Volume 12

Prologue
Chapter 01: The Two in the Photo Album
Chapter 02: A heartfelt Duplicate Key
Chapter 03: Walking through the quiet Night
Epilogue
Extra Chapter: Magical Girls don’t have it easy either




Prologue

“—The truth is, I cut all my ties with the Gogyou Household.”
An early afternoon during the winter vacation. The one, who entered my room with a travel bag while I was at the library, was a pretty woman— The maid of the Gogyou Household, Kaoru aka Kaorun.
She seemed to have gotten permission from my mother and said something weird like “From today on, I will live in this room. Your roommate.”, then she spoke out the earlier sentence, which made me a bit perplexed.
However, I faced Kaorun again, as I should hear out her circumstances first.
“You cut your ties with them… Just what happened? Is this one of your usual—”
jokes? I wanted to continue like that, but the sudden ringing of a cell phone overruled my voice. By the way, it wasn’t my cell phone. While I stopped my words, Kaorun pulled a cell phone from the skirt of her maid uniform and nonchalantly talked big with a straight face.
“To illustrate it with the words of literature, my cell phone is writhing it’s body in agony and raising a lovely voice.”
“…Quite erotic. But don’t look down on literature.”
Indifferent to my weary retort, Kaorun pressed her cell phone against her ear to answer the call.
“You dare to call me here! What do you even want! Just to tell you, I never want to see your face that looks like a cockroach smashed by a slipper anymore! And your androgyny voice only sounds like the unpleasant noise of crushing a cockroach to me right now!”
As soon as she answered the call, she put on a affected tone and enumerated insults.
“You got that? Then never call me again… Eh? You are troubled? I do not care! Do not concern yourself with me any further!”
Knitting her eyebrows displeased, Kaorun hung up animated. It was quite the snappy reply. A bit curious, I shifted my gaze to her cell phone.
“…Who was it?”
“A light masochists with the nickname of Shuu-kun. To my sorrow, you can also call him the eldest son of the Gogyou Household.”
“Or, your little brother.”
The eldest son of the Gogyou Household aka Shuu-kun. His full name was Gogyou Shuugo. The brother of my precious friend Gogyou Hijiri. Incidentally, it was my first time hearing about him being a light masochist, but I met him numerous times in the Dojo of the Gogyou Mansion, since I was receiving my exorcist training there.
“Anyway, that were some rather harsh words there. Did you two have a fight?”
“It is not something that petty. Shuu-kun and I are currently at war.”
“That sounds terrible. Don’t tell me… that’s the reason you’re here?”
Going with the mood, I spoke out what was on my mind, whereupon Kaorun unexpected nodded firmly and replied.
“For now, I left behind a letter saying ‘I cannot endure the sexual harassment from Shuu-kun every single night anymore. I shall take the liberty of cutting all ties with the Gogyou Household. Thank you for taking care of me so far. P.S.: These books are the treasure that was hidden beneath Shuu-kun’s bed. Kaoru’ as a declaration of war along with perverted books themed around maids and older sisters. Then I left the house.”
“…Stop ruining the image of your brother.”
It was nice that she called him “Shuu-kun” now, instead of “Young Master”. Their relationship surely had changed for the better. But she was too merciless in their quarrel.
“Could it be, the call just now was a SOS from Shuu-kun…”
“No, you are wrong. We are at war and I carelessly took the call, but Shuu-kun was happily saying: ‘I’m troubled here. Due to your letter and these perverted books, they started a family meeting!’.”
“Why happily? It’s a family meeting, right? What’s good about that?”
“Well, it was Shuu-kun that came up with the contents of the letter and surely could not suppress his excitement for the punishment time in form of a family meeting. The light masochist of our house is not just for show.”
“Hey, forget about light, that’s a serious case of masochism! Actually, what do you mean he came up with the contents? What kind of fight are you two having?”
When I doubtfully tilted my head, Kaorun smirked out of place and slowly put up her index finger.
“Okay, here is a question, Shinobu-sama. What part of my story was a lie?”
“…What’s with that mischievous face? Keep your jokes to a limit. I bet the stuff about Shuu-kun being a light masochist and coming up with the letter were a lie, right?”
“Unfortunately that was true.”
“Unfortunate alright.”
“Incidentally, the lied part was about Shuu-kun and me being at war. We are merely pretending to have a fight. I believe, his call was meant to report me that everything was going according to the plan.”
“According to the plan? What the? You two are happily playing a prank together?”
“It is not a prank this time. Technically, I am still the maid of the Gogyou Household, so I might take off a day or two, but I needed some kind of reason for a longer leave from my duties.”
It seemed she didn’t leave the house for her usual pleasantries. Kaorun quietly fixed her posture and changed her tone into a serious one.
“Truth be told, I had the desire to stay at your house again for a while now, Shinobu-sama, so I consulted with Hijiri-chan and Shuu-kun. In exchange for their cooperation, I gave Hijiri-chan my personal photo collection of you, and Shuu-kun an erotic game that I purchased online.”
“…Sorry to interrupt your earnest story, but stop bribing your younger sister and brother. Besides, even if you don’t give them a game or weird photos, they’ll help you, won’t they?”
“I wonder about that.”
Tilting her head a bit, Kaorun smiled very faintly.
“You see, Shuu-kun was messing around by saying: ‘Then let’s tell them you have a fight with me. I’ll trick Mom and Dad properly, so go and have fun. Also, I’m not doing this for you, Kaoru. I just want the erotic game. Don’t get the wrong idea’.”
“His concealing of his embarrassment is even more obvious than yours, but okay… So Shuu-kun pretended to have a fight with you and even came up with a weird letter to deceive your parents, so that you could leave the house. What a thoughtful little brother you have there. And what did Hijiri say?”
“She was having delusion on the likes of ‘Hah, Hah, I want to go to Shinobu-kun’s house with you. I want to do perverted things to him by being a bit forceful, even though it’s embarrassing, then enjoy a morning coffee with him at dawn’.”
“…I’ll send Hijiri a mail saying ‘Cut back on the perverted fantasies’.”
“Please wait a second, Shinobu-sama! If you do that, Hijiri-chan will end up crying!”
Kaorun called me, who had taken out my cell phone, to a stop. In regards, I sighed faintly and corrected my tone a bit.
“But you didn’t leave the house just for fun, did you? You even went so far as to pretend that you cut your ties with them. You must have some kind of objective here?”
It was about time I heard about her circumstances now like I initially wanted. I faced Kaorun once again, whereupon she said isolated after a short pause.
“…Shinobu-sama, do you remember that time?”
“Mh? What time?”
“A bit before Christmas. Shinobu-sama, Elni-san, Hijiri-chan and myself, the four of us climbed the mountain and stargaze on top of it. Back then, Elni-san presented that wonderful place to Hijiri-chan and myself, remember?”
“Now that you mention it…”
Remembering the earlier event from her words, I interjected softly.
“You said you’re worried about the new maid, didn’t you?”
If I remembered correctly, Kaorun mentioned something about the newly hired maid arriving at their house soon when we were out stargazing together. So that Kaorun could concentrate on her studies for the university exams, Hijiri’s father Sougo-san decided to hire a new maid for the Gogyou Household. Kaorun seemed to be concerned about her and had asked me for advice during the winter vacation before.
While I recalled all that, I crossed my arms and questioned further.
“It’s just a guess, but is the new maid related to you coming over here?”
“Yes. Before she arrives, I wanted to take a look at Luna-san and the others once.”
“…Luna and the others?”
I asked back like parrot, whereas Kaorun replied with a nod and filled her voice with emotion.
“One thing has always been on my mind. I came here to find the answer to it. If I stay here and watch Luna-san and the others, I am sure that I will come to understand something.”
Sincere and straightforward eyes. There wasn’t a shred of a lie or joke in them. But she averted her eyes and continued her words with “Therefore, Shinobu-sama,”, albeit hesitant.
“it might cause you inconveniences, but would you allow me to remain here for a while?”
“Not even once did I think for real that you were causing troubles.”
Most likely Kaorun was worrying about various things in her own way. To be honest, I didn’t get the whole picture. But I would just have to wait for her to tell me. To begin with, my answer was obvious from the beginning, even without her question.
I nodded without hesitation and steadily looked into her eyes.
“You can stay here as long as you like. If anything’s up, come to me without any reservations. But, kind of in exchange— I have one condition.”
“…I see. you want to attack me.”
“Yeah, I demand your body— as if! I’m being serious here, so stop your jokes. I won’t give such a condition even by mistakes, so be at ease.”
“Shinobu-sama, there is no need to bluff your way out, you know?”
Her earlier serious expression vanished to somewhere. As she was getting some wrong idea, Kaorun lightly flushed her cheeks, changing her expression into a bewitching one.
“From today on I will be living in this room as well and share the bed with you at night. So if you ask for it, Shinobu-sama… I am willing to let you use any part of my body, be it my mouth, my breasts or my bottom, to your heart’s content. At any time and any place.”
Along with an erotic smile, she bended forward and started to underline her breasts with both her arms.
It was quite the stimulating behaviour. The beautiful breasts pinched between the arms softly changed shape, getting a seductive increase of volume. Moreover, Kaorun softly wiggled her own breasts to show off their elasticity, looking at me with an upturned glance.
“Fufu, every day from now on, you will be gently serviced by this young lady.”
“…Sorry to interrupt your anticipation, but every day from now on, you’ll sleep in the guest room. That’s my condition. Because I get the feeling that my body will be in danger if I share a room with you.”

Or rather, if I were to sleep together with such a seductive woman, I wouldn’t last in various ways. But I ended my sentence with a joke to conceal that, whereupon Kaorun puckered her lips a bit and turned her back to me, reaching out her hand for the travel bag she had brought with her.
“…It is about time that I greet the others, but since you are so mean to me, Shinobu-sama, I really will not pay you a night visit anymore. Do not come crying to me afterwards, you hear? No more perverted services. Just…”
Turning around in front of the door to where she had went, Kaoru blew me a sexy kiss.
“If your love for me becomes unbearable, please come over to room to play anytime. Then… I am willing to give you plenty of service, you know?”
Even if she said so, I was troubled for a spontaneous answer, so I just brushed it off with a forced smile for now. But Kaorun didn’t seem to be bothered by it in particular and now gave me a sexy wink, then left the room. Left behind, I sat down on my bed and shrugged my shoulders a bit.
The perverted maid of the Gogyou Household aka Kaorun. Of course I didn’t hate her. But since she loved playing pranks, it was quite possible that she would do something unbelievable again. From now on, things might become more fun… no, more noisy and troublesome.
Even with a bad feeling like that, I couldn’t stop my cheeks from forming a faint smile.




Chapter 01: The Two in the Photo Album

…Apparently the bad feeling I had the other day turned out to be unfounded.
Sure, Kaorun’s stay here made things a bit more noisy at first. But what might have gone threw Kaorun’s head while she witnessed the lively life of the other girls with her own eyes in the past way days?
Sometimes Kaorun clouded her expression, didn’t even pull her usual pranks and I realized that she was sighing a lot.
She was obviously behaving strange. And to my sorrow, I didn’t know the reason for it. But I wanted to cheer her up even a bit, which leads to a certain afternoon. I picked four recommendable novels from my bookshelf, left my room and went to the guest room, where Kaorun was staying at.
If my memory was correct, Kaorun should love reading. I hoped it would help her regain her spirit even a bit. With that in mind, I came to the guest room, but as my timing was bad, Kaorun wasn’t there and I suddenly heard the faint sound of a door closing from the entrance hall.
…Did someone go out? When I headed over there a bit curious, I now could hear Luna and Machina talking to each other in the living room.
Mhm, I should ask them where Kaorun is for starters. I opened the door of the living room and started talking with “Hey, have you seen…”, but I inadvertently stopped my words midway. For the time being, it was like I expected it to be: There were two girls in the living room.
One was a beautiful girl with shining blonde hair, Luna. Opposite to her neat aura, she happened to be a devil, but that didn’t change the fact that she was the reliable older sister of our household.
The other girl was a fascinating beauty with red hair, Machina Liebelei Orangelo. She was Luna little stepsister, a hybrid devil and a resident of our house.
But just what were they doing?
Regardless of being in the living room, Luna was boldly pulling up the top she was wearing and exposing her voluminous breasts clad in a white brassiere. From the side, I could very well catch the volume of her breasts, but my vision naturally wandered over to Machina’s hands.
Whatever she was trying to do from now on, Machina went behind Luna’s back. She put her hands on Luna’s brassiere and on a closer look, I could see that the bra was unhooked.
…I was just looking for Kaorun, yet I had stumbled into this outrageous scene. When I carelessly dropped the novels I was carrying onto the floor, Luna and Machina widened their eyes as soon as they noticed me, and stopped all movements like that.
On the other hand, I dared to make a fuzzy smile and averted my eyes from them with a little joke.
“…Sorry for interrupting. Please go on.”
While saying so, I closed the door halfway and checked upon them with a glance, whereupon the two of them instantly turned red as expected and Luna raised a surprised voice at once.
“Please wait, Shinobu-san! I think you have gotten the wrong idea! Kaoru-san said—”
“H- Hey Sister, if you move so suddenly your bra will— Ah…”
With her bra still unhooked, Luna turned around with attitude to stop me.
She must have been in quite a panic. Machina’s warning was futile and Luna’s ripe fruits bounced stimulating in line with her movements, spilling out of her bra.
There was nothing covering them anymore. Two hills that resembled huge melons. As her round breasts defied gravity, they stood up proudly with lovely pink buds at the pinnacle… wait, this wasn’t the time to forget myself.
This certainly was bad. Machina must have been thinking the same as me. She quickly let go of the bra’s hook and covered Luna’s breasts with a clutch from behind.
However, Luna’s breasts were building themselves with an overwhelming volume. Needless to say, they didn’t fit into Machina’s small palms, still exposing their juicy upper and under parts.
…It was a quite suggestive and bewitching brassiere of hands.
Machina must have been agitated too without doubt. The white bra gentle fell onto the floor when she let go off it, and Luna was trembling her slender shoulders in a shiver due to her breasts being grabbed.
“Yahn… Machina… If you grab me so tight… Uhn…”
“Ah, I’m sorry, Sister. It must have hurt… wait, this is amazing.”
Midway in her apology, Machina widened her eyes a bit and leaked a voice of faint admiration. Apparently she was fascinated by the sensation on both her arms. She rested her chin on Luna’s shoulder and started to shake the breasts with her hands still acting as a brassiere to confirm the elasticity… There was no longer a point in her hands covering the breasts.
The soft breasts bounced surging and sometimes a pink bud temptingly peeked out between the gaps of Machina’s fingers. Luna probably noticed that as well. Even while flushing her cheeks embarrassed, she softly rebuked Machina.
“Mm, Machina, stop playing with my breasts. Shinobu-san is watching.”
“Don’t worry, Sister. It’s Shinobu we’re talking about. I’m sure he’s averting his— wait, he’s totally staring!?”
…Yes, I was watching. Sorry. I had totally forgotten about asking about Kaorun and was fascinated by the bewitching swellings, whereupon Machina shifted her gaze towards me and said with a low voice.
“…This might be weird coming from me, but what’re you doing there in front of the door for a while now, Shinobu?”
“Just what it looks like: Appreciating beauty. Sorry, but please be quiet. You’re disturbing me.”
“Ah, sorry for that. Please go on— as if I would say that! What you mean beauty! You’re just gawking at my sister’s breasts brazenfaced! If you want to come inside, just do so, but quickly close the door and turn the other way!”
…So I was allowed into the room. Quite the lenient treatment. A bit surprised, I lowered my head with “I’m really sorry”, turned around and closed the door of the living room like I was told. Meanwhile I picked up the novels I dropped earlier and asked my initial question to the two of them.
“Hey, sorry to interrupt your usual flirting, but have you seen Kaorun? She wasn’t in her room…”
“Ehm, we are not exactly flirting around here, but you just missed her. She left the house just now.”
That was some bad timing. While I made a sigh in my heart, Luna apparently finished dressing during her speech and called out to me with “Shinobu-san, you can turn around now.”, so I turned around in front of the door for now.
For some reason, Luna and Machina had rather gloomy expressions.
What was up with them? I was doubtful, but first sat down on the sofa in the living room and put the novels I was carrying on the table, whereupon the girls looked at each other, then Luna started talking reserved with “Uhm, Shinobu-san,”.
“I was talking about it already with Machina earlier, but Kaoru-san is a bit strange lately, is she not?”
“Well, yeah. Lately she’s more of a pretty girl in sorrow instead of a perverted maid. She’s not playing her weird pranks either…”, I replied with agreeing words to Luna, whereupon Machina next to her knitted her eyebrows a bit and interjected with “Yeah.”.
“Earlier Kaoru was with us here in the living room, but she certainly looked down. My sister asked her ‘What is the matter? Are you alright?’ and then…”
Temporarily stopping her words, Machina continued with a sigh.
“She cracked a ‘I am Cha-la Head-Cha-la.’ joke for whatever reason and suddenly unhooked my sister’s bra.”
“…She unhooked it over the clothes? That’s an incredible technique, but a lousy way to bluff her way out for Kaorun.”
But now I understood. So Machina was helping to re-hook the bra. I asserted to myself in my heart, whereas Machina dropped her voice with a depressed expression for some reason.
“Even if it was lousy, I didn’t notice at all. I just got angry with ‘What’re you doing!’ like always.”
“Nah, don’t get so depressed. I think it’s alright to reprimand her like that.”
“But after I got angry, she honestly lowered her head without joking around, you know? On top of that, she said ‘I will go shopping for dinner to make amends for it.’ and left without time for us to stop her. Somehow it made me feel sorry for reprimanding her.”
“…Judging by that, Kaorun surely is acting out of character.”
Lightly shrugging my shoulders and giving Machina an agreeable response, I crossed my arms and looked up to the ceiling.
Let’s see, according to Machina, Kaorun went out shopping… She must have gone to the nearby shopping district? Then I should check upon her while I take a stroll. If I meet her, I can carry the bags and if not, I can just drop by the bookstore.
Such thoughts crossed my mind, whereupon Luna dropped her gaze on the novels on the table, so I told her “If you want, take one”, then I quickly left the house and headed for the shopping district…

A somewhat melancholic evening. Under the fleeting orange sky, I walked home all by myself.
I had gone out, but I didn’t run into Kaorun at the supermarket or the shopping district and I didn’t want to call her on her cell phone for no good reason, so I only stopped by the bookstore and was no on my way home, but… where had we passed each other this time?
In my field of vision was Kaorun holding a shopping bag from the supermarket from which she apparently returned now. But for whatever reason, she peeked into our garden from the gate to examine the situation in it.
She appeared really suspicious. When I proceeded with a wry smile, Kaorun seemed to notice me too. Suddenly she shifted her gaze to me and made a small bow.
“Welcome home, Shinobu-sama. I see that you had gone out.”
“Yeah, I was looking for your smile all over.”
“Hah, how hard-working of you…”
Eh? What was up with that reaction? Not giving the usual sharp retort to play along with my joke, Kaorun gave a half-hearted reply and resumed peeking into the garden. Just what she was looking at? A bit curious, I followed her lead and shifted my gaze towards the garden too.
By the way, our garden currently had a flowerbed that was maintained by Luna. As she was in the middle of tending to it, my vision fell on the smiling Luna in front of the flowerbed. Moreover, next to her I could see a brightly smiling girl with silver hair.
Radiant silver hair from the evening sun. It tied up in twintails, this girl was Elni. The fool and mood maker of our house. And also the kind second daughter.
Elni was crouching down in front of the flowerbed together with Luna and they apparently were happily chit-chatting with each other. While we watched over them, Luna looked at Elni and animated her voice, still smiling.
“I can barely wait. I am sure that once spring comes, a lot of flowers will bloom.”
“A lot? I really can’t wait for it. By the way, can you… eat these flowers?”
“E- Elni-chan? You must not, even if you want to! What if you upset your stomach? Please do not eat them, okay?”
Luna softly called out to Elni in a little panic.
“They go through all the trouble to bloom, so enjoy looking at them instead of eating them. We will have flowers in our garden, you know? It must be wonderful when it is all vivid and florid. Do you not feel really happy when you think that Shinobu-san and the others will smile upon seeing them?”
“Mhm~ I imagined it for a bit and somehow, I suddenly can’t wait for spring to come now! Well, inside my head it’s always spring, though!”
“How heart-warming.”
“Y- Yeah! A nice breeze blows through it! A flower might even bloom inside my head eventually!”
Luna ignored Elni’s foolery with a gentle smile. She herself must have wanted no harm, but Elni smiled vaguely and awkwardly changed the topic with “Anyway,”.
“You’re often tending to the flowerbed, Luna. I guess you love flowers?”
“Yes. You know how flowers blossom beautiful if you pour your love into them? It is like they are responding to your feelings, which makes me kind of happy.”
“I’ll respond to your feelings too, you know? So pour your love into me too.”
Like competing with the flowers, Elni tightly clung onto Luna.
I got the feeling that ever since Christmas, Elni had started to increase her physical contact like that with us other family members. Seeing Elni change like that, Luna lightly kissed her cheek to respond to the hug. Following she showed a bright smile.
“Elni-chan, actually I love both looking at and raising flowers. You yourself are like a sunflower, so I would like to have you by my side forever.”
“Sounds like Shinobu would get jealous over that… but I see, you love looking at flowers.”
Interjecting a small agreeable response, Elni put her hand onto her chin, then let her voice overflow with warmth.
“I wish I could show it to you then. So far I have travelled to various places on earth, but in a certain place I found a beautiful sunflower field. The bright yellow flowers were in full bloom over the whole place, which gave the impression of a smiling sun. I still remember it now. It was such a big sunflower field.”
Spreading her arms as wide as she could, Elni smiled faintly and looked up the evening sky with “And not just that.”.
“A vivid tulip field. A castle with lots of cats, which Nazuna would love. A country where the evening sun looks really bright red, not bitter orange like here. The world is full of wonderful places. I want all of you to see the precious things I found too. I want to see them together with you next time.”
Gently spinning her words, Elni suddenly closed her mouth, only to stand up with attitude and an “Oh right”, showing a smile to Luna like that.
“Hey Luna, I just thought of it now, but why don’t we take an overseas trip with everyone one day? It can wait until Shinobu and the others have graduated and university has long vacations, right? I think we’ll have enough chances for a happy trip from now on.”
“Fufu, you are right. I would like to see your precious things too.”
“Good! Then I’ll definitely show them to you! A family trip with you, Shinobu, Machina, Nazuna and Tomoe-san! Of course we’ll invite Hijiri and Kaorun too! By the way, no need to worry about travel expenses! I’ll somehow save up the money for it! It’s my present for my beloved ones!”
“Ehm, but all by yourself that will be hard, right? Please let me help you. I somehow want to repay the others as well.”
“Okay! Then we’ll work together! Let’s make a lot of family vacation memories! So, where are we going first? I know so many good places that it’s hard to pick one…”
The mild scarlet sun light bathed the garden. Illuminated by the evening sun, their smiles never broke and Luna and Elni continued their chit-chat in front of the flowerbed. Looking at these two, who appeared like sisters… Kaorun must have thought of something after all.
“…Elni-san has changed a bit.”
Still standing in front of the gate, Kaorun said isolated.
“Not long ago, she called Nazuna-chan with ‘Nazucat’ like a friend, but now she treats her like her little sister, calling her with her name. She also calls Tomoe-san with ‘Mom’ and sometimes clings to her spoiled… Elni-san really became part of this family.”
“It sure took it’s time, though.”
When I interjected with a faint smile, Kaorun shifted her gaze to me and smiled somewhat fleeting.
“You have an amazing person in your family, Shinobu-sama. I am sure that Elni-san is capable of doing various things for her family. Laughing and crying together, supporting each other and when you consider that this bright smile is waiting for you at home, you cannot hurry home fast enough every day.”
“…I don’t think you’re in no way inferior to Elni.”
Just like I was proud to have Luna and the other as my family, Hijiri considered Kaorun as her precious older sister too without doubt. I could say that with confidence. But my words might only have been a burden for Kaorun now.
“It is no good…”
Shaking her head powerless, she tightly squeezed the shopping bag in her hand.
“I cannot see myself… becoming like… Elni-san or Luna-san.”
A quiet cracked voice. A fragile smile. Before I could say anything to her, Kaorun set food into the garden to end the conversation.
There Luna and Elni apparently noticed her.
They both came over to Kaorun and after saying the words “Welcome back”, they each asked about dinner… On a glance, that was a rather harmonious scene. But Kaorun was looking somewhat envious at the two and her expression didn’t brighten up…

