Kana, her face radiant now that she’d ed up her tears and reapplied a little makeup, was sittio me, holding my arm triumphantly. It was a strange feeling, but it didn’t feel bad, and I cast my mind bay earlier versation with Eri, who was rolling her eyes at us, though her expression wasn’t critical, merely a little exasperated. Yeah, if things had been different, and Ortlinde never came to me… I’d have stayed away from home forever barring the rare visit, and I wouldn’t have ever had the ce to admit to myself that I liked Shiro, figuring I could never have done anything for her. So, maybe meeting a girl like Kana, pretty, fun, low-pressure… huh, e to think of it, she does remind me of my sis a bit, she has the same appetite for life and doing her own thing. Well, not that she’d have given me a sed gn an ordinary world, but maybe… maybe I could have seen myself dating her.

  “What’re you thinking about, Akio?” she asked me, and the tone in which she said my name was different, the end rising cheekily. My curiosity must have shown on my face, as she flushed a little, letting out a small giggle. “Well, Shiro calls you Aki very familiarly, right? I like that, so I want my own way of calling you. You… you are my boyfriend nht?”

  “That I am.” I agreed, stroking her hair softly. “As for what I was thinking, something stupid. Just what-if’s. But what-if’s don’t matter. We care about what is.”

  “Yes, we do.” Kana turo look at the other three girls, while her mother and father sat opposite us, looking on with different expressions. Nagi-san was smilily, a warm look in her eyes as she observed her happy daughter, whereas Daichi-san looked a little troubled. There was a third person with them, Shirohebi in their androgenous human form looking on with keen i.

  “Speaking of… damn, I get a boyfriend and he’s going away for the weekend with another oor me.” She ughed, and I felt a twinge of guilt, before she shook her head. “That was a joke. I’m not Eri-, I’m not such a heavy woman.”

  “I think you’ll find I’m perfectly accepting, Kana-.” Eri narrowed her eyes, and Kana ughed anew.

  “That was another joke, Eri-. I admit, we didly hit it off, but you’ve grown on me. Besides, I have to thank you for your help.” She took a deep breath. “Mom, dad, I know really it’s not your business who, if anyone, I choose to date, but Akio has asked me out. I like him. I have for a while. Perhaps it’s just that he treats me like an adult, or that… ah, it doesn’t matter why. That’s for us to talk about.” She wi me happily. “Well, I decided he’s worthy enough for a catch like me. And I am a catch, right?”

  “Sure are.” I promised, enjoying the rexed banter, quite uhe feeling I had talking to Eri’s parents.

  “So, yeah, I’m his girlfriend. It’s not a normal situation, being as I’m one of many, and in the past I’d have called him a cheating scumbag, but…” she shrugged. “… well, fet normal, right? None of us are normal. Besides…” she twisted her hair with one hand, as if revealing something troubling. “… I’m not a fool. Any rich guy I ed round my fingers and married would probably just have cheated on me anyway. I wasn’t so much looking for love as security. Sorry Akio, but you know I’m pretty shallht?”

  “I don’t think that’s true. Driven, I’d say. And you still are. Just… what you want has ged. Really, I respect, I like hard workers, and you’ve thrown yourself into work at the shrine and as a Chosen wholeheartedly, and without you we wouldn’t have the successes with the trainees. It isn’t wrong to want a fortable, easy life. Well, we certainly won’t have an easy life, not with the world in danger, but… fortable. That I promise.”

  “He’s n. He showers us all with gifts. It even got him into trouble back when he hadn’t told our parents anything. They wondered where he got all the money from.” Eri paused meaningfully, exging a look with Kana. “He’s not so good at remembering though, sidering.” Eri looked at Kana’s hair, and I realised she was wearing the hairclip I brought her back from Las Vegas, and she had been wearing it almost stantly.

  “He’s notiow though.” Eri finished.

  “This was the first gift you bought me.” Kana touched it gently. “I retty fttered. I wasn’t into you then, holy, but I was ied in you and your life. It was so important, iing pared to my b life in the shrine. But then my b life ged, and before I k, i had ged to liking you. But… well, why talk about that? It’s been annoying, but that’s over. A few months of waiting, I live with it. I did. So yeah, mom, dad, I’m not asking permission or anything, we like each other. We like each other.” She repeated it happily. “But since Akio is such a beor of the shrine and teically we all work for him, I thought I’d make it clear, prevent awkwardness. Okay?”

