Chapter 277: New Year Is Coming
New Year in Japan is on January 1.
On the 31st, Sakurai Saki went home, bringing a bit of luggage along with his girlfriend.
There were many girls in the station.
They wore down jackets on top, pleated skirts with thin tights below—this kind of outfit only girls unafraid of the cold would dare to wear, truly admirable.
After boarding the shinkansen, Sakurai and Hayasaka sat next to each other, facing two girls of the same age, wearing knitted sweaters, their eyes constantly looking toward Sakurai Saki.
Even knowing the beautiful girl sitting next to Sakurai Saki was his girlfriend, they still couldn't help but look; Sakurai Saki's charm had nearly reached that level.
Getting off the train.
From the station where they had returned from the last school trip, the two switched to the electric train.
"Why can girls wear thin tights in weather like this, aren't they cold?"
"There's fleece lining inside. And there's also a type called bare legs tights, you don't know?" Hayasaka Ai looked at him as if she had discovered an alien.
"This behavior is completely a scam!" Sakurai Saki said in a voice full of disappointment.
Bare legs tights are the kind of thin tights whose color is close to real skin, making it hard for others to tell if it's real or fake.
Just thinking that the girls were all wearing that kind of tights, the admiration in his heart for them dropped by more than half.
Only those girls who still wear nothing in winter are truly warriors.
"Want to touch and see?" Ai-chan lightly lifted her leg; today the train wasn't too crowded, she could even raise her leg.
Hayasaka: (˵ ¬ᴗ¬˵)
Sakurai: （￣へ￣）
"No, not necessary." Sakurai Saki shook his head.
Compared to touching right now, he preferred to wait until night~.
"Darling, I'm a little nervous." Just thinking about officially meeting her boyfriend's mother made Hayasaka Ai inevitably tense.
"My mom is a very nice person, she won't make things hard for you." Sakurai Saki reassured her.
"When we get home, maybe mom will even personally make sweets for you to eat."
Near New Year's, the wagashi shop that his mom ran had already closed, now she was just a lazy fox. Yesterday when he called, her voice was so lazy it sounded like she might fall asleep the next second; clearly she had already become a deity, yet still had to open a shop and do business—the level of dedication of his mother made others admire her.
"Really?"
"Umu, really."
...
They got off the electric train, then switched to the bus, swaying until they got off at Kamogawa stop.
Because they had set out early in the morning, they arrived still early, almost just in time for afternoon tea.
Following the street with an old-fashioned style forward, beside them the Kamogawa river sparkled with ripples, they entered Pontocho, continued along the stone-paved road; there were also quite a few pedestrians around, Sakurai Saki even greeted a regular customer.
Arriving at the entrance of the Kitsune tama-ya shop, Sakurai Saki lifted the fox-patterned curtain.
Then stepped inside.
A sign saying "temporarily closed" was placed at the door, so there were no customers inside, but some regulars would order in advance, and Jinguuji Tamaki would consider and accept a few orders.
"Ibuki-nee? It's already New Year and you're still here?"
"Boss won't let me go home." The woman wearing glasses and an elegant kimono gave a wry smile, "Young master finally came back, and the one behind is?"
"Ibuki-san, hello, I'm Sakurai Saki's girlfriend, Hayasaka Ai." Ai-chan slightly bowed.
"I've already heard Boss mention you." Ibuki Yuki gently laughed twice: "Just like the young master, just call me Ibuki-nee."
"Where's my mom?" Sakurai Saki set down the luggage.
"Sleeping upstairs."
This house has two floors, the first floor is the wagashi shop, the second floor is the living space.
"Every time New Year comes, mom falls into this state." Sakurai Saki sighed.
Since moving into this house, every New Year he would see his mother curled up under the blanket on the bed, refusing to come out.
"She says she wants to hibernate. I think, back when she hadn't finished her plan it could still be explained. Now she's already become a higher-level existence, yet the result is the same. Calling it hibernation, she's simply just lazy."
Ibuki Yuki took a bite of the dorayaki beside her, this was the one she had just made for afternoon tea.