…Instead of cheering her up, I made it worse. What was I doing?
Recalling my conversation with Kaorun earlier, I reflected a bit on my actions. I finished my daily training in the garden and renewing my spirits, I wanted to recommend Kaorun a novel this time for sure, so I headed for the guest room.
By the way, on my way, Luna called out to me that she was borrowing one of the four novels that I had left in the living room and that she had apparently taken over the role to prepare dinner from Kaorun, but that aside. The important point was that Kaorun wasn’t in the guest room again.
For the time being I did a small search inside the house, but I couldn’t find her anywhere, so I could only return to my own room with the novels…. There were the lights on for some reason and I even sensed someone’s presence.
…Someone was inside? While tilting my head, I got inside and there she was, the one I had been looking for, Kaorun. She had crawled into my bed, rested her cheek on my pillow and was smiling somewhat cosily. She seemed a wee bit happy.
When I proceeded with an inadvertent wry smile, she wouldn’t get off my bed even after noticing me and opened her mouth somewhat absent-minded while still resting her cheek on the pillow.
“Welcome, Shinobu-sama. It is a bit small, but please make yourself at home.”
“…Now that’s quite the greeting.”
Even small, it’s still my beloved room. Actually, what’re you doing on my bed? Holding back such a retort, I continued my words somewhat softly.
“Anyway, what’s up with you? Relaxing here?”
“Yes, in a sexual way— is what I would like to say, but actually I am heartbroken from all that has happened lately. So I am engulfing myself in your nice smell here for some comfort.”
“Don’t take too long, okay? It would be troublesome if your scent gets carried over and I can’t sleep from excitement.”
“…Shinobu-sama, can you not say anything more tactful?”
That was my attempt of being tactful, but Kaorun puckered her lips a bit.
“I am really hurt, you know? Here you should be emphatically pull me into an embrace while you wildly approach me with ‘Kaoru, if you want my smell, get it directly’, or am I wrong?”
“Ah, but I’m all sweaty from my earlier training…”
“Then please sweetly whisper me a ‘I love you, Kaoru’ and place a gentle kiss on my forehead. On this occasion, you even may place it on my breasts.”
“Sorry, but somehow I’m craving for some ass today.”
“I could not ask for anything better.”
“…I have nothing to return.”
And our conversation died just like that.
Kaorun cracked her jokes like usually, but her tone lacked will-power and due to that, both my foolery and retort remained boring. My wry smile spread and for now I put the novels I was carrying onto my desk. Then I sat down on the corner of the bed and softly reached out my hand for Kaorun.
She herself had said she was heartbroken, but I didn’t know how to comfort her. I could only silently pet her head. Even so, Kaorun faintly flushed her cheeks and didn’t resist in particular while she hid half of face with the blanket. After a while, she quietly spun her words.
“…Shinobu-sama, I may not look like it or rather, as you can see, I am a perfect maid that does about everything flawless, has a sharp mind, got excellent looks and is quite athletic.”
“That’s going a bit too far, but I can’t deny it.”
“I know, right? So I should be able to do anything. However, I cannot seem to become what I want to be. I thought I would learn something by coming here, but… I only learned about the things I lack myself.”
Slightly dropping her voice, Kaorun narrowed her eyes a little bit sadly.
“I do want to change myself a bit, though.”
“…I don’t really see the need to force yourself to change.”
“But Elni-san has changed, right? So did Luna-san and Machina. All of them became the older sisters of this household. I believe you are pleased about that change as well, Shinobu-sama.”
Objecting somewhat powerless, she tightly squeezed the hem of the blanket.
“If I can become like Luna-san and the others, I am sure even Hijiri-chan will be…”
She surely didn’t want me to see her smudgy expression. Kaorun slowly raised up the blanket and covered her whole face. Like that, she kept her mouth shut for a short while, but then she suddenly sighed affected through the blanket to change the atmosphere.
“I felt like crying out of self-hatred from all the things that happened and restlessly came to your room, but before I noticed it, I was looking for your perverted books. I must be truly sick.”
“I don’t know if it’s a sickness or just normal in your case.”
“…Normally I would go for your bed first instead of the books, you know? It is just, lately a lot of mails come from Hijiri-chan asking if I am alright…”
“With that dog emoticon added?”
“Yes. I am receiving a lot of these adorable mails. I wanted to reply to it with ‘I am reading aloud the perverted books hidden in Shinobu-sama’s room right now~’ to conceal my depression, but no matter where and how hard I looked, I could not find the treasures in question.”
“That means I’m the only treasure in this room. Sorry, but give up.” I replied with such a joke, whereupon Kaorun raised a dissatisfied voice through the blanket for some reason.
“I am so disappointed! Not only am I unable to send my wonderful mail, I am also unable to tell Hijiri-chan about your preferences! What are you going to do about that!”
“…Let me ask instead, what do you want me to do?”
“I will send Hijiri-chan a mail now saying ‘I am taking a rest in Shinobu-sama’s bed right now~ Shinobu-sama is next to me, petting my head. It does not seem like I will get any sleep tonight <3’, so please tolerate it with a smile.” “What’re you doing under the blanket? It only gives me stormy premonition, so stop it.” But well, she could joke around like that. So it should be fine now. At the same time of my retort, I reached out my hand and jerked the blanket. Against my expectations, Kaorun wasn’t holding her cell phone and instead she was holding a single photo album against her chest. She must have hidden it for a while now. When I dropped my gaze onto the album, I could read the random long title “Prologue issue of Shinobu-kun’s fleeting, heartrending, but beautiful memories ~A few years after his grandiose birth, the memories might turn into a legend~” that my father gave it. Still holding onto that album, Kaorun straightened up her upper body and opened her mouth reserved. “I found this when I was looking for the perverted books earlier, but may I drool over it?” “…I don’t mind if you read it normally.” Actually, she was looking for the porn as she pleased, but she properly asked for permission to look at the album, huh. It was questionable if she had manners or not, but for now I consented and Kaorun curiously opened the album, whereas I peeked down at her hands with a wry smile. The album showed me in my olden days when I was around five or six years old. My younger self was smiling like an angel, but Kaorun tilted her head wondering for whatever she was thinking about my photos. “This is your photo album, is it not, Shinobu-sama? It is showing a different person already on the first page. Who might this pretty boy be?” “Face me for a bit. Then you’ll see that pretty boy right away.” “…Time is a cruel thing. Where did that devilish face come from? It has no shred of cuteness anymore. Well, I like your current self better, though.” Looking at me, she gave me a wink while ranting. Following, she shifted her gaze back to her hands and slowly flipped through the pages… While looking at the album, she giggled. “Somehow, there are a lot of pictures together with Nazuna-chan. Be it at home or outside, Nazuna-chan is always by your side, often clinging to you.” “Ever since I can remember, she has been spouting nonsense like ‘Without Brother it’s no good’ and has always followed me around.” While I interjected a warm agreeable response, Kaorun, still looking at the album, brightened her smile and filled her tone with warmth. “I am sure she wanted to stay with her brother as long as possible. In every picture with you, Nazuna-chan is smiling so happily… wait, huh? Only in this picture Nazuna-chan is crying waterfalls. Did something happen there?” Kaorun suddenly stopped her hands from flipping the pages. When I followed her gaze, Nazuna-chan in the picture had opened her mouth widely and was spilling endless tears from her eyes. And the boy next to her, me in my younger years, petted his little sister’s head with teary eyes for some reason… Not cool at all. Why had I been about to cry as well? When I looked at the picture a bit shocked, the memories from back then suddenly resurfaced and I inadvertently snorted a bit. “Now I know, it was when I was stung by a bee. Reminds me, Nazuna was shouting ‘Brother! It’s a bee! It’s looking at me with a dangerous glint in it’s eyes!’ and hastily ran to my side…” “So Nazuna-chan has always been a funny girl.” “And a bit stupid, though. That said, I was the stupid one back then, I guess.” While recalling the old days, I naturally spilled a sigh. “To be honest, I was scared of the bee too, but I was in front of my little sister after all. While I boasted about trivia with ‘Listen, Nazuna, a bee always gives a warning before stinging someone. If you pay attention to that, you’ll be fine. No problem.’… the bee got me big time.” “What can I say… How regrettably.” “Yeah, it was uncool and hurt like hell. I was about to cry for various reasons, whereupon Nazuna broke down crying with ‘Brother’s going to die!’. My father was with us then… and he took the picture with a very loud laughter.” “You have quite the amusing father…” Dropping her gaze down on the picture again with a wry smile, Kaorun calmly continued her words. “It is no wonder Nazuna-chan started to cry. Considering something happened to her beloved brother, she did not know what to do and was full of worry, so she spilled tears like that…” A sudden change of her soft expression. The picture of me being stung by a bee and Nazuna crying. While looking at it, she changed her expression and now looked through the album without saying anything. I was a bit perplexed by her reaction, so I titled my head and called out to her. “…What’s up so suddenly? Why the serious face?” “Ah, no, I was just remembering a bit from the past…” Even while she replied so, she didn’t raise her head and continued to look at the pictures staring… Afterwards she showed no real interested in the novels I recommended and looked through the album again and again until it was time for dinner. But what got her so concerned? After looking at the album, Kaorun’s behaviour became even stranger. She was absent-minded the whole time during dinner. Even if the girls called out to her, she only repeated half-hearted replies and she even left most of her food untouched. As she was pondering about something, she even got dizzy in the bath… It was rather worrisome for me. But whatever I said had little effect, as she apparently was really pondering about something. In the end, still only getting half-hearted replies from her, I went back to my own room by leaving behind the words “You can come to talk to me anytime” and opened the earlier album on my bed. …What did the album do to her? After looking at it, Kaorun had became weird. It bothered me a lot. In search for the reason of her weirdness, I looked through the album until I fell asleep… * * * After a long time, I had a dream about my childhood again, probably due to having looked at the album. About my incredible weak self that had no talent for martial arts compared to my little sister. After being bullied at my grandfather’s dojo and fleeing from there… I still remained weak. Because of me, Nazuna got into a traffic accident and I even hurt my precious childhood friend that visited her in the hospital. Thinking back on it, I might have considered summoning a devil because I couldn’t forgive myself for that. Of course I had the desire to help Nazuna as well. That was for sure. However, it was a fact that I was fine with the devil taking my soul in exchange for my wish. Nazuna was everyone’s star at my grandfather’s dojo. She was a genius like our father. My little sister with such talent was lying in a hospital bed without waking up, whereas I, a useless guy without a shred of talent, lived sound and safe… That was why I thought: I should have been in that accident. I should just disappear… I told this to the devil, to Luna, who I summoned back then. You can have my soul. If it makes my sister smile again, I don’t mind. Besides, everyone prefers Nazuna’s smile over mine… I couldn’t forgive my weak self. I seriously believed that it was fine that my sister smiled in my stead. However, Luna did not only save Nazuna, but me as well. ---It is okay. It is all okay now. The hand petting my head was gentle and the warmth of her embrace heated up my chest. I was so happy about her words… so the tears didn’t stop flowing. What I received from her. Her words to me that filled up my chest. These warm words. To my shame, I forgot them once, but I might have always remembered them somewhere in the corner of my heart. I never thought again that I should disappear. The words Luna told me on that day were--- * * * Mhm~ The words Luna told me back then were… Mh? Weird. I got the feeling that my body was strangely shaking for a while now. On top of that, someone’s voice was resounded somewhat distant, but oh well. Anyway, the words Luna told me back then were… “---If you do not get up soon, I will kiss you all over.” Somehow the Luna in my dream suddenly got really bold--- As if. Being called out by someone, my consciousness awoke from a light slumber. Feeling light on the back of my eyelids, I opened my eyes, whereupon the lights I supposedly turned off were on in my room and my vision fell on Kaorun lightly shaking my shoulders, whenever she had come inside. …What did she want? I straightened up my upper body on the bed a bit listless and shifted my gaze to the clock on the wall like that. It was in the middle of night past midnight. No wonder that I was still sleepy. I suppressed a yawn and turned my sleepy eyes at Kaorun. “What do you want at this time? A night attack?” “If that had been my intention, you would be stark naked by now, Shinobu-sama.” “…I would catch a cold like that.” “Rest assured, Shinobu-sama. I would warm up your mind and body with my pridefully skin then.” “Haha, I’ll lock my door at night from now on.” While exchanging such jokes, I suddenly remembered the time before I went to bed and casually continued my words. “Reminds me, it seemed you were pondering about something, but got anywhere with it?” “No, the gloomy feeling would not stop no matter what, so I decided to get some productive exercise. Therefore, please accompany me for a bit, Shinobu-sama. We are going outside now.” “…Can you let me sleep five more minutes?” “Shinobu-sama, you have time to get changed until I count till ten. Otherwise I will have my way with your sexy body. Are you ready? One, ten--- Here I go.” “H- Hey, wait! You didn’t even give me three seconds!” Before she finished her sentence, she put her hands on my clothes, which blew off my sleepiness for sure and I raised a surprised voice. “Sure, I told you earlier to come to talk to me at any time, but without warning in the middle of the night is--- Hey, Ah, wait. Don’t pull on my clothes! Stop! No! Let go!” “’No, let go‘? That is to say, ‘No let’s go’ as an anagram. I understand. A trick often used by females. While saying ‘Ahn, stop’, it actually means to go on.” Learned something new… With no time for me to make such a foolery, Kaorun stripped me in no time and even got my change of clothes. After a matter of a few minutes then, I was walking down the road at night next to her under the wintry sky in my coat. By the way, Kaorun shouldered a small backpack before leaving the house, but that aside for now. For my part, I was half-forcefully dragged out here. I inadvertently shrugged my shoulders a bit and called out to Kaorun jokingly. “But aren’t you a bit mean? You suddenly wake me up in the middle of the night, only to drag me outside into this freezing cold without telling me anything.” “A valuable experience that you cannot buy with money.” “Yeah, just to tell you, if it hadn’t been you, I would have resorted to violence.” “For argument’s sake, what would you have done if it was Luna-san?” “Tagged along with a smile right away.” That said, it wasn’t all that different for Kaorun. When I showed a refreshing smile along with my words, Kaorun grinned too, but declared somewhat indifferent. “Please follow me with that smile, Shinobu-sama. We are heading to my house now.” “…This late at night? Don’t tell me you’re homesick?” “N- No, I am not. I am going back precisely because it is this late at night.” Even while being a bit unsettled, she finally seemed to tell me the reason for this excursion. While proceeding on, Kaorun raised her index finger and lowered her tone a little bit. “Truth be told, I will return to the Gogyou Mansion now and secretly infiltrate Papa Sougo’s home office. I plan to get my hands on a certain thing there.” “It’s your own house, isn’t it? Why can’t you do it during the day?” “Shinobu-sama, I came to your house this time by consulting with Hijiri-chan and Shuu-kun, pretending to be in a fight with him. If I were to shamelessly return without results, that would be, well how can I put it, it would be unsightly.” She must mean her dignity as an older sister. Well, it wasn’t like I couldn’t relate to that. However, I doubtfully tilted my head on hearing her story and interjected. “Hey, let me ask one thing. Couldn’t you have sneaked into the house by yourself? There’s no point of me coming along…” “That is not true. According to Hijiri-chan’s frequent mails, Papa Sougo is fortunately out of the house for work at present. But the problem is Mama Misaki… Ah, by Mama Misaki I mean the mistress.” While adding that explanation, Kaorun knitted her eyebrows a bit and continued. “At this time of the day, Hijiri-chan is most likely sleeping sweetly while dreaming about you, Shinobu-sama, but Shuu-kun is surely enjoying the winter vacation by doing something stupid again around now without a doubt. Besides, Mama Misaki will be awake horny until morning anyway.” “…Somehow I’m getting more and more worried, but just what is my role?” “Please stand-by in the living room while I sneak into the home office. If you hear any footsteps, comer over to me at once. You only have to keep watch, so that I do not run into any family members. Incidentally, I myself will not make any noises, so do not worry about that.” “No, I’m worried to no end. Shuu-kun and I know each other, so that aside, but Hijiri’s mother might be awake, right? What should I do if I run into her in the hallway or so?” Just imagining that scene made me restless. However, Kaorun only gave me a thumps-up to say that it was no problem, indifferent to my worry. “I believe you can deal with Mama Misaki easily, because I showed her various pictures of you. If you happen to run into her, just tell her ’I came to pay Hijiri a night visit, Babe’ and Mama Misaki will surely consent by giving you a thumps-up.” “…I never met her before, but is she really like that?” “To compare them with us, she has the ‘natural erotic’ characteristic from Luna-san, the ‘sullen pervert’ characteristic from Hijiri-chan and my ‘coquettish’ characteristic combined in herself.” “Doesn’t that just make her a lewd woman?” “Shinobu-sama, that is not correct. She is not something so half-baked. Mama Misaki is super lewd. After all, Papa Sougo made a wry smile with ‘Hijiri comes after me, but you seem to be influenced by Misaki’ upon looking me the other day, but I would like to emphasize that it is really regrettable.” Even while saying so, Kaorun smiled faintly and talking with her like that, we reached the huge Gogyou Mansion at some point. There Kaorun used her key and quietly sneaked inside. Next she left me behind in the broad living room and quickly headed for the home office. …It had been a while since I felt so disheartened by myself. At worst, I might get reported to the police. There was no end to my various worries. But I wasn’t going to do anything bad and sneaking around would make me suspicious, so I should just act openly and there would be no problem. Telling myself so once more, I turned the lights on in the living room, slowly sat down and leisurely turned on the TV while resting my chin on my hands with the elbows on the table. Mhm, late-night anime were getting rather bold these days. It was a bit perverted. However, if anyone were to see me like this, it would be over for sure. Sure, I needed to play the decoy for Kaorun, but this certainly wasn’t good. Therefore I quickly tried to switch the TV channel, but on a spiteful timing, I could hear footsteps behind me as someone had apparently entered the room. …Wasn’t I found a bit too early? I might have been tense due to the situation. I failed to sense the person’s presence. Moreover, there was no longer a way out. Be it Shuu-kun or Hijiri’s mother, I could only play it cool. When I turned around determined, my vision fell onto a girl with dignified features. To my surprise, it was Hijiri. According to Kaorun’s conjecture, she should be asleep. She wore a Yukata as a pyjama and her long legs that fleetingly peeked out under the hem of her clothes, were quite bewitching. However, Hijiri blinked puzzled upon noticing me and tilted her head. “Eh? Huh? Shinobu-kun? What are you doing here?” “…Ah, well, you see, a little night visit.” “Oh, I see. A night visit--- wait, a night visit!?” In my agitation, I ended up speaking out the remark suggested by Kaorun, whereupon Hijiri raised a hysteric voice and turned bright red at once, shaking both her hands. “Sh- Shinobu-kun! Are you serious!? Or is this a continuation of yesterday‘s drea---Mmh!?” It would be troublesome if she caused a scene here. I stood up with attitude and closed the distance to her in a flash. While I covered her mouth to stop her words, I put up my index finger with “Ssh”. Upon that, Hijiri nodded short, but she might have gotten a strange misunderstanding. When I slowly removed my hands from her mouth, she damped her eyes while her cheeks were still flushed, and mumbled fragile just like that. “…Shinobu-kun, it’s my first time… So I want it to be on the bed…” “Ehm, well, I’m really sorry. The night visit was just a joke. I’m not going to start anything here either, so rest assured.” “I, I see. It was a joke. Sorry, Shinobu-kun, for taking you serious…” After turning even redder and lowering her head, Hijiri unfortunately got back on topic with “So”. “Why are you at my house?” A legit question. But I tried to somehow deceive her for Kaorun’s sake. “T- Today I, well, how can I put it… I came over to hang out.” “In the middle of the night? But how did you get inside?” “It’s not like I trespassed. I openly came in through the front door. I broke the door, though.” “Th- That sounds like trespassing alright… Could it be, you came together with Kaoru-san? Since she has a key…” “Sh- She sure has. So I borrowed it from her and came over. I know it’s late, but I just wanted to see your smile right away. Now please smile for me, Hijiri.” When I urged her like that, Hijiri smiled a bit embarrassed. Yeah, I was glad to have come here. Even while I felt like that for a bit upon seeing her smile, it didn’t change the fact that I was on edge. What would happened if Hijiri saw Kaorun here? When I was about to break out a cold sweat, Hijiri called out to me, still smiling. “Shinobu-kun, thanks for coming. Please wait for a bit. I’ll go get some tea.” “No, no, that’s fine. Don’t mind me. A- Anyway, I’m here now, so, well, ehm--- I want to go to your room.” That was what I spontaneous came up with. I certainly lost my head. Even Hijiri widened her eyes with “At this time?”, but didn’t retort in particular and replied with a small nod. “…Yeah, okay. Come with me.” Flushing her cheeks, Hijiri shyly took my hand. Guided by that soft and warm hand, I feared running into Kaorun in the hallway, but I safely intruded in her room on the second floor… Though she might have gotten the wrong idea again. Somehow she urged me to sit down on her bed and I took her up on her offer, but she sat down next to me at a rather close distance. A faint fragrance of flowers hung in the air next to me and I felt her sweet warmth from her shoulder that lightly touched mine. Now my heart was racing for a different reason. Moreover, Hijiri was fidgeting her knees together and turned red, so I awkwardly cracked a joke in an attempt to change the atmosphere for now. “Ehm, why are you up so late at night, Hijiri? Doing perverted stuff by yourself?” “P- Perverted stuff!? I, I was just doing my winter vacation homework, but tonight it might come tot that?” …That was my bad. Hijiri sneaked a peek at me with red cheeks. While I kept my mouth shut in search for words to solve the misunderstanding and apologize about it, Hijiri looked down with “Auh…” as it had gotten awkward and after a short while, she suddenly raised her head with attitude. “Uhm, I… will get some tea after all.” “No! I’m not really thirsty! Don’t go, Hijiri!” “But I’m kinda nervous, which made my throat dry.” Hijiri started to get up. It would be bad if she ran into Kaorun while making tea. I softly took her arm to stop her, but it was useless as Hijiri replied with the words “I’ll be back real quick”. In regards, my panic made me… rest my cheek on Hijiri’s lap. Now Hijiri should be unable to move. I finally had freaked out. Moreover, I was getting fascinated by the sensation of her juicy thighs. But I pulled myself together and wanted to apologize quickly, but “…I’m not dreaming, am I?” apparently there was no need to. When I turned my head on her thighs to check upon her just in case… I could only see her voluminous breasts. Moreover, Hijiri didn’t resist and even softly touched my hair, leaking a somewhat spellbound sigh.
“If it’s a dream, I don’t want to wake up. I want it to continue on forever…”
I also would like to escape reality by resting on her lap forever. Her thighs had a comfortable flexibility like a high-grade pillow. On top, they were warm and even gave off a sweet fragrance. Inadvertently I was about to forget the situation I was in, but then Hijiri started to pet not just my head, but also my cheeks, which let my embarrassment gradually prevail over me.
Amidst that, Hijiri seemed to calm down by petting me and rested her hand softly on my cheek, softly opening her mouth.
“Shinobu-kun, can I ask you something?”
“I came here to see you.”
“Yeah, I know that already. I’m really happy that you’re acting so spoiled. But I want to ask about… Kaoru-san.”
Why not ask herself? She’s downstairs. How easy would it be if I could say that. Personally, I wasn’t that eager to touch this topic, but…. for Hijiri, it must be something that had always bothered her. She stopped her hand from petting me and filled her tone with warmth.
“Judging from her mails, it seems she’s having a good time at your house, but how’s it? She isn’t causing troubles to the other by playing weird pranks”
“No one of us considers her troublesome. You don’t have to worry about that.”
“…I see. They think the same as me. I’m glad.” Contrary to these relieved words, Hijiri dropped her voice a bit and asked timidly.
“But is Kaoru-san feeling a bit lonely? Though I doubt it in her case.”
“…You for one look a bit lonely.”
When I replied peacefully, Hijiri leaked a small sigh in the meaning of affirmation.
“It’s a bit weird lately. Normally when I stay up late like today, Kaoru-san would properly give me a fair warning by cracking a joke with ‘Were you doing perverted things by yourself while thinking about Shinobu-sama again? Staying up late is not good for your body, you know?’…”
Now filling her tone with sadness, Hijiri placed her hand on my cheek somewhat coquetting.
“And you know, then she would say ‘Stupid Shuu-kun is awake too anyway, so I will reluctantly made a night snack’ with a smile and prepare Shuu-kun’s favourite soba noodles. Then we three would eat together and…”
Suddenly stopping midway in her sentence, Hijiri sighed again after a little pause.
“It’s weird without Kaoru-san after all. She consulted with me before leaving, but she never told me any details…”
“Of course that gets you worried. But still, she didn’t even tell you anything?”
“Yeah, she only told me she would rely on you if anything comes up. But I don’t mind. I’m just glad that she consulted with me. I’m sure she has a plan and giving her best for it, but…”
Temporarily stopping her words, Hijiri continued somewhat dull.
“If she doesn’t come back soon… I might stay up late every night.”
“I see. After all, to you Kaorun is—” I tried to convey what I had been thinking for a while now, but suddenly a loud noise resounded from downstairs and I closed my opened mouth.
…Something might have happened to Kaorun. I got an incredible bad feeling. On top of that, Hijiri knitted her eyebrows doubtfully and ended my lap-pillow by standing up.
“Shinobu-kun, I’m going to take a look, so—”
“W- Wait! Don’t be hasty, Hijiri! What if it’s a robber! I wouldn’t be able to face Kaorun if anything were to happen to you! Should I let you go alone, I might get punished by Kaorun for various reasons! Leave this to me and wait here!”
“Ehm, aren’t you exaggerating a bit? It’s probably just Shuu— wait, Shinobu-kun!?”
I could hear Hijiri’s flustered voice behind me, but unfortunately I was even more flustered. Leaving Hijiri’s room behind me and heading down the long hallway, I swiftly headed downstairs where the noise had come from.
…Please don’t let Kaorun have created a strange ruckus.
That prayer proved useless and what I saw when I came down the stairs was Kaorun, wearing the same backpack like before, and a boy with neutral features, Gogyou Shuugo aka Shuu-kun.
However, in the faint light, Shuu-kun had closed his eyes somewhat blissful and showed an expression like in a peaceful death. And Kaorun was holding him from behind, dragging him along. Inadvertently I dumbfounded gaped my mouth open and raised a slow-witted voice like that.
“Eh? What? You killed him?”
“Kukuku, now that you have seen it, you leave me no other choice. I will have you embark on a trip to heaven along with Shuu-kun. Kill once and you can kill again! But if you killed a hundred, you will be a hero!”
“…Seems like you lost it.” with that I interjected after becoming a bit calmer, whereupon Kaorun gave an agreeable response with “Seems so” and quickly explained.
“Actually I achieved my object without problems, but you were not in the living room, so I thought that you might have really gone to pay Hijiri-chan a night visit, and was heading up the stairs to the second floor, but on my way I suddenly sensed someone’s presence, so I turned around and— there stood Peanut.”
“Don’t give your little brother strange nicknames.”
“Well, Peanut aka Shuu-kun probably wanted to enjoy a perverted DVD on the big TV in the living room, but when our eyes met at the stairs, I thought my heart would stop.”
“…Shuu-kun’s heart is still beating, isn’t it? On a closer look, he looks rather limp.”
“Shuu-kun will not kick the bucket from something like this. But I am afraid that I ended up giving him jump kick in my agitation. Shuu-kun screamed ’White!’ and was knocked out without the count of ten. That is how we got to this situation.”
“By they way, what colour has your underwear today?”
“Sexual harassment out of nowhere?— Is what I would like to say, but as you guessed right, it is pure white. Anyway, please help me carry Shuu-kun to his room. I am sure that if you put him into the bed now, he will undoubtedly have a sweet maid drea—”
While saying so, Kaorun suddenly stopped her movements and words. I painfully could relate to it.
Unluckily, in the middle of our conversation, we could hear faint footsteps from the first and second floor at the same time, which gradually approached in our direction. The BGM of the shark movie “J*ws” played in my head and Kaorun also looked around with widened eyes, clearly acting suspicious for a bit.
“It, It probably are Mama Misaki and Hijiri-chan. Th- This is troublesome. What do we do…”
“…I’ll do something about it. You get out of here quickly.”
“No, but, I cannot leave you alone in this situation…”
She must have felt bad about it. Kaorun looked down on the still limp Shuu-kun. I rested my hand on her shoulder and declared smiling with an affected tone.
“Kaoru, you brought me here for such a time, right? I would like to live up to your expectations. Don’t worry, I’ll ensnare them with my usual jokes. You wait for me outside.”
“Shinobu-sama… I… I will wait for you as long as it takes!”
Maybe she picked up on my mood? Nevertheless, she flushed her cheeks and went away by leaving these dramatic words behind.
Right afterwards Hijiri showed up on the second floor, as she came to check on me. She spotted Shuu-kun at the bottom of the stairs, widened her eyes with “Sh- Shuu-kun!?” and came rushing down the stairs.
On the other hand, a beautiful woman came around the corner of the hallway on the first floor, as she had heard the ruckus. If Kaorun’s guess was right, she must be Mama Misaki aka Hijiri’s mother. Her features certainly resembled Hijiri’s, but she was as young as my mother. Hijiri might age while remaining as beautiful as she too.
When such reality-avoiding thoughts crossed my mind, Hijiri looked after her brother with “Shuu-kun! Hang in there!”, whereas the woman, who seemed to be Hijiri’s mother, blinked her eyes a bit upon seeing me, but surprisingly, she clapped her hands and smile beautifully without making a fuss.
“I get it. You came to pay Hijiri a night visit.”
“That’s the first thing you have to say— no, wait. It’s not a night visit. I just came over to hang out. Ehm, you’re Misaki-san, right?”
“Yes, I am. And you’re Shinobu-kun, right? I saw you numerous times in Kaoru or Hijiri’s pictures and heard a lot from them about you too. You’re a mischievous, yet kind guy that’s wild and cute, correct? From what I can see, you’re cool and fantastic.”
“Well, I’m often told that wherever I go. Also, nice to meet you.”
Hiding my agitation, I lowered my head a bit, whereupon she— Misaki-san curiously came over while treading on Shuu-kun who was treated by Hijiri, and charmingly touched my cheek.
“Now then, Shinobu-kun. You said you came over to hang out? In other words, you want to play, right? What kind of play will you do with Hijiri tonight?”
“M- Mother! It’s embarrassing, so please don’t say anything weird! Besides! You stepped on Shuu-kun!”
“Oh my? What’s the Peanut doing here? He should just split open in his room and die.”
Calling Shuu-kun by the same nickname as Kaorun and giving an even harsher abuse than Kaorun, Misaki-san kicked her own son without listening to Hijiri’s warning. Suddenly she faced Hijiri, then returned her gaze to me, only to give me a sexy wink now.
“Since you’re here, Shinobu-kun— want to have both mother and daughter tonight?”
“As if, idiot! You’re even worse than Kaorun— Just kidding. Okay. Sorry for staying till so late. Seems I’ll only give rash remarks in form of retorts from now on, so I’ll excuse myself now. Also, it seems Shuu-kun ended up like that by tripping on the stairs.”
Adding a follow-up for Kaorun at the end, I carried Shuu-kun to his bed for now, then quickly left the Gogyou Mansion behind me…

