Chapter 85: Volume 11 - CH 4

January 1st. If there was a ranking which words would be the most prominently used on that day, it would surely be ‘Happy New Year!’ as your top spot, followed by ‘Give me New Year’s money!’ as a close second. Naturally, the one event to consider on this day is the first shrine visit of the year. At the very least, when it comes to a normal family.

In our family, we had the tradition of doing a ‘Human Mochi Pounding Contest!’. Basically a type of training, with Kureha and Mom doing a power bomb on the training mat, using my head as the mochi. However, this year Mom isn’t home. The other criminal, Kureha, is out at the Narumi house. She must have enjoyed it there, so she’ll probably stay there until the rebuilding of our home is done. As long as she doesn’t bother them.

Either way, because the feminine commander isn’t home, I managed to greet a safe and secure New Year’s. She’s probably eating mochi under the kotatsu. And now, New Year’s Day has arrived.

“…Cold.”

It was currently 10.23 am. Christmas had passed us by, and while shivering in the cold breeze, I gazed at the white breath coming out of my mouth. Of course, I wasn’t all alone in my sentiments, after all—I was at a public shrine. Ironically enough, it’s the same shrine where Schrö-senpai gave me a full-blown smack to the face. I was waiting for a certain individual at the lower part of the stairs—Namely, Suzutsuki Kanade.

Similar to Christmas, she and Konoe should be home over New Year’s with their families, and yet she suddenly called me over. Not to mention that it’ll apparently be only the two of us today. Masamune was busy making dinner since this morning, and Konoe was busy with her own work at the residence, so she couldn’t join us.

“…Hm?”

There, my smartphone in my pocket suddenly started vibrating. I heard the familiar ‘The Godfather’ theme, belonging to none other than Suzutsuki Kanade. Speak of the devil, but literally.

“Hello?”

When I pressed the answer button with frozen fingers, I immediately heard an eerie ‘Hehe’ from the other end.

‘Happy new year, Jirou-kun.’

“Yeah, happy new year.”

‘So cold. This is our first talk this year, you know?’

“What’s it matter? We don’t need to be considerate of each other, right?”

After all, we’ve been living together for an entire month. Even if you’re close, there’s still a glimmer of respect you should probably offer the other person, but she’s never showing any signs like that, so I don’t care. I’m not playing along with some sadist.

“So, why are you calling me? Gonna be late?”

‘It’s fine, I already decided that I wouldn’t participate in the event at home.’

“…Event?”

‘The Suzutsuki Family New Year Hidden Talent Contest’.

“The heck, that sounds interesting!”

‘We also have pokori.’

“You better hide that!”

‘Our top rank last year was Ichigo.’

“Wah, I can only imagine…”

‘Her special talent was sawing people in half magic.’

“Sounds pretty terrifying to me, alright!”

Rather than magic, it sounds like some kind of experiment from some cult. Ichigo-san seems the perfect match for the role of the villainess. She even has her eye bandage.

“Is that why Konoe is busy?”

‘Yes. I want her to work hard. If she doesn’t get some good laughs, I’m expecting a punishment.’

“You really don’t hold back.”

‘I’ll have her change her name from Konoe Subaru to Konoe Suberu.’

“No restraint at all!”

I don’t even want to imagine her name turning to ‘Suberu-sama’ after the winter break is over.

‘Well, I doubt Nagare would accept that.’

“Hm? Is the old fart back?”

Konoe Nagare—Konoe Subaru’s father, and another butler of the Suzutsuki Family. If memory serves right, he wasn’t home when I was working as their servant, as he was following his own master, namely Suzutsuki’s father.

‘Indeed. I met him over Christmas, but he still can’t stand even the thought of you.’

“That’s not even a shock anymore this late into the game.”

‘…Hey, Jirou-kun, can I ask you something?’ Suzutsuki suddenly spoke up with a serious tone. ‘Why does Nagare hate you that much?’

“If I knew that, I wouldn’t have this much trouble, alright!”

‘Hehe, you might be right. But, he clearly hates you far too much. After all…he ignored my orders.’

“Huh? Ignored your orders…He did something so unlike him?”

‘Yes, do you remember? Back in April in the leisure land, he beat you to a pulp, right?’

