Chapter 195: An Anticipated Night
by DiswaAfter lunch, time flew by. Minamoto Kiyomoto’s thoughts were scattered and unsettled.
“Yuki, what do you want for dinner?” Ayako asked Itomi Yuki.
“Anything is fine with me,” Itomi Yuki replied.
“Say one,” Ayako’s tone was slightly forceful. “You’re the youngest here. We’ll listen to you. Don’t be shy.”
“Hmm—” Itomi Yuki thought for a moment. “Hot pot, is that okay?”
“A daughter is still more considerate,” Ayako laughed.
Compared to cooking dish by dish, hot pot was much simpler. All you had to do was wash and cut the vegetables.
“I’ll help,” Kamibayashi Miko stood up. “I’m not washing the dishes today.”
Minamoto Kiyomoto came back to his senses at this time.
It was already sunset…
Outside the floor-to-ceiling window, the red sunset was like the hem of the sun goddess’s skirt. She was on her way to another banquet.
The more charming the goddess’s back, the more beautiful the sunset.
“I don’t want to wash the dishes either,” he said.
Ayako glanced at the two of them and said with a laugh, “Alright, Shirako and I will wash the dishes today. You two go ahead.”
Kamibayashi Miko looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto.
Minamoto Kiyomoto stood up and was about to shake her hand, “Happy cooperation. Please take care of me.”
Kamibayashi Miko ignored him and turned to walk towards the kitchen.
Minamoto Kiyomoto followed her. As he passed by Himegami Izayoi, she hit him with “The Great Encyclopedia of Pregnancy and Childbirth.”
She wasn’t angry, just thought Minamoto Kiyomoto was a rogue.
Her mind was all on tonight. Maybe nothing would happen, maybe everything would happen.
Whether it happened or not, before tomorrow, she, and the other two, could not be completely at ease.
It was like going on a spring outing, and you happened to be in the same group as the person you liked. Would something happen?—It was this kind of wild thought.
In the kitchen.
The Divine Medium’s knife skills were unquestionable. The vegetables she cut were even and beautiful, and she was also even and beautiful.
Minamoto Kiyomoto couldn’t help but laugh twice.
Kamibayashi Miko’s gaze shifted over, and she looked at him suspiciously, “What are you laughing at?”
“I was thinking,” Minamoto Kiyomoto wrapped his arms around her firm and slender waist from behind, “in the future, the Divine Medium will be mine. She’ll wear an apron and cook for me every day, and I’ll be in charge of serving the dishes and washing the dishes. I can also hug you from behind like this.”
A flash of knife light, and the tip of the knife was pointing at his forehead.
“Let go,” Kamibayashi Miko said coldly.
Minamoto Kiyomoto did not retreat, but slowly leaned over, pressing his forehead against the sword.
He looked into Kamibayashi Miko’s eyes.
Kamibayashi Miko’s cold face became helpless.
Sighing, she continued to cut the vegetables and said, “I can’t cook, I can only cut vegetables. You’re in charge of cooking.”
“Isn’t there still Shirako?” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with a laugh, resting his head on her shoulder, feeling her body temperature and smelling the fragrance of her hair.
Kamibayashi Miko finished cutting the tofu and prepared to make a cross cut on the shiitake mushrooms.
She nudged Minamoto Kiyomoto with her elbow, telling him not to lean on her.
“Hmm—” Minamoto Kiyomoto refused like a child.
“I’m cutting vegetables. You let go first.”
“No.”
Ayako pushed the door open and stepped half a foot into the kitchen, looking at the two of them.
“Cough, have you learned how to cut?” Minamoto Kiyomoto let go of his hand.
Kamibayashi Miko laughed and ordered with a bad temper, “Bring me the shiitake mushrooms.”
Minamoto Kiyomoto brought the washed shiitake mushrooms from the sink to her.
“You have to make a cross cut on the shiitake mushrooms. Cut at a 45° angle on the cap, then turn it over and cut at a 45° angle, then rotate the shiitake mushroom 90° and repeat…”
Before he could finish, Ayako walked into the kitchen and grabbed his ear.
“Mom, mom!” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s head followed her hand.
“Take the dishes out. Don’t get in the way here,” Ayako let go.
Kamibayashi Miko was making a cross cut on the shiitake mushrooms. She didn’t even need to look. It was crisp and neat. What were her eyes for? To laugh at Minamoto Kiyomoto’s predicament.
