Vol 9 Chapter 2 (1/2)

Chapter 02: Selfish Wish

…I believed that conflicts essential won’t yield anything.

Of course one couldn’t avoid verbal disputes or brawls. But depending on the situation, one had to fight no matter what. Yeah, just like right now. This time alone I was prepared to resort to violence.

That said, shamefully enough, my opponent was myself… Just how long would my reasoning last? In front of my eyes were Luna and Hijiri, both wearing maid clothes.

Luna was wearing a cat-ear hairband on her head, whereas Hijiri was wearing a dog-ear one.

…After the ruckus in the living room, everyone left the room for preparations and when they came back after a while, it turned into this.

While Machina, Elni and Kaorun watched over us, the maid-clad Luna and Hijiri each flushed their cheeks and slowly drew closer to me.

In view of this situation, the two of them were going to make some kind of appeal without doubt. And then I would have to choose which of them was better, which meant going to the aquarium together with the winner.

…Looks like this would become a fierce showdown.

It might be that my reasoning would scream for it’s life during it.

Hiding the layer of unrest I felt in my heart, I faced the two of them while cladding myself with composure, whereupon Hijiri made her move first, lightly hesitant.

While shaking the dog-ears on her hand, she kneeled in front of me and softly put her own cheek against my thigh for no apparent reason.

Upon that, Hijiri’s glamorous, black hair touched my thighs and her soft body warmth threw my heart into turmoil.

“H- Hijiri? What are you doing? What’s up?”

“…Woof, woof.”

Hijiri replied with a small bark to my questions.

A- Apparently Hijiri had become a dog. I didn’t know who gave her the idea, but her upturned gaze and bashful behaviour was foul play.

But I should deal with it composed. For now, I should try to pet her head. I got the feeling that I already had lost my composure, but unable to resists, I reached out my hand for Hijiri’s head.

In that moment, Luna made her move now.

As soon as she sat down besides me, she tightly clung to my arm spoiled, whereupon her sweet fragrance and b.r.e.a.s.t.s with a full-score on volume got a tight hold on my heart.

“Ehm, you too, Luna, what’s up so suddenly?”

“M- Meow…”

I, I see. Judging by the cat-ears on her head, Luna most likely turned into a cat.

She looked really adorable how she happily smiled while somewhat showing embarra.s.sment.

Inadvertently I s.h.i.+fted my hand that was heading for Hijiri towards Luna. Following, I petted Luna’s head for a while, whereupon Hijiri suddenly pulled on the sleeve of my clothes sadly.

“Ah, sorry. I haven’t forgotten about you, Hijiri.”

When I rested my hand on her head with an apology, Hijiri showed a bright smile and once more put her cheek against my thigh.

If Hijiri were a real dog, she might happily wag her tail now.

Somehow, while watching Hijiri’s smile, even I came to enjoy it.

I faintly smiled and petted Hijiri’s head, whereupon Luna looked at me envious, as she wanted attention.

“…One at a time, okay? So please wait a bit.”

On my words, Luna nodded and as she then grew tired of waiting, she clung to me even stronger and brought her blushed face closer.

“Mm… *kiss*… *kiss*…”

Pressing her glamorous lips against my ear, she lightly kissed it twice.

Moreover, she then extended her pink tongue and traced my ear, sometimes gently poking it and then licking it softly.

Luna might just be playing around, but I directly felt her bewitching hot breath, which already cracked my reasoning.

On the other hand, Hijiri clung to my arm too in protest to Luna and brought her bright red face closer, albeit a bit hesitant. Then she stretched the light red tip of her tongue

“Mm…”

and licked my cheek reserved along with a faint moan.

Her smooth tongue tickled my cheek and while showing embarra.s.sment, she looked somewhat happy. So close I noticed her charming expression again and of all things, Luna even started to play-bite my ear.

…I was already done for. At this rate, I didn’t know what I would do.

While my own reasoning creaked without me being able to move carelessly, Elni, Kaorun and Machina, who all watched over me, rushed over to me right away, as they noticed my predicament.