  “I’m happy for you, Kana my dear.” Nagi-san said softly. “Like you, I never imagihis sort of thing for you, but… well, I expected you’d do well in life. Us Izumi women have very good looks.” She ughed. “But as I’ve watched over these st months, I say I trust Akio-kun with you. Even if as a mother it makes me feel very flicted.”

  “You should get together with my mother.” Eri snorted. “In fact, you could form a supproup. Don’t iher-in-w Emily though, she’s totally on board with Akio gathering all the beautiful women of the world. She wants enough daughters-in-w for a sports team. I think she’s asking for a Rugby team now, as baseball doesn’t satisfy her anymore.”

  “Which code?” I asked, not knowing much abby, but remembering a few mentions of it from mom in the past.

  “Union of course.” Eri sighed. “That’s got the most, right?”

  My mother sure does resemble my sis sometimes. No, wait, it’d be the other way around, right? “Of course it would be that. Well, putting my mother aside…” I o Kana’s parents. “… I like Kana. And it may be selfish, and I am grateful to Eri and Shiro, Daiyu too, for accepting my selfishness, but… I want to date your daughter. So I will. My best regards.”

  “So, when will the e be?” Daichi-san asked, looking pointedly at the rings on Eri’s and Shiro’s fingers, only for Kana to hiss, puffing out her red cheeks, irritated.

  “Dad, don’t be an idiot. We’re dating, not getting married. We haven’t even been dating an hour. I want to go on fun dates, hang out, snuggle together. I guess w and fighting battles together too. Never saw that ing.” She let out a little giggle. “Marriage? I’m not so insecure that I o be engaged.” She looked at me, eyes sparkling. “And I’ve heard from Eri how poorly you asked her. If you do that to me, I’ll kick you, I swear! Seriously… dating, roma’s supposed to be fu rag, breath ing fast.” She grinned. “Well, I’m feeling it now, so I hope you are too. But dad… if I still like Akio, I’m fident he’ll never get bored of me, so it’ll happen. Naturally. o force things. So until then, just be happy for us.” She looked at the irls then.

  “Eri-, Shiro, Daiyu… uh, she ’t uand me, she? Oh, you’re transting?” Shiro nodded. “Well then. This goes for the others too. But I’ll tell them myself. I think we have it hard. But feeling sorry for our hardships is stupid. Let’s be ho. What do you look for in a guy? I looked for…” she checked her fingers. “Handsome. Rich. Kind. I think we win. But now, I also look for likes me for me, who I am. And I don’t , but it sure is good that he’s powerful.” She closed her fifth finger. “Royal flush, right? So if we pin, less fortunate girls have the right to hate us. I don’t want to be the sort of bitch…”

  Her father frow her nguage but said nothing as she tinued. “… I used to hate at school. I know what I’m signing up for. Only you didn’t, Eri-, so you have my sympathies, but…”

  “… no. This is down to me. I know Akio would have been faithful. But… seeing him and Shaeu clearly pining for each other hurt. So I made my choice. Kana-, you’re right. And this is why Akio needs you. Look, he’s smiling.”

  She’s right, I am. I was enjoying the banter, and the sense of fun Kana was exuding, allowiet the pressure I was under for just a moment. Though when my gaze fell on Eri and the others, my heart felt warm too. Really, they are all too good for… no, that’s falling ba self-effag, self-destructive thought patterns. Let me rethink that. They are all the best girls, and I’ll be damned if I’m not a man to match them. “Of course I’m smiling. I’m happy. I finally realised something important, thanks to you all. Kana, some ordinary dates sound fun. I know the irls enjoy things like meals out.”

  “Yeah, we’ll eat parfait, watch a movie, go to an arcade. Even sitting atop Asha’s terrace drinking juice is fun. And maybe we’ll even do some battle dates. Boys normally like pying video games, right? Well we get to do it for real.” Kana chortled. “And as for us…” she looked at Eri and the others. “… nights in, just us girls. Gossip and talk about fashion. Shopping! We have to do lots of shopping. We all have other friends too, we have to get together, get to know each other better. Really, I want to do everything an annoying in-love couple does, and everything friends do. Without being a bitch about it. We don’t o show off, we just o have fun!”