Minamoto Kiyomoto snorted as if he was dissatisfied and also as if he was acting spoiled. Ayako twisted him again.
“I know, I know. I’ll take them now!” he dodged as if he was ticklish.
Ayako shook her head helplessly and went to the sink to wash the vegetables.
Minamoto Kiyomoto held two plates in his left hand, beef and green vegetables; two plates in his right hand, tofu and crown daisy.
“Miss Kamibayashi,” he gestured for her to put another plate on his head.
Kamibayashi Miko put down the knife and shiitake mushrooms, took the beef and green vegetables from his left hand, and then continued to make a cross cut on the shiitake mushrooms.
Minamoto Kiyomoto snorted again. He had no choice but to hold one plate in each hand and go to the living room.
“He didn’t bully you, did he?”
Kamibayashi Miko looked at Ayako, who was washing lettuce and looking at her with a smile.
“Not yet,” Kamibayashi Miko said softly.
“It seems I was in the way,” Ayako said to herself, shaking the water off the lettuce.
“Not at all,” Kamibayashi Miko made four cross cuts on the shiitake mushroom in her hand, making a small flower.
Minamoto Kiyomoto walked out of the kitchen with the dishes. Itomi Sayaka was using her divine power to move the dining table to the floor-to-ceiling window.
“Eating there?” he asked.
“Eating hot pot while enjoying the sea view!” Itomi Sayaka snapped her fingers.
“I live by the sea every day. I’ve forgotten about the sea view,” Minamoto Kiyomoto placed the tofu and crown daisy on the table.
“Sayaka,” the Hokkaido Miko called out.
“We’ll talk later, okay?” Itomi Sayaka’s face was helpless. It was an expression that everyone who had faced the仙藻Miko would eventually have.
“What’s wrong?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked.
“I asked her, ‘what’s the benefit of provoking the relationship between Miko and Izayoi’.”
No wonder Itomi Sayaka was helpless. Himegami Izayoi was looking at her with a smile.
Itomi Yuki laughed twice, remembering the predicament her sister had been forced into by the Hokkaido Miko just now.
“You don’t think she’s a little abnormal?” Itomi Sayaka secretly asked Minamoto Kiyomoto, a sweet fragrance wafting over.
“Where am I abnormal?” Rikka could hear. “It’s the people born outside the snowfield who are abnormal.”
“I agree,” Minamoto Kiyomoto nodded.
“Who do you agree with?” Itomi Yuki asked.
Minamoto Kiyomoto didn’t speak and prepared to avoid the battlefield.
As he passed by Himegami Izayoi, the “Great Encyclopedia of Pregnancy and Childbirth,” which had been rolled up long ago, hit his butt again.
Minamoto Kiyomoto grabbed her wrist, pressed her against the sofa, and kissed her on her soft lips.
Ayako happened to walk into the living room, holding lettuce and beef.
“My teeth don’t hurt, and I don’t have any ulcers. Where does it hurt?” Minamoto Kiyomoto stood up and asked Himegami Izayoi pretentiously.
“Go call Noi out,” Ayako, who didn’t know her son, scolded.
“Yes!” This was not avoiding the battlefield, but fleeing for his life.
The Hokkaido Miko asked Itomi Sayaka, “What does kissing feel like?”
“I don’t know,” the sister’s attitude was cold.
“What does kissing feel like?” the仙藻Miko asked Itomi Yuki.
Itomi Yuki, who was still a high school girl, was stunned for a moment, her face turning a little red as she shook her head.
“What does kissing feel like?” Rikka asked Himegami Izayoi.
On the sofa, the moment Minamoto Kiyomoto let go, Himegami Izayoi had already curled up, the “Great Encyclopedia of Pregnancy and Childbirth” spread open and stood up, blocking her gorgeous and bright little face.
“What does kissing feel like?” Rikka asked Ayako.
“Well, it was more than twenty years ago. I don’t remember either,” Ayako put down the lettuce and beef and returned to the kitchen without stopping.
From her back as she fled the battlefield, one could draw a conclusion—ah, these two are indeed mother and son!
“What does kissing feel like?”
“Huh?” Shirako, who was eating pistachios and watching TV, twisted the corners of her mouth, her face full of the confusion and arrogance of a junior high school biker gang member, ‘what the hell are you talking to me about’.
