OOO

"Hope is being able to see that there is Light despite all of the Darkness" - Desmond TuTu

OOO

(Masamune pov)

I let out a yawn as my eyes groggily opened only to see the familiar ceiling of my room, I tried to let up to stretch when I felt a pull on both my hands, I looked at my right hand to see it was being held by Shouri as she slept without care, while my left hand was monopolized by mom who had a dreamy smile on her face

I grumbled as I remembered this was my so-called 'punishment' for playing the shogi match without rest for two days, only I got scolded though and this was my 'punishment'.

She and aunt hasumi would sleep with me and shouri for a month on our bed while using me as a pillow, I don't know how it's a punishment but she said it is one, so I concur, not like I mind it.

And it's not like they haven't slept with us before, but this time it's only extensive.

 She takes turns sleeping next to me with aunt hasumi, otherwise, they sleep next to shouri who refuses to sacrifice her sacred sleeping spot for anyone.

This is the third day of the punishment and I still haven't really gotten used to it, as I woke up early due to my habits from past life, ah nostalgia... I miss the days when I would be dropped along with my bed from a two-story building so I wake up early...

Soon everyone but shouri woke up as I was reminiscing about all the fun memories from my past life but as usual I tried to wake up shouri only to get the typical response "... Wake me up after ten more days... Let me sleep in peace..."

Which caused both mom and hasumi to let out a chuckle at her behavior, but they soon went inside the washroom to freshen up leaving me with shouri, who only moved to be in a more comfortable spot next to me.

After sometime, shouri reluctantly woke up after being persuaded by me to eat breakfast but only if I feed her.

OOO

(Third pov)

Today was the appointed gathering party with the Jabami and Soyo, Masamune smiled when he looked into the mirror, He wore a black Yukata and red flowers all over it which matched well with his Scarlet red eyes and smooth red hair that was combed but has shown signs of growth, as he recently decided to grow his hair...

His reasoing was mostly due to future plans but also because his face oddly resembled a mixture of kid sora and... Uchiha Madara, 'It would be a disrespectful to Madara-Sama's Style if I didn't' He nodded at that thought.

He found this out after He curiously asked S.S which anime character he resembled the most since everything in this reality oddly was displayed in an Anime Art style,mostly in the art style of Overlord.

While his sister vaguely resembled shiro but there were differences, she was also wearing a purple yukata with sakura tree branches.

Ayaka wore a decorative and detailed pink style Kimono, while her hair was in a pony tail style.

[Picture here]

Meanwhile Hasumi wore a similar style of Kimono to Ayaka but blue.

Soon they arrived at the maid restaurant that Soyo personally owns and runs.

Right when they entered it, Masamune was stunned by what he saw... No not because of the decorations but rather... Because Soyo in a blue maid dress that showed her amble breasts stood infront of them.

[Picture here, also in discord server]

"Welcome, Master~Thank you for visiting our establishment, Please come right in" She said with an alluring sweet tone and a small bow, that caused Masamune to release a gulp as he couldn't take his eyes off her for sometime.

He 'accidentally' murmured "Beautiful..." which seemed to cause her to smile But alas that merely started a minefield of teasing from the adults.

"Fufufu~, My~ Thank you~ Masa-chan, I am delightful for your compliment" Soyo with a sweet pleased smile told Him.

"Ara~, Masa-chan, do you like maids? Hmmm~?" Mom teasingly asked which He replied  "Yeah! They have a special charm to them!" without shame while nodding, Truly He wouldn't deny what he prefers.

That seemed to enlightened also spark something within people who were present that knew him, especially Ayaka and Hasumi, who realized that could be the reason why Masamune is so sweet to the maids working for them.

Although that wasn't the main reason he behaved so nicely to them but alas this misunderstanding will perhaps never be resolved.

" Did Yumeko-chan and her family arrive yet?" Ayaka asked Soyo.

"Not yet, they informed me, it would take sometime due to her niece souka-chan having difficulties, So please do come inside and wait for them" Soyo answered as she guided them to the VIP private section of the restaurant.
 

Soon they reached it and Masamune was impressed, the whole room was red and black that resonated with him a lot, red sofa corner all around the room in an U shape.

While at the middle there was a black long table that was surrounded by Red chairs, in the middle of the ceiling was a light screen that showed trees and there were also fake windows around which depicted a beautiful view.

[Picture here]

Everyone was awestruck, which made Soyo feel proud of her restaurant, soon everyone sat around with Soyo as another maid waitress brought some refreshments such as peace juice, some snacks and so on as they talked about many small topics.

until a maid told soyo that the Jabami family has arrived, so soyo politely left and came back with them.

"Yo! Yumeko-chan!" Masamune impolitely greeted from his seat but nobody minded as everyone here were already considered close to each other since they talked and bonded a lot over the internet.
 

Which can be seen wben Yumeko's face sprouted a delighted but also excited smile as she quickly came near The twins along with her elder sister.

While ayaka and Hasumi went to greet Tsugaki, while they talked

"Fumu~ how have you been? Shou-chan and Masa-chan You haven't lost to anyone since we last met, right?" yumeko asked while taking a seat next to shouri who was on the right side of masamune.

"Well except to each other, I guess, By the way, nice to properly meet you Souko-Ane-chan, hopefully your sister wasn't causing any trouble... Also oi! Stop drinking my peace juice... Grab your own! "Masamune mischievously asked but soon got a bit distracted by shouri who cleverly stole his drink, but he didn't stop her even after being caught and simply switched drinks with her.

"Fufu~ Asides from being excited and constantly talking about you, she has been relatively peaceful" Souko also joined in to tease Yumeko, who was already beat red from embarrassed.

