Leave a comment

“Morning, Mika.”
“Good morning, Ayumu.”

We had just come back from Anazumu, but there were things to discuss.

“So, are we really going for it?”
“Not sure. I’ll ask during breakfast.”

The other day, in Anazumu together with Kanata and the others, we had laid bare the Jizou statue’s secrets and discussed things. After Rir brought up the question of what we’d do if we were to face our ends, to which we had reacted with assertions to stay together until the end, Kanata had instructed us in what we should do from this point on.

“Ayumu~, breakfast is ready!” I heard my mom shout.

It sounded like she had made breakfast. On that note, after finding out how skilled Kanata and I were at cooking, she’d been asking one of us to make breakfast or dinner every other day. It was one of my strengths, so I didn’t mind.

Moreover, Mika was making boxed lunch for me every day, recently. The whole “lunch box made by one’s loving spouse” thingy (just as Mom made Dad’s lunch). Mom said this alone did a great deal to keep the relationship steady¹, which was good to know.

“I’m coming~! See you later, Mika.”
“Same.”

She leaned out of the window, gave me a kiss on my cheek, and then withdrew to her room. Following her example, I also descended from the second floor to the living room.

“Morning, Mom!”
“Good morning, Ayumu. Have some breakfast, will you?”
“Sure!”
“Morning, Bro.”
“Morning.”
“Oh, Ayumu. Good morning.”
“Morning, Dad.”

How many more times would I wish someone a good morning today? This was already the fourth time, though that happened every day.

“So, Bro, are we still up? For tonight.”
“Yep, we are. But the thought of incurring divine punishment is scary.”
“Not like we have a choice. It’s the only way to verify it…”
“Grr… Hmph.”

Indeed, just as Kanata had said, we were going to visit the Jizou statue at night, remove its head, and check what was inside it. With everything that happened, it was more likely that the vajra had already been taken, but seeing was believing and we’d never know for sure unless we looked.

“What are you talking about?”
“Oh, we were thinking of going out for a bit today after dinner, Mom. There’s something we’d like to verify.”
“Something for which you have to leave the house after dinner…?”
“Exactly. Shuu’s coming too, so there’s no reason to worry.”
“He will? Alright, then. Are you going to meet up somewhere else to study?”
“Well, not exactly, but I guess it’s close enough.”

Just from the words, it sounded like utter nonsense, but my brother managed to pull it off with the way he talked and acted. I knew I could count on him.

On another note, Shuu didn’t leave the house that often anymore at this point. We were also planning to have Rir wait some ways away. It might be dangerous for her to get close to the statue. That said, if Shuu wasn’t around us, there was the risk of us getting kidnapped, so he couldn’t stay with her. He alone (at least according to Kanata’s estimations) was enough to take down several armed terrorists.

“The food was great!”
“Thank you for saying that. Go and get changed.”
“Alright.”

I went to my room on the second floor and started to change. At exactly the same time, Mika was doing the same.

“Ah, you’re back Ayumu. So? Did your parents give you permission?”
“Kanata gave them a simplified explanation, which got them to accept.”
“That’s very much like him. We said that we’d go to Shuu’s house to study with Rir and would eat dinner there.”
“Oh… I should’ve said that, too. We’ll be eating dinner at home.”

I messed that one up. The thought of eating out never crossed my mind.

“Oh, well. It’s been a while since it was just Sakura and me on our own.”
“Alright, sorry for not thinking of it.”

Afterwards, we got changed without further incident (at the point where I got back to my room, she’d already been mostly dressed, so I unfortunately didn’t get to see her in her underwear) and left the house.

“Alright, let’s go!”
“Why don’t we pass the statue on our way there? We could do a preliminary check before we meet there tonight.”
“Alright.”

We held hands as always and made our way to the statue. It was so close that we got there in no time at all, while being teased by our neighbors about being so affectionate.

“Do you notice any signs?”
“Nothing I can see… Even the limited version of the Detection skill doesn’t pick up anything.”
“…I see. What about the statue and its peculiarities?

I took a closer look at it. It had been years since I scrutinized it that intently. It definitely was different from normal Jizou statues. It was praying with its fingers interlinked, not just its palms pressed against each other. There were several other differences from the norm, but listing them all would’ve taken too long.

After folding our hands as customary, we took each other’s hands again and walked off.

“I wonder if this will work.”
“I thought we’d encounter the man in the black hood here, but it didn’t happen…”
“We’ve got plenty of time, but let’s be off.”
“Alright.”

We made our way to school.

1. The original is rather ambivalent and doesn’t specify “relationship” here, so it might simply mean that it makes “things” easier/more comfortable.

Support Us

Unlock Early Access ------- Select Project ------- Project Gender Bender Project Necro ∴ Support your favorite series and unlock chapters before the public release.