Chapter 189: Punishment

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The fifth-floor living room faced the sea with a huge floor-to-ceiling window, and the sunlight shone in brightly.

By the floor-to-ceiling window, there was a rocking chair. To the right of the rocking chair was a small tea table that could only fit one book and one teacup.

The sunlight plated the rocking chair and tea table with a faint film of light.

“Riichi,” Himegami Izayoi placed the five-man she had discarded horizontally.

Kamibayashi Miko’s hands, which were even more delicate than the mahjong tiles, elegantly picked up a five-pin, preparing to discard it.

“Wait!” Minamoto Kiyomoto, who was sitting beside her, pressed down on her wrist. “Let me count the tiles.”

Kamibayashi Miko glanced at him and temporarily placed the five-pin back into the tile pile.

Minamoto Kiyomoto muttered to the tiles on the table.

Himegami Izayoi looked at him with a smile, her right hand leisurely switching the positions of the two tiles on the far right, like an experienced oiran who often gambled.

She had just learned this posture from Ayako.

“Have you thought it through? Don’t dawdle!” Ayako urged with a smile.

“Discard this one…” Minamoto Kiyomoto pointed at a tile in Kamibayashi Miko’s tile pile.

“Are you sure?” Kamibayashi Miko said.

“I’m sure. I’ve always gotten full marks in math since I was a child. My logical thinking is impeccable,” Minamoto Kiyomoto was very confident.

Kamibayashi Miko discarded the tile he had said. She could only say five sentences in ten minutes, so Minamoto Kiyomoto called it out for her.

“Two-pin.”

“Ron,” Himegami Izayoi’s right hand, which was cutting the tiles, paused, and she pushed down the entire row of tiles.

“Impossible!”

Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at her tiles. Two two-man, three seven-man, two four-bamboo, two five-bamboo, two six-bamboo, and also three-pin and four-pin.

Without needing to count carefully, he could tell at a glance that the number of fan was not small.

Kamibayashi Miko looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“Counting tiles is not a sure-win technique. It’s useful, but it only gives a basic probability. Since it’s a probability, no matter how small, it can still happen…”

“Go peel an orange,” Kamibayashi Miko began to shuffle the tiles.

His proficient logical thinking was frustrated. Minamoto Kiyomoto could only obediently go and peel an orange.

“It’s no fun playing like this. Let’s bet on something,” Himegami Izayoi suggested with a smile while shuffling the tiles.

“Bet on money?” Ayako became interested.

“Kiyomoto, whoever wins gets to sleep with him,” Rikka had just learned mahjong, but her confidence was not small.

“He’s so old and still sleeps with his mother. He’ll be laughed at,” Ayako rejected this plan with a smile. “How about this? The loser has to sing while playing the next round.”

“What if Miko finishes singing five songs in ten minutes?” Himegami Izayoi challenged with a smile while shuffling the tiles.

“If you can make me finish singing five songs in ten minutes, I’ll scrub your back tonight,” Kamibayashi Miko’s tone was plain, full of confidence, and also a little aggressive.

“Okay!” Himegami Izayoi’s smile deepened. “On the contrary, if I sing five songs in ten minutes, I’ll scrub your back.”

Ayako looked at the two of them with a chuckle.

“You’re not betting on Kiyomoto?” the Hokkaido Miko had not given up.

The four of them finished shuffling the tiles and began to draw tiles.

Minamoto Kiyomoto finished peeling the orange, took a slice, and handed it to Kamibayashi Miko’s mouth.

“Remove the white part,” Kamibayashi Miko ordered while arranging her tiles.

“Why are you like… forget it,” Minamoto Kiyomoto removed the pith one by one, leaving behind the crystal-clear pulp.

‘As expected of my daughter!’ Tamahime affirmed with satisfaction.

In fact, both of them knew that Kamibayashi Miko didn’t care about the pith. She just wanted to torment Minamoto Kiyomoto.

‘Your logical thinking is useless. Let me do it this time!’

‘Do you think your logical thinking can surpass mine?’ Minamoto Kiyomoto said to Tamahime while feeding Kamibayashi Miko.

‘I don’t need any logical thinking. I rely on intuition!’ Tamahime was eager to try.

“Pon,” Ayako ponned a nine-pin and discarded a seven-man.

By the seventh round, Himegami Izayoi placed the seven-bamboo she had discarded horizontally.