  “Yeah, she’s a smart girl, Aki.” Shiro approved. “If we’re stantly buried in the abnormal, we’ll break, no matter how strohink we are.” Shiro gave her a thumbs up. “Wele aboard!”

  “So see, dad, mom. It’s all good. You don’t o treat Akio any differently. We’re just a boy and a girl dating, being in love.” She smiled.

  “With thisss, the ssshrine hasss a sssecure future.” Shirohebi said suddenly, drawing all eyes. “What isss wrong?” it asked, puzzled. “The heir to the ssshrine ssshall be born from the union of my favoured ssshrine maiden and the beor who protectsss usss. Isss thisss not a cause for joy?”

  Kana was red as a tomato now, Nagi-san with a hand over her mouth muttering “oh my”, and Daichi-san looked a bit shocked at that. Eri was also flushing, while Shiro was ughing uproariously, Daiyu looking on unprehending.

  “No way!” Kana ma st. “Talk of stuff like babies is totally premature. We have to enjoy dating first, all the fun things couples do! Sure, I’m ering this retionship lightly. If we stay together, some day it’ll happen. But not until we’re older!”

  “I agree.” I stroked her hair some mently brushing it. “But even if we wao, now isn’t a good time. Until we’ve headed off at least the disasters Tsukiko-san foretold, and ower enough to be secure here in Japan and my Territory, that’d be foolish.”

  “So shut up, Shirohebi, or I’ll turn this shrio one for K?itigarbha! She’s done more for me than you!” Kana said, half i, and there was ughter…

  ********

  Kana had left for school, her parents giving her a note expinieness. One good thing about her school being a specialist shrine school was that the teachers were a little flexible abious matters. With that done, I headed back to the Territory, taking Shiro to refresh her buffs, while Eri was doing her schooling, and Daiyu was studying her Cultivation, and also learning Japanese from my old ese teacher.

  I collected my upgraded gear from master Bjarki, who had bloodshot eyes and ale and covered in burns. Even so, when he saw Shiro, his gaze narrowed like a bloodhound, and so more buffs were applied to him. My spear had been improved a little, being stronger and lighter, as well as having a hidden gimmick using some of the materials we had gathered during our battles. In addition, Hyath had received some ons, though she wouldn’t show me what, merely giggling to herself saying it was a surprise, and Shaeu’s Pinwheels had been reinforced to better handle lightning element.

  In addition to that, Hyath was wearing her new armour, though she had it under her ary maid outfit. There was a set for Shaeu as well, and a set for me, which I put on, feeling more rexed to have extra prote. Now that I had my sword and spear, as well as armour, I was ready for anything.

  Twilight Brigandine – Item Css: [em Type: [Rule]

  This armour is crafted from a bination of metallic Twilight Cloth, creating a double-yered design, bck with white inner fabrid further fortified by small ptes of dwarven steel in key areas. The armour increase the stealth of the wearer and offers improved healing of injuries and a slight boost to recovery of aether, in addition to having very high defence, and the material be somewhat repaired by the release of light or darkness energies as appropriate, stimuting the remnants of the Myid Duke inside. However, full restoration is not possible and maintenance from a skilled master of Dvergr Arts is advised.

  A further addition is that as part of the protective ptes, small bluesteel batteries are embedded, which store and release elemental energies, with the additional ability to infuse relevant elements into the armour directly.

  I was very impressed by the armour, it was far better than I could have made. I’d love to dig into crafting when I get a bit more leisure time. Ixitt and Bjarki are having a lot of fun ing up with uff, it seems. Well, Bjarki might not be having ‘fun’ I suppose… He had worked himself to the boo get the gear ready for me and Hyath, as well as Shaeu, as she too would be a priority of his. Obviously we needed more, but at least with Hyath away for the weekend, he’d have to work from his stocks of cloth, urow the remains of Duke Myrcoxriath. So he take his time on the few sets of armour…

  After that I checked my build queues, though nothing of note had ged, as we were still using Ixitt’s Ether Silos to transport all my ether over to Kyoto. Another Spire had just been raised to Rank 3, so despite the vast sums we were ing, overall the bes were well worth it. I then had a quick meeting with the denizens of my Territory and Treyvon and Aliyah, who had most of the Bck Wolf pany, except those on guard duty ierial, training hard, to set the defences while I was gone. After putting up with Aliyah’s sarcasm, I left, and headed into Tokyo proper, to meet Tsumura-san regarding my new proposals.

