Shiinamachi Senpai Volume 2 Epilogue Part 2
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Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist Editor: Weasalopes
【Epilogue, Part 2】
Even though it was still this early in the morning, everyone was already gathered in the living room.
「I’m so glad to see that you’re all right!」
Fujisato clung onto my arm as she shouted that. I swear to God, she’s always so honest and spontaneous that it is kind of terrifying, but then again, that was a part of her personality, and a very charming part at that. If anyone else but her did that, I’d have suspected them of some ulterior motive, but she was in the clear as I knew it was just one of her many eccentric habits.
「I’m glad that my knife was of use to you, Monjiro-senpai, but from now on please try to carry one on your own with you at all times. It’s for your own safety after all.」
Kuhoh offered me that sound, level-headed advice. But I could see from her relieved gaze that she was also overjoyed to see that I was safe and sound.
And finally.
「I’m glad that everything went well, Jiro-kun.」
「Yes. I was somehow able to solve this case without any casualties.」
Even after being thrown into another Dangerous Day so soon after the last one, Shiinamachi-senpai still had her unchanging gentle smile on her face. She did look a little pale, but that was probably due to sustaining my existence with her own heart and blood for so long. If possible, I’d like her to just take it easy and rest for a few more days. After all, it’s the middle of the summer, and we’ve come here to have fun.
「Good job, Monjiro. As promised, your reward for a job well done will be the right to spend one whole night with me where you’ll be able to do whatever you want with me, so make sure to enjoy yourself to the fullest.」
「EEEEEEEEEEhhhhh? J-Jiro-kun, you made such a lewd promise with Shiki-san?!」
「NO I DID NOT! Can you please stop bullshitting people, Shiki?!」
Aaaaaand as usual, Shiki continued her sexual harassment crusade against me without paying any heed to the place or mood. Also her mismatched appearance of summer dress and labcoat suited her strangely perfectly. I once asked her if her wearing that had some deeper meaning behind it, but she said that it was just one of her hobbies.
Maybe she lied about that, or maybe she was telling the truth. After all, Shiki is that kind of girl. But after what has transpired here in this villa, I have a feeling that we have grown closer with each other, even if just for a little bit.
「Muu…」
Seeing me stare at her she tilted her head to the side as if she wanted to pierce through me with her golden eye.
「Understood. Instead of waiting for nightfall, you can have your way with me here, in front of all those people.」
And she slowly began to take her labcoat off.
「WHEN DID I ASK FOR SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!!」
「Right now, when you were staring at me with those eyes of a wild beast?」
Ladies and Gentleman, apparently my eyes are those of a sexual predator! You learn something new every day!
「Fufufu, give him a break, Shiki-san. Jiro-kun is probably still tired.」
「You’re right. Monjiro, you can go ahead and do it with Kaguya first to replenish your stamina. Then when the night falls, we’ll put rabbits to shame.」
「Eh?!!! No, Shiki-san, I, I didn’t mean it that way!」
「Oh, if we’re going for maximum kinks then feel free to add me to the mix so we could have a foursome!」
「NO, NO LEWD ACTS BETWEEN MASTER AND SERVANTS! I WON’T ALLOW IT!」
With the eyes that were spinning round and round Shiinamachi-senpai tried to calm the situation down.
「Oh, what a shame. Looks like our time to reverse-rape Monjiro-kun has to wait a little bit more, Nagi-chan.」
「Hmm, no helping it then. As much as I want Monjiro-senpai to romantically notice me, I won’t risk fulfilling my personal ambitions at the cost of going against Shiinamachi-senpai.」
I feel like Shiki’s words might have been a beginning of some seriously catastrophical endeavor here. And who knew that my cute kouhai Kuhoh might be secretly harboring such desires! I’m so surprised that I don’t even know how to respond to that!
「Ekhem! Jiro-kun, please make your report now, if you would.」
Shiinamachi-senpai’s face was still a bit flushed but she managed to regain her composure. Now I could finally explain to her what exactly was going on in here, so I began my tale without a second of delay.
The tale that began with cruel fate that has befallen the two twin maid sisters of this mansion, and a mysterious Lord that started it all.
Later, when I finished my report I was alone in the courtyard. When I looked up, all I could see was a clear blue sky spreading endlessly above me like a canvas. The typhoon has passed and it looked like today is going to be a peaceful, uneventful day. The temperature was quite high, and a slight breeze did little in terms of providing comfort from the heat.
