Published at 31st of August 2019 1:57 pm

Volume 12, Chapter 03: Walking through the quiet Night

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

—Happy New Year, or not so happy.

Just what was up with this situation? How did it come to this? A girl clad in a Kimono was seductively straddling my waist on the bed.

My vision fell onto a body line with extreme up and downs, sexily loose clothes and fleeting white skin. She was looking down at me alluring with her sparkling eyes and laughed a bewitching “Fufu…”.

“Ah, Ahaha.”

I too tried to laugh it off.

“Hahaha, it’s nearly time for the mass, so I’ll—”

excuse myself now, was what I couldn’t do. Still straddling my waist, she leaned back by bending her back. Moreover, she spread her legs on top of me in the shape of the letter M and slowly extended her bewitching long and beautiful leg… putting it onto my face.

Ha, Haha, I was in my own room, but I felt like going home. How did it come to this first thing in the new year? Even while I was dumbfounded, I vaguely recalled the activities up to beginning of the new year…

* * *

—I felt like I could tell Luna my feelings now.

Evening at the Gogyou Mansion. Softly being pushed by Hijiri on the back, I went through the living room to meet Luna and looking for her, I walked down the long hallway… but maybe we had missed each other at some point?

Unable to find Luna, I looked around the surroundings by going around, whereupon I strangely enough didn’t saw Luna, Machina or Elni, but Nazuna standing in the Gogyou garden, as they came to pick me up like Hijiri had said.

Furthermore, next to her I could confirm Hisame-chan and Kaorun… Maybe they hit it off already?

The cat-loving Hisame-chan was dedicating herself to the same cat play as yesterday together with the likewise cat-loving Nazuna. Both of them kept talking to each other with meows. As for Kaorun, who watched over them,

“What to do. I have no idea what they are saying.”

With that, impatience showed up in her expression.

…If possible, I didn’t want to get involved. I felt bad, but I should ignore them and search for Luna. I swiftly tried to turn on my heel, but apparently Nazuna noticed me before that. As soon as she saw me, she sparkled up her eyes with “Brother” and came rushing over while waving her hand widely.

“Listen, Brother! I became friends with Hisame-chan! She seems to have trouble with cleaning the garden’s storehouse, so we’ll go home after I helped her out!”

“That was what you were talking about!?”, Kaorun widened her eyes with that, but Hisame-chan nodded satisfied while remaining inexpressive, went over to Nazuna and resumed the cat play.

“Meow, meeow, Meoow?”

“Ah, yeah, of course. Okay, Brother? Meow!”

…Don’t look at your brother with such innocent eyes. I don’t understand cat language in the slightest. As usual, it was all Greek to me, but to conceal it, I made a cool “meow”, then purred elegantly and petted Nazuna and Hisame-chan’s head moody.

Right away, Nazuna looked at me somewhat reproaching for some reason… Probably, a weird interpretation like yesterday took place. Hisame-chan suddenly clung to me and rubbed her soft and smooth cheek against my chest.

She was pretty much like a kitten. I was inadvertently about to be soothed, but Nazuna kept her expression of mixed feelings and a lively voice came from behind with “Ah, there you are, Shinobu-san”.

She must have been searching for me. But the timing was just too bad. Inadvertently giving my shoulders a jerk, I turned my head around with Hisame-chan still hugging me, whereupon my gaze fell onto Luna like expected. This might cause yet another unwanted misunderstanding. Or so I thought, but

“Fufu, you two sure are close.”

Maybe she only considered it as playing with a small kid? Luna smiled softly upon seeing Hisame-chan and my embrace, but she started to restlessly shake her tender waist from the desire to join in as well and with just that small behaviour… my heart began to race in my chest.

I would tell Luna my feelings soon. When I thought about that, my pulse accelerated even more. Nodding small, I slowly freed myself from Hisame-chan’s embrace, but for some reason, she flushed her cheeks and said quietly.

“I appears I was mistaken about you, Nanjou-sama. I understand Kaoru-sama’s longing very well now. Nanjou-sama, I will never forget your earlier words. You told Nazuna-sama and me—”

“Wait a sec, Hisame-chan. I don’t think I said what you believe me to have said.”

“What I believe? What are you talking about? You clearly said it just a moment ago.”

I hastily called her to a stop, but Hisame-chan didn’t stop and continued with a faint smile.

“You told Nazuna-sama and me: ‘Your breasts are awesome. They’re as fantastic as Kaorun’s. I’m not exaggerating.’, which is the greatest compliment for me. And lastly you whispered: ‘My heart won’t stop racing when I look at your breasts’.”

My heart truly jumped out of my chest right now. Was this girl unexpectedly a troublemaker too? Feeling a little pain in my stomach, I looked at Nazuna for help, but

“Brother, myself aside, I don’t think it’s okay to sexual harass Hisame-chan.”

With still mixed feelings, the little sister didn’t rescue her older brother from the pinch and even gave a rebuking look. Was I the only one, who sensed a dubious malice in their cat language?

Anyway. This time for sure an unwanted misunderstanding arose. After Luna looked comparative at Nazuna and Hisame-chan’s meagre chest and her own voluminous fruits, she cried sniffling at once, turned her back to me and rushed away, raising a bitter crying voice like that.

“Fueh~! I am no good! Shinobu-san prefers little girls!”

“N- No! I’m not like that! It’s a misunderstanding, Luna! Wait!”

I was under the suspicion of being a paedophile. Later I had my hands full with clearing that up, where it was no longer suitable to tell her my feelings. More over, there was the promise Nazuna made with Hisame-chan in cat language. The great clean-up of the garden’s storehouse. Luna and the others said they would help out too and by the time we finished, it was too late to go home and we all stayed over at the Gogyou Mansion on Kaorun’s suasion.

Having completely lost the timing, I still hadn’t told Luna anything in the end…

* * *

Exactly when was the last time I properly talked with Luna?

Now that I thought back on it, I got the feeling that my time together with Luna had drastically decreased.

Before Christmas, I had been running around to find Elin, who had run away. At the beginning of winter vacation, Kaorun had come over and I then stayed a few days over at Hijiri’s house. All the while Luna had gotten unnecessary misunderstandings a couple of times.

Stuff like my relationship with Kaorun, loving S&M or being a paedophile. Especially the latter two were horrible.

Although Luna behaved relatively normal, even with these misunderstanding. When our eyes met, she would always give me a soft smile.

But in the end, I still couldn’t tell her my feelings and time simply passed by without getting the right timing. And then it was December the 31st at last.

…In other words, the year was about to end without me having confessed to Luna.

The warm evening sun shone into our living room. Sitting on the sofa were me, deep in thought, and Machina and Nazuna, whose thoughts were with New Year’s Eve.

Machina and Nazuna, respectively in a good and low tension mood, were talking to each other and in the corner of my vision, Elni was on the phone that had rang earlier. She was happily talking with the person on the other end of the phone while holding the receiver with one hand.

By the way, Luna and my mother had left a while ago for shopping and should probably back soon, but… who was Elni talking to?

“Ahahaha! Stop it already! My stomach hurts from laughing too much!”

Raising a cheerful laughing voice, Elni was still on the phone. Both Machina and Nazuna looked at her curious as well, but apparently weren’t all that concerned. Machina averted her eyes from Elni and brought up a matter to Nazuna with a smile.

“Hey Nazuna, today Japanese will eat Soba, watch Kohaku and then go visit the shrine, right?”

“…Some watch martial arts programs instead of Kohaku too.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that… Earlier when I asked Hijiri and Kaorun per mail, they told me that they would wear a Kimono for the first shrine visit.”

First time I heard of that as well. Today at around noon, Hijiri had called me on my cell phone and suggested we all go to the shrine together. When I asked the other girls for their okay, everyone agreed unanimous. The whole group would thus visit the shrine together first thing in the New Year.

Apparently Hijiri and Kaorun would come over here to pick us up, but… I wasn’t told anything in particular about Kimonos.

But oh well. It was her first New Year in Japan. Unable to hide her excitement for it, Machina, still smiling, animated her voice and continued the chit-chat with “So you see,”.