  There, I hashed out an agreement to start training the Special Forces ih element ahem their levels, but that it would be less intehan now due to ck of suitable teachers and time straints, and that in exge I would require them to work for me in their spare time, which would also double as training. Tsumura-san had agreed in the end, and would send the details to Kana, who was going to take her first steps as someone who could take over the minutia of the training school for me. I’m damn proud of her. She’s e such a long ride wasn’t all that I was feeling though. I could now admit to myself I’d been attracted to Kana for a while, her flirty, easy-going nature soothing.

  After that, I bsted through another couple of score of fighter pilots with Chirurgery. I was uo need much aether for tonight’s party, so I bled my reserves dry using Split Thoughts and finished as many as I could quickly, redug the number I’d have to deal with on my return from the UK. Once I was ready to leave, my tasks here dosumura-san pulled me aside and said that Motoko and Natsumi would be at the party tonight, as despite having to get ready for our trip early tomorrow, they hadn’t wao miss out.

  I assured Tsumura-san I wouldn’t keep them out te, before heading back to Shirohebizumi shrine…

  ********

  The party at the training school was in full swing. As an expense, I had of course provided refreshments, includi alcohol for the adults there, but pared to what I’d earned with Hinata’s help this week, it was merely pocket ge. In fact, I’m still getting paid per person I do Chirurgery on by the JSDF budget. It isn’t vish, but it more than covers all our ial expehe hall was full of young men and women, as well as some ued faces.

  “So, what brings you here?” I asked Fukumoto Hiroto-san, Hinata’s older brother, who was holding a gss of brandy in one hand, wearing a casual suit. Hinata was behind him, grinning savagely, and he rolled his eyes, irritated.

  “Well, it seems Hinata has mastered her first element. She won’t sting about it, and says I’m letting her down. Look, I know I skip out on training most of the time, but it’s not just to py around. Fukumoto house has a lot going on, thanks to the pair of you.”

  “Not just pying around then?” Hinata ughed derisively. “So you admit you were pying around sometimes, instead of being here?” She picked up an ordinary cg mug from a table and with a faint hint of red energy, a k of it shattered aed her brother with tiny, annoying shrapnel.

  “Stop that!” he said, brushing it aside.

  “You should be able to do this too, Hiroto! Those that don’t stay abreast of the ging times will be left behind!” she chided him.

  “I know. I get it. Word is more noble sons and daughters will be joining you here. Clever. They think they are getting a good deal, but really…” he looked around at the gathering. Kana was at the tre of a rge group of girls, giggling and ughing, and they were casting occasional g me. It was good to see Chiyo-san’s granddaughters and the other missiral fa trainees here, mingling again. “… everyone here is going to end up loyal to you and yours. I’m not saying they’ll go against their houses or heaven forbid, someone like Fujiwara-sama for you, but just like we respect the teachers at school who influenced our lives, if you need a favour, I’m sure most will answer. Perhaps more so. After all, this is training only you dht?”

  “For now.” I agreed. Though sooner or ter that will ge and others will reveal they’ve been doing simir. That’s why Hiroto-san is right, Yes, there are a lot of inveniences involved, but Kana is willing to coordihe efforts, and even if only some are grateful, our influence remains solid. As I talked to Hinata and her brother, or was he her cousin now… No, raditions or not, a brother is always a brother to his little sister. That’s a fact. … I noticed another of the strange guests. Yasu-san was here, following around Hisano-san, who was trying to fend him off, ushering away Hotene-san and Keomi-.

  “Excuse me, I’m just going to see what’s up.” I said, and Hinata shrugged.

  “Fine. Well, I don’t mind a bit of eai. Your friend is funny.” She ughed, a cute little giggle.

  “Well, I’m feeling a bit stifled by all these younger people, I’ll join you.” Hiroto-san agreed.