Now then, just what did she get from the house?
I regrouped with Kaorun right outside the Gogyou Mansion. Next we I thought that we would come straight home, but when we passed by a park on our way home, Kaorun said that she would like to drop by there and since I had come this far already, I decided to tag along, entering the park together with her.
After that we both sat down on a bench under the faint illumination of the park and right now Kaorun was rummaging in the small backpack that she had put on before leaving the house.
She had sneaked into the Gogyou Mansion because she wanted to get her hands on a thing from Sougo-san’s home office. But what was it? Even while I was rather curious, I softly called out to Kaorun.
“…Did you find what you were after?”
“Yes. It is all thanks to you, Shinobu-sama. I could not have done it by myself. In my gratitude, I will let you see it as well. Please look. This is the object in question!”
Along with her words, Kaorun pulled something out of the backpack with attitude… It was a single DVD.
On the cover, a woman in bondage fashion ala S&M was stepping scornfully on a guy, but despite that, the guy showed an ecstatic expression… Kind of the type of person I could never become friends with.
However, that wasn’t the problem. Twitching my cheeks, I leaked a low voice from my mouth.
“…Hey, what’s with the smug face? Even my patience is reaching it’s limit. You went through all the trouble of sneaking into the house just to get this?”
“Ah, no, it was a lame joke. Forgive me.”
After honestly lowering her head, Kaorun lightly shrugged her shoulders and explained.
“This is the DVD that Shuu-kun was preciously holding earlier. He indeed must have intended to watch it in the living room, but I believed that it would be the end for him if someone found him passed out with that DVD in the arms, so I ended up taking it with me.”
“So it was true that he’s a light masochist. That’s full-fledged S&M.”
“…I will present you this DVD as your reward for accompanying me.”
“I’m treated rather cheap. I wouldn’t know where to put that, so I don’t want it. I’m fine with just your smile as my reward. Come on, show me the objection in question with a smile.”
“…It is not fair how you smile like that while supposedly joking around…”
Did she notice that I was being serious just now? Kaorun flushed her cheeks pinkish and averting her eyes from me. What she slowly pulled out of the backpack after the DVD was a thick photo album.
On the cover was written the rather simple title “Kaoru”, but apparently this was the object in question and Kaorun smiled faintly with “Papa Sougo and Mama Misaki made this for me”, opening the album so that I could see.
But why did she suddenly want to look at an album? Did looking at my album before dinner have anything to do with it? Even feel I felt a bit doubtful, I dropped my gaze onto her album for now, where I could see not only Kaorun in her childhood days, but also a young Hijiri.
Except that the expression of the young Kaorun was even more lacking than now. But even so, the young Kaorun wore a maid uniform on her small body. Seeing that appearance soothed my heart, but to not let her find out, I shifted my gaze to the small Hijiri, who fascinated me just as much, in the picture.
“Ohh, Hijiri has been pretty and cute from childhood.”
“Shinobu-sama, what about me, the topic of this album? Am I cute?”
“You have a brazen look from childhood.”
While giving my honest impression, I made a rather serious request with “By the way,”.
“Can I have one picture with both of you in it?”
“Fufu, then let us make it an exchange for a picture with Nazuna-chan and you.”
“Sure, but aren’t your pictures a bit weird? On a closer look, you’re not taking any poses, nor are you even looking at the camera. It’s rather natural.”
“Because I hate being photographed. Most of them surely are taken secretly by Mama Misaki.”
“…I met her just now and you seriously were influenced by her.”
While exchanging like that, I continued to look at the album, whereupon I suddenly noticed a certain thing and naturally formed a small smile.
“Somehow, this resembles my own album a bit. It’s full of pictures of your little sister too.”
“…Quite strange, indeed. Before her friends in elementary school found out about the exorcist business, Hijiri-chan was as popular as today.”
Still looking at the album, Kaorun continued with “Even so,” and a bittersweet smile.
“She often followed me around, even on my job, despite having lots of friends to play with. Afterwards she even helped me out and thus mastered the house chores… but I wonder why she always hovered over me.”
“Don’t you know that reason by now?”
Softly interjecting, I shifted my gaze to the album.
“I’m sure Hijiri was just like Nazuna. Even I can tell by just looking at the pictures. Whenever Hijiri was with you, she smiled so happily and enjoyable… Mh? In this one, Hijiri’s crying. Actually, this picture is…”
It somewhat resembled the scene from the picture in my album. Was this a secret shot by Misaki-san too? The young Hijiri was spilling big tears in the garden. The young Kaorun petted her younger sister’s head. Her expression still showed no emotions, but her hands, petting her younger sister’s head, had no hesitation and the look in her eyes… was the same that Kaorun showed right now. A really gentle one.
“…This is a picture from when I was stung by a bee.”
“You were stung too!?”
“Yes. If I remember correctly, Hijiri-chan was being chased by the bee and I wanted to help her, but I messed around by saying ‘It is no big deal unless it gets you’ and swinging around a broom… Then the bee stung me with all it’s might.”
“Haha, quite the rare mistake from you.”
“Well, it happened in my childhood.”
She probably remembered the old days.
“Even when I was stung back then, it was nothing to me. I am a hybrid devil after all. There was no way a bee sting would do anything to me. Just…”
Softly narrowing her eyes, Kaorun dearly stroke over the picture in the album.
“It was troublesome how Hijiri-chan started crying on a rare occasion. I was just alright, yet she was really worried with ‘Does it hurt? Sorry’ and exaggeratingly cried a lot in my stead, who was not allowed to cry as a tool…”
Slightly rocking her eyes, she trembled her voice a bit.
“From an early age, Hijiri-chan always considered me as her older sister…” with that she stared at the album and stopped her words. After a short pause, Kaorun faced me and slowly started talking.
“Shinobu-sama, a while ago, I prepared for the arrival of the new maid and then finally met her for the first time… Truth is, I have been worried since that time.”
As she was finally going to talk about the reason as to why she came over to our house, she peacefully continued her words.
“When we previously held the meeting at our house for Machina’s student council election, I warned you in the form of a joke, right? I said: The new maid is a really adorable girl. Please do not lay your hands on her—”
“And I responded: I can’t promise that— But I was joking too, you know?”
“…You are a natural gigolo, so I am worried.”
Cracking a little joke, Kaorun calmly got back on topic.
“This new maid— Hisame-chan is really adorable, but she is a hybrid devil like myself. I am sure a lot has happened to her as well. She is only fourteen years old, yet she rarely shows any emotions and seems just like a machine.”
While saying so, she clouded her expression.
“She might resemble my old self in that regard. But when she spoke with me, which was only once, she smiled a bit at me. When I saw that little smile, I mysteriously got the urge to make her smile more… And then it suddenly came to my mind.”
Slowly closing her eyes, Kaorun filled her tone with warmth.
“ That Hijiri-chan maybe had the same feeling when she first met me. That reminded of what Hijiri-chan had done for me.”
Still keeping her eyes shut like reminiscing in the past, she softly spun her words.
“Living together with someone that is nothing but a stranger and accept that someone as a precious family member. That is what Hijiri-chan did for me. Seeing Hisame-chan’s smile made me want to do the same for her.”
Slowly opening her eyes during her speech, Kaorun showed a wry smile with “But,”.
“When I recalled various things, I had only relied on Hijiri-chan, even though I am the older sister. I have not done anything befitting an older sister, so to do something for Hijiri-chan or Shuu-kun and even for Hisame-chan, who will become my little sister, I wanted to become a better older sister…”
“That’s why you came to us?”
“I… wanted to change myself.”
Even while nodding to my question, she lightly clenched her fists.
“All of you in the Nanjou family are not connected by blood to Luna-san and the others, but you appeared like a natural family. When I saw them like that, I believed that if I were to become an older sister like Luna-san or the others, then Hisame-chan would gladly become a part of our family as well. However…”
Trembling her clenched fists, Kaorun sighed sadly.
“I made no progress and cannot seem to become like Luna-san and the others.”
“…I already told you before, but you don’t have to force yourself to change.”
“Why do you say that? I want to do so many things for Hijiri-chan and even want to be nicer to Shuu-kun, instead of teasing him all the time. Likewise for Papa Sougo and Mami Misaki, who made this photo album for me…”
Kaorun objected weakly to my interjection. While looking at her, I once more interjected with warm words.
“Seems you don’t like yourself.”
“…Staying at your house only made me realize what I lack.”
“What you lack, huh. You’re worrying about the same stuff as me not long ago.”
“But you… always seem so self-confident?”
“Just like you, I’m just playing that part. Actually I have no confidence in myself and fear that everyone’ll leave me once they know of my weak self…”
While speaking, I recalled the past as well.
“It was even worse in my childhood. I couldn’t forgive my weak self and hated myself, thinking that I should just disappear. But you know,”
Continuing my words, I now remembered the dream I had the other day.
“A certain person told me that it’s okay to be weak. That some things can only be understood through weakness. She also told me:”
When I suddenly looked up to the moon in the night sky, I vividly recalled Luna’s words from seven years ago.
“Precisely because you are weak, you can understand other people’s pain very well and cannot leave someone alone, who is hurt and crying. I mean, you are this desperate for your little sister and do not even fear me…”
…I slowly put into words what Luna had given me back then.
“You might hate yourself, but a weak, yet kind person like you— I love very much.”
I never wanted to forget about that time again. Speaking about a precious memory, I slowly turned my gaze back.
“…It’s hard to notice your strong points. It’s also hard to overcome your self-loathing. But you know, if someone finds my strong point and tells me that she loves me like that, then I think I’ll be able to accept my hated self for a bit.”
While looking at Kaorun, I softly told her.
“Hijiri found a lot of your strong points too, right? She told you she loves you, right? Actually I ran into Hijiri in the house earlier, but she was feeling lonely, you know? She said she end up staying up late every night without you.”
“Hijiri-chan said that?”
“Just like in the past, she must want to stay with her older sister. So just stay as you are as Hijiri’s beloved sister. You don’t have to force yourself to be like Luna or the others. After looking at your album, I’m even more convinced about that.”
“…I also noticed something important by looking at the album.”
With a slightly cracked voice, Kaorun trembled her shoulders a bit.
“I thought I had only relied on her, but Hijiri-chan had relied on me as well. It seems I have always been… her older sister.”
“Yeah, it does. There’s no need to force yourself to change. I’m sure you can become an older sister for the new maid too, with just the way you are.”
“I wonder.”
“If you’re not confident, I’ll list your good points in place of Hijiri.”
Without the usual jokes, I properly conveyed my sentiment.
“You often play weird pranks, but you’re shy and cute. You’re a beauty with good style, you’re considerate and kind, your cooking is flawless and joking around with you is really fun. I… don’t hate you.”
“…If you do not hate me, then what is it?”
“You should know, even without me spelling it out.”
“Please spell it out for me… I am never sure with you, Shinobu-sama.”
With her beautiful voice still cracked, Kaorun faced her somewhat blurred eyes at me. I would like to avoid saying stuff like this, but I told her my feelings while scratching my head.
“I have been envious of Hijiri numerous times. I too want to live together with a maid like you, so I was really happy when you came over. Therefore, I really… don’t hate you.”
“…I also… really… really… love you…”
Terribly trembling her voice, Kaorun spilled tears from her blurred eyes. I softly reached out my hand for her and while gently petting her head… I remembered that time again.
Seven years ago, Luna told me that she loved me. She accepted my weakness with a smile and I got the feeling that I forgave my hateful self a little bit. Unable to bear it any longer, I started crying like Kaorun…
I was really happy back then, so I wanted to do the same as Luna, so I pulled the crying Kaorun into an embrace and kept petting her until until she stopped crying…

On the way back from the park. The moonlight softly illuminated the street. While walking down the road, Kaorun tightly squeezed my hand spoiled on a rare occasion and we proceeded silently for a while, but suddenly she stopped and said isolated just like that.
“…Shinobu-sama, I am thinking of returning home tomorrow.”
“Well, you resolved your worries by noticing something important after all.”
Still, she was leaving already, huh. A bit of a shame. I swallowed down these words, whereupon Kaorun squeezed my hand a bit stronger and started talking with lightly flushed cheeks.
“I will only tell this to you, Shinobu-sama. Actually, the comfortable feeling in the Nanjou Household gradually made me want to go back to my own home, you know?”
“You certainly looked down, but I guess even you get homesick.”
“As embarrassing as it is. I became more and more lonely, so I fantasized about taking you back home with me or more preferably, everything would work out if the Nanjou & Gogyou Family were to live together. But that is not impossible in the future, is it?”
When I nodded rather serious, Kaorun giggled.
“While I imagined fun things like that, I was suddenly thinking only about my family. Like if Hijiri-chan was troubled with her winter vacation homework, since she is not good with English. Or if Shuu-kun was lazing around since it is winter vacation. Or if Papa Sougo was overdoing it with work again. Or if Mama Misaki caused troubles by sexual harassing anyone—.”
Her words were full of affection.
“Due to that, I noticed once again. That I apparently hopelessly love my own family, as you love yours, Shinobu-sama. Only thinking about my family and wanting to do something for them… I realized that this feeling is more precious than anything.”
She let a bright and open smile blossom in her expression.
“With that feeling, I should be a good enough older sister, even if I do not become like Luna-san or the others, like you have told me earlier. So I will have more confidence in myself as an older sister and welcome Hisame-chan— a new family member.”
“…You got a nice conclusion.”
“All thanks to you, Shinobu-sama. No matter how much troubles I caused or jokes I told, you accompanied me again tonight without complaining. And you even told me that you really do not hate me, so…”
Stopping her words, she clung to me arm and declared by whispering into my ear.
“I want to thank you before going home, so please wait for me in your room tonight.”
“…Sorry if I’m already asleep.”
Even while I replied with a joke like that, I thought that I would properly wait for her…

She had mentioned to thank me, but what was she going to do?
After the long walk in the middle of the night, we got back to in front of the house, where the lights in Luna’s room were on despite the late time, but… that aside.
For now we got into the house, whereupon Kaorun reminded me with “I will come over soon, so please do not fall asleep.” and returned to the guest room. After watching her leave, I returned to my room too and made myself comfortable on my bed, but… somehow I was a bit excited.
This was Kaorun, so she surely would crack a joke about having come for a night visit as a thanks. But the good part would come afterwards. Personally, I didn’t need any thanks, but it was a fact that I was looking forward to it a bit.
I would be happy if she gave me a book coupon or so. Even happier if she lent me her favourite book. I didn’t want the S&M DVD from Shuu-kun by all means. When such thoughts crossed my mind, it seemed she already came to thank me. The door was knocked quietly and Kaorun entered the room.
However, her slender body was only clad in a single bath towel and even though I had anticipated a prank, I could clearly tell her perfect body line, which was just like a piece of art, so I inadvertently was about to be captivated by it, whereupon Kaorun averted her eyes from me and mumbled by flushing her cheeks.
“…I took a shower.”
“Okay, better put on some clothes quick or you’ll catch a cold.”
“Y- You just have to warm me up.”
Before she finished saying that, Kaorun stepped forward while fleetingly showing her white thighs from under the hem of the towel. Just what was she thinking? She sat down on my lap. The sensation of her bouncy bottom was irresistible. But I clad myself in composure and called out to Kaorun.
“Uhm, it’s already late, so please stop jokes like this.”
“…Stupid Shinobu-sama.”
I had meant no harm, but she replied sulky and put both her hands on her own knees, lowering her upper body by bending forward for some reason. Then she started to widely bobbed up and down her well-formed hips clad in a towel on my lap and I hastily called her to a stop.
“I, I said, stop these jokes. Give me a book or coupon as thanks already.”
…For some reason my words had the opposite effect.
Not listening to my words at all, she seductively bended her waist back and forth and shook her bottom. The bath towel started to roll up and exposed her round buttocks, gradually showing more of her beautiful snow-white hips.
Every time Kaorun moved her hips, that white bottom wobbled like a superb pudding. Moreover, she rubbed her sweet hips against my thighs circling.
An incredible elasticity. At times, Kaorun leaked charming moan. It was only a matter of time until my reasoning would break down. Robbed of my composure, I leaked an agitated voice.
“Wh- What? Why’re you keeping quiet? Are you angry? I don’t get it, but please stop it, seriously.”
When I eagerly called her to a stop this time, Kaorun finally stopped her movements, but as soon as she sat down next to me, she entwined her arms around the back of my hand and slowly laid down face-up on the bed like that.
…What was up with this posture? It totally looked like I had pushed her down onto the bed. Just what did she want to do? When I faced her a bit doubtful, she surprisingly flushed her cheeks bright red and dampened her eyes a bit… It was extremely sexy.
The agitation in my chest grew stronger, but I mustered all of my reasoning and called out to her.
“Hey, I’m still a guy, you know? You might be joking around, but stop it now. What if I do anything to do?”
“…I came here because I want you to.”
She mumbled with a fragile voice on the bed.
“Is it not natural to want your beloved person to do it to you? The gratitude was just a pretext. Actually I was really happy about your earlier words in the park and could not forget the warmth from your embrace or hand on my head, so I came here by mustering all of my courage, you know?”
Her damp almond eyes. She looked up straight at me with them.
“I admit that I normally mess around. But it is different for tonight at least. If you brush it off as a joke now… I will certainly be a bit sad.”
“…Are you serious?”
To be honest, I was greatly bewildered. I felt my pulse accelerating, whereupon Kaorun quietly loosened the bath towel, exposing her smooth white skin on the bed.
Her round well-formed breasts. Her fascinating slender waist. Her shiny and juicy thighs. While baring her everything, Kaorun softly took my hand. With a little trembling, she guided my palm to her breasts and said with an embarrassed expression.
“Can you feel it, Shinobu-sama? It is beating so fast, right? I love Shuu-kun and Papa Sougo, but my heart is only racing like this for you, you know?” with that she flushed her smooth cheeks even more and dearly called out to me with “Shinobu-sama”, then she continued whispering.
“Just for tonight is fine. Please… do me a lot…”
—Maybe the smell of shampoo? A sweet fragrance tickled my nasal cavities and I got the feeling that my reasoning was about to be blown away. When I inadvertently ended up moving my hand to confirm the sensation of her white breast, Kaorun leaked a “Mm” moan and twisted her body bewitching.
“I am happy, Shinobu-sama. I see that you are up for it. Please do more.”
“Ah, no, well, what can I say…”
“Could it be, it is your first time and you do not know what to do? Then you do not have to panic. Let this older girl lead you, okay?
Not good. My reasoning had perfectly stopped working. I knew I shouldn’t, yet I couldn’t remove my hand from her breast.
Moreover, it seemed like Kaorun was serious about offering her body to me. And I didn’t hate her either. So it should be fine— wait no, this was bad in various ways after all. Besides, I would be doomed if Luna were to see us here. Someone stop me please.
As such, I mentally panicked, whereupon there was a quiet knock on the door and the door opened without waiting for my reply.
“Shinobu-san, I have read the novel I borrowed and it was really good, so I would like the continua—”
The person I absolutely didn’t want to have here now. Luna held the novel she borrowed from me before dinner against her chest.
She had skipped her usual “I am coming in” and raised an excited voice first, but as soon as she noticed our situation, she turned pale and dropped the book onto the floor, trembling her voice while tears dwelled up in her eyes.
“Uh- Uhm, I could hear your voices in the hallway, so I thought you were still awake, but to think… you were in such a relationship with Kaoru-san instead of Hijiri-san…”
“W- Wait, Luna. That’s not it, ehm… It’s just some friendly physical contact.”
“Fueeh~! Shinobu-san told a complete lie! Saying that while you are groping Kaoru-san’s breast is not convincing at all!”
Now she started to cry, only to turn on her heels then and rushed out of the room with “Fueah~ Elni-chan~”, as she was going to cry on the shoulder of our family’s reliable second daughter.
On the other hand, I had dumbfounded frozen up with my gaze towards the door, whereas Kaorun sat up in the corner of my vision, pressed the towel against her body and rested her hand on my shoulder.
“Shinobu-sama, you do not have to worry. I will go now to properly explain it to Luna-san.”
“…What are you going to tell her?”
“That I live as your and Hijiri-chan’s maid. I will let either Hijiri-chan or Luna-san have the position of your legal wife. But in exchange, I will take your first time.”
“Actually, it’s not my first time.”
“Please do not be ridiculous, Virgin-sama— I mean, Shinobu-sama. I will be right back, so please wait a moment, because I will make sure to take your first time.”
Her earlier embarrassed expression had vanished. Kaorun showed her usual prankish smile and left the room in high spirits to go after Luna.
However, what would they talk about now?
Kaorun came back to the room around dawn. She jolted the sleeping me awake and started to complain half-crying with “Please listen to this, Shinobu-sama! Elni-san will not forgive me! She is only taking Luna-san’s side”, whereas I couldn’t tell if she was serious or just joking. Kaorun would leave tomorrow— No, today, so I decided to hear out her grumbling for now even while I wasn’t fully awake yet…

* * *

…When would she return home? The evening sun shone into our living room. Packed for her return to the Gogyou Mansion, Kaorun’s travel bag, which she had brought with her, was left in the room. However, the Kaorun in question had bid everyone farewell before lunch, yet she didn’t return at all even while saying stuff like “Just now I sent Hijiri-chan a mail saying that I will return.” “I want to play with Nazuna-chan again, so I will be back.” “I had fun talking with Machina, so I will take on your time again.” “I just love Shinobu-sama so much that I do not want to return home— Just partly kidding. I will properly go home.”. Even now, she was sitting on the sofa in the living room together with me and smiled happily while leaning her cheek on my shoulder.

Not only was she beautiful, but cute as well. So much that I hesitated to send her home. But Kaorun sent a mail before lunch saying that she will return, so it was about time she went home or Hijiri would worry.
When such thoughts crossed my mind, the interphone suddenly resounded in the living room, as we got a guest, and Kaorun giggled as soon as she heard it.
“Hijiri-chan might have come to pick me up, since she could no longer wait for my return.”
“…Hijiri has an unexpected sister complex after all.”
Kaorun herself had been joking, but I couldn’t deny the possibility of it.
When I went into the hallway to get to the guest, Kaorun tagged along too, full of anticipation with “If it is Hijiri-chan, I will embrace and kiss her. If it is Shuu-kun, I will pet his head”. With her in tow, I opened the door with a wry smile.
Like Kaorun had hoped, there stood Hijiri. But next to her stood an unexpected additional person.

