Tsuki Tsuki Vol 11 Chapter 3

Chapter 03: Sorry, everyone…

Escaping from the lonely room she was shut in, the little girl went on a trip. She thought that she would make a new family from now on. She believed so.
The normal everyday life she had always yearned for. This time she wouldn’t make her precious people cry. Never. She didn’t want to make them cry, yet in her memories, all her precious people were always crying.
Therefore the girl cast aside her precious people she had made at some point, suddenly disappearing from their sight with just leaving a thanks.
All the people, touched by her smile or enveloped by her kindness, had become strong. Even the boy who was called a failure. Even the crying woman. Even the man who wouldn’t laugh. They became so strong that they could live on alone now, even without the girl. So the little girl set out on her journey with a peace of mind.
And when the girl left, everyone cried loudly. But the girl knew. These tears wouldn’t continue on forever. Soon enough they would smile again. They would remember her smile too. That was enough. As long as she had memories with everyone, as long as everyone was smiling, she could keep on living with just that.
…It’s okay, I’ll be fine.
Convincing herself like that, the girl wanted everyone to remember her smiling face, so the girl kept enduring not to cry and went around all kind of places in the world, ignoring her own wish.
During that, only one boy looked for the girl without giving up. He kept chasing after her, finally shedding tears.
“Tell me why… Elni.”
The boy’s voice didn’t reach the girl. The pouring rain, the rain the girl had hated, washed away the voice of the boy while he stood just there crying his voice out…

A carefree walk home after school on a Friday. As usual, Machina was busy with work of the student council, so I went home alone after I dropped by the bookstore. Opening the front door, I raised my voice with “I’m home”, whereupon not Luna appeared straight from the living room, but Elni’s smiling face.
Reminded me, she said during breakfast that she was only going to work until noon today at the nursery school. I got the feeling that Luna said something about picking her up then, but oh well.
Elni peeked her face out. As soon as she noticed me, her cheeks flushed into a light pink and she came rus.h.i.+ng over like a dog that found his master, clinging to me with a bright smile.
“Welcome home, s.h.i.+n.o.bu! It was cold outside, wasn’t it? What’s my present today?”
“The fact that I returned safely with a smile. That’s the best present.”
“Yeah! Right! I’m happy too about your smile too!”
Regardless of me joking back to her joke about a present, Elni snuggled up to me like a spoiled cat. Sure, Elni was usually adorable, but was she ever this charming? While I got a bit agitated, Elni brightened her smile and continued.
“Listen, s.h.i.+n.o.bu, tomorrow is a holiday, so I’m going stargazing with Hijiri and Kaorun today after dinner. You’ll come along, right?”
“Of course, but speaking of, you already said that after the game tournament, didn’t you.”
But even without specially using her winner privilege, the girls would accept a normal invitation too, wouldn’t they? While thinking about that, I suddenly got bothered by something and made a casual question.
“Anyway, Luna unusually didn’t come to greet me, what’s up with her?”
“She’s having a special training in the living room. She’s really focussed on that.”
Special training? What was it? With my interest piqued, I headed for the living room at once, whereupon
“Hop~ Hop~♪“
Somehow, Luna was doing something weird in the very middle of the living room.
She waggled both her hands next to her head, probably mimicking rabbit ears, and was jumping right and left innocently. On a glance, she looked like a miss in a kids show.
However, every time she jumped, her voluminous b.r.e.a.s.t.s bounced to the left and right, swayed greatly and moved up and down jelly-like. Luna’s behaviour was incredible adorable and exquisitely erotic at the same time.
“The Rabbit looks at the moon with everyone~♪ Hop~ Hop~♪ wait, h- huh? s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san? Since when have you been there?“
“Just no, Bunny Girl. Hop~ Hop~” with that, I greeted her half teasingly, whereupon Luna quickly turned bright red and hastily shook both her hands, explaining.
“Th- This is a really popular game at the nursery school right now. When I picked up Elni-chan today, the boys called me ‘Cow woman’ and I thought I could get along with the children if I played a game together with them, so Elni-chan gave me special—”
“…Hop~ Hop~”
“Sh- s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san! Why are you laughing? Please listen properly!”
Luna turned even redder. It wasn’t good to tease her too much. But these shaking b.r.e.a.s.t.s. The kids wouldn’t call her “Miss b.o.o.bie” once she got along with them, would they?
While I feared that a bit, I casually s.h.i.+fted my gaze, whereupon there was a fancy bracelet laying on top of the heating table.
…I had seen a similar one before. Was it after the quarrel with the Old Man Bram during Machina’s student council election? I remembered Elni saying something about “It’s a charm that protects against a devil’s influence” and was making lots of them.
While I recalled that, suddenly the words of the Old Man’s words floated in the back of my mind.
—This time I wasn’t just indebted to you, but to Elni for various things as well. So I have to listen to a request of hers now. I’ll make it up to you after that.
—Be nice to Elni too. She’s a really… lonely girl.
Sc.r.a.ps of words that the Old Man told me after Machina’s election speech. Elni’s request to the Old Man. Until now, I had nearly forgotten about it. But I got the feeling that it was alright to forget about it. Elni had changed a bit recently.
Nowadays when Elni came home, she embraced Luna, who came to greet her with a smile. And when we came home, she welcomed us with a smile like Luna… and embraced everyone of us. I really believed that Elni had changed. Since the day I came to pick her up at the nursery school, she sometimes clung to me from behind. Just like right now.
After apologizing to Luna for teasing her, I got out into the garden and devoted myself to my martial arts exercises. During that, Elni brought my mother with her for some reason and both of them sat down on the lawn, closing their mouths and watching me in silence.
Elni’s silver hair fleetingly appeared in the corner of my vision. Bathed in the evening sun, that hair sparkled in a madder red and I was inadvertently captivated, so I stopped my exercise and turned my head around.
“Ehm, what are you two doing?”
“Mh? Watching your practice. You move really beautiful, so I don’t grow tired of watching it.”
“I think it’s you, who one can watch forever.”
While replying to Elni with partly true feelings, I s.h.i.+fted my gaze to my mother next.
“And you, Mom?”
“—Watching your practice. You move really beautiful, so I don’t grow tired of watching it.”
“What the? Imitating Elni? It’s not the least bit cute.”
I threw her some slightly harsh words as a joke, but surprisingly enough, she showed no signs of being angry and smiled faintly, turning her tone softly.