  “Look, Hisano-, what would auntie and uncle say? You shouldn’t be…” he was saying to her, arailed off as I arrived, Hiroto-san and Hinata in tow.

  “Hey, Yasu-san, what brings you here?” I asked, and he looked a bit unfortable.

  “Well, I’d finished a load of work up, and needed a break. Then I heard Hisano- was ing to a party here, and…” he looked at me, frowning. “The hell, man? Yoing after Hisano-’s cssmates now? That’s not cool.”

  “I wish you’d shut up, Yasu-kun!” Hisano-san shot back, more ahan ever I’d seen her. “You shouldn’t talk about what you don’t know! Kana-’s liked Akio-san fes, what’s s with…”

  Yasu-san looked about ready to explode, but I could see Keomi- and Hotene-san looking rather worried and nervous, so I put a hand on his shoulder. “Why don’t you rex, Yasu-san? Don’t shout at your cousin. She’s a good girl.”

  He took a deep breath, visibly calming himself down. “So, it’s true, right? The irls not enough for you? You take your pick from the girls you’re trainioo now?”

  Ouch. I winced, rather hurt by his accusation. “No, not at all. But Kana and I knew each other before we even started the training, and… hey, why am I justifying myself to you, Yasu-san? e on, we’ve both dreamed of harems just like most otaku. It’s not all fun and games though. But rest assured, I’m not indiscrimi’s not like I’m going to go after your cousin here…”

  “Yes, why would he?” Hisano-san said. “I’m not pretty and outgoing like Kana- or her friends.”

  “Don’t be like that.” I assured her. “You have your own charms. And iure, you find happiness with someone.”

  “You’re hitting on her right in front of me, man!” Yasu-san howled, and now people were looking at us askance. Kana wi me, guessing what was going on, and I leaked a little chuckle, but surprisingly enough, it was Hinata who spoke.

  “You remember me, I trust?” she asked him pointedly, and he nodded.

  “I do. The rich girl, Hinata-, right?”

  She shuddered theatrically. “Yes, I suppose so. Now look, Akio is simply reassuring her, when you are being quite forceful. I don’t approve. So, what seems to be the problem? That Kana has joined us? Ah w eyes could see that Kana was smitten with him.”

  “Well, I’m a woman with good taste!” Kana said proudly at that, the group around her giggling and ughing. I noticed Ren-san sitting with that group, Asami-san beside him, very close, stantly invading his space cheekily, and I suppressed a grin. You go girl, shake him up a bit.

  “Look, I get it.” Hiroto-san said, g him on the shoulder with his free hand. “Grab a drink man, and we’ll talk all about it. My little sister is even more of a handful now she’s with him…” he me. “… so I get why you’d worry. But… it’s not so bad. He takes care of them, right?”

  “Takes care of? Brother, sometimes you be so annoying.” Hinata sniffed. “Yasu-san, as one of Akio’s friends, you should give him more credit. Did any of us look unhappy, that night we met? I think not. Well, this is stupid. You three, e with me. We’ll leave the men to their squabble. Akio, don’t fet to spend some time with me ter, since you are away over the weekend.” With that, she swept the three girls away, leaving us watg them as they joined a group with Motoko, Natsumi and some others.

  “So, seriously, Yasu-san. I think it’s great that you worry about your cousin, but if you go at her like that, you’ll only upset her. Trust me, she’s a smart girl, Hisano-san. She’s a hard worker, and she’s being bolder, less introverted. She gets on much better with Kana and the irls now, and her fidence is growing. I think if you support her, you’ll be happier. Also, you’ll be w for me soht, so stop being an ass.”

  “Hisano-san, huh? ged your way of address for her I see.” Yasu-san said, looking in my eyes, before sighing. “Sorry man.” He ran a hand through his messy hair, abashed, befrabbing a drink and downing it. “Ugh, that’s better. I’m just on edge, you know. And to be ho, jealous as hell. You’re the real life Negi Springfield now.”

  “No way, I’d be a pervert if I was going after middle schoolers. I’ll stick to propriety.” I ughed it off. “I don’t have a css of thirty-oher. But Kana… yeah, s.”

  “Well, hearing him talk like that, I worry for my sister. But then, Hinata has a better fianow that she could have expected before. So… I live with it. You should too.” Hiroto-san advised.

