Chapter 152: A Life of Change and Clarity

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“You brought another wild woman back! Black hair, blond hair, and this time, white hair. Are you trying to embroider a rainbow at home?!”

Without another word, Shirako turned her bell into a police baton and came up to beat someone.

“Black hair? Me?” Himegami Izayoi said.

“Wait a minute, what do you mean ‘brought another wild woman back’? When have I ever brought a woman back!” Minamoto Kiyomoto couldn’t accept being wrongly accused.

“And that high school girl who came to take a bath last time!” Shirako roared.

She brandished her police baton and chased after Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“Ho ho ho!” Little Butterfly, flying in mid-air, performed a combo from a game.

“You’re crazy! I didn’t bring her back!”

“Only a ghost would believe you! Come here, don’t run!”

The two of them circled around Kamibayashi Miko, Himegami Izayoi, and Rikka. With Little Butterfly’s shouts, the living room was in chaos.

“It’s so noisy. Can’t you be a little quieter,” the blond princess yawned and appeared at the living room door facing the courtyard.

“Noi! Someone wants to kill your master!” Minamoto Kiyomoto poked his head out from behind Himegami Izayoi’s shoulder.

“Go to hell,” Noi walked to the refrigerator, took out a carton of milk, and drank it directly.

“Hey—” Minamoto Kiyomoto was in disbelief, and also in despair.

“You get out of the way!” Shirako roared at Himegami Izayoi.

“Ara ara, he brought a wild woman back. I’m also very angry, but he is my fiancé after all.”

“Where did I bring her?!” Minamoto Kiyomoto was unconvinced. “Miss Kamibayashi invited them all herself!”

“You—still won’t admit it, and—you still want to frame Lady Miko!” Shirako began to use her divine power. The golden light of her divine power burned like a raging fire.

“Shirako, Shirako, Lady Shirako, Colonel Shirako, it really wasn’t me. Miss Kamibayashi, say something!” Minamoto Kiyomoto pulled on Kamibayashi Miko’s sleeve.

“Shirako,” Kamibayashi Miko finally spoke with a smile. “Rikka is the Hokkaido Miko. I invited her to help.”

“Really?” Shirako was skeptical.

“You don’t even believe me anymore?” Kamibayashi Miko said.

Shirako snorted, and the police baton turned back into a bell. She pouted her watery little mouth and said like a neglected child:

“That was before. Now you might lie to me for this guy.”

“She’s lying,” Himegami Izayoi said with a grin, tapping her folding fan on her palm.

“Since you said that, then Lady Miko definitely didn’t lie to me,” Shirako straightened her military cap, flicked her military uniform, and regained her military composure.

“What does that mean?” Himegami Izayoi’s smile remained, but it had lost its warmth.

Just as Shirako was about to speak, the blond princess walked to Minamoto Kiyomoto’s side.

“I’m going out this afternoon. You get ready,” she ordered.

After saying this, she ignored Minamoto Kiyomoto’s reaction and left the living room with a vegetable salad, milk, and snacks.

“Calm down, calm down,” Minamoto Kiyomoto took Himegami Izayoi’s fan and fanned her.

Himegami Izayoi glanced at him coldly, “What are you fanning in winter? Are you trying to freeze me to death?”

“…” Minamoto Kiyomoto closed the fan.

“Do you also think that everything I say is fake?” Himegami Izayoi wouldn’t let him go.

“This… Shirako is the one who suspects you. What does it have to do with me?”

“You don’t say it, but who knows what you’re thinking.”

“That’s what he thinks,” Kamibayashi Miko said. “‘She likes to control, but she won’t take the lead openly. She quietly manipulates others with her charm. She is very aware of her own beauty.’—This is what Minamoto Kiyomoto said.”

“I said that?”

Minamoto Kiyomoto was in disbelief, but Himegami Izayoi laughed.

“Since you said that, then Master Kiyo definitely doesn’t think so in his heart,” she said with a laugh.

“Poor thing. You don’t even know you’re being suspected by the person you like,” Kamibayashi Miko said.

“I’m willing to be deceived by him. I’m happy to,” Himegami Izayoi became proud instead, like an innocent girl who would sacrifice everything for love.

Did you think she was pure? No, it was a counterattack.

The war had begun again.

“Minamoto Kiyomoto, which one of them do you like more?” Rikka suddenly attacked.

The two of them stopped arguing and quieted down. Their gazes, like two knives, were affectionately placed on Minamoto Kiyomoto’s face.

“…Why do you ask?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked Rikka back.

“I’m practicing calligraphy, copying the calligraphy of the great calligrapher Mi Fu of the Northern Song Dynasty in China. To make you fall in love with me, I’m looking at whether to copy the Divine Medium or the Ise Miko.”

“Mi Fu, one of the Four Masters of the Song Dynasty. By the way, where are you sleeping tonight?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked.

Kamibayashi Miko and Himegami Izayoi laughed, finding his way of changing the subject amusing and funny.

“It would be best if I could sleep with you. After all, it takes a long time to—”

“You still say you didn’t bring a wild woman back!”

