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Editor: karap
The first joint operation
Chaos reigned in Nanjou Mizuki’s room. Posters of her favorite recent gacha game [Sweet Blood World] were hanging on the walls, as well as older game posters she had put up, packs of pearls she had gathered while pearl fishing at an aquarium, pamphlets of cute maid cafes in town, fancy-looking packages of candy, everything she liked would end up on the wall.
She did have large pictures and photographs of Mikado hanging there, but every time she put some up, her older sister would confiscate them. Thankfully, she had the entire album saved, so she could still enjoy all the pictures on her smartphone.
Naturally, not only the walls were wrapped in chaos, but also the floor, shelves, and the bed itself. Clothes taken off and left alone, mangas read and left alone and packs of sweets could be found scattered here and there. Though the maids attending this room worked their hardest to keep it clean, Mizuki, with no great effort, would immediately revert the room’s situation back to how it would always be. She herself felt no need to have the room in order.
Now, in the deepest part of this hidden land—the nest most comfortable for the person herself—Mizuki was yet again gazing at her selfie with Mikado. As she rolled around, the door opened without a sound and Kisa entered the room. To which Mizuki jolted up.
“Onee-chan~? How rare of you to come visit me! Did you come over to play~?”
Mizuki dashed towards her older sister in great joy, but Kisa moved even quicker. Slipping behind her and restraining Mizuki’s movement with her arms, she approached Mizuki’s eyes with a hidden weapon. But, she stopped herself right before it connected. Around one millimeter before Mizuki’s eyeballs, the sharp end of an ice pick waited. Mizuki tried to escape this deadlock, but she couldn’t hope to stand a chance against Kisa, trained in assassination.
“Onee-chan, you got even better! What is this, what are we playing? Am I supposed to play dead now?”
“We’re not playing, I’m seriously angry!”
“Yay! Onee-chan is angry! What amazing thing did I do now? I didn’t even have sex with Mikado-kun yet… so something even better?”
“It’s not anything amazing! And if you did, I would have buried you in the permafrost of the South Pole!”
“Ehh, then why? Are you angry about that time when I covered Mikado-kun’s eyes and did the old ‘Who am I~?’ play thing? You see, Mikado-kun always blushes like crazy if you cling to him like that! He’s soooo cute! I even hopped on his lap as well, ehehe~”
“You’re trying to anger me even more, right?!”
“Yup!” Mizuki nodded energetically.
Normally, Kisa barely showed interest in her little sister, and would only do so if she was angry about something.
“Recently, I can feel some weird presence around. Like someone is peeking at me… At first, I thought it was some sort of pervert, but I could smell makeup and all that…That was you, right?” Kisa asked, as she put more strength into her hold on Mizuki.
Any bad responses, and Mizuki would suffer.
“I wasn’t doing any of that! If I wanted to see Onee-chan’s naked body, I’d just barge in your bath time!”
“I never said anything about the naked part! I’m asking if you were trying to gather some private information about me!”
“I wasn’t~ If I had the time for that, I’d be chatting with Mikado-kun. Being on a phone call with Mikado-kun is way more fun~ Even yesterday, we talked for three hours! Mikado-kun seemed like he really wanted to hang up, but I managed to keep it going for a bit!”
Kisa grit her teeth at Mizuki’s bragging.
“Why are you closer to Mikado than a classmate like me!?”
“Because he loves me?”
“He doesn’t!”
“Because boys prefer younger girls after all?”
“I’m still young as well!”
Kisa’s shoulders were heaving up and down, as she breathed heavily. At the same time, Mizuki clung to Kisa’s arms tightly wrapped around her neck.
“Somehow, when we’re in this position, it feels like Onee-chan is hugging me! Is this what they call a sister’s bond?!”
“Is there fly agaric growing in your head…?” Kisa muttered, truly terrified.
Using this opening, Mizuki slipped out of Kisa’s hold, and jumped onto the bed. Kisa herself gave up on even trying to be serious, and sat down on the corner of the bed as well. Still holding the ice pick though.
“Anyway, you weren’t the one peeking on me?”
“Of course!”
“You swear? If you’re lying, then I’ll send you into Earth’s mantle.”
“I swear! On my life! Nanjou Mizuki has not been peeking on you!” Mizuki saluted with a smile.
Though she was interested in becoming mankind’s first Earth mantle researcher, there was an event going on in her gacha game, so she couldn’t miss that.
“Then… who is observing me… the successor of the Empress of Darkness…? Seems like I will have to send Sigma to find out…” Kisa muttered to herself as she thought.
On a side note, Sigma is the captain of the private Nanjou squadron.
“Now now, don’t sweat the small stuff. Let’s just play a bit! I gathered the pictures from the surveillance cameras the day Mikado-kun and I went on a date, so let’s look at them!”
“This is nothing but torture, right?!”
“It’s not though~ It’s this thing called ‘Going on about your love affairs’, and all girls love that! Look, I have the picture where Mikado-kun and I almost fed each other with our mouths!”
“I’ll burn it! I’ll burn down your entire room! Didn’t we have a flamethrower in the storage room…?”
“You’ll burn down the entire house with that…”
Kisa left the room, walking down the hallway, as Mizuki chased after her with high speed.
Arriving at his classroom, Mikado secretively made his way towards Kisa’s seat. He had to be careful now that the Kitamikado Family’s head, his own father, was wary of his relationship with Kisa. He had no other method to contact her. He could technically inquire to Mizuki for this, but he didn’t want to take any risks. Standing behind Kisa, he called out to her.
“…Kisa.”
“Kya?!”
She let out a shriek, and jumped up from her seat. Turning around, she took a step back.
“Y-You were aiming for my life, weren’t you?”
“I’m your classmate, not an assassin!”
“T-Then…you were trying to catch a whiff of my hair, right?”
“Who would want to sniff your… hair!” Mikado couldn’t immediately deny it.
To be completely honest, Mikado was greatly interested in the brand of shampoo that Kisa was using. But, openly stating that would bring shame to the son of the Kitamikado Family, so he held back his feelings.
“I… want to talk with you, just the two of us.”
“Eh, does that mean…?” Kisa’s face burned a bright red.
She obviously started expecting a confession.
“No, you’re wrong, okay?! It’s not like that!”
“I-I get it! No need to be embarrassed, just say it! If it’s you, Mikado, you can do it! I…I’m listening, okay?!”
“You don’t get it at all!”
Mikado himself felt his face burn up in a strong blaze, and stepped out of the room. Kisa kept a bit of distance, trotting after him. Her usual never-ending speaking and pompous tone disappeared somewhere as she kept her lips tightly shut, immediately averting her gaze if she met Mikado’s.
Cute. Incredibly cute, but he couldn’t enjoy her cuteness right now. He had to hold back his embarrassment. Whilst doing so, he pulled Kisa into an empty reference room. The inside was filled with bookshelves and documents, dust building up on the ground. The room seemingly wasn’t frequented often by other people, making it the perfect place for this secret conversation.
Kisa leaned her back against the wall, fiddling with her hair.
“H-Here… you can start. I’ll properly listen, so make it the best confession you could ever muster. The most romantic ever, so it’ll stay in my mind for eternity. I’ll kill you if it’s a bad confession.”
Kisa entered a waiting stance. Even though it was a misunderstanding, Kisa put insane pressure on Mikado.
“For starters… it’s not going to be a confession, okay?”
“What…are you talking about?”
—Is your head okay? Kisa added.
“Well, my father, the head of the Kitamikado Family called out to me. He seems to be wary about the two of us, so I wanted to talk about our next move…”
“So it’s… really not a confession…?”
“Yeah”
“Really really?”
“I swear on my name as a Kitamikado.”
Reality must have set in, as Kisa’s eyes started to burn strong with anger. Following that, she started stomping on the ground like a small child.
“I can’t believe you! Getting my hopes up like this, only to betray me right after! Can you still call yourself a man?!”
“You got…your hopes up?”
Kisa’s shoulders twitched.
“I-I didn’t, of course! I would never! But, a normal girl would surely get her hopes up in a situation like this! You are… the enemy of all women! The worst existence in the history of mankind!”
“Ehhhh…”
Mikado was wondering why she was going this far if she hadn’t gotten her hopes up. But, even if that wasn’t the case, she must have still been nervous, or so Mikado thought, as Kisa’s earlobes turned red as well.
Mikado coughed once to bring the flow of the conversation back on track.
“Anyway, my father is doubting me. That you and I… well, are in some illicit relationship. He pressed against me with that picture from back then.”
“Back then…?” Kisa tilted her head as she was slightly confused.
“You know what I’m talking about… Back when I was taking classes at the temple…”
“What’s so troublesome about pictures of our trip?”
“It’s not that! …Well…”
Mikado was searching for words. He wanted to tell her that the picture showed the two of them a second before they were going to kiss, but it would be too embarrassing to say out loud. He was desperately looking for another way of phrasing it.
“There was a time when you… wanted to cure me, right? The action where our respective mucous membranes were about to touch…”
It ended up even more embarrassing than he thought. Naturally, Kisa blushed as well.
“A-Ahhh! A picture from back then?! O-Of course I remember! How could I forget, yes!”
Kisa panicked quite a bit, as she spoke in a tone she used rather rarely. As if she were trying to escape from Mikado, she pressed her back against the wall, eyes running all over the room. She pouted, emphasizing.
“B-But, that wasn’t a k-k-k-k-kiss or anything! It was only a method to cure you! E-Exactly! In order to ascertain if you were really back to normal or not! I had to check if you had a fever or not! My forehead is better than any thermometer in this world, you know!? It’s the manifestation of how great I am—!!!”
Kisa kept firing out words with her machine gun-like talk.
