Chapter 128: From Ignorance to… Death?

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“Mmm—” Himegami Izayoi stood up, stretched her arms, and showed off her beautiful body. “Shall we go for a hot spring bath?”

Kamibayashi Miko stood up and agreed.

After walking a few steps, Himegami Izayoi turned back as if she had just remembered and said to Minamoto Kiyomoto, “Honey, bring me the wine.”

“I have a proposal,” Minamoto Kiyomoto picked up the wine and three glasses. “I don’t know if you remember, but we bought swimsuits in Shikoku and never used them. How about we wear swimsuits in the hot spring?”

“You mean—mixed bathing?” Himegami Izayoi asked.

“What mixed bathing? It’s swimming,” Minamoto Kiyomoto corrected.

“Swimming in a hot spring pool?” Himegami Izayoi rested her chin on her hand and said with a laugh.

Seeing her relaxed and interested expression, she looked like she was looking at a golden suckling pig on a spit.

“How about it?” Minamoto Kiyomoto held up the wine bottle and glasses. “I also have wine.”

“I have no objection,” after speaking, Himegami Izayoi looked at Kamibayashi Miko with a smile.

Kamibayashi Miko stared at Minamoto Kiyomoto for a while. Just as Minamoto Kiyomoto was about to give up—he hadn’t thought he would succeed in the first place—she said:

“Okay.”

“Really?!” Minamoto Kiyomoto was so surprised his chest was about to explode.

“I can also help you bathe,” Kamibayashi Miko showed a gentle smile, like a mother whose child had just bought her flowers with their allowance.

“…I knew it. Hold it yourself,” Minamoto Kiyomoto gave the wine bottle to Himegami Izayoi and the glasses to Kamibayashi Miko.

Himegami Izayoi took the wine with a smile, but Kamibayashi Miko didn’t take the glasses.

She smiled at Minamoto Kiyomoto, conveying an exciting message, then turned and walked away.

“What was that?” The truth was so shocking that Minamoto Kiyomoto couldn’t believe it for a moment.

“Congratulations, congratulations,” Himegami Izayoi poured wine into the glass in his hand.

“Wait, I feel like something’s not right. Why has she been so nice to me lately?”

“Because she’s figured it out. Even if she’s definitely not going to be with you, she still wants to keep you by her side. Isn’t that bad?”

“I see,” Minamoto Kiyomoto laughed. “Then I’ll let her know what it means to play with fire and get burned. The two sides of things. A spell is both power and a restraint!”

Getting excited, he picked up the glass of wine Himegami Izayoi had poured, preparing to take a sip and savor the taste of victory.

Then, the fruit of victory, no, the nectar was stolen.

Himegami Izayoi took the glass of wine and, while she was at it, stuffed the wine bottle back into his hand.

“Go get your swimsuit,” she said with a smile, taking a sip of the wine.

“…That’s my glass.”

“I know. I did it on purpose.”

There was more than one bad woman. Fortunately, Minamoto Kiyomoto was no good man either.

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The hotel the three of them were staying at was very high-class. The hot spring was also designed to have a wild feel, with rockeries, jungles, pebbles, and the distant sea.

To Minamoto Kiyomoto, it was like a fairyland. The vast steam was immortal energy, and clouds and mist swirled around. Soon, fairies would come to bathe.

He soaked in the pool-sized hot spring, drinking wine and gazing at the sea, but his mind was on the entrance behind him.

Before long, in the swirling clouds and mist, not one, but two peerlessly beautiful women appeared.

Himegami Izayoi wore a black bikini with ruffles.

Her full breasts, her abdomen as smooth as satin, and her long, toned legs were stunningly beautiful.

If there was anything in this world that one could see and then contentedly commit seppuku, there was no other choice but the scene before him.

It was impossible to look away, simply impossible.

At this moment, Kamibayashi Miko, who was a step behind, gradually came into view.

A blue, bow-tied swimsuit. A beach towel with a butterfly print was tied around her incredibly slender waist.

As she walked, the butterflies fluttered, and the beach towel, like the lid of a treasure chest, would sometimes open and sometimes close.

The treasure inside, just a little, really just a little, that treasure representing the world’s greatest secret, was about to reveal its appearance.

The pain and torment of not being able to obtain it made one want to smash their head against a wall.

To stay alive, Minamoto Kiyomoto had to force himself to look away and examine the other treasures casually discarded near the treasure chest.

Her breasts were not as full as Himegami Izayoi’s, but they were just right. And when viewed with her willow-like slender waist, those breasts seemed quite substantial.

A pair of beautiful women walked towards him. Minamoto Kiyomoto chose to look at the sea.

Too dangerous.

Himegami Izayoi and Kamibayashi Miko sat down opposite Minamoto Kiyomoto, the entire hot spring pool tactfully separating them.