Minamoto Kiyomoto walked into the shikigami’s room.
A tatami room, two beds, a wardrobe.
Little Butterfly was sleeping soundly on Shirako’s bed. She spent most of the day sleeping.
Her sleeping posture was very obedient. Her hands were under her head, and her two small white legs, the length of Minamoto Kiyomoto’s fingers, were crossed and curled up, her knees against her lower abdomen.
The blond princess was half-lying on the bed, holding a game console.
The room was not lit. The only source of light was her game console.
Minamoto Kiyomoto walked over and said to Noi in a voice that would not disturb Little Butterfly, “It’s time to eat.”
“You guys eat first,” Noi’s gaze did not leave the game console.
Minamoto Kiyomoto did not leave, nor did he speak. He sat down on the edge of the bed and watched her play.
On the screen, the big-headed little person was wearing a tacky plaid shirt, diligently chopping trees and picking up branches on a deserted island with an axe.
“What game is this?” Since April of last year, Minamoto Kiyomoto had not touched games much.
“Animal Crossing,” Noi replied simply.
“You bought it today?”
“Hmm.”
“Is it fun?”
“Just started.”
“Oh.”
The big-headed little person started fishing. After a lot of effort, he caught it. It wasn’t a fish, but a tadpole, a frog’s child.
Noi turned her head, her princess face with a fairytale beauty, and stared at Minamoto Kiyomoto.
“What’s wrong? Is it over?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked softly.
“It’s over,” Noi put down the game console.
Minamoto Kiyomoto moved aside, and she got out of the quilt.
The slip dress seemed to have rolled up to her stomach in the quilt. Because she got up, it suddenly fell down again.
“How about changing to shorts?” he suggested.
“I’m out of money.”
“I’ll give… I’ll apply to Miko.”
Little Butterfly turned over and muttered, “I can’t eat anymore. Little Butterfly wants more.”
The two of them walked out of the room. The table by the floor-to-ceiling window was already full of dishes. Besides Ayako and Kamibayashi Miko, the others were already sitting on it.
“Come and eat!” Ayako and Kamibayashi Miko also walked out of the kitchen.
Kamibayashi Miko put down her rolled-up sleeves, looking elegant and capable.
Everyone sat down. The hot pot was boiling, and the radishes and konjac that had been put in first were already soft and tender.
“Happy New Year!” Everyone toasted.
The steam from the hot pot soon dyed the floor-to-ceiling window white, and the atmosphere was lively.
“Mom, does it snow on Shodoshima Island?” Itomi Yuki asked curiously.
“It does,” Ayako gave Himegami Izayoi a piece of beef. “But it only accumulates on the mountain.”
“Has it snowed this year?” Itomi Sayaka picked up a piece of tofu and a few enoki mushrooms.
Ayako thought for a moment and said, “Not yet. It’s New Year’s Day today. It would be nice if it snowed!”
“That’s not simple!” Minamoto Kiyomoto put down his chopsticks.
Everyone subconsciously looked at him, and he had already turned into a misty Hakone giant dragon and flew out of the gap in the floor-to-ceiling window.
The one or two-meter-long misty giant dragon grew in the blink of an eye. By the time it reached the starry night sky, it was already as huge as a mountain.
With a series of dragon roars, the Hakone giant dragon swam and shuttled.
In just one or two minutes, when the one or two-meter-long misty giant dragon landed by the dining table and turned back into Minamoto Kiyomoto, heavy snow was already falling on the Seto Inland Sea.
There was no wind. The snow was very light, falling like goose feathers.
With the light from the room, the streetlights on the seaside path, and the lighthouse at the pier, winter was embedded in the floor-to-ceiling window like a painting.
“Satisfied?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked his mother proudly.
“You’re just showing off!” Ayako said with a smile, not satisfied.
“I’m a little worse than you,” the Hokkaido Miko was like a judge scoring.
“What spell is this?” Itomi Yuki looked at the heavy snow and asked curiously.
“After we finish eating, we’ll play mahjong. If you win, I’ll teach you,” he said, and then suddenly said “huh.”
Everyone at the table looked over and saw that he was holding a shiitake mushroom with his chopsticks. A small flower was carved on the cap of the shiitake mushroom.
“What does this portend?” he asked them with a smile.