“Time out! Time out!”

Like that, Elni swiftly s.n.a.t.c.hed away Luna and Hijiri from me, whereas Kaorun held out an invisible microphone to me with a jerk.

“s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama, your decision please. Which one do you want to make your pet, the dog-eared maid or the cat-eared maid?”

…What a horrible question.

But the more pressing problem was about who to choose.

Both Luna and Hijiri were really cute, which made it difficult to decide. I crossed my arms and pondered for a while, then I s.h.i.+fted my gaze to Elni as an escape from Luna and Hijiri’s hopeful looks. With flickering eyes, I answered.

“Mhm, for a pet, Mad Dog alone is enough.”

“…Eh? Instead of Luna or Hijiri, you want me, s.h.i.+n.o.bu? S- Somehow I’m getting embarra.s.sed…”

No, no. I think you should get angry about that, Elni.

Regardless of my rude remark, Elni faintly flushed her cheeks.

In regards, Luna and Hijiri puffed up her cheeks lightly. And seeing that, Machina quickly took the dog-ear hairband from Hijiri’s head and put it onto Elni’s head.

“Uwa, this suits you surprisingly well…”

“Fufu, I know right. Gwaar!”

She herself might have wanted to be a Mad Dog, but equipped with the dog-ears, Elni was extremely cute.

“…Nothing we can do against Elni-chan.”

“Right. It’s regretful, but it doesn’t seem like I could win.”

Even while lightly dropping their shoulders, both Luna and Hijiri consented.

By the way, as for Kaorun, she casually took the cat-ears from Luna’s head and put them on herself while blurting out “s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama, in regards to maids, I am the best, right?”, but I ignored it with a smile…

Afterwards the showdown still continued, whereat Luna and Hijiri wore sailor uniforms or shrine maiden outfits, became bus guides or policewomen and in the end clad in white gowns or military uniforms all the while changing her appeals along with their costumes, which fiercely agitated my reasoning from beginning to end.

However, while I was aware of my indecisiveness, I just couldn’t decide on a winner and the showdown entered it’s ninth round. Together with Machina and Elni, who both made a somewhat tired face, Luna came back into the living room after changing into the outfit of a race queen.

A tube top that boldly exposed her waist. Short hot pants. Reflected in both my eyes were her slender hips, long, beautiful legs and firm angles, which were all so erotic.

…It was the most revealing outfit so far. While I inadvertently gulped, Luna doubtful face the door of the living room.

“Uhm, Hijiri-san? What are you doing over there? Hurry up and let us continue the showdown.”

Even though my reasoning was at a state where it would break upon contact, Luna firmly grabbed both my hands full of energy. In regards, Hijiri peeked in only her head between the gap of the door and turned around her head in a fl.u.s.tered state while still hiding her body.

“Wh- What’s this, Kaoru-san? That wasn’t agreed on. I thought I would wear the same one as Luna-san, so I— wait, stop it, Kaoru-san!”

The fl.u.s.tered Hijiri raised a voice to stop her, but it was already too late and she showed up in the living room by being pushed on the back by Kaorun.

But, Hijiri’s outfit turned all my expectations upside down.

I had thought for sure she would wear the same race queen outfit as Luna, but right now Hijiri was wearing just s.e.xy lingerie and socks.

A transparent, s.e.xy pink negligee. Beneath it I could see her voluminous b.r.e.a.s.t.s covered by a white bra.s.siere, her slender waist and nicely tense thighs. Moreover, on Hijiri’s every little movement, her big swellings bounced around, which ensnared my heart gravely.

Th- That was against the rules. I hadn’t heard anything of this. But I couldn’t avert my eyes. I lost all confidence to keep my composure and the last bit of my remaining reasoning was about to be blown away too, whereupon Kaorun smiled daring and opened her mouth.

“Judging by s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama’s reaction, it seems the victory goes to Hijiri-chan.”

“Wh- What are you saying, Kaoru!”