  “Fine.” Yasu-san said at st, getting another drink. “But there’s seriously nothing weird with you and Hisano-? You seem pretty close.”

  “I’m just good at looking after young girls, like Eri and my sis. I know how to be supportive.” I assured him.

  “All right then. Well, screw it. Hey man…” he addressed Hiroto-san. “So you’re Hinata-’s brother then? Must suck to be you, our wolf here taking her away. Well, how about us two luys have a few drinks and talk about love, or our ck of it.”

  “I don’t want to rain on your parade, Yasu-san, but from what Hinata tells me, Hiroto-san here is very popur with the dies.” As Yasu-san looked at him, he nodded, a touch proud. If Hinata could see that, she’d lecture him again…

  “Ugh, seriously? Shit.” Yasu-san cursed. “Oh well, you listen to me vent then. Shit. At least the girls here are cute to look at…”

  As I left the two of them to it, marvelling over Yasu-san’s double standards, I headed over to Kana’s group. On seeing me ing over, she stood and grabbed me in a hug, showing off. “Hi there, Akio.”

  “Ugh, she’s saying it like it’s a niame for her boyfriend.” Mio-san ughed. “Well, I guess it is.”

  “It definitely is.” She released me. “Right Akio?” she repeated charmingly.

  “You little tease.” I ughed, pleased. “Anyway, how is everyone enjoying the party? You’ve all worked hard and show results, with hopefully more to e.” I looked at the trainees from the ral shrihen. “Well, you all missed out, but I hear you were w hard in your own ways.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll whip them into shape. You’ll help, right?” She asked the twins, who were sitting oher side of Ren-san to the not-so-subtly flirting Asami-san. They answered in the affirmative, finishing each other’s sentences, and Kana nodded, satisfied. “We’ll be having a lot of newers, a number of them soldiers and important people. I’m a bit nervous but…”

  “Well, you have the authority from Oshiro-san now…” said one of the returning students, the young man from Akaiwashi shrine. “… it would be a fool who crosses you. And solidating those skilled to you however necessary is a prudent pn.”

  “I have to correct that misception.” I said, idly stroking Kana’s hair, while she looked happy and triumphant. “Kana was already stepping up before this. She doesn’t need my authority to be a leader. She was already a key figure here, everyone looked tuidance, right?”

  As the reed, I tinued. “Besides, I didn’t agree to date Kana because she’s useful. I did it because I like her.” I kissed her hair, and she flushed scarlet, befrabbing me and giving me a kiss on the lips in front of everyo wasn’t a deep one, but it assionate, and her brown eyes were damp as we parted.

  “Oh, so Kana-, when are you… you know?” Mio-san ughed vulgarly.

  “I’m not. Kissing is all he gets for now. I’m not an easy woman. I’ll be wanting romantic dates and treating right before I put out. I have to keep him keen, after all.” She lectured them, her face red even to the tips of her ears. She then looked at me. “I’ll do my best. I know I rely on others as well when I o. Don’t worry about anything this weekend, we’ve got it all in hand. Though I hope…” she said shyly. “… when you e back, we be… well, a little more like boyfriend and girlfriend?”

  As some of the girls ughed and gratuted her, though to be ho a few did still look bemused by my casual polygamy, though most had bee immuo it by the preseny many women around the shrine and iraining sessions in the Boundary, I thought that Kana was simply adorable. “Yeah, well, I promised Eri a weekend away somewhere, just the two of us. What do you want?”

  “I want to go into the heart of Tokyo. Go shopping in Harajuku, try on a lot of nice clothes that you like. Then a movie, dinner in a restaurant, maybe an aquarium, a theme park or the zoo… you know, date stuff. That would be enough.”

  “That sounds nice. We’ll do that.” I promised, and I talked with them for a little longer, before heading to the st majroup, Hinata, Motoko, Natsumi and Eri. Shiro had been with them for a while, but she was now talking to Yasu-san and Hiroto-san, and from the look on her face she was having a good time toying with them both. Especially Yasu-san. He’s like us all, Shiro is a force of nature we ’t help but love, but she’s always a handful.

