Translator: Reflet

  Editor: ryunakama

  “The moon sure is beautiful tonight.”


  Taiyou said, looking up at the sky.

  A southern island sky filled with stars.

  Among them was the white moon that shone the brightest.

  “What about the moon over here?”


  “Mmm, I can’t find it.”


  He said jokingly, searching with a hand over his forehead.

  Youran, the one asking the question, had a second name that meant “new moon”, hence the joke.

  “You’re mean, Master.”


  “Mmm, such a cute voice. Too bad I can’t see whoever’s talking!”


  “You really like to drag things out, don’t you…”


  Sakura commented, sitting on the other side of Taiyou.

  Right now, Taiyou, Youran, and Sakura were the only three people there.

  Taiyou was in his trunks and an open shirt, while Youran and Sakura were each wearing their own swimsuits.

  The night was warm enough to where they didn’t need any overcoats, but the two of them still held close to him.

  “By the way, Youran, are you sure you should be here right now?”


  “What do you mean?”


  “The average person like myself treats this as a regular weekend, but doesn’t someone of your status have a lot of events to attend to on New Year’s?”


  “Of course she does. Loads of it.”


  Sakura answered in place of Youran.

  “Interviews, religious services, etc. Shingetsu no Kami’s work extends into many areas.”


  “Then—-”


  “It’s fine, it’s fine. I left Juurokuya behind for that.”


  “Ahh…the double.”


  He remembered the girl with the same face, voice, and atmosphere as Youran.

  She resembled Youran even more in her “Shingetsu no Kami” mode, and even Taiyou had difficulty figuring out which was which.

  In recent times he had begun to see a difference in the bedroom where he made her cry out, but all that aside…


  True, having her there would resolve everything.

  Or so Taiyou thought, but…


  “I recall you making it through every year by splitting the work with Juurokuya. I also recall you saying that you didn’t have enough people to handle it?”


  “Shhh…”


  Youran said, bringing her index finger to her lips.

  “Seriously? You pushed that hard schedule on her?”


  “But…I wanted to come with you on vacation, Master. Hmph.”


  Pursing her lips, Youran pouted a little bit.

  “Hmph, you say?”


  “Besides, everyone came with you. It wouldn’t be fun to have one person gone, right?”


  “That’s…well, that’s true, but…”


  He contemplated what that would look like. Six present, one missing.

  Very true. They couldn’t have as much fun by worrying about one person missing.

  “I’ll compensate Juurokuya properly after all this.”


  “Please do.”


  “You should do something for her too.”


  “I should?”


  What did she mean? Taiyou looked at Sakura.

  “She would probably feel validated in all her efforts if the master of her master were to congratulate her.”


  “Makes sense.”


  Juurokuya was not Taiyou’s wife. Still, she had a great deal of trust and respect for him as the master of her master.

  I’ll go ahead and see her once we get back, thought Taiyou.

  “So you two…”


  “Hm?”


  “What is it?”


  “How’s it been going recently?”


  An exasperatingly vague question. How was what going?

  But neither of them commented.

  Even Sakura, who loved wordplay, did not attempt to point it out.

  So the answer came quickly.

  “We now greet each other every morning and every night.”


  “Wha, you don’t have to say that much!”


  For some reason Youran began panicking.

  “You don’t mean that in a sexual way, do you?”


  “Hell no!”


  Youran countered in a loud voice.

  “We say good morning and good night, no matter what now.”


  “Wow.”


  “All thanks to Shingetsu-sama for the proposition.”


  “You proposed it?”


  “Ugh…”


  Youran’s face went red as she groaned.

  “Cuz we’re sisters. I thought you’d be happy if we got along…ugh, geez! I won’t do it anymore! It’s not like you consider me an enemy. I don’t either! So let’s just stop.”


  Youran said desperately.

  Clearly she was embarrassed from all this.

  “You’re quite the stubborn one, aren’t you?”


  “…”


  “It was the same in summer. You still feel that way.”


  “Yeah ri–”


  “I’m impressed with how you’ve continued the cute sulky thing. That’s a talent right there.”


  “Eh–”


  Youran exclaimed.

  As she did so, Taiyou hugged her close to him.

  “Keep it going.”


  “…You want me to?”


  “Yeah. No problem with that, right Sakura?”


  “Not at all.”


  “Then keep the trend. As you rightly guessed, that makes me happy.”


  “A-Alright then…”


  “So what’s happened as a result? Did it bring you any closer?”


  “Honestly, I am not quite at that point.”


  “Hm?”


  He looked at Sakura while cuddling Youran.

  “As Shingetsu-sama says, I no longer bear ill will toward her, but there is still a—-complicated feeling at the back of my throat.”


  “I get you.”


  Taiyou figured that wasn’t something that could be done away with so easily.

  Being sisters from a different mother in a den of ogres, they had long opposed each other.

  Something like that would not disappear in a matter of a few days.

  Taiyou examined his options.

  He could just leave it at that and wait for time to resolve their relationship.

  However, it could also be good to try something.

  He contemplated what that could be.

  Then a lightbulb went off.

  A divine revelation from the heavens themselves.

  “Hey, you two.”


  “Hm?”


  “What is it?”


  “Would you be interested in having children on the same day?”


  Youran and Sakura had rather baffled expressions on their faces.

  Yep, the similarity in their expressions shows that they’re sisters after all, thought Taiyou.