“Miko, what do you think of his body?” Himegami Izayoi quietly asked Kamibayashi Miko.

Kamibayashi Miko was pouring water on her shoulders with her hands. Hearing her words, she looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto.

Long limbs, smoothly lined muscles, broad shoulders, a cinched waist, and then the water, so she couldn’t see clearly.

He was running his hand through his bangs, revealing his entire handsome face, and let out a leisurely, satisfied sigh.

Kamibayashi Miko looked away. She had to admit that falling in love with Minamoto Kiyomoto didn’t require any profound reason. Just looking at his face and body was enough.

“It’s just because of the Demon Body Spell,” she said faintly.

Perhaps because she had been soaking in the hot spring for a while, she felt her face getting hot and wondered if it was red.

“So you mean he’s good-looking?” Himegami Izayoi laughed in a low voice.

Before Kamibayashi Miko could answer, she called out to the other side, “Master Kiyo, Miko says your body is nice!”

Kamibayashi Miko quickly reached out to pull her, but Himegami Izayoi blocked her, and the two of them started to play like young girls.

“Thank you! Your bodies are also very beautiful!”

“Who’s more beautiful!”

“In medicine, the heart is divided into four chambers. One for you, one for Miss Kamibayashi, one for my mother, and the last one to hold this world—that’s how beautiful you are!”

“Too fickle!” Himegami Izayoi shouted.

“In your heart, I’m just like your mother, huh,” Kamibayashi Miko also raised her voice and said with a laugh.

“…Isn’t the point of that sentence that you are as important to me as the world? Is my understanding different from ordinary people, or are you deliberately finding fault?”

“We’re playing with you, you innocent young boy!”

“Innocent young boy,” Kamibayashi Miko sighed in a desperate tone.

It was the kind of despair one would feel upon seeing a 300-pound man in a woman’s dress, dancing the Dunhuang Flying Apsaras dance, winking, and claiming to be Xi Shi.

The three of them laughed at the same time.

The first time they bathed together, they stayed on opposite sides of the hot spring pool until the end.

Minamoto Kiyomoto didn’t have the guts to go over. After all, no one was allowed near a rocket launch.

The two shrine maidens didn’t come over either. They had asked him to bring the red wine, but they didn’t drink a single sip.

Both sides were as shy as sensitive plants. They usually acted so generously, but at the critical moment, they hid, becoming snails that had retreated into their shells.

Minamoto Kiyomoto found it wonderful.

He was no playboy and had no desire to conquer the world of love.

Whether it was enjoying the tender touch of an experienced woman or training an ignorant virgin, neither was his pursuit.

This, with the person he liked, going from ignorance to experience together, was enough.

After the hot spring bath, the three of them sat again in the tatami room overlooking the Echizen coast, drinking special-grade sake.

Himegami Izayoi’s black hair, which was usually tied up, was now let down.

It was very long. As she sat, her long hair could spread out on the tatami mat, as if she were wearing the most magnificent ceremonial dress.

It made one want to scoop up her long hair like a handful of water and smell it carefully in their palm.

And Kamibayashi Miko, who usually wore her hair down, had tied her night-black long hair into a ponytail.

The nape of her neck, revealed below the ponytail, had snow-white skin and a graceful curve.

After bathing, the two of them were even more beautiful and moving.

“By the way,” Himegami Izayoi held the sake cup—which looked very much like a snowball with a thumbprint in it—”you can read palms, right? Read ours for us.”

She held out her hand.

Minamoto Kiyomoto reached out and very naturally held her slender fingers, observing the lines on her palm.

“Mmm—”

“How is it?”

Skin contact, a warmth spread in both their hearts.

“A life without hardship, everything you want to do will succeed, three children.”

“What, so ordinary,” Himegami Izayoi’s view was indeed different from ordinary people. “I thought I would marry a man named Minamoto Kiyomoto, have five or six children, and when I was about to die at one hundred and eighty-one, I wouldn’t want him to find another woman, so I’d kill him, and then die of a broken heart.”

“This man named Minamoto Kiyomoto must have had a very happy life,” Master Kiyo said with certainty.

Letting go of Himegami Izayoi’s smooth little hand, he looked at Kamibayashi Miko.

“Miss, would you like a reading? You’re so beautiful, it’s free.”

Kamibayashi Miko glanced at him, pulled up her sleeve slightly, and held out her hand.

“I really can read palms. The Laurel Crown has many related spells,” as if finding an excuse for himself, Minamoto Kiyomoto reached out and took Kamibayashi Miko’s hand.

Himegami Izayoi was frivolous yet dignified, playful and coquettish yet unapproachable.

Kamibayashi Miko’s appearance was pure and elegant, like a goddess from the heavens.

When women like them were truly shy or showed their charm, it was irresistible.