  “Where’s Daiyu?” I asked after reetings were exged, aold me that she had decided to return to the Boundary to work on her new ideas, after the Japanese lessons. “Oh I see.” I said, when she had expined. “A shame, I wao spend a little more time with her before I go. Well, if she’s busy, I get it. This is a party, not an obligation. Speaking of…” I looked at Natsumi and Motoko. “… are you ready for the trip? I spoke to Tsumura-san, and he didn’t want you back too te.”

  “Grandfather worries rather too much.” Motoko said, though she didn’t look displeased. “Natsumi and I manage on little sleep nowadays. But yes, it would not do to sleep on the pne. After all…” she looked at Natsumi, who fihe sentence, a bright expression on her face.

  “… it’ll be our first journey abroad with you, Akio!”

  “Ugh, I’m jealous, but… I’ve been to America, and…” Eri looked at me.

  “Yeah, I promised, I know.” I rubbed her head, and she leaned as much as she could into it. When that was done, and due to the looks in their own eyes, I ended up giving all of them head pats too. Girls really seem to like them.

  “So, do you think things will go well with Princess Eleanor?” Hinata asked. “We’ve all been looking up articles on her, haven’t we?” She smiled at the others. “It’s very fresh actually being able to use the i and not be sored. It’s a privilege only we get amongst our cssmates at Hanafubuki.” She said, and Motoko and Natsumi agreed.

  “Well, don’t look up anything weird. The i is a strange pce. And watch out talking ters. People lie oer all the time.” Eri warned.

  “You are really set on being in charge of us retly.” Hinata ughed. “Thanks for g though, Eri. But no, I’m not ied in looking for knowledge I’ve been denied. Really… I don’t agree with us bei so sheltered, but it isn’t all bad.”

  “Ihere is much we have no need of knowing.” Motoko agreed. “But that aside, the Princess of Great Britain is rather famous, though perhaps not as much as her brothers. She tends to keep out of the public eye as much as she .”

  “Though being a Princess, that’s impossible.” Natsumi tinued. “Well, I think we’ll do what we have to. It’s why we are going, after all. Not just to have fun. Though I am sure we will have a lot of fun.” She said happily.

  “Well, what are you all doing at the weekend then?” I asked, and Hinata shrugged.

  “Mayumi invited me over. We’re going to talk and strategise.”

  “Well, don’t be giving away too much.” I said, and she snorted, amused.

  “Just who do you think I am? I’m not too soft-hearted and giving like you, Akio! I’m a ruthless businesswoman! I’m going to make her jealous of our pns without giving the importaails away. Of course, if she wants to i in some of my ideas, she , but I’ll maintain the trolling stake. Oh… that reminds me, I wao speak to your personal banker. You’re with Midas Gold, right?”

  I nodded. “Here’s their card.” I took it out my wallet and ha over. “But will they speak to yarding my ats?”

  “e on.” She said ftly. “I’m Takatsukasa Hinata, and those in high society know we’re together. The Japanese branch of the bankers for the rid powerful would have to know all the test moves in the world of the nobility.”

  “All right, I was just asking.” I ughed, and she giggled.

  “I know. For the average person, that’d be true. But the true upper css of Japaes by different rules. I expect it’s the same in the UK, so be careful. Don’t offend royalty or the nobility or you’ll regret it.” She warned. “Motoko, Natsumi, keep an eye on him so he doesn’t do anything reckless, please!”

  “Really? I’m only going to talk…” I said, a little affronted, and Eri sighed.

  “I sed that. When Akio has that expression on his face, it doesn’t fill me with fidence.”

  “Hey!” I protested again, and we ughed, before the versation turo what Eri would be doing. It seemed Shiro was going to look after her, and that she nning on inviting Hayato-san and the gang, as well as Arisu-san and the others, and having a night out in Tokyo.

  “That’s quite the explosive bination…” I said, eyeing Yasu-san as he bent the ear of Hinata’s brother, who was too well-bred to shoo him away. “… I’d be more worried about that than the UK…” As we talked and the party started to wind down, I looked at my watch. “All right, it’s time for you two to head home. Hinata, you as well.” As we said oodbyes, my thoughts turo tomorrow, and the United Kingdom. Well, I’d better give mom and Aiko a call first thing in the m before I head off. If I don’t then I’ll only regret it…

  ShipTeaser