—I want to push her down and kiss her right now!
Mikado barely managed to hold back his desires after seeing such a cute reaction. He couldn’t fall now. If he kissed her out of his own desires, it would spell defeat for him in the love game the two had. On top of that, this entire reaction of Kisa’s might have just been a trick.
“Uuuuuu…” Kisa crouched down, as she let out a pathetic and embarrassed groan.
She hid her crimson red face with her knees and arms, her slender shoulders shaking.
—No… this isn’t just some acting, right?
Realizing that, Mikado felt the strong urge to immediately dash out of this room to hide his own face. Although it was a rather soothing morning, the atmosphere at school felt like it was mid-summer.
It took at least ten minutes until they were more relaxed. Kisa herself seemed to have calmed down a bit, as she slapped her cheeks with her cold hands. But, she was still unable to look Mikado in the eye as she asked.
“A-And? Did you manage to deceive the head of your family?”
“I tried my best. About the kiss…a-and that we weren’t sleeping with each other.”
“O-Of course we aren’t! We haven’t even married yet! Nor are we going out yet! It’s too fast! Way too fast for that!”
“Yet…?”
Didn’t this mean she was hoping for this to happen once they were to go out, or so Mikado thought. His head was filled with youthful thoughts, but he couldn’t keep dreaming now, and rather had to come up with some countermeasures.
“But… I didn’t manage to convince my father. If there was a next time, it’d be over. He’ll find out about our love game, and the entire family will get involved, for certain.”
“Not good… If both families got involved, it’ll be a gameover with no winner.” Kisa tightened her expression.
Unlike a normal girl, the fighting intent and pride of the Nanjou Family resided in her eyes.
“…Actually, I also got some rather concerning information. It might not be related to you, but I doubt it is unimportant.”
“What is it?”
“Recently, Kawaraya-san seems to be following me around. Since she was taking it a bit too far, I’m having my private squad look into it. Apparently, she was hired to look into the two of us.”
“Don’t tell me… my father?”
Kisa nodded.
“Yes. My private squad found a location where the two of them have supposedly met before. I thought they were working together to uncover the secrets of the Nanjou Family, but it seems like I was wrong…”
“So he’s having her… look into us…” Mikado’s entrails grew cold.
Before he had even caught wind of it, the situation had moved in a direction even scarier than he had imagined. At first, only Kisa had been his enemy, shortly followed by new contenders like Mizuki and Rinka, whilst the greatest threat of the political world was behind his back up until now.
“At this rate…continuing the love game will prove dangerous…”
Kisa showed a nagging smile.
“Yes. Let’s assassinate Kawaraya-san immediately.”
“What are you saying with a smile like that?!”
“Oh, you don’t understand? Well, it makes sense, since every other human being is lacking in the intelligence needed to understand my words, so I will keep it simple… Let’s lure Kawaraya-san into a dark corner, and cut her up into eight pieces?”
“I understood what you meant from the beginning! Kawaraya is a classmate, okay?! Also, she might have just been the best person my father could have hired, she’s not the one to blame here!”
Mikado tried to pull Kisa away from the idea of assassinating their fellow classmate, but the wrinkles in her forehead didn’t disappear. Rather, her expression grew sterner, as rage started to spill out of her expression, making her feel like a demon lord.
“No, she has committed a grave sin. Kobayashi Issa1 once said…Those disturbing the love game are to be bitten and minced by horses.”
“I highly doubt he said anything like that! Don’t put words in other people’s mouths!”
Additionally, the original is from a dodoitsu2 of his, called [Those disturbing other people’s love are to be trampled to death by horses]. Though Mikado also found the original pretty questionable, he understood what it was talking about. He couldn’t allow himself to lose the person he wanted the most, the relationship he desired the most, to be lost because of someone butting in.
Kisa put one hand on her waist.
“Then, what else can we do!? If we have another method besides killing, I’m all ears! See, there’s nothing, right?! Don’t worry, I’ll just kill her without any pain!”
“There’s no consideration for her being a classmate, huh!?”
“I do think I’m pretty kind, considering I’m not torturing her.”
“This level of kindness is worth nothing!”
But, Mikado could only blame himself for having fallen in love with such a girl. He stood as the successor of the Kitamikado Family, who guides Japan to new light, so why did he keep thinking of such a girl as cute? The human heart sure is hard to grasp.
“There are other methods to clear up father’s doubts, you know? For example… how about we have a fight in front of Kawaraya?”
“A-A battle to the death with Mikado…? I wonder, can I properly kill you…?”
“I never said anything about killing, and why are you even worried! If we look that close, then we just have to show them that we actually hate each other. A verbal fight, or you could softly hit me, something like that.”
“Eh…? Mikado, you’re the type who wants to get beaten by girls…?” Kisa’s eyes opened wide.
“Don’t rephrase it to make it sound weird!”
“Y-Yes… it really is weird… getting happy as you get hit and beat by a girl… Wanting to be stepped on by me… But, I truly welcome it!”
“Don’t welcome it! You’re wrong, okay!? I’m not into that sort of thing!”
“No problem. Once I become the Empress of Darkness, I’ll properly teach you… And we can use this acting as practice immediately.”
“Listen to me! It’s just acting! Just to change Kawaraya’s opinion!”
Mikado’s body, having been trained under the strict Kitamikado Family’s regime, would surely withstand this, but that wouldn’t solve any problems. It would only make it more troublesome.
“I understand. Let’s fight like we’re ready to die.”
“I’m glad you understand…”
Though Mikado was a bit sceptical about what she meant by that last part, he didn’t want to get into any more detail than necessary.
As such, the first-ever joint operation between the Kitamikado Family and Nanjou Family began.
Mikado and Kisa returned with a difference of five minutes to the classroom so that their classmates wouldn’t have any weird ideas. On his return, Mikado went to check for the presence of Kokage as she sat in the corner of the classroom. She had her usual camera ready, gazing at Mikado. And not just that, she also kept a close eye on Kisa as well. No mistaking it, she was targeting the two.
Right as he saw Kokage’s wariness slip for a fragment of a second, Mikado and Kisa nodded at each other, starting their first plan. Mikado was now walking along the window side, while Kisa wanted to step outside to the hall.They were slowly approaching each other. They would bump into each other and start their fight, Mikado guessed. But, contrary to his expectations, Kisa just stopped right in front of him, her index finger pointed at Mikado.
“I can’t stand… that look in your eyes!”
She threw a rather soft insult at him. Mikado himself thought that he couldn’t be blamed for his looks, but he had no other choice other than hopping on here. Hence, he put as much intimidation and pressure into his gesturing as he could and gazed down at Kisa.
“You have a problem with that…?”
“Look, those eyes! They’re full of confidence, as if you’re saying you’re the king of this country! Eyes like you’re looking down on humanity! Don’t you know that I am the ruler of this universe…?!”
“Who’s the arrogant one here?!”
More than the country, she was mentally ruling over the entire universe. But, Mikado’s comment was completely ignored by Kisa as she approached him even closer, glaring up at him. The provocative gaze in her eyes, her reddened cheeks, and her plump lips, all led to Mikado’s heartbeat accelerating.
“And before that, I don’t like your face in general! What’s with that face…? Um… you have two eyes, like seriously? On top of that, a nose, one mouth… I’m feeling sick just looking at you!”
“Aren’t those features pretty normal?!”
“Normal is not good! It doesn’t make you stand out! It’s not cool, but boring!”
“Ugh…!”
An ICBM missile hit Mikado right in the heart. Insane damage assaulted him as he held down his chest, blown backwards a few meters.
“Mikado-kun?! Are you okay?! What happened?!” Kokage jolted up in shock.
Standing up after being lent a hand, Mikado forced out a voice in the midst of his coughing.
“I’m okay… A wound like this is nothing…!”
“You’re coughing up blood though?! What kind of wound are we talking about?!” Kokage was left in panic.
It was a deep wound in his heart. Although Kisa’s verbal abuse was way too absurd, and he had to act like this in front of Kokage, the words ‘boring’ really stabbed Mikado in the heart. It would be no problem whatsoever to be told that by anybody else. But to hear them from Kisa’s mouth, it inflicted insane amounts of damage to Mikado.
That being said, no matter how unreasonable it was, he had to return to the fight. They had to have a fight now, and show it to Kokage.
“N-Nanjou as well… calling me boring… that’s not cute at all.”
“Eh…” Kisa’s eyes grew damp.
Her shoulders started shaking, and she bit her lip.
“N-Not cute at all… That makes sense… an honest Shizukawa-san is much cuter after all…” Kisa’s expression looked really hurt, and saddened.
—No, you’re cute! You’re seriously cute, okay?!
Mikado could barely hold himself back from blurting out his real feelings. Through experiencing pain by digging into his hands with his nails, he stopped himself. His own tongue moved on it’s own, so he had to bite down on it to stop it from moving.
“Cough…!”
“Mikado-kuuuuuun?! You’re spitting up even more blood now?!” Kokage jumped up again.
The other classmates around were watching this verbal war, each of them with similar reactions.
“What…is this…?”
“Someone like us could never hope to jump in there!”
“So the world is going to end now…”
“I have to call my family!”
“I don’t want to die yet!”
Despair filled the classroom, as the classmates were watching this spectacle from the sidelines. Some of them were screaming like Ragnarok was about to begin, and humans realized how powerless they were.
“Ufu…ufufufu… Angering me like this, you really must want to die, Kitamikado-san…”
“That’s my phrase. The punishment for stepping on the pride of the Kitamikado Family will come to haunt you in the near future…”
The two of them flashed a confident smile, as they walked to the left and right of the classroom, separating. The ones having taken the most damage out of all of this were Mikado and Kisa themselves.