“Miss Kamibayashi!”

Rikka’s mouth could cause a commotion wherever she went.

Kamibayashi Miko once again stopped Shirako’s domestic violence.

“Just sleeping, no need to do anything else. In Hokkaido, I asked you to sleep with me, and you refused. I thought you were afraid of the cold. It seems that’s not the case,” Rikka said.

“Afraid of the cold?” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at her with confusion.

“Sleeping in the snow, like when I was born. By the way, the first time I saw you, you also tried it.”

“That’s called trying? I was buried by you. Wait a minute, the ‘sleep’ you mentioned before, did you mean sleeping with you in the snow?”

“Mhm.”

“…Why didn’t you say so clearly?” Not only Minamoto Kiyomoto, but even the two shrine maidens found it hard to accept.

“I said it very clearly. If it was what you thought, I would have said kissing, touching, undressing, inserting…”

“Wait! Stop talking!” Minamoto Kiyomoto interrupted her.

“Insert what?” Little Butterfly sat on Kamibayashi Miko’s shoulder and asked curiously.

“Insert… insert flowers, that’s right, flower arrangement.”

“Flower arrangement with your clothes off?” Himegami Izayoi tilted her head, her tone innocent.

“It’s Hokkaido. Anything is possible,” Minamoto Kiyomoto was also innocent.

“Apologize,” Rikka stared at him.

“What?”

“Apologize to Hokkaido.”

“…I’m sorry, Hokkaido.”

After a while of messing around, the excitement of returning home finally passed.

Shirako firmly refused to let Rikka live in the shrine;
Himegami Izayoi said that although her mansion was large, there was no room for a second woman—she said this while looking at Minamoto Kiyomoto.

Rikka rebuilt a wooden house on the right side of the shrine. She only slept there. She still ate and bathed at the shrine.

Himegami Izayoi also proposed that she would come to the shrine for meals in the future. In exchange, she would have the fire fan help with the cooking.

In the afternoon, Minamoto Kiyomoto went shopping with one, two, three, four, five—if Shirako was counted—beauties.

His stamina was enough, but there wasn’t enough space on his body to hang the shopping bags. In the end, he had to trouble the several beauties to carry a few shopping bags themselves. That was his shopping experience.

He was busy until the evening, and everything finally settled down.

It was another quiet night.

Himegami Izayoi said she was tired today and would start working hard tomorrow. She gracefully went back.

Rikka also returned to her wooden house.

Minamoto Kiyomoto, while reading “The World as Will and Representation” in his hand, sized up the small and cute Shirako.

“What?!” Shirako said fiercely.

“You today, why aren’t you playing games?” he asked strangely.

Kamibayashi Miko, who was turning a page back in her book, had a faint smile on her lips.

“Usually, I give you a chance to be alone with Lady Miko, but I’ve changed my mind. You’re not worthy of Lady Miko.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto was stunned. After a long time, he said excitedly:
“Shirako, you’re so good? I’ve misunderstood you all this time!”

“You have no chance anymore, you piglet,” Shirako crossed her slender arms and announced coldly.

Minamoto Kiyomoto closed his book and sat upright, facing Shirako, “Please give me one last chance, Lady Shirako.”

“No, impossible.”

“I truly love Miko.”

“That woman,” Shirako pointed to the left of the shrine. “That woman,” she pointed to the right of the shrine. “What’s going on?”

“The one on the right has nothing to do with me,” Minamoto Kiyomoto quickly denied.

“What about the one on the left?” After saying this, Shirako gritted her teeth and muttered, “I hate her even more!”

“…Miss Kamibayashi,” Minamoto Kiyomoto found that he could only use this move, and this move was more effective than all his spells.

Kamibayashi Miko looked up from her book and said softly to Shirako with a smile, “Shirako, go and play.”

“But, Lady Miko, he’s a fickle ghost.”

“I’m also partly to blame for this,” Kamibayashi Miko said. “I’ll take care of Izayoi. Don’t worry.”

“Alright,” Shirako stood up unwillingly, her gaze level with the sitting Minamoto Kiyomoto.

She glanced at Minamoto Kiyomoto, then suddenly brought her face close, their foreheads touching.

“If you dare to do anything to disappoint Lady Miko, I’ll kill you!” she warned, her killing intent blowing on Minamoto Kiyomoto’s face.

Minamoto Kiyomoto raised his right hand, his fingertips pointing to his temple, a standard salute.

“Please rest assured, Colonel Shirako,” he promised seriously and loudly.

“Didn’t you see I’ve already taken off my clothes? I’m off duty. What are you saluting for!” Shirako said irritably and walked out of the living room.

Immediately, the sound of her eagerly running back to her room was heard.

“So there’s an off-duty,” Minamoto Kiyomoto laughed and put down his hand, saying to Kamibayashi Miko.

Kamibayashi Miko glanced at him, then lowered her head to read her book again.

“Miko… Miko…” he leaned over with a smile, his shoulder touching hers.

Kamibayashi Miko ignored him, but she didn’t move her shoulder away.