「Thank you for all your hard work, Monjiro.」
Shiki came up to me from nowhere and offered me half of her ice cream.
「Ah, thank you.」
I gratefully accepted her offer, but when I put a sea-blue ice cream into my mouth I could feel the heat slowly diminishing throughout my entire body.
*MIIINMIIINMIIIN!* *SHUWASHUWASHUWA!*
The sound of the cicadas resonated from the trees like a noisy choir, filling the stagnant hot air with certain liveliness. It was really a picture-perfect image of a calm summer day. It somehow reminded me of Asagao.
「What she did back then was really a clever move, for morning to switch itself with the evening.」
「Clever maneuver indeed, same as Yugao creating her sister’s doll to fool everyone. I heard you named her Yorugao?」
「Yes, as it seemed quite appropriate considering the other two.」
And she seemed to like it quite a bit. I don’t think any other name would have suited her better than this one.
「Anyway, today’s a real scorcher, don’t you think?」
Shiki had quite a lot of hair, so I wondered is she was feeling the heat as much as myself. Maybe she should stick to the shade to avoid getting a heatstroke?
「Should we get back inside?」
「We should. After all, I still haven’t thanked you properly.」
Shiki said that with a serious tone, looking straight at me. Her blue eye was as hypnotizingly beautiful as ever, making her look like some ethereal being. I had to be very careful not to let any of those thought slip out of my mouth by accident.
「Monjiro, thank you very much for solving this case and helping out both my cousins. I, Yatono Shiki, am truly grateful to you, from the bottom of my heart.」
She bowed deeply to me, making a mess of her hair in the process.
「Ah, well, don’t mention it. And besides, I was not alone. We solved that problem together. After all, that’s what friends do, right? Help each other in the time of need, I mean.」
「Friends…」
Shiki leaned closer to me as she muttered that word.
「Monjiro, you are this kind of person who considers even the people he barely knows for a day as friends?」
「Only if the other side reciprocates the feeling I guess. Basically, as long as we can talk out our differences and be cool with each other, I’d consider such people as my friends. That’s a pretty low friend-making standard, I know.」
But if I didn’t do that, I wouldn’t have been able to befriend most of my classmates.
「You’re right. Friends after just a conversation…」
Shiki placed her hand on her chin and pondered something for a while.
「What am I to you, Monjiro?」
「What are you to me, Shiki?」
「Yes, what am I to you? Just a friend? Because if so, then I want to be more than just your friend.」
She wants to be something more than just a friend? What would that be, exactly? There are no such things as rankings when it comes to friendship, so that’s actually quite a riddle for me. More than a friend… more than a friend… something like a best friend? A companion? No, but there is a category that she fits in splendidly.
「I feel like you are way too unique to be placed inside the boundaries of ordinary categories, but what I do know is that you’re also a fellow Knight of Shiinamachi-senpai. If you weren’t here, I would’ve been all alone. And to me, that is a special and unique position that only you have.」
I don’t know what else to say, but those are my honest thoughts. What else she could be to me? A lover? No, our relations are nothing like that. It’s the same as when my sister asked me if I love her.
「That’s why I hope that you’ll continue to be with by Shiinamachi-senpai’s side forever.」
I just hope she doesn’t take this the wrong way and tease me about it in front of everyone again.
「………..」
Oh? Wait a minute, something is quite strange here. For some reason Shiki’s eyes, both her blue and golden one were moist, her pale lips were half-opened, and her eyebrows were raised in surprise. That was a first time when I saw her acting like that. Was it really because of what I said?
「What’s wrong, Shiki?」
「Oh, nothing, nothing at all. It’s just…」
Shiki spoke while staring me straight in the eyes with a serious face.
「I never expected to receive such a bold marriage proposal.」
So she did took my words the wrong way!
「N-No, it’s not like that….!」
「I am aware of that.」
I tried to deny it, but luckily it looks like she won’t drag that joke any further, which made my chest feel relieved. But despite that, her ears were still slightly red and each time I tried to look at her she avoided meeting my gaze.
Now that I think about it, Shiinamachi-senpai approached me, made me her Knight and bestowed he immortality upon me because Shiki deemed me worthy of becoming her servant. She also told me that she gathered intelligence about me when I transferred to my current school, which made me wonder: why was she interested in me in the first place?