On Kaorun’s words, Machina immediately attacked with complain.

“I won’t accept this! After all this is all just your ploy! Fight fair and square like my sister!”

“…So you say, but at this rate we will never reach a conclusion, you know? I take you are getting tired as well, Machina, Elni-san? It is already the ninth round after all. Why not accept now that it is Hijiri-chan’s victory?”

Kaorun made a faint sigh with a somewhat exhausted look, but Luna raised a desperate voice with “Please wait!”, as she couldn’t accept it either.

“This will be the finale! Please let it continue for a bit longer! Besides, it is not settled yet! I will try my best as well!”

“Well, I do not mind, but Luna-san, how do you intend to try even harder…”

Widening her eyes midway in her sentence, Kaorun then stopped her words just like that.

Yeah, I could understand why.

After all, as soon as Luna reached out her hands for her hot pants, she pulled them down and exposed her black panties, as she didn’t want to lose to Hijiri. Moreover, she grabbed the hem of her tube top and slowly rolled it up.

…I should have stopped Luna at this point.

If she were to strip off her top like this, her ripe b.r.e.a.s.t.s would get exposed. Luna tightly bit her lips and turned bright red up to her ears.

However, her appearance of taking off her clothes while fighting against the shame was extremely charming, so I didn’t say anything in the end, whereupon Luna temporarily stopped her hands once, then

“…I will win and go to the aquarium with s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san!”

she grabbed the hem of the tube top again while saying so to encourage herself and hesitated for only a moment. With a jerk, she stripped off her top.

Instantly, her round b.r.e.a.s.t.s showed up with a bounce as they were released from the constraining top. The b.r.e.a.s.t.s clad in a black bra.s.siere bounced right and left for a moment, then the white, soft flesh of her cleavage b.u.mped into each other on the backlash, swaying around lewdly.

…What an amazing force. Two swellings that closely resembled oversized melons. Unable to get my eyes off the charming bouncing, I was thunderstruck, whereupon I saw Machina timidly grabbing Elni’s shoulders at the edge of my vision.

“T- Troubles, Elni. Sister is too bold. I’m sure a weird switch was flipped for her. I guess we better stop her?”

“No, we should let her be! This is a change for Luna! Listen, Luna! For the sake of winning, take off more clothes!”

“Hey, Elni! Stop saying ridiculous stuff! Besides, even Sister wouldn’t go as far as—”

“I understand, Elni-chan! I will do it!”

“Ehh!? She agreed!?”

“Impossible!”

“I can’t believe it— wait, why are you surprised the most, Elni!”

“I mean! I never thought she would take me serious!”

The surprised Machina and Elni coloured their eyes with innocence and guilt respectively.

The wordless Hijiri and Kaorun were dumbfounded.

Giving these girls a sidelong glance, Luna unhooked her bra.s.siere at her back with still red cheeks.

However, as she indeed was embarra.s.sed, her movements were hesitant and she stopped her hands for a while, but

“The aquarium with s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san. The aquarium with s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san. The aquarium with s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san….”

It must have been to muster her courage. Luna repeated so thrice like a charm, then hesitantly removed the shoulder straps of her bra, slowly lowering the black bra.s.siere… Finally her voluminous b.r.e.a.s.t.s were fully exposed.

Regardless of their big size, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s had not a shred of slackness and undoubtedly had a pleasant tension and magnificent elasticity.

Beautiful white b.r.e.a.s.t.s that truly made you believe it were pieces of art.

The tips of these b.r.e.a.s.t.s were coloured in a pale pink and had a stimulating charm that couldn’t be written off as mere pieces of art.

“Beautiful…”

It was my first time seeing Luna’s b.r.e.a.s.t.s so close and this clearly. Losing my senses and leaking my true feelings from my mouth, I swallowed my saliva with a gulp.

On the other hand, accepting my impolite gaze, Luna turned even redder and tried to cover her b.r.e.a.s.t.s with both her hands, but she tightly closed her eyes and did her best to endure the shame.