After that, the war between north and south continued just as intensely. During cleaning time, Mikado was grouped together with Kisa and Kokage in the biology room, and the battle raged on quickly. After Kisa cleaned off a desk with a dust cloth, Mikado elegantly ran his finger from corner to corner, gazed at the bit of dirt and dust left on his finger, and narrowed his eyebrows.
“There’s still some dust left. Redo it.”
“Are you a mother-in-law?!” Kisa threw the dust cloth at Mikado.
By moving just slightly, Mikado dodged the cloth, and once again gazed over at Kisa in contempt.
“It should be Nanjou’s turn to wipe the desks, right?. You have the duty to perfectly complete the job you have been assigned. Go on, repent by wiping the desks in the entire classroom.”
“Huh?! If you’re that concerned about it, why don’t you do it yourself?!” Kisa’s shoulders were shaking in rage.
Mikado just shook his head in disbelief, crouching down to wipe his finger across the floor this time— Naturally, no dust on his finger.
“Look, this is what I call perfect work. And I have the duty of cleaning the floor, so I don’t have time to help you…you get me?”
“I don’t get it! Minding every single detail, so annoying! How can you call yourself a man if you’re that narrow-minded?!”
“Ugh…!” Mikado staggered.
Those calling themselves a successor of the Kitamikado Family were raised less as the sons of Japan, but more so as heroes. With his manliness in question, he felt a great shock. Not to mention that the insult came from Kisa.
—Wait wait wait, calm down. This is just acting. Kisa isn’t serious.
Mikado kept emphasizing inside his heart, trying to minimize the damage he received. If he himself isn’t kind, then nobody will be either. If he wasn’t careful, his heart might break right here.
“I think having a sense of cleanliness is a pretty important trait! So don’t be too harsh…” Kokage timidly tried to follow up.
As long as she was close to them, observing them, they had to keep their operation going. This was the perfect chance to show how spiteful they were towards each other.
“N-Nanjou as well… how about you try working on that so-called feminine power you talked about before? Even if you’re a rich lady, sucking at cleaning isn’t very feminine, don’t you think?”
“I-I do have feminine power…” Kisa grew teary-eyed.
She put her index fingers together, as she pouted.
“I-It’s true that I’m not really good at making lunch boxes, I can’t sew, and I only think of stuffed toys and dolls as sandbags, but… I still am a girl! I-I like cute clothes, and so on!”
“Y-Yeah…you’re right. You are…a girl…” Mikado panicked.
This was more difficult than he had previously thought. He constantly received damage from Kisa’s insults, and seeing Kisa all depressed like that was equally hard to watch. This operation might just cost him his life.
“That being said, I’ll kill you, for having unreasonably insulted me this much!”
“Your jump in logic is unreasonable!”
Kisa jumped at Mikado with insane speed. With speed you wouldn’t expect from a girl like her, she arrived at Mikado’s chest, approaching with the hidden weapon in her hand. Mikado realized quickly enough, and stopped her hand.
—This hidden weapon had a poisonous glimmer of liquid on it, which dripped from the tip, spraying slightly at Mikado. Seeing that, he could feel his innards freeze in fear. Though he didn’t know what kind of liquid was drenched on the tip, since it came from the Nanjou Family, it couldn’t be anything healthy.
As he kept holding back Kisa’s hand, he brought his face closer, and whispered.
“H-Hey… you’re not actually angry, are you? This is just acting, right?”
“Of course I’m just acting… I would have stopped after you were half dead…” Kisa spoke, as she continued putting force into her arm, trying to ram the syringe into Mikado’s neck.
On top of that, rough, stuttering breathing leaked out of her mouth. Most likely, she was around 90% serious. Rage was burning in her eyes, making them more beautiful than ever. With one hand, she held the syringe, while she caught on to Mikado’s other free hand which was trying to take away the syringe. Her legs, wrapped in tights, were rubbing against his as they struggled.
At the same time, Kokage tried to break in between them.
“H-Hey you two, no fighting~”
“Whose fault do you think this is?” “Whose fault do you think this is?!”
Still with their hands restrained by the other person, Mikado and Kisa gave a synchronized answer. To that, Kokage was perplexed.
“Eh…whose fault…?”
“Ah.”
The two of them came back to reality, and let go of each other’s hands. They had lost themselves in their act when they just kept going. Also, Mikado only now realized he was holding Kisa’s hand, so the heat came rushing to his head.
“W-Well, it’s all… Kitamikado-san’s fault!”
“No, it’s clearly Nanjou’s fault! It’s her fault for starting a fight because of something stupid like that!”
“It’s because you didn’t obey me, right?!”
“Because you do sloppy cleaning work like that!”
The two of them were fighting heartedly, dashing out of the classroom.
“…What about the cleaning?! We’re not done yet! Mikado-kun! Kisa-chan?!”
Being left behind, Kokage desperately called after them, but to no avail.
“…Mikado-sama. Could you by any chance be in a fight with Nanjou-san?”
Basketball time during gym class. As Rinka sat down next to Mikado, that question was thrown at him. At first, he was wondering if he should just tell her the truth for now, but before that, he caught wind of Kokage’s presence a few meters away from them. Naturally, her beloved camera was hanging down her chest wrapped in gym clothes. As for the teachers, they seemed to have given up on warning her about it, as none of them said anything. Though Mikado felt bad deceiving his fiance, the risk of being heard was too big right now.
“W-Well, something like that.”
“What happened? If you are fine with me, I can at least hear you out.”
“No… It’s alright. Not that big of a deal, no need to talk about it.”
“Is…that so…?” Rinka lowered her gaze, looking slightly hurt.
Mikado felt horrible watching that reaction. She was even kind enough to give this sort of support, but he had to lie to her. Yet again, Mikado realized how kind of a person his fiance really was. Following that though, she quickly lifted up her head, back in a good mood again.
“This is quite the good chance, isn’t it!?”
“Eh?”
“Mikado-sama and Nanjou-san are having a fight right now… Basically, no matter how close I get to Mikado-sama, she can’t say anything. I can create as many children as I want!”
“We’re at school, so could you maybe be a bit more wary about your choice of words?!”
Hearing this, Rinka put her index finger on her mouth as she tilted her head slightly in confusion.
“I don’t have to hold back to make children with Mikado-sama?”
“You’re not wary at all! That’s even worse!” Mikado felt his body burn up in embarrassment.
“Either way, I cannot let this chance slip at all costs. Mikado-sama seems to have become fed up with Nanjou-san, so she won’t be bothering us.”
“It’s not like I hate her or anything…”
Mikado tried to correct her, but Rinka got the jump on him, resting her shoulders against his. The gym uniform only went down half her arm, so he could feel her bare skin against his. Her snow white, almost transparent legs were pressed against his.
“H-Hey, you’re clinging too much…”
Mikado tried to protest and was met with a dampened gaze from Rinka as she looked up at him.
“…So I really can’t? Even when you’re fighting, you still love Nanjou-san more, Mikado-sama?”
“That’s not… really the case…”
Kokage was pushing her body forwards to get a better idea of their conversation, so Mikado grew flustered for a second. He couldn’t pull Rinka even further into the entire situation with Kisa. It was nothing more than kindness which had led to Rinka keeping quiet about Mikado’s feelings. If Rinka really felt like it, she could finish the love game immediately.
“Then, being Mikado-sama’s fiance, resting against you like this poses no problem, right? There is no other hindrance standing between the two of us after all.”
Rinka pushed her body closer and closer to Mikado, smiling happily. The soothing scent of her hair tickled Mikado’s nose, stimulating his instincts.
“Do you hate it when I do this sort of thing, Mikado-sama? If so, then please tell me, and I will stop.”
“…I don’t hate it.”
“Thank god…I feel very reassured here… My heart is beating so fast…” Rinka spoke as her cheeks burned in bashfulness.
Being openly approached and shown affection by a beauty like Rinka, no man would ever hate that. But, Mikado was more scared than anything else. For a while now, Kisa had been shooting Mikado glares of killing intent while participating in her game. It must probably be different to jealousy and more similar to an angry gaze at seeing her future slave being stolen away.
Meanwhile, the enemy team failed to make the shot, so the basketball bounced down for a rebound, right into Kisa’s arms. However, instead of aiming to score a point herself, Kisa glared over at Mikado and Rinka, throwing the basketball right at them. Mikado tried to evade it, but being restricted by Rinka’s arms, he was not able to do so. Hence, the ball hit him straight in the face, sending his view flying backwards, up to the ceiling.
“Nanjou-san?! What are you doing?!” Rinka raised her voice in shock.
Kisa put one hand on her waist, lifting her free hand almost like she was admitting it was on purpose.
“Ara, I’m sorry. I was going to hit the enemy team with it, but I put too much force into my throw, so it flew towards Kitamikado-san.”
“Don’t try to hit the enemy team either! We’re not playing dodgeball!” Mikado had one hand on his aching nose as he protested.
“I didn’t have any ill-will, you know? Kitamikado-san probably just looked like an enemy to me… Also, I held back and used a ball instead of a bomb, so you can’t say I had any ill-intentions just now.”
“You were clearly aiming for me! I can only sense ill-intentions here!”
“No, I really…didn’t…”
Or so she said, but her eyes resembled those of a predator, projecting her killing intent onto your naked skin. Hence, Mikado tried to fall back, but—
“I will be the one to protect Mikado-sama!”
“?!”
His head was grabbed by Rinka at an abnormal speed and he was pulled towards her. Feeling an extremely voluptuous sensation hit his face, he was enwrapped in two mountains. Coupled with that was a sweet aroma that entered his nose, cutting away his reason for a short second. He wanted to escape this heavenly hell, but he couldn’t put any strength into his knees. Rinka was too focussed on clinging to his head. Faintly, he could hear Kisa’s shaky voice.
