happypanda

Yep, I'm still alive. Just busy with RL stuff.

I luckily have some free time this week, so I intend to complete this arc within this duration—which means regular updates for a week until this arc is finished.

Stay healthy, stay safe!

"Takeshi-kun, hurry up!"
"R-ruri chan..
"Oi Ruri! Slow down a little!"

Sayuri watched as Ruri dragged Miki with her and signaled Takeshi to run faster. She watched them run around in excitement with a smile. She just in case reminded Ruri to not drag Miki around like that too much.

"Children sure are energetic, aren't they?"
"Hm. Sure they are."
"...W-well, I believe it is natural for them to be a little excited in a festival."
"Hm. I guess so."

Sayuri had a wry smile on her face. It seemed like the only other adult that came with them was not much interested in talking with her.

Well, it was not like she was much interested in striking up a conversation with him either. In fact she, somewhere deep in her mind, preferred it to be that way.

Hanazono Sayuri always found Sunohara Masaya a little odd. Maybe it was stereotyping a little bit, but she felt really uncomfortable whenever Sunohara san looked at her. Well, looked would be a weird thing to say, because his eyes were always covered with long bangs. She never knew what this guy was staring at. A person's eyes tell more words than their mouth after all.

"Uncle! Sayuri san! Hurry!"

Her train of though was interrupted by Ruri's voice, that was as usual full of energy.

"Ruri did not cause you any trouble that day, I hope?"

"Eh?" 'Wait, this guy is actually asking me something out of his own accord?!' "N-no, not at all! She is a really considerate girl! W-well, she she might act really childlike at times, but she is slowly maturing little by little every day! So you don't need to worry about her." Sayuri replied with a smile.

"Growing up, huh..."

"Yes. I mean, you remember it too, right? Not long ago, she used to call Takeshi kun as Takkun. But she subconsciously changed it within the last few months. Maybe soon she might even get a boyfriend! It might even be Takeshi kun! You do know that he have always had—"

"Oh?"

Sayuri felt a little chill travelling down her spine. That was the coldest 'Oh?' she's ever heard.

I-is this the phenomena where a father gets all possessive when he hears of her daughter seeing someone else?! While they do the opposite when they hear their sons getting a girlfriend?

Will Satoshi kun react the same way if their daughter ever brings a boyfriend home?

...a daughter, huh?

Must be nice to have children. Maybe if Satoshi kun's startup actually makes profit... 

She felt a pang of guilt inside her stomach. She had a quarrel with her mother over the phone, because she was against providing Satoshi kun with her money.

So she provided the six hundred thousand yen she had with her despite her mother's warning.

She would definitely apologize to her mother one day. But she was confident her mother would forgive her once she sees Satoshi kun having a stable business.

Maybe she should go to the shrine and buy a good luck charm for him.

"Domn... do foodsh in do food shtollsh ore reolly good..." Ruri said while munching down skewered meat.

"Hmh!" Takeshi nodded while doing the same thing.

"R-ruri chan! Oni chan! It’s bad to talk while eating food like that!" Miki pouted. She was bad at handling spicy stuff, so she was a little upset. Ruri and Takeshi started looking for an ice-cream stall.

They stumbled over a cafe eventually. But hey, a cafe is even better right? Miki chan does have a sweet tooth, after all.

"Welcome home, master."

All of them were a little flabbergasted at being welcomed by beautiful oni sans and onee sans being neatly dressed.

I-is this what they call a Butler and Maid cafe?!!

Miki and Ruri were received by two handsome men, who were definitely twins! They would have been unrecognizable if not for their different hair colors. One had black hair while the other had brown.

"This way, ojousama. My, aren't you a cute one? I must have saved the world in my past life to be allowed the chance to serve a cute lady like you." The black haired one said to Miki while bowing at her. Miki started to squirm in embarrassment.

"Allow me to escort you to you table too, ojousama... hm?" The brown haired one looked closely at Ruri and said, "now that I look closely, aren't you a cute one too? Looks like my brother is not the only one who is blessed." However, unlike Miki, Ruri did not squirm in embarrassment. She narrowed her eyes instead.

"No guy ever calls me cute, you know?" She said haughtily.

"Oh?" The boy raised his eyebrow in amusement. "Then they surely have bad taste in women. A true worshipper of beauty should be able to appreciate all sorts of flowers. Don't you agree, my dear Edelweiss?"

Ruri blushed this time.

Takeshi looked dumbfoundedly at both his younger sister and his... childhood friend. What the hell?! Two random guys, regardless of however goodlooking they are, started flirting with them and they went on with it! How dare those pricks flirt with his—

"Ara ara!"

Takeshi suddenly felt a chill travelling down his spine. Someone was standing on his right side. But he was too scared to turn his head in that direction. He felt like he was a rabbit being stared down by a lion.

The lion walked into his field of vision insted.

Takeshi was... mesmerized. He was looking at the prettiest girl he had ever seen! Even those girls in the fashion magazines his mom read do not hold a candle to her!

"Ara, it seems like Hikaru and Mitsu aren't the only ones blessed," said the onee san with droopy eyes.

Takeshi's eyes subconsciously travelled down her face.

They were huge! He forced himself to look upwards, while blushing.

The pretty girl got even more amused.

"Ara ara ara~"

Takeshi realized a little too late... that you cannot simply be a shota and walk away from an ara ara onee san that easily.

"So this is the butler and maid cafe Gojima san's student was talking about..." Sayuri murmured, "I wonder how their oriental tea house is going..."

Sayuri deliberately ignored the other adult 'glaring' at the brown haired guy. Okay, that was now getting maaaybe a bit too overboard. She decided to call out to Sunohara next time he did that—he needed to tone it down a little bit.

She hoped that Satoshi would not turn out to be like this in the future.