She stared at Kamibayashi Miko with a smile, “Riichi.”

Ayako discarded a nine-bamboo. It was Kamibayashi Miko’s turn to discard.

‘Eight-pin!’ Tamahime sat cross-legged under the zelkova tree in Minamoto Kiyomoto’s high school sports field. The tree’s shadow swayed, and in front of her, high school students were testing their fifty-meter dash.

“This one,” Minamoto Kiyomoto relayed.

Kamibayashi Miko glanced at him and discarded an eight-pin.

“You escaped,” Himegami Izayoi said with a laugh.

‘See! I told you my intuition is very accurate!’

The next player, Rikka, drew a tile and discarded a five-pin.

It was Himegami Izayoi’s turn to draw again. She drew a five-man, made a kan, and discarded a three-bamboo.

After Ayako finished drawing her tiles, she also called riichi.

‘Two-bamboo!’

“This one.”

Kamibayashi Miko hesitated and looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto again.

‘Trust my intuition!’

“Trust my intuition!” Minamoto Kiyomoto fed Kamibayashi Miko a slice of orange.

Kamibayashi Miko tasted the juice of the orange and discarded a two-bamboo.

“Ron,” Himegami Izayoi pushed down her tiles again.

Kamibayashi Miko slowly turned her head and looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto, still chewing the orange she had just eaten.

Minamoto Kiyomoto shook his head innocently, his eyes sincere, signaling that it had nothing to do with him.

“Kiyomoto,” Himegami Izayoi pinched a seven-bamboo with her index finger and thumb, letting it spin on her fingertip. “The Chinese song playing in the school coffee shop, what was its name again?”

“I forgot. I don’t remember the name. I only know it’s sung by Faye Wong,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

“What other songs does Faye Wong have?”

“Red Bean, Because of Love, I only know these two.”

“Red Bean, please,” Himegami Izayoi placed the spinning seven-bamboo on the table and said to Kamibayashi Miko with a smile.

Kamibayashi Miko looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto again.

Minamoto Kiyomoto used the spell that Koyasan had taught him to transmit scriptures to transmit the melody and lyrics of “Red Bean” to Kamibayashi Miko, very considerately.

“I haven’t had a good feeling yet, when the snowflakes bloom~” the singing was just pleasant, without any emotion.

“Ah! I’ve heard this song before!” As soon as she heard the melody, Ayako’s memory was also awakened.

“First song,” Himegami Izayoi smiled and began to shuffle the tiles.

It was like counting how many people had been killed. It was too scary.

Kamibayashi Miko sang “Red Bean,” shuffled the tiles with her left hand, and placed the two-thirds full water cup in front of Minamoto Kiyomoto with her right hand.

Minamoto Kiyomoto got up and refilled her hot water.

When he came back, he had memorized Himegami Izayoi’s tiles. She had riichi again, with an eight-bamboo.

‘Quick, quick, I have a feeling that I will definitely win this time!’ Tamahime recreated Himegami Izayoi’s tiles in her memory and urged Minamoto Kiyomoto to quickly sit back beside Kamibayashi Miko.

Kamibayashi Miko sang ‘nothing lasts forever,’ took the tea cup, took a small sip, and prepared to discard an eight-bamboo.

“No!” Minamoto Kiyomoto pressed down on her wrist. The slender and well-proportioned wrist, even through the clothes, seemed to be able to feel the delicacy of her skin.

Kamibayashi Miko looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto again.

“Trust me this time,” Minamoto Kiyomoto nodded affirmatively, his expression serious.

“Master Kiyo, are you playing two against one like this?” How could Himegami Izayoi not know that he had memorized her tiles.

“Humph, humph, Koyako, Master Kiyo will give you a sentence: winning is everything,” Minamoto Kiyomoto was not ashamed at all and was very proud.

Kamibayashi Miko hummed a song, thought for a while, and changed the eight-bamboo to a one-pin.

“Ron,” Rikka pushed down her tiles.

Kamibayashi Miko’s humming tune paused for a moment. She looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto.

Ayako laughed out loud.

“Master Kiyo, this shrine maiden will also give you a sentence,” Himegami Izayoi said with a smile. “Don’t think about winning. If you think about winning, you will lose.”

In her voice, in Kamibayashi Miko’s gaze, Minamoto Kiyomoto picked up a pistachio, carefully peeled one, and put it in his mouth.