“…I sure do, yeah.”

Or rather, how could I forget? Honestly speaking, it was a fresh experience to get beaten up by someone outside my family. Even tasting the regret after losing. After all, it happened in a single strike. I only got to hit him once myself. And who knows, maybe that attack didn’t even have any effect on him. That was the first time I ever learned of my own weakness. That’s why, after that incident, I’ve been training myself even without Mom around. Then again, I still kept losing against Konoe and Kureha.

‘I’m sorry, I know that it was to get rid of Subaru’s trauma, but we did something horrible to you. However…there’s also the part of Nagare ignoring my orders. I ordered him to hold back against the friend of Subaru who will arrive eventually.’

“Wha…”

The heck is up with that? The old man was dead serious. I’m not an amateur when it comes to fighting. I can at least fight back when attacked. And, Konoe Subaru was undoubtedly serious. He was trying to defeat me no matter what it took.

‘Honestly speaking, I’ve had my doubts for quite some time. On the final day of summer break, I remember thinking about it. But, I couldn’t make any sense of it.’

“…Maybe he’s just that much of a helicopter parent?”

He couldn’t allow any man to get close to his beloved daughter? It sounds mighty plausible, knowing the man. Or maybe he couldn’t stand how I got up again and again.

‘Well, most likely.’

From across the call, I felt like I heard Suzutsuki nod along. And then, her voice sounded a lot more cheerful compared to before.

‘By the way, Jirou-kun, I’m already at the shrine.’

“Eh, really?”

‘Yes. That’s why, come up the stairs, I’ll be waiting there.’ She said, and hung up the call.

That damn Suzutsuki. She could have told me sooner if she’s here already. I’ve been freezing my butt off out here. With these thoughts in my head, I walked up the stairs. As expected, a lot of people were also doing their first shrine visit of the year. It’s going to be a lot of work to try and find Suzutsuki in this mess. Though, her looks might help me out a bit.

“Would you like some sweet sake?” Suddenly, a voice called out to me.

Standing there was a single shrine maiden. Hmmm…I rarely get to see these clothes in real life, what a treat. The contrast between red and white is a blessing for the eyes. I guess Eastern-themed clothes really look good on Japanese people. When I got a better look at the girl—I realized that it was Suzutsuki Kanade, wearing a shrine maiden’s uniform.

“……” First thing in the new year, and I was already at a loss for words.

Weird, am I still dreaming or something? What a weird dream to have first thing in the new year. I would rather have preferred something more tame. Why did it have to be this rich lady? Ahhh, my bad luck of the new year is showing. Couldn’t I have had anything better than this?

“Jirou-kun, can you stop trying to run away from reality one minute after meeting me?” Suzutsuki easily guessed my thoughts, as she showed me a grin.

Wah, what is this. She’s way too cute. Her long black hair fit her shrine maiden clothes even better. I’d definitely come visit the shrine on a daily basis if they had a shrine maiden like her. They should make a campaign with her as the cover girl.

“…What are you doing?”

“Come on, you can’t tell?” Suzutsuki twirled on the spot, showing off her clothes.

Did she go to the New Year’s festival yesterday? No, she’s not the type to cosplay like that. So basically…

“…Working part-time?”

“Correct. Narumi-senpai actually introduced me to this job.”

“Why Schrö-senpai!?”

“You didn’t know? She’s not here this year, but she usually works here as a shrine maiden every year. While screaming ‘This year, I’ll be part of the 12 zodiacs!’.”

“Whatever she’s saying doesn’t make any sense…”

“Well, she supposedly likes these sorts of events. The people of the shrine are thankful as well.”

“…Were they now?”

“Ever since she started working here part-time, the number of visitors has gone up 40% or something like that.”

“How does that even work!?”

“Some of the maniacs started calling her ‘Shrine Maidinger-san’, and started praying to her.”

“Wrong target!”

“The single ‘I’ll turn you into MikkoMikko!’ broke records last year…”

“The shrine is totally up for this, huh!?”

Why are they releasing CDs? They clearly started a business here. What is this, are they starting a new cult? Well, I can see that a small and energetic Schrö-senpai wearing shrine maiden clothing might look cute. Also, does she actually enjoy cosplaying by any chance? She went out looking like Santa Claus before.