“Sister and me are thinking about putting on a Kimono for the shrine visit too. I mean, Tomoe-san gave us Kimonos this morning. But I don’t really know how to wear one. Do you, Nazuna?”

“…Nay.”

Nazucat was rather cool and quiet today. Seeing my little sister like that, Machina looked at her doubtful.

“What’s up, Nazuna? Do you feel sick? You’re unusual quiet.”

“That’s not it. But you see, I actually get overly excited by always trying to get into the New Year full of energy, but I fail every year and end up falling asleep before the New Year’s there. So to avoid making the same mistake again, I’m playing save in various ways this year.”

“But you frolicked around with Elni yesterday quite a bit, so you must be a bit tired? You look like you would fall asleep any second already. If you want, you can rest on me until the Soba is done.”

She really seemed to be in a good mood. Machina lightly clapped her own knee with a smile. In regards, Nazuna obediently rested her cheek on her thigh and as she was rather tired, she fell asleep in no time, even though Elni was still laughing happily with the phone receiver in one hand.

At that time, it seemed that Luna and my mother came back from shopping. Their “We’re home” voices sounded from the front door and both of them showed up in the living room together.

They each had a shopping bag hanging on their arms. Luna gave Machina and me a short greeting and took the shopping bag from my mother. Then she headed into the dining kitchen with the words “I will prepare the Soba now”.

On the other hand, Elni looked at my mother with the phone in one hand and after saying “About time I hand over the phone to Mama Tomoe”… she held out the receiver to my mother with a bright smile, for whatever joke had come through the phone, declaring:

“Mama Tomoe, it’s a call from your beloved Steven Se*gal. He’s arriving in Japan soon and will come over tomorrow.”

“That Hollywood star? Wow. I’ve to prepare an autograph card.”

My mother casually replied to Elni’s joke and took the phone receiver somewhat amazed. Then she answered the call with “Hello?” while lightly petting Elni’s head.

“…Eh? Itsuki-kun? Really? You’re coming home?”

In a flash, my mother made the face of a maiden. Her cheeks were flushed and all. Seeing my mother like that, Machina apparently got curious and she pulled jerkily on my sleeve.

“Hey Shinobu, I have never seen Tomoe-san like that before… Who’s Itsuki?”

“Someone like a lifelong nemesis for me.”

When I responded half jokingly like that, Machina put her hand on her chin in earnest to my surprise.

“…If he’s your nemesis, then he’s mine as well.”

“You got some nice eyes void of any doubt. That guy called Itsuki is my dad, but give him a light slap into the face in my stead when you see him next time.”

“Yeah, if it’s your nemesis— wait, you just said ‘dad’, didn’t you? That Itsuki is your father!? So I have to slap your father? I definitely don’t want to! He would come to hate me!”

Loading her tricked&retort combo with surprise, Machina now pulled on my sleeve aghast.

“Shinobu! This isn’t the time for weird jokes! Tomoe-san said ‘You’re coming home’ happily, you know? So your father’s coming home, right? Actually, Elni talked happily with him over the phone earlier, but she’s already buddy-buddy with him?”

“…’Cause it’s pretty likely that these two have a good compatibility.”

“Elni is that with basically anyone! But I’m different! I don’t think I can talk to him properly out of nervousness! What should I do when he comes home?”

“Don’t you have your palmy tricked & retort combo? Use that and you’ll be fine. He’ll like you for sure.”

It was a relatively serious topic. But seeing as Machina was already like this, Luna might give a similar reaction. I lightly shrugged my shoulders, but my predication became perfectly true later on.

According to my mother and Elni, my father would come home tomorrow, since it was New Year and all. And our cat Kagari, who accompanied my father to his job, would be back as well.

…That were good news for sure. But hearing this, Luna became a bit restless, albeit not so much as Machina. She asked me a lot of things about my father and the rest of the year went by laid-back and peacefully without me having a chance to confess yet again.

The whole family was present in our living room. Luna, Machina, Elni, my mother, Nazuna and me. Well, my father and Kagari weren’t here yet, but that aside.

Later on we ate Year-end Soba together, watched Kohaku together and like every year, Nazuna’s efforts were futile and she was sleeping with her cheek resting on the heating table… Then the countdown to the New Year finally started. Ten seconds until the New Year. While looking at the TV, Machina formed a smile and mumbled.

“Spending the whole night together with everyone sure feels strange.”

Eight seconds until the New Year. Taking her eyes off the TV, my mother looked at everyone warmly.

“This year our family became bigger and more radiant… It was a good year.”

Six seconds until the New Year. Looking at everyone like my mother, Elni smiled like a sunflower.

“…Having a family is great. I hope we can stay together like this forever.”

Four seconds until the New Year. Picking up on Elni’s smile, Luna formed a soft smile as well.

“I hope we can spent next year’s New Year’s Day together too.”

Only two more seconds until the New Year. Everyone returned their gaze to the TV and fell silent. Meanwhile, my little sister Nazuna, who had slept on the heating table so far, suddenly raised her head with attitude, then hastily raised voice with sleepy eyes.

“O- Oh! Happy New Year!”

“…You’re starting the year with a false start.”

At the same time I gave such a retort, our family welcomed the new year. Then the girls changed into Kimonos with the help of my mother and in the meantime, Hijiri and Kaorun came over like they had said in the call at noon. After all preparations were done, we went out for the first shrine visit of the year together at once.

* * *

New Year’s greetings were exchanged busily under the night sky with beautiful sparkling stars. The shrine place was crowded with various booths. Next to me, I saw the side profiles of my family and friends.

Just like I saw them at the house earlier, they were all dressed in Kimonos.

Luna’s was an elegant white one. Machina wore a gorgeous scarlet one. A beautiful pink one for Elni and Nazuna had a colourful azure one… They were presents from my mother. Apparently she splurged on them, since she wanted to see her daughters all dressed up.

That said, my mother herself wasn’t here now. Since my father was coming home, the married couple would go visit the shrine tomorrow with just the two of them. They were as close as ever.

While such thoughts crossed my mind, I shifted my gaze from my family to my two friends and smiled faintly.

Hijiri and Kaorun were wearing uniform dark blue Kimonos. It suited them quite well and they were giving off a kind of elegant aura. No wonder my mouth formed a smile.

But when I took a closer look at the girls again… I realized what an incredible high niveau they all had.

Everyone had chiselled features and their Kimonos each livened up their charms. I could relate why the spellbound gazes from the people that lined up for the shrine visit focused on them.

Incidentally, I actually happened to be wearing a Kimono as well. A chic black Kimono. In the fashion of one of these sudden surprise moments, my mother gave me that Kimono shortly before we left the house… but she had a good eye for it. When I put it on like this, I felt like I had become a great poet.

…Anyway. The way to the altar was crowded with people on their way for a shrine visit.

While waiting for our turn at the altar, I felt my spirit raising a bit. My family members, Luna, Elni, Machina and Nazuna stood cheerfully in front of me and while I watched the backs of these four, Kaorun on my left suddenly took out a digital camera, flushed her cheeks a bit and took a two shot of me and herself with a peace sign.

Next, she hurried over to Luna and the others with lively steps and started to immerse herself in a photo shooting with a smile. On the other hand, Hijiri on my right quietly watched Kaorun and directed a smile at me too.

“You usually already give off an intrepid aura, so you look like a Samurai when you wear a Kimono, Shinobu-kun.”

“A f- feat for the eyes, right?”

…Apparently I looked like a Samurai instead of a great poet. It made me involuntarily want to drop by shoulders, but I suppressed that urge in my shock and took a close look at Hijiri’s Kimono attire.

“Still, if I’m a Samurai, then you’re the young wife of one. You usually already work hard with your head held high beautifully, so you look even more dignified when you wear a Kimono. Together with your serene aura, it’s, well, anyway it’s looking good on you.”

Due to a bit of bashfulness, I shortened my compliment to something simple.

Upon that, Hijiri happily flushed her cheeks with “Thanks” and Kaorun stopped photographing, as she had listened in, smiling roguish into our direction.