* * *

…I never expected Sougo-san to come to pick her up as well.
The head of the Gogyou Family, Sougo-san. Apparently he had talked with the new maid— with Hisame-chan over the phone while Kaorun was away and had went out yesterday to fulfil the small wish from her that he had heard on that occasion.
By the way, seemingly Sougo-san had noticed right from the beginning that Kaorun and Shuu-kun were only pretending to have a fight, but that aside.
The Gogyou Family’s new maid, Hisame-chan. Her wish apparently was to meet Kaorun once more. While talking about Hisame-chan, Sougo-san looked gently at Kaorun.
“Hisame seems rather attached to you. She was only talking about you on the phone. I’m sure she wants to see you, so I arranged it that she’ll be living with us from today on, though it’s earlier than planned. I returned with her before lunch. She’s waiting for your return too. Needless to say, we others are as well. Kaoru, come home already.”
He said that, whereas Kaorun replied.
“This is a good occasion to introduce Shinobu-sama to Hisame-chan.”
Before she even finished the sentence, she took my arm and half-forcefully bundled me into the Gogyou car that was park in front of our house. Both Hijiri and Sougo-san tolerated it with a wry smile. Thus I was now sitting in the back of the car while Sougo-san drove.
Most likely Sougo-san was being considerate to Kaorun and took over the driving on a rare occasion. Also, Kaorun seemed to have no seconds thoughts about meeting Hisame-chan and was talking relaxed with Hijiri and me. While we three continued our chit-chat, the huge Gogyou Mansion came into vision.
From the window of the car, I could confirm a girl with maid clothes standing in front of the gate.
Long silver hair straight down to her waist. Still a bit childish features. And an expression void of any warmth, like all emotions had been omitted.
“Shinobu-sama, that is Hisame-chan.”
Hearing Kaorun’s word, I looked at the girl— at Hisame-chan again, whereupon Hisame-chan, who stood there for who knows how long, frequently looked around a bit restless. Standing still in the dusk there, she appeared just like a lost child.
However, when Kaorun quickly got off the car and went over to her, there was still no change in her expression, but Hisame-chan relaxed the area around her eyes for a bit, giving the impression that she was somewhat relieved.
Neither Hijiri or Sougo-san tried to get off the car. Just like me, they watched peacefully over Kaorun and Hisame-chan. During that, Kaorun put on a smile and called out to Hisame-chan with a soft tone, restraining herself from a joke.
“We meet again, Hisame-chan.”
“…Yes. I will be in your care from today on. Please treat me well, Kaoru-sama.”
“You do not have to add -sama for me.”
Warm and gently, Kaorun brightened her smile and continued.
“Because from today on I will be your older sister.”
“…Older sister… you say?”
“Indeed. And not just me, Hijiri-chan will be your older sister too and Shuu-kun will be your older brother. Likewise, Papa Sougo will be your father and Mama Misaki your mother.”
“I am not sure… what you mean.”
When Hisame-chan rocked her eyes perplexed, Kaorun slowly reached out her hand.
“It might not happened right away. It did not for me either. But let us slowly become a family from now on.”
Along with her soft words, Kaorun petted her head, whereupon there was a definite change in Hisame-chan’s so far unchanged expression. She wasn’t smiling. Her eyes just gradually started to dampen.
“…I am a devil… abandoned by everyone… thought never again… Besides, a family for a tool is…”
Trembling her voice greatly, Hisame-chan might have tried to force herself to refuse, but her words discontinued and Kaorun pulled her into an embrace, declaring warmly.
“You do not need to say anything now. When you feel like telling us your feelings, please do so. Just remember this, I will say it as often as it takes for you to accept it. You are no longer a tool. One day, Hijiri-chan, Shinobu-sama and myself will change the exorcist organisation. You are not a tool. You are our family.”
—Not a tool. These words and the warmth from the embrace might be the blissful something that Kaorun received from Hijiri in the past.
Hisame-chan still wasn’t smiling. Neither did she cry. Just trembling her lips, she kept her inexpressiveness.
Even so, I somewhat thought by watching them… It sure might be difficult to become a family right away, but once Hisame-chan’s heart was filled with shared memories and recollections of conversations… they would be able to become a family.
That premonition gradually changed into something definite. Hisame-chan didn’t say anything. Nevertheless, she hesitantly started to reach out her hands to return Kaorun’s embrace.
“—It is okay. It is alright now.”
Suddenly I felt nostalgic. Just like I had embraced her and petted her head in the park yesterday, Kaorun was embracing Hisame-chan and gently petting her head. Her heart-warming appearance was similar to the person, who gave my younger self something really precious seven years ago—




Chapter 02: A heartfelt Duplicate Key

…Ah, such a nice dream. I thought so with still drowsy eyes.
An unusual sweet fragrance hung over the bed. I was sleeping with my cheek on the pillow, which gave off a pleasant fragrance, whereupon my shoulders were lightly shaken. When I opened my eyelids,
“Ehm, good morning, Master <3” My vision fell onto a girl with cool and finely chiselled features. For some reason, Gogyou Hijiri was wearing maid clothes and her prideful black hair sparkled from the morning sun. She smiled shyly. “Breakfast is served. Please get up soon, Master.” “…Good night, Maid.” “Ehh!? Such a weak reaction!? That’s not what Kaoru-san promised me!” Apparently even the Hijiri in my dream was being tricked by Kaorun. She made a slightly surprised voice and mumbled about something like “Guess I have to do that to please him after all…”. I had my eyes closed and this time she called out to me with a bashful voice from above my head. “Shinobu-kun--- No, I mean, Master, if you do not get up soon, I will do something amazing.” “This situation itself is already amazing. I have nothing to fear anymore. Thanks for the sweet dream.” But soon I would have to wake up from this dream. Or so I thought, but today’s dream seemed rather long. Hijiri’s voice still reached my ears. “…I’ll really do it, you know? Just to tell you, I’m really embarrassed too.” “Throw away your shame, Babe.” I replied a bit cool now. I could do so precisely because it was a dream. I felt somewhat satisfied, whereupon I suddenly received a squishy soft sensation on both my cheeks. Moreover, these two round things started to move bouncing on my face. Warm and abundant swellings. A balmy fragrance like flowers tickling my nasal cavities. And Hijiri’s voice coming from above again was extremely bewitching with moans mixed in with it. “Mm… Master, if you do not get up… Hah… I’ll get more vehement.” “---Come on.”
“I, I don’t know why you’re using English, but okay. This is just like Kaoru-san predicted. This makes you happy, right Shinobu-kun— I mean, Master? Then I’ll be more vehement now.”
Along with a somewhat animated voice, the bewitching vibrations became stronger and a sweet sensation dashed over my whole face.
“Uah… Somehow, I’m starting to feel good… too… Hah… What about you, Master? Does it… Ahh… feel good for you?”
An inexpressible feeling for sure. This dream was way too sweet. I could feel an incredible elasticity from the voluminous round swellings and I inadvertently wanted to enjoy the warm sensation of these swellings some more. When I modestly nuzzled my face against them,
“Hahn… Mastah… I’m servicing you… so don’t move… Yahn…”
Even though I had only moved my face a tiny bit, the soft swelling trembled writhing on both my cheeks, then slowly got away from me.
Aw, over already? When I opened my eyelids regretfully, there were absorbing huge breasts in front of the tip of my nose. Oh. Hijiri had shaken her breasts on my face while I was sleeping on the bed, huh. No wonder it felt so pleasant.
However, I timidly looked up to Hijiri while opening my eyes wide.
“…Hijiri? Watcha doing?”
“G- Giving you a Puff Puff, Master.”
“—Once more please.”
This must be a dream for sure. There was no way Hijiri would say “Puff Puff” with a red face like that. Since this was a dream, I excitedly put up my index finger with the request, but unfortunately a continuation didn’t come. Hijiri knitted her eyebrows troubled, fixed her posture and looked at me.
“Uhm, are you still not quite awake? Usually you get all bashful too, Shinobu-kun…”
“Aw, no more calling me Master? Quite the unsympathetic dream.”
“I- It pains me to see you so disappointed, but you must be hungry. Breakfast is all done, so get up now, okay?”
Gently pulling away my blanket, I straightened up my upper body with Hijiri’s help and looked around again while sitting on the edge of the bed with a yawn. I spotted cute accessories and decorative plants, obviously this wasn’t my own room. This should be Kaorun’s room, if I wasn’t mistaken.
However, how did I end up here? When I stared in puzzlement on this cloudy situation, Hijiri rested her hand on my shoulder with a giggle.
“Shinobu-kun, please recall yesterday— wait, don’t go back to sleep. What about breakfast? Both Kaoru-san and Hisame-chan are waiting, you know?”
Giving me a fair warning, Hijiri moderately shook my shoulders, but I was strangely sleepy and closed my eyes again while I absent-mindedly recalled the last day like she told me to…

* * *

…Could I get friendlier with Hisame-chan from now on?
The orange sunlight shone into the Gogyou Dojo. Conducting my exorcist training there by myself, I recalled the earlier happening and made a small sigh.
A gentle evening. At the return to the Gogyou Mansion, Kaorun exchanged warm words with Hisame-chan. I had watched over them and then Kaorun took my arm to introduce me to Hisame-chan.
But apparently Hisame-chan had previously heard about me from Kaorun.
“I saw you in a picture that Kaoru-sama carries around with her. You are Nanjou-sama, correct? I heard that you are a manly gentleman that not only has Hijiri-sama as his lover, but Kaoru-sama as well. Kaoru-sama was happily telling me: ‘Shinobu-sama is my one and only.’ In other words— You are my enemy!”
As soon as she recognized me, she suddenly gave me a declaration of war. I thought about breaking the ice first.
“Oh, jealous? You don’t have to worry about that. I won’t take your beloved Kaorun away.”
I gave my idea of a mature reaction, but she was either embarrassed about me hitting a sore spot or simply scared… as she totally snarled at me.
Amidst that, Kaorun gave her a weird advice of “Hisame-chan, if you are going to bite him, you better make it play-biting” and during the self-introduction after that, Hisame-chan kept giving me a passionate scowl with an inexpressiveness face… I was really worried if I could hit it off with her from now on.
But I renewed my spirits and thought about doing some training since I was already here before going home, so I visited the Gogyou Dojo and thus was conducting my training like this now.
…But thinking back on it now, I could have gone back to my normal life with Luna if I had simply went home back then. While I diligently trained, Sougo-san suddenly showed up in the Dojo. With an expression of mixed feelings, he said isolated while looking at me.
“You’re… Itsuki-san’s son alright.”
Itsuki was the name of my father. But I never expected to hear it from Sougo-san, so I blinked my eyes a bit, whereupon he called out to me surprised.
“…Hijiri told you nothing?”
Being asked that made me remember. Previously Hijiri told me that Sougo-san had been surprised about me not taking over my grandfather’s dojo and starting exorcist training. He must be familiar with our family. While recalling the contents of my conversation with Hijiri quite a while ago, I casually replied to Sougo-san.
“Reminds me, that stupid and random father of mine is your friend, isn’t he?”
“Unfortunately he is. Nowadays we’re just quarrelling, but in the past we often let our fists speak. That said, Itsuki-san wasn’t just talented in martial arts, he also has a gift for exorcism. As a result, I never won against him even once.”
“Let’s go beat up that idiot together next time— Is what I would like to say, but seeing as he has a talent for exorcism, he must know about the exorcists.”
“Because the Nanjou family is originally a branch family with exorcist roots. Your grandfather is informed too, not just Itsuki-san. They even worked as exorcists once.”
I never heard anything from my father or grandfather. Why didn’t they tell me? While I became doubtful, Sougo-san knitted his eyebrows a bit and opened his mouth.
“I’m sure he didn’t tell you out of parental love. The exorcist work is dangerous after all. Without doubt he didn’t want you to get dragged into it. Anyway, Itsuki-san always did what he wanted like not taking over the family dojo, seducing female devils during work or trying to make them his lovers…”
Interjecting a sigh in the middle of his sentence, Sougo-san knitted his eyebrows even deeper.
“The next thing I hear from him at the wedding with his wife is ‘I’m quitting the exorcist job! I don’t wanna work anymore! I never wanna work again! I’ll be Tomoe’s pimp!’. To the bitter end, he only cracked jokes without being serious once, so I can’t deal with him. He’s a fool beyond help.”
“I guess we really should beat up that idiot together next time?”
Sougo-san showed a pale expression, but his words were somewhat filled with warmth. So he replied to my joke with “I’ll think about it” and a serious expression, then continued with “By the way” just like that.
“That fool called me the other day.”
“Called you? Even though he rarely calls or texts anyone expect my mother or sister?” with that I asked back surprised, whereupon Sougo-san showed a wry smile and nodded short.
“I’m sure he was worried about you. I don’t know where he heard it from, but he apparently knew about you getting exorcist training here. But it seems like he doesn’t want you to become an exorcist after all. He yelled at me angrily as soon as I picked up the phone.”
“…I’m getting a bad feeling, but what did he say?”
“I think he spouted something like ‘Bastard! How do you dare to snatch away my beloved Shinobu-kun! Give him back at once or I’ll set your house on fire, damnit!’.”
“I think that was his idea of a joke?”
“Of course I know that, but I go way back with him, so I reflexive answered with ‘Go die, Scum!’ and then ended up telling him everything about you.”
It might be that Sougo-san quite liked my father. As he remembered his exchange with my father over the phone, he looked up to the ceiling of the dojo and showed a faint smile on a rare occasion.
“Still, Itsuki-san is treasuring you a lot. After hearing me out, he joshed with ‘Then my Shinobu-kun is living with a devil right now!? That’s not good! I have to return at once! Though I actually only want to see Tomoe. Tehe~’ and hung up.”
“Next time he calls, please ask him ‘When will you die at last?’… Oh, right, didn’t you say I’m my father’s son alright when you came in? What did you mean by that?”
I felt my own expression getting somewhat stiff, whereupon Sougo-san averted his eyes from me a bit awkwardly and opened his mouth hesitantly.
“Well, I thought at first that you don’t resemble him. Because you’re sincere, unlike him. But well, you got a gift for exorcism too and like to joke around as well… And you’re a natural gigolo like Itsuki-san.”
“Uhm, excuse me if I sound rude, but may I smack you on the head?”
“…Itsuki-san was often cracking a joke like that too. And he often attracted the affection of women. Just like you.”
Personally, I wanted to think differently. But Sougo-san said with mixed feelings again.
“Earlier in the living room, Kaoru happily told me how nicely you treated her when she stayed at your house. Hisame was present too and got a bit sullen, you know?”
“…Sounds like she’ll snarl at me again.”
“I’m afraid I can’t deny that. Actually, I’m off to work again now. I’ll be gone for two or three days with my wife, but when I told Kaoru about it, she asked a favour of me.”
“It’s rare for Kaorun to ask a favour.”
Most likely Kaorun was fawning on Sougo-san too. While giving an agreeable response, I felt my cheeks forming a faint smile, whereupon Sougo-san lightly shrugged his shoulders for some reason and continued with a sigh.
“To requote her: ’I am worried about leaving no man in the house. I would like to have Shinobu-sama stay over while you are away. There is a possibility that he will turn me down, so please ask him for me, Papa Sougo. Come on, please hurry up already. It is a favour for your cute daughter’.”
“Haha, you sure have it tough too. Then I’ll excuse myself now. A blonde lady and a happy family are waiting for me at home…”
Swiftly turning on my heels, I tried to go home in an escape, but Sougo-san grabbed my shoulder from behind with “Wait, Nanjou-kun”.
“I’m sure Kaoru wants to thank you somehow for taking care of her. Besides, Hijiri had sparkles in her eyes too. I don’t want to disappoint my daughters and I believe it’s fine to entrust them to you. So I ask you to grant Kaoru’s wish, please. I beg you, Nanjou-kun, no— Shinobu-kun.”
“I, I don’t know why you’re suddenly calling me by my first name, but I see that you’re an unexpected doting parent. Well, I don’t mind if it’s only for a few days.”
There was no way I could turn him down when he was lowering his head. Still, she was worried about having no man in the house… Just what was Shuu-kun then? To be honest, I felt rather doubtful, but I resisted to retort and decided to take on Sougo-san’s request…

* * *

Still sitting on the bed with my eyes closed, yesterday’s memories went by in my only half-awake head while Hijiri in maid clothes gently shook my shoulders.
After the Dojo, I had went to the living room and told the members of the Gogyou Family that I would be staying over for a few days, whereupon Hijiri had shown a bright smile, Hisame-chan had made a slightly displeased expression, Shuu-kun had shown a bitter expression with “I’m a man, you know? So you have a man in the house, right?” and Kaorun had left for somewhere as soon as she had heard my words.
But it seems that she went to my house. When she came back, she had a bag with my change of clothes and apparently even told Luna and the others about my circumstances versed.
Afterwards, next to dinner and a bath, I played a game in Kaorun’s game until late at night upon her invitation, so I had fallen asleep without even noticing it. Maybe I had even slept together with Kaorun?
I didn’t clearly remember that part. I felt a bit regretful. When such thoughts crossed my mind, Hijiri moderately shook my shoulders and called out to me hesitant.
“Shinobu-kun, if you don’t get up already, then, well… I’ll change your clothes of my own accord.”
“Take my socks off lastly.”
“Ehm, I would say the socks come first of all… Ah, you were sleeping with your socks on! Please wait a moment. I’ll properly do it for you.”
…What was she going to do?
A bit curious, I opened my drowsy eyes, whereupon my vision fell on Hijiri still in her maid clothes. She formally sat down on the spot with grace. Next she took my foot, as she was going to take off my socks, and lead it onto her thighs.
…In no time, my foot ended up on Hijiri’s thigh. Feeling the elastic sensation of her thigh on the back of my foot, my sleepiness was blown away at once.
“Hijiri, I’m feeling bad about this. You don’t have to go this far. Or rather, this manner is…”
“Kaoru-san taught me. I don’t really get it, but boys prefer it this way, right? Don’t worry about me and fully rest your foot on my thigh.”
Then I would truly step onto her thigh. I wasn’t so shameless that I could do such a feast. But still, first the maid clothes, then the breast squeezing. Most likely Kaorun talked her into something weird again.
But Hijiri herself made a face like she was happy about taking care of me, and gently slipped off the sock from my foot on her soft thigh in a somewhat pleased mood. It made me afraid to stop her.
However, being serviced by a cool beauty like Hijiri made me rather restless or more like my heart was making flips… Either way, it didn’t change the fact that it was embarrassing.
Indifferent to these feelings of mine, Hijiri remained seated after taking off the socks on both my feet, and suddenly flushed her cheeks for some reason. She touched my thigh caressingly with her slender fingertips, only to then look at me with an upturned glance, whispering quietly.
“…Shinobu-kun, I’ll do this properly too.”
“Be gentle— As if. What do you even want to take my pants off for? I don’t remember raising you as such a lewd… wait, reminds me, weren’t you a sullen pervert?”
“I, I wasn’t trying to do anything weird! Please don’t get the wrong idea! I’m just changing your clothes! Even Luna-san does it for you every morning, right!?”
“Nah, not at all. Luna isn’t that extreme.”
She just often woke me up by play-biting my ear. I added so in thought, whereupon Hijiri raised an agitated voice even while blinking her eyes in surprise.
“But Kaoru-san told me ‘I saw it at Shinobu-sama’s house. Luna-san was waking up Shinobu-sama by giving him a Puff Puff breast squeeze while wearing maid clothes, and even helped him to get changed. Moreover! During the evening bath, she washed his back with her huge breasts. You cannot let her beat you, Hijiri-chan.’.”
“…After hearing this, what were you going to do in the evening bath?”
“Kaoru-san pointed it out too, but it’s not really genuine when I do the exact same as Luna-san, right? Therefore, well— I’ll wash your chest with my breasts! It’s embarrassing, but I’ll do my best!”
“S- So bold. I don‘t dislike that characteristic. But just how much do you love Koarun? I know that you want to trust your older sister, but you better doubt her a little bit.”
When I told her somewhat gentle, Hijiri turned even redder and looked down with her hands still on my pants.
“Then… Kaoru-san was lying to me after all?”
“Mh? Wait a sec. What you mean by ‘after all’? So you too were kinda aware of it? That means, you actually just wanted to do something perverted to me after all…”
“N- No, Shinobu-kun! I only thought it was something Luna-san would do!”
Apparently losing her cool, Hijiri jerkily pulled on my pants with a red face.
“I only wanted to please you… But now that you mentioned it, it seems like it was only for my pleasure so far. Wh- What should I do, Shinobu-kun? I guess I’m more perverted than I thought?”
…Only so much that you would lay hands on my pants right now. Thus I can’t deny it. Swallowing down a joke like that, I reached out my hand for Hijiri and petted her head in an apology for teasing her. Upon that, Hijiri seemed to calm down a bit, flushed her cheeks and smiled faintly.
But on a closer look, this posture was extremely risky. Hijiri, still sitting formally on the floor, leaned her cheek against my thigh with her hands on my pants while I sat on the bed. And I was petting her head like that. An outsider would misunderstand this situation for sure. I should separate myself from Hijiri as soon as possible.
Like that, I got a bit impatient in my heart, whereupon the door suddenly yanked open without even a knock and an inexpressive girl aka Hisame-chan came inside right away. As soon as she did so,
“Shinobu-sama, how long do you intend to sleep in Kaoru-sama’s bed? The breakfast Kaoru-sama made will get—”
Hisame-chan started to speak displeased at once, but when she noticed our situation, her eyes widened and her inexpressive face turned bright red, as she might still be innocent. Turning on her heels, she raised a hysteric voice while rushing out into the hallway.
“K- Ka- Kaoru-sama! Hijiri-sama is being indecent! So very indecent! Nanjou-sama is holding back a disgusted look, yet Hijiri-sama tried to forcefully remove his pants! To think the all so gentle Hijiri-sama would be actually so indecent—!”
“Ehh!? H- Hisame-chan! That’s going too far! It’s a misunderstanding! An incredible misunderstanding! Please don’t report weird things to Kaoru-san!”
Hastily raising a falsetto voice, Hijiri ran out into the hallway in chase after Hisame-chan.
In regards, I laid down on the pillow once more and went back to sleep to escape reality— Nah, if I were to do that, Hisame-chan might snarl at me again. Feeling a chill, I swiftly stood up, dressed myself quickly and went to the living room of the Gogyou Mansion…