“Y-You sure have some guts… You two are now proper enemies of mine… It’s time to prepare for the public execution it seems…”
It was even less of a game of dodgeball now. And, once the Nanjou Family announced it, they would definitely do it.
“Rinka, time to run away!”
“M-Mikado-sama?!”
Mikado regained strength in his body and jumped up, pulling Rinka along after he grabbed her hand. Away from this battlefield looming with death and danger, and onwards to the light and hope waiting for them outside.
“How romantic… shamelessly running away with Mikado-sama like this in broad daylight…”
“This isn’t the time to be talking nonsense!”
Balls were flying at Mikado, who was busy protecting Rinka with all his might.
Like this, the fake war (which was 90% serious at this point) continued. When around a week had passed, Mikado was in a state of starvation and hunger. He was suffering from an intense lack of Kisa. He really wanted to approach her and talk to her, but he couldn’t since Kokage was still watching. Not even able to see Kisa’s smile, he was instead assaulted with harsh verbal abuse. Even the extremely well-built and trained body of a Kitamikado could not stand this attack. Coming home from special classes, Mikado staggered along the road, both his heart and body were tired.
“Are you okay, Mikado-kun? You look a bit pale around the face…” Kokage asked, walking next to him.
Mikado forced out a feeble voice.
“I’m okay… I did lose around ten kilos during the last week, but it’s all good…”
“You’re not okay at all! You have rings under your eyes as well! You look like an old man!”
“I’ve been properly eating and drinking. No matter how much I eat, I still stay as thin as I am right now.”
Kokage shivered in fear.
“That’s scary! You don’t have some alien parasite inside your body, do you?! Maybe we should do an autopsy on you to make sure!”
“No we don’t! I’ll die for real if you do that!”
“Oh come on, it’s just once~”
“Whether it is one or a hundred times, I’ll still die!”
At least just perform a normal surgery, Mikado protested.
“No need to worry, a friend of mine is a really good surgeon. He’s pretty well known among the people talking about aliens like me!”
“He really doesn’t sound all too trustworthy anymore…” Mikado grew scared and took a step away from Kokage.
Unlike the Nanjou Family, the Kawaraya Family shouldn’t be resorting to any abducting but Kokage was the weirdest member of the family so Mikado couldn’t really put any trust in that.
“Anyway, it’s not a parasite or anything… I’ve just been a bit stressed out recently…”
“Stress…huh. It is quite the stressful time that we live in after all. Politics are being corrupted, the SNS are taking over, taxes are going up as well.”
“Listen… are you really a high school student?”
Her complaints and grumbling couldn’t be further away from what a normal youth like she should be worrying about.
“If that’s the case, then leave it to me! There is some good medicine which works against stress. Once you drink it, you’ll forget about all the bad things happening in your life!”
“Isn’t that medicine a bit too dangerous?! That sounds like it induces memory loss!”
“No no no, it’s not anything like that. You will even forget that you are a human after all!”
“Even worse than memory loss!”
Mikado at least wanted to remember his own race. To that however, Kokage muttered with a saddened expression.
“I’m sure that the greatest misfortune for humans must be being born as living beings forced into today’s society…”
“I didn’t need any depressing philosophy like that though…”
“But, I’m sure the beings most troubled by that are the folk of Ganymede3…Their bodies break as soon as they show sincerity to humans, so they can’t even be as kind as they want…That’s why war never ends…What poor beings…”
“I didn’t need information about a moon so far away either!”
But, he couldn’t say that this wasn’t actually happening.
“I bought too much of that medicine, so I have a lot of it stockpiled at home. I’ll go get some right now, so look forward to it!” Kokage dashed away.
“Take your time~”
Naturally, he wasn’t looking forward to it at all. Rather, he didn’t even want to be in the same room as that medicine, but he didn’t stop Kokage either way. Not being supervised by her for even a minute would bring him at least some respite. Not feeling a gaze following him for once, Mikado entered the classroom. Kisa had already arrived by then and approached him with a stern expression. Her shoulders were shaking in anger, as verbal abuse came flying out of her pouting mouth.
“Kitamikado-san, what was that attitude in class about?! Listening to my announcements without prostrating yourself, how arrogant can you be!? Do it right now!”
Her requests were as crazy as ever. But, Mikado ignored that, and put his index finger on his lips.
“Shh. It’s okay, we don’t have to fight. Kokage went home just now.”
“Eh… really?”
The wrinkles disappeared from Kisa’s brow. Her expression softened, as the tension slipped out of her shoulders. Not many classmates had returned to the classroom yet, so the two of them didn’t have to sit in their seats, and could instead exchange a few words as they gazed at each other.
“Um…it’s been a while since we’ve talked like this… hasn’t it…?”
“A-Ah, yeah…now that you say it…”
Mikado was insanely happy, but he didn’t even know what to talk about. Although they were just acting, the time they had spent fighting had continued on longer than expected, and he couldn’t even remember how they used to converse. Looking at the clock on the wall, classes would begin in ten minutes, and the realisation left Mikado in a panic. He probably wouldn’t get a chance like this again for a while. He’d love to exchange contact information with Kisa, but asking himself would put him at a disadvantage in the love game. On top of that, contacting Kisa outside school would run the risk of being doubted even further.
In the end, after worrying for a minute, Mikado went on the attack with the information he had in mind.
“Apparently, the reason homo sapiens developed the ability to communicate was because of gossip inside the tribe, which regulated society.”
“O-Oh…is that so…?” Kisa blinked in surprise.
—Am I an idiot or something?! Why am I starting from 200 000 years ago?! It’ll take another 200 000 years before we can exchange contact information!
The conversation went off-track through his slipup, and Mikado cursed himself. There were only five minutes left in their break. How could he catch up to 200 000 years of human history in five minutes?
“Mikado, do you belong to the homo sapien clique?”
“Homo sapien clique…? What’s that?”
“You don’t get even that? Do you like the older ancestors of homo sapiens, like homo erectus4 or even homo rhodesiensis?”
“I am a homo sapien, so I guess I’d be on that side…”
Mikado was lost on what they were talking about at this point of time. The only thing he knew was that their topic of conversation had jumped from 200 000 years ago to 1.8 million years ago.
Kisa crossed her arms, and snorted.
“I belong to the homo neanderthalensis5 clique. Or the so-called neanderthals. A struggle for existence and subsequently being destroyed by the homo sapiens, isn’t that really exciting?”
“I don’t care about a sadistic hobby like that!”
Looking at the clock, which signaled that class would be starting soon, Mikado fell into despair. He should have really started talking from the age of telephones, but at the time they were currently at, electricity hadn’t been invented yet.
—Shit, if only we’d arrived at that stage of evolution…!
Luckily, right as Mikado prayed for that, Kisa’s gaze wandered around the place and she continued.
“Talking about foolishness, there are also telephones. Ever since Graham Bell invented them in 1876, humanity’s ways of communication have moved forward immensely. But most of the world uses them for useless gossip to waste away time, don’t they?”
“She compressed 1.8 million years of human history that efficiently…?!” Mikado stared at Kisa in admiration.
“Compress…? Did you want to keep talking about the humans of old, Mikado?”
“No, not at all! I’m perfectly fine like this!”
He frantically stopped Kisa before they time-slipped back to the ancient times. If they went on for another 150 years, they might even arrive at the exchange of contact information.
Kisa looked like she couldn’t calm down and played with her fingers.
“A-And, you know? From the standard voice call, the computer followed, and now we’ve made it to the smartphone. I think that’s the greatest paradigm shift.”
—Alright, we moved on 140 years!
Kisa’s summarizing skill was amazing. Once again, Mikado fell head over heels for her.
“Now that you say it… It was an innovative invention. I can’t imagine my life without smartphones anymore.”
“Right? By the way, my smartphone is a special version developed by a company under the Nanjou Family’s wings, which can even connect me to military satellites…”
Kisa held her smartphone in front of her mouth, catching glances at Mikado’s face. The tips of her ears were blushing slightly. What she was saying was actually pretty terrifying, and having the phone of a high school girl connected to a military satellite was questionable for the safety of the country. That being said, there was something even more questionable in Mikado’s head.
—Is Kisa… also trying to exchange contact information?
Or so thought, getting his hopes up, but he guessed she most likely didn’t want to have a personal chat with Mikado by any means, and was just trying to get any sort of advantage in the love game instead. Even so, knowing they held the same goal, Mikado mustered his courage…For about one millisecond.
“M-My smartphone has a CPU in it with the same power as one of the best computers out there. It’s still in experimentation, but I have to experience everything and as much as I can with it, otherwise we can’t analyze anything.”
“Ara, is that all your family has to offer? My phone is using prototype technology from a quantum computer, you know?”
And now, they were bragging about their smartphones. Instead of getting closer to exchanging contact information, they only separated themselves further. Shortly after, the bell rang and the classical literature teacher came in.
“Ugh… so we’ve run out of time!” Mikado grit his teeth.
“Really, it’s because you kept hesitating!” Kisa glared at Mikado, and returned to her own seat.
That night, Kisa had made her way home to the Nanjou Family’s residence and buried her face in her pillow right after she had taken off her uniform. With tears in her eyes, she muttered.
“Uuuuuuu…it’s because I kept hesitating…!”
Mikado must have wanted to exchange their contact information as well. How happy she would have been if she could have mustered up her courage and asked him for his phone number or LINE ID. However, she grew too embarrassed and couldn’t mutter a single word related to that.