“You two look really good together. The Samurai-style Shinobu-sama. The young Samurai wife-style Hijiri-chan. From a bit afar here, you appear like a young married couple.”

Just to tell you, Kaorun didn’t stand that far away. She was joking without doubt, but Hijiri turned bright red, as she took her serious, and looked down. As for Luna, who stood next to Kaorun, she showed a mixed expression of jealousy and sorrow.

But like always, she seemed to renew her feelings right away and smiled softly at Nazuna, Machina and Elni, who were walking at the front.

“Ehm, it is my first time making a shrine visit, but if I remember correctly, you ring the bell and make a wish, right? What are you all going to wish for? For example, Nazuna-chan?”

“This year again, I’ll wish to become an enchantress. What about you, Machina-oneechan?”

“I’ll wish to become like my mother and, well… to be always together with all of you. And you, Elni?”

“For me it’s going to be that one thing, I guess. I’ve lot of wishes, but my dearest one already came true. Therefore— I’ll pray for Shinobu to quickly get a child.”

A sudden bombshell announcement. She puffed up her small chest somewhat confident.

“You see, Shinobu told me that I would become the godparent.”

That was the precious memory I made together with Elni on Christmas. The method to give her, whose body had stopped aging, a family forever. A heartfelt promise to hold on to her. She seemed to treasure that bond. Elni let a smile shine, animated her voice cheerfully… and rested her hand on Machina’s shoulder for some reason.

“Machina, I can’t suppress my anticipation to see Shinobu’s child. I even came up with lots of names already. So Machina, could you please give birth to his child?”

“Leave it to me. I want a couple of kids from him anyway— wait, why’re you asking me!? Why do you leave my sister out and come to me!?”

“Mh? Because you said that your wish was to become like your mother, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity. You can become a mother too, Machina. I’m looking forward to it, so give your best.”

“Th- Then, when I give birth to his child, give it a good name— As if! It’s too early for kids! Of course I want one in the future. But I properly want to settle down in the human world first and give the child a safe environment…”

She gave her usual tricked & retort combo, but afterwards she went on forever about the future with a rather earnest expression and no signs to stop at all. Her tension might have been high because of New Year’s day. She flushed her cheeks into a bright red

“…And then, we’ll take a bath together with the child and I’ll wash Shinobu’s back…”

and she started to blurt out things like that. Everyone gave Machina kind agreeable responses, but only Kaorun called out to Elni to get back on topic.

“Elni-san, please consult with me once Shinobu-sama’s child has been born into this world. I am a perfect maid, so I can take care of a child in various ways and provide entertainment. I predict that the child will be smitten with me.”

“I bet. IShinobu’s child will surely be happy to have a fun maid like you around. But Kaorun, you can’t do anything indecent to the child, you hear?”

“—I cannot promise that.”

“Wh- Why! Promise it! You definitely can’t while it’s still small!”

Elni too might be surprisingly overprotective. On a rare occasion, she didn’t play along with Kaorun’s joke and warned her with a rather serious face. In regards, Kaorun shrugged her shoulders apathetic and responded.

“Still, please take a closer look at me, Elni-san. See this charm? It is guaranteed that the child will feel aroused by it. Should it come after me, I will without hesitation… record it’s confession and use it for blackmailing.”

“…Don’t bully the kid too much, okay?”

“Do not worry. In time, abuse will change into pleasure— Ah, my apologies, I took the joke too far. I was light-hearted, since it is the New Year. Please do not give me such an angry glare.”

Even in the new year, Kaorun couldn’t hold a candle against Elni. After Elni chit-chatted with her for a while, she smiling brought the conversation round to me with “By the way”.

“When you do plan to have a kid, Shinobu?”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m a guy. Right now I’m a Samurai-styled Gentlemen. My body can’t bear a child.”

“Mhm~ Then… Should I give birth to one in your stead?”

Right away, I snorted a big “Pft!” out of surprise. She gave one hell of a suggestion. While I was mentally stunned, Elni continued with a carefree smile.

“I’m not a student like Machina or Hijiri and don’t plan to attend University like Luna. So I’ve got all the time to give birth… Ah, but it takes money to raise a child. Since I want to take a trip overseas with everyone… it’s a bit troubling.”

No, no, even if you worry about it so seriously, I have no clue how to answer to it. Just today I couldn’t tell if Elni was serious or joking around like usually. I was certainly shaken, whereupon Luna, who had followed our conversation, turned red and raised her hand.

“Sh- Shinobu-san! I also want to give birth to— eh, Kyaa! Ah, I am sorry…”

Midway in her sentence, she bumped into someone. Luna lowered her head without finishing her sentence satisfactory. Our family’s blonde older sister was instantly hit on by the person she bumped into… I felt somewhat sorry for her.

For now, I routed out that skirt chaser at once. When I shifted my gaze back to Luna anxious, she thanked me and

“You see, Shinobu-san, about the baby matter…”

eagerly tried to get back to the topic with a still red face, but our turn at the altar came, so she closed her mouth downhearted and stood in front of the altar together with us. Next, we all paid homage. Clapping our hands in unison, we closed our eyes and each made our own wish.

…Mhm, I should wish for being able to properly convey my feelings to Luna.

Like that, I finished my shrine visit with Luna and the others. When we left the altar together, Kaorun suddenly looked at the shrine office, only to then pull on the sleeve of my Kimono and uttered “Please look over there” in a casual, but loud tone.

“It is one of these shrine maidens you are so very fond of, Shinobu-sama. How about you hit on the shrine maiden in your typical manner with ‘I want to pay homage together with you’ and confirm afterwards if she is wearing underwear under her robe? You have always wondered about that, right?”

“Haha, thanks to you, the shrine maidens have turned around all at once. They’re glaring at me with fiery eyes. It’s winter, but I feel like I’ll melt.”

Well, one of the shrine maidens gave me a wink, but basically, they were all looking warily at me. One wrong move and I would be a suspicion person. But I shrugged my shoulder pretty cool without panicking and softly rested my hand on Kaorun’s head.

“Geez, you sure don’t change, not even in the new year. That’s an outrageous joke so early in the new year. But even though you’re like that— Let’s get along this year as well.”

“Yes, please take care of me. I love you, Shinobu-sama.”

…This time she made an outrageous remark. This maid was wicked in various ways. I felt my own face getting red, whereupon the nearby Luna quietly tried to interject with “I- I also love—”, but

“Brother, let’s draw a fortune lot!”

“I agree with Nazuna. We’re already here and all, what do you say, Shinobu-kun?”

“…What if I draw bad luck?”

“Don’t worry, Machina! I’m quite confident! That none of our members is so unlucky as to draw bad luck!”

On Nazuna’s suggestion, Hijiri, Machina and Elni unintentionally cut into Luna’s sentence and they all headed over to the shrine maidens. On the other hand, Luna closed her mouth heartrending again and draw a fortune lot like the others. Kaorun and I followed without delay.

As a result, I got great luck as a good omen while Kaorun got average luck. As for Nazuna,

“Brother! I have ending luck!”

“Okay, you read that as uncertain luck, you know? Work a bit harder on your Kanji studies this year, okay? By the way, I had great luck, but… what about you, Hijiri, Machina?”

While petting the head of my foolish sister, I shifted my gaze over to Hijiri and Machina, where Kaorun, who was next to these two, peeked at their hands and opened her mouth before these two could say anything.

“Shinobu-sama, both Hijiri-chan and Machina have great luck. Moreover, their delivery section says ‘safely’, so they can give safely birth to your children now.”

It must have been a simple joke, but Hijiri and Machina turned red in unison and after Kaorun watched over these two with a smile, she threw a glance at Luna and Elni.

“How did it go for you, Luna-san, Elni-san? A moment ago, you mentioned that none of our members would be so unlucky as to draw bad luck…”

As she realized midway in her sentence that she made a verbal slip, Kaorun quickly covered her mouth with one hand. It certainly looked grim. When I followed Kaorun’s gaze, both Elni and Luna were still looking down on their fortune slip. With a gloomy expression, they dropped their voices frowning.