In a way, it was like a dreamy state even after waking up.
Breakfast time in the living room of the Gogyou Mansion. Lined up on the table were steaming white rice, clear miso soup with wakame seaweed, fish with an aromatic fragrance and somewhat charred omelettes. And in my field of vision were three girls in maid clothes: Hijiri, Kaorun and Hisame-chan.
Well, in Hijiri’s case it was a cosplay instigated by Kaorun, but it wasn’t all too bad to be surrounded by maids. Inadvertently forming a faint smile, I talked big while nodding short.
“Mhm, if Luna were here too, it would be heaven.”
“…Shinobu-sama, I can understand that you are lonely without your beloved Luna-san, but please only have eyes for us now and make do with only us.“
While hitting my sore point, Kaorun lightly slapped my cheeks somewhat sulking.
“I want to take you to heaven as a thanks for taking care of me the other days. Taking advantage of Papa Sougo’s leave, I will service you plentiful, okay? Please look forward to it. For starters, let us take a bath together tonight.”
“Haha, can’t wait for it. But next to you, a scary girl is glaring at me, you know? Seems that scary girl will snarl at me again, so I’ll pass, sorry.”
“Scary girl? There is no one of this description here. Next to me is only a cute girl from whom we seemingly can expect adorable contractions in her exhibited characteristics in the future. She even helped me out with cooking this morning, you know? Even if Hisame-chan snarls at you, please forgive it with a smile.”
“You’re pretty soft on her. Just like this omelette.”
I believed that Hisame-chan helping out with the cooking meant that she made this lightly charred omelette. Even while I replied with a sigh to Kaorun, I ate that omelette and smiled with “So good”, whereupon Hisame-chan lightly flushed her cheeks and jerkily pulled on the sleeve of Kaorun’s clothes.
“…Kaoru-sama, what should I do if Nanjou-sama asks me ‘Cook for me every morning’ now?”
“Please sink your teeth into his carotid artery with a smile then.”
“—I understand. I will do so and not stop until he cries.”
What a scary conversation. Moreover, Hisame-chan’s eyes were serious. I looked at Hijiri next to me for help, but she looked somewhat sleepy and when she noticed my gaze, she seemed to get the wrong idea, as she smiled sweetly and dropped her gaze onto the fish.
“Should I take out the bones for you?”
“—After that I’ll feed it to you mouth-by-mouth. I wuv you, Shinobu-kun <3” Must have been her usual joke. Kaorun interjected with an imitation of Hijiri. On the other hand, Hisame-chan inexpressively rocked her eyes upon hearing that, as she was innocent after all, and quickly averted her eyes from us. “…I will keep my eyes shut, so please do not mind me and enjoy yourself to your heart’s content.” “Nah, not really working if you say it with a red face like that. Anyway, stop it, Kaorun. We have a little girl present here.” “I, I am not little!” I might have stepped on a landmine. Hisame-chan unusually exposed emotions and shouted at me with a glare. “Sure, it may appear small at times! But they will grow bigger from now on! They will be all bouncy! Just wait, they will definitely become as big as Kaoru-sama’s!” While shouting, Hisame-chan dropped her gaze onto her own chest and made a rather bitter expression. Looking at her humble chest, I cheered her on with “Don’t lose hope” in my heart, whereupon Kaorun fiercely glared at me for some reason. “Shinobu-sama, what is up with these eyes saying ’The developing type isn’t bad either. Let’s do it the Hikari Genji way. Nibble me all you want, my green fruit’. I will not forgive you if you lay hands on Hisame-chan. If you want to lay hands on someone, please make it me. Or rather, why are you not laying hands on me!” “Hisame-chan sure’s fond of you. Even though you’re a full throttle perverted maid just like right now.” “Kaoru-sama is not a perverted maid!” As I ended up stepping on another landmine, Hisame-chan temporarily stopped her words, then continued with a louder voice. “---Kaoru-sama is a horny bitch!” “Even worse! What’s wrong with you! Even Kaorun’s crying now!” When I inadvertently retorted at full power, even the sleepy Hijiri widened her eyes and Kaorun had indeed teary eyes, but Hisame-chan tilted her head puzzled. “I previously heard on TV that a horny bitch is an incredible woman, who is popular with men, though… Could it be, that is wrong?” For her own sake, I should properly tell her now without brushing it off. I told her the meaning of the word horny bitch with a gentle tone, but as soon as she heard it, she became totally crestfallen… and things got a bit awkward. Kaorun petted her head to console her. Being glared at by Hisame-chan again, I made an heartfelt apology, then brought up a subject to Kaorun to change the atmosphere. “A- Anyway, where’s Shuu-kun? I haven’t seen him today yet.” “He is… currently living in a park now, I guess?” “Why’s he suddenly homeless! Don’t tell me you chased him out?” “I would not do something so cold-hearted. I was joking about the park. This morning he left with lowered shoulders saying ‘I lost the DVD I borrowed from my friend. Ah, but it’s not a S&M DVD or anything! There’s no dominatrix appearing or so, so rest assured! But to make up for the DVD, I have to work as a butler at the house of my friend for a while’.” …Oh my god. I had a clue about the DVD Shuu-kun mentioned. The day before yesterday, when we infiltrated the Gogyou Mansion, Kaorun should have seized a S&M DVD from the fainted Shuu-kun. While recalling this sad memory, I faced Kaorun wearily. “You haven’t given that DVD back to him yet?” “Ah, no, there are unavoidable and painful circumstances to it. I will tell you all about it, so uhm… please do not get angry, okay?”, after empathizing on that part, Kaorun started talking with a sigh. About the reason why she couldn’t return the DVD to Shuu-kun… * * * It happened yesterday at dusk. When I heard that my beloved Shinobu-sama would stay over at our house, I went in high spirits to the Nanjou house with the car. Next I explained the circumstances to everyone in the Nanjou Household with a smile, so that I could borrow some change of clothes for Shinobu-sama. Incidentally, everyone was incredible depressed upon hearing it and while I feel terrible sorry about it, that is not important now. After giving my regards to Luna-san and the others, I secretly infiltrated Shinobu-sama’s room. Since I was already there, I should go home after I got a hit off my favourite smell. I rested my cheek on my favourite pillow from Shinobu-sama and after forgetting about the time for a while, I took out a DVD from my pocket. It was the light S&M DVD that Shuu-kun was holding onto last night. I did not remember raising my little brother into a S&M lover, but I was glad that I secretly brought it with me then. I should place this under Shinobu-sama’s bed now. I was certain that Shinobu-sama would give me the usual sweet abuse and then smile at me with “There‘s no help for you.“ without doubt when noticing my prank. As a matter I fact, I happened to love that smile to no end. While imagining Shinobu-sama’s smile, I quickly tried to hide the DVD under his bed, but it seems my delusions took too much of my attention, as I did not notice her presence. The door suddenly opened and Luna-san showed up. I thought my delicate heart would stop beating. Well, Luna-san widened her eyes as well, but suddenly a certain premonition swept over my mind and I called out to Luna-san rebuking. “Seems you are natural erotic after all. Making use of Shinobu-sama’s absence, you planned to do perverted things on his bed, correct? I cannot approve of that.” “W- Wh- Wha- What are you saying, Kaoru-san! Sure, I am lonely without Shinobu-san! But I only wanted to lay down a bit on his bed! Anyway, what are YOU doing here…” with that, Luna-san blushed flustered, but as soon as she looked down onto my hands, she turned bright red this time. “K- Kaoru-san, did you… find that beneath Shinobu-san’s bed?” “…Want to see it?” “No, I should not wilfully take a--- wait, S&M!?” It was a bad habit of mine. Her flustered appearance was just so cute that I ended up teasing her. Slowly standing up, I showed her the cover of the DVD, whereupon Luna-san coloured herself surprised here and there, but she would surely forgive me if I apologized and cleared up the misunderstanding later on. So I proudly cracked a joke at once. “Luna-san, each person has it’s own tendencies or tastes. Even if Shinobu-sama is fascinated by S&M, please treat him like you always have. That said, I could gladly offer him my assistance in his S&M plays at any time and any place.” “Even I--- will gladly participate in the S&M play!” “A- An unexpected opposition!?” That was beyond my expectation. However I could not back down. If this girl with the soothing aura at maximum, would even dominate the abnormal parts… then my character would fade into the background. Cladding myself in composure, I called out to her persuading. “Luna-san, please think about it carefully. It is S&M, you know? Dominatrix and all, you know? Is that not too much for a soothing character like yourself? Please leave that kind of field to me and pleasure Shinobu-sama in a different way.” “Th- That will not do! I also want to satisfy Shinobu-san with the best method and make him smile at me! Even I can be a dominatrix! Please watch me!” S- Seemingly Luna-san could become as bold as Hijiri-chan when it comes to Shinobu-san. Pretty much like putting up something like a glass mask, she slowly closed her eyes and whispered numerous times “…I am a Dominatrix.”. When she slowly opened her eyes again, her usual gentle emerald green eyes showed a clear sadist colour and she looked at me with them. “---Kaoru, I want to see that DVD. Hand it over.” “Y- You just called me casually? Even though you are always kind and polite? H- Huh? You are Luna-san, right? Could it be that you are angry?” “Shut up, Kaoru. Less talking, more moving your hands. Give me that DVD.” “Ah, no, what can I say, it might come a bit late, but this DVD actually belongs to Shuu-kun…” “---Kaoru, do not make me repeat myself.” “M- My deepest apologies! Please forgive me! I present you this DVD, Queen Luna!” My body would not stop trembling. As a matter of fact, I did not enjoy to be chastised unless it was done by Shinobu-sama. Forgetting to clear up the misunderstanding in my fear, I ended up offering her the DVD, whereupon Queen Luna smiled at me peacefully, as she apparently finally return to being herself. “Thank you, Kaoru-san. I will get Tomoe-san to teach me how to watch this DVD right away. I will give my best at studying it, so that I can please Shinobu-san once he comes back.” “Uhm, permit me to remark, it seems you are already rather familiar with S&M…” “---What did you say, Kaoru-san?” “Nothing. Please give your best at studying. I wish you the best of success.” Fleetingly sadistic eyes. In front of these eyes, I could not say anything. In that moment I vowed in my heart to never again play a weird prank on Queen Luna. But even though I brought this on by myself… I did something really outrageous, did I not? I had no idea how to make it up to Shinobu-sama and Shuu-kun. Shamefully getting close to tears, I thought while I laid down once more on Shinobu-sama’s pillow to forget this painful reality, that I should repay Shinobu-sama with my own body. * * * “---That is what happened and thus, Luna-san is currently studying about S&M.” As she was remembering yesterday’s happenings, Kaorun smiled awkwardly even while shivering a bit. “Shinobu-sama, Luna-san’s S&M play awaits you on your return. Good for you.” “…So this will be your last words.” Swinging my fist with a joke, I asked “Any other last words?”, whereupon Kaorun smiled uneasily with “T- Teheporo?” and I kneaded her cheeks in a non-serious mood. “Ahh! Please stop, Shinobu-sama! I was really paralysed by fear and could not say anything! I will do anything to make up for it, so please forgive me--- wait, why is Hisame-chan biting onto Shinobu-sama after this story now? That is out of sorts!” Yeah, I wished she would stop. While I was in the middle of working on Kaorun’s cheek, Hisame-chan suddenly attacked me. Hearing Kaorun’s warning, she reluctantly stopped biting me, but she glared at me with eyes that were saying “I will bite you again if you tease Kaoru-sama”. …What was up with her? Just how much did she love Kaorun? To seek help again, I looked at Hijiri next to me, but as she probably lacked sleep, Hijiri had been rather quiet for a while now, because she was dozing off on a rare occasion. As she usually had her act together, seeing her so off-guard was incredible heart-warming. While I smiled faintly, Kaorun slowly got closer to Hijiri and softly called out to her by placing her hand on her head. “Hijiri-chan, instead of forcing yourself to stay awake, why not take a little rest in your room?” “Ah, but Shinobu-kun specially came over…” “He will not leave so easily. Besides, you cannot play with him sufficiently in your state, can you? I will properly wake you up at noon, so please get a bit of rest. They say that everything comes to those who wait and sleep. Please look forward to the noon. I will guarantee you that there will be something wonderful.” Contrary to her extremely kind tone, Kaorun made a suspicious face like she was hatching a plot, but Hijiri didn’t notice that and left the living room with faltering steps, leaving behind the words “Thank you, Kaoru-san. I’ll go sleep for a bit then”. After watching Hijiri leave like that, Kaorun giggled and shifted her gaze back to me. “Hijiri-chan must have been really happy that you came over, Shinobu-sama. It seems she could not fall asleep from the excitement while she thought about various things in her room to please you.” “…I barely got any sleep last night either. Because you wouldn’t let go off me.” “We indeed played quite a lot. But you did not let go off me in the bed either. You were fast asleep, so I carried you to the bed, but you suddenly kicked up and forcefully hugged onto me… Ah, I am joking, you know? Stop it, Hisame-chan.” Hisame-chan had quickly taken a pose for another bite attack. While stopping her and petting her head, Kaorun returned her gaze to me and declared by showing a bright smile. “I will properly thank you as well for taking care of me before. Please look forward to this noon. Especially after lunch, something wonderful will be waiting for you. Though if you cannot wait that long, I would not mind giving you a kiss right here and now.” “…Hisame-chan would bite me again, so no thanks.” But speaking of a thanks from Kaorun… I could only feel anxious about it, as rude as it might be. I should be especially careful after lunch. Let along looking forward to it, I decided to wait a bit warily for the noon… …I might have let my guard down since it was still before lunch. The Dojo of the Gogyou Mansion lit up by the bright sunrays. In the middle of it, Hijiri was hung up beautiful. Moreover, in just her underwear. Both her hands tied up above her head, the rope that restricted her was attached to a hook on the ceiling and Hijiri was standing partly on her toes. Also, since she was in her underwear, I could see her deep cleavage of her voluminous fruits clad in a black brassiere and even her slender waist, beautiful thighs and black panties were in plain view. Undoubtedly because of this situation, Hijiri had flushed her smooth cheeks… Not good. This wasn’t the time to get fascinated. I quickly averted my gaze and looked at the nearby Kaorun. “…Hey, what’s this? Is that the thanks you mentioned?” “Shinobu-sama, the real thing will come after lunch. This is some light special training.” First time I heard about the light part, but Kaorun had told me about some special training before lunch. I thought for sure that it would be some exorcist training, so I went from the living room to the dojo together with Kaorun… only to find Hijiri hung up here like this. I really had let my guard down. Moreover, this was a light. What was waiting for me after lunch then? When I broke out a cold sweat, Kaorun plainly started to explain the special training, indifferent to my worries. “As you may know, Shinobu-sama, Hijiri-chan is an exorcist. Her profession is to seal or exorcise devils. As such, exorcist often incur their enmity and sometimes end up being caught by devils on a failed mission. Rather scary, would you not agree?” “…You’re the scary one. What are you doing to Hijiri?” “I also had great difficulty in doing it. When caught by a devil, the exorcist gets tortured for information--- That is what Mama Misaki speculated before.” “I’m not the least bit envious about this kind of imagination.” “However, Mama Misaki mentioned that it does actually happen. It would be devastating if Hijiri-chan were to get tortured by devils while she is still pure. I believe it would be better to train her mentality against torture while she still can.” “…Wouldn’t it be better if we train you a purer mentality?” This too probably was part of Kaorun’s repayment. And I admitted that in a way it certainly was a situation that attracted a boy’s heart. However, I had no confidence to accept this overly bold good will and retorted half wearily, but Kaorun wasn’t affected at all and threw a glance at Hijiri. “Well then, Hijiri-chan. Shinobu-sama will torture you now. Please think of it as special training. I am sure you are happy about it, but please do not forget to act opposing, okay?” “Uhm, I was already tied up when I woke up… but will this really please Shinobu-kun?” “…Arguably, you might be the one getting pleased, Hijiri-chan.”
Smiling roguish, Kaorun returned her gaze to me just like that.
“Shinobu-sama, this is for the sake of Hijiri-chan’s special training. I am sure it must be hard for you, but please steel your heart as much as possible and play the villain role. Well, it should suffice if you behave like always.”
“What do you mean by that? Stop taking me for a brute. To begin with, I’m a gentleman. You think someone as tender as powder snow like me would do that to a girl that can’t resist?”
“…Incidentally, if you insist on refusing to help out on the special training, I will hang you up from the ceiling just like Hijiri-chan and conduct the service called torture myself.”
“Actually, it has always been my dream to torture a captive beauty.”
Even while telling such an obvious lie, I still couldn’t bring myself to torture her. I should release Hijiri behind Kaorun’s back. I gallantly went over to Hijiri.
Upon that, Hijiri, in her underwear, faced her eyes filled with a rather complex expression of shame, yet a bit of anticipation for the torture, at me while her arms were still tied up above her head, saying “Shinobu-kun…”.
“—I got aroused. The school idol Hijiri was exposing herself so defenceless in front of me. All the other boys at school must be envious of me. I could do whatever I wanted now to the body of that idol. First I should remove the brassiere to release the constrained breasts.”
“Hey, Perverted Maid. Stop making up dirty monologues for me.”
When I turned around at the same time I gave that reprimand, Kaorun held a rope, wherever she got it when I wasn’t looking, in both her hands like a whip and declared with a smile.
“Shinobu-sama, you will not be able to untie Hijiri-chan so easily. Should you show any strange behaviour, I will gently tie you up right away too. I would like to confirm if you are S or M on this occasion anyway. Because it would allow me to please you in various ways in the future.”
If possible, I would like to keep it at the thought alone. Neither did I want to torture, nor get tied up.
…For now I should pretend to torture Hijiri. Since it was Kaorun, she surely would then join in with her usually perverted Maid tendencies at full power and get distracting by sexually harassing Hijiri. I would use that chance to constrain Kaorun instead, then release Hijiri. Afterwards Kaorun would get a small lecture.
Nodding firmly in my heart, I returned my gaze to Hijiri and changed my tone for the act.
“Kukuku, finally got my hands on an exorcist girl. What should I do with you?”
“…Please be gentle.”
An exorcist that didn’t resist from the very beginning was questionable. Hijiri rocked her eyes with still red cheeks. Since she was usually dignified, this expression was a bit brisk. Moreover, on a closer second look, her defenceless underwear pose with both her arms raised was incredible erotic.
The thick rope extended from Hijiri’s ankles straight up to the hook on the ceiling. Due to that, she was robbed of her freedom in her arms. If I wanted to, I could do any— wait, not good. Hang in there, my reasoning. While strongly keeping my act together, I softly placed my hand against Hijiri’s cheek and said with a soft tone.
“Hijiri, tell me right away when I’m going too far. I’ll properly stop then.”
“Okay, as long as you’re gentle… it’s fine.”
When Hijiri dampened her eyes somewhat, her cheek got hotter and I slowly moved my hand caressing to her neck even while I was a bit agitated.
“Ahn… It… tickles a bit…”
Hijiri leaked a rather sweet voice. In regards, I let my fingertips crawl down to her waist, avoiding her chest, but feeling her slender waist made me inadvertently widened my eyes.
…This was amazing. Even though it looked pretty firm, her skin was super soft, warm and extremely smooth. It might become dangerous if I kept touching it.
But I was doing it to deceive Kaorun. Mustering my reasoning, I let my fingertips go even lower, cautiously reaching out for Hijiri’s thighs, albeit hesitant.
“Ahh… Your hand… is really big… Mm…”
Like massaging her, I stroked her beautiful firm thigh, whereupon Hijiri gradually started to leak bewitching moans. I was sure that Kaorun would join in any moment now. I gave her a fleeting glance to check upon her, but… to my surprise, Kaorun remained composed.
“Shinobu-sama, that will not do as torture. Hijiri-chan would not get angry about it, so this much is nothing.” with these words, Kaorun swiftly got behind Hijiri and to show me how it’s done… she started to fondle Hijiri’s bottom.
“Yahn… K- Kaoru-san, suddenly going for my… Kyahn…”
“To explain it for you, Shinobu-sama, since you cannot see it, I am currently tightly grabbing Hijiri-chan’s juicy hips and lewdly fondling her bottom. Hijiri-chan must be sensible here. Every time I move my hands, her bottom trembles shivering.”
“Uah… Kaoru-san… Stop… Ahh…”
“This is also part of the special training, Hijiri-chan. Let us have Shinobu-sama take a look at this perverted bottom as well.”
Sweetly smiling, Kaorun grabbed Hijiri’s tied up ankles, placed her other hand on her shoulder and turned her around to me. Instantly my vision fell onto a beautiful bottom with soft buttocks. Probably due to Kaorun’s fondling, the black panties had wedged into her bottom. While my agitation grew more intense, Kaorun casually brought up.
“As the opportunity arises, why not touch her bottom without reservations too, Shinobu-sama?”
“Ah, no, I’m in the mood for boobs today.”
The words I spontaneously spilled to flinch from it, seemingly brought about the worst case scenario. Kaorun placed one hand on Hijiri’s back and tried to turn around Hijiri to the front again with the other hand.
However, her fingertips seemed to have gotten caught in the hook of the brassiere. The hook loosened while Hijiri was turned around and her voluminous breasts spilled out of the underwear jumping, bouncing around innocently like that.
Right away, Hijiri turned bright red and twisted her body upon noticing that.
“Aww, my breasts, so embarrassing…”
Since her hands were restricted by the rope, Hijiri could only shake her body to the left and right with red cheeks, even if she wanted to cover her chest. At the same time, her breasts bounced around again and the black brassiere slowly fell onto the floor of the dojo. This wasn’t good. I would feel bad for Hijiri if they weren’t covered quickly.
Her well-formed and voluminous breasts. As soon as I confirmed that their pinnacles were coloured in a light pink, I reached out my hands with attitude after a panic, and covered Hijiri’s breasts by pressing my palms on them. Problem solved. Perfect. Well done, if I may say so— As if.
“Hahn… Your hand… on my… Nhah…”
“C- Colour me surprised. It happened as an accident, but you are grabbing her breasts as soon as you see them? You are rather wild today, Shinobu-sama.”
“…Naw“ with that, I inadvertently resorted to the Kansai dialect in my agitation. However, it was understandable. After the sexy underwear and bottom, I was even shown her breasts as a finishing blow. Even my reasoning was about to be blown away.
Amidst that, Kaoru suddenly got behind me and whispered into my ear.
“Shinobu-sama, you are still holding onto her breasts, so please fondle them just like that.”
“No, no. That’s certainly going too far.”
“It still falls under training. Besides, Hijiri-chan said ‘I think I wouldn’t mind if Shinobu-kun were to get aggressive with me’ before, so she should not be all that opposed to it.”
C- Certainly, Hijiri had tightly closed her eyes in shame, but her expression showed no signs of repugnance. Was she really not opposed to it?
My reasoning crumbled more and more. On top of that, even though I had wanted to restrain her, Kaorun had gotten behind me instead. Now it would prove difficult to achieve the initial goal. But when I eventually tried to take my hands off Hijiri’s breasts,
“You sure are shy, Shinobu-sama. Let me lend you a hand. This is out of my gratitude as well.”
She might have tried to be nice, but as soon as Kaorun whispered into my ear again, she pressed her beautiful breasts against my back and next she let her palms overlap with my hands, blocking my own movements.
This might resemble the situation a bit where we played the King’s game with Luna and the other in the karaoke box during my date with Hijiri before. Back then, Kaorun had blocked my movements like this too and I had ended up fondling Hijiri’s breasts over her clothes.
If I recalled correctly, Hijiri hadn’t been angry then either, but it was different now. Hijiri was tied up and couldn’t move. She only wore her panties. Regardless of that predicament, Kaorun fondled her breasts through my palms, whereupon
“Nhaaah. Shinobu-kun, if you do that, Ahhn.”
The firm sensation of the pinks buds I felt on my palms. The peaks of her breasts were directly touching my hands. Moreover, Kaorun was gently laying a finger on them through my palms and fondling her breasts, so Hijiri’s seductive voice became louder.
“Ahhhhn, not there, Sto… Haahn.”
When Kaorun took away the hands from the breasts a bit, the light pink buds of each breast boldly perked up to say that they wanted more.
“Noo, so embarrassing, no mor… Ah, Ahh, Yaaahn!”
Unable to finish her protest, a bewitching soprano voice resounded midway. Making a hollow back, Hijiri shivered her body and made a seductive rough breathing. But Kaorun still didn’t stop.
“Stop alrea… Ahhh, Nhaaah.”
Every time Kaorun moved her hands, Hijiri shook her head in denial and shivered her body greatly again.
“Uhn… Really, no more… Please stop… Shinobu-kun…”
…Eh? Me? Not Kaorun?
Hijiri raised a bittersweet voice. Suddenly returning to my senses, I took a closer look, whereupon Hijiri had erotically flushed her cheeks, but the tears that had dwelled up in her eyes seemed to overflow any moment.
Confused from the shame in addition to the blurry vision from the tears, Hijiri maybe mistook me for the initiator of all these continuous sexual harassing actions.
I, I too was at fault for not stopping Kaorun. Recovering my reasoning, I wanted to reprimand Kaorun right away, but when I turned my head around, she continued the sexual harassment in a spellbound state like she had forgotten about the initial purpose for this. With no time for me to stop her,
“Nhaah, no, no. Again, I, Ah, Ahh, Yaaaahn.”
Bending her back even more than before, Hijiri shivered her body convulsive.
“…Shinobu-kun, so mean… Even though… I told you… to stop…”
Mumbling so fragile, she started crying of all things by spilling big tears and now Kaorun must have regained her senses too. Swiftly getting away from my back, she nervously looked around confused… then broke out a cold sweat and made a thump up.
“R- Rest assured, Shinobu-sama. I believe Hijiri-chan is the type to spill tears when overcome with emotions. It is proof that she felt good. These are loving tears.”
“…Stupid… Kaoru-san…” with that Hijiri spilled even more tears, as Kaorun had hit bulls-eye, and I, completely agitated, shouted towards Kaorun right away.
“S- So, ehm, well— Untie the rope, Kaorun!”
“—Screech!”
Maybe she was even more muddled than me. She raised a high-pitched voice like a shocker fighter and went over to Hijiri, albeit a bit stumbling. She apparently noticed something upon seeing her and shifted her gaze back towards me, saying with a shrill voice.
“Sh- Shinobu-sama, excuse me, but could I have you leave? I never expected Hijiri-chan to be this sensetiv— *cough* Forget that. Please leave this to me and kill some time outside the dojo. I will get her changed— No, it is nothing.”
Kaorun hid Hijiri’s body by spreading her arms covering. From her flustered actions and words, I could guess various things, but I felt sorry for Hijiri, so I decided to not think about it too deeply.
After that, I obeyed Kaorun’s request and immediately left the dojo behind me, standing awkwardly in the broad garden of the Gogyou Mansion without anything in particular to do. During that, Kaorun went back and forth between the dojo and the mansion to probably get a new set of clothes, but I remained standing still in the garden.
…Would Hijiri forgive me if I apologized? When I waited for a while worried, the door of the dojo opened and Hijiri in casual clothes came out, as she finished changing clothes. For starters I took a deep breath. Facing Hijiri, I called out to her reluctant.
“Hijiri, that earlier… wait, huh? Hijiri? Hijiri-san?”
St- Strange. This never happened before. Hijiri looked away sullen and passed by me wordless. She must be angry after all. Anyone would be offended after something like that. But I wanted to somehow cheer her up.
I sincerely called out to her without the slightest hint of a joke in my tone.
“Hijiri, I’m really sorry about earlier. Even though you raised such a loud voice, shook your hips so fiercely and shivered your body numerous times, I… Mh?”
W- Why? Regardless of my sincere apology, Hijiri flinched her shoulders every time she heard my words of “loud voice”, “shook your hips fiercely” and “shivered your body”. When she turned around, she had turn bright red and on top of that, she was glaring at me with teary eyes.
“…To hell with you. I hate you, Shinobu-kun.”
O- Ohh? H- Huh? Somehow, something hot dwelled up in my eyes.
Let alone a joke, I couldn’t say anything at all. While I stood there dumbfounded, Hijiri once again looked away sullen and went away. At that moment, Kaorun came out of the dojo with a gesture of wiping away sweat from her forehead, as she probably cleaned up the dojo, and widened her eyes as soon as she saw my face.
“Sh- Shinobu-sama? What is the matter? You look like you are about to cry any moment?”
“…Shinomun’s going home now.”
“Regressing into a child!? Just what happened!? Did Hijiri-chan say anything to you?”
“You see, she said ‘I hate you, Shinobu-kun’.”
“Im- Impossible!?”
After gaping her eyes wide open this time, Kaorun rested her hand on my shoulder and said reassuring.
“Rest assured, Shinobu-sama. I will go talk to Hijiri-chan now. I am sure she will cheer up in no time, so please do not cry anymore, okay? I am here for you.”
When I told her my frank impression “…That worries me” without any flourish, forget about getting angry, Kaorun lightly kissed my cheek with “Mm, *kiss*” to apparently comfort me.
“Shinobu-sama, please wait in the living room. I will bring Hijiri-chan there right away.”
Turning on her heels with these words, Kaorun swiftly rushed away. So reliable. For now I should leave things to her. I headed for the living room of the Gogyou Mansion… wiping away my dwelled up tears.