To be honest, I wanted to touch them. I was dying to. Actually, wouldn’t it be rude not to touch them?

Before I noticed it, my reasoning was collapsing with crumbling sounds, bringing me into a quite dangerous situation, whereupon Machina interjected hastily.

“J- Judging by s.h.i.+n.o.bu’s drool, Sister wins this showdown.”

“N- Not yet, Machina-san!”

On Machina’s words, Hijiri, who had been dumbfounded so far, immediately raised her voice.

“The showdown— starts now! I won’t lose!”

“Yes, you’re right, Hijiri. It starts— wait, no. It stars now!? Just why!? Accept already that my sister won!”

“No way! I don’t want to lose at all!”

Shouting back at Machina and putting her hand on her clothes,

“Date with s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun. Date with s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun. Date with s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun…”

Hijiri chanted these words like a charm just as Luna had done it, then she took off her negligee while turning bright red.

Instantly, Machina made a grim look and now shook Kaorun’s shoulders with att.i.tude.

“A- At this rate, both Hijiri and Sister will end up naked! You’re responsibly for this! Do something about it, Kaoru!”

“Y- You are right. I understand. Please leave it to me.”

Kaorun nodded numerous times in a fl.u.s.tered state and s.h.i.+fted her gaze with “Hijiri-chan!”.

“Please stop at once! No matter what— just do not take off your socks!”

“What’s with that advice!? Why are even you flipping out, Kaoru? Even though you’re the last we can rely on! Please come back to your senses!”

“I, I am keeping my senses at all times! Besides, please take a look. S- See, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama’s appearance of being approached by girls is as pretty as a painting.”

While breaking out a cold sweat on her forehead, Kaorun faced me and gave a thumps-up.

“s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama! So wonderful! Your female fans are already gathering behind the sports hall!”

“Haha, you’re as funny as ever. Even in this situation you make me inadvertently laugh. But I’ll smack you afterwards.”

“If so, then please onto my bottom— wait, no! It is embarra.s.sing, so please stop it— wait, not that either! I, I wonder what I should have said at a time like this!?”

“…You’re unexpected useless. Just how agitated are you?”

Machina gave a plausible impression with a weary behaviour, whereas Hijiri with still red cheeks tried to unhook her bra and seeing that, Elni immediately put her hand on the strap.

“Stop it, Hijiri! Let’s end the showdown here! Why not call it a draw! You put on some clothes too, Luna! To begin with, if Nazucat were to see—”

“Mh? What about me?”

Midway in Elni’s sentence, of all things the person in question made an entrance.

Nazuna suddenly showed up in the living room. Me included, everyone froze up all alike, whereas Nazuna had frizz-like bed hair, as she had been enjoying an afternoon nap so far.

“What’s the ruckus about? Today’s my study session. It’s about time we— wait, Uwaah! Why did Luna-oneechan and Hijiri-oneechan take off her clothes!? Just what’s going on!?”

As soon as her gaze fell on Luna and Hijiri, Nazuna widened her eyes in surprise.

In regards, Luna and Hijiri seemed to have finally come back to their senses due to Nazuna’s reaction.

Each of them turned so bright red that it wasn’t gradable anymore and curled themselves up like that to hide their bodies. And amidst that, Kaorun made a follow up while still showing agitation.

“N- Nazuna-chan, we are studying health and physical education. Before looking after your studies, Nazuna-chan, I gave a lesson to prepare myself.”

“But, Kaoru-san, the proficiency test doesn’t cover health and physical education.”

“I, did not know that. I- I made a mistake. But well, that aside, Nazuna-chan, let us hurry up with the studies. We are short on time. I will now turn you into a perfect honour students with my abilities.”

“Yeah! Okay! I’ll become a honour student until the test is over! Because mom got angry at me with ‘Don’t sleep, but study’ earlier!”

Apparently accepting Kaorun’s lie, Nazuna replied with a big nod.

On the other hand, Kaorun made a sigh of relief and then tried to quickly leave the living room by pulling Nazuna on her hand, but

“Oh, right.”