At this moment, Kamibayashi Miko, whose hand was being held by Minamoto Kiyomoto, had an expressionless face, but her hand was trembling ever so slightly.

The trembling was not visible to the eye. Besides Minamoto Kiyomoto, who was holding her hand and could feel it through skin contact.

How could such a performance from a goddess not be exciting?
But perhaps it was an illusion, because Minamoto Kiyomoto himself was also trembling.

It was like at a class reunion, when two people accidentally take each other’s cups, and then pretend nothing happened and continue to drink juice. But every sip of juice after that is like wine, making the whole body burn.

“What’s her fate? To die alone, or to be killed by me?” Himegami Izayoi asked.

“Fortunately, you’re a shrine maiden, not the goddess of fate,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said, and began to read her palm seriously.

Kamibayashi Miko’s fingers were long and slender, her fingertips neatly trimmed. It was a hand that could be displayed in a museum.

“Miss, your fate is not very good.”

“I won’t live to be 25?”

“Originally, no. But I’m here now. You can live to be one hundred and seventy, but you’ll only have one child.”

“I’ll have a child?” Kamibayashi Miko laughed.

“Why would I lie to you? Look here, there’s a line. Trace its line with your divine power, then find the corresponding constellation. Subtract the number of stars that light up in winter from the number that light up in summer, and that’s the number of your descendants.”

Beside them, Himegami Izayoi rudely took Minamoto Kiyomoto’s hand to see how many children he would have.

“Then what about this child’s future?” Kamibayashi Miko asked again.

“…What’s going on? Impossible,” Minamoto Kiyomoto, as if seeing something incredible, wiped her palm as if cleaning glass.

It was a little itchy, and there was a strange numbness. Kamibayashi Miko pulled her hand back.

Minamoto Kiyomoto still had a puzzled look on his face and continued:
“It’s clearly my child with you, so why does it have no talent besides being good-looking? In its old age, it will even have to ask us for living expenses?”

“Not only do I have a child, but this child is also a fool? It seems I can’t be with you.”

“Nonsense! It’s obviously your fault. Who knows what your talent is like without being a Divine Medium? This child must take after you.”

Hearing about her own talent, Kamibayashi Miko didn’t say anything, just smiled and showed a contemptuous posture towards Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“But it’s not certain,” Minamoto Kiyomoto pondered. “Capacity is originally… ah, ow, ow, ow! Izayoi, what are you doing?!”

Himegami Izayoi was about to break Minamoto Kiyomoto’s hand.

“I have three children, you have six. Tell me, what’s with these three bastards!” she asked coldly, her face frosty.

“Counting the fool I gave birth to, that’s only four. There are two more?” Kamibayashi Miko’s gaze was also on Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“You believe in palm reading? We’re all university students. You’ll get bitten by a dog for believing in this stuff!”

“Bitten by a dog,” Himegami Izayoi sneered.

She dragged Minamoto Kiyomoto over to their side, then pressed him onto the tatami mat and bit his shoulder.

“Ah! It hurts! Miss Kamibayashi!” Minamoto Kiyomoto reached out to Kamibayashi Miko, like Adam seeking help from his God.

Kamibayashi Miko’s incomparably beautiful face smiled, meaning—Serves you right.

Himegami Izayoi let go of Minamoto Kiyomoto’s shoulder, pouted, and said jealously:

“She kicks you into the river every day, and you still ask her for help?”

“You don’t understand. If a dragon has the help of clouds and rain, it can ascend to the heavens. She wants to water me to see if I’m a real dragon.”

As soon as these words came out, even Kamibayashi Miko laughed.

Himegami Izayoi, who had been acting like a little girl just now, also laughed, but it was a smile without any mirth.

“Minamoto… Kiyomoto, I’m telling you, palm reading is real… you’ll die from domestic violence!” she grabbed his neck.

“Cough, cough, I-I was wrong, I was talking nonsense.”

Knock, knock, knock! A knock on the door.

“Lord Tsukushi-no-Kimi,” a steady female voice. It was the practitioner in charge of reporting.

“Come… in!” Minamoto Kiyomoto squeezed the words out of his throat.

The female practitioner opened the door and saw the scene before her, stunned at the entrance.

The Ise Miko, wearing a yukata, was straddling Lord Tsukushi-no-Kimi, who was also wearing a yukata. The former was strangling the latter, whose face was flushed red.

The Divine Medium was on the side, minding her own business. No, out of a woman’s intuition, she felt that the Divine Medium was adding fuel to the fire, gloating.

“Tell me! What’s with those three bastards!” she heard the Ise Miko question sternly.

The female practitioner quickly lowered her head, not daring to pry into the emotional disputes of these great figures.

“Reporting to my lord, we have searched all of Fukui Prefecture. There is no trace of the Shinto sect.”

“De-depart, to Hyogo Prefecture! Immediately, right now, cough, cough, cough!”

A journey of coughing.