“Now, are we…”

“Do you want to die at the hands of the Coral Demon Moth?”

“Of course not. Life has just begun!”

“Then train well and don’t think about messy things,” Kamibayashi Miko said, flipping through her book. Her tone was not very preachy, but rather as comfortable as the night.

“The Divine Medium has to be passed down, right?” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with a laugh.

“Can’t we not have a Divine Medium?”

“How can you say that?!”

“Didn’t you tell me to learn from the Hokkaido Miko?” Kamibayashi Miko glanced at him.

“What’s there to learn from her? By the way, the spell of five sentences in ten minutes, can it be broken?” Minamoto Kiyomoto remembered this matter.

“I can’t break this spell.”

“Why? Then what should we do?”

Kamibayashi Miko didn’t answer. She looked at the book in her hand, and the living room fell silent.

“What book are you reading? Let’s read it together?” Although he said he was reading, Minamoto Kiyomoto was sizing up her face from the side.

Between her long, smooth black hair was a fair face.

A delicate, jade-like, pure and otherworldly, flawless, and as bright as the full moon, a pure and beautiful girl.

Before Minamoto Kiyomoto could control his love and reach out to hug her, Kamibayashi Miko had already given him the book in her hand. She herself took Minamoto Kiyomoto’s “The World as Will and Representation” to read.

“How could you do such a heartless thing,” Minamoto Kiyomoto was helpless.

He didn’t speak anymore. He sat beside Kamibayashi Miko and flipped through the book in his hand.

At this time, he discovered that it was not a book, but a picture album.

He flipped through it casually. When the time came, he spoke on time, “Then what should we do?”

“What do you mean, what should we do?” Kamibayashi Miko asked leisurely.

“Big sister, my big sister Miko, don’t waste time. Can we hurry up?”

“If you don’t say it, how would I know what you’re talking about?”

“Two sentences,” Minamoto Kiyomoto let out a long sigh. “With the same person, you can only say five sentences in ten minutes. How do you break this spell?”

“Someone more powerful than me should have a way,” Kamibayashi Miko said casually.

“More powerful than you? Who?”

“I haven’t found anyone yet,” saying this, she glanced at Minamoto Kiyomoto. “For my sake, shouldn’t you train seriously?”

“Yes,” Minamoto Kiyomoto could only nod. He added, “You too, and Rikka too. For the sake of training, you’re all pretty crazy.”

Kamibayashi Miko didn’t speak, quietly looking at the uninteresting “The World as Will and Representation.” The light shone on her side profile.

Minamoto Kiyomoto couldn’t help but lean close to her ear and whisper, “Miko, you’re so beautiful.”

Kamibayashi Miko didn’t know if she was ticklish or what, but she dodged a little.

Minamoto Kiyomoto didn’t do anything. Although he was excited that Kamibayashi Miko could be with him, he didn’t want to do anything intimate without her consent.

“Let’s go to sleep. We’ll get up early tomorrow,” after reading for a while, Kamibayashi Miko said.

“Okay.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto returned to his bedroom, sat at his desk, and pondered for a while. Then he jumped out of the window, climbed over the wall, and came to Himegami Izayoi’s house.

The stone-paved courtyard, in the moonlight, was like a pool of water, its surface rippling.

Entering the house, the bedroom was lit with a faint light. Himegami Izayoi was wearing a pure black yukata and reading under the light.

Her snow-white face, her bright and alluring red lips, and under her black yukata, her full chest, her slender waist, her long and beautiful legs, and her enchanting curves.

Hearing footsteps, she looked up and glanced at Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“You’re not getting close to your Miss Kamibayashi. What are you doing here?” she said lazily.

“Before I came, I hesitated for a moment,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said as he walked over. “If I came, you would definitely say something. But if I didn’t come, I would feel bad. After thinking about it, I still came.”

“Then you came at a bad time. I was just about to go to sleep,” Himegami Izayoi put down her book and closed her bright eyes.

Minamoto Kiyomoto sat on the edge of the bed and took one of her hands.

“I’ll just say one thing and then go back,” he said.

Himegami Izayoi opened her eyes and looked at him quietly.

The night was also quiet. For a moment, it seemed they could hear each other’s breathing.

“What I said to Miss Kamibayashi today, what I did for her, I can also say to you and do for you.”

“And?”

“Just this one thing. Nothing else.”

Himegami Izayoi grabbed Minamoto Kiyomoto’s collar and pulled him down onto the bed.

She straddled him, undid her coiled hair with both hands, and said, “If you don’t satisfy me, you’re not leaving today.”

“I really just came here tonight to say this,” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s hands rested on her slender waist.

“Which sentence?” Himegami Izayoi asked him with a smile.

“Big sister, let me go.”

“I knew you weren’t well-behaved. Alright, Master Kiyo, go ahead.”

She slowly leaned down, her graceful arms wrapping around Minamoto Kiyomoto’s neck like a snake.

In the room, the lights flickered, and the shadows of people rose and fell like waves, with occasional charming laughter.