“Well, she’s busy with her entrance exams this year, so she couldn’t work.”

“Oh yeah, she plans to study overseas, right.”

I feel like she mentioned something like that before during the sports festival. Something about ‘wanting to see more of the world’, a motive that’s very much like her, I guess.

“That being the case, I filled the hole. What do you think? Does it look good?” The rich lady flashed an angelic smile.

“……”

Crap, is this the birth of ‘Shrine Maidentsuki-san’? She should just join Schrö-senpai to form the group ‘TWO MIKOS’.

“Fufu, you probably gave me some weird name like ‘Shrine Maidentsuki-san’, right? Sadly, that’s not it.” Suzutsuki guessed my thoughts, and showed a grin, pointing at me. “I am—Godtsuki-san.”

“You ranked up to become a God now!?”

“Not exactly, but I am a shrine maiden right now, basically working in the divine realm. As I am supporting the gods, it wouldn’t be weird to receive that name, right?” Godtsuki-san puffed out her chest.

O-Oh my lord, to think I would see the birth of Godtsuki-san. I thought she was the devil when I first met her, but she now named herself to be a goddess.

“Of course, my special technique is biting.”

“So lame!”

“Nom!”

“Don’t bite me! Especially not my neck!”

“By the way, one bite will be an offering of 50,000 yen.”

“What an awful Goddess you are!”

I guess there’s evil deities out there. I don’t see any good coming from following that goddess.

“Well, leaving all the jokes aside, since you’re here, let’s get our first shrine visit of the year done.”

“I don’t mind, but what about your part-time job?”

“I just entered my break. I’ve been working since this morning.” Suzutsuki said, taking my hand in an all-too natural fashion.

Because she had worked until now, her palm felt warm, and comforting.

“Jirou-kun, your body has cooled down quite a bit, huh.”

“It’s because you made me wait so long.”

“Hehe, I’m sorry. I wanted to surprise you.”

“Well, you sure succeeded in that.”

Did she really have to work part-time simply to surprise me for that? Why can’t she direct that passion elsewhere? I hope she at least aims to become a comedian in the future.

“But, I wasn’t simply working here to surprise you, Jirou-kun. It’s also to cure your gynophobia.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” I asked, while setting foot onto the stone path.

Following that, Suzutsuki showed me a dazzling smile.

“I figured that, in order to cure your gynophobia, our best choice would be to pray to the gods.”

“……”

Hold on a damn second. Asking the gods for help? Really?

“Do you have a better idea? Subaru, Usami-san, and I have been living together with you, but your gynophobia doesn’t improve at all.”

“Urk…My bad.”

Being stabbed where it hurt, I could only apologize. But…just a bit more. I feel like it’s getting close to disappearing. However, so was the time we had left. Winter break is going to end soon, so I’d prefer to have it gone before that, but…

“Don’t worry.” A dignified voice interrupted my thoughts, as Suzutsuki took my hand, strongly. “We can cure it.”

“Suzutsuki…” I went silent, simply staring at her face.

I see…so she’s fully intent on helping me…

“After all—I’ll be going all out today.”

“……”

Okay, stop. I heard something awfully ominous just now, but why is that?

“Um, Suzutsuki? What do you mean by that, may I ask?”

“Isn’t that obvious? I will make you go crazy for me today!”

“That makes even less sense!”

Also, she wasn’t serious before!? Waaaaaaah, now I’m terrified! I mean, I feel like she’s been going all out lately. Deretsuki-san at full power, may I add. She was making an appeal to the point even I felt embarrassed.

“With Subaru and Usami-san around, I just feel embarrassed, so I can’t be serious.”

“D-Don’t tell me, is this why we came here alone today?”

“Exactly. That’s why—” She hugged me like a koala clinging to its tree.

And then, she whispered into my ear with a voice sweet enough to melt my brain.

“You better prepare yourself today, okay?”

“……”

Yeah, my luck with women is the first it’s ever been. I don’t even need to pull my fortune for this year. Damn, how many more years am I going to continue this tradition? I thought I had enough trouble with the women in my family, but I guess that was just the beginning.

