"Don't be so polite, Chizuru. I still prefer you the way you used to be. Come on, go back to that."
"Go back? Go back to what?"
"The tsundere older-sister type."
"I'm not tsundere, you jerk." Chizuru rolled her eyes at Aiden.
'Good, just like that.'
Aiden smiled in satisfaction. Having one gentle big sister was enough, when it came to the little sister, being a bit tsundere was better.
As he kept smiling, Aiden started picking food for the two sisters again.
Of course, what came along with that were their complaints.
"Ah, Aiden, stop giving me food already, I'm full." Maki said, rubbing her small belly.
"Yeah yeah, if I eat any more, I'll get fat." Chizuru agreed beside her.
"You two worked hard today, it's only right to eat a little more." Aiden said, his chopsticks still moving.
With no choice, Maki said, "Then give Chizuru more."
"Why? Big Sis, are you trying to make your cute little sister fat?" Chizuru widened her eyes, feeling that her sister was definitely planning just that.
"No." Maki said with a sweet smile.
"Then why?"
Maki suddenly put away her smile and said seriously, "Because Aiden said he likes you better with some curves."
'I never said that, don't make things up.'
Aiden's mouth twitched as he looked at Maki saying nonsense with a perfectly straight face.
But Chizuru froze for a moment. "Really?"
Then, after thinking for a bit, she started eating her food quickly.
At that, Maki burst out laughing. "Idiot Chizuru, I was lying to you."
By now, Chizuru's mouth was full, so she couldn't say a word, just glared at her sister with wide eyes.
'Damn it!'
But… she still swallowed the food in her mouth.
Because her big sister had never lied to her.
———
As the saying goes, after eating comes sleepiness, especially after a long day before dinner.
So after finishing what was more of a late-night supper, Aiden stayed to drink some tea with the sisters for a while, then stood up to leave.
Although both sisters wanted to see him off, Aiden had fed them so much that they were stuffed and lazy, not wanting to move at all. The sleepy Chizuru was even dozing off in her chair.
So Maki stayed to take care of her sister, and watched Aiden leave alone.
When Aiden walked out of the dining hall, he saw Yumiko waiting not far outside. Even though the maid wasn't happy about him bringing another woman to the shrine earlier that day, she still tossed him what he'd asked for.
It was a bag of pastries.
"The pastries you wanted, I just had them delivered. They're still warm." Yumiko said unhappily.
Then she glared at him fiercely and said in an annoyed tone, "Why have you been asking for pastries every night lately? Don't tell me you're bringing them to that woman tomorrow?"
Aiden didn't care about the maid's tone. After all, as the Kagura family's maid, it was natural for her to be protective of her mistresses. He simply explained, "I eat a lot. I'm afraid I'll get hungry again when I get back."
"If you're hungry, you can call me. I'll bring someone to make you supper." The maid said coldly.
After serving both the elder and younger Miss Kagura for so many years, she could easily tell they liked Aiden. If one day he became the Kagura family's son-in-law, he'd basically be half her master.
"But that would trouble you." Aiden said helplessly.
"Isn't it also trouble to send food over like this?" The maid's tone remained sharp.
Aiden shrugged. "At least this way, it's not you being troubled."
The maid went silent, shot him another cold glare, and turned to go back into the dining hall.
Aiden chuckled and muttered to himself, "I really am such a warm-hearted guy. She must've been moved by my words."
Thinking that to himself a bit smugly, Aiden carried the pastries back to his courtyard.
The courtyard lights were off, but there was a faint light coming from his bedroom, it was from the TV screen, of course.
And the person watching TV inside his room was naturally that Nyotengu with a body even more exaggerated than Tifa's.
"Good thing the Kagura sisters didn't come to see me off today. And the maids don't enter my room without permission. Otherwise, I'd have a hard time explaining this."
Muttering again to himself, Aiden pushed open the door and saw Nyotengu sitting cross-legged on the sofa, watching TV intently.
"You're back?" Nyotengu said without turning her head. "How was the Tanabata festival?"