"N-nee~ Stop your teasing... I am merely excited to have shogi matches with masa-chan... and shou-chan as well..." Yumeko quickly justified.

"I see, I see" masamune nodded as he swiftly saved his snack from shouri's clutches but she pouted and said "hmph~ nii baka..." so he just fed her a spoonful after a sigh.

"Ara~ is that why you were looking so intently at Masa-chan on the- fufufu~ fine I won't expose you~ masa-chan forget about it" Tsugaki joined in the conversation as they came near them.

" Masa-chan~, Did you miss your lovely aunt~? I felt ve~ry Lone~ly for not seeing and talking to you for a day~" Tsugaki then said with her alluring voice as she switched her teasing target to Masamune when she saw her niece glaring at her.

"Cough... I missed you too Aunt, You look as charming as the day we met you" Masamune quickly recovered as he was already used to it, teasings from both his mom and his new aunt.

"Ara~ Masa-chan, you know how to sweet talk a lady already ~, my~ Ayaka-chan, I fear he might broke someone's heart in the future~" Tsugaki said as she sat down with the others on the left side of Masamune as he tried to protect yumeko's snack from shouri's devilish grabs...

"Although I wouldn't mind being broken by you~" Tsugaki then slowly whispered into Masamune's ear when she was close as which caused him to shiver a bit  while he thought 'Sigh, maybe I should take over america's Fbi... She is dangerous~... Although also fun...' as he quickly made sure nobody heard her

Thankfully nobody did... Except for S.S who simply released a huff and pouted after reading her master's thought.

Soon a maid came near asked everyone's order, they didn't order anything before coming here as the purpose of the gathering was bonding with each other, so they took their time.
 

Everyone chatted as they talked about embarrassing memories of the kids in the room, such as that one time when Masamune had to pee but couldn't because shouri was already inside it and he refused to enter it because of his so called gentleman's dignity but alas shouri when she heard it, simply started playing games on the pad.

Or that one time, when Yumeko gambled her candies with her father and but lost so she then cried and told her mom when he was about to take it away, in the end her father had to buy triple the amount as her mom stood behind him with a furious expression.

That time, when shouri got lost in the mansion while trying to find masamune only to come across him in the bathroom while wearing only his undies as he sang and danced to a song that talked about punching and him having baby teeth, so on...

The room was filled with laughter as  soon the food arrived, so everyone sat around the black table in the middle.

There were all sort of dishes, Ranging from meat dishes, Sushi, Sashimi to Ramen and side dishes, even some foreign dishes, like burger, crepes were present.

Masamune was pleasantly surprised when he discovered some recipes he hadn't even heard about before in both lifes, when he asked Soyo, she said she came up with it, which made masamune delighted.

Everyone then started eating after saying "itadakimasu!", As they tasted the differant sort of foods, soon they were praising it by saying different words.

Soyo was very happy and felt proud, but what truly made her feel delightful,
Is when the praises came from her new close friends... in this short period of time, they have talked a lot and quickly became close, even if they are younger than her by a decade or so, she still felt a short of kinship with them, as if that's where she belonged, as if that's her home...

Especially Masamune, who could be considered the heart of this friend group, that kept them all connected, either via his cheerfulness, cleverness, mischievousness, sometimes even the weird behavior he does, it all made her chuckle and be more fondful of him.

She wished she could spend all her time with them, playing Shogi and other games, chatting, pulling mischievous pranks online, but alas... She couldn't... She has a mission to do...

She must find that accursed man who ruined her family... Thankfully Ayaka was there to help her that was she extremely gratefuo for but alas even she came late... After her family died...

She didn't realize until tears fell from her eyes... To over her hand, when she did she quickly looked up and made an excuse "Oh apologize for this unsightly behavior, the food was so good... It made me tear up a bit" although she could see they didn't believe it.

"Soyo-chan, you alright...? Want to talk about it with me?" Ayaka touched her hand as she worriedly asked.

Which did make her touched when she saw everyone's concern but... At the end of the day, they were strangers... She couldn't tell them about her burdens... Especially bring them into this mess...

"N-No it's alright, I am fine, you don't have to worry-" she wanted to get rid of Their worries but because she could She heard a loud sigh coming from the left side of the table, when she looked, she saw Masamune who slowly left his chair and then came close to her.

Then with a cheerful tone, he said "Since you don't wanna tell us what's in your heart, Soyo-chan~, I might as well open it for you" She wanted to deny it but words didn't leave her mouth as she chocked

"Then let's do it my way, the way of []" Masamune continued with a smile as it confused Soyo by what he meant

"You know Grandpa Samuel told me,playing games can help people learn a lot about each other, which I agree with, so Let's play that Shogi match I promised...to get to know each other also The stakes will be..." Masamune delightfully said as Soyo held her breath for unknown reasons

"Everything.... You vs me... Don't worry I will give you a handicap, so what do you say? Do you accept or did you bribe your way to receive your previous Ryou title... Tsk tsk" He tauntly asked Soyo

She at first wanted to reject this... But Her Competitive Spirit, The one who is always unyielding, couldn't accept this... this Humiliation... This disrespect towards her Hardwork... Her instinct as a gamer took over as she chillingly answered "I accept..." Before she could properly think about it and realize something is wrong...

Masamune smiled widely as he said "Great!, shou go grab the Shogi board from the car" to which shouri just nodded and went to grab it

OOO

Word count: 2279

Probably my worst chapter... Curse me for being lazy yesterday... Anyways might rewrite in the future just to smoothen it up more... But that's if someone complains if not then will keep it

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