“But it really was a nice exercise. Both your moves and aura have changed. Until just recently, you tried to imitate your dad or grandfather, so you needlessly worked yourself up, which made your movements and aura stiff, yet now your shoulders are nicely relaxed. Like Elni had said… You might have grown stronger.”
Maybe Elni brought my mother here to show her my change. Hearing my mother’s words, Elni animated her voice proudly.
“See, just like I told you. Not so long ago I was a bit worried too, but s.h.i.+n.o.bu got stronger while keeping his kindness. Right now he’s really cool!”
“…You sure love s.h.i.+n.o.bu too, Elni.”
Widened her eyes a bit in surprise, my mother continued with a surprised “But”.
“I didn’t know you were worrying about him. Sure, it’s worrying how he’s always straining himself, but I’m more worried about Nazuna instead.”
“Yeah, since Nazucat has a lot of talent.”
Elni nodded agreeing with my mother. But I didn’t get it at all, so I doubtfully interjected into their conversation.
“Ehm, having talent isn’t really troubling, is it?”
“Of course it isn’t when it’s at a level, where you can enjoy looking at it. But when you see talent that takes your breath away, most people tend to draw a line with the word ‘Genius’, get envious of what they don’t have and selfishly hate or resent that someone, even though they don’t know the troubles behind it.”
I got the feeling that I somehow understood the meaning behind Elni’s words.
“And the opposite is even worse. Once they only see your talent, admire you and want to catch up, you can no longer be friends. You won’t be family anymore. You’ll be a lonely deity.”
…Lonely. Sadness filled Elni’s words. My mother, as that made her recall something, clouded her expression a bit with a sigh.
“My husband told me in the past: ‘I kept running ahead without knowing the weakness of others… and before I knew it, I was all alone.’ Just like my husband, Nazuna is needlessly strong, yet so frail at the same time. A strength that doesn’t go along with weakness is only dangerous…”
“Tomoe-san, Nazucat will be fine though.”
To deny my mother’s worries, Elni let her tone brim over with feelings.
“Nazucat knows of other’s weakness. She even knows the meaning of strength. She’s always been watching you two. Seeing s.h.i.+n.o.bu’s small back growing bigger before her eyes, she’s thinking that she wants to become like that too, isn’t she?”
Softly s.h.i.+fting her gaze towards me, she continued her words with “Besides”.
“Nazucat has you by her side, s.h.i.+n.o.bu. So she’ll be fine. It may be that you’re envious of her too. It may be hard to see a talent in Nazucat that you don’t have. But you won’t come to hate her. You’ll always be her big brother. While that’s only natural, it’s also something quite amazing, in my opinion.”
Like praying for someone else’s growth,
“…It’s limitless if you look above or below yourself. What’s important is the middle. To look at yourself. You were able to do that, s.h.i.+n.o.bu. You learnt how to do that…”
Still facing me, Elni smiled affectionate with “So I’m really happy”.
—What’s important is the middle. To look at yourself.
—You’re fine as you are, s.h.i.+n.o.bu.
Elni’s words right now overlapped with the feeling that Machina conveyed to me the other day… I could finally realize my own change. Most likely I had been able to move on my heart from my father and grandfather, who I had been so fixated on, and finally take a look at myself.
Probably due to that, my mother suddenly stood up from the lawn and looked at me.
“You really have changed. I also had some training to a certain extent, so I could somewhat tell by seeing your exercises just now. Without me knowing… you have become even stronger than me. I knew this would happen, but I’m surprised how fast it happened…”
Still looking at me, my mother filled her tone with warmth.
“Actually, ever since you returned to your grandfather’s doujo, I always thought that you would definitely become strong. That you would surpa.s.s me one day and become even stronger than your father.”
“…I never expected these words. I mean, I vented my anger about my own weakness on you. So why did you have such expectations for me…?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Coming closer to me, my mother declared strongly.
“Because you’re my son I’m so proud of.” with these words, my mother peacefully reached out her hand and started to gentle pet my head. Proud, happy… and pleased about my growth.
Her hand was really warm. I remembered being petted like this as a kid. I was a bit embarra.s.sed, but without forcing myself away from her, I recalled the old days, whereupon Elni suddenly said “…Having a mother is nice” isolated from over on the lawn where she was watching over us.
“Somehow, when I looked at you, Tomoe-san, I was reminded of my mother again. Though my mother wasn’t as strong as you, was clumsy and didn’t keep her promises…”
With a soft and radiant dearness,
“But she really resembled you, Tomoe-san, in the way she smiled gently, was easily moved to tears and loved her own child.”
Contrary to her boasting intimation,
“She was a really good mother. So I wanted to make her smile more, instead of only making her cry. I wanted to get my head petted like s.h.i.+n.o.bu…”
Contrary to her unwavering tone, I could only sense sadness from her expression. And seeing Elni like that, my mother slowly got onto the lawn.
“Hey Elni… Your mother’s already gone?”
“Yes. She died while crying. It happened a long time ago.”
Elni showed an indifferent smile, but she trembled her voice, whereupon my mother nodded a “I see…” quietly, slowly reaching out her hand towards her.
“Elni, if you like—”
Then it looked like my mother was going to tell her something important, but Elni hastily raised a “Ah!” voice, as to suddenly change the current atmosphere, then stood up with att.i.tude for whatever reason.
“Argh! Flashlights! I forgot to tell Kaorun about it!”
A voice way too loud for a monologue. As it was either really important or due to my mother’s clouded expression, Elni acted brightly with “I’ll call her” and right away went from the lawn into the house. Her back at that time looked really small for some reason…

Right after dinner, Elni rushed through the open door of the living room with “A mail from Hijiri! They’ll come pick up us with the car now!” and her cell phone in one hand, probably returning to her room. Then she returned wearing a coat and holding a plastic model in her hand now.
However, as soon as Elni declared everyone in the living room “I’m going stargazing with s.h.i.+n.o.bu, Hijiri and Kaorun!”, she hurriedly rushed to the front door while still smiling.
Using her winner privilege from the game tournament, Elni made a promise to go watch the stars tonight with Hijiri and Kaorun. I was going to tag along too, but it hadn’t even been a minute since Hijiri’s mail arrived. They wouldn’t be here this far, would they?
But I was sure that she couldn’t suppress her antic.i.p.ation. I thought that I should wait together with Elni for Hijiri and Kaorun then, so just like Elni, I went to the front door after I put on my coat in my room.
It must have been the plastic model she had been holding earlier. Elni put up the model on top of the shoe locker at the front door with a smile and I casually looked at it.