Although it was just acting, this war had continued for far too long, and it had grown so intense that they might not even be able to return to normal. Mikado might even be too hurt by Kisa’s verbal abuse and instead choose the kind Rinka over her. As this possibility appeared in Kisa’s head, she panicked. She really should have killed off Kokage from the start, but if she acted now, Mikado would definitely find out that it was her doing. Then, he definitely wouldn’t forgive her.
“What…should I do…?”
As Kisa wondered and pondered to herself, she heard energetic footsteps approaching her room. The door was thrown open with great momentum, and Mizuki barged inside.
“Onee-chan, welcome back! What’s wrong? You look as dead as a loaf of bread?”
“A loaf of bread is dead either way…” Kisa didn’t even have the energy to lift up her head.
She didn’t even have the time to play along with her little sister’s high energy but Mizuki just went on with her life, jumping onto the bed like a small puppy begging for attention as she showed kisa her smartphone.
“Look look, I’ve been chatting with Mikado ever since I came home today!”
“With Mikado…”
“Yeah! Mikado actually has some cute emotes that he uses! Look, this cat’s rolling around, going ‘Nya~’!”
Having Mizuki’s smartphone right in front of her face, she had no other choice but to gaze at it. Shown in the chat weren’t just their messages, but also a picture of the boy. It must have been a selfie. With his back to the wall of the stylish western room and stove, Mikado held the phone up. Seeing the precious view of Mikado in his private clothing, Kisa realized something.
“This is…”
“Yeah! Amazing, right? I said I wouldn’t stop texting him for the entire night if he didn’t send me a picture, so that’s what he did! It really looks like he’s not used to taking pictures, but that’s also a cute thing! And he looks as cool as ever!” Mizuki kept talking in an innocent way.
She was jumping up and down on the bed out of pure happiness. In contrast to that, Kisa grew even more depressed. Her own little sister, still in middle school, was happily exchanging text messages and calls with Mikado, whilst the successor of the Nanjou Family couldn’t even ask for his contact information. Maybe she had just been thinking too much. Maybe she should have stayed true to her desires. But—
“I am Nanjou Kisa…the woman who lives in darkness…”
“Onee-chan?! Why are you sinking beneath the bed now?!”
“I want to be alone right now…”
“I understand that! Is it because I kept braggin?! Ah, don’t pull your blanket down there! Scary! What if you can’t come out again?!”
Mizuki desperately tried to stop Kisa, but she had already holed up beneath the bed. Once she arrived at her beaver’s dam under the bed, she felt secure. Mizuki on her part seemed to have given up, as her footsteps grew more distant and the sound of the door closing arrived at Kisa’s ears. Kisa crawled out from beneath the bed again, taking out her smartphone from her student bag and entered her hole again. In the midst of this pitch-black darkness, she opened up an album, looking at pictures of Mikado.
“Even I…have pictures of him…” She quietly muttered.
It wasn’t a selfie she had received from Mikado himself, but rather snap shots she had taken in the classroom. With Kisa’s smartphone, she could predict the target’s next actions through analysis, allowing her to secretly take pictures. But… she was still jealous of Mizuki.
As she bit her lips, her phone started vibrating out of the blue. Shown on the screen was an unknown number. Thinking she might as well crush the company of the salesman calling her, she accepted the call.
<…Hello?>
The voice coming from the speaker was very familiar to her.
“Eh?! Mikado?!”
Kisa jolted up, hitting her head on the wooden planks acting as support for the mattress. A shriek followed. Intense pain assaulted her head, but she desperately tried to keep her consciousness in check.
“Ouch…”
<Kisa?! Did something happen?! I heard a crazy sound just now!>
“I-It’s nothing…”
<Are you being attacked?! You okay?!>
“I’m fine…There’s nobody reckless enough to try and sneak into our residence anyway…”
She could not let Mikado find out that the future Empress of Darkness was hiding under her bed like a hamster. Hitting her body here and there on the way out, she managed to crawl out from beneath the bed. Sitting on top of the mattress, she could finally calm down a bit.
“U-Um…it’s you, right…Mikado? Why do you have my number…?”
Her voice was shaking to and fro as she was completely caught off-guard by the sudden call from Mikado himself. Her heart was beating like crazy and she grew worried that it might get transmitted over to Mikado.
<Well…Mizuki told me to ‘Call this number right now!’ via chat…>
“Mizuki did?!”
<Yeah. I guessed it must have just been a bad prank, but I had nothing better to do…>
“…Mikado, you seem like the type to kiss Mizuki if she asks you enough times.”
<That’s not true!>
“I wonder about that? You might just think ‘Just once should be fine’, you know?”
<I’m saying that won’t happen!>
Mikado kept denying Kisa’s conjectures, but she just kept snickering. She tightly held onto the phone which connected the two of them right now, sitting on the corner of her bed rubbing her legs against each other. Never would she have imagined feeling this happy just from hearing Mikado’s voice. Because of their continuous fighting, she’d suffered from a severe lack of Mikado, but that made this moment even more blissful. It was her very first phone call with Mikado.
“Hold on a second, I have to boot up my recording app.”
<So that you can keep them for later, huh…> Mikado grew a bit more wary.
“Of course! We always have to keep the love game in mind when we talk!”
She couldn’t admit that she wanted to save this historic moment to enjoy it later. That would leave her at a detrimental disadvantage in the love game and more than anything else, it was really embarrassing. Swiftly clicking on the recording button of the app, she once again put the phone to her ear.
“Okay, it’s started. Now I can take everything you say as proof for later~”
<So everything I say will be held against me?! Come on, this is just a normal phone call…>
“Just don’t mind it. Before we go to court, it’ll be your loss anyway.”
<So I lose either way?!>
For some reason, his voice sounded more energetic than usual. Was it because he got his hopes up? Or was it because he was truly delighted to be able to talk on the phone like this? Kisa didn’t know, but she wanted this time to continue as long as possible. As soon as they were at school again, they would have to continue their fake quarrel.
“Um…would it be a good idea if I went ahead and saved this phone number?” Kisa asked, heavily embarrassed.
She was scared to be told no by Mikado, and worried that this might count as a sign of affection towards him.
<Y-Yeah. We need to be able to communicate without Kokage finding out after all>
“You’re right! It’s weird for my little sister to have more contact with Mikado than I, your enemy! So it’s only natural!”
<You can say that again… Why am I chatting with Mizuki every night…?>
Though, just this once, Kisa had to be thankful to Mizuki for having created such a wonderful opportunity. However, she couldn’t let it stop there just yet and instead had to take it one step further.
As she played with the tip of a strand of hair, Kisa carefully opened her mouth.
“U-Um. I was thinking… We can’t continue our date at school, since Kawaraya-san is always watching us, so maybe we have to change the location… What do you think?”
<So meet outside of school…huh?>
“Y-Yes…”
Mikado kept quiet for a second.
<…A date?>
“It’s not a date! Going on a date when we’re not even going out! What are you getting at a misunderstanding for?! You want to go on a date with me that much?!”
<O-Of course not! A date between the Kitamikado and Nanjou Family, unthinkable!>
“R-Right?! This is nothing but a game! Just a game! We’ll just meet outside of school, but there’s no deeper meaning to it!”
Kisa had been standing the entire time out of nervousness and now she tried to get her rough breathing under control. Only after having Mikado point it out, had she realized. Even if she covered it up under the pretense of the game, it was nothing but a date. Not to mention that she herself practically invited Mikado out on one. She was so embarrassed she wanted to jump off a bridge. She wanted to time travel back and silence her past self with a morning star.
<…Alright. Where will we be fighting?>
“Eh, you’re okay with that?”
<At this rate, the game will never come to an end, and that’d be troublesome for me as well>
“You might die, so are you really fine with it?”
<Why?! It’s not a physical battle, is it?!>
“Y-Yes…well…”
Kisa was surprised by the unexpectedly positive reaction, so she quickly tried to come up with a good location. The local shopping district was no good. They never knew when they could run into an acquaintance and Kokage would have no problems tailing them. That being said, any facilities owned by the Nanjou, or even Shizukawa Family were too dangerous as well. They had surveillance cameras which would record proof of their secret meeting. The only other possible choice was…
“Let’s go to the sea.”
<You want to drown me at Tokyo Bay?!>
“No! I’m not going to drown you or anything! I have a private cruiser there. Using that, nobody can bother us during our game, right? And once we’re out in the open sea, Kawaraya-san can’t tail us.”
That being said, Mikado was still a bit doubtful.
<Makes sense…but, that would leave me wide open to be abducted by you…>
“I wouldn’t do something brutish like that.”
<I mean, you did before…when you kidnapped me and took me to that deserted island>
That point Kisa couldn’t argue against. However, stepping down wasn’t what a Nanjou like her would do.
“I can’t pull off something unrealistic, you know?”
<No, since it’s you Kisa, I fully believe you would be able to…>
“Maybe you should consult a doctor soon to get yourself checked out?”
<All just to twist reality?!>
“Anyway, I’ll contact you once I know the day and location, so you can look forward to it!” Not allowing any further rebuttal, Kisa cut the call.
She tightly embraced the warm smartphone and took a deep breath. Her cheeks were burning hot. Though she ended up being a bit pushy, she managed to make a promise with Mikado in the end. She finally got to talk to him after this long break. That alone made her so happy that she dashed out of her own room.
Arriving at her little sister’s room, Kisa jumped inside, leaping at her little sister.
“Ah, Onee-cha— Woah?!”
She tightly embraced Mizuki who was relaxing on her own bed.
“Mikado…Mikado just…”
She was too lost in her own thoughts and momentum, she wasn’t even able to properly form words.
“Ah, so you got the call? Ehehe, must have surprised you, right~? You were really depressed, so I wanted you to cheer up a bit. You feeling better now?”