“…So bad luck really exists. And it even says that I don’t have a favourable delivery this year.”

“I also have bad luck like Elni-chan. Love, marriage and health, everything appears catastrophic. But strangely enough, only my delivery seems to be alright… What does this mean?”

Elni and Luna got even more depressed while saying so. They made a sigh all alike and looked at each other… It seemed like they planned to redraw the fortune.

They each headed wordless towards the shrine maiden and challenged the fortune drawing once more. After Luna looked timidly down on the slip she drew, she animated her beautiful voice while rushing over to me.

“Shinobu-san! I drew great luck too! And it appears I can give birth safely as well!”

“…Please give birth to various things, in a creative meaning.”

For a moment, a confession on the likes of “Bear my children!” floated in the back of my head, but I swiftly shook that off and petted her head with a joke, whereupon next up Elni came rushing over to me too, crying hoarse with teary eyes.

“Sh- Shinobu! Now I got very bad luck! Somehow it says ‘You hit rock bottom’! Under health, there’s written threatening stuff like ‘Write your testament’! I’m done for! I won’t be able to recover so easily! The future and present are so grim!”

“I- If it’s that grim, you need some hope. If you want, I can become your hope. Look, they’re selling Takoyaki over there. I’ll treat you to some, so cheer up.”

“…Somehow I cheered up immediately. I guess with you around, Shinobu, the future will be peaceful! I can only see a bright future!”

Elni swiftly changed gears. Depressed in one moment, she smiled again with one blink and clung to my arm happily, dragging me to the booth like that.

However, I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed, so I humbly drew Elni’s attention.

“Uhm, it’s hard to walk in an unfamiliar Kimono, so could you get away a bit?”

“…Not today. If I get separated from you in this crowd, I’ll definitely cry. I’ll cry waterfalls while tightly squeezing the bad luck paper. So until we’re going home, I want to stay like this.”

Elni acted spoiled on a rare occasion. But it was cute, so I tolerated it, whereupon Luna hesitantly looked my way and mumbled something about “I- I too do not want to get separa…”, but

“Shinobu-sama, Hijiri-chan is freezing from the cold, so please warm her up with your body.”

Kaorun pushed Hijiri’s back by saying that with a loud voice and somewhat forcefully attached her to my arm. Next, she clung to my back and whispered sweetly into my ear.

“Fufu, feels good, does it not, Shinobu-sama? Please warm yourself by wrapping yourself up with us beautiful girls.”

“…Seems I don’t need a heater this winter.”

While I cracked a joke to hide my embarrassment, Hijiri, still clinging to me, flushed her cheeks with “…So warm” and Elni earnestly looked around the booths with “Shinobu, buying me Takoyaki’s all fine, but shouldn’t we bring home some kind of souvenir for Mama Tomoe?”.

On the other hand, Nazuna took Luna and Machina’s hands with “We’ll hold hands”. Just from that, Machina showed a smile, but Luna mumbled something on the lines of “…Today I seem like air again” with mixed feelings, but unfortunately I didn’t quite catch it.

In any event, I still couldn’t confess to Luna in the end and we saw the New Year in like that. Why couldn’t I bring myself to say anything?

…The truth was, I had faintly noticed that I was actually afraid. The precious person I loved since I was small. My saviour Luna. Imagine me confessing to her and getting shot down horrible. As pathetic as it was, I felt a hole opening in my stomach just from thinking about it.

…There was no real need to rush, so it might be alright to remain like this for a while longer.

Like that, I got cold feet promptly in the new year while I walked over the crowded shrine grounds with everyone.

* * *

…Somehow I had gotten a bit excited.

After we parted with Hijiri and Karoun and arrived at home, we drunk the sweet Sake my mother prepared in the living room and chatted in a happy family circle despite the late time.

The family members in my vision. Except my mother, the girls were still wearing their Kimonos and were drinking the sweet Sake with relish while continuing the chit-chat.

Amidst that, my mother and I were enjoying our sweet Sake quietly offside the girls’ circle, but

“…Actually, the girls aren’t wearing anything underneath.”

suddenly my mother made a careless remark, so now my heart was strangely racing. Moreover, my mother whispered to me with a smirking expression, totally indifferent to my agitation.

“To my surprise, Elni didn’t fall for it, but Luna-chan and Machina-chan are foreigners. When I jokingly told them ‘Originally you don’t wear underwear underneath a Kimono’, they both took me serious… and aren’t wearing any even now.”

“What’s with the peaceful look? You seem to be in an unusual good mood. I guess, it’s that? You’re happy about dad coming home tomorrow, no, to be precise today, so you can’t help but be in high spirits?”

“What’s with the strange smugly look? You couldn’t be any more off.”

For that, my mother’s face turned rather red, but I kindly ignored it.

“Well, the stuff with dad aside, you’re already a proper adult, Mom, so you shouldn’t tease Luna and the others too much.”

“…You are exactly right, but somehow it ticks me off to be told that by you. Can I pinch these hateful cheeks of yours a bit?”

“Feel free to. I won’t be forgiven anyway, not even with a sound argument, so I can’t say anything more.”

“Somehow this… is your coolest moment of the year.”

“…Well, the year only just started.”

Like that, I had a hot conversation with my somewhat excited mother. Meanwhile the girls split into two groups and continued their chatting. Elni and Machina talked to each other about this year’s goals. As for Luna and Nazuna on the other hand,

“…Hear me out, Nazuna-chan. Sometimes I seem to become like air. I guess it would better if I get myself a weapon on the lines of a tricked & retort combo, a bright smile, a dignified aura or a bold prankish nature too?”

“Mhm~ Meow…”

“You are right. It certainly is important to stay true to oneself. But what is my own weapon then?”

“Meeow… Meoow…”

“I get your point, Nazuna-chan. But Shinobu-san does not pay any attention to me lately, so I think I am missing something. To tell the truth, I have been studying various things by watching a certain DVD, but I am hesitant to try it out…”

“*snore, snore*… meow…”

“I understand. You are absolutely right, Nazuna-chan. It sounded like simple cat purring, but this is not the time to be bashful. I will give my best too.”

Could it be that these two got drunk on the sweet Sake? Nazuna had been dozing off for a while now and gave obscure agreeable responses, whereas Luna made an odd interpretation out of it and was unusually talkative with a passionate tone. Seeing the two of them like that, my mother gave them a light warning while showing a wry smile.

“Luna-chan, you better don’t drink too much of the sweet Sake. You’re weak against alcohol, right? Also, Machina-chan, you’ve been drinking quite a bit too, are you okay? Elni, keep an eye on her. Likewise Nazuna, it’s about time you go to… wait, you’re sleeping already?”

“—Huh!? Happy New Year!”

“We had that already. Go sleep in your room now.”

My mother rebuked like that, but it was already too late. Nazuna was asleep like a log in an instant.

I hoped that she had a sweet first dream of the year. I slowly picked her up and headed for my little sister’s room, leaving the living room. Then I put Nazuna to sleep on her bed and went back to the living room, but while I had been away, the girls had engaged in some sweet girl’s talk.

…It was hard to join them on that. As Luna was under the influence of the sweet sake, her eyes were glazed. Of course it would be a lie if I said I wasn’t worried, but I turned away on the spot. I returned to my own room, changed from the Kimono into casual clothes and looked up at my ceiling from laying on the bed.

Well then, what should I do tomorrow? My father was coming back, so it seemed like it would get a bit livelier again. Temporarily forgetting my confession to Luna, I smiled for a while on my bed…

…Was this a foreboding?

Suddenly feeling a chill going down my spine, I straightened up my upper body on my bed with attitude.

However, there was no change in my room in particular and when I looked at the clock on the wall from the bed, I had apparently fallen asleep for around an hour. Given the time, the girls in the living room must have called it a day too, but… was the earlier chill just my imagination?

When I doubtfully titled my head on top of the bed, I heard faint footsteps from the hallway. It wasn’t my imagination after all. A really cold shiver ran through my body.