“Reminds me, that’s the one you wanted to present Machina the other day, but got rejected?”
“Yeah, so mean, right? I mean, it’s so cool. But it’s fine. From today on it’ll protect the Nanjou Household’s front door. Because I graduated from being a personal guard. I’m busy with my job at the nursery school. It’ll be the successor to Mad Dog.”
Elni touched the plastic model really gentle, yet a bit sad for some reason with “I’m counting on you”. On the other hand, I s.h.i.+fted my gaze to the model on the shoe locker again and knitted my eyebrows a bit.
For Elni’s successor it got a rather unsociable face…

…We really might need flashlights later on.
As we were at the foot of a mountain right now, it was still only half-dark. The lights of the cars that pa.s.sed by sometimes were appreciated too. But the trees besides the trail would probably block off the light from the stars while we aimed for the top of the mountain, making our footing dangerous.
Still, I knew we were going stargazing, but I wouldn’t have expected to take place on top of a mountain. By the way, I heard about the mountain climbing when I waited with Elni for Hijiri and Kaorun.
That said, Hijiri surely heard it from Elni beforehand. She properly wear jerseys fitting for walking on a mountain path. But as for Kaorun, even though we were going to climb a mountain now… she was wearing her usual maid clothes for some reason.
A bit worried, I pointed out “Isn’t a skirt too risky?”, but Kaorun said some nonsense of “I am a perfect maid, so it is alright” with a strangely convincing tone. With her driving, we sat in the rocking car for various minutes. After parking the car at the parking lot near the foot of the mountain, we right away headed for the mountain trail leading the top.
During that, Hijiri and I each got a flashlight, as Elni and Kaorun apparently brought a couple with them, then we started our mountain climbing together. Elni, the vanguard, excitedly proceeded with swift steps and Hijiri, following after her, warned her reserved.
“Elni, it’s dark here, so it’s dangerous to hurry too much.”
“I’m used to the mountains, so it’s okay. Besides, I came here a lot in the past. I’m confident that I can reach the top with my eyes closed! Since it’s a straight path!”
“Ah, Elni! It’s really dangerous if you run! Please slow down a bit!”
Even while warning her, Hijiri rushed after Elni, who had fallen in a small jog. Before I noticed it, I had been left all alone with Kaorun.
“…To be together with you, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama, in a place like this makes me feel in danger.”
“That’s what I should be saying, Perverted Maid!”
“No, no, I have all the right to say it. This is you we are talking about, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama. Surely you take advantage of the darkness to push me down forcefully while saying ‘Hah, Hah. These two won’t be back for a while. What do you say, Kaoru, let’s use this chance to make some bonding between Master and Maid. No one’s looking now’—”
“Kaorun, sorry to interrupt your fun, but I’m going on ahead.”
I was a bit worried about Hijiri and Elni. For now I ignored Kaorun’s delusions, whereupon
“…s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama, you will not be able to be this cold for long.”
After showing a somewhat sulking expression, she grabbed the hem of her skirt with one hand, fleetingly illuminating her beautiful legs with the flashlight in her hand.
While the alluring light poured on her long legs and soft and white thighs, Kaorun directed a lascivious smile at me with “Does it excite you?”. But I suppressed my true feelings and along with the behaviour of smoking a cigarette, I cracked a cold smile with “—And?”.
In that moment, Kaorun started to get sulky right away.
“What kind of reaction is that? That is way too cold. What do you think I went out of my to wear these maid clothes for? It was all to please your maid fetish, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama!”
“Say what? I don’t really have a maid fetish, you know? More importantly, shouldn’t we hurry after Elni and Hijiri? I’m worried about them.”
“…Even though you are all alone with me, you are only thinking about Hijiri-chan and Elni-san. Ignoring the maid, I see. Fine. If that is the att.i.tude you want to take, I have an idea.”
Huh? Was she pouting? Or was it her usual joke?
I couldn’t really tell with Kaorun. While I was a bit bewildered, she turned her back to me, put one hand on the trunk of a nearby tree and took a posture of lightly pus.h.i.+ng out her bottom.
…What was up with this s.e.xy pose?
I was a bit doubtful, whereupon Kaorun, whatever she was thinking, slowly pulled up the hem of her skirt with her free hand while still pus.h.i.+ng out her bottom towards me, and my vision fell onto well-formed hips clad in bewitching black panties.
“…H- Hey, stop it, Kaorun. What’re you doing?”
“Fufu, it does not excite you being with me, right? Just ignore me with your cigarette play again like earlier.”
Indifferent to my agitation, Kaorun smiled at me bewitching and pushed out her bottom even more to show it off to me.
Her defenceless exposed hips. While shaking them lascivious to the left and right and bouncing them up and down, Kaorun faced me teasing.
“If you are willing to apologize for your cold att.i.tude, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama…”
s.e.xily stopping her words, Kaorun continued with a long breath.
“this older girl here will make you feel real good with her bottom.”
Pretty much like putting on some kind of performance, Kaorun let her waist writhe. Matching to her movements, her plump hips trembled lovely like pudding as if they were tempting me.
“Please hurry up and apologize. Then I will let you fondle my bottom. You are allowed do whatever you want with my bottom, you know?”
Drawing fascinating circles with her voluminous bottom, Kaorun lightly flushed her cheeks.
“s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama, I guess that I should take off my underwear too, right? Then you will understand my charm better, right? Would you be kind enough to… please take off my panties?”
A bewitching sweet mumbling. A lascivious glance with s.e.xy flushed cheeks. On top of that, the light of a car, randomly pa.s.sing-by nearby, brightly illuminated Kaorun’s seductive acting.
It was possible that it was a prank. It was Kaorun after all. I got the feeling she would tell me “Please do not take my joke seriously. I will report you.” with a straight face if I screwed up.
However, my reasoning was disordered so much that I could no longer retort. Surely her bottom had a perfect tension and pleasant elasticity… No, no, not good. When I unconsciously couldn’t remove my eyes from the beautiful bottom anymore, an unexpected sound of a branch breaking resounded rather loud through the surroundings.
…I felt someone’s presence. As Kaorun noticed it too, she stiffened her expression in no time and together with her, I faced the direction the sound came from, whereupon my worry came true.
In the field of our visions were Elni and Hijiri. Elni made a somewhat awkward face, whereas Hijiri was half-crying. And seeing that, Kaorun hastily fixed her attire and pitched up her voice a bit due to her agitation.
“Ehm, since when have you two been there…?”
