Chapter 68: Shinobu: Greatness Needs No Explanation!
....
Without Anna Yanami, the resident foodie, present at school, Kihara found himself feeling somewhat unaccustomed to it. During lunch break, he unconsciously called out her name, only to remember that she had taken a leave of absence today because her romantic heart had been completely shattered.
[I'll drop by tomorrow to check on her condition. If she's completely down in the dumps, I'll just have to be the one to proactively confess.]
[My master, why do I sense nothing but absolute malice from thee toward her?]
[You can think of it as payback for over ten years of desensitization therapy. If Anna had just opened her eyes at any point in the middle and charged straight in, our relationship wouldn't have remained stuck as childhood friends for so many years.]
[Hmph hmph~ If I weren't by thy side, wouldn't thy lower half have exploded long ago?]
[Thank you so much for looking after me, wife Shinobu. How about I make you an extra-large donut tomorrow?]
[Mmh~ That's more like it.]
Without even looking into the shadow space, Kihara could vividly imagine Shinobu snicker-grinning with a cat-like mouth, smugly crossing her legs while wiggling her fair, soft toes.
During lunch, seeing him looking somewhat preoccupied, Lala linked his mood to Anna Yanami—who had seemed deeply off today—and set down her bento box, leaning her face in to plant a gentle kiss on his cheek.
"Kihara, are you feeling lonely because Anna isn't here?"
"No, it's just that eating without a cute sea otter around feels a bit unfamiliar, that's all."
"Hmm..." Lala tilted her head in thought for a moment, then spoke with total calmness: "If you like Anna, you can go confess to her! It'll be even more fun if everyone is together!"
[Gasp! Is this the legendary aura of the main wife!? As expected of the First Princess of Planet Deviluke—what terrifyingly grand resolve!]
[Stop messing around. It's not like you didn't know Lala had this kind of great personality in the first place.]
[Simply too great. Even staying inside the shadows, I can feel this extraordinary aura.]
Placing his hand on Lala's soft head, Kihara stroked her hair gently back and forth with a smile: "You're being way too generous. If another girl comes to confess to me, would you be willing to share me as well?"
"That..." She pursed her lips in distress, her long cowlick tangling into a messy knot from her inner conflict. "If you like her too, I have no objections!"
"Dummy, don't just casually say things like that. It makes it very easy for a guy to turn bad."
"But you won't turn bad."
Lala seemed to see straight through Kihara's heart with her pure emerald eyes,
completely certain that he would never do anything to make her sad. Her resolute tone moved him deeply.
After planting two firm kisses on her face to vent the affection swelling in his heart, Kihara finally picked his chopsticks back up to continue eating.
Lala let out a silly, blissful giggle. Only after a moment did she notice that he had left an oily lip mark on her cheek, pouting her lips in a huff to kiss him right back in revenge.
...
Toward evening, Ibuki Suika stood at the doorway carrying a hiking backpack packed to the brim, bidding farewell to Kihara under the orange sunset.
She had stayed here for quite some time now, and it was time to take her newly brewed galactic fruit wine back to Gensokyo to show off in front of her friends.
"Kihara-bro, I had a blast staying here over this period! The only downside was that there was too little time for late-night activities. Whenever you visit Gensokyo, let's spend a few solid days together drinking and playing adult games!"
"If an appropriate opportunity comes up, I'll come look for you."
"Here, this is the wine I just brewed; take one bottle as a gift." Suika handed him a bottle of light-purple fruit wine.
The bottle was sealed with a cork. Even without opening it, a unique fragrance faintly drifted out from the stopper. In fact, if she hadn't explicitly pointed it out, no one would ever suspect it was a bottle of alcohol.
"This wine should be strong enough to knock out Remilia or Yuuka Kazami. If you're confident enough, go ahead and let them drink this."
Saying that, Suika gave a mischievous wink, wearing an "if you know, you know" expression, before turning around and waving as she stepped into the gap opening up before her.
"Now this is quite a massive gift to receive..."
Although he didn't harbor too many thoughts toward Yuuka Kazami at the moment, Kihara still solemnly stowed the bottle of fruit wine—capable of getting her drunk—into his storage space just in case.
As for Remilia, there was no need to worry at all, because before he even applied any effort, she had already leaped straight into the pit on her own.
The mere thought of the proud, face-saving Young Miss discovering the truth behind the side effect—wearing a thoroughly disgusted face yet stubbornly forced to help him handle it—made Kihara feel as refreshed as gulping down an ice-cold cola in the dead heat of summer, every pore on his body opening wide in bliss.
"Brother-in-law, has Miss Suika left?"
"Yeah. Momo, did you need her for something?"
"Didn't she brew liquor in her room? I provided those raw materials, so I wanted to see what the brewed wine looked like."
"I'll show you when she comes back next time."
"Guess that's the only option then." Momo let out a disappointed sigh, then trotted over to Kihara's side, her soft, delicate hand taking his right hand and gently swaying it, speaking in a sweet, tender voice: "Brother-in-law, I have a few questions I want to ask you. Do you have time right now?"
He thought for a second and nodded: "Sure."
Settling matters with Remilia's self-inflicted trap wasn't an urgent rush; in fact, pushing it to the evening offered much better value for money, which was why he agreed to her request.
"Awesome! Let's go chat in my room then, it's still early before dinner anyway."
"At times like this, I really wish Sanae were here so I wouldn't have to cook by myself."
"Then I'll learn how to cook from you starting today! We can't keep having you stay in the kitchen all the time, brother-in-law. If guests come over, they'll laugh at us."
Whether it was Kihara's imagination or not, while Momo was talking, her chest seemed to deliberately make soft contact against his arm.
'Given her dark-hearted nature, an action like this is 80% intentionally played out. Could she have already begun executing the Harem Plan?'
He didn't recall going out of his way to flirt with Momo, subconsciously assuming her affection level toward him wasn't that high yet.
Little did he know that in order to screen a suitable fiancé for Lala, Momo had been observing him almost every single waking moment. After he saved Nana, that habit had seamlessly integrated into every action of her daily life.
Even in an unconscious state, Momo would observe Kihara—whom she was already deeply satisfied with—accumulating affection bit by bit in her heart, right up until she witnessed his restless night with Lala with her own eyes.
Only then did she discover the feelings buried deep in her heart that had gone completely unnoticed until now.
"We can talk about learning to cook later. Let's head to your room first."
"Mmhmm!"
Passing by the living room, Momo glanced inside out of the corner of her eye.
Confirming that the other girls were busy with their own affairs, she headed upstairs with total peace of mind.
Stepping into her bedroom, Kihara was surprised to discover that her bed had only a single, solitary pillow left on it; both the bedsheets and the duvet were completely gone.
"Did your bedsheets and duvet get ruined?"
Recalling the events of last night, an unnatural flush of red flashed across Momo's face as she stammered out an explanation: "N-No! Yesterday, I
accidentally... knocked over a water cup and got them wet, so they're still outside drying."
....
Thank you for reading.