After eating hot pot, they played mahjong and took turns taking a bath.
Kamibayashi Miko and Himegami Izayoi washed together, the Itomi sisters together, Shirako and Noi together, then Ayako and Rikka, and finally Minamoto Kiyomoto.
When Minamoto Kiyomoto was taking a bath, the lights in the living room were already off, and everyone had returned to their bedrooms.
Kamibayashi Miko and Himegami Izayoi also went to the place they should go, Minamoto Kiyomoto’s room.
The floor was carpeted.
In the corner of the wall was a bed that could sleep two, and if you squeezed, four people would be fine.
On the left side of the door was a bookshelf full of books, and also a miniature human skeleton model.
Directly opposite, by the window that could see the sea, was a desk.
On the desk, there were about seven or eight books held by an “L” shaped bookend, a table lamp, a pen holder, and the pen holder was full of various types of pens.
The two of them looked at each other. Himegami Izayoi was wearing a black bathrobe, and Kamibayashi Miko was wearing light blue long-sleeved long pants pajamas.
“How do we sleep?” the Lord of Kyoto asked.
“You’re next to him,” the Divine Medium replied.
“If I’m next to him, he’ll definitely pretend to be cold and hug me,” she paused for a second and added, “I might also feel cold, so it’s best if you sleep in the middle.”
“What if he’s still cold?” the Divine Medium asked.
“Then let him sleep in the middle. We’ll watch him together?” Himegami Izayoi asked tentatively.
Kamibayashi Miko wanted to say ‘why not let him sleep on the floor,’ but she had a feeling that prevented her from making this suggestion. Himegami Izayoi should be the same.
“Okay,” she nodded.
“You sleep…” Himegami Izayoi paused again, her voice trembling slightly. “Do you sleep inside, or do I sleep inside?”
Taking a lesson, Kamibayashi Miko didn’t speak, just pointed at the bed, meaning to let Himegami Izayoi sleep inside where there was no escape.
Himegami Izayoi, trying to act nonchalant, took off her shoes, walked onto the carpet, lifted the quilt, and sat in.
Kamibayashi Miko walked to the bookshelf and picked out a copy of “The History of Absurd Medicine.”
“Get me a book too,” Himegami Izayoi said.
Normally, Kamibayashi Miko would walk over and hand her the book, but today, especially now, she threw the book towards the bed.
In mid-air, something fell out of the book. It was a small booklet.
The two shrine maidens stared at the small booklet on the carpet.
Minamoto Kiyomoto, after washing himself carefully, stood in front of the door, took a deep breath, and then resolutely pushed it open.
In the room, Kamibayashi Miko and Himegami Izayoi were leaning on the bed, reading a book together. The book they were holding was “The History of Absurd Medicine.”
This book was about absurd medical techniques like ‘feeding opium to a crying baby.’
In his boring studies, he would use it to trick himself, pretending to be reading a medical work, to pass the time.
“You’re interested in this…”
Minamoto Kiyomoto’s memory was very good. He remembered one thing.
It was at the end of his second year of college, when he was packing his luggage to go back to Shodoshima Island for the summer vacation.
A fourth-year senior in the medical department had written a book about a male doctor performing an abortion on a female celebrity. The number of pages was very small and it was very hidden.
This book was printed by this senior in about eleven or twelve copies and distributed to the junior students. Minamoto Kiyomoto also got a copy.
It detailed how the female celebrity got pregnant, how she was examined, how she had an abortion on the hospital bed, and how the male doctor made his rounds at night to check on the recovery of the female celebrity’s private parts.
And that book, he had flipped through it once and casually clipped it in “The History of Absurd Medicine,” thinking it was also quite absurd.
You listen to my explanation—Minamoto Kiyomoto almost shouted.
“It’s not early. Let’s go to bed,” he walked towards the bed nonchalantly.
The gazes of the two of them, those clear or charming eyes, had been on him since he appeared.
From a medical point of view, that book about performing an abortion on a female celebrity was too detailed and had many unnecessary and illegal operations.
Kamibayashi Miko closed “The History of Absurd Medicine” and handed it to Minamoto Kiyomoto, who had come to the bed.
Minamoto Kiyomoto took it, put it back on the bookshelf with a straight face, and then suddenly turned around and pounced on the bed.
“Ah!” the two of them cried out at the same time.
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