“…I’m sorry, Kaoru-san. I didn’t know at all that you two were in such a relations.h.i.+p. I came back worried about you, but I guess I interrupted you. Sorry!”
“No, no! You have the wrong idea, Hijiri-chan! I was just playing a joking prank! s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama was so cold, so I just thought that I would make him understand the charm of an older girl!”
Hijiri turned around and ran away with att.i.tude. Kaorun hastily chased after her. In regards, Elni, somehow guessing the circ.u.mstances from Kaorun’s words, wordless rested her hand on my shoulder in sympathy.
However, to think such an happening would occur before we even got to stargaze…
I was about to leak a sigh, but around the time I reached the top of the mountain in chase of the two girls, Hijiri’s misunderstand was already resolved and Kaorun had returned to her usual composed self, so my earlier sigh completely turned into a long breath.
On top of the mountain. There spread a manmade plaza void of any trees, as they had been cut down. And above us spread the fascinating starry sky. This was amazing…
It was completely different from what I had been looking up to before. Stars as far as you could see in all four directions and no other lights. I felt like I could touch the stars if I reached out my hand and was floating in the air myself. It might be an exaggeration, but it was like I was out in outer s.p.a.ce.
It surely was the same for the others. Hijiri looked up to the stars with sparkling eyes and Kaorun leaked a spellbound breath in an usual agitation. Still fascinated by the starry sky as well, I sat down on the spot for now.
There the nearby Elni cheerfully sat down in my lap and nodded satisfied. Seeing that, Hijiri s.h.i.+fted her gaze away from the starry sky and timidly opened her mouth.
“Uhm, Elni, why are you doing something so enviabl— *cough* why are you sitting down there?”
“You need to ask? Because s.h.i.+n.o.bu’s lap is my special seat.”
“Yes, indeed. s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama’s lap is Elni-san’s special seat, Hijiri-chan.”
“Kaoru-san agreed readily!?”
While Hijiri widened her eyes a bit, Kaorun clung onto my arm so that her beautiful b.r.e.a.s.t.s were rubbing against it as soon as she sat down on my left. And following Kaorun’s lead, Hijiri too pressed her comfortable b.r.e.a.s.t.s onto my right arm with a soft touch, albeit reserved. Moreover, I felt the sweet elasticity of Elni’s bottom on my lap.
Receiving all these sensations, a great agitation started to gradually grow in my heart and I fell silent from the nervousness, whereupon Kaorun said isolated while we all watched the stars.
“…Seeing such a pretty and broad starry sky in front of my eyes seems to make my worries appear so trivial.”
“Your worries? Oh? You mean how you make others worry?”
“Yes, forgive me for always worrying you with my worrisome body— is what I would like to say, but to my regret, that is not the case.”
As really had something to worry about, Kaorun dropped her voice a bit.
“I believe that I already told you about it a while ago, but soon a new maid will come to our household. Most likely that person will live with us starting next year. But actually… I am a bit worried.”
…The new maid, huh. Like Kaorun had said, I had heard about it before.
The head of the Gogyou Household, Sougo-san had decided to hire a new maid, so that Kaorun could concentrate on studying, since she was allowed to attend university together with Hijiri. However, Kaorun somewhat clouded her expression, as something was worrying her, and I called out to her as soft as possible.
“Kaorun, I’m always there to listen to your worries. If you want, I’ll help you out.”
I hope that I could cheer up Kaorun even a bit. With that in mind, I told her my feelings, whereupon
“…Then I will consult with you during the winter break, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama.”, giving only these profound words, Kaorun fell silent, as she didn’t want to say more, and once again started to gaze at the stars. While we others followed her lead, Elni suddenly started to look alternating at Hijiri and Kaorun’s face.
“Hey, you both look really happy, but could it be, it’s your first time here?”
“Yeah. This wonderful place is a first for both Kaoru-san and me.”
“Sougo never told you about it?”
“My father? No, I don’t think so… Why so suddenly?”
Not replying to Hijiri’s question, Elni smiled faintly with “…He’s so virtuous” and continued.
“You know, this is a memorial place to me and actually my treasure. So I wanted to show it to s.h.i.+n.o.bu and… give my treasure to both of you, Hijiri, Kaoru.”
“Kaoru-san and me? Are you sure? It’s your treasure, right?”
“Yeah, since it’s you two. I love you both, so I want to give it to you. Besides, Sougo told me about this place, you know?”
Gently narrowing her eyes yearning, Elni looked up the stars once again.
“’Elni, this place was my one and only treasure. But it’s different now. I don’t need this place as a retreat anymore. So I’m giving my treasure to you, Elni. I won’t tell anyone else about it. It’ll only belong to you. If you ever want to pa.s.s it on to someone like me, then don’t hesitate about it’— That’s what he said to me.”
“My father said such a thing to you?”
Even while widening her eyes a bit, Hijiri opened her mouth remembering with “Reminds me,”
“When we first met, you knew about exorcist and that the Gogyou Family uses flames to exorcise. Did my father tell you all that?”
“Yeah. Because we’re friends. He even taught me how to use talismans. He’s a really precious friend and in the past I listened to some worries of his, so when I met you, Hijiri, and came to know that you’re his daughter, I was actually really happy.”
Once again facing Hijiri and Kaorun, Elni showed a bright smile.
“The once so lonely Sougo now has two wonderful daughters. I also heard that he got a cool son. So I think Sougo will be happy and able to smile from now on, even without me… It made me really happy.”
Conveying her heartfelt feelings, Elni softly rested her small hand on Hijiri’s shoulder.
“Your father resembles s.h.i.+n.o.bu a bit. Even though he was continuously called a failure, he’s a strong person that never gave up, kept working hard and became the head of the Gogyou Family.”
“…My father, a failure?”
“I bet you didn’t know. But strong as he is, Sougo will be reliable. So when you succeed the head position of the house, Hijiri, I’m sure Sougo will always help you if you’re in trouble.”
While smiling, Elni stared at Hijiri.
“You tend to take things upon yourself, Hijiri. Rely on others in difficult times, okay? You have s.h.i.+n.o.bu, Kaorun, Sougo, Luna and the others by your side. If you’re too reckless yourself, s.h.i.+n.o.bu will be angry, you know? Be careful from now on, okay?”
“Fufu, I don’t want s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun to get angry, so I’ll do as you say, Elni. I’ll properly rely on others. Thanks for worrying about me, Elni. But why are you telling me that all of a sudden?”
“Somehow I was remembering the past, so I wanted to say it.”