…What was this shiver? A wild instinct? Whilst I was perplexed by my body’s mysterious reaction, the footsteps stopped in front of my room. Following, the door was knocked and Luna’s beautiful voice rang with “Excuse me” as she came inside, still wearing the same white Kimono from earlier.

But that Kimono had greatly slipped out of place from whatever had happened, giving a good view on the cleavage of her voluminous breasts and likewise exposing her dazzling long and beautiful legs.

An appearance worthy to be called voluptuous. While I got a bit agitated, Luna advanced elegantly and looked intensely at me while sitting down on the bed, declaring with a bewitching expression.

“Shinobu-san, I came over to play. Have some fun with me tonight.”

“…The night’s nearly over, you know? Actually, what happened to your clothes?”

“I was playing with Tomoe-san and the others earlier, fufu, it happened during that…”

Ah, I felt another chill. I didn’t know what they were playing, but Luna was obviously behaving weird. Her eyes were even more glazed than before and her cheeks were red too.

“Ehm, you wouldn’t be drunk from the sweet Sake, would you?”

“Oh please, how is that possible. Tomoe-san told me something similar earlier, but I am perfectly fine. I am no different from usual. Therefore, please kiss me.”

“No, no, what’s with the ‘therefore’? You’re being weird after all. It’s already late, so why don’t you go to bed for today?”

“I refuse. I want to play around with… cough, play together with you, Shinobu-san.”

“…Sounds like I’ll be fiddled with, so please spare me.”

Given the sweet Sake, she must be kind of drunk again. The drunk Luna not only becomes somewhat sadistic when drunk, she also repeatedly kisses those dear to her. But her symptoms were still weak. If I properly persuaded her now, it should somehow work out… shouldn’t it?

While I lightly trembled my body, Luna puffed up her cheeks a bit on my response.

“Somehow, you are being a bit indifferent to me lately, Shinobu-san.”

“You think so? I believe I’m basically kind to anyone. Everybody’s friend so to speak. But eventually I‘ll become everybody‘s fiend— Just kidding. Man, I outdid myself there.”

“…Another joke like that and I will seal these lips of yours without mercy.”

I might have tried to ease my tension with a joke.

It was scary how Luna-san sometimes showed a touch of sadism tonight. After showing me a bewitching smile that gave me the chills, her expression returned to normal and she puffed up her cheeks once more.

“It is the long awaited winter break, yet all you do is play happily with Kaoru-san or go over to Hijiri-san’s house… You do not pay any attention to me. You are indifferent alright.”

“Well, we didn’t talk much for sure, but I don’t really remember being indifferent to you.”

“Then call it being cold. For example, when I greet you with a hug, you immediately run away. But if it is with Elni-chan or Nazuna-chan, you pet their heads. I want the same treatment…”

Temporarily stopping her words, Luna softly placed her hands on my shoulders after a terrible long pause and continued with a clear sadistic glitter in her eyes.

“As I thought— You need to be punished, Shinobu-san.”

“M- May I object? Why punishment out of nowhere?”

“Fufu, you prefer it that way, right? I know that you like S&M. So much that you hide a S&M DVD under your bed. You are a cute and dirty piggy that likes to be chastised, right?”

…Shit. The DVD Luna spoke of was without doubts Shuu-kun’s.

During my stay at the Gogyou Mansion, Kaorun went over to my house to fetch my change of clothes and tried to hide the S&M DVD under my bed as a prank on that occasion, but she encountered Luna then, which gave birth to a terrible misunderstanding. According to Kaorun, Luna then blurted out something about studying S&M…

Of course I hadn’t forgotten about that. But I thought that with Luna the misunderstanding would clear up with time even if I just left it alone and worried instead about how I should convey my feelings to her, but… not in my wildest dreams would I’ve thought that my optimism would bring about this situation.

While I broke out a cold sweat, Luna continued her words with still sadistic glittering eyes.

“I studied a lot to changed your cold attitude into an affectionate one, you know? I believe that now I can pleasure you plentiful tonight.”

“Uhm, this might come a bit late, but that DVD belonged to— Mmg.”

A sudden sweet kiss cut me short. My lips were stolen in an instant. Moreover, Luna erotically inserted her tongue into my mouth while her soft lips still covered my mouth. Her smooth and hot tongue entwined around mine and moved around lovingly.

Luna’s expression right in front of my eyes was incredible bewitching. Her glazed emerald green eyes seemed to ask me “Does it feel good?” and the strength gradually left my body.

Furthermore, just when Luna removed her light pink lips from my mouth, she lightly poked my lips with the tip of her tongue like a greeting and at the same time, she touched my ear.

Tracing over the outlines of my earlobe with her fingertip, she brought her chiselled features closer and pecked at my ear with the tip of her tongue this time. Additionally she made a seductive moan while entering her tongue into my earhole… I was done for. My mind was blank.

Even I came to felt enchanted. Meanwhile, Luna smiled lascivious and softly pushed down my body onto the bed, making me lay down face-up.

It was done so gently. When I inadvertently forgot to resist, Luna placed her beautiful bottom on top of my waist, straddling my body.

Do whatever you want… Not. Forget about my confession, it was an outrageous development so early in the new year.

Just how did it come to this? Even if it was on a misunderstanding, this should be the first time Luna ignored my will. With her Kimono still slipped out of place, Luna looked down on me, smiled bewitching with “Fufu…” and I too tried to laugh it off.

“Ah, Ahahaha… Hahaha, it’s nearly time for the mass, so I’ll—”

excuse myself now, was what I couldn’t do.

Indifferent to my agitation, she leaned back a bit by bending her back on top of my waist. Next she slowly opened her legs, spreading them like a M on top of my waist in her Kimono attire of all things. Additionally, the blonde Missy slowly extended her beautiful leg… stroking my cheek with one of her feet.

In a short interval I meanwhile recalled the activities up to the beginning of the new year, but… I certainly had less quality time with Luna lately. If her dissatisfaction from that exploded now, it was quite the accident before my confession. Luna surely must have been angry.

“How is it? You are happy to be stepped on, right? You take pleasure in this, right Shinobu-san?”

Luna rubbed her bare foot against my cheek. But she herself didn’t seem to have any intention to step on me for real, so her foot movements were really gentle, which made me feel that I was cared for.

She might not be all that angry. Her foot movements remained unchanged soft. However, her words were a little bit hard.

“…Are you fine with being stepped on? Ah, you can take it because you are a hardcore masochist. If anything, it gives you pleasure? You are really gross.”

“S- Seriously, stop it. Please don’t say such things…”

“Why? Your body seems to like it. To get so excited over punishment, you really are the lowest trash. If you want to feel even better, you have to properly beg for it. Say: ‘My beloved Luna-san, give me more’.”

“Ah, no, it’s not like I’m…”

“Shinobu-san, if you do not properly say ‘I love you’, I will not make you feel good anymore.”

Cutting into my words, Luna licked her lips charmingly. She had somewhat expectant eyes, but… I never thought my confession would take place in such a situation. Even while I felt my heartbeat accelerating, I replied to Luna with a quiet voice.

“Ehm, Luna, I, well, I… you.”

“I cannot hear you. Please say ‘I love you very much’ in a louder voice. If you do that, more pleasure awaits you. I will punish you until dawn.”

“Y- You mean the abuse like just now will continue until dawn? My heart wouldn’t be able to take that! Please spare me of that. I, uhm, I love you! There, that should be enough, right? Stop it for real now.”

“—Okay, I understand. I will make you feel good until dawn.”

L- Looks like we talked past each other. I was terrified, whereas Luna spread her legs right and left… stroking my cheeks with both her feet this time.

I could do nothing but laugh now.

Luna rubbed my cheeks up, down, left and right with her feet and sometimes did circling movements. Each time, the Kimono she was wearing became even more unravelled. Her soft and white thighs were already in plain view and beyond that, I got a fleeting look on… Wait a sec. That was strange.

The moment I felt something amiss, I remembered the contents of the conversation with my mother earlier.