—Hijiri and I were in a relationship of supporting each other. I had a strong bond called trust with her. So she would surely forgive whatever I do.
That thought of mine might have been somewhat naïve.
Lunch time in the Gogyou Household. A heavy atmosphere lay over the broad living room, Koarun and I leaked a sigh at times, which prompted Hisame-chan to look at us. Her inexpressive face filled a tiny bit with worry and she mumbled isolated by looking up to the ceiling, probably the direction of Hijiri’s room.
“…Hijiri-sama sure is not coming down.”
“Not really surprising, Hisame-chan. After all she said ‘I hate you, Kaoru-san’…”
Unfortunately Kaorun had come back earlier without any success. Tearing up a bit, she gave Hisame-chan an agreeable response and dropped her shoulders just like that.
“My apologies, Shinobu-sama. I had planned to make you happy in the form of some special training. Besides, Hijiri-chan had mentioned before that she would not mind if her beloved person would get aggressive with her, so I thought she would like it as well…”
Temporarily stopping her words, Kaorun interjected another sigh.
“The gentle way would have been better in the beginning. I really guessed wrong… Tehepero.”
“First time I heard such a sad ’Tehepero’.”
“That happens when it does not go like planned. I knew that Hijiri-chan is sensitive, but your hand must have felt extremely pleasant. As far as I know, two times at least from just her breasts, she… *cough*”
“Two times what? She felt like killing me?”
“Please do not joke about it when you already know it.”
It was more of a self-torture than a joke. Tempted by her, I too sighed and Hisame-chan tilted her head with “Two times from just her breasts?”, but Kaorun apparently hadn’t the leisure to heed it and just shrugged her shoulders.
“Well, in other words, if she had felt good to a certain level, it would have ended with ‘Shinobu-kun you pervert’, but she was forcefully made to feel incredible good instead of the gentle approach she desired, which probably was a shock to her, so Hijiri-chan ended up in the ‘To hell with Shinobu-kun’ state.”
“…The ‘to hell’ part was a shock for me too.”
“Earlier when I explained it to her, she also told me ‘I hate you’… Uhh, I simply wanted to make her happy. Yet it ended up making you cry and Hijiri-chan shut herself into her room… I am a failure as your maid and Hijiri-chan’s older sister.”
“You aren’t the only one at fault. Stop prostrating yourself. Please never do that. Listen, it’s true that you started it. However, I didn’t try to stop you for real either. To my shame I have to admit that I got swept away and couldn’t stop. So you aren’t at fault alone.”
That said, if my reasoning had more tenacious, the situation could have been avoided. But there was no use crying over spilt milk. Staying depressed wasn’t good either. Kaorun still looked closed to tears, so I rested my hand on her head this time.
“Kaoru, instead of grieving, we should think about what to do from now on.”
“How kind of you, Shinobu-sama. Especially the part where you casually call me without any honorific is the best. And to think that I caused you troubles instead of thanking you, I want to die a bit… but you have a point. Let us come up with a way to cheer up Hijiri-chan together now. However, just how…”
Kaorun dampened her eyes from being impressed, but shook her head troubled, whereupon
“—Kaoru-sama, please leave this to me.”
Hisame-chan had listened in to our conversation. She calmly interjected.
“I have an idea in mind. I heard it yesterday from the Mistress, when I helped her to pack her things…”
As she wanted to help Kaorun, Hisame-chan started to talk with serious eyes. However, I felt a strange unrest before even hearing her out and only got a bad feeling about it, as rude as it may be.

…Just like I predicted, something bad occurred after a couple of minutes.
After being made to cross-dress by Kaorun, I was now wearing maid clothes and a cat-ear hairband on my head. I stood in front of the door to Hijiri’s room in that outfit while a sexy cat and an inexpressive kitten at both my sides were meowing at each other.
Apparently having found it in Misaki-san’s room, Kaorun was wearing a separated tiger-pattern outfit while showing off her navel, and was also equipped with a chocker, a cat-ear hairband and even with cat paws and a tail, all together in a tiger-pattern.
On the other hand, Hisame-chan wore a black one-piece outfit. Her cat paws, tail and hairband were black too. Her silver hair looked attractive over the black outfit and as she was happy to be in the guise of a cat, she looked somewhat satisfied.
However, how did it come to this?
According to Hisame-chan: “The Mistress told me that these outfits are the most suited to cheer up a depressed person. I am certain that if we happily play around in these in front of Hijiri-sama’s room, then her interest will be piqued and she will come out of her room right away.”.
And according to Kaorun: “If that is the case, then let us show Shinobu-sama in a maid outfit with cat-ears and Hisame-chan in a kitten outfit to Hijiri-chan. That should cheer her up a bit.” or something like that.
Well, odds are that it works, but… what was up with this abnormal atmosphere? Would this really work? I couldn’t cast off my worries.
Kaorun and Hisame-chan had been quite into it for a while now. Kaorun snuggled up her slender body to my arm, raising bewitching meowing like seducing me. But without biting me out of jealously from seeing that, Hisame-chan was in a good mood, as she liked cats after all. She kept talking to us cattish the whole time. Needless to say, I had no clue what she was saying.
However, I would feel bad for ignoring her, so I should play along for a bit. Somehow keeping the worry in my heart to myself, I replied with a dandy “Meow” purr by making a thumps-up while ignoring Kaorun, who started to lick my ear without a word. For a while I laid-back tried to converse with Hisame-chan in cat language.
Upon that, Hisame-chan cheerfully sparkled up her inexpressive look in the middle of the conversation for some reason and surprisingly clung to me with an animated “Meow!” purr. I seriously didn’t get it, but I got the feeling that I unexpectedly got closer to her. I suddenly felt a small satisfaction, a little bit of happiness. The faint smile on my face— vanished at once in the next moment.
“Wh- What are you doing in front of my room?”
In a way, our plan worked. However, the timing for it was just too bad. Hijiri peeked out from her room. As soon as she saw our situation, she darted her eyes about and Kaorun hastily removed her lips from my ear, whereas only Hisame-chan might have considered the plan to be a success.
Still clinging to me, she smiled somewhat faintly and faced Hijiri.
“Would you like to join us, Hijiri-sama? It is really enjoyable— this cat play.”
“C- Cat play!? That’s what you were doing in front of my room!?”
“Yes. The Mistress taught me about it. It was more exciting than excepted. Nanjou-sama, who looks really great in maid clothes, told me ‘You’re really cute’ just now.”
…For the record, I had only spoken out “Meows”. But Hisame-chan lightly flushed her cheeks for whatever kind of conversation was unfolding inside her head, and continued.
“I myself was surprised too by being told that so suddenly, so I asked ‘Do you really mean it? I wonder if I will ever be able to become like Kaoru-sama’. Then Nanjou-sama gave me a cool reply with ‘A toast to your big breasts’. He is the first person to recognize my chest as big.”
“Sh- Shinobu-kun said that… He only met you yesterday, but calls you cute, huh. I have known him for a while, yet he only ever tells me that I’m dignified…”
Hijiri let her hand that held the doorknob tremble a bit with a doubtful smile. In regards, Hisame-chan shifted her gaze onto Hijiri’s voluminous breasts and made a bombshell announcement by opening her mouth with “Speaking of,”.
“Nanjou-sama’s remark about breasts made me remember what Kaoru-sama said in the living room earlier. Apparently Nanjou-sama’s hands felt so good that something happened two times to you just from your breasts, correct? Just what was it? Does is stand in any relation to getting bigger breasts?”
The atmosphere froze in an instant with the innocent question. Even I was completely at a loss for words and Kaorun pitifully rocked her eyes. Giving her a sharp glare, Hijiri let her voice tremble now while filling her eyes with tears.
“Kaoru-san, don’t tell me you told them that I… from Shinobu-kun’s hands?”
“…..Te- Tehepero?”
The first time I saw such a pitiful “Tehepero”. She must have eagerly tried to change the atmosphere by cracking a joke with teary eyes. When I was moved to tears by Kaorun’s heroic attempt—- Hijiri wordlessly slammed the door shut and an awkward silence spread at once.
…Everything might be over. Kaorun and I slumped down on the spot together and even Hisame-chan, apparently feeling responsible, got teary eyes.

To repeat myself, it was no use crying over spilt milk. The question was what to do from now on. After Kaorun, Hisame-chan and I finished changing clothes, we gathered in front of Hijiri’s room once more and were on stand-by there to be ready whenever Hijiri would come out, holding a strategy meeting.
Well then, what should we do from now on? Kaorun and Hisame-chan had sit down in front of the door. For starters I wanted to hear their opinion, so I threw my glance at them.
“Ehm, if you got any ideas, please do tell.”
“Here! How about we draw Hijiri-sama’s attention with the cat play once more?”
As she wanted to regain her prestige, Hisame-chan raised her hand with a snap. Even while resting her hand gently on her head with “Hisame-chan”, Kaorun replied with a sigh.
“I am afraid the cats were hardly effective. Hijiri-chan is a dog lover.”
“I, I do not think I will be able to get friendlier with Hijiri-sama then! What is so good about dogs? They make scary faces and often bite me!”
“…You also make scary faces and often bite me.”
Shrugging my shoulders, I gave a weak retort, whereupon Kaorun now raised her hand reserved.
“Shinobu-sama, I would like to confirm something. Do you remember the night before yesterday?”
“I couldn‘t forget, even if I wanted to. After all I infiltrated the Gogyou Mansion together with you.”
“No, not that. I mean afterwards from our return from the park after the infiltration.”
“…I’ll probably remember it forever.”
“Uhm, if you blush like that, I will get embarrassed too, but Luna-san showed up at the crucial time after I declared my love for you on the bed, remember?”
“I want to forget that. Also, Hisame-chan’s getting ready to bite me again.”
However the fact that she didn’t actually bite me could mean that she grew a bit attached to me. I should praise her with some flattery like “Your breasts sure are big” next time. When such thoughts crossed my mind, Kaorun changed her expression into a somewhat serious one, as she intended to get to the real issue at hand.
“Shinobu-sama, I talked to her until dawn together with Elni-san afterwards, but Luna-san remained with teary eyes the whole time. She gave off the sulking impression of ‘Shinobu-san will not spend time with me, even though it is winter vacation. I wanted to talk with him about novels, but he is getting closer to Kaoru-san instead’.”
“I just hope she won’t unload her frustration into S&M plays.”
“I apologize for the case with Shuu-kun’s DVD. More importantly, what did you do for Luna-san? She was so angry before, yet when I saw her again, she smiled with ‘Shinobu-san spoke with me‘. I do not know what you told her, but I believe that Hijiri-chan will also cheer up when you do the same for her as with Luna-san.”
“…I didn’t do anything. I simply said ‘Morning’.”
I spilled a long sigh from my mouth at the same time I dropped my shoulders.
“It seems, for Luna it’s more of a ‘left out of the loop’ feeling instead of jealousy. Strangely enough she often competes with Hijiri, but when it comes to Elni, Machina or you, she fixes her mood rather quickly.”
“How old is that story? The other day, Luna-san was rather competitive with me as well, you know? Please close your eyes for a bit and recall any previous incidents.”
When I closed my eyes like told by Kaorun, only Luna’s smiling face floated in my head for some reason.
“…Damn. I feel like going home now.”
“Just how much do you love Luna-san!?”
“No, I didn’t mean it like that. Somehow when I close my eyes like this, I’m reminded about all the things I left undone at home. Cleaning together with Luna, playing video games with Machina and Nazuna, going on a walk with Luna, getting back the novel that my mother took from me, treating Elni to dinner, taking Luna to…”
…Oh damn. Between everyone else’ faces, Luna showed up incessant.
Feeling bashful, I scratched my cheek, whereupon Hisame-chan rocked her eyes a bit from hearing my story and interjected somewhat envious.
“It appears you have a wonderful family, Nanjou-sama, so you must have become homesick.”
“…You got a wonderful family too. So you should understand my feeling. Just like you feel lonely for not seeing Kaorun, I— wait, I was partly joking, so don’t bite me.”
Still, homesick, huh. If so, then it was rather embarrassing. Hisame-chan got unusually red and tried to attack me. Kaorun held her down on her shoulders. While watching these two,
“But well, it’s not really like I’m homesick, but look at this situation. It might be better for me to go home if I’m only causing trouble for Hijiri…”
Filling my words with a layer of sadness, I put on a bitter smile, whereupon… suddenly the door opened, as she might have listened in near the door, and Hijiri jumped out into the hallway. For some reason she had teary eyes, reached out her hands and grabbed my arm. Then she half-forcefully pulled me to a stand and tried to drag me into her room wordlessly.
However, not only was this unusual for Hijiri, it also came out of nowhere. Due to my great bewilderment, I stumbled as soon as I entered the room and since I was being pulled on my arm by Hijiri, I made one rotation on the spot. Absorbing the fall, I fell onto the floor face-up.
As a result, I ended up pulling Hijiri down with me… To make matters worse, Hijiri was in a posture of hanging over me.
This might be yet another bad development. I got a bit worried, but… apparently it was a needless anxiety. Hijiri must have heard our conversation after all.
“Shinobu-kun… don’t… go home…”
Tightly clinging to me, Hijiri trembled her body a little bit.
“I’m sorry for saying mean things when you took the trouble to come over. I’m no longer angry and will do anything to make up for it… So please don’t leave yet.”
“…If you say so, then I’ll intrude on you a bit longer. But I was at fault, so there’s no need for you to make up for it.”
“That’s not true. I took your and Kaoru-san’s benevolence for granted… and became a meanie…”
Kaorun must have been considerate. While the door quietly shut, Hijiri dampened her dignified eyes and cracked her voice a bit.
“Even though I knew that everything was Kaoru-san’s doing at the dojo, I never thought I would leak such a shameless voice and wondered if you would take me for a perverted girl, so in a weird anger from the embarrassment and shock, I…”
After being at a loss for words for a bit, Hijiri exerted a pleasant strength onto my squeezed arm.
“I thought that no matter how much I sulk or how cold I get, Kaoru-san and you would forgive it. That you won’t come to hate me, nor leave me. So I took your benevolence for granted somewhere in the corner of my heart. But it even made you think that you should better leave…”
“You don’t need to apologize anymore, okay?”
Softly cutting into her words, I showed a smile and continued.
“Sure, a lot happened and I’m exhausted, but… I noticed something pleasant.”
Somehow my chest filled with warmth from the inside and my voice naturally became softer.
“Actually, I’m the same as you. I’m also thinking that you would forgive anything I do and thus took your benevolence for granted too. So please let me apologize as well. Now I’ll do anything for you to forgive me.”
“…Then… I want you to forgive me. I want you to stay here a bit longer.”
“You sure are easy to please.”
Before I noticed it, I was smiling again. Her all too trivial wish. When I replied to it smiling with a nod, Hijiri flushed her cheeks happily while filling her eyes with tears, and showed me a bright smile.
A smile like a brilliant flower. Even while I was captivated by that smile, a thought crossed one part of my mind.
In the future I might end up in a fight with Hijiri due to some incident.
But even if we had a disagreement or quarrelled, in the end we would smile at each other like today. I got this kind of premonition. Besides, I came to know that Hijiri took my benevolence for granted, like I did for hers. Most likely I would continue to depend on Hijiri from now on.
—In any case, the problem was solved. After accepting Hijiri’s hug for a while, we left the room together. At that time, Hijiri softly took my hand. Lightly returning the squeeze on that small and warm hand, I headed to Kaorun and Hisame-chan together with her…

* * *

To be honest, it was quite regrettable.
Yesterday I properly reconciled with Hijiri by solving one problem, but a new problem already started to arise. Of course I wasn’t discontent with my stay at the Gogyou Mansion. If anything, I absolutely welcomed it. It wouldn’t be all too bad to live here forever.
I spent yesterday’s day happily together with the three girls after making up with Hijiri.
Well, I panicked in the evening when Kaorun smiling barged into the bath by saying “I forgot about the service after dinner.”, but the Gogyou Mansion had a dojo, a wide bath and two maids on top of that. I couldn’t ask for more.
Still, as pathetic as it was, I apparently was currently… homesick.
It was probably triggered by the DVD I got from Kaorun. Probably because I talked about Luna and the others in front of Hijiri’s room during our fight, Kaorun must have been considerate to me without doubt. She apparently had shown up at my house in the morning with a video camera in one hand.
“I secretly got everyone in the Nanjou Household on camera while I was out on a stroll. I too wanted to capture everyone‘s cheerful appearance on film, but… I am really sorry for having you stay over here. Next time we will hold a bloomers day too, so please forgive me with that.“
With a strange apology like that, she presented me a DVD recorded by herself, but I ended up getting a bit homesick from watching it.
The living room of the Gogyou Mansion was bathed in the evening sun. After confirming that the room was empty, I sat down in front of the TV and set up the DVD. I should watch it one last time before returning it to Kaorun. With that decision, I shifted my gaze to the TV screen, whereupon Kaorun’s self-recorded DVD started playing already.
Starting with the front gate of our house, the scene moved on to our garden and then the living room. During that, I could see my happy family members. Except for my mother, the girls were all… wearing bloomers for some reason.
Since my foolish mother was filming the girls with a video camera too, she must have been behind this without doubt. But why would they have a bloomers day just when I was out of the house? Was it to spite me? Or my punishment for missing the great house cleaning?
I started to miss my family. Everyone looked so happy in the DVD. Machina’s full bottom was clad in dark blue bloomers. While openly shaking it to the sides, she immersed herself in the cleaning by wiping the table with humming.
Next up, Elni, wearing gym clothes on her slender body, was wiping the windows with all her might and made a peace sign with “I’ll clean Shinobu’s part too!”, as she noticed Kaorun’s shooting midway.
As for my little sister Nazuna… she was purring meows like always. She would make a good friend for Hisame-chan. And amongst all these girls, just Luna was completely and utterly brazen.
For some reason she was wearing bloomers and a gym clothes that didn’t fit her.
They were obviously one size too small. It was clearly luscious. Her full breasts pushed up her top to show off their ample elasticity and not only seemed her voluminous breasts to burst out any moment, her small navel was in plain view as well.
But that wasn’t all. Luna’s bloomers were red. As they were too small, they were wedged into her beautiful bottom… revealing her sweet hips without any sign of underwear. Dressed like that, the Luna on the DVD seemed to talk with my mother, who kept filming.
“T- Tomoe-san! Please stop filming! It is embarrassing! Sure, I am at fault for losing at rock-paper-scissors, but the size really does not fit. It is tight around my chest for a while now and it is strangely wedging into my bottom…”
“—And since you do not want your underwear to be seen, you did not put any on!”
“Indeed. They would be visible for sure— wait, I think I heard Kaoru-san’s voice just now?”
“Just your imagination. I do not run with the wind.”
“Eh? Are you there, Kaoru-san? You heard her too, Tomoe-san?”
“Luna-chan, Kaoru-chan has been secretly filming everyone for a while now. She probably intends to show it to Shinobu.”
Nothing less from my mother. She noticed Kaorun, even though she should have erased her presence.
However, Luna flushed her red cheeks even more, probably from the worry of being filmed, and was still bothered about her wedged bloomers. She sometimes slipped her slender fingers into the bloomers that were wedging into her bottom and fixed the gulf… This peeping-shot DVD was dangerous after all.
I just couldn’t help but feel guilty and it was unlikely I could watch it to the end. That said, it was a fact that I got swept away by it midway. It would be one thing if I were in own room to concede, but watching such a DVD in the living room of the Gogyou Mansion could cause various problems to—
“Ehm, Luna-san sure is bold. I can understand why Kaoru-san was surprised…”
A problem…already emerged. Suddenly a voice came from behind me. I must have been distracted by the DVD. When I turned around with a flinch of my shoulders, there stood Hijiri in the living room. While I felt awkward and kept silent, Hijiri lightly flushed her cheeks and lowered her head a bit.
“Sorry, Shinobu-kun. Seems I interrupted you…”
From that apology just now I understood. Hijiri must be the type of woman that doesn’t get angry even if she should find a porn book in a man’s room. While stopping the DVD, I made a sigh of relief.
“I’m glad it’s you, who caught me. If it had been Kaorun… wait, speaking of, where’s Kaorun? I haven’t seen here for a while…”
“Kaoru-san said ‘Prospectively we have no other choice but to live together with Luna-san and the others. We cannot have Shinobu-sama get homesick.’ and went out to a certain place. I think she’ll be back soon.”
“I, I’m not really homesick or anything… And what’s that certain place?”
“Fufu, still a secret. I’ll tell you about it before long.”
For some reason evading the question with a smile, Hijiri sat down besides me and softly started talking.
“Shinobu-kun, since you’re here and all, is there anything you want me to do for you?”
“—A book. Gimme a book. As long as I have books, I can live on.”
“Mhm~ I guess in your case, you don’t need just books, but Luna-san as well?”
“Oh, quite rare for you to crack such a joke.”
“…I was somewhat serious. You were thinking about Luna-san yesterday as well, right?”
Even while showing a somewhat roguish smile, Hijiri got back on topic with “Anyway” right away.
“I think Kaoru-san has books in her room. But you sure love books, huh.”
“Though I’m often called an egghead Yakuza or that it doesn’t suit my image.”
“S- Sorry. I was surprised at first too. Of course it’s different now, you hear? You look fantastic while reading too. I guess you loved books from an early age?”
Receiving her casual question, I narrowed my eyes with “Let me think…” and recalled my childhood.
“I started reading around the time when Nazuna came to like cats.”
“…How is that related to reading?”
“Well, it’s embarrassing, since the reason kinda comes from a sister complex.”
While remembering the past, I continued with a wry smile.
“Back then Nazuna wanted to know a lot about cats, since she fell in love with them. She asked me a lot of things and because I wanted to answer the questions of my little sister, I read it up in books and told her. Then she sparkled up her eyes with ’You’re amazing, Brother’… That made me happy.”
Just from being called amazing, I had gotten happy like a fool.
“Nazuna is a kind of genius. It might look like she’s bad at studying, but she got an incredible memory. She can do anything if she gets a bit serious. She even got a knack for martial arts. Compared to her, I’m not really smart, have no talent for martial arts and can’t do anything…”
While peacefully talking about the past, a thought crossed my mind. That I must be able to talk about my weak points so openly precisely because it was Hijiri.
“I’m unable to do anything big brother-wise the normal way. So I wanted to at least study various things and teach it to her— But that’s just a farce and I was actually simply scared.”
“Why were you scared?”
It might be thanks to Hijiri’s warm agreeable response. My words came out without any hesitation.
“I was worried Nazuna would abandon me one day, since I couldn’t do anything as her brother. I thought she would come to hate my weak self like the guys at my gramps’ dojo, so I got scared and well, how can I say it…”
While calmly playing with the words, I slowly looked up to the ceiling of the living room.
“I wanted to become a big brother that Nazuna would stay together with forever.”
I spoke out the feeling that hadn’t changed since then.
“Because Nazuna kept calling me ‘Brother’, as weak as I was. I read and studied various books, so that I could be proud as an older brother. With time that became fun… and before I noticed it, reading had become my hobby.”
Finishing my slightly embarrassing, yet important tale, I lightly shrugged my shoulders.
“Quite the sister complex, isn’t it? It’s embarrassing, so don’t—”
Taking my gaze off the ceiling, I was about to continue with “tell anyone”, but I inadvertently stopped my words.
I felt a soft sensation on my cheek. Lips as sweet as flower petals. It was a short kiss from Hijiri. While my thoughts stopped from the sudden kiss, Hijiri embraced me with somewhat wet eyes.
“Sorry, Shinobu-kun. I couldn’t hold myself back.”
Entwining her arms around my back, she let her voice overflow with warmth.
“You’re a fine big brother, Shinobu-kun. I know now how much you love Nazuna-chan. You’re amazing. You’ve worked so hard. To make Nazuna-chan stay by your side, you’ve always given your best and even now, just like with Nazuna-chan, you’re giving your best for Luna-san.”
Gently increasing the strength of her hug,
“You returned to your granfather’s dojo for Luna-san’s sake, right? You were too weak to do anything, suffered from being compared to Nazuna-chan, yet you didn’t give in and have worked hard the whole time and thought of her. Therefore…”
In her lightly trembling voice was a semblance of hesitation. But,
“I think it’s fine to tell Luna-san your feelings now.”
Her words were filled with a painful kindness.
“It’ll be fine, Shinobu-kun. You’ll be able to stay with Luna-san forever, you’ll even be able to protect her. As you are right now, I’m sure you can pull that off.”
“…I’m still a bit unconfident.”
I got stronger than before. And I came to like myself. But even now a bit of worry and hesitation remained inside me. To push my back,
“Have you forgotten already?”
Like softly dispelling my worries,
“We’re supporting each others, right? I’m with you. Of course not just me. Kaoru-san, Machina, Elni, everyone’s with you.”
Hijiri spun her words with the same kindness from before.
“You protected us, supported us. So we want to protect you too and properly support you for your love.”
She slowly released me from her embrace, but enveloped my hand with hers.
“You don’t have to take everything on by yourself anymore. You can rely on us. If anything happens, we too will protect Luna-san. I’m still in training, but Kaoru-san, Elni and Machina are quite amazing. You should be able to do anything when you’re with everyone.”
Hijiri looked straight at me with her usual dignified and beautiful eyes.
“So isn’t it about time you take a step forward?”
The warmth from her hands slowly dissolved the worry and hesitation in my chest. Hijiri was really warm. It irritated me how I could only reply a “Thanks” to her, but even so, Hijiri flushed her cheeks in a light red and smiled happily.
“This is payback for yesterday. I’m just like Kaoru-san. I want to make you happy too. So I’ll act accordingly today. I think it’ll be any moment now…”
To substantiate her premonition, a noise suddenly resounded from the front door. Hearing that, Hijiri took my hand with “Seems they’re here” and stood up, showing a somewhat sad smile.
“To tell the truth, my parents are coming back today. They called in earlier. So I asked Kaoru-san to bring Luna-san and the others over. I’m sure you’ll see them when you go to the front door. Now your homesickness will be cured.”
Smiling with a rare joke, Hijiri let go off my hand somewhat regrettable and searching in the pocket of her skirt… she pulled out a single key with a dog key holder.
“It’s a duplicate key to our house. I’m giving it to you. With that you don’t need to borrow the key from Kaoru-san like the night before yesterday anymore. Please come to me if anything’s up. Please rely on me. I’ll definitely help you. I told you before, but… I’ll always be on your side.”
“Well, but accepting that would be rather—”
The sentence I started naturally stopped from seeing Hijiri’s smile.
It was okay to depend on Hijiri. I could rely on her. Besides, she wanted me to do so. My chest gradually filled with warmth and I properly accepted the key from Hijiri with emotional words.
“I want you to have a key to our house too, so I’ll give you one next time. I believe I’ll keep relying on you. So you too… come to me anytime.”
“Yeah… Let’s work hard together…”
Faintly blurring her eyes, but walking brilliantly like always, she lined up next to me.
“That’s all from me. Hurry up and go see Luna-san.”
With a soft tone, Hijiri softly pushed my back without hesitation.
—I felt like making a step forward. A kind warmth on my back. The warm-hearted person that supported me. Taking one step by still being pushed on the back by her, I headed out towards Luna…




Chapter 03: Walking through the quiet Night

—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.