「Say, Shiki?」
Maybe I should ask her about that.
「You want to know more, right? About me and my 『Demonic Gift Satori』?」
「Yes, but that’s not all I want to ask about.」
I want to know about the origins of her Gift, but also about her past, her interests, why exactly is she dressing in a labcoat, her past… everything.
Suddenly she became unsteady and almost tripped, but I managed to catch her just in time. I should take her inside where it’s cooler after all. She might have been eating ice cream, but in such a heat it’s really not enough to protect oneself from the sunlight’s harmful influence, especially since she looked like she never was exposed to the sun much, considering how pale her skin usually was. I should have realized that sooner.
「Nihihi, so much for coming to the beach for me I guess.」
「I’ll take you inside, you can lay down there.」
「Thanks.」
Shiki leaned on my shoulder, but I wonder if it won’t be faster if I just carried her? Yeah, let’s do that.
I carefully lifted her of the ground and went inside the house holding her close to myself in my arms.
「Ooooh, so Monjiro officially recognizes me as a princess now? I’m so happy I could cry.」
「If you can say that then you’re probably fine, but I think you should still lie down just in case, so just bear with me for a while longer, all right?」
「… all right.」
A girl who normally was strong beyond measure was easily defeated by something as mundane as the rays of sunlight. Talk about unbalanced. But that just made me want to know more about her and protect her.
「Fu….」
She made a seductive sigh, and from out of nowhere, my nose was assaulted by a nostalgic smell.
At that time, a sudden vision came into my head. A memory of my past where I continued to undergo harsh training until the point of collapsing without any strength in my limbs. The figure of my mother who would always help me get back on my feet when it happened.
And an image of a black-haired woman who was watching over us.
Remembering that made a cold sweat run down my back. Smell is one of the things that are said to evoke the memories of the past, so does that mean that the aroma I just smelled had something to do with it? If so, then what was my mother doing there together with the Lord whom I saw in Asagao’s memories?!
「…..Shiki?」
「Suu… Suuu… munyaa……」
Crap, talk about bad timing. First she almost passes out from the heat when we were just about to talk about her and her past, and now when I had this vision, she’s asleep. Something fishy is going on in here and I don’t like it, not one bit. Speaking of fishy, for some reason, Shiki knew about the words my mother spoke to me. And she even knew about something that I had no idea existed, 『Code Calvariae Limited Mode』.
Just who is she really? And why does she know so much about me?
「Good grief. For someone who’s so wary of others all the time you showed me your sleeping face quite easily.」
Completely defenseless, Shiki was sleeping peacefully in my arms. She really trusts me way too much. But if she’s like that, then maybe I should be more trusting towards her as well? Yes, no matter what she might know about me and no matter what she might be hiding, I will place my full trust in her.
「But there’s no way in hell I’ll tell her that when she wakes up. Nope, not in a million years.」
But I will have to ask her about a lot of important things. How did she knew my mother’s words? Why was she able to invoke 『Code Calvariae Limited Mode』? And what was that black-haired Lord doing in my memories?
Suddenly the number of my questions that demanded answers have increased dramatically. But for the time being I carried Shiki to the sofa in the living room of her quarters. And after a short while…
「…….Mon…jiro?」
「Hello there sleepyhead. Have you slept well?」
「I wasn’t sleeping at all. I was just… I was just taking a short break, that’s all.」
If that’s how she wants to play it then I’ll just leave it at that without any comments.
When I went to the window to let some cool air inside the room, I saw many morning glory flowers swaying gently in the wind. It was as if Asagao was telling us to 「Give it our best!」 from inside the darkness.
「That’s really just like Asagao.」
「You can say that again.」
「That word has a lot of meanings in the language of flowers, but when it comes to love, there’s only one that comes to my mind.」
「And that would be?」
I’m surprised that she knows about the language of flowers. I’d never associate such an overly-girly thing with her. Could it be that she secretly likes that kind of stuff?
「That would be 「The Eternal Bonds of Love」.」
Seriously? But I’ve gotta say, that definition suits Asagao perfectly.
「I see… this is a good word.」
「…Yes.」
One day, I will save her from the darkness that imprisons her. And then she’ll be able to show us her smile that shone like a radiant sun once again. I vowed that to myself in my heart.
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