“Very…” She heightened her pressure on her little sister even further.
“I’m glad you’re happy~ But, you know, if you keep hugging me like this, I won’t be able to properly breathe anymore… Look, my bones are starting to crack. I feel like… Hey, are you listening? Onee-chan! I give up, I give up!”
Mizuki kept hammering her hand on the mattress until Kisa finally let go of her. Rolling around to the side of the bed, Mizuki had to retire from the battlefield. She felt like she had been put into a deadlock by a fearsome crocodile.
“I wasn’t planning on killing you this time, okay?”
“Yeah, I know. The other times before, you were actually serious after all!”
Kisa ignored that comment and awkwardly continued.
“Well…just this once, I’ll give you my thanks. About the phone call. If there ever comes a time where I have to kill every single human on this planet except Mikado, I will kill you last.”
“You say it like you’re being kind, but you’re really not! On the contrary, it’s really scary!”
“So you want to be first then?”
“I’d rather not die at all!”
Quite the selfish little sister Kisa had.
“Then, what else do you want me to do? Like… I can give you a t-thanks…and prepare something.” Kisa scratched her cheek.
She rarely said anything like this, so she was crazy embarrassed. But, just this once, she had to be thankful. Hearing this, Mizuki’s eyes lit up and she pushed her body towards Kisa.
“Eh, really?! Hasn’t it been like ten years since I last got something like that from Onee-chan?!”
“J-Just hurry up and say it.” Feeling awkward, Kisa averted her gaze.
“Then, then! If Onee-chan wins against Mikado-kun in the love game, I want you to share him with me!”
“Share…? Like horizontally? Or vertically?”
“Scary! Not that!”
“So share his organs? I’d have to contact someone…”
“That’s even more gruesome! Mikado-kun will die!”
“Then what is it…?”
Mizuki ran her fingers across her plump lips, a gesture way too errotic for a middle school student like her.
“Basically~ Half of the week, I get to sleep with Mikado-kun. Onee-chan and I will be sharing Mikado-kun, in short. And of course, I’m talking about the naked kind of sleeping… fufu.”
“NO can do!”
“So the three of us together?”
“That’s even worse! I won’t hand over Mikado, okay!?”
Mizuki pouted.
“Ehhh, Onee-chan, you’re so stingy!”
“I’m not stingy! This is normal!”
“I’ll even pay you~!”
“What kind of girl would sell off her boyfriend for money!?”
Kisa yet again realized that, even after her eventual win in the love game, she still has to be wary about her little sister the most.
At 11 pm, Mikado stepped on the small Nanjou Family boat near the harbour. It was controlled by Sigma who he had met before during Kisa’s hospitalization, and they made their way to the cruiser offshore. Kisa was not present on this boat. Hence, him being alone with the captain of the private Nanjou Family squad made the situation extremely awkward.
“Really… Kisa-sama seems to have the wrong idea and think that I am some sort of all round bodyguard…” Sigma muttered as she controlled the steering wheel of the boat.
“It seems like she really trusts you. Have you known each other for a long time?” Mikado asked without any hidden motives, only to be met with a sharp gaze by Sigma.
“No comment. The shitty Kitamikado kid doesn’t need to know that.”
“I see…”
He had wanted to soften this heavy atmosphere, if only little, but this reaction made it even worse. That being said, they weren’t on good terms to begin with, so it couldn’t be helped. As Mikado sighed, Sigma must have thought that she was acting a bit too cold, and shrugged her shoulders.
“Sorry, but this is my job after all. Once you’re married into our family, Kisa-sama can tell you everything you want to know.”
“I have no intent on marrying into her family though.”
Welcoming Kisa into the Kitamikado Family was the true goal of this entire love game. If he managed to reform Kisa to the way of light, the way of the Kitamikado Family, Japan would surely evolve into a wonderful country.
“I really think you’d be happier if you just surrendered to Kisa-sama. I’m sure she’s the type to do everything for her husband.”
“I really doubt that. If I lose in the game, I’ll become her slave. All that’s waiting for me is humiliation and continuous days of hell.” Mikado shuddered in fear.
He did truly love Kisa, but a Kitamikado could not become the slave of a Nanjou at any cost.
“Again, there’s no way that Kisa-sama would be able to make you a slave…”
“Eh…?”
“No, nothing at all! If we talk too much, we might just be killed by Kisa-sama.” Sigma’s body shivered as she gripped the steering wheel tightly.
Mikado felt like he was accidentally told something extremely important, but Sigma didn’t elaborate any further on that topic, so he could just sit there in silence as his body shook slightly.
Eventually, he could see the shadow of a boat out on the sea. The closer they got, the more he could tell that it was a luxurious cruiser. Built with an elegant curve that generated a flowing silhouette, it had several windows indicating rooms on board. With the entire body being painted a strong white, it stood out in this dark night.
Sigma swiftly brought the small boat next to the cruiser.
“See ya. Nobody’s bothering you, so you two just enjoy yourselves.”
“You’re not coming in?”
“I’ll come greet you in the morning. If I watch you two any longer than this, I might start spitting sugar.”
As Mikado safely boarded the cruiser, Sigma drove into the darkness. Looking out to sea from the shipdeck, the stars looked as beautiful as small jewels. With wooden furniture here and there on the deck, it looked less like a boat and more like a southern style residence. Following the light of the lamps, he arrived at a table on the deck, where Kisa was already waiting. She was wearing a vivid red and yellow one-piece which gave off a foreign feeling. Her shoulders were in plain sight and almost blinding, as were her almost revealed thighs. She had a hibiscus flower in her hair and a strong rouge color on her beautiful lips. Just seeing her like this was enough to leave Mikado breathless.
“Welcome, Mikado. I’ve been waiting for you.”
Kisa smiled gracefully at Mikado, who almost forgot to become wary of her. The surrounding lights, the mood, the long distance from the land, several measures had been taken to lull Mikado into Kisa’s trap. He wondered if it was really the right decision to walk right into the spider’s web like this. Hence, he turned around on his heel and ran towards the water by the edge of the deck.
“H-Hey! Why are you going home?!” Kisa panicked, trying to stop Mikado.
“Something urgent came up. I was wondering when the daffodils in the garden would start blooming.”
“Leave them alone! They’ll start blooming eventually!”
“Recently, I’ve been waking up around the time morning comes. At my age, sleeping through the night gets more difficult.”
“You’re in high school, right?!”
“Anyway, I’m going home. Even if I have to swim.”
“It’s at least 20 kilometers, you know!? You’ll die if you try that!”
“I’m betting my life.”
At the side of the boat, Mikado prepared himself for the departure. The sea was deep black, but it was much better than having to stay in this seductive atmosphere for the rest of the night.
“I see… so you saw yourself losing to my beauty, which is why you’re running away now.”
“Wha…”
As Mikado turned around, Kisa greeted him with a provocative smile.
“If you are fine with that, then feel free. I’ll just take it that the Kitamikado Family will run away from a possible defeat then?”
“Ugh… Making a fool out of me is one thing, but don’t insult the Kitamikado Family…” Mikado returned a glare.
“Then, come here. We were going to play a game of love, right?” The queen had asserted absolute dominance.
An insane, normally unimaginable level of charm emitted from her. This motivated Mikado, wanting to make such a beauty his own.
“…Don’t regret it later, okay?” He slowly went up the stairs towards the terrace.
“I won’t… No matter what the result may be.”
Did this mean she would be satisfied, even if she were to end up belonging to Mikado once morning came? Mikado thought so for a second, but quickly rid himself of that idea. It must be a bluff to heighten Mikado’s affection for her and completely seduce him. The Nanjou calling herself the Empress of Darkness would not hold such a pure loving heart.
“Now, take a seat. I prepared a very special dinner for us that comes from a faraway country my dear mother took under her control. Filled with despair and regret, it will taste wonderful.”
And as expected, Kisa’s words sure didn’t make her sound like a maiden in love. He could never forget. The fact that Kisa was not a normal girl. Her exterior might look more lovable than any girl, but her head was filled with schemes. Let down your guard only a little, and you will suffer. Hence Mikado had to mentally prepare himself as well.
The table was made of white keramik, imbued with a graceful flower pattern. The tableware at their disposal looked to be made of gold and silver, shining in the moonlight. The table itself had amuse-bouches6, a terrine made of vegetables, raw ham and fruit marianne, flounder and many other delicacies. Inside the crystal pitcher was a liquid, as light as the sun of a southern country.
On one side of the table, there was a sofa with a perfect view over the ship, fit for two people. Seeing this, Mikado grew even warier. They could have just eaten while facing each other, but he had no other choice except to sit down on the right side of the sofa.
Following that, Kisa sat down next to him. She had put quite the distance between herself and Mikado, pressing her body against the armrest of the sofa.
“…Why are you that far away from me?”
Even Mikado was hurt a bit by that. No matter how you looked at it, she was avoiding him.
“B-Because it’s disgusting!”
“That’s quite a quick way to ruin the date!”
“It’s not like you’re disgusting, Mikado. The idea of having someone exist next to me is disgusting. Humans are the most dirty beings on this earth.”
“Then why didn’t you just prepare two chairs?!”
“Because of the budget!”
“You talk about the budget after preparing an entire cruiser?!”
“S-S-S-S-S-Shut up okay!? Sweating all the small stuff doesn’t make you look like a man at all!” Kisa’s shoulders were shaking in rage as her face burned a strong red.
…Might this actually be…?
“…Are you…embarrassed?”
“Hya?! W-Why would I be embarrasshed?! I’m totally used to this sort of thing! Why would someone like me show a temper on my first date?!”