Extra Chapter: Magical Girls don’t have it easy either

…How would Brother react if he were here now?
Looking at my reflection in the standing mirror in my own room, I raised the corners of my mouth a bit. A costume with lots of frills. A magic stick in my hand. My current appearance was the same as the magical girl from the anime that Miichan showed me before.
I wanted to show it to Brother too, if possible, but it seemed to be too late for today. He was already sleeping, so I’ll ask for his opinion tomorrow.
I shifted my gaze from the mirror over to my bed, where my admired enchantress named Kaoru-san and our kind family’s second daughter named Elni-oneechan sat. Kaoru-san was filming me with a video camera, whereas Elni-oneechan was taking photos with a digital camera. They both were smiling as they said.
“—And like this, Nazuna-chan fights every night as a magical girl to protect Shinobu-sama’s peaceful life. Give it your best, Nazuna-chan. Do not give in, Nazuna-chan. You might be the only one that can protect Shinobu-sama at this point now, or not.”
“Oh, I like that setting, Kaorun. I’m sure Shinobu would as well. Since we’re at it, why don’t you cast some spell, Nazuna?”
“—Meow!”
Actually, the magical girl costume I was wearing right now, was a present from Elni-oneechan and Kaoru-san. I had been a bit surprised when the two of them came to my room shortly before bedtime, but now I couldn’t hold back my smile either.
I was really happy about the present. The costume was really fantastic, albeit a bit embarrassing. When I stroke a simple pose while chanting my own made-up spell in these clothes, Elni-oneechan gave an applause and Kaoru-san softly called out to me with the video camera in one hand.
“Nazucat, the ‘meow’ spell is quite charming already, but how about a magic spell with an ‘infatuating sentence’?”
“An infatuating sentence? Ah, I know one. ‘I’m free tonight’. Like that?”
“W- Well, in a way it is not wrong, no, it is actually goo— COUGH”, there Kaoru-san coughed awkwardly and resumed smiling, holding up her index finger like suggesting something.
“Given how energetic you are, what do you say about something on the lines of ‘Brother, can we sleep together tonight’ or ‘Brother, I came to wash your back’ or ‘Brother, actually we aren’t blood related… Just kidding. Did your heart skip a beat?’?”
I learned something new. Putting the magic stick on the desk for now, I seriously took notes.
This might get me one step closer to becoming an enchantress. After listening to Kaoru-san’s advice for a while, I picked up the magic stick again and asked for Elni-oneechan and Kaoru-san’s opinion while musing about magic.
“Say, if you could use magic, what would you two do?”
“Mhm, I would love to fly freely through the sky! I would go to the castle in the sky then! And I want to eat lots of food with Shinobu! What about you, Kaorun?”
“I would rob a bank at once. Getting rich through magic and philosophizing about love with Shinobu-sama in a pool of banknotes… But that is just a joke. Please do not take me serious, okay? Let me see, I guess playing pranks with it. First off, Shinobu-sama and the others would get…”
Kaoru-san’s magic sounded interesting, but it would be quite problematic if it were to really exist. Apparently she wanted to change the personalities of Brother and the others into something weird with magic. Then it would be no longer strange that she was a perverted maid. Well, she wasn’t one to begin with and I got the feeling that she was joking around like always.
Elni-oneechan and I gave agreeable responses while we listened to Kaoru-san and as fun as it was, time went by in no time… It was already late in the night and I got sleepy.
I regretfully wished Elni-oneechan and Kaoru-san a good night, put the magic stick on the desk, changed out of the costume and went to bed sadly.
I stayed up pretty late today, but tomorrow was a holiday, so no problem. I closed my eyes half-asleep and thought about magic once more before falling asleep.
…What would I do if I could use magic? Turn into an enchantress?
That was nice in itself, but I wanted to become cool like Brother. Moreover, I would love to help Brother with magic when he was in trouble, since he was always protecting me. Then he might praise me while petting my head.
“…Brother…”
While I was deep in thought, my consciousness gradually faded. Maybe it was thanks to the magical girl costume? I got the feeling that I would get to see a really nice dream. I let go off my consciousness with a smile and drifted into the world of dreams…