“……”

Still, even if she says she’ll be going all out, there’s no way she can do something so bold as the noble lady she is…

“Ah, by the way, I’m not wearing any underwear beneath my uniform.”

“!?”

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“This is my New Year’s gift for you.”

“……”

“How is it, Jirou-kun? When I cling to you like this, you should be able to feel the sensation of my breasts almost directly, right?” She pressed my arm right between her own arm and breasts.

…No joke. Deretsuki…No, Godtsuki-san is no joke. Eh? But, wait? She’s not wearing underwear…That has to be a lie, right? I mean, it would be one hell of a New Year’s gift, pressing her soft, marshmallow-like breasts directly onto me, but…She wouldn’t do that, right?

“Don’t worry, I was just making that up.”

“Yeah…I figured. There’s no way you would…”

“I’m at least wearing panties.”

“So you’re not wearing a bra!?”

“What’s the problem, I’m a shrine maiden right now.”

“Your consciousness of being a shrine maiden is absolutely messed up!”

You’re going to melt my brain away at this rate. I can hear the temple bell ringing not just 108 times in my head.

“Now, let’s offer our prayers, should we?”

Since we reached the offerings box, Suzutsuki finally let go of me. This is bad for my heart, seriously. Even without my gynophobia, I don’t think I would be able to take this for too long. My heart is going into overtime mode. I’m worried I might get a heart attack.

“Hey, what did you wish for?”

After we finished giving our prayers and made our wishes, Suzutsuki suddenly asked me that.

“Well, something along the lines of ‘I hope I get rid of my gynophobia soon’.”

“Meta.”

“Shut up. That’s my main goal right now. What about you then?”

“Eh? Me…?” There, Suzutsuki blushed. “I wished that you and I could be together forever.”

“……”

No no, you don’t need to make up nonsense like that—is what I was about to say, but seeing her serious expression, I couldn’t say that. She’s serious. There’s no way she was joking. I haven’t been living together with her for a month for nothing. I can tell how she truly feels with just her expression alone. Though my rate of success isn’t that great.

“But, that’s not all.” Suzutsuki suddenly said. “I also want to be together with Subaru, Usami-san, Kureha-chan, and everybody else working at my residence.”

“Sure sounds noisy.”

“What’s it matter? At least it won’t be boring. I want this kind of daily life to continue.”

“……”

Daily life, huh…Just as Suzutsuki said, life right now is fun. It’s so fun…it’s almost scary. I’m scared of these days ending one day. Of when I have to bring an end to it.

“Jirou-kun, how about we pull our fortunes?”

As I was lost in my thoughts, Suzutsuki suddenly pulled me along, taking me to a small stall near the shrine. Hmm, fortune slips, huh? That reminds me, I got somewhat bad luck last year. In April, I was almost beat to death by the old man; in May I was run over by a truck, and hospitalized; in June I was hit by Masamune’s motorbike; in July…yeah, you know what, let’s just stop it there. It wasn’t just somewhat bad luck. Not even Jack S*arrow would run into this much trouble while travelling the sea.

“Okay, please pull out one of the sticks with the numbers on it.” Suzutsuki got back into her shrine maiden mood, and offered me the box.

It seems like their principle was to take the number pulled, and bring the fortune from the back of the stall. I took out a stick, and—

“Hehe, number 13, I see.” Suzutsuki personally brought me my fortune slip.

Alright, I’m begging you, gods up above. Give me some good luck this year. You need to make up for all the hellish stuff that happened last year. With these thoughts, I looked at my fortune slip, and…

—[Daikyuu1].

“……”

Phew man, this is actually amazing. First time I got terrible luck in my life. Maybe I really am cursed? Maybe I should go for an exorcism since I’m here already?

“Get a better look at it, there’s something even more interesting.”

“More interesting?” I asked, and read through the words on the fortune slip.

So, for studying it says…’Redo from grade school’…huh.

“……”

Um, excuse me, I’ve never seen such advice on a fortune slip before. What about health…

‘You will have your left shoulder dislocated by your younger sister’s wrestling move.’

“That’s a tad bit too specific, right!?”

“You’re right, this fortune slip sure is close to the mark.”

“Now I’m scared to ever leave my room again!”

