My Household`s Liliana-san Volume 2 Chapter 8 Part 2
After climbing up the stairs and passing through the shrine gate, the four of them stopped when they saw the main hall of the shrine right in front of them.
「I have heard stories about stalls like that, but this is really amazing!」
「Well, it’s just one of the New Year’s traditions, isn’t it? So it’s small wonder that its scale is up to the occasion.」
「Honestly, when I see this, I wonder why we are here in the first place, huh?」
「Strangely enough, I don’t feel like the year has started unless I visit the shrine on New Year’s Day. I don’t know about you guys.」
The front of the shrine was crowded with a literal sea of people.
Tatsuya, who was already kind of used to seeing Liliana’s eyes widening at the overwhelming density of people on various occasions like that, took her hand and they lined up in the line that was heading towards the main altar of the shrine.
「It doesn’t take long to visit the shrine itself, but with this many people, it’s not surprising that it can take quite a lot of time, right?」
「But this is in and out of itself a valuable experience, wouldn’t you say, Tatsuya-san?」
It was actually kind of amazing how Liliana was able to interpret the current situation in a positive light.
While admiring her attitude thus far, Tatsuya and the others continued to press forth alongside the sea of people eager to have their wishes conveyed to the gods for a good couple of minutes.
「……Ah, good thing we have finally managed to get that thing over with……」
Keima let out a huge sigh of relief as he was being immersed in the feeling of tremendous liberation when their group finally managed to wrap the process of saying their prayers up.
By the time they had finished their visit and had pushed through the crowds of people to get out of the overcrowded shrine’s grounds, they had all but forgotten about the winter cold and had a faint haze across their foreheads.
「I am really sorry for that, Keima-san. I knew that it was really selfish of me to request coming here together today, but…… Thank you for going along with my selfishness like that!」
「T-This much is nothing, really! So no need to apologize to us, Liliana-san! You did nothing wrong! See!? We were also looking forward to buying some yakisoba and okonomiyaki, so it’s no biggie, right? Right!?」
Keima panicked when Liliana suddenly bowed her head politely towards him and China.
In their hands were the boxes of yakisoba, okonomiyaki, kebabs and all other kinds of street foods that you could find at the food stalls around the shrine’s grounds. So it would seem that even something as visiting a shrine for New Years was a really exciting experience for Liliana, but once Liliana realized that she might have accidentally dragged others into her own pace without consideration, she suddenly became really apologetic about the entire matter.
「That’s right. Rather, it was more fun going around the stalls with Liliana-san rather than us going all on our own.」
China joined in and followed right after Keima with her affirmation, and upon hearing them Liliana finally seemed to feel somewhat relieved.
「Yeah, as long as you were having fun, Liliana-san, then that’s all that matters.」
「Yes, I had so much fun today thanks to you! Thank you very much for coming along, China-san.」
Tatsuya was the first to direct the conversation onto the right track here, and seeing that Liliana has been really excited about her very first New Year’s shrine visit, she just nodded her head with a huge and bright smile on her face.
「Thank you very much for all of your kindness. It was rare for me to see Liliana-san having such a good time, and if that’s the case, it would not be a bad idea to use you like that in the future, Keima. What do you say to that, huh?」
It took a whole lot of physical strength to move around such a dense crowd of people, so it was actually Keima’s job to carry all of the stuff that the group had managed to get their hands on. And it would seem that China had no problem with making her boyfriend a carrier mule in this scenario. However Liliana, who did not seem to be tired at all, just smiled as she shook her head.
「Fufufu. Now, now, when the time comes for that, I will be sure to rely on your help in that regard, China-san.」
「Now hold on, please Please excuse me, Liliana-san, but……」
Surprised Keima objected, but much to his horror China did not seem to object to that statement in the slightest. She just had a really sadistic grin visible on her lips at the current moment.
「Ahaha. I’m sorry, Keima, but it seems that even Liliana-san cannot help herself but to see you in that light, and that light only.」
Tatsuya and the others laughed at the way in which Keima just received the shortest end of the stick ever.
And even though Keima himself had a troubled expression on his face, he was still smiling, even if it was only putting on a brave face.
With the two of them tagging along their future escapades, the coming new year would surely be a very bright one filled with laughter and joy.
「Why do I get the feeling that the way in which China treats me seems to have rubbed off on Liliana-san? And in a really twisted and wrong way……?」
「Maybe it’s just your imagination. So, what are you going to do now?」
Now that the New Year’s visit to the shrine and the food stalls tour were over, there was no reason for them to stay at the shrine any longer than necessary.
「I feel like I heard something that shouldn’t have been heard here, but that’s okay, I guess.」
Keima honestly did not seem to be sweating over the smallest of details.
「For the time being, since we have all of that food from the stalls around the shrine, we have the matter of lunch practically covered. Now, since we have that taken out of the way, and judging by the fact that the karaoke places are sure to be over-crowded…… is there anywhere in particular that you would like to go? China? Liliana-san?」
After both Liliana and China had a laugh or two about Keima for a few more minutes, it was actually Keima himself who decided to change the subject and bring up another important matter for their group. It was now time to discuss their plan for the near future.
「No, not especially.」
「I am the same, actually. Not that I can think of anything right now.」
They both shook their heads in negation to Keima’s suggestion.
Originally, no one of their group bothered to think that much ahead, to what they would want to do after their shrine visit would be over.
Basically, since it was New Years’, no matter where they would choose to go, that place was bound to be crowded with people, so their destinations were going to be rather limited.
Having managed to escape from the crowds of people around the shrine, Tatsuya suggested that they could borrow a DVD with some movie and watch it together at his place, but Keima was the first one to oppose that idea.
「Tatsuya, you’re missing something important here, my friend.」
「Something important? And what would that be?」
Tatsuya pondered his words with question marks floating above his head.
He turned his gaze to the two women beside them, but they also had no clue as to what Keima was about now, with equally as many question marks floating above their heads.
「Watching movies is fine and all, but it was not until last year that I would get all excited about it.」
「And what do you mean by that?」
Tatsuya, who still had no idea what Keima was talking about, had no choice but to tilt his head in apparent puzzlement.
「You idiot! Compared to last year, there is a huge difference as to who we used to be, wouldn’t you agree? Especially after those grand changes in our lives!」
「Grand changes? Dude, what the hell are you even talking about?」
Tatsuya thought about it long and hard, but he could not understand what Keima meant. Not in the slightest.
Was it about the fact that Keima managed to get together with China, and Tatsuya got Liliana? And why was Keima making that weird expression right about now?
「Come on man! It’s about those sweet men-women kind of relationships that we have going on for us at the current moment! Get a grip!」
「Y-Yeah, okay. But what about them?」
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