Nazuna stopped as she remembered something and pulled out something that looked like a ticket out of her pocket.

“Brother, it’s a present from mom. A ticket for the aquarium. She said you should go together with Luna-oneechan and Hijiri-oneechan, since she had one more. Good for you, right?”

“T- Truly a G.o.dsend, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama. Now we can end the showdown and you three can go to the aquarium together. The world knows some plays for only threesomes as well. Are you not glad?”

“…Well yeah. So glad that I’m crying. But well, Nazuna saved the day. I feel like giving her a hug. Hahaha…”

When I replied to Kaorun with a dry laugh, Nazuna spread her arms as to say it was okay to hug her, but I brushed it off with “It’s only a feeling.” and made a small sigh.

What was my mother thinking? If she had one more ticket, she should have said so from the beginning. Was she poking fun at us? Or did she just forget that she had three tickets?

The truth was uncertain, but… nevertheless, it was impressive that my reasoning withstood.

If it hadn’t been the s.e.xy and cool me that ranked right after s.e.xy, I might have committed a mistake. Feeling relief and fatigue, I leaned my back into the sofa, whereas

“Well then, Hijiri-san, let us go to the aquarium with the three of us.”

“Yeah. Sounds fun. On which day do we go, Luna-san?”

“Ehm, I have a s.h.i.+ft today and tomorrow, so how about Sunday next week?”

“I’m fine with that. How about you, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun?”

Luna and Hijiri nodded to each other and looked at me with sparkles in their eyes.

…I had no reason to turn them down. I faintly smiled and shook my head front-to-back. Like that the date with the three of us was decided upon next week Sunday.

After the turmoil, Hijiri and Kaorun left the living room together with Nazuna. They surely looked after her studies in her room.

As Nazuna was taking it seriously, I couldn’t hear any voices of her fooling around and with time pa.s.sing like that, Luna then went to her part-time job. Now it was evening.

After training my body in the garden, I went into the living room, whereupon Kaorun suddenly entered the room. She stopped once she noticed me, so I called out to her with a casual tone.

“Yo, how’s Nazuna doing?”

“Yes, she is working harder than expected, so I would like to teach her some more after dinner and a break. I also spoke with Tomoe-san just now, which resulted in me preparing dinner for today.”

“Ohh, thanks.”

As she technically was a maid, Kaorun’s cooking skills were superb.

Luna was out for her job tonight anyway, so it was a great help. When I smiled, Kaorun smiled roguish.

“s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama, I will use the best of my abilities to prepare tonight’s dinner. However, I demand a kiss from you as payment. Depending on your technique, I will pay back your change with a kiss too.”

“Instead of a kiss, I’ll pet your head. Sorry, but comply with that.”

“…It is a promise, you hear?”

To my surprise a pet on the head alone was enough too. Accepting my reply, Kaorun asked in a good mood.

“Incidentally, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama, do you have any wishes for dinner?”

“Mhm~ Not really, anything is fine.”

“s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama, that answer is the most troubling for a cook. You must have one or two things you would like to eat.”

“Well, but even then I can’t ask you to make it for me…”

“You do not need to show any reservations. We have a close relations.h.i.+p, have we not? If there is something you would like to eat, then please say it outright.”

“Then a Manchu Han Imperial Feast.”

“…s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama, even close relations.h.i.+ps have manners. If you keep fooling around, then you will get a dog chew bone for dinner. Now please voice out your thoughts of ‘Gehehe, I want to eat sus.h.i.+ from Hijiri’s naked body’ while drooling.”

“Hey, aren’t you fooling around? As if I could eat sus.h.i.+ of her naked body with my family around.”

“Well, you are right, but a Manchu Han Imperial Feast, huh…”

Kaorun placed her index finger onto her cheek in thought.

“I believe I can fulfil your expectations as much as possible with hard work, but would it really be all right to make it? I would charge all the necessary food expenses to the Nanjou Household, you know?”