It’s terrifying especially because I could totally see it happening. You know my little sister, I might just suffer that injury tomorrow. Also, this fortune slip, could it possibly be…I felt uncertain about something, but continued to read my love section next.

‘Since a girl confessed to you, you ought to give her a proper response. Do your best, Jirou-kun – by Suzutsuki Kanade.’

“Suzutsukiiiiiiiii!?”

“My, what’s wrong? Why are you screaming like that?”

“Don’t give me that ‘What’s wrong?’, oi! You wrote this, huh!?”

“Where is the proof?”

“In the ‘by Suzutsuki Kanade’ right at the end!”

“Oh my, how careless of me.”

“You weren’t even trying to hide it, right!”

Forging a fake fortune slip like that, to think she’d set me up like that…First day of the year, and I already get pranked…

“I’m sorry, your real fortune slip is over here.” Suzutsuki showed a gleeful smile, and offered me my fortune slip.

Seems like she had that one prepared beforehand, huh. Maybe she’s more fit to be a magician than a shrine maiden. Her skills rival David Copperfield.

“What does it say?”

“Let me see…Um…Ohh! Daikichi2!”

“Daichicken? Even if you are a chicken bastard, I doubt it’ll actually say that.”

“Don’t create weird words out of sheer boredom!”

What the hell is daichicken even supposed to be? Like hell I’d let there be such a messed up fortune.

“Your retorts are as sharp as always.” Suzutsuki let out a snicker.

She looked like she was having fun.

“………”

Well, maybe my fortune slip wasn’t that far off the mark. I got to see her smile after all. Hearing her honest feelings, and seeing her genuine smile, I—

“…? What’s wrong, why is your face red?”

“I-It’s nothing!” I tried to hide my embarrassment, and looked away from her.

…Damn it, not fair. Her smile really is too cute. Even more so if it came from the bottom of her heart.

“Now then, we finished pulling your fortune slip, so let me show you around the shrine premises.” Suzutsuki took my hand, and started walking ahead.

While holding hands, I felt her warmth, and we walked ahead again.

“………”

In my head, the words on the fortune slip replayed.

‘You ought to give her a proper response.’

…Yeah, I know. Of course I do. She needs the answer to her confession. Once the whole gynophobia ordeal is over, I can give all of them my answer.

“……”

But, is that really fine? A doubt popped up in my head. Just as Suzutsuki said, the days we are spending together right now are exceptionally fun. It’s a bit chaotic and noisy, but I like spending these days together. However…

“………”

What will happen to this daily life if I gave her my response? Maybe it’ll break apart after all. Like it never had existed in the first place, like there was never anything to begin with, but simple void—breaking apart like a castle of sand…

“Jirou-kun.” Suzutsuki called out to me with a gentle voice. “Don’t think about it too much.”

“………”

“You just be honest with us. Don’t hesitate, and live while following your own feelings. That’s what I wish for you, after all—I like you for who you are.”

“…Suzutsuki.”

Before I realized it, she had stopped in her tracks. We reached the backside of the shrine premises. Even though the front was filled with people everywhere, not a single soul could be spotted back here. Well, there was no need to come back here, so that does make sense.

“Oh yeah, Jirou-kun…have you realized?” Suzutsuki started speaking.

“About what?”

“Usami-san, of course. She’s changed.”

“Yeah, she did open up a lot…”

“No, not just that. After all—she can’t figure out if I’m lying again or not.”

“……” I swallowed my breath.

“I realized it with the Suzutsuki Revolution incident. Back then, she believed that Subaru and I were lovers. Even though I lied, she still put her faith into it. The reason she became like that—is you.”

“Me?”

“Yes. You and Kureha-chan have been living together with her for a month right after moving out of my residence. Thanks to that, she opened up a lot more towards other people. She was much more cold and distant before.”

“……”

Just as Suzutsuki said, Masamune opened up a lot towards us. Of course, it’s not just us. The same goes for Konoe and Suzutsuki, and the other club members. And now, she can’t even see through Suzutsuki’s nonsense anymore, which means…

“The reason she managed to see through my nonsense is because she was always on guard when it came to other people. However, she’s different now. She became able to trust others.”

“Yeah, it’s true that she was always wary around you.”