They'd gotten pretty used to each other lately, so Nyotengu occasionally dropped her old-fashioned "this concubine" speech, especially when she was hungry.
"Pretty great," Aiden said. If not for that war-without-smoke earlier, it would've been even better.
"Hmph. I can smell four different women on you. No wonder you're saying that." Nyotengu finally turned her head to glance at him, clearly displeased.
"But if you were having such a good time, why come back so soon? None of those four women invited you to spend the night?"
Nope, Aiden wanted to say, but he decided to act cool instead.
"Of course someone did. But then I thought about how there's still a little puppy waiting to be fed at home, so I came back to bring you food… hey, don't bite!"
Actually, what he wanted to say was, you're the one ramming into me with those things. Nyotengu's "white rabbits" were ridiculously oversized.
"I'm a Nyotengu, not a puppy. Call me that again, and next time I won't let go." Nyotengu released her bite from his arm and said irritably.
"But since you remembered to bring me pastries, I'll forgive you this time." she said happily, snatching the bag from his hands.
Yeah yeah, you forgive me, and I'll forgive you for the 'ramming incident.'
Aiden looked at Nyotengu sitting astride him, tearing open the bag and happily eating pastries, and nodded seriously.
From this angle, he couldn't see her face at all.
———
Several days had passed since Tanabata. Aiden's life seemed to have gone back to how it was when he first arrived.
The shrine maiden had changed back into her miko outfit. Though she no longer acted as overly polite as before, she still didn't dare look him directly in the eye.
The tsundere older sister had also returned to her old self, but her attitude wasn't as cold as when they first met, now her tsundere-ness carried a touch of gentleness.
Aiden even heard Maki say that her younger sister was putting more effort into her bridal training.
He later experienced this firsthand, when one evening he came back for dinner and was startled to find Chizuru kneeling formally at the dining room entrance to greet him.
As for the other shrine resident, Nyotengu, she'd vanished for two days after Tanabata and hadn't shown up since, but Aiden didn't think much of it.
Over at the Shiranui-style dojo, things were the same as usual. The "Accepting Students" sign was still hanging at the gate, but no one had come to apply.
Mai didn't really care though; with no outsiders around, she could freely wear that sexy battle outfit to teach Aiden ancient Shiranui martial arts.
As for Yuri…
What happened next started with her.
It was another morning like usual. Aiden went to the dining hall for breakfast.
But to his surprise, he saw the Kagura sisters there.
"Today's Thursday, right? Aren't you two going to the company?"
They were close enough now that Aiden didn't bother with formalities. He sat down casually, grabbed a bun from the table, took a bite, and asked in surprise.
"We'll go later. I'm the company president anyway, it doesn't matter what time I show up." Maki said offhandedly.
"That's the difference between capitalists and working folk. But you two are still better off, at least you're not like those rich brats who complain that working three hours a day is hard." Aiden shook his head and took the milk Chizuru handed him.
He took a sip and winced slightly, the sugar was too much this time.
He didn't like drinking plain milk, could never get used to it. As a cola lover, he preferred sweet milk, but this was too sweet, sweet enough to hurt his teeth.
"Chizuru, less sugar next time."
"Got it." Chizuru puffed her cheeks. The milk had actually been made by her sister, but she couldn't tell him that.
Then Aiden looked toward Maki. He knew the Kagura sisters took their family business seriously, so if they were running late, there had to be a reason, they must have something to talk to him about.
"Could it be… they want to discuss my marriage with Chizuru? She has been doing bridal training every afternoon lately…"
Lost in random thoughts, Aiden asked Maki, "Maki, is there something going on?"
Maki nodded, pulled a file from beside her, and placed it on the table. "Yuri's name, is it Sakazaki Yuri?"
"Yeah, that's right. She's the daughter of the Sakazaki family's Kyokugenryu dojo, the younger one." Aiden glanced at the file cover, which was blank, but since she brought up Sakazaki Yuri…
Thinking for a moment, Aiden continued, "Did something happen to the Sakazaki family?"
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