“S- Spare me. If that happened, mom would without doubt beat the h.e.l.l out of me without wasting her breath. My body would be unable to take in any food. Right now I want to eat the dish called Mother and Child Reunion. If possible, please make that.”

“Mother and Child Reunion? Just to make sure, it does not mean anything perverted, does it?”

“Like h.e.l.l it does!”

While cracking such jokes, we both headed into the dining kitchen together. After confirming the contents of the fridge, Kaorun nodded small with “Looks like I can make it with these” and smiled at me.

“s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama, I will start to prepare dinner now. You are in the way, so please leave at once.”

“…Watch your language a bit. Even I can help out at least.”

“Then can you pray for the food to turn out delicious while watching some anime? No males in the kitchen. Incidentally, if you fool around with ‘Then s.h.i.+nomun will be a girl for only now’, then I will make you cross-dress at once… What will it be?”

“I’ll watch anime docile.”

I was sick of cross-dressing.

I gave up on helping out and returned to the living room, where I kept watching TV absent-minded while the dinner was completed at some point.

After that, Hijiri, Nazuna, Machina, Elni and my mother gathered in the dining kitchen and while it was regrettable that Luna was absent, we all savoured the food Kaorun made.

A colourful salad was displayed on the table. Furthermore there was steaming Miso soup. When I picked the main dish, chicken and eggs on rice, with my chopsticks, the fluffy food texture of eggs spread in my mouth and the deliciousness of the well flavour chicken meat made me smile broadly.

This was good…

While everyone ate Kaorun’s dishes with relish, my mother suddenly faced Hijiri and leaked a voice of admiration.

“You sure have good manners, Hijiri-chan. Even when eating, you look so refined.”

“Th- Thank you…”

When Hijiri flushed her cheeks faintly in embarra.s.sment, my mother peeked at Nazuna with a smile. There Nazuna was enjoying her meal with a bright smile, whereas my mother s.h.i.+fted her gaze back to Hijiri and softly opened her mouth like that.

“Thank you for looking after Nazuna’s studies today.”

“No problem. I gladly helped and it was fun.”

While replying so, Hijiri gently petted her head, whereupon Nazuna’s smile broadened even more.

“Hijiri-oneechan and Kaoru-san are really good at teaching. So I’ll work a bit more on my studies after dinner.”

Ohh, it was quite rare for Nazucat to be this serious about studying.

When I was slightly surprised, Hijiri s.h.i.+fted her gaze towards me and called out with a soft voice.

“Ehm, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun, you have rice on your cheek.”

“…It, It’s in fas.h.i.+on now. Don’t worry about it.”

Even while making an excuse out of desperation, it didn’t change the fact that it was embarra.s.sing. I reached out my hand for my cheek right away, but even faster

“Fufu, you’re so cute, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun.”

Hijiri extended her hand to my cheek with a giggle and softly removed the rice grain. Then she fixedly looked at her fingertips that held the rice grain and coloured her cheeks red for some reason.

Seeing that, Elni gave the rice grain a pa.s.sionate look.

“…Hijiri, if you aren’t going to eat it, can I have it?”

“N- No! I’ll eat it…!”

Along with her words, Hijiri opened her well-formed lips and put her slender fingers into her mouth with a small sucking sound while showing a slight hesitation.

This casual behaviour was somewhat erotic.

While I averted my eyes, Kaorun smiled roguish again.

“I am sure Hijiri-chan thought ‘Ahh… The rice grain from s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun’s cheek. Actually I wanted to remove it with my mouth…’ just now.”

“K- Kaoru-san! Please don’t say anything weird! I only thought about that for a bit.”

“…For a bit?”

The instant Machina interjected doubtful, Hijiri turned bright red immediately with “Auh…” and my mother blurted out a “So cute”, whereupon Kaorun threw out her chest with pride.

“As you can see, Hijiri-chan is a really cute girl. On top, she is beautiful, has a good figure and personality with even outstanding cooking skills.”

“Hee, then I would like Hijiri-chan to cook something for us next time.”

