Chapter 411: First? Rendezvous (1/2)
“Never thought I’d hear you of all people suggest that.”
Taiyou smiled awkwardly. Just as she herself had said, Kohaku had gone down that path quite a while ago.
“Should I have not said that?”
“No, you’re fine. It was the same with Kohaku, and it’s the same with all of you. Do what you want to.”
“Laissez-faire?”
“I, guess you could say that.”
Taiyou reached out and smoothed out a strand of Akiha’s beautiful hair, sifting it between his fingers.
“It’s more correct to say that I realized how great it is to see all of you doing what you love.”
“Even if it inconveniences you?”
“You assume that it will.”
“Dummy, of course it might inconvenience you.”
Akiha pouted a bit.
Taiyou smiled. His fingers ran down to her earlobe, pinching into it as he spoke.
“No mistake about it, in general it’s appealing to have you all do what’s fun for you. And if that somehow inconveniences me or causes mayhem then I can look forward to trying to solve the issue. So either way I prefer you do what you feel like doing.”
“Well I’ll be. Ye changed. Back then ye were so opposed to the idea, ja.”
Kohaku said keenly, like a grandma sunbathing on the veranda.
“People grow. Or rather, I want to grow.”
“You say this like it’s nothing, but I can feel some sort of determination from you.”
Sakura said, looking straight at Taiyou.”
“Do you have some sort of reason?”
“You see, humans climbing mountains begin to see the top in more detail the more they climb. You know that saying, right?”
“…The comparison between human growth and the profound nature of the paths they tread.”
“Yeah. The same as that.”
He abruptly stopped talking, looking at everyone present.
Taiyou’s brides, the seven brides.
He looked at each of them in order, the women whom he exchanged love with.
“Every time you grow, things you originally couldn’t see become apparent. That’s how it is for me, and every time that happens I see you all for the amazing ladies you are and fall in love with you all over again. I want to see what lies beyond that. So I want to grow more and more.”
He spoke quietly.
Determination was coursing out from him. Quiet, firm determination to succeed in his goal.
The girls all gaped at him. The majority of them were blushing.
“Natsuno-kun…that’s so unfair.”
“Unfair? How so?”
“When you say something like that…I’m just a normal girl, and I don’t know what to do about that.”
“You’re not normal in the slightest, Aoba. Just recently there was that poll among the boys to vote for the most popular girl and you were at the top.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Nope.”
Taiyou nodded with a serious face.
“Some other ones among you were…Kotone, Suzune, Kazane, Kohaku-san, Akiha, and even a mysterious twin-tailed girl…”
“Was that last one me!?”
Youran asked, surprised. Taiyou continued.
“And you were ranked second of all the girls in the academy for the poll among the females. No way someone as popular as you could be normal.”
“Oho, great job, my dear Aoba!”
“Mine, you mean.”
“Ehhh, then how about a split end of hair.”
“Well, I guess that’s okay.”
Taiyou and Akiha had a little banter. Meanwhile, Aoba’s eyes were wide open like it was a bolt from the blue.
“But it sounds reasonable, ja. But who be the top, ja? Anyone we know?”
“Tenchi Rameko.”
“””Rameeeko-chan?”””
“Yeah, that was a surprise.”