Her shaky voice betrayed all her efforts of playing tough. She tried hiding her burning red face, shaking her hands furiously at Mikado. Her pride as the Empress of Darkness disappeared somewhere and she was now getting flustered about the weirdest things. Naturally, watching this cute gesture inflicted 100 million damage on Mikado. Even though the night breeze was rather cold, he could feel his entire body burn up like midsummer. After having suffered through her fake verbal abuse, seeing the real her was too much.
“That reaction makes me feel a bit embarrassed, you know…?”
“Don’t! I’ll just get more embarrassed as well!”
“And if you do that, then so will I…”
“Then I’ll get even worse! Pull yourself together Mikado!”
It grew, grew, and grew even more. Embarrassment filled the atmosphere, and their body temperatures rose as if they had a fever. Soon enough, they’d boil their blood and the rest of the water inside their bodies.
Mikado and Kisa sat on their respective corners of the sofa, hitting their cheeks with their cold hands to cool themselves down. What good would it do for them to KO each other inside the ring before the actual fist fight?
“T-Then, let’s begin with our dinner.”
Kisa pressed the switch on top of the table and the cruiser slowly turned, moving even further away from the coast. A white boat was now surrounded by the pitch black sea. The soothing sound of the waves was very pleasant to their ears, and the breeze hit them comfortably. With this scenery, the mood during the dinner would surely move in Kisa’s favor. There was even some soothing music playing from a speaker set out on a nearby chair.
Mikado prepared himself for an attack from Kisa, which might come any time, but she showed no signs of doing so.
“This terrine sure is delicious. A lot of vegetables are in there. I’m normally not very good with gumbo, but this is doable.” Mikado nodded along.
To that, Kisa glared at him.
“So you’re saying this is better than my handmade cooking, and that you want this chef to make you food for the rest of your life, right!? How about you play a love game with them then?!”
“I just praised the good food! Why are you getting angry like that?!”
“By the way, the chef is a divorced man in his fifties. He does some weird dance while he’s cooking, so pay attention to that.”
“I didn’t need any useless information like that!”
As they were exchanging idle talk like that, their dinner continued. Far away from any hint of civilization and free of Kokage’s surveillance, they didn’t have to fear the Kitamikado or the Nanjou Family. At this rate, they might just enjoy this time.
Or so Mikado hoped, but the cruiser suddenly shook heavily, the deck and table trembling as if there was an earthquake.
“Kya?!”
Kisa’s body was jolted against Mikado’s. Her slender and soft self was stopped by Mikado as he embraced her. Her chest was pressing against him, a sweet odor reaching up to his nose and her beautiful hair had gotten messed up as it wrapped around his arm. Kisa took a second to separate herself from Mikado, her cheeks blushing.
“I-I’m sorry…”
“I-It’s fine…”
Their body separated awkwardly on top of the sofa. The calm atmosphere was wrapped in chaos at the sudden incident, and Mikado felt his heart almost leap out of his chest. Truly not the time to enjoy a calm and collected innerself. At the same time as he thought that, the cruiser shook again in another direction. This time, Mikado couldn’t keep his legs on the ground and flew towards Kisa.
“Funya?!” Kisa let out a cute shriek.
It took Mikado a second to realize the position he was in. Leaving out the detailed explanation, he had his face right inside Kisa’s cleavage. Their sensation was out of this world, holding an intense volume. Since the collar of the one-piece was quite far down, his nose was caught right between the two mountains in front of him.
Her sweat and soft skin were right beneath him. On top of that, he could make out the scent of a graceful perfume and Kisa’s own distinctive smell. All these things combined made Mikado feel like his consciousness was thrown into the depths of the universe. If he didn’t get away soon, he would die. He’ll become this beauty’s plaything. His instincts were screaming to separate, but—
“Y-You can’t move yet! It’s dangerous!”
On top of the shaking boat, Kisa held tightly onto Mikado’s head, pressing it even further into her chest. The impact and volume of her chest was enough to completely blow away any semblance of reason Mikado had left. His entire body was wrapped up by Kisa and he was on his way to suffering the most peaceful death by suffocation.
“Uoooooooh!”
With the last ounce of willpower he had left, he managed to tear his body away from Kisa, but he quickly realized an irregularity whilst doing so. The boat itself was shaking furiously, but the plates on the table were not moving an inch. It was almost as if they were pinned down with magnets; they did not waver at all.
“At this rate, we’ll fall into the water! Let’s move into a cabin!”
“Y-Yeah…”
MIkado followed Kisa who jolted up from the sofa, going down the nearby stairs. The cruiser continued to shake, as splashes of water flew into the air. It was an amount comparable to a fire fighting hose being used and it splashed onto the two of them. The taste of the water in his mouth left Mikado with yet another feeling of discomfort. It wasn’t salty at all. They should have been in the middle of the open sea, and not on a small lake, so why was it not salty at all?
On top of that, although it was just for a short moment and it had disappeared in the blink of an eye, Mikado saw something. In the shadow of a palm tree, something like a nozzle stuck out, shooting water towards them. As he held tightly onto Kisa’s hand, about to hide below deck, Mikado’s thoughts started turning around and around.
The basic premise of it all: Kisa, coming from the Nanjou Family, was always scheming. Hence, she wouldn’t be moved just by any incentive.
There comes the doubt. Why would she have chosen a cruiser of all places for their battle? If the intent was for the two of them to be alone, there were countless other options. And now, there were these various weird happenings and realizations going on too. Why are the plates on the desk not shaking? Is it just an illusion that the cruiser is shaking?
Conclusion: most likely, this entire cruiser is an attraction. According to what he had heard from Mizuki, there were movie theatres in this world which could reenact things like the water splashes and smells from movies, even motion like being shaken furiously could be achieved, and the cruiser was one such variation.
Having established the fact that Kisa herself was troubled by the supervision of Kokage, she had used that to her own benefit to invite Mikado into this trap. It was all to finally win the battle against her prey.
“…Mikado? What’s wrong, let’s hurry on inside!”
In front of the door of the cabin, Kisa turned towards Mikado, looking slightly worried. But, Mikado didn’t miss the predaceous light brimming in her eyes. First, Mikado had held Kisa’s hand to guarantee her safety, but now she was pulling on it herself, trying to lead him away.
“No, I…”
Mikado hesitated, but the door opened without someone touching it and the deck shook in such a way that resulted in the two of them falling into the room.
—Ugh, I’ve been had…
The door behind them closed, followed by the sound of the door being locked, and Mikado painfully realized how nonchalantly he had walked right into her trap. Many men might have fallen victim to this, but for Mikado who had fought Kisa several times before, he now realized the true game was just beginning.
They were greeted by an elegant atmosphere. On the walls were inset lanterns imitating windows that let in a faint light. The floor was covered with a thick carpet accompanied by satin curtains. There was a wine table as well that seemed to have lasted a few centuries. At one of the wide cabin’s corners was a shower room, but the wall separating it was transparent, not hiding anything. In the dead center of the room stood a queen-size bed, emphasizing the meaning of this room even further. The bed itself had a dome over it like the ones you’d see in fairy-tales, and from beyond the organdy curtains came the suspicious scent of smoke.
Having taken in this scent, Mikado felt his own head get dizzy. The blood in his body started to boil and his view grew warped. This is too dangerous. Though Kisa shouldn’t have used any harmful drugs on herself, it was clear that it was some sort of aphrodisiac.
At the same time that he realized that, Kisa shuddered, her drenched one-piece clinging to her body.
“I’d like to change.”
“Alright, I’ll go wait outside…” Mikado headed towards the door, but it still wouldn’t open.
“I can’t take off these clothes alone.”
“Then, what should I…”
Kisa sat on top of the bed, her back towards Mikado.
“C-Could you pull down the zipper on the back? I can’t reach it on my own.”
“W-Why don’t you just call a maid for that?” Mikado took a step back.
Possessing an ancient and honorable origin, those who called themselves the successors of the Kitamikado Family were highly inexperienced with taking off the clothes of a woman. Just the structure of the clothing was a mystery and in a situation like this, he couldn’t calmly figure it out either.
“There’s no maid on the boat here. If I don’t change quickly, I’ll catch a cold.” Kisa sneezed, as her body shook.
—This…I can’t help it.
Mikado certainly didn’t lose against Kisa’s seduction, and he didn’t do this out of his own desire either. It was just to help a troubled girl, and leaving the worried Kisa alone would go against the principles of the Kitamikado Family.
Telling himself these excuses, Mikado carefully put his hand on the zipper of Kisa’s one-piece.
“Mmm…” A sweet moan escaped from Kisa’s lips.
The more the zipper went down, the more her slender back shook. With more and more of her white skin being revealed, Mikado swallowed. On one hand, he wanted to see her entire body like this, but opening it all the way up would equally be a waste. With these contradicting desires filling his head, Mikado was entranced by the beautiful goddess in front of him. Eventually, the zipper was down fully.
“…Thank you…”
“Well…likewise…”
Being thanked by Kisa, he unconsciously responded in the same way. Mikado was lost on what he was even talking about, but he didn’t have time to ponder on it, since the cruiser shook again. With a shriek, Kisa fell over towards Mikado. Reflexively, he embraced her, only to regret that action immediately after. Kisa’s skin touching his hands and her slender shoulders were soft enough to blow away Mikado’s reasoning immediately.
On top of that, Kisa didn’t dare separate either, just clinging onto Mikado’s shirt. The same went for Mikado, unable to let her sacred body escape from his arms. Inside those, Kisa slowly opened her mouth and an embarrassed, meek voice followed.