While giving an agreeable response, my mother smiled, whereupon Machina once again interjected in protest.

“Tomoe-san, even I can cook.”

“Eh? Really? Then I guess I can ask you to make dinner when Luna has work.”

“…I did not know. So Machina can cook too.”

My mother and Kaorun showed a surprised expression.

In regards, the ones that knew Machina’s cooking skills, Hijiri, Elni and I turned pale all alike and called a stop. By the way, Nazuna was engrossed in her meal even now while still smiling…

After dinner, I got out of the bath and made myself comfortable on the sofa in the living room, whereupon Machina showed up in the room. When she noticed me, she sat down besides me and smiled somewhat gently.

“Hey s.h.i.+n.o.bu, Nazuna seems to work really hard. Just now I went to bring her snacks, but she was studying enthusiastic and Hijiri and Kaoru said they would keep her company for a bit longer.”

“…I just hope she doesn’t get a fever from suddenly working so hard.”

“Nazuna is different from Elni, so I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

“Hey, hey, isn’t that a bit rude to Elni?”

When I showed a wry smile, Machina replied with a serious face.

“I mean, I never saw Elni study seriously. She’s always just playing around and if she were to suddenly start studying, I would think it snows the next day. I don’t even have seen her reading a book.”

“Well, it certainly doesn’t suit her… Speaking of, where’s Elni?”

Speak of the devil and she shows up. This time Elni showed up in the living room with an unusual serious look.

But, on an extremely rare occasion, Elni was holding books against her chest.

It weren’t manga books. What was going on? Could it be Elni started to read a proper book?

When I inadvertently sparkled my eyes, Elni put the books on the table and sat down on the sofa. Seeing that, Machina opened her mouth perplexed.

“E- Elni? What’s with these books? What are you going to do with them?”

“Mh? I borrowed them from the library and I was going to enjoy some smart reading now. Anything wrong with that?”

“…Who are you? What did you do to Elni? So far I have never seen Elni reading a book except manga.”

“Machina, I certainly was hooked on manga until now. But it ends today. Reading broadens one’s horizon. I discovered reading. And now I feel really intellectual.”

Machina showed a playful expression ,whereas Elni pushed up her invisible gla.s.ses with a jerk and replied composed.

“—Can a human live on knowledge alone? I want to find out.”

“I- I want to find out what’s going on in your head. Actually, it’s empty, right?”

While once again making her bewilderment obvious, Machina displayed her usual trick of playing along with the mood. In regards, Elni surprisingly ignored Machina. She made an unblinking face, dropped her gaze and quietly opened the book.

Instantly, Machina opened her eyes widely with “Ehh!?”.

“E- Elni, you aren’t getting angry like usually? The usual Elni would get sulky with ‘Calling me stupid is really mean’. If you keep quiet like that, it’s somewhat out of character for you.”

“…Sorry, Machina, but you’re disturbing my reading. Could you keep it quiet?”

“Seriously, what’s up with you, Elni…”

Elni showed an obvious unusual reaction.

Receiving it, Machina s.h.i.+fted her gaze to me worried and shook my shoulder fiercely.

“What do we do, s.h.i.+n.o.bu? Elni became weird.”

“…She’s always been weird, you know?”

“Not like that! I’m saying she’s weirder than normal!”

“You’re quite rude…”

Standing up half-wearily, I peeked down at Elni’s hands as I was a bit interested.

“…It’s books about magic tricks. Oh, are you going to beautifully change your cla.s.s from our personal house guard to magician? I’m really pleased about your efforts.”

“Mhm~ No matter how much I try, I can’t become a verbal alchemist like you, s.h.i.+n.o.bu, so I’m aiming to be a jester sage. I don’t plan to become a magician. Besides, I only borrowed these books because I want to teach Nazucat some magic tricks.”

“Verbal alchemists and jesters asides, teaching Nazuna magic tricks? Why that?”

“Actually, her school is holding the student council election soon.”

“Yeah, speaking of, our school too.”