Volume 2 - CH 22

Posted on June 7, 2022by Soafp

Translator: Soafp

Why are these two here?

As I was puzzled by the sudden situation, Yakumo-kun hid the bag he was carrying behind his back.

“Huh, it’s Shirase-senpai!”

Kanon spotted Shirase and greeted her.

“I’m sorry to disturb you.”

“Welcome. I’d like to know what the situation is with you and Shirase. Is it possible that the two of you are having a relationship?”

Kanon utters with a smirk on her face.

She seems to be suspicious of our relationship. Under the circumstances, it’s not unreasonable to assume that I invited Shirase to my house when no one else was home.

While I was wondering what to say, Shirase slowly shook her head.

“Unfortunately, it is not what you are imagining, Kanon-san. I was walking outside earlier when I suddenly got sick and was saved by Sho …… Nijitani-san, who happened to be passing by. Thus I was allowed to rest in a cool room.”

The first thing that comes to my mind is the fact that she is able to tell a lie so smoothly.

“By the way, are you two on a date?”

Shirase asks with a smile as if to counter.

“Kanon and the others were just in the middle of Shirase-senpai’s–“

“Don’t say it, Nijitani-san!”

I am not that familiar with cosmetics, but I remembered it from the girls in my class who talked about it from time to time.

“Hey, Yakumo-kun. What’s that bag?”

“Eh, uhm, this is …….”

“This is impossible. There is no fooling around with it anymore. The timing is subtle and unromantic, but it’s dramatic in its own way.”

Is this the trend of coming out of a relationship?

But it was not.

Yakumo-kun exhaled deeply as if he had given up on the idea, and held out the bag he was carrying in front of him.

“If it were true, I would have given it to you on the day of the event, but I guess it’s inevitable.”

He handed the bag to Shirase.

“…… Yakumo?”

“The day after tomorrow is sister’s birthday, right?”

“Eh eeh?”

This year, however, sister is out of the house. So I thought I’d surprise you with a gift anyway. But I didn’t know what to give you, so I asked Nijitani-san to go along with me. I don’t know anything about trends, so I thought it would be best to ask the girls.”

So he was shopping for Shirase’s birthday present. The reason why he said it to Shirase as if it was a date was so that she wouldn’t know about it.

He is a kind brother who loves his sister. Yakumo-kun’s reputation is going up in my mind.

Of course, I’m sure he had an ulterior motive of wanting to go out alone with Kanon, but his consideration for his family is one word that I would like to use to describe how wonderful he is. I think I can trust him with Hanane.

I looked at Shirase who received the gift.

Shirase must have a lot of emotions in her heart. If I were in her shoes, I would be shaking with shock. Shirase had just assumed it was a date, and now this. Her heart is on a roller coaster.

But Shirase suppresses her emotions and smiles like a big sister.

“Thank you, Yakumo.”

She hugged the gift tightly, though she didn’t say it out loud or on her face. It was like she couldn’t hold back her happiness. That was good.

After that, Kanon and Yakumo-kun came into the room and sat down opposite us. When Kanon saw the barley tea on the table, she ran toward the kitchen and came back with barley tea for the two of them.

“WelI, I came home earlier than I expected. Let’s go to a family restaurant for dinner.”

For some reason, Kanon seemed to be at her ease.

“….Oi, don’t suddenly get all mellow. I understand about the dinner, but you said you had something to discuss with me earlier. Spit it out”

I remember that a while ago Kanon said she had something to discuss with me.

“That’s right. I had two things to discuss with you, and one of them has just been resolved.”

“Solved?”

“The first is the birthday present. Shirase-kun wants to give it to senpai as a surprise. I was going to ask Onii-chan if you had any good ideas for him to bring a present to her house.”

That’s why she came back.

So, Shirase just happened to be there, so he gave it to her and that problem was solved. It was a surprise in a way, and dramatic to say the least.

“What about the other thing you wanted to discuss?”

“I met Tsukiyo Onee-sama while I was shopping.”

“Hoo hoo”

“I invited her to a gathering the day after tomorrow. We talked about what we were going to do.”

“….Ha?”

It was as if I had been hit from another dimension.

The day after tomorrow, Akazawa is scheduled to come to my house. Akazawa’s coming to my house alone is a terrible thing, but even Kuromine is coming to my house?

No, no, no, it’s a problem before that.

“…… You know that goddesses don’t get along with each other, right?”

“I know that. It’s well-known.”

“Then why are you–“

“But Shirase-senpai and Tsukiyo-sama went to the pool and got to know each other a little better, didn’t they?”

I didn’t feel like they got along with each other at all. They didn’t cause any problems for a time, but they didn’t seem to get along with each other.

“At this rate, the day may come when the goddesses join hands with each other. And wouldn’t it be great if the person who played a leading role in that was Kanon?”

“……”

“Everyone would be surprised, wouldn’t they? If we restore the relationship between the goddesses, it could become legendary. If that happened, Tsukiyo Onee-sama would be happy, right?”

It doesn’t work that way.

I wonder if it was because Shirase and Kuromine didn’t cause any problems at the pool that she thought it would be easy to repair their relationship.

That was only possible because one of them was Shirase. I can see now that Shirase doesn’t have much ill feeling toward those three.

But Akazawa and Kuromine do not. The atmosphere in the meeting room was beyond repair.

“Did Kuromine agree?”

“She accepted after much hesitation.”

“…… seriously”

She must know that Akazawa is going to participate, but the fact that she’s coming could be an attempt to compromise.

If so, would it be surprisingly successful?

“……About that, I’m going to join you too,”

Shirase interrupted.

“Really?!”

“Yes, your brother just invited me.”

Kanon was innocently pleased.

I moved closer to Shirase’s ear.

“Is it okay?”

“In this case, I will ask from both sides.”

“….Can you do it?”

“I have no choice but to do it. If it gets out later that you refused Kuromine-san here, it will be a problem.”

That’s right. If the story leaks out from Akazawa’s mouth, Kuromine will ask why I rejected her. If that happened, it would be troublesome.

“I think it would be better to ask Aoyama-san to join us at this point.”

“…… Are you serious?”

“It’s a rare opportunity. If you miss this opportunity, you will never know how those people feel. If you want to make up your mind, now is the time.”

She might have a point.

I want to know the feelings and thoughts of those three people.

But that would be too much, no matter how hard I tried. For me, having all the goddesses gather at my house would be more a punishment, than excitement.

“Do not worry, I will support you.”

“….Got it”

I told that to Kanon.

She seemed surprised that I had Aoyama’s contact information, but seemed to be looking forward to the gathering of goddesses and readily agreed.　

”Then let’s all cook together. It’s a dinner party with the goddesses!”

Apparently, a dinner party is being planned. It would be a good idea if they were glued to the kitchen so they wouldn’t come to my room.

“Oh, that’s right. Shirase-kun, would you like to come?”

“Eh …… are you sure?”

That’s a good idea too. I’m glad I have someone to talk to.

I put my hand on Yakumo-kun’s shoulder.

“Please join us, Yakumo-kun.”

“Are you sure?”

“Ou. The only male in the house is me, and that makes me feel lonely. Besides, food tastes better when there’s a lot of people around, doesn’t it?”

How could he refuse? Kanon is going to cook for all of us.

“Thank you, I’d be happy to participate.”

After that, the four of us headed to a family restaurant. I informed Aoyama about the dinner party at the family restaurant and she quickly accepted the invitation. I also contacted Kuromine, who responded that she too was fine with it. Akazawa also agreed, but I was a little concerned that the text was unnatural.

Finally, I exchanged contact information with Shirase, and thus ended our reunion.