Come to think of it, my mother had said that Luna and Machina took her joke of “You don’t wear underwear under a Kimono” seriously and weren’t wearing any now…

I- In other words, Luna was keeping a posture of her legs spread like a M for a while now, regardless of the fact that she wasn’t wearing any underwear right now. That was way too risky. My agitation got stronger in a flash, whereas Luna giggled roguish, as she noticed my glance.

“Where are you looking, Shinobu-san?”

“No, well, what can I say…”

“Ufufu, your cute face turned all red. You are actually concerned about it, right? Here, if I get rough like this, you might get a glimpse.”

As she was enjoying my reaction, Luna bewitchingly moved her feet around boldly.

…I might really be done for. Every time her movements got fiercer, her bottom bounced on top of my body and since her Kimono had slipped greatly out of place, her plentiful voluminous breasts were half exposed, bouncing around seductively.

It was a dangerous situation where my reasoning was in peril. I couldn’t take my eyes off her beautiful body. Looking at me intensely, Luna sweetly whispered with a long breath.

“If you were to say ‘I love you from the bottom of my heart’… Then I would not mind showing you everything.”

“…Je t’aime, Luna.”

“Ahn, I love you too, Shinobu-san.”

Uh-oh, hold it. Why was she erotically accepting it so readily?

Despite me mustering all of my reasoning to crack that joke, I didn’t get the awaited retort, but to my sorrow, Luna set her hands to her Kimono without hesitation and her earlier sadistic glitter had vanished. While flushing her cheeks, she took off her Kimono on top of me without time for me to stop her.

Right away, her ample breasts bounced innocently and Luna took a posture of leaning over with still flushed cheeks.

Upon that, her beautiful breasts, which I previously learnt to be G-cups, slowly closed in on my eyes, swayed left and right before my nose and Luna looked down on me again, returning her tone to her usual gentle one.

“Shinobu-san, forgive me for stepping on you. Did it hurt? It appears I am not suited for S&M… I prefer this approach.”

Along with her soft words, Luna tightly pressed her round breasts onto my face.

“Fufu, Shinobu-san, I will not hurt you again. This time I will make you feel good a lot with my breasts.”

Was this the commonly called carrot and stick policy? I wasn’t all too sure, but it was a fact that my reasoning received devastating damage.

The soft and full breasts pressed onto my whole face. They were somewhat hot, maybe from her embarrassment, and their sweet fragrance and fascinating elasticity were irresistible. But the huge breasts perfectly covered my mouth and nose, so I could no longer breath. But it was fine. If I were to faint from lack of oxygen at this rate, I wouldn’t have to worry about doing anything strange to Luna.

“Uhn, Shinobu-san, does it feel good? Hahn, Shinobu-san, I love you, Ahn…”

C- Calm down. Luna was just drunk from the sweet Sake. I shouldn’t get excited over this. So without doing anything… Oh, my consciousness finally faded. Nothing to worry about anymore.

Still, would I ever be able to convey my feelings to Luna at this rate? Embracing a vague worry, I let go off my consciousness without even being able to make a sigh.

* * *

…Somehow I felt really comfortable. A sweet sensation on my body. What was this?

When I moved my hands with closed eyes amidst my fuzzy consciousness, my palms touched something big and round, but… this was amazing. Not only was it soft and warm, but an appropriate weight and juicy elasticity brought forth a great feedback.

Without getting bored even after touching it numerous times, I was moving my hands bowled over for a while, whereupon

“Yahn… Shinobu-saan… Do not… tease me…Ahhnn…”

Ha, Hahaha, that woke me up for sure. But I wished I hadn’t.

A quiet soprano voice near my ear. Somewhat grasping the situation from hearing that voice, I timidly opened my eyes, whereupon my vision fell onto Luna’s sleeping face with painfully puckered eyebrows. For some reason she was mother-naked and when I lowered my glance, I saw that I had a tight grip on Luna’s voluminous breasts.

Moreover, since I touched her in my half-sleep, the light pink buds on her breasts started to stand up.

N- Now I have done it— I wanted to scream that on top of my bed, but I restrained myself like a gentleman.

For starters I have to remember. If I wasn’t mistaken, Luna was drunk last night, became a S&M Queen and in the end there were boobs.

…As expected, I wasn’t all that collected. But I slowly remembered bit by bit. Come to think of it, the drunk Luna had pressed her breasts onto me and I had fainted like that.

However, why was Luna sleeping naked? Could it be, she fell asleep just like that last night after pressing her breasts onto me? She seemed sound asleep and having some kind of dream.

“Iyahn… Shinobu-san… Not just my breasts… Mm…”

Mumbling such captivating sleep talk, she loosely bent back and forth her hips in a bewitching manner.

Forget about confessing, when I saw her like that, my reasoning was about to go crazy again like yesterday. I quickly sat up on the bed, softly covered Luna’s naked body with the blanket and took a breather.

At that moment, the door of my room was suddenly knocked.

“Shinobu-kun, it’s already noon, YO! YO! I’m finally home, but how long do you intend to sleep, YO!”

A familiar nostalgic male voice reached my ears and he made a short, but nice rap.

“…Shinobu-kun, I’m got bored of it already, so I’m coming in now, okay?”

As always he was quick to get fired up, but just as quick to grow tired of it. Without checking with me, a man showed up in the room with a smile. It was a man with delicate features like Nazuna’s. The aura around him was incredible soft and apparently countless women had been smitten by that appearance of him so far.

Nanjou Itsuki. My father. He probably came home today just like he had said in his call yesterday.

However, this situation was fatally. At first my father wore a refreshing smile, but upon seeing Luna peacefully sleeping in my bed, he blinked a bit.

“Ehm, Shinobu-kun, that young lady is…”

“C- Cute, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, but not as much as Tomoe. A blonde, cute girlfriend, good for you. Could she be the Luna-chan that Tomoe told me about?”

While saying so, my father looked back at Luna, then frowned for some reason and erased all playfulness from his expression. But only for a moment. He then played dumb again with his usual aloof tone.

“It’s often said that blondes are insatiable, but it appears she didn’t let you sleep last night. Good job, Shinobo-kun. And by the way, I’m home.”

“Welcome home, Dad. Now scram.”

“…You’re so cold, Shinobu-kun. The complete opposite of Elni and Machina-chan. I shortly greeted them earlier and they both welcomed me rather friendly, with a foolery and a tricked & retort combination.”

Apparently the three of them got to know each other while I was asleep. My father smiled in a good mood and brought up a subject with “By the way, Shinobu-kun,”.

“Can I half-forcefully drag Elni along with me on my next business trip?”

“I don’t care how much you like her, but— if you do that, I’ll kill you.”

“…Such dangerous words coming from you. I wonder how the mother that raised you looks like. I’m sure she looks like an angel. I’ll go check real quick.”

Even at our long-awaited reunion, my father’s speech was random, mixed with jokes and false except for the love stories about my mother. But today he was somewhat different from usual. With his hand on the doorknob, my father threw a glance at Luna again and changed his tone into a serious one on a very rare occasion.

“Shinobu-kun, we have something important to discuss. Can you spare some time later?”

“…Of course not. How often do you think I was tricked by your serious act? You want to kidnap me and take me to some unknown place again, right?”

“Not this time, I’m afraid. The reason I came back was of course to see Tomoe and Nazuna-chan, but the main reason was to talk to you man-to-man.”

“You look so serious that it’s scaring me… Talk about what?”

“All I can tell you now is this:”

Turning his back to me, my father cleared his throat with a cough and declared with a colourful voice.

“Je t’aime, Shinomun. I love you to no end. How about some father-son bonding toni—”

Midway in his sentence, I wordlessly took the pillow near my hand and threw it into the direction of my father without a single shred of hesitation. But like expected, my father casually repelled the pillow with his back still to me. My pillow spin over in the air and loosely came back to near my hand.

As usual, he didn’t heed my attack. My father left calmly with “Let’s talk later”… and Luna, who had been sleeping until now, slowly straightened up her body, as the commotion probably woke her up.