“Mahjong,” he said to Kamibayashi Miko, “is quite difficult.”

His casual tone made Kamibayashi Miko both helpless and amused.

“You go over there,” she pointed at Himegami Izayoi.

“As you command!” Minamoto Kiyomoto got up as if fleeing.

“Don’t come over!” Himegami Izayoi was like a little girl being approached by a cockroach, and also like a girl being cornered in an alley by a thug.

Afterwards, Minamoto Kiyomoto successfully helped Himegami Izayoi lose seven rounds. Because she sang, she drank two cups of water and had to scrub Kamibayashi Miko’s back at night.

“I’m back!” Unknowingly, Shirako’s shout came from the door. She and Little Butterfly were back.

It was already noon.

The mahjong game came to an end. Before leaving the table, Ayako seriously reminded her son, “Kiyomoto, you must never play mahjong in the future, you know?”

“…Today was an accident,” Minamoto Kiyomoto stood behind Himegami Izayoi, massaging her shoulders—this was compensation.

Ayako, Shirako, and Little Butterfly went to cook.

“Is skateboarding fun?”

“Not as fast as I can fly!”

“Hmm, it’s quite simple to learn. Moe begged me to be her master!”

“Then did you take her as your disciple?”

“No, her capacity is too poor. I even look down on the piglet. How could I look up to her? It’s okay to be friends.”

“Piglet?”

“Minamoto Kiyomoto, your son.”

“Ah.”

The two of them, one tall and one short, without listening to their conversation, just looking at their backs, was a warm picture of a junior high school girl helping her mother prepare a meal.

As for Little Butterfly… the family’s cat?

Minamoto Kiyomoto and the three shrine maidens chatted in the living room. They didn’t sit in the kotatsu, but on the sofa.

The TV was on, I don’t know what was playing, acting as background sound.

“Kiyomoto—” Ayako took a step out of the kitchen. “Go call Noi, and also, clean up the table and prepare for dinner.”

“Okay!” Minamoto Kiyomoto replied and left the sofa.

“I’ll clean up the table,” Himegami Izayoi followed and got up.

Although Kamibayashi Miko didn’t care about Ayako’s opinion of her, she also stood up at this time.

Rikka looked at them and followed.

A table was cleaned up by the three strongest shrine maidens. It was not in vain to be a table for a lifetime.

Minamoto Kiyomoto knocked on the door, “Noi, it’s time to eat.”

No movement. He called twice more, and then he heard a rustling sound.

The door was opened. Noi, wearing a black lace-trimmed slip dress, walked out yawning.

“Good morning,” she still maintained the etiquette of a princess, formally threw a sentence at Minamoto Kiyomoto, and walked towards the living room.

Her lifestyle was very messy, but she took a bath every day, and her blond hair was still very smooth.

Under the blond hair was a slender waist; at the end of the blond hair was a perky butt, and below were long and straight legs.

“Come out and chat with us sometimes,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said to her.

“When I get tired of playing games,” the blond princess promised.

After eating, Minamoto Kiyomoto and Himegami Izayoi washed the dishes. Ayako suggested a walk on the beach.

Minamoto Kiyomoto forced Noi to go too.

The blond princess impatiently returned to her room. Just as he thought she wouldn’t go, she came out again, having changed into a simple down jacket.

“Kiyomoto,” she said, “next time you ask me to go out, you’re responsible for dressing me.”

“…”

There were very few tourists on Shodoshima Island in winter. For the islanders who lived on the island, it was a peaceful time.

Basking in the sun, walking on the beach.

Shirako and Little Butterfly were like puppies, sometimes running far away, sometimes running back, and sometimes squatting on the sand, trying to dig something out of the sand.

Noi had her hands in her white down jacket, looking at the Seto Inland Sea in front of her, I don’t know what she was thinking, perhaps the sea she used to see in the Rose Castle.

Himegami Izayoi sometimes held Ayako’s arm affectionately, and sometimes gently held Minamoto Kiyomoto’s arm.

Rikka learned from her and wanted to hold Minamoto Kiyomoto’s arm. Minamoto Kiyomoto was so scared that he quickly went to hold Kamibayashi Miko’s arm.

They walked aimlessly on the beach.

When they returned, the wind had become cold.

Returning to the inn, Minamoto Kiyomoto saw a strand of Kamibayashi Miko’s black hair on her face.