The Masamune of the past always had trouble believing others. That’s why this rich lady’s nonsense never worked on her. Because she’s always been careful around her, assuming that she was lying. Now, things are different. Masamune changed, and became friends with Suzutsuki and Konoe.

“However, being too gullible is also a problem. Not everybody is a saint out there, so trusting people without any condition is dangerous.”

“……”

“That being said, if you don’t open up your heart to anybody at all…It’ll just be exhausting. It sounds so simple, but you can’t live on without ever trusting anybody. It’ll tear you apart.”

“………”

It sounded like she told these words herself rather than spoke about somebody else. After all, Suzutsuki Kanade and Usami Masamune are similar. Just like Masamune blocked off people so that they wouldn’t approach her, Suzutsuki put on a mask so that the people around her wouldn’t see who she truly was. However.

“Should be fine then.” I said, like it was the logical conclusion. “Masmaune is fine now. At the very least, she is putting faith in us now, and we do the same to her. On top of that…you’re our friend now as well.”

“……” Suzutsuki remained silent, simply listening to my words.

“Just as you said, it’s not a good thing to easily trust others. But, everybody needs someone like that. We’re all saying that, all are like that, not just you or Masamune.”

Living all alone isn’t fun. That kind of life is boring, uninteresting, not worth living. That’s why we search for people we can trust, become friends. It’s a simple conclusion. Suzutsuki must have realized this herself. After all, Masamune isn’t the only one who has changed, she has as well. Suzutsuki Kanade did as well. She chose to muster up her courage, which is why she’s here with me right now.

“You’re right. I’m happy to have you as a friend, as someone I can trust.”

“Huh, I didn’t expect you to be this honest.”

“Fufu, I told you before, I’ll go all out today. That means I’ll say whatever I want to.”

“Really now.”

“That being the case, Jirou-kun.” Suzutsuki let go of my hand. “It’s cold, so warm me up.” She suddenly clung to my body, head-on.

“…You really don’t hold back at all.”

“It should be fine for at least today. Not to mention that this is all part of your treatment. Also, I can warm myself up like this, so I’m happy.” She said, and wrapped her arms around my body.

This allowed me to feel her warmth, as well as the beating of her heart. I’m sure that these must be her honest feelings.

“Hey, Jirou-kun.” While hugging me, she spoke up. “Once winter break is over, and your gynophobia is fixed…Would you let me hear the answer to my confession?”

“…Yeah, of course.” I nodded without hesitation.

This winter break might just be the final few days we can spend together in peace. Konoe, Suzutsuki, Masamune, and I. With the responses to the confessions, everything might come breaking down. There’s no guarantee that everything will work out. That’s how reality works. But even so…

“……”

They want their answers, I’m sure. After all, keeping things vague never helped anybody. That’s why they spend the past month all together. I don’t think that curing my gynophobia was the only reason they wanted to live together. It was to continue these days just a bit longer. The final day might arrive soon enough—

“…But.” Suzutsuki spoke up, sounding worried. “Maybe—it might not be such a clean ending.”

“What do you mean?”

“This is just my thought process, but you got rejected by Subaru before, right? I thought she did it simply out of consideration for my—her master’s—feelings. And, I’m sure that’s one part of it…but not all.”

“Is there…any other reason besides caring for you?”

“Yes. Most likely, she’s having trouble with a problem even I can’t figure out. Who knows, maybe she still is troubled by that at this very moment. After all…” Suzutsuki said, only to go silent. “…No, nevermind. Telling you that probably wouldn’t be fair at all.”

“…Really now. Well, you don’t need to tell me.”

“Fufu, I don’t want to corner you. After all, I might just plot something in the background, right.”

“That’s fine, after all…I believe you.” I said what I felt.

“…You really are too good for your own good, Jirou-kun.”

“Probably.”

“Then, you won’t get angry if I hug you a bit more?”

“Yeah, of course not.”

“…Fufu, thank you.” She said, and buried her face in my chest.

While feeling her warmth, I started thinking. Today is January 1st. Winter break will end, and the new term starts on January 5th. Naturally, time never stops, so we’ll soon reach that day. And…

“……”

Winter—the season that I spend with them—will end.

1 Terrible/very bad luck

2 Excellent luck

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