“Shinobu-san, good morning…”

Luna was relatively weak in waking up. She gave me a morning greeting with a slackened expression. Next she looked around absent-minded and after a short while, she seemed to realize that she was naked in my bed. The sleepiness left her eyes and she started to look around confused again.

“Eh? Huh? Why am I next to you with no clothes on?”

“…You don’t remember yesterday?”

“Ehm, yesterday we all drunk sweet Sake and then I… did something?”

It appeared that she missed all memories from when she was drunk. So she was the type to forget when drinking. It would be too cruel to tell her the truth. I told Luna a white lie, vaguely covering up what happened deep in the night…

Come to think of it… what did my father want to talk about?

Hushing up the incident in the night from Luna, I then left my room after parting with her, as she went back to her own room to get changed, and went down the stairs while I was in thought with one hand on my chin.

…Earlier my father had an unusual serious face. It really might be something important, just like he said.

However, my father was a kind of troublemaker. There was a high chance that I would get dragged into something weird again, too. I got the feeling that my chances to talk with Luna would decrease even more in that case and the day of my confession would became more distant.

When I felt a bit worried like that, I ran into a cat at the end of the stairs.

It was an ocelot with striped fur in amber and reddish brown, our house cat Kagari. She must have come home with my father. As soon as Kagari saw me, she jumped and gently climbed up my body to my shoulder. Next she gave me a sulking cat-punch to the cheek for some reason.

“…What’s with you? That’s how you greet me after a long time? What are you angry about?”

When I tilted my head from not knowing the reason, Machina and Elni came around the corner of the hallway and they raised their voices with teary eyes as soon as they saw me.

“Listen to this, Shinobu! Kagari won’t warm up to me at all! I only tried to give her a snack, yet she scratched me!”

“I was bitten and even received a cat-kick! That cat is a bit weird! Whatever Kagari says, I only understand ’Meow’! Ever since I was born, this is the first time I don’t understand an animal! I guess the cat is possessed by something mysterious!?”

“Haha, as if. Well, she possesses a proud curved tail though.”

Elni, a self-proclaimed animal whisperer, must be out of form today. Not really concerned, I listened to Machina and Elni’s complaints and shifted my gaze to Kagari on my shoulder a bit wearily.

“Hey Kagari, can’t you fix your jealousy already? Look what you’ve done to them. Properly apologize, okay?”

“Meow! Meeoow! Hiiss!”

Not listening to my advice, she hit my cheek with her forefoot like a slap in the face, raised a displeased snarl as to say “You cheater!” and left in a huff.

“…Weird cat.”

Mumbling so with a shrug of my shoulders, I comfortingly petted Machina and Elni’s heads for now and we started talking like that in the hallway. According to them, Nazuna was still sleeping in her room and they both had already greeted my father like I had thought.

By the way, Machina’s impression of my father was “Resembles Shinobu a bit”, whereas Elni’s was “Resembles Nazuna”.

Well, that aside. When the topic came up that we should head to the living room soon, Luna came down the stairs with quiet steps, as she finished dressing up.

However, Luna was hugging Kagari to her chest to my surprise and for some reason our house cat showed a rather meek expression. Or rather, she was shaking subtle.

Seeing Kagari like that, Machina and Elni widened their eyes alike, as they had received an aggressive reaction from her earlier, and each spoke timidly.

“Uhm, Sister… Just what did you do to Kagari?”

“Don’t tell me she bit you like with me and you scolded her?”

“Eh? I did nothing. I ran into her in front of my room, but when I called out to her, she warmed up to me immediately. She is such an docile child.”

…An animal’s instinct wasn’t to be underestimated. It seemed she understood in an instant who the new boss in the house was. Kagari was shaking in Luna’s arms even now. Affected by that, Machina and Elni started to tremble too.

“I, I kinda remembered about yesterday.”

“No more alcohol for Luna. If you miss your chance to flee…”

The two of them got somewhat pale faces from whatever the drunk Luna did to them last night. Luna looked at them puzzled, whereas Kagari used that opportunity to escape from her arms.

It became rather awkward. First of all I urged them and we went into the living room. Upon that, my vision first fell onto an unfamiliar ashtray on the table. Most likely my mother prepared it, since my father was a smoker.

When I let my gaze wander with such thoughts, my mother was giving my father a lap pillow on the sofa and they looked like a newly-wed couple.

Good to see them so intimate. Elni said something about “I want to eat Mochi” and disappeared into the kitchen, but Machina looked at my parents and mumbled “So nice”, whereas Luna moderately pulled on my sleeve while looking at my father.

“Shinobu-san, could he be…”

“Yeah, he’s my stupid and random father. Elni and Machina greeted him already, you know? Why don’t you too smack him once?”

“I, I will do my best!”

She might have been rather nervous. Not retorting to my joke, Luna took a deep breath. That seemed to get her mentally prepared and she headed towards the sofa with resolute steps. In front of my father, who was enjoying my mother’s lap pillow, she deeply lowered her head.

“N- Nice to meet you! I am—”

“Yeah, I know about you. You’re the rumoured Luna-chan, right?”

Cutting into Luna’s words, my father raised his head from my mother’s thighs and sharpened his look for some reason.

“According to Tomoe, you’re good at cooking, attentive, polite and the number one candidate for Shinobu-kun’s bride, but I want to ask you just one thing.”

Temporarily stopping his words, he sharpened his look even more and continued.

“What… are you to Shinobu-kun?”

A calm question from my father. Luna answered it with an honest smile.

“I am— his family.”

Until not long ago, Luna had claimed to be my slave. My father didn’t know about this change of hers. But hearing her feelings, he must have thought of something? He smiled faintly with “I see” like he gave up on something, pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lightened it up.

To my surprise, a joke didn‘t ensue. He just talked to Luna calmly and puffed his cigarette. After a while of chit-chat, my father slowly stood up, looked at me and began to talk.

“Since I’m home and all, want to spare with me? I assume you’re getting bored of training with the Old Man, right? He isn’t the youngest anymore after all.”

“If you mean grandpa, last time he was spouting ’Sorry Honey, I’m in the prime of life’ and went to a Maid café with his pupils… But enough of that.”

The sparring was most likely just an extra. My father must have wanted to have that important discussion he mentioned before. Still, I was going to spar with my father after a long time. My heartbeat accelerated inadvertently.

A lot of things had happened while my father was away. I was no longer aiming to be like my father or grandfather anymore. I had started to walk my own way to become an exorcist. I myself probably had grown up too. I would like to confirm at least once how much I had grown.

Responding to my father’s invitation with a firm nod, I secretly clenched my fists…

* * *

The familiar scent of cigarettes grazing my nose. The iron taste in my mouth. The clear blue sky in my field of vision.

The sparring against my father ended in my total defeat and after I laid in the middle of the lawn for a while, I forced my paining body up into a seating position, whereas my father sat down besides me and smoked his cigarette.

“…I never expected you to lay a hit on me.”

Pressing one hand on his faintly red swollen cheek, he spoke seriously then.

“Seems you’ve grown quite a bit since I last saw you. I guess just like me… you fought with devils?”

I wasn’t all too surprised to hear my father speak out the word “devil”.

When I stayed over at Hijiri’s house the other day, Sougo-san told me various things. That he and my father were friends. That my father had a talent for exorcism. While I recalled Sougo-san’s words, I responded with just a shrug of my shoulder without answering my father’s question.

“I heard from Sougo-san that both you and grandpa used to be exorcists.”

“Well, yeah… I also heard during a recent call that you’re getting exorcist training from Sougo-chan. Geez, there he goes sticking in his nose where it doesn’t belong.”

“Judging by these words, you’re against it after all?”

“…Remember how I didn’t object your return to the Old Man’s dojo? Same goes for now. I’m certainly worried to death, but I respect your decision.”

While putting the cigarette in his mouth and taking a puff, my father continued with “But”.

“There are two things I have to tell you. That’s my reason for coming back. The first is…”

Quietly stopping his words, he shifted his look from the garden into our living room and corrected his tone a bit.