Pretty much like overflowing with emotions, Elni brightened her smile, then slowly s.h.i.+fted her gaze to Kaorun now and changed her tone into a very kind one.
“You have a changed a bit from when I first met you, Kaorun. I think you have become more charming. You smile more often now and I really love seeing your smile.”
“I am grateful already for the words alone, but the fact that I could change is thanks to you as well, Elni-san.”
Not joking around like usually, Kaorun’s tone was really peaceful.
“Do you remember that time, Elni-san?”
“Mh? What time?” with that, Elni t.i.tled her head, whereas Kaorun softly replied with “I mean the summer vacation” and continued her words while smiling brightly.
“I ran away from my exorcist training, got sheltered at the vacation home of s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama’s grandfather and we watched the fireworks of the festival. After that I spoke about my mother and you recommended me to go see my mother.”
…Kaorun was with the exorcist organisation ever since she could remember. For a long time, she was treated as a tool by the organisation and believed that her own mother had abandoned her.
Elni urged her to go see her own mother.
As she was remembering that time, Kaorun turned her gaze back to the starry sky.
“I still remember all the words you have told me even now, Elni-san.”
With still a peaceful tone, she repeated Elni’s words.
—Humans are bound to die one day. You don’t know if that will happen tomorrow or in a year. This might sound extreme, but you might not ever see her again if you don’t meet her tomorrow. If you have something to ask of her, it’s better that you hear the truth from her mouth.
You also have Hijiri. You have a proper place to return to, Kaorun. Don’t pay any mind to what others say. Just believe in Hijiri’s words, that you are her family—
Dearly retelling the sentiment she had received, Kaorun smiled like a blooming flower.
“Thanks to your push on my back, I mustered the courage to meet my mother. In fact, I came to understand various things by talking with my mother, which allowed me to change a bit, in my opinion. Back then, I was occupied with myself, so I could not say it until now, but…”
Slowly stopping her words, Kaorun smiled at Elni.
“Elni-san, thank you so much for pus.h.i.+ng my back and taking on this hard role, even though it brought you close to tears. I am really happy to have a wonderful person like you as my friend. I also love seeing your smile.”
“…If you’re happy, Kaorun, that’s all I need. Because you’re my precious friend too. Even while you’re joking around, you’re supporting the others from the back. You’re working hard so that everyone has fun. I’m the one thanking you, Kaorun.”
Elni’s expression… was a bit different from usual.
Different from her usual bright smile, her expression with an intimate faint smile and her eyes narrowed, looked somewhat mature.
Keeping that expression, Elni slowly stood up from my lap, reached out her hand and declared gentle while petting Kaorun’s head.
“I hope that one day you can fawn on your own mother, Kaorun. I’m sure she’ll be happy… if you properly call her ‘Mother’.”
Elni’s heartfelt words. I got the feeling that a small envious was resounding within them. However I had no time to ponder about it, as Elni widely spread both her arms, then tightly embraced Hijiri, Kaorun and me, blossoming a smile like a flower like that.
“I’m glad I came here today with you all. I’m really glad I could present this to Hijiri and Kaorun. I love all three of you.”
It was a short embrace. Elni let us go right away, turned on her heel and then spun around with both her arms spread like dancing under the starry sky.
“This is kinda nice. I’m really happy.”
Elni kept dancing under the broad sky.
Animating her voice, she danced relaxed and really brilliant…
Her every single move looked really adorable to me. I wanted to watch the dancing Elni forever. Surely Hijiri and Kaorun felt the same as me.
Both of them had their mouths closed, showed a soft smile and watched over Elni. What I felt in my chest at this time was a really common, cheap happiness. However, I considered it something very precious, so
“—Let’s come here together again, Elni.”
Like making a promise, I declared so to Elni.
But as my voice didn’t reach her or she pretended not to hear it, Elni didn’t gave a reply. Instead, she clung to me again after her charming dance, not letting go that easily this time…

The winner privilege from the game tournament. It was the day after Elni used it without hesitation to go stargazing with Hijiri and Kaorun. Since it was a holiday, Elni took the train to the city two stations away early in the morning with Luna, Machina, Nazuna and me in tow.
In that city, stopping by the cinema, enjoying some karaoke…
…Spending the day together without doing anything special, it was just a common holiday.
But it might be something incredible pleasant. From time to time, Elni took pictures of us with her digital camera, not breaking her smile even once. But time went by in no time while we played around together, and sadly enough Luna had a s.h.i.+ft in the evening, so we regretfully parted with her, then visited a cat café near the station with the remaining members.
With Luna gone, we others entered together, whereupon all kind of cats were roaming free inside the café. On the right was the s.p.a.ce for tables. On the left were tools to play with the cats. It mostly was a place, where people came to play with cats.
For now I got us a table and while Elni talked with the Miss from the reception with the digital camera in one hand, the cat-loving Nazuna obviously sparkled her eyes, but so did Machina, who was a surprising animal lover too.
“Meow, meow!”
“Meow, meow— *cough*. Hold it, Nazuna. No running in the café.”
Nazuna dashed away in a happy mood. Machina got hooked on by her for a moment, but then played the older sister along with a cough. But Nazuna couldn’t hold back her excitement and got along with two nearby cats right away, whereas Machina too hurried over to the cats with a smile. However,
“Eh? H- Huh? Why?”
Strangely enough, the moment Machina came closer, most of the cats quickly left the spot.
Most likely Machina considered it only a coincidence at first. Still smiling, she once again approached the cats, but they all escaped and seeing that, Elni spoke to the nearby cats with “Meow, meow” for whatever she was thinking.
Upon that, the cats too meowed like replying to Elni, making it seem like a conversation. No, not seem like, they actually might have a proper conversation.
…Reminded me, during summer vacation, when we took care of my friend Asada’s dog Momo, Elni said something about “I’m a G.o.ddess! Of course I can talk with animals!” while having a happy conversation with the dog.
When I remembered about that time, Machina dropped her shoulders and came back in downhearted state.
“Hey s.h.i.+n.o.bu, none of the cats are playing with me. Why’s that? I mean, they’re all over Nazuna. Did I do something to make them hate me?”
“W- Well, what can I say…”
Unable to find words to console her, I was stuck for an answer, whereas Elni seemingly finished her talk with the cats. She held a three-coloured cat against her chest and then softly called out to Machina.
“Machina, I think this one will play with you.”
“…Really? She won’t run away or hiss at me?”
“It’ll be fine. She seems interested in you.”
