Chapter 183: Chapter 182: Summer

Since school let out, I’ve been spending much of my time catching up on everything before we leave for the summer house. Between dealing with things in my role as Queen, DTI, and various other things, I’ve been rather busy. Kei, Jim, and their families have flown out to meet us at my palace on Yakushima prior to us leaving. Suffice it to say that Honoka, Sofi, Kei, and Jim have been almost continuously holed up in their rooms. Making up for the lost time, I’m sure. Not that I blame them in the least, even if they did see them on the weekends during school.

[June 30, Friday]

I should mention that the staff for the summer house has been expanded by quite a bit. Kyoko has two assistant cooks, Alexis and Yoko. Maho and Hina also have several other maids, Yuko, Aiko, Emiri, Kathy, Amelia, and Emmy. Plus, we have two butlers as well, Mark and Thomas.

So, the guest list was confirmed yesterday. It’s a fairly extensive list of the people close to me. Of course, there is our family, George and Anne, Mayumi and Kazuto, Maki and Kinji, Jim, Kei, Jenny and Mark. Katsuo and his family, Yui and her now fiance Bob, Miyuki and Hiroki, Mirai, Hiro, Erica, and finally, Kei’s and Jim’s parents. As you can see, as huge as this place is, we’ve nearly filled almost all of the rooms. The wedding is set for Friday, July 7th, and everyone’s looking forward to it. I’m not exaggerating when I say, Honoka and Sofi are glowing with happiness.

I haven’t mentioned Miyuki much lately, but she moved in with her father long ago. Dad had a house built for them close to my palace on Yakushima, and she attends school there. She’s made quite a few friends and is quite happy, especially since Hiroki and his family also moved to my island.

They’ve built a fairly large landing pad for us, thanks to Dad, which has enough room for 6 aircraft the size of the Peregrine. Jason, who is the commander of the Queen’s guard, is much happier since we don’t have to land at the public airport, and then there is the other part of it, too. It’s much better since they can evacuate us much faster if necessary.

Anyway, a short hop over to the house, and we make our way inside where the new staff introduce themselves. Then, they head out to gather our bags. Once they have, they take them up to our rooms, and at least in Ryu’s, Chinatsu’s, and my case, they unpack everything while we have an early lunch.

After we rest for a bit, we change into our swimsuits and head out to the beach to play until Alexis comes out at 5:00 to call us in for dinner. We girls slip on our cover-ups, and all of us make our way up to the deck and seat ourselves. It’s a couple of minutes later when Kyoko, Alexis, and Yoko set the platters on the table, which is grilled spotted trout, baked potatoes, mixed vegetables, and dinner rolls.

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We spend the next several days doing various activities, including playing on the beach, hiking, ziplining again -which Anne had a ball doing-, scuba diving, and going out to dinner and dancing,

The dinner and dancing were interesting, as both places were flooded with my guards before we ever got there. I have standing orders though that people can come up and talk to me when it isn’t going to interfere with other things that I might be doing. So, as you can surmise, I was approached many, many times during our night out. I happily held short conversations with them and posed for photos which were taken with just as many.

It still amazes me how many people are happy with the new government and the direction things are being taken. Yui and Anne have told me repeatedly how popular I am amongst the citizens, and it isn’t as if I don’t believe them, but I have to wonder how accurate it is.

You may remember that it was a year ago on the 4th of July that the commonwealth was founded. Congress passed legislation, which I signed, declaring the 4th a celebration and a kingdom holiday. With that in mind, we had a party on the beach, a cookout, and a huge display of fireworks. Yui told me that people were following suit throughout the commonwealth.

It’s very late when the party finally winds down, and Ryu, Chinatsu, and I make our way to our room. It’s been a long day, and we’re tired, so we merely undress, climb into bed, and cuddle together.

[Thursday, July 6th]

We spend the morning just as we do more often than not, by making love. After we shower and soak in the tub, Chinatsu and I dress in matching styles of blouses and skirts today. White button-up sleeveless, v-neck blouses and pleated skirts, forest green for me and red for her, along with white ankle socks and sports shoes while Ryu slips on a t-shirt, swimming trunks, and his beach shoes.

Chinatsu and I dressed for one simple reason, Mama’s taking us girls shopping today. None of the boys are invited to come along with us since we’re shopping for Honoka’s and Sofi’s wedding dresses. Plus Mama’s maid of honor dress, and Chinatsu’s and my bridesmaid dresses.

The Queen’s guard has already been deployed to all of the shops we told them we would be going to, along with the Peregrine’s pilots and additional guards who are on standby in case they have to extract us for some reason.

After searching through several shops, Mama was able to find 3 matching dresses in our respective sizes. What she ended up getting us are lilac-colored, A-Line, scoop neck, floor-length dresses in Chiffon. Chinatsu and I are quite happy with how we look in them.

Honoka and Sofi decide to get matching wedding dresses. So, they got sheath dresses that are ivory-colored, off-the-shoulder dresses with a 1-meter train along with waist-length veils.

With the shopping trip complete, we drive back to the house, change into our bikinis, throw on our cover-ups and beach shoes. Then, we head out to the beach to join everyone else.