* * *

…Mh? Huh? I only went to sleep just now, yet it was already morning? My body was shaken gently and a voice sounded from somewhere distant.
“Nazuna, it’s morning. Get up already… Mm… KISS…”
The soft sensation I felt on my cheek in my slumber woke me up at once.
Luna-oneechan might have kissed me. She really loved physical contact like this. When I opened my eyelids while realizing that I started to smile, I saw the morning sun through the curtains and… an unexpected person.
Maid clothes with a bold opening around the breasts. For some reason, Machina-oneechan was wearing that. I jumpy sat up on the bed in surprise. Seeing me like that, Machina-oneechan called out to me worried.
“…Did you have a scary dream? What’s up that you’re so surprised?”
“Wh- What you ask… Actually what’s up with you, Machina-oneechan?”
It may be rude, but she was like a different person. Her usual strong-willed image was completely gone and she wore maid clothes and emitted a soothing aura like Luna-oneechan. Still surprised, I looked at her and openly spoke out my doubt.
“Machina-oneechan, why’re you wearing maid clothes?”
“Why’re you asking that at this point? There’s only one reason.”
Temporarily ceasing her words, Machina-oneechan flushed her cheeks rose-coloured and then declared without hesitation.
“—To serve my beloved Shinobu. I’m his maid after all.”
“Brother’s maid? Eh? Huh? Since when?”
“And you’re a magical girl, Nazuna! You’re so pretty again today! We’re not related by blood, but I’m so blessed to have a little sister like you!”
“I, I’m happy you feel that way. But can you listen to what I say for a bi— wha, uwah! What’s this!?”
I unconsciously raised a hysteric voice.
Machina-oneechan firmly pointed at something. When I calmly dropped my gaze towards it, my own body, I saw the magical girl costume from Elni-oneechan and Kaoru-san. I was sure that I had taken them off yesterday, but why was I wearing it now?
A second surprise. I stiffed up a bit. But indifferent to my surprise,
“…You must be a magical girl guided by the sun.”
Saying a phrase like from a RPG, Machina-oneechan moved to in front of my desk. There was the magic stick I had put up there yesterday. She took it and returned to my bed, holding it out to my still confused self.
“Nazuna, protect the peace of the city pretty and cutely as the magical girl again today. With this, you’re invincible. Here, take this stick that Elni made out of non-burnable trash.”
“Trash!? It’s a magic stick, yet its made out of trash!?”
“…Or was it passionate-burning trash?”
“S- So it’s trash either way.”
“Mhm? Maybe it was stardust?”
“That’s something entirely different! Which is it now!?”
How rare of me to retort. My first time seeing Machina-oneechan without her tricked & retort combo and just foolery instead. I felt a bit confused. However, Machina-oneechan ignored my bewilderment again and softly smiled like Luna-oneechan.
“Ufufu, you’re such an energetic magical girl today again. Use that energy to eat breakfast well. You can look forward to it. I’m quite confident in it.”
“…You made breakfast? Not Luna-oneechan?”
“Are you still half-asleep? My Sister hasn’t cooked even once since she was born. Besides, cooking is my job. I feel so blessed when Shinobu compliments it every day with ‘So delicious’. So much that you can pretty much call it my reason for living.”
“Luna-oneechan often used to say that, didn’t she?”
“Hey, I’ll get angry when you say that in front of her. Come on, get up already. Here, take your magic stick. Good, perfect. I’ll see you down in a bit then, Nazuna. Let’s have breakfast together… Mm… KISS, KISS.”
Machina-oneechan kissed both my cheeks affectionately.
My chest felt somewhat warm. I inadvertently forgot to retort, whereupon Machina-oneechan put the magic stick into my hands, turned around and left the room in her maid clothes…
Seems like I have no talent for retorts after all. Something was really nagging at me, but I couldn’t ask about it. I should ask my Brother about the important points of retorting. I got off the bed and wanted to get dressed for now, but
“…Huh? Strange.”
strangely enough, I couldn’t let go off the magic stick. And not just that, I couldn’t even take off the magical girl costume. It wouldn‘t come off no matter how hard I tried while shouting “Meow!”. Oh god, what a problem. Do I have to wear this magical girl costume forever now?
…Oh well. Machina-oneechan was wearing maid clothes too. I shouldn’t think too much about it. If I did, I would lose. Therefore, I left my room holding my magic stick and still dressed in the magical girl costume, walking down the familiar hallway.
Upon that, there was an unfamiliar girl in front of Brother’s room. Judging by the size of her breasts, she must be his friend from school, Minami-san. Was it because I was watching her? Minami-san noticed me and smiled brightly at me.
…If Luna-oneechan’smile had the image of a gentle moon, then Minami-san’s was the sparkling sun. I was happy that she gave me a smile, but I felt the same as when I met her before.
Really nostalgic and boisterous in my chest. What was this sensation? When I watched her doubtfully, Minami-san waved her hand while still smiling brightly.
“Good morning, magical girl Nazuna-chan! You’re giving off an enchantress aura like always! Daring and as quick as lightning!”
“Thank you! It’s my first time being told that! Meow!”
Abandoning all thoughts, I thanked her and asked a question while I drew closer.
“What brings you here today? Some business with Brother?”
“Not quite, just the usual routine of waking him up. But you know, I’ve this urge to hug him since yesterday and even now, my chest is all tightening.”
Swaying her voluminous breasts, which were apparently tightening right now, Minami-san moaned sexily and smiled roguish with “Therefore”.
“I’ll try to be daring today too.”
“I would say you’re pretty daring already, but wow, you can be even sexier!”
I tried to give her a somewhat admired look. Minami-san winked at me coquette with “Not for your eyes, Nazuna-chan”. Then she went humming into Brother’s room and closed the door. But I was dying to know what she was going to do.
Even while knowing I shouldn’t, I quietly opened the door and snuck a peek into the room.
What I saw was Brother’s sleeping face. Usually my brother had a fearless look, was wild, cool and gentle, but in his sleep, he was all innocent. Even from my perspective as his little sister, he looked all cute and I could really understand how Luna-oneechan and the others got all engrossed over it.
Same must go for Minami-san. She stood in front of my brother’s bed, watched his sleeping face and after mumbling “You’re such a sleepyhead” with blushed cheeks, she saluted for some reason.
“Minami Ouka— going in!”
Where was she going? Maybe symbolic? Going to be darin—wait, why was she taking off her clothes up to her underwear? Being dressed in nothing but dark blue underwear was definitely an upgrade in sexiness. And she had really huge breasts. Her breasts were bouncing around while she took off her clothes… Eh? Huh? Wh- Why was she going into Brother’s bed in her underwear? Was this the world of adults?
Even while her face turned bright red, Minami-san covered herself and Brother with the blanket and I couldn’t see what she was doing under there. The only thing I could hear were their erotic breathes.
But that ended quickly and Minami-san’s playful, sweet voice sounded instead.
“Ufufu, if you don’t get up, Shinobu-chan, uhn, I’ll make you feel even better with my breasts. How do you like it? Mm, feels good, right? When you marry me, you can enjoy this every morning. Mm, say that you’ll marry me~”
“…Oh man, which kitty is playing around here? Hijiri again?”
Something incredible was going on, yet Brother stayed as cool as ever. He sat up even cooler than usually, pulled away the blanket and remained composed even when he saw Minami-san in her underwear on his bed. He looked at her with really gentle eyes.
“Oh, Sakura-chan. You’re more sparkling today than yesterday. Pretty much like the sun.”
B- Brother? What was up with him? It was weird that he spoke a praise without joking around or getting embarrassed. And he said Sakura-chan, right?
Sakura-chan was the nickname of our precious childhood friend. Come to think of it, Brother only ever introduced her as “Sakura-chan” to me. So I never got to know her real name, even though we were childhood friends… But Minami-san was Sakura-chan?
I really need to barge in now, to confirm the truth as well. I readied myself in front of the door. But before I could act, Brother said something surprising with a wry smile.
“But I’m happily surprised that it’s you, Sakura-chan. I had thought for sure it was another of Hijiri’s pranks.”
Say what? Hijiri-oneechan wouldn’t play such daring pranks, would she?
“Gogyou-san loves to play perverted pranks after all. I tried to best her.”
….She loves to. Hijiri-oneechan was perverted.
Let alone retorting, I just stood in front of the door with my eyes widened. In my field of vision, Brother and Minami-san started to have some lover-like quality time, but I closed the door wordless and looked down on my magic stick that I couldn’t let go.
“Mhm, I see meow…I mean, I see now.“
I made a short nod, mimicking Brother. Even I would notice as this point. This was my dream. Machina-oneechan wearing maid clothes, being unable to take off the magical girl costume and Brother not joking around, everything could be explained when it was a dream.
Besides, while I wasn’t sure whether Minami-san was really Sakura-chan or not, I often dreamed about a morning like today since I was a child.
My beloved Brother. My precious friend from my childhood, Sakura-chan. I wish I would always be together with them. I would be happy if they married. As a kid, I really thought that.
However, because I got into a traffic accident, Sakura-chan will no longer… wait, no gloomy thoughts. I got a rather clear consciousness and was a magical girl in my dream.
Without doubt, fun things will happen now. I should act cool in my dream like I considered before going to bed. Yes, as cool and hard-boiled as Brother.
“—What matters in a man is courage and face. And what matters in a woman isn’t her age, but her looks, baby!”
Mhm~ Not quite. Brother wouldn’t say something like that. It had to be cooler. With the magic stick in one hand, I went down the stairs in anticipation about what would happened next. I showed up in the living room with an admirable expression today.
What caught my eye first was Machina-oneechan lying on the floor in her maid clothes. For some reason, she looked as miserable as a tattered dust cloth and her amber eyes lacked focus. I kept my voice in check as it nearly betrayed my surprise from the unexpected situation.
“Fuh, oh boy, meow. Now that’s tough— Wait, it isn’t the time for that!”
I couldn’t be completely cool after all. Well, no wonder. The opposite from what I expected had happened, so I kicked the ground like in a burst of anger and rushed over to Machina-oneechan.
“Hang in there, Machina-oneechan! Are you okay? Just what happened?”
“Uh… Nazuna… Today, I… am the perfect devoted maid with a soothing aura that Shinobu wishes for, right?
“Yeah, you were earlier! But right now, you’re more down than a KOed boxer! I’m asking again, what happened!?”
“…Shinobu is my beloved Master… so I tried to stop her… but I didn’t stand a chance… My sister… with whip and candy… punishment… to Shinobu—”
Machina-oneechan spoke in broken words. As if to interrupt her fragile voice, a scream from a girl suddenly came from the second floor. Then a loud noise right afterwards. Machina-oneechan fainted as she used up her last strength during the talk. And I was highly confused.
I had no clue what was going on anymore. But this might be a chance for the magical girl to shine. First I should carry Machina-oneechan over to the couch… Okay, I couldn’t do it well, since the magic stick glued to my hand was in the way.
WHO’S BAD— I felt like shouting that, but as a lady, I refrained from doing so today. A little bit cool. I somehow managed to get Machina-oneechan onto the couch and rushed out of the living room into the hallway, sprinting up the stairs all the way to where I heard the scream from.
There, a strange silence greeted me on the second floor. The kind of atmosphere where a Zombie suddenly shows up. But I shrugged my shoulders coolly… ignored the trembling of my shoulders, dismissed the shaking of my legs as an imagination and confidently walked down the hallway.
Today I planned to behave like Brother. To others I might look afraid instead of confident, but I pushed on, puffed up with pride. The door to my brother’s room was open, so I made a grim expression and stepped into the room, the scene of crime.
“…L- Looks like this case will remain unsolved.”
I got the wrong sentence again. But at least I didn’t let out a hysteric voice… Or not. This was quite an incident. For a moment, I was disheartened. When I took another look, there was Minami-san on the bed, but
“F- Forgive me, my Queen… If you do that… I, I’ll be ruined…”
Just what happened? For some reason, Minami-san lied naked on the bed and absentmindedly repeated “my Queen” with her eyes closed.
But Minami-san wasn’t the only concern. Maybe it was written with lipstick? There were huge and pretty red letters on the wall of my brother’s room.
“I have taken Shinobu-san. We are going to melt together now, in body and heart. We will not come home for a while. Incidentally, if you are to interfere… I will punish you like Machina and the others <3 By Luna.” That was written there. …A bit hard to believe all of a sudden. To think Luna-oneechan would kidnap Brother. The Luna-oneechan in my dreams seemed to be rather extreme. But if it was Luna-oneechan, Brother wouldn’t be all against it. Besides, Luna-oneechan was fundamentally unlucky, sometimes tripped on even ground and got lonely when Brother didn’t pay much attention to her… So it should be alright when she does as she wanted inside a dream, right? “It’s better when this case is left unsolved.” I mimicked the gesture of my father when he smoked. A cool kindness was necessary too. I wrapped the blanket around Minami-san and left the room thinking about the next incident, albeit a bit guilty. At that moment, a loud voice calling “Hey, Nazuna, we got trouble!” sounded from the end of the hallway. This voice belonged to Elni-oneechan without doubt. Speaking of, what will Elni-oneechan be like in my dream? I turned around curious. “A fairy!” My eyes beheld a really surprising sight. In my vision: Elni-oneechan. For some reason, her body was palm-sized. Like really small. Not bigger than a canned juice. On top of that, she fluttered her twin-tailed hair… and was flying comfortable. That was extremely awesome. Elni-oneechan was flying easily by moving her twintails up and down. As soon as I saw her like that, I forgot all about my cool demeanour and raised a voice. “Wow, Elni-oneechan! Now you can even head to the Castle in the Sky! You’re flying freely! How can you do that?” “---Because a Mad Dog that can’t fly is just a dog.” Answering with a featureless smile, Elni-oneechan puffed up her chest by saying “Also” while still flying. “With this small body, I can eat as much as I want without anyone getting angry! It’s like Christmas and Birthday together! I can even fly through the air! What do you say, Nazuna! Awesome, isn’t it!” Elni-oneechan flew braggingly around the hallway and showed a perfect loop. Following she made a beautiful turn… or not. She crashed into the wall. Along with a dull sound, an awkward silence spread. Elni-oneechan flew over to my shoulder while holding her red nose, and got back on topic with a serious expression like nothing had happened. “Nazuna, we got trouble.” “Well yeah, you look like a reindeer with that nose. Are you okay?” “At this point, I can only seek employment by Santa--- wait, no! It’s serious, Nazuna!” Elni-chan, still with a red nose, raised a voice on my shoulder with a serious expression, broaching the subject. “Actually, I already noticed yesterday that an ill wind was blowing, but seeing Luna kidnap Shinobu in the garden earlier confirmed it. Someone is doing evil in this city. I’m sure that someone altered everyone’s personality strangely!” “Th- Then the reason Machina-oneechan’s wearing maid clothes…” “The work of the evil one for sure!” “The reason Brother wasn’t joking around…” “There’s no mistake! It’s all the doing of the evil one!” “And the reason Luna-oneechan kidnapped Brother is also…” “Not the slightest doubt! I bet my life that it was the evil one!” “In, In other words! The reason you turned into this palm-size is also the doing of the evil one!” “…I didn’t say that. I’m like this because I wanted to, yes.” Unlike my poor attempt, Elni-oneechan was the coolness in person. She pushed up her invisible glasses sophisticated with her middle finger. But she gave up on her unconcerned look soon enough, changing her expression back to a serious one and continuing her words. “Well, in short! The evil one has to be defeated! Or everyone will remain weird forever! If we leave the evil one alone, Shinobu will never return to this house, kidnapped by Luna to all eternity! It’s a grave situation!” “…Time for a cool magical girl to shine, you mean.” “Ohh! You’re a bit like Shinobu today, Nazuna! That simplifies things! This calls for the magical girl! Defeat the evil avatar and bring everyone back to their senses! Go, magical girl Nazuna! Head to the scene at once!” “BRING IT ON!” Ah, I was so pumped up that I reverted to my usual self. But today I was a magical girl. I will save everyone with my magic power and resolve the incident coolly. If I do that, Brother might praise me. I tightly squeezed the magic stick that was glued to my hand and embarked full of vigor with the mini-sized Elni-oneechan still on my shoulder… but suddenly stopped and tilted my head. “By the way, Elni-oneechan, I would really love to rush over, but I’ve no clue where the evil one is.” “Wait a sec. I’ll find out. Mhm~ Concentrate my willpower in the twintails!” Along with her words, her twintails began to spin and then, maybe like some kind of dowsing, their tips suddenly pointed into a fixated direction. “Okay, I sense the evil’s presence from that way. Hurry up outside, Nazuna!” “These twintails… are friggin’ cool!” I can’t be outdone by Elni-oneechan. I was still dressed in the magical girl costume, but since this was a dream, I wouldn’t mind it. Throwing away all my doubts, I wildly left the house today together with Elni-oneechan… …You don‘t see that every day, seriously. Like that, my brother might’ve feigned indifference and shown a wry smile to the scene in sight. After leaving the house, I was now out on the streets. All pedestrians were nice to me and the policeman saluted me with “Good job on your patrol today again, Magical Girl”… It must really be the doing of the evil one, like Elni-oneechan had said. Passing by people, who were dressed like a female knight, a shrine maiden or in a school swimsuit, on the street, I even spotted a man that did a moonwalk for whatever reason. Amidst that, I advanced with the magic stick in hand and guided by Elni-oneechan’s twintails, ultimately arriving at… Hijiri-oneechan’s huge mansion. A bit surprised, I looked down onto Elni-oneechan on my shoulders. “Could it be, the evil one is in Hijiri-oneechan’s house?” “My twintails say so. The back of the garden is suspicious. For now, we’ll infiltrate the Gogyou Mansion! Just like the Hero can plunder items from other peoples’ houses without reprimand in RPGs, a magical girl is allowed to trespass into someone’s house! However! We better ring the doorbell, just in case…” “…I would’ve no right to call myself cool if I forgot manners after all.” I nodded smart and reached out for the interphone, whereupon a clear voice saying “Oh my?” suddenly reached my ears and Kaoru-san stuck out her head from the garden. Like always, she was dressed in maid clothes and smiled a bit as soon as she noticed us. “Good morning, magical girl Nazuna-chan and fairy Elni-san. Are you two on patrol today again? How commendable of you two. If I were able to use magic, I would rob a bank without the slightest bit of hesitation. And play some mischievous pranks.” Everyone had turned weird, yet Kaoru-san appeared no different from usual. I stared a bit doubtful at her. “…You don’t seem any different, Kaoru-san.” “Of course not. Under all circumstances, I am the angelic maid full of love and devotion, giving perverted quality time for my good master or perverted punishment for my bad master. Fufu, you like me better the way I am, too, right Nazuna-chan?” “An enchantress as ever. I’m so envious.” “…I do not know why you see me like that, but to keep living up to your expectations, I will excuse myself now. I have the mission to record everyone’s interesting personalities on video…” Taking out a video camera from her pocket, Kaoru-san walked away like that. But midway she stopped, turned around and changed her tone into a serious one, saying “Incidentally,”. “Nazuna-chan, Elni-san, you are free the patrol our house for all I care. Just let me say this, even if it may be in vain: You better steer clear of the back of the garden. And be careful if you run into Hijiri-chan--- That is all the advice you get from the supporting role maid.” Kaoru-san cracked a joke with a wink. Elni-oneechan returned the wink competitive. After separating with Kaoru-san and getting her permission to patrol, we headed towards the garden of Hijiri-oneechan’s house, guided by Elni-oneechan’s twintails again. The garden was so big that we walked around for a few minutes and we finally reached a huge storehouse. It was the place Kaoru-san told us earlier to keep away from, but I put on airs in front of its door. “Mhm, it reeks here. Even worse than rotten eggs!” “…I’m impressed you’re fine with smelling something like that.” I made yet another mistake. Elni-oneechan hit back rather composed and broached the matter at hand with a passionate tone while her twintails still pointed at the door. “Nazuna, my twintails tell me that the culprit behind all this commotion this time is behind this door! Charge at once, Nazuna! We’ll solve the case coolly!” “I, I was only screwing up earlier, but okay, Elni-oneechan! I’ll give my best coolly!” Getting back into spirit, I touched the door of the storehouse powerfully, but… huh? Was it locked? No matter how hard I pushed, the door wouldn’t open. This was no good. I shrugged my shoulders with a sigh, looked back at Elni-oneechan and reported. “It seems… our adventure ends here.” “Why’re you giving up coolly! Don’t give up! Never give up, you hear! Why’re you stopping now! I told you to be a magical girl! I told you to do your best coolly! If you try hard, you’ll definitely achieve your goal! Therefore--- Become more passionate!” “E- Even if you give me a speech like a certain passionate teacher, do I have to be cool? Or do I have to be hot? Either way, the door won’t open, you know? What should I do?” “Break the door with magic! Tear it down, damnit… if it only were that easy.” “It was just your wishful thinking!? But I’m a magical girl, just as I look, right? I won’t break the door, but maybe I can open the lock with magic?” “Even if you ask me… I don’t have an answer.” Elni-oneechan made a perfect clueless face. “Uhm, just to be sure, aren’t you in my dream to give me all kind of advices about magic?” “Right now, I’m just a fairy stupidly flying in the air. Though I certainly made your magic stick out of trash…” “S- So it’s really made out of trash.” But as long as it was from Elni-onee-chan, anything goes. Something else was on my mind instead, so I cut into her words and continued my question with an unusual serene look. “But if you made this stick, then I find it strange that you don’t know anything about magic.” “Mhm~ Seems that due to my small body, my brain got minuscule too and I forgot all the important stuff. I can only laugh it off.” “I sometimes forgot important things too and could only laugh during the test the other day, but in short, right now, you don’t have any knowledge about magic, right?” “A bit of it remains. I could search for the enemy after all. And I remember how the magic in the stick activates when you chant a special spell. But I’ve no clue what that spell was. And my memory’s fuzzy about what happens then too.” “…If we run into the evil one, I’ll just fling myself at him with the stick as a weapon.” “You’ve forgotten the spell too, Nazuna? I don’t remember it well, but you know, Kaorun came up with the spell together with us.” Kaoru-san? When was that? I put my hand on my chin in an attempt to remember, whereupon quiet footsteps sounded from behind me and I could hear a clear voice. “Ah, it’s the magical girl Nazuna-chan and the fairy Elni. What’re you doing here? Your usual patrol?” Patrol? No, rock’n roll… That sounded wrong too. When I turned around while swallowing these words down, my gaze fell on Hijiri-oneechan. I could perceive a bit of a sexy glint in her usual dignified eyes, but I paid it no mind and clad myself in coolness, calling out to her composed. “Hello, I’m here on an official duty as a magical girl. I’ll now get rid of the evil in this storehouse. But the door is locked and I forgot my magic chant, so I can do nothing but laugh. But I’ll remember it soon enough, so please have some idle chat for a while and wait.” “…Somehow, you resemble Kaoru-san today, Nazuna-chan.” Then that was cool. While I nodded satisfied, Hijiri-oneechan beckoned me with a smile. “Nazuna-chan, come with me. I have the key to the storehouse and you might remember something easier when you relax inside.” Sounded reasonable. Taking her up on her offer, I drew closer, whereupon Hijiri-oneechan took my hand and moved towards the house through the garden. Elni-oneechan on my shoulder was nodding with “A magical girl needs to rest too” as well. But I hadn’t done anything yet and Kaoru-san had warned me already to be careful when running into Hijiri-oneechan… oh well. “Elni, there are snacks in the living room, so you can go ahead.” Hijiri-oneechan kindly offered Elni-oneechan snacks. Elni-oneechan, all eager to go eat the snacks in the living room, flapped her twintails on my shoulder with “Time to show off the real power of his body!“ and flew away happily. Without doubt, Hijiri-oneechan hadn’t changed, just like Kaoru-san. Her hand was soft and warm, blowing away all of my coolness just from holding hands. Humming “Meow, Meow~”, I entered Hijiri-oneechan’s room on her invitation and sat down on the bed like she told me to. “---Fufu, we’re finally all alone, Nazuna-chan.” Could it be, I was… in a predicament right now? For some reason, Hijiri-oneechan locked the door and drew closer to the bed while erotically licking her lips, asking with a sigh. “Hey, you’re a magical girl, right?” “Yes, a magical girl with ‘cool’ on her head. Today I’m rescuing Brother and the others.” “…It’s no good. You’re too cute. I never had the chance to hold back.” “H- Hijiri-oneechan, holding back is bad for your body… but just what are you talking about? “Nothing. Don’t mind me. By the way, Nazuna-chan, do you know that you have to go through a certain rite to become a true magical girl?” “…I, I don’t.” “Then let me tell you. The rite of passage for a magical girl is--- to be assaulted like this!” Along with her words, Hijiri-oneechan suddenly pushed me down onto the bed and pinned me down in no time. “Ahh… Why are you so cute, Nazuna-chan… Mm, KISS, KISS…” While emitting a sweet flower fragrance, she kissed my cheek gentle in contrast to her earlier forceful behaviour. However, the kisses didn’t stop at my cheek, but rather extended to my forehead, ears, nape of the neck… “Hey, Hijiri-oneechan, stop, Mha, not there.” “Sorry, Nazuna-chan. I really can’t hold myself back. Mm, KISS, you’re cute when blushing too, and this costume on top… KISS, KISS, NIBBLE… Mm…” Hijiri-oneechan kissed various places on my body without end. At that time, I remembered. That Brother and Minami-san had mentioned that Hijiri-oneechan loved to play perverted pranks this morning and that Kaoru-san had warned me about her. …Even Hijiri-oneechan had turned weird in my dream. But she held me preciously and her kisses were all gentle too. This might be just a mere prank, but a predicament nonetheless. Even so, I recalled my brother’s behaviour and vigorous clad myself in composure. “H- Hey, stop it. A prankish little kitten gets the ‘Bad girl!’ whack!” “Ahh… It’s cute too how you’re outgrowing yourself… Great…” It had the completely opposite effect. The kisses became even fiercer and her smooth, pink lips reached out for even my arms and thighs. I called out to her with a reserved voice without any composure. “Hijiri-oneechan, I’ve to do a job as a magical girl today, you know. It’s about time I go rescue Brother and the others, so can I excuse myself now?” “Fufu, don’t worry, Nazuna-chan. There’s no need to save Shinobu-kun. From now on, Luna and I’ll look after him for the rest of our lives, taking turns in giving him a lot of tending. Same goes for you too, Nazuna-chan. To live with a magical girl in the same house is like a dream come true.” “At that time, Elni-oneechan, Machina-oneechan and Mom will be with us to--- wait, waaaah! Hijiri-oneechan! Don’t kiss me down there!” “No need to be scared. We’re both girls, so what’s there to be embarrassed about? Come on, let go off that magic stick and surrender your body to me already.” The magic stick? I had an intuition. The stick had been stuck to my hand since this morning. I was sure that it stayed with me for this very moment. At this rate, things would escalate. Do or die. I still didn’t know the chant, but I squeezed the magic stick and emotionally shouted my usual remark. “Mhmmm~ MEEOOW!” “Pft, that’s the wrong chant.” Apparently I was mistaken. I had given my all with that shout, yet a somewhat ridiculing voice answered from the stick. But I didn’t get discouraged and called out again. “WHO’S BAD!” “Pft, BADNazucat can’t use magic.” “Th- Then BRING IT ON!” “Pft, oh please, enough joking.” “….Truth be told, I respect you.” “Pft, a hand-me-down joke from your brother? No thanks. Actually, I’m only working part-time, so if you don’t get to the point now, I’ll go home.” “Wait! Don’t leave me so readily without any hesitation! It might not look like it, but I’m in a predicament--- Uh, meow! Hijiri-oneechan! Don’t grab my skirt! Just to tell you, the magical girl costume won’t come no matter how hard you try!” “Ufufu, and what about your underwear?” …It was a short dream. Everything was probably over now. Still, I wanted to remain cool. Rescue Brother and the others in my dream and… Ah, speaking of my brother, last night Kaoru-san taught me infatuating sentences before sleep. I quickly went through the memories of last night in my head. By doing so… I stumbled over various things, but now wasn’t the time for that. Hijiri-oneechan’s eyes were glazed. The predicament continued unchanged. I squeezed the magic stick once again and made a sink or swim bet. “Ehm… I’m envious of Brother’s girlfriend.” At once, the magic stick shone brightly from the infatuating sentence that worked like a chant. Moreover, numerous soap bubbles came out of it one after another and they wrapped around Hijiri-oneechan’s body. “Yaahn, Haahn.” At the same time the soap bubbles disappeared, Hijiri-oneechan raised a seductive voice, made half a turn to lay on the bed and started to writhe sensual… Was I seeing a hallucination? “Mha, Shinobu-kun, great, yaah, not my ears, uhn, nnnng, hah, hah, don’t just pleasure me. Ahn, I want you to feel good too, Shinobu-kun…” …This stick wouldn’t get caught up in the law, would it? Hijiri-oneechan leaked bewitching moans and restlessly rubbed her thighs together… I could hardly leave her alone like that, so I raised the magic stick over my head. “B- Brother’s bed is so warm.” I envisioned a quiet sleep and then the magic stick brimmed over with a soft light, which gentle wrapped up Hijiri-oneechan and she made quiet sleeping sounds on top of the bed right away. “…Sleep well, my prankish little kitten.” The magic chant was kind of embarrassing. But I finished it with a cool remark in the end, pulled the blanket over Hijiri-oneechan and dashing turned on my heel. Now I could finally utilize my power as a magical girl. I should solve the case with that power as quickly as possible. Actually I remembered this together with the infatuating sentences earlier… This dream was exactly the same as what Kaoru-san described yesterday. Everyone turned weird through magic. Machina-oneechan was a devoted maid. Brother was too cool and Hijiri-oneechan was perverted. Kaoru-san hadn’t mentioned herself, so she stayed relatively normal and Elni-oneechan had gotten a body with which she could freely fly through the air and eat a lot of food, by her own choice. My guess was that my magical girl dream and Sakura-chan got mixed up in that story. But what did Kaoru-san say about Luna-oneechan? The red letters I had seen on the wall of Brother’s room suddenly floated in my mind. Luna-oneechan had kidnapped Brother. What were they doing right now? If Kaoru-san’s words could be trusted, then Luna-oneechan was probably… I didn’t want to carry on that thought. Only this time, please don’t let me run into Luna-oneechan. Offering such a prayer, I left Hijiri-oneechan’s room behind me while still holding onto the magic stick and resolved to defeat the evil one in the storehouse at once to turn everyone back to normal, especially Luna-oneechan. When I got to the hallway, I met Elni-oneechan again as she disappeared before. Her minuscule body was holding onto a key-like object with both hands and while flapping her twintails, she landed slowly on my shoulder. Then she opened her mouth with a smile. “Nazuna, I just sealed a secret deal with Hisame, so she gladly lent me the key to the storehouse with an empty expression.” “…You’re quite the devious girl. I don’t hate that. Okay, everything’s ready, so let’s get into the storehouse at once. Time for some scolding.” “You became like Shinobu again. Stay like that for a while. Do the foolery and retort in his stead. Also, have you remembered the magic chant yet?” “Yeah, thanks to a prankish little kitten.” …Perhaps I was in top form right now? In that state, I moved over to the storehouse while simply explaining the details to Elni-oneechan on my shoulder. But at that time, I remembered Hijiri-oneechan’s words and they wouldn’t leave my mind, gradually stirring up my uneasiness. She said something like “There’s no need to save Shinobu-kun. From now on, Luna and I’ll look after him for the rest of our lives…”, but why would she mention Luna-oneechan’s name too? Judging by her way of speaking, it sounded like Hijiri-oneechan knew that Brother was kidnapped or was I just imaging that… I was speaking coolly, yet my head was overheating. I stopped overthinking it before it overheated completely, but a bad feeling remained. Together with Elni-oneechan, I headed for the storehouse in the garden where the evil one was. …I, I’m not scared. My destination. The huge storehouse in the garden of Hijiri-oneechan’s house. When I unlocked the door and went inside, the interior was shed in a dim, cold darkness and filled with something like a light, white haze. According to Elni-oneechan on my shoulder, the storehouse of the Gogyou Family had a lot of dubious, if not to say cursed items sealed in here, since the Gogyou was a lineage of exorcists. During winter vacation I too had helped cleaning up the storehouse and had seen swords or armours plastered with charms, so it might have influenced me in having this dream. Needless to say, I would like to solve the case with an ongoing nonchalant face at least in my dream. However, Elni-oneechan was locating the evil one’s presence with the help of our silver twintails. When I advanced further in on her instructions, I could hear the faint sounds of a whip cracking and someone groaning from afar. I became a bit uneasy. But unlike me, Elni-oneechan looked alright. While I tightly squeezed the magic stick, she talked big like it had nothing to do with her. “Looks like zombies could appear here anytime.” “À la Biohazard. But right now, it’s the perfect atmosphere for me. I can’t stop trembling with excitement. Whatever lurks there, BRING IT ON!” Bluffing obviously, I proceeded with my weirdly startled legs… but I wanted to take back my previous statement right away. Suddenly, threatening CLACK, CLACK noises from high-heeled shoes sounded from ahead. “---Ufufu, who goes there?” A really bewitching voice resounded in my eardrums. “It cannot be Hijiri-san. She would not come here until it was time to switch. In that case, fufu, a little kitten that wants to be punished must have lost its way here.” The one that appeared from the white haze in the storehouse was… Luna-oneechan. She looked exactly like Kaoru-san had described her last night: A bondage fashion exposing a lot of skin, a whip in her hand and her always gentle emerald green eyes had a sadistic glint. As expected, she had completely transformed like the others. Luna-oneechan directed her sadistic eyes at me without her usual soft smile. “Oh my, my, and here I was wondering who it was. It is just the stupid girl that believes she can resolves anything with magic, Nazuna-chan and the just as stupid fairy, Elni-chan. You have such stupid visages today again. So cute that it makes me want to bully you.” “…B- Be gentle, okay?” Wait, no. I inadvertently was about to obey without resistance. It seemed like I would be drawn into these devilish eyes if I were to be distracted. But I strained my stomach and got my determination back. “L- Luna-oneechan, why’re you here? Ahead only awaits a hardboiled development. It’s dangerous here, so go home alr---” “Nazuna-chan, whom are you saying that to?” Cutting into my words by cracking her whip at the ground, Luna-oneechan changed her voice into a low-pitched one. “Have you forgotten your own position? What about respective speech? And who gave you permission to ask questions? Do you want to be punished? You want to, right? Fine. I will properly teach your adorable body who is superior here.” I shouldn’t have confronted her with a superficial coolness. Was it because she was usually gentle and warm-hearted? The gap was too intense. Uhm, in other words… Luna-oneechan was really scary. Elni-oneechan on my shoulder started to get ready to prostrate herself and made a face like she was five seconds away from running away with “I might be able to fly for this very moment”, whether she was serious or not. Meanwhile, Luna-oneechan suddenly softened her expression like always. “You do not have to be so afraid. I love both of you very much. As long as you do not go against me, I will not punish you two. And as a special service, I will answer Nazuna-chan’s question. As to why I am here…” After temporarily stopping her words, Luna-oneechan dropped the bomb. “I can confine Shinobu-san all I want here. There are all kind of tools here too and a lot of space. Not to forget, I can even lock the door. Hijiri-san and I will now take turns in slowly training Shinobu-san like carefully raising a flower.” “S- Seems like it really IS hardboiled ahead. But are you two really going to… confine and train Brother?” “Of course. We will charm Shinobu-san’s in body and heart until he has completely fallen and cannot live without us anymore. So please do not interfere, okay?” B- Brother was facing an unprecedented crisis. I had to save him at all cost. Elni-oneechan must surely feel the same. She had been silent for a little while, but now she put up her index finger and negotiated with Luna-oneechan as if to make a suggestion. “Hey, Luna… My Queen. It’s scary, so we won’t interrupt you, my Queen. But someone’s doing evil here. Once we dealt with that one, we’ll pretend that we never saw anything here and go home right away. So could you let us pass?” “…So you say, but you plan to steal away my beloved Shinobu-san when I show an opening. That will not happen. I will not let you advance a single step from here.” The negotiations broke down in an instant. This was difficult after all. Before defeating the evil one and turning everyone back, we apparently had to do something about Luna-oneechan. As she reached the same conclusion as me, Elni-oneechan softly whispered into my ear from my shoulder. “Nazuna, doesn’t look like Queen Luna will move even an inch. At this point, you can only do something about her with some gentle magic.” “…Yeah, I’ll have the Queen go to sleep. I’ll use the same magic like with Hijiri-oneechan. Here goes nothing--- Brother’s bed is so warm!” Soft light spilled out of the magic stick together with the chant. It flew towards Luna-oneechan, but “---It is such a sad thing. The overwhelming difference in our strength, that is.” She casually swung her whip. Just from that, the magic disappeared in an instant. Moreover, her eyes glittered sadistic and she smiled at us with a sweet smile. “Nazuna-chan, I will not allow even a single kitten to revolt. Any opposition will be meet with severe scolding without exception. Here comes the verdict for the two of you--- Punishment <3” …We already had reached an impasse. Maybe the biggest predicament today. Really unsettled now, I asked Elni-oneechan on my shoulder for advice. “Wh- What do we do, Elni-oneechan! My magic isn’t working at all!” “Calm down, Nazuna! Be cool! You’re a magical girl right now! There’s one way to win against Luna!” “Really? As expected of you! Tell me quickly!”
When I urged her with a smile, Elni-oneechan crossed her arms and shouted with her eyes wide open.
“—Doping!”
“Hehehe, you see, when you’re smoking marijuana, it’s really fun, even if you’re just staring at the flame of a candle— wait, no! Though Machina-oneechan would do such a tricked & retort combo! But that’s not good! Never! Is there no other way!?”
“Well then, let’s go with a method without drugs that surpass guts! Fill the magic stick with your feelings for Shinobu and hammer out the magic! Listen! It’s all about what kind of brother you’re picturing in front of your fist! Magical girl Nazuna! Awaken!”
“If I wake up, the dream will end, but— for the nth time today, BRING IT ON!”
Elni-oneechan had said she had forgotten about magic, so she might have come up with something random. But I believed her. If I were to give up, it would be game over. I faced Luna-oneechan again, filled the magic stick with my feelings for Brother and shouted.
“I was called madam just now. Do I look like Brother’s wife?”
Simultaneously with the chant, numerous soap bubbles were released from the stick this time. However, Luna-oneechan elegantly swung her whip with a sharp sound of cutting through air and smashed all of the bubbles in no time, declaring indifferent with still sadistic eyes.
“—So, are you ready to be punished?”
“There’s still more! I’m happy that Brother stays home on rainy days!”
“It seems you are somewhat capable, but— Your punishment is already an established fact.”
“I, I don’t want punishment! So, ehm… I hate Brother! He won’t take a bath with me!”
“I am waiting with bated breath for what kind of punishment I am going to give you two.”
“WHO’S BAD! Brother! Uhm, well, I love you!”
“Please do not get ahead of yourself. You may be a magical girl, but no matter what you try to do, you cannot match me. Never…”
That might really be the case. I was out of ideas. The soap bubbles, the pink light or the shower of light rays, everything that was released from the stick was repelled by her whip. My attacks didn’t work. But every time I chanted a spell, the magic stick became hot and started to gleam more and more.
Elni-oneechan seemed to have noticed something by seeing that. While watching our clash with bated breath, she clapped her hands crafty.
“I finally remembered. According to my gray matter, that stick can release an incredible secret skill once it’s fully charged with little sister power. Now’s your chance, Nazuna!”
“…But if that gets repelled by the whip too, I’ll be completely out of options, right?”
“No worries! Leave it to me! I’ll seal Luna’s movements! Hop!”
She took a large jump from my shoulder. Flapping her twintails, she assaulted Luna-oneechan with her small body.
In reaction to that, Luna-oneechan swung her whip at once, but Elni-oneechan beautifully turned over in midair with “Nuh! Twister!” and dodged the whip by a hairbreadth, calling out passionately while charging at Luna-oneechan.
“Uwoooh! We’ll not lose to you as you’re powered by malice! Because! Nazuna and I represent justice!”
While paying homage to someone’s remark, Elni-oneechan slipped past the whip, blocked Luna-oneechan’s vision with her minuscule body and shouted over her shoulder.
“Nazunaaa! Noooow!”
“Eh? Right now? But you’ll get dragged into the attack too?”
“Don’t mind me! Stop faltering and attack already!”
“O- Okay, Brother, actually we aren’t related by blood… Just kidding. Did you heart skip— eh, uwaah! Oh damn! Dodge it, you two!”
The magic stick released a blue beam so huge that it didn’t even compare to the ones before. Without time to stop it, Luna-oneechan and Elni-oneechan were wrapped in it in no time and I couldn’t see them anymore due to the light.
O- Oh my god. Maybe this dream was a nightmare instead? The murderous magical girl.
I felt that I turned pale, but… apparently my magic wasn’t the type to harm anyone. After the light disappeared, Luna-oneechan was lying on the floor and making peaceful sleeping sounds, whereas Elni-oneechan
“Uwah! What a surprise, your body is big again!”
had returned to her usual size in a casual run of events.
“SNIFFLE. I can’t fly anymore, nor eat as much as I want, but… oh well.”
She didn’t seem all bothered by it. Elni-oneechan stood up and looked at me.
“Nazuna, since we somehow took care of Luna, let’s go defeat the evil one in the storehouse now! Yes! Our fight begins now!”
“…Isn’t that the pattern for an ending? Fuh… Oh meow, so my dream finally reaches its climax.”
Things had calmed down a bit, so I replied coolly once again.
Then Elni-oneechan guided me to a comfortable, small room in the back of the storehouse. In the middle of that room, a red crystal ball raised a truly suspicious “Kukekuke” voice. Elni-oneechan said while tapping on that crystal ball.
“Nazuna, this is the avatar of evil. It turned everyone weird. Once you destroy it, everyone will turn back to normal. Doesn’t look like it can move, so you should be able to destroy it relatively easily.”
“How anticlimactic. But I’m glad. It was only in a dream, but I managed to protect Brother and the other, right?”
“…It’s not just in a dream. You’re properly protecting everyone in the real world too. For example, I’m always getting cheered up by your smile. Be it in a dream or in reality, you never change. You’re kind, funny and cute… The best little sister ever.”
Spinning her words peacefully, she looked at me with narrow eyes and after a short pause, Elni-oneechan dropped her gaze onto the crystal ball.
“But you know, I think it’s amazing that its mess went so far. Don’t get too angry and give it a gentle ‘Bad Boy’ clap with the stick while watching its last moments with warm eyes.”
“Mhm~ Okay— Don’t do bad things again!”
Like Elni-oneechan had told me to, I gave the crystal ball a small and gentle clap.
Instantly, the crystal ball cracked a bit— then burst open with a bright light. Elni-oneechan and I were bathed in that light and couldn’t keep our eyes open due to that brightness. But strangely enough, my body felt warm and fluffy. It was really comfortable.
When I slowly opened my eyelids amidst that, Elni-oneechan was no longer next to me and a snow-white scenery spread in my vision. Where was I? I was still in my dream, wasn’t I? I walked around while looking around restlessly, when I suddenly
“…Brother.”
saw a beloved smiling face in front of me. It might be because of my fluffy feeling. I rushed straightaway to my brother and clung to him spoilt.
“You know, Brother, a lot of amazing stuff happened today.”
There was so much I wanted to tell him. He might think I was childish, but I wanted him to praise me. But I was bad with words and didn’t know if I conveyed it properly. However, even so… Brother smiled a bit.
“Sounds like a great adventure. You must be tired, Nazuna. How about you take a rest now?”
He patted my head with his big hand like always. Then he said “Thanks for protecting me” embarrassed in a small voice, but it made me really happy.
My brother was the best after all. He was kind, soft and gentle. Still feeling fluffy, I thought of a something little bit embarrassing:
…I’m really glad to be Brother’s little sister.
Because I was his little sister, I could stay with him forever. Such a thought crossed my mind. Brother would always be a family to me. My precious family and beloved brother.
“…Brother… stay with me forever…”
A quiet mutter left my own mouth. My precious wish that was more important than becoming an enchantress. My feelings that hadn’t changed a bit since my childhood. The moment I put it into words, my vision softly turned snow-white as to announce the end of my dream…

* * *

When I woke up from my dream and opened my eyes, I caught sight of the familiar ceiling of my room. I sat up on my bed and looked down. It was only natural, but I saw my usual pyjama and not the magical girl costume. I let my look wander to the magic stick on my desk from yesterday.
…At the end, it was a pretty sweet dream. I remembered everything vividly. Maybe due to that I wanted Brother to pat my head in reality too.
While I was smiling to myself on the bed, there was a knock on the door and the door opened after that, giving way to Elni-oneechan. She looked at me with “Morning” and smiled brightly as ever.
“Hey, Nazuna. Since it’s a holiday, why don’t you get up already and play with me?”
Elni-oneechan had smiled a lot with me even in my dream.
Unlike the dream, she couldn’t fly as expected, but I got off the bed while feeling how a smile formed on my face, and couldn’t stop myself from embracing her as I wanted her to hear everything about the dream.
“You see, Elni-oneechan, I actually had a really incredible dream.”
Pulling her on the hand and sitting down on the bed with her, I told her about my dream.
During that, she frequently changed her expression, sometimes laughed and happily gave agreeable responses. After she listened to everything, she put her hand on her chin with a serious look.
“But it could be that everyone actually wants to have personalities like in your dream.”
“…What do you mean?”
“Kaorun’s pretty sharp. She noticed how everyone wanted to be and how they pictured their ideal selves, so she said that she would change everyone’s personality with magic yesterday. So I think it’s quite likely that everyone will try to be their ideal selves and turn into the personalities from your dream in time— Just kidding.”
“Ahaha, even I could tell that you were joking. I mean, Luna-oneechan was a S&M Queen, you know? With a whip and all.”
Like that, we chatted for a while, then Elni-oneechan left for now and I got changed. I went out into the hallway and down the chairs, where I ran into Machina-oneechan.
Of course she wasn’t dressed like in my dream. She was a strong-willed beauty as always. But when I clung to her with a “meow” purr, she softly returned the embrace.
“Fufu, you’re such a spoilt child… Mm, KISS…”
She kissed my cheek once like in a greeting. I was way happier about this kind of physical contact compared to the dream. After spoiling myself a little bit in her big breasts, I went to the living room by myself.
Come to think of it, Luna-oneechan had been really intense in my dream. But how rude. Luna-oneechan wasn’t a Queen. I was sure she would soothe me like always when I meet her.
I moved into the living room while humming. When I showed up there like always, the familiar room had… the Queen from my dream standing there.
“…Eh? Huh? It was a dream, or not?”
Luna-oneechan looked exactly the same as in the dream. A bondage fashion showing a lot of skin and a whip in hand. When our eyes met, I got the feeling that I saw a sadistic glimpse in her clear eyes. At that moment, I vividly recalled the dream and shivered my body.
“E- Elni-oneechan wasn’t joking. To think that Luna-oneechan wanted to become a S&M Queen… You plan to confine Brother now, aren’t you?”
“Eh? What are you saying, Nazuna-chan— Ah, why are you running away? Please wait! I think you have the wrong idea! Kaoru-san forced this outfit onto me…”
As if I would allow the same from the dream to happen. Luna-oneechan seemed to say something in a shrill voice behind me, but I had no time to pay it any mind. Brother was in a predicament even in reality. I quickly ran up the stairs— towards my beloved brother.

Continue with Volume 13