Back when she was still a fox youkai, hibernation made sense, but now that she had become the Inari deity, how could she be even lazier than before? Sakurai Saki roughly understood her meaning.
"Let's go, let's put away our things first." Sakurai Saki said to Hayasaka Ai.
Ai-chan nodded a bit awkwardly.
The two of them went upstairs together.
"Ibuki-nee is a long-time employee here, helping my mom with work for more than ten years; I've always treated her like an older sister."
Last time he took Hayasaka Ai and Shinomiya Kaguya to watch fireworks, the driver's license was still the one Ibuki Yuki had handed over.
"There are still many empty rooms in the house, Ibuki-nee often cleans them. See which one you want to sleep in?"
Even if she was his girlfriend, during New Year they had to sleep separately; otherwise it wouldn't be good for a girl's image.
"That room is mine." Sakurai Saki pointed to the one at the end of the hallway.
"Ah, right, all the rooms here have tatami floors, are you used to sleeping on that?"
"Used to it." Hayasaka Ai nodded.
...
In the end, Ai-chan chose the room next to Sakurai Saki's, the distance very close.
After tidying up, Sakurai Saki got ready to wake his mom.
Mother-in-law meeting daughter-in-law, and yet the daughter-in-law had arrived while the mother-in-law was still sleeping—really speechless.
In Hayasaka Ai's eyes, his mother's image was surely terrible.
He slid open his mother's bedroom door.
Sakurai Saki looked at the quilt rolled up in front of him and couldn't help but sigh.
Then he closed the door again.
Sakurai Saki sat down on the tatami floor, using his hand to poke at his mother's quilt.
"Mom, I'm home."
"..." No response.
No, actually there was a slight response.
Sakurai: (≖ - ≖)
"Pretending to sleep is useless, Mom, aren't you going to meet my girlfriend even a little?" Sakurai Saki said in dissatisfaction.
"It's already too late." A mournful voice of Jinguuji came from under the quilt: "Mom has turned into the useless mother who just stays at home all winter; surely Ai-chan won't like Mom anymore."
Tamaki: .·°՞(っ-ᯅ-ς)՞°·.
So she had already investigated the girl's name thoroughly? Mom, your ability to take action is really strong, and moreover when we came in earlier you were secretly eavesdropping? Then why not change clothes and come out?
"So Mom plans to just lie here forever? Even if you delay it's useless, sooner or later you'll have to meet."
Jinguuji Tamaki poked her head out from the quilt, acting spoiled: "My treasure baby, can Mom wait until dinner time to come out?"
Tamaki: (இ﹏இ`｡)
"We haven't even had lunch yet. Just now we only bought one rice ball at the convenience store."
Hearing that, Jinguuji Tamaki's expression immediately changed.
"Baby, you haven't eaten?" She quickly crawled out of the quilt.
Sakurai Saki a few seconds later shifted his eyes away.
"Mom, this habit of yours, can't you fix it?"
"What kind of youkai wears clothes to sleep?" Jinguuji Tamaki lifted her long black hair; under the soft yellow light her white-pink soft skin revealed the black kimono with butterfly patterns that she usually wore.
Seeing that she had put on clothes, Sakurai Saki turned his eyes back.
"Really don't understand, Baby, what are you embarrassed about, you've clearly seen everything already."
Sakurai Saki blushed and said: "That was unavoidable."
"Let Mom cook for you. Baby, go talk with your girlfriend first. Ah right, right, Mom has some of your childhood photos here, want to see?" Jinguuji Tamaki, just reaching the door, turned back again, rummaging in a cabinet and taking out an album.
"When I was little?"
"Actually not that little, maybe around eight years old?" Jinguuji Tamaki said uncertainly.
After speaking she left.
Sakurai Saki hugged the album, saying nothing.
How did this thing end up in Mom's hands? He couldn't figure it out—when he was eight he was still the final boss in the laboratory, commanding a bunch of underlings and other supernatural organizations in battles, having the time of his life.