Elni gentle handed over the cat with “Hold her” and Machina held the cat against her voluminous chest in a doubtful state. Upon that, the cat didn’t run away, just like Elni had said, and happily snuggled up to her, so Machina’s expression brightened up instantly.
“s.h.i.+n.o.bu, can we take her home?
“…Don’t lay hands on the shop’s girls.”
Well, I could relate to her, but I advised Machina lightly and sat down at the nearby table.
Machina still held the three-coloured cat against her chest, whereas Nazuna came back with three cats in tow and both girls sat down at each my sides. By the way, Machina started to purr an adorable “meow, meow” together with Nazuna, as she was happy that the cat had warmed up to her. As for Elni, she pulled out the digital camera from her pocket again and took pictures of us with a smile.
…I should let her show me the pictures later on.
When I thought about that, a cat with white fur came trudgingly over to me and started to purr happily, so I softly picked up that white cat.
…This reminded me of our own cat Kagari. But she was the rather jealous type, so she might get angry about me touching another cat like this.
While I was reminiscing about our own cat, the cat I was holding brought her face closer and licked my cheek silky. Ohh, just like Kagari’s, her tongue was rough. Getting nostalgic, I tickled the cat under the chin for now, whereupon Machina looked over for some reason, puffed up her cheeks a bit and softly pushed the cat I was holding aside, then
“…*kiss*… Mm…”
Not only did she suddenly kiss me near my mouth, she also imitated the cat and licked my cheek reserved. Ohh, quite different from the cat. Her lips were so soft that my heart was about to be stolen. The smooth tip of her tongue. While I was about to get intoxicated by these sensations, I hastily opened my mouth in surprise.
“M- Machina, what’re you doing in public?”
“…Just some physical contact.”
For that, her cheeks were rather red and she faced sideways somewhat sulking.
There Elni took a break from taking pictures and faced Machina with a giggle.
“Fufu, Machina got a bit jealous of the cat.”
“Yes, because she did something enviable to him— wait, what’re you saying out of the blue, Elni! I’m not jealous or anything! Don’t get the wrong idea, s.h.i.+n.o.bu!”
“…Yeah, I know. It’s okay, Machina. I understand everything.”
“What’s with that plastic face! You don’t get it at all!”
Exposed after all, huh. Unable to hold back any longer, I burst out in a laughter, whereupon Machina turned bright red while repeating “I’m not jealous or anything” just in case. On a spontaneous look during that, all cats within the shop were gathering at Elni’s feet for some reason.
Each of the cats raised a meow, which looked pretty much like they wanted Elni to play with them. But Elni scratched her cheek with the digital camera in one hand and replied to the cats with a bittersweet smile.
“Mhm~ Sorry, but I’m busy with my pictures right now. If you want to play, go to s.h.i.+n.o.bu or the other— wait, Uwah. What’s up so suddenly? Hey, stop it.”
Not listening to Elni’s reprimand, the cats got on Elni’s shoulders and head one after another and the circle of cats gradually grew bigger…
A truly heart-warming scene. At some point, the other customers were chasing her with their eyes too and Nazuna, who had only eyes for the cats so far, s.h.i.+fted her gaze to Elni, animating her voice with a smile for whatever she was thinking.
“Hey Elni-chan, Machina-oneechan, we’re actually keeping a cat at our house too, you know? She’s called Kagari-chan. She’s with dad on his business trip right now, but I think she’ll come back for the new year, so I’ll introduce you then.”
“…I hope I won’t get hated.”
“It, It’ll be fine. Sure, Kagari-chan gets angry when some unknown girl gets along with Brother, but as long as you don’t cling to him or kiss him, you’ll probably be fine.”
“Th- That’s not fine at all! So when that cat comes home, she’ll get angry every time I or my sister cling to s.h.i.+n.o.bu or kiss him, right?”
Instantly clouding her expression, Machina turned teary with “I’ll definitely get hated!” and Nazuna quickly averted her eyes, s.h.i.+fting her gaze towards Elni for help.
“O- Oh, right. Elni-chan, you can talk with cats too, right? So could you mediate between Machina and Kagari-chan once she gets home?”
“Well, I don’t mind…”
Nodding somewhat enunciating, Elni started to take pictures again midway in her sentence to dodge the question. On the other hand, I felt doubtful, but looked at Elni’s digital camera to change the topic.
“…It might be too late, but are you even allowed to take picture here?”
“Fufu, no problem, s.h.i.+n.o.bu. I properly received permission from the Miss at the reception earlier.”
Elni made a V-sign as if to say no worries. Speaking of, when we entered the café, she was talking with the Miss from the reception about something. Elni was surprisingly clever…
A bit surprised, I looked at Elni’s digital camera again.
“Still, you’re taking a lot of pictures lately. I guess you’re really mimicking Kaorun?”
“…Guess so. Kaorun said so as well, memories fade easily. But if you keep them in the form of pictures, you can see everyone’s smile any time. So with these pictures, I can already…”
Just what… would follow after these words? Elni closed her mouth and smiled somewhat sadly while dearly stroking over her digital camera.
…At that time, something suddenly felt amiss. But no one noticed it’s true character, nor paid any attention to it and after enjoying the cat café to the fullest, we left the café together.
However it might have been not enough for her. Elni suddenly invited us with “Let’s play some more” and urged by her, we went to a arcade center or window shopping… We enjoyed the holiday more than enough.
During that, only Elni was being reluctant about returning home and tried to play together with everyone as much as the time allowed it, as if today was the last time to do so.
Moreover, after we got home, Elni started to prepare dinner together with Machina and Nazuna instead of Luna, who had left for her part-time job. Furthermore, after dinner Elni now played a video game in the living room together with Machina and Nazuna, staying near everyone unnaturally often today.
While seeing her like that, that small amiss feeling I had earlier at the cat café gradually swelled up and after I got out of the bath, I headed to the living room to check upon the others.
Upon that, there were Elni, Machina and Nazuna on the sofa in the living room. They must have been tired from playing around. Machina and Nazuna were nodding off, whereas Elni gave them a lap pillow.
Elni started to affectionately pet each their heads, which pretty much made her appear like their older sister.
…I felt bad about disturbing them. I was about to close the door at once, but
“Listen to me like that, you two. I have something important to tell you.”
Suddenly Elni’s gentle and serious voice resounded. Inadvertently I stopped my hand that had grabbed the door k.n.o.b. Elni peacefully narrowed her eyes and slowly spun her words.