“To tell Tomoe the truth about the girls. She doesn’t know anything. Neither about devils, nor about exorcists. I hid it from her the whole time, because I didn’t want to drag her into any danger. I also quit being an exorcist for her sake. But it seems like I can’t hide it anymore. I gave up on it earlier.”

Making a sigh at the same time he blew out some smoke, my father showed a wry smile.

“I think you know already, but Tomoe’s so kind it hurts. She’s trying to become a mother to Luna-chan, Machina-chan and Elni. So is it really alright to keep a secret from her? Luna-chan and Machina-chan are… devils, right?”

“…Did you hear about them from Sougo-san too?”

“Sougo-chan’s kind after all. He told me everything. I also heard that they were the kind of devils that can be left alone… and that seems to be true. Actually, I was a tiny bit doubtful that they might be up to mischief by using their charm.”

“They both didn’t appear like that at all, right?”

“Yeah. Machina-chan’s tricked & retort combo was fantastic and I was really taken in by Luna-chan’s ’His family’ words… So I thought I should tell you as soon as possible.”

Changing his wry smile into a normal one, my father softly spun his words.

“Tomoe’ll be able to accept even devils. That’s the kind of person she is. So how about we stop hiding stuff, tell her everything, come to understand each other and be a real family?”

“…I’ll keep it in mind. I’ll tell her on the next occasion.”

When I replied with a nod, my father smiled satisfied and lit up a second cigarette. Then he looked up to the blue sky and slowly started to talk.

“The other thing I need to tell you about is my screw-up. I wanted to decide after I met with Luna-chan if I should tell you about it or not, but it seems I was really taken aback by her words. I’ve no choice but to tell you now…”

…How was my father’s story related to Luna? While I was bewildered, my father took his cigarette into his mouth without taking his eyes off the blue sky and began to tell with a bitter expression.

“You see, I’ve always been scared to speak my mind and told nothing but jokes. By continuing to do so… Tomoe was the only one left by my side. Still, it was impossible for me to tell her my feelings. So I just cracked jokes and made her uneasy for a long while.”

While saying so, my father took his eyes off the blue sky and looked deep into my eyes.

“Shinobu-kun, don’t make the same mistake as me.”

“…I can’t really see what you’re getting at?”

“Well, in other words, it’s uncool for a man to make a woman wait.”

These words were painful as they struck a nerve. I kept silent, whereas my father looked into the living room again and narrowed his eyes peacefully.

“I’m not all that ignorant, you know? I saw pictures Tomoe sent me, heard stories from her… and I’m still your father. So I could tell. Tomoe knows as well. Regarding who you treasure the most.”

“…So that’s why you brought up Luna’s name just now.”

It was pointless to hide it at this point. When I made a small sigh, my father softly rested his hand on my shoulder and declared with a faint smile.

“Shinobu-kun, Luna-chan is a devil. Her lifespan is different from a human’s. For a devil, the time together with a beloved person seems rather short. This is just my hunch, but I’m sure Luna-chan is the kind of girl who treasures this short time forever.”

My chest was on fire from my father’s gentle words.

“Shouldn’t it be most important to you to give her a mountain of memories? If you keep being hesitant like this and waste this short time… you’ll end up as lame as me.”

You’re cool enough— was what I wanted to say, but I somehow withheld it and showed a wry smile by scratching my cheek.

“Still… I never expected even you to push my back.”

“Mh? That means there’s some other person, who did something as cool as this?”

“Yeah, a caring and kind person supported me again.”

My father widened his eyes surprised and I answered him somewhat proudly.

“I’ve changed. There are people I can rely on now. They support me. With them by my side, I feel like I can do anything. I should even be able to protect my precious person. So there never was… any need to hesitate.”

My chest overflowed with feelings. I even thought that there was nothing to be afraid of anymore. My father looked gently at me, slowly stood up and suddenly changed the topic.

“Shinobu-kun, I’m thinking of going straight back to work once I took a small breather here.”

“…Oh, another business trip?”

“I’ve a lot to do. Looks like I won’t return for a while again, so take care of the house, since I’ll take Tomoe with me.”

“Mom will go too? Now that’s a first.”

“…I was relieved as well.”

Relaxing his expression, he filled his tone with warmth.

“This house has Luna-chan and the others. You should be fine even without Tomoe. There are others supporting you too. There’s no longer a need for Tomoe to support you. But I want you to support Nazuna-chan in Tomoe’s stead.”

“Of course… but you’re really going to take Mom with you?”

“No worries. It’s a bit sad, but I understood from our sparring just now that you let go off my hand. You’re a fine adult now. You’ll be fine even without us. Conversely, I’m no good without Tomoe. She‘ll be with me from now on, but…“

Turning his back to me and walking away, he stylish turned around midway and held up his index finger.

“Properly tell her about the girls next time we come home, okay? Then we’ll be a real family. Also, good luck with your confession. If you get turned down… burst out in laughter or pinch her.”

Ignoring the serious atmosphere, he cracked a joke. Normally I would give a sharp retort, but he did give me an advice a moment ago, so I just waved my hand a bit as a sign of gratitude… However, that might have been not enough for him.

Whatever he was thinking, he dashed from the garden to the living room. He opened the terrace door in a flash, took a deep breath, used his two hands as a megaphone and shouted into the room right away.

“Girls! We got trouble! Shinobu-kun seems to want to do all kind of things to you behind our backs while we are out of the house! You have to be careful!”

…He just couldn’t stay serious, could he? While I became wearily, I heard the girl’s bustling voices from the living room, as they heard my father’s delusion… This might cause trouble. I went into the living room with a sigh and pondered in the back of my head.

Will I ever be able to confess while my father is home?

* * *

I might exaggerate a bit, but it were tempestuous days.

My troublemaker father caused various turmoil while he stayed home and our house got even more livelier than usual. Time went by hectically… and just like I had thought, I didn’t get a chance to confess to Luna.

However, I would be lying if I said it wasn’t fun to spend time with my father.

Near the end of the winter vacation my father left for his business trip together with my mother like he had said before and at night, the house felt rather quiet, since the troublemaker had suddenly left.

But strangely enough, my heart was at peace. My feelings gradually became certain in the quiet night. When I softly closed my eyes, Luna’s soft expression floated in my head. I wanted to see her right away, so I looked for her while I walked down the hallway… Then I faintly heard a lullaby.

Epilogue

…I could hear a lullaby.

A song from a foreign country. When I followed that clear voice to the back of the living room, I found Luna. She was sitting on the veranda and looking up to the starry sky, singing the gentle lullaby.

—There was no more hesitation in me. I slowly approached and stood besides her, whereupon she suddenly stopped her singing, looked at me with her emerald green eyes and smiled gently while being illuminated by the moonlight.

“Shinobu-san, the stars are so beautiful tonight.”

“Yeah, indeed.”

A short agreeable response. I didn’t joke like usually. While my heartbeat accelerate a bit, Luna resumed her lullaby— a song that Elni gave her previously, then she softly began to talk with “I will have to start studying for entrance exams soon too”.

Hijiri, Machina and I were seniors this year.

Next year around this time, we would be studying for university. At that time, Luna and Kaorun would be with us. As she was imagining that future,

“I believe I can make a lot of fantastic memories when we are all in university.”

Luna mildly flushed her cheeks dreamful and animated her voice happily.

The memories with her. The days with her, who wasn’t human. These were definitely not something brief for me.

But for her, it might be nothing more than a portion of her life. Do I want to stay in her memories forever? Or do I want to create memories for her?

Probably both.

Suddenly the advices from Hijiri and my father floated in the back of my head.

The people, who stayed by my side. The people, who supported me. The people, who would protect me. The difference between humans and devils. A real family. And myself, who had gotten stronger than before.

…I no longer need to hold back.

A night with a beautiful moon and stars.

A clear and quiet night.

I wanted Luna to remember this night, this day forever and that my words would be a small eternity for her.

“Hey Luna…”

I wanted to hold on to her forever, be connected with her, so I warmly disclosed the feeling that was overflowing in my chest to her.

[---I love you]

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