[Friday, July 7th]

Waking up, I’m rather excited when I remember what today is. It’s not my day, but I’m so happy for Honoka and Sofi. Leaning over, I kiss Ryu and Chinatsu awake.

Smiling happily, I tell them, “Bonjour, mes amours ! Il est temps de se lever ! Nous avons une journée chargée devant nous !”

(Good morning, my loves! Time to get up! We have a busy day ahead of us!)

Chinatsu and Ryu have both been taking French in school and have gotten rather good at the language.

We had a late night, so Chinatsu murmurs, “Je suis debout, mais s’il te plaît, arrête-toi, Sora. Comment est-ce que tu peux être aussi énergique ce matin ?”
(I’m up, but please stop, Sora. How can you be so energetic this morning?)

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I giggle and smile at her. “Pourquoi je ne le serais pas ? Nos sœurs se marient aujourd’hui !”
(How can I not be? Our sisters are getting married today!)

Ryu groans and rolls his eyes. “On dirait que c’est nous qui nous marions. Calme-toi, Te voir bondir aussi tôt m’épuise déjà.”
(You would think it was us getting married. Calm down. Bouncing off the walls isn’t going to help anything. Just looking at you makes me tired.”

Smiling coquettishly, I climb on top of him, reach down, and trace his member lightly with my nails. I tilt my head and ask in a sultry tone, “Monsieur serait-il trop fatigué pour faire l’amour à ses femmes ce matin ?”
(Is mister too tired to make love to his wives this morning?)

In answer, he grins, then suddenly rolls me off of him, pins my arms above my head, and kisses me fiercely. Once he breaks the kiss, he nips my neck and whispers, “Jamais. Aucun homme sain d’esprit ne vous refuserait toutes les deux.”
(Never. No sane man would ever turn you two down.)

He goes back to nibbling my neck, interspersed with kisses as I wiggle around and huskily murmur, “J’attendais que tu le dises.”
(I was waiting for you to say that.)

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Two hours later, three very satisfied people are cleaned up and dressed. As we enter the dining room, we tell everyone, “Good morning.”

After everyone says, “Good morning,” Mama says, “Cutting it kind of close this morning, aren’t we?”

Chinatsu and I shrug, and Chinatsu says, “Not really. We have plenty of time until our salon appointment.”

We eat, and half an hour later, the ladies jump into the vehicles and head out to the salon to have our hair and makeup done.

I’m not going to go into any detail about the rest of the day. We return from the salon, and as we’re helping Sofi and Honoka get undressed, I tell them, “Hey, umm… So, here’s the deal. You two are no longer going to be guarding us.”

Their heads jerk around with a wide-eyed expression. I smile at them and continue, “It isn’t that you couldn’t continue to do it, or that you haven’t done an excellent job. Chinatsu and I had a long talk, and well, honestly, we’d much prefer you to simply be our sisters because we love you and it would break our hearts if something ever happened to you. We have so many people guarding us now, so we don’t see the need.”

Honoka frowns a bit longer, but finally nods. “As you wish, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t continue to watch over you.”

I smile. “I assumed you would say that. Listen, we love you, you already know that.” They nod. “That’s why I’m doing this. Regardless of the fact you two are getting married, we want nothing more than for you to be happy and safe. We have enough people to guard us. Hell, if the whole military and Queen’s guard can’t protect us, then nothing can… Umm… One more thing. Both of you, please kneel.” They look confused, but immediately kneel. “Do you acknowledge me as your true and rightful Queen?”

They both look even more confused, but answer, “I do.”

“Do you pledge fealty to me, and swear your undying allegiance to me and my successors?”

They look at each other for a moment, then look back at me. “I do.”

“Then repeat after me. ‘I, [your name], do solemnly swear and pledge my loyalty to Queen Sora, my rightful Queen, and to her progeny, to obey until death shall take me’.”

They repeat the oath.

I smile as I touch Honoka’s shoulder. “Then, I dub thee, Honoka Kobayashi, Marchioness of Kami.” I turn and touch Sofi’s shoulder. “I dub thee, Sofia Kobayashi, Marchioness of Yaku.” I take a step back and motion for them to stand as I say, “Arise, Lady Sofia, and Lady Honoka.”

If you don’t know, Kami is the capital of Yakushima. That’s where my palace and the congressional house are located. Yaku is the one other major city there, it’s where the combined headquarters of DTI and TGR has been relocated. Yaku is also home to a very large combined Marine and Space Force base. Yakushima now has a ‘heavily vetted’ population of over 3 million. The background checks and interviews they have to pass would make the Crown Intelligence Service members wince. The Queen’s guard, in other words, Jason, is taking no chances with my safety.

They stand up looking a little dumbstruck, and I hug them, followed by everyone else hugging and congratulating them.

We finish getting them dressed, and then the rest of us get dressed as well. The ceremony is being held at Kauki Cathedral. Dad meets us at the entrance, and Mama, Chinatsu, and I take our places. The music begins shortly after, and Dad escorts them down the aisle.

They exchange vows with Kei and Jim, and then we all head back to the house for the reception. Just like when we had our blessing ceremony, it’s being held on the deck. Dinner, dancing, and many flutes of champagne later, I’m quite tipsy.

The party continues long into the evening, even though the newlywed couples disappeared around 9:00.

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