“I’m sure you’ll be able to live in the human world from now on, Machina. So you can be at ease. Be more honest to yourself. Act more spoiled. Everyone should allow it. But make sure to return the favour in some way, when you act spoiled, okay? Just remember that.”
“…Yes… I understand… But today… you’re kind strange, Elni…”
As she was already half-asleep, Machina replied quietly with her eyes still closed, whereupon Elni smiled softly and then s.h.i.+fted her gaze towards Nazuna.

“This is just a guess, but do you want to become like s.h.i.+n.o.bu, Nazucat?”
“Yeah… That’s right… Because Brother is so cool… I love him…”
“Then watch him even closer than you have until now, Nazucat. Your horizon should broaden when you see the weakness, kindness and strength of someone without talent.”
“That’s rather… complicated… I don’t really get it…”
“You don’t have to get it for now. But please don’t forget it. You have a talent that s.h.i.+n.o.bu lacks. Even so, the world of a genius is rather narrow and frail in a way. I’m sure you’ll be fine, but if you want to become truly strong, you can’t avert your eyes from s.h.i.+n.o.bu, okay?”
“Meow…” with that, Nazuna replied quietly while slowing drifting into the dream world, whereupon
“…I have to properly tell it to Luna too…”
Mumbling something with a small voice, Elni opened her mouth while petting their heads again, and started to sing with a warm voice. It was a lullaby from another country. It was a soft melody that seemed to envelop everything. A tone overflowing with dearness that erased my bewilderment and unrest.
Before I noticed it, I had been befuddled by the singing voice and I stood stock still partly absent-minded, whereupon the lullaby ended in time and Elni came into my direction, raising a hysteric “Uwah!” voice as soon as she saw my face in front of the door.
“You surprised me. Since when have you been there, s.h.i.+n.o.bu? Were you eavesdropping?”
“Ah, no, well… Sorry.”
“Mhm~ No! Today I won’t forgive you, even if you apologize. As punishment, you have to help me carry Machina and Nazuna. If they sleep there, they’ll catch a cold.”
Being told that, I followed Elni’s gaze, where Machina and Nazuna were sleeping soundly together on the sofa. Sure, we couldn’t leave them like that and the punishment Elni spoke of surely was meant as a joke. But the lullaby was affecting me even now and I was still kind of absent-minded while I carried Machina and Nazuna one after another to their beds together with Elni.
After that was done, Elni said “I have to clear it today” to herself and swiftly returned to the living room, as she was planning to continue the video game.
In regards, I watched her leaving, then returned to my own room and lay down on the bed.
…The words Elni told Machina and Nazuna earlier. They sounded just like parting words and the unrest, which had vanished once, came back. Could it be, Elni was still…
Every time I thought so, my unrest grew larger. But it wasn’t certain. It was possible that I got the wrong idea. It should be alright as it was… I took my time to calm my feelings, then I looked at the clock on the wall of my room and slowly straightened up my upper body on the bed.
Soon Luna would return from her job. Without doubt then, Elni would go greet her with a smile. I wanted to see that close by, so I left my room and headed for the living room, whereupon I ran into my mother midway.
My mother was holding a photo alb.u.m against her chest and I asked slightly curious.
“…Are you going to send dad our pictures?”
“No. These are the pictures Elni took. She asked me to develop them.”
“Hee, is that so…”
Still, even if she was mimicking Kaorun, I didn’t know that Elni took enough pictures to fill a whole alb.u.m. While I gave a short agreeable response, my mother clouded her expression a bit for some reason and turned on her heels, heading to the living room, as she wanted to hand the alb.u.m to Elni. I followed after my mother, whereupon now Elni was sleeping rolled up on the sofa.
She probably was just as tired as Machina and Nazuna. My mother and I looked at each other and quietly approached Elni while smiling faintly.
“Hey Elni, if you sleep here, you’ll catch a—”
Suddenly my own words inadvertently vanished into the air. Most likely my mother had noticed the abnormality too. We both closed our mouths and were at a loss for words.
We had thought Elni was simply sleeping. But that wasn’t it. She was having a terrible nightmare and lightly trembled her small body.
“…I’m sorry, Mom.”
Along with bitterish words, tears started to run out of her closed eyes and unfamiliar names spilled out of her mouth one after another. And for every time, Elni repeated an apology.
Sorry, Sorry… She repeated that with a cracked voice over and over.
From bewilderment and confusion, both my mother and I held our breath, unable to do anything, and Elni helplessly puttered around in the air with her own hand while making noises during her nightmare. My mother quietly grabbed that hand, whereupon Elni closed her mouth relieved from the warmth on her palm.
“Good. There you are.”
Tightly squeezing back my mother’s hand, she faintly opened her eyelids.
“Mom, I had a scary dream. Everyone was…”
With her sadly rocking eyes, she was surely looking at something else than here. Her crimson eyes finis.h.i.+ng the sad slumber,
“Ahh—”
Elni’s eyes waking up from the dream, quickly lost their colour.
“…..I see. Everyone’s already gone.”
Together with a voice void of emotions, it seemed that her heart creaked noisy. No more words followed. Not even a crying voice came out of her opened mouth, just tears spilled endless out of her eyes… Elni cried silently. But probably because she was in front of us.
She tried to smile to cover it up, but failed and failed over and over and over again with a distorted expression— Unable to endure it, I tightly embraced her.
…Elni has a light sleep. She has trouble falling asleep. She’s often crying in her sleep.
Suddenly Machina’s words floated in the back of my mind. Certainly, when Elni first came here, she had been crying in her sleep too. She had kept weeping while calling out unfamiliar names like just now.
But because she had smiled brightly like always, because she had behaved so in front of everyone, I might have forgotten about it until now. And while I had forgotten it, Elni had been crying like this all the time?
Thinking so, I increased my squeeze onto her.
“…Cry it out, Elni.”
Even while my arms that held her trembled, I squeezed out these words.
“You don’t have to smile all the time. You don’t have to hold yourself back. You can cry in front of us. We’ll always be with you, so… don’t cry by yourself anymore.”
My feelings that I desperately conveyed to her. My arms holding her tightly. How much of my words did reach her in my arms? Without saying anything, Elni entwined her arms around my back. But her arms were really powerless and after a short embrace, Elni stopped crying right away.
“Ah, already this late!”
Unnaturally s.h.i.+fting her gaze to the clock on the wall of the living room,
“Luna’s coming back soon. Today I’ll go greet her in front of the house!”
Obviously changing the topic, Elni got away from me, pa.s.sed by my confused mother and rushed out of the living room in an escape.
