. I got the feeling that I got closer to her. We finally grew accustomed.

What would passing by people think about us? Looking us two going home together… Would they consider us a family? I was overflowing with happiness from the soft warmth coming from my side right now.

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