“U-Um…this cruiser works on a self-driving system, so it’s just the two of us here…”
These words had the same detrimental impact of a bomb blowing up. Far away from any signs of civilization, it was just the two of them in their own world. Just by barely reaching out with his hand, he could make Kisa his own. It would spell defeat in the love game, but if it meant gaining the person he loved in return, it wasn’t that bad of a trade.
“Mikado…” Passionate, dampened eyes were gazing up at Mikado.
Her half-opened and blazing red lips, her lovable tongue, her skin rubbing against his, everything of hers desired Mikado right that instant.
—I can’t…lose against this…
By reciting sutra inside his head, Mikado managed to win against temptation. By becoming one with Eunatai, his thought process exceeded human problems such as temptation and flew off into the universe and the reason for being. However, before he could reach true enlightenment with Eunatai, Kisa’s body was too soft to let him focus. Right as every fiber of his being was unable to hold back against Kisa’s temptations and his soul was about to be sucked in by the Empress, a change occurred.
They heard a wet, dripping sound coming from the deck. Following that, an ominous sound like something being pulled. The sound of footsteps was slowly, but surely approaching the cabin.
“…What is this sound…?”
“I-I don’t know! Maybe a walrus jumped on board…”
“A walrus is visiting the cruiser…?”
“I’ve heard rumours about it before… At an illegal research facility, they managed to create a zombie walrus in an experiment, and night after night, it swims through the ocean, seeking revenge and sinking all the normies enjoying their lives…”
“At least come up with a better excuse…”
Mikado had guessed at first that it was Kisa’s doing, but her pale expression, distorted by fear, spoke against that hypothesis. Then, it might be some uninvited intruder. Whether it was a zombie walrus, an eared seal, a penguin, or a dodo, he had to certify who it was, or he couldn’t rest easy.
“Open the door, please. I’ll go check it out.” Mikado got up from the bed.
“I think it would be safer to just stay inside…”
“In the event that the other person is someone from a special unit, throwing one grenade in here would spell the end for us. Before it comes to that, we have to find out who we’re dealing with.”
In the training regime of the Kitamikado Family, there existed methods regarding how to deal with people like this, but it was also a good chance to escape from this cabin.
“…Okay, but please be careful.”
Alongside Kisa’s words, the sound of the door being unlocked entered Mikado’s ears. He slowly opened it and carefully exited onto the deck. And then, what was shown in his field of view—
A grotesque appearance you couldn’t even put into words.Tentacles protruded from its body, wriggling along. A horrifying breathing sound escaped from what seemed to be the mouth, its eyes were a bloodshot red. It crawled along the deck with it’s four legs, leaving disgusting footprints on the floor. It wasn’t an existence you could classify as human. However, it also differed greatly from any animal known to man.
“What kind of enemy was it…?” Kisa asked with a scared voice behind Mikado.
“A ridiculous enemy for sure!”
Hearing this scream of Mikado’s, the grotesque monster lifted itself up, dashing towards the cabin at an insane speed. With seaweed spilling out of its wide, opened mouth, a lamenting scream echoed.
“It’s running on two legs now?!” Mikado retorted, and quickly closed the door.
Following that was the sound of the monster hitting the door and collapsing to the ground. The door was shaken and hammered on until the sounds of footsteps slowly grew distant.
“W…W-What was that just now…?” Kisa shook in fear.
“It wasn’t…a walrus… A demon? Or some evil spirit?”
“A-A-A-As if evil spirits actually existed! It’s defying the laws of physics!”
“Humans can only try to explain everything with science. Doesn’t mean that apparitions and such don’t actually exist.”
The Kitamikado Family strove to rule this world in the light, but they had deep connections of old with diviners and such. When making decisions during their rule and political maneuverings, asking for the will of the heavens happened quite frequently. Hence, he couldn’t deny the idea of something supernatural existing.
Kisa slapped the palm of her hand onto the bed.
“A-Anyway, I’m saying that was a walrus! The mascot of the sea!”
“It felt a bit too aggressive to be a mascot…”
“It’s a battle-type mascot! It’ll burn the city down with it’s cuteness!”
“That’s not a mascot anymore, it’s a bomber! Also, you sure are scared, aren’t you?”
“I-I’m not scared at all! Not scared in the slightest! I’m just the same as always.”
She put one hand on her hip, trying to act tough, but her knees were shaking furiously and tears were building up in the corners of her eyes.
“What you’re saying and the way you’re acting are very different!”
“I can’t help it, can I?! If it had an actual body, killing it would be no problem, but I don’t know any ways of killing evil spirits!”
“I do agree with you on that… But, I see…that’s an unexpected weakness… Kisa, you’re actually scared of ghosts, huh…” Mikado’s expression softened.
“W-What is it…?” Kisa’s expression grew pale.
“Ah, nothing at all? I just thought you were quite cute for someone called the Empress of Darkness. Are you actually scared of the dark by any chance?”
“H-Huh? As if that’s the case! I’m perfectly fine right now!” She emphasized.
“Right now…? So you were scared when you were younger? Something like you couldn’t sleep alone at night when you were in middle school?”
There was a complete turn of situation with Mikado on the attack now. Though Kisa’s plan almost had Mikado resigning in defeat. Suddenly, however, a shriek ran out, strong enough to rip one’s eardrums apart. And as the window of the cabin blew open, the monster stormed inside. Shards of glass flew everywhere and a rotten smell filled the room. The unidentifiable monster crouched down on all fours, storming at them as it huffed for air.
“Kisa! Get behind me!”
Thinking this was a good chance to show off how cool he was, Mikado turned around to her. Kisa pulled the blanket over herself and hid.
“I can’t see it!”
“What are you talking about?!”
“What I can’t see doesn’t exist! I’m the only one in this room!”
“What about me?! There’s gotta be limits to how much you can try to run away from reality!”
“What might you be talking about? We’re inside a tent, right? It must be. Once I get out, I’ll be able to see the starry sky. But, it’s night, so it’s bedtime…” Kisa kept muttering to herself.
—Not good.
Mikado was met with true fear. Nanjou Kisa, with the brain capacity to rival the leading forces of Japan, had turned into an absolute mess. If Mikado didn’t work against this soon, she might go past the point of no return.
“It’s okay, Kisa. I’ll protect you.”
“Mikado…? Are you saying you were even trained in the magic arts…?”
“Don’t make me sound like a messiah! I’m just a Kitamikado!”
Mikado turned towards the monster, dashing. He grabbed it’s forelimb, flinging it away before it could attack. With that, the monster let out a scream and fell to the ground. The tentacles fell off the beast, dropping to the ground. No…those weren’t tentacles. In the pitch-black darkness before, he couldn’t tell, but they were nothing but harmless seaweed. Every strand was slightly different in color and length, wrapping around the body with shrimps and other sea inhabitants mixed in.
“Hmpf!”
Mikado grabbed hold of one part of the monster, pulling on it. Like the geisha having her kimono band pulled off, the monster rolled around on the floor, and showed its true form. A wet suit clinging to a body with a well-endowed chest, as well as revealed thighs and the drenched hair that glued to the pale face.
“H-Help me…”
The monster— was none other than their classmate Kawaraya Kokage, wearing a diver’s suit. It seemed getting up was too tough for her, since she just gasped for air on the ground.
“Kawaraya?! Why are you here?!” Mikado asked, to which Kokage let out a weak voice.
“I was…hiding at the bottom of the ship the entire time, but it suddenly started to shake… I tried my best to hold onto it, but my oxygen tank fell down, so I had to evacuate here…”
“O-Ohh…?”
What crazy persistence. This wasn’t just on the level of a paparazzi anymore.
“I-I was about to freeze to death, so could I…maybe ask for some warm soup and something to change into…? Ah, maybe some brandy as well? I’ll go take a bath as well to thoroughly warm myself up!”
“You’re quite the choosing beggar for having evacuated here!”
“After the bath, maybe an ice cream would be nice? I love vanilla! But please not one with chocolate in there!”
“Weren’t you freezing a second ago?! You seem pretty energetic to me!” Mikado protested in disbelief.
With the monster turning out to be his classmate and the passionate love-game cancelled as well, all the tension blew away in a second.
“How dare you…force me to embarrass myself in front of Mikado…?”
A demon stood behind Mikado. He turned around stiffly and found Kisa glaring at Kokage like she had just murdered her entire family. She threw away the blanket she had covered herself with and took small steps towards Kokage.
“Maybe I should turn you into shark bait…”
“You a pirate now?!”
“We can do it now…it’s only us here, so there are no witnesses to bother us…”
“I-I-I’m really not as delicious as I m-might look! If you need bait, I recommend Mikado! He’s got more meat on him!”
“Why am I turning into shark bait now?!”
“Mikado, out of my way! I’ll drown her myself! In the Mariana Trench!”
“Stop! Don’t use any blunt weapons against your classmate!”
Kokage ran away screaming, still drenched. Kisa held a pillow in her hand, chasing after her. Mikado tried his best to protect Kokage from said pillow. The elegant time on the cruiser had disappeared elsewhere and all that was left was chaos.
1 Japanese poet
2 unrhymed non-metrical Japanese popular love song or limerick in the 7-7-7-5 syllable pattern
3 Moon of Jupiter
4 Extinct species of hominid that lived from the end of the Pliocene epoch to the later Pleistocene, about 1.3 to 1.8 million years ago
5 Extinct subspecies of homo sapiens, around until ~40 000 years ago – neanderthals
6 In restaurants, an amuse bouche is usually a complimentary bit of food that is served after a waiter has served you drinks.
CClaw Translations 
— Thanks for the chapter~ ^^
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Thank you for the chapter!
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Thanks for the chapter! Was waiting for this
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When is the update for Chapter 2 Dude?
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When’s a better attitude coming bro?
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Ahh i’m so sorry😟
so what should I call you?
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Lmao
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