…Surely it wasn’t like my feelings didn’t reach her. I believed that they were properly conveyed. But Elni properly refused to accept them?
Bit by bit my unrest swelled up again. To suppress it, I pressed my hands onto my chest, whereupon my mother said isolated with a sigh after she watched off the leaving Elni.
“I knew she was strange lately, but in the end, Elni… is different from the others.”
“Different from the others?” with that I asked back, not understanding the meaning behind her words, whereas my mother knitted her eyebrows a bit and replied with holding out the alb.u.m she was carrying.
“It seems this alb.u.m is Elni’s new treasure. When she asked me to print out the pictures, she was talking about it happily. But I don’t really get it.”
Get what? Without asking that, I took the alb.u.m from my mother and slowly turned the pages.
Upon that, starting from the time of the culture festival, the alb.u.m was full with pictures like from summer vacation, Luna’s birthday, the previous game tournament and today’s cat café.
Ff you keep them in the form of pictures, you can see everyone’s smile any time— Just like Elni had said at the cat café, the smiles of our family and Hijiri or Kaorun filled the alb.u.m.
But that wasn’t enough. I couldn’t really find the smile I wanted to see. My speed of turning the pages gradually became faster. Impatience grew in my heart and I kept searching by straining my eyes. But the result was the same. I just couldn’t find it.
“…Like you said, I don’t get it either. How is this a treasure?”
Succeeding on my shaking words, my mother continued really peaceful.
“Yeah, there isn’t a single picture of Elni…”
A whole alb.u.m of smiles from everyone. Elni’s new treasure. Amidst that, only Elni’s smile, the supposedly important thing was sadly missing.
—In the end, Elni is different from the others.
Actually I started to get it. That amongst everyone, amongst our family, only Elni wasn’t part of it. But I was really scared… about knowing the meaning behind my mother’s words.

When I suddenly woke up, my body was kind of sluggish.
Probably because I didn’t slept much lately due to pondering about a lot. But despite having woken up earlier than usual, I just didn’t feel like going back to sleep.
…Could I do something until Christmas? Elni’s crying face wouldn’t leave my head. The alb.u.m with just Elni missing. With the resurfaced unrest in my chest, I left my room and casually peeked into the living room, where Nazuna was despite it still being early.
As soon as she noticed me, she gave me the usual energetic morning greeting.
“Morning, Brother! You’re up really early today!”
“Well, I have some stuff going on…”
I gave a vague response, whereupon Nazuna opened her mouth a bit worried.
“Ehm, I don’t really get it, but how about we spar about a bit? I think it’ll give you a change of pace to move your body in some exercises.”
“…Yeah, right. Then let’s train for a bit.”
I should take up Nazuna on her consideration. To change my mood, I quickly opened the terrace door and was about to go out into the garden, whereupon I suddenly heard the chirping of birds.
The serene chirping of the birds. When I threw my glance over there wondering, the wild birds flew away with flapping wings, which was a somewhat wondrous scene.
Elni stood still in the middle of the garden. A few birds gathered around here and their numbers gradually increased. The wing flapping and chirping of the wild birds filled our garden.
…It was pretty much like a scene from a painting.
The birds weren’t begging for anything and might have just wanted to be near Elni. Elni mumbled something and reached out her hands, whereupon the birds fluttered their wings pleased.
With this mysterious scene in front of me, I forgot my words and held my breath, whereas Nazuna boasting said to me with a small voice, as she noticed my behaviour.
“You always wake up so late, so it’s your first time seeing this, right? Elni-chan sometimes wakes up earlier and then she plays with the birds like that. It must be wonderful to be able to talk with animals. Elni-chan’s really amazing.”
“Well, she apparently is a G.o.ddess…”
I gave a somewhat stupid reply, whereas Nazuna continued with “Speaking of G.o.ddess,” and a smile.
“The teacher taught us in cla.s.s the other day that people with silver hair and red eyes like Elni-chan are called Albino. And that it’s said that Albinos were wors.h.i.+pped as a target of faith by the locals since ancient times.”
“Target of faith, huh. I think I read something similar in a book.”
“According to my teacher, I think it was in the southeast of Africa? There they believe that the body of an Albino host a special power. Also, Noah from Noah’s arc was also an Albino.”
…Noah’s arc, huh. It was the arc that appeared in the flood story of the bible. While recalling again what I read in the book, I s.h.i.+fted my gaze a bit surprised to Nazuna.
“But it’s rare for you to seriously listen to cla.s.s.”
“Actually I thought it might be related to Elni-chan, so I was curious. But everything besides the Albino stories went in one ear and out the other.”
“…You’re going to have troubles with the test again.”
When I lightly rebuked her so, Nazuna hastily got back on the topic.
“A- Anyway, Brother, when I heard about the Albinos, I thought, is Elni-chan really a G.o.ddess? That would be really amazing if so. A G.o.ddess in our family, you know?”
Family… These normally happy words now evoked a pain in my chest, but I hid that and casually asked.
“Reminds me, you’re calling Luna and Machina with ‘Oneechan’, but you won’t do that for Elni?”
“…I want to, really, but I think it’s no good.”
Knitting her eyebrows a bit, Nazuna dropped her voice a little.
“Before, during Machina-oneechan’s student council election, Elni-chan said that she can’t become Machina-oneechan’s older sister, remember? So I too can’t become her little sister yet. I don’t really get why, but… it’s a bit sad.”
“Elni might be different than the others after all…”
Nazuna might have senses that too. But she considered Elni her family and believed that one day she would become her little sister, so she had used “yet”. At the same time I gave a short agreeable response, I breathed out and somehow renewed my spirit.
“Now then, we’re going to spar, right? Then let’s get started already.”
I dared to brightly urge Nazuna and together we slipped on our sandals, going out into the garden through the terrace door.
In that moment, the wild birds in the garden all at once got away from Elni in surprise as soon as they noticed us, flying away in an escape along with loud flattering of their wings. Amidst that, Elni waved her hands and said good-bye to the birds, then she showed us a smile.
“Morning, s.h.i.+n.o.bu, Nazucat. Today we’ve great weather, it’s nice. The perfect day to hang up your laundry.”
“You sound like a housewife.” While replying so with a casual tone, I faced Elni again. As expected it was the usual Elni like always. And we knew nothing of her. Machina had said something similar the other day.
We really didn’t know what kind of childhood or what kind of lifestyle she had so far. Just now Nazuna told me about the Albinos being targets of faith, but how was that related to calling yourself a G.o.ddess? I wanted to know more about her, even if it was