He reached out, gently brushed her hair away, and then touched her cheek.

“You’re so beautiful, Miko,” Minamoto Kiyomoto smiled at her and said in a low voice.

Kamibayashi Miko looked at him as if blaming him, and also as if hiding a smile.

Beside them, Himegami Izayoi slapped Minamoto Kiyomoto’s shoulder with her fan.

“Come to my room tonight,” she ordered in a low voice, a chilling smile on her lips.

“Uh.”

After dinner, they continued to play mahjong.

This time, they were divided into two tables. The women were at one table, and Minamoto Kiyomoto and the shikigami were at one table.

Shirako had to stand up every time she drew a tile. Fortunately, Little Butterfly was at the bottom—she had to fly up.

Minamoto Kiyomoto won against the three of them, and pasted notes on their faces with ‘piglet’, ‘I am a pig’, ‘Lord Kiyomoto, I’m sorry’.

Shirako was so angry that she almost crushed the mahjong tiles into powder.

“This is the power of logical thinking!” Minamoto Kiyomoto was proud.

“Minamoto… Kiyomoto, you wait,” Shirako tore off the note on her left cheek that said ‘Big Brother Kiyomoto is the most handsome, Shirako loves Big Brother the most,’ and gritted her teeth.

“Lady Miko, Lady Miko, look, I have so many wings!” Little Butterfly was almost a kelp.

Kamibayashi Miko glanced at her and amusingly took off the note for her.

Himegami Izayoi took the opportunity to slip away to take a bath, but she was caught by her shoulder.

“Where are you going?” Kamibayashi Miko asked with a smile.

“Humph!” Himegami Izayoi shook off her hand. “Hurry up, I’m going to take a bath!”

Kamibayashi Miko, with the disdainful smile of a victor, went into the bathroom with Himegami Izayoi.

“Hmm?!” Shirako’s action of tearing the note was stopped by surprise.

“When did Lady Miko become so close to that vixen?” she turned her head and asked Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“What’s with that? Don’t they often take baths together? What’s so strange about that?” Minamoto Kiyomoto said perfunctorily.

‘I want to go in, even if it’s just to be a spectator by the bathtub! No rush, no rush, Kiyomoto, don’t be anxious. There will be a chance in the future! It’s all yours!’ His mind was all about this.

The two of them finished washing and came out. I don’t know why, but it was Himegami Izayoi who was flushed and charming, while Kamibayashi Miko’s face was as cold as ice.

I really want to know what happened.

To find out what happened, Minamoto Kiyomoto went to Himegami Izayoi’s room on time at night.

A deep red bathrobe and kimono wrapped around her slender and fair body. She was half-lying on the bed, reading a book, looking charming.

“Koyako,” Minamoto Kiyomoto closed the door.

Himegami Izayoi raised her eyes and glanced at him, closed the book, and sat up on the edge of the bed.

“Kneel,” she said.

“…Huh?” Minamoto Kiyomoto, who was about to hug her, was stunned.

“I told you to kneel,” Himegami Izayoi crossed her arms, her legs crossed, and you could see her slender and fair calves peeking out from under her bathrobe.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m teaching you the rules of the Seiryo-den.”

“The rules of the Seiryo-den? Do I have to learn them too? Am I not the master?”

“Everyone has their own rules. Even I, the Lord of Kyoto, have rules that I must abide by. Kneel,” her voice was steady, but there was a kind of majesty in it.

She was very serious. Minamoto Kiyomoto guessed that there might be some special rules for the husband of the Lord of Kyoto.

Since he was going to marry her, he naturally had to abide by this rule, just like kneeling when proposing.

“Alright, alright,” he knelt on one knee with a smile.

“Both legs, kneel.”

“What kind of rule is this? Can’t we just skip it?”

“You don’t love me?”

Minamoto Kiyomoto switched to both legs, “Is this some kind of enfeoffment ceremony? Like Napoleon crowning his empress?”

“Hmm, a coronation,” Himegami Izayoi’s beautiful face curved into a cruel and excited smile.

She stretched out her leg.

“What?” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s Chinese came out in shock.

“Don’t you like this? If you don’t satisfy me tonight, I’ll break your legs,” she said sternly.

“Wait, sister, you misunderstood. Last night, that was… mmm!”

Himegami Izayoi’s fair and tender